The thing about KHR is that you have to get through a lot of Initial Bullshit That Makes No Goddamn Sense Just Literally Crack On Speed On Acid With What Appears To Be Little To No Purpose, like—MAFIOSO BABIES (LEGIT BABIES) WHO ARE HOME TUTORS! INEPT TODDLER ASSASSINS! TSUNA IS ALWAYS SCREAMING ALL THE TIME ABOUT EVERYTHING! WHY IS HE NAKED AND ON FIRE? THERE IS NOT ENOUGH PLOT TO SUPPORT THIS ALREADY ENORMOUS AND STILL GROWING CAST! WHAT IS GOING ON? And like maybe you can push through the actually really very intense absurdity and maybe you can’t, idk, I failed out twice. I tried, I really tried and I was pissed off about it because there was a lot of fanfiction I wanted to read, but I wasn’t going to spend 1-5 hours downloading illegal fansubs on my then-very-shitty internet connection to watch something that inspired SUCH secondhand embarrassment it was like the mental and emotional representation of nails on a chalkboard.
Anyway, I forgot about it and then in like idk 2009-10ish I decided I was going to try again because goddamn it I still wanted to read all that fanfiction only this time I had better internet and didn’t have to download anything because anime streaming sites were now everywhere so I sat the fuck down and pushed through with literally gritted teeth, hovering constantly over the back button, slowly unclenching by degrees when it got to the kokuyu arc because hey it’s a fucking ARC! Finally! but still not convinced and listen this is going to sound dumb but I had never seen a single gif or screenshot or fanart of 72!tsuna at this point so when he did the thing:
It was a revelation. I was like OH! OHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OKAY. Because listen. I am shallow and I don’t see anything wrong with being shallow when it comes to My Personal Entertainment Choices, and 72!tsuna is super duper pretty. But also, finally some MEAT, some INTRIGUE, something OTHER than angry naked yelling and I was HOOKED!!! And the rest of the series is actually really really good, like the succession arc (my fave) made me cry and squeak at least 1000x each and KHR! still has the dubious honor of being the only (ostensibly) battle-based anime where I just coo endless embarrassing nonsense at the fighters during fights, I have called people “sweet baby” and “precious darling” while they are bleeding and hitting/cutting/blowing up other people.
So like listen if you are maybe sorta interested in a series about a dumb boy with a big heart who steadfastly refuses his “destiny” even as every step he takes brings him closer to it, but on HIS terms, then give this a shot because damn I hate having no one to talk about my old fandoms with.
Also it is very very pretty sometimes and will make your heart hurt in the BEST ways like a lot.
I’m super glad you like the anime, but please read the manga!
for the most part the anime is really good about everything, the beginning only being a bit off and changing up how quick certain things happen, which is where the whiplash comes from, but they botch the ending.
the start of the manga took it’s time establishing a status quo and then deliberately broke it, but the anime really wanted to get to ‘the good part’ so it shaved and peppered a lot to make the beginning seem more dramatic when it was supposed to be very comedic. The begining of KHR is funny, and introduces a lot of concepts that slip by the reader like they slip by Tsuna because the way everything is introduced is as a gag that you expect to not really come back up, sort of like the soft ‘reset’ between episodes of cartoons.
But then the Kokuyo arc happens, and it’s like a bucket of cold water – suddenly actions have consequences, people can get hurt, people HAVE gotten hurt, people can die and terrible things can happen right in front of you.
after this point the anime is really good about being pretty 1 to 1 with the manga, with the odd exception here and there that doesn’t make a huge difference.
THE PROBLEM is that right twards the end of the series they had to wrap things up early. both the anime and the manga. but the manga was like, 3 story arcs ahead when the anime had to cut it, so they took the ending of the Ten Year Later arc, combined it with elements of the final arc of the manga, and ended it. If you only watched the anime, you are missing multiple arcs of the story!
If you don’t want to re-read EVERYTHING, the big changes start where in the anime they visit the past temporarily to pass a test to have an edge in the fight against Byakuran. they didn’t do that in the manga.
TLDR
after the TYL (aka Future) arc, in the manga there is the Inheritance arc and the Arcobaleno Curse arc.
So if you want to read only what the anime changed and what you missed, start reading right after the Merone Base Invasion, or jump right into the Choice Battle knowing the ‘Arcobaleno Trials’ was an anime only arc.
In the Manga the Choice Battle Starts chapter 240.
You can also start directly where the anime left off after they get home from the future, The Inheritance (ceremony) Arc, chapter 283.
The manga has 409 chapters in all. (plus spin-off chapters)
Professional Peefer 