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8018 manifesto, or, why hibari and yamamoto are totally fucking in the space between the panels
This is one of those pairings where I feel like a reaction I get a lot is “it’s pretty in art, but it doesn’t make sense with the characters.” Except people are wrong, because they’re totally fucking (and if they’re not, they should be) and this is why.
From whence cometh the sexual tension
At first glance, Yamamoto and Hibari look like polar opposites. Yamamoto is sunny and good-tempered, chipper, reliable, and ordinary. Hibari is aloof, violent, terse, and genuinely strange. However, they have a kind of common ground in the fact that they’re both very physical creatures. In their first meeting, Yamamoto is the one who spots Hibari first, and the one who holds out the longest against him without intervention (about 2.5 seconds). Though Yamamoto is an athlete and Hibari is a fighter they share a love of being challenged, even when Yamamoto isn’t yet up to Hibari’s standards. Yamamoto has the confidence to attempt taking him on, something relatively few people seem to do; Hibari might not consider him a worthy opponent but he respects him enough to utilize more of his weapon’s capacity than he does for other people (excluding DW!Tsuna, who at this point in the manga is pretty broken).
In fact, there are strong parallels to the way they both treat combat. Neither Hibari nor Yamamoto seems to take the violent situations they’re in “seriously”--which doesn’t mean they’ll fail to give something their all. Both have a high degree of pride in their strength, and not without justification. According to Fuuta’s stolen rankings, Yamamoto is the second strongest in NamiChu while Hibari is first. The gap between them early in the manga might be huge, but by the beginning of the rings arc, Yamamoto has improved enough to seriously catch Hibari’s eye. It’s also the first indication that they have very similar ethics regarding battle. Whereas Gokudera and Tsuna might fight to protect others and for the good of the family, there’s some part of Yamamoto that views the fight itself as a matter of personal pride. Hibari and Yamamoto, more than most of the others, take genuine pleasure in the battle itself and not just in the cause or the outcome.
BUT WHAT DOES HIBARI FEEL
Hibari is a tricky subject. By and large it’s overly simplistic to claim that he has a soft heart beneath his exterior crankiness. He really doesn’t. He won’t make handmade valentines, he won’t pine or sigh longingly over an absent sweetheart, and he won’t ever let the words “I love you” pass his lips. Furthermore, it’s not even a tsundere act on his part. It genuinely would not occur to him that those would be things a partner would require; if it did, he would be annoyed at the idea or expectation that he would provide it. Rather than caving he would be much more likely to walk away or to lash out.
That’s not to say that he’s incapable of romance, but it must and will always be on his terms and it’s extremely unlikely that he’d think of it that way. Rather than romantic attachments he has conquests, obligations, or possessions. He’s a territorial person and a demanding one. His claim on Yamamoto reaches back to Namimori Middle, because just as he prizes his school above all else he places value on those who can add to its reputation. In the novels, he’s shown helping Yamamoto train the baseball team (by beating the shit out of them) because it’s important to him that they do well and bring honor to his precious school.
Hibari is, generally speaking, incredibly aloof and indifferent. In Bullet Novel 2 he’s described as “a descended-from-noble-blood upper-class resident...no, he had the air of a fey being that transcended that kind of world.” He views himself as the force of law and order at Namimori, but at the same time he frequently seems to view dealing with menial things as somehow beneath him. Something can draw his negative attention long enough for him to maul it and then be immediately dismissed and forgotten afterwards. It’s because of this aloofness that it’s important to note when people actually do manage to strike him as notable or memorable; there are relatively few of these. Reborn, Tsuna, Dino, Kusakabe, Mukuro, Ryohei and Yamamoto are all comparatively rare exceptions to the general rule.
Yamamoto draws Hibari’s attention for the first time in the Rings arc, and that attention seems to linger and grow into a fledgling sense of respect. Yamamoto’s battle is the only one Hibari stays to watch during that arc, and while he never says what he thinks of it the fact remains that he entrusts his ring to Yamamoto during the final battle of the arc when he has to temporarily bow out. By the middle of the future arc he’s certainly aware of and acknowledges Yamamoto’s strength; more than any of Yamamoto’s other teammates, after their initial clashes Hibari never seems surprised by Yamamoto’s talent or growth. That by no means implies that he consider Yamamoto an equal, but he does him the reasonably high honor of remembering his name. The fact that Hibari isn’t really seen trying to pick fights with Yamamoto suggests that unlike Dino or Mukuro he doesn’t really see Yamamoto as a worthy opponent, but he does consider him sufficiently interesting to track his progress.
Hibari tends to form his fixations on those who defeat him and walk away before he has a chance for a rematch (Reborn and Mukuro come specifically to mind). He’s drawn to strength and he’s a pretty terrible loser--which is, oddly enough, a trait he somewhat shares with Yamamoto. Yamamoto’s acceptance of the Rain ring in order to challenge Squalo isn’t all that different in tone from Hibari’s obsession with pounding Mukuro’s face in. Both of them have considerable pride in their skill and power and become stubborn and focused in defense of it or to redeem what they consider a shameful loss. It’s a trait that could keep them both coming back for an infinite number of sparring matches in order to balance past losses and it’s also a point of potential shared understanding.
But none of this actually ties back into shippy type stuff. Which is to say: yeah, Hibari’s still pretty terrible at romance. He’s not a soft or thoughtful person. He’s a quiet and self-contained and generally reserved and frequently violent person, none of which translates well into candlelit dinners and flowers. He’s really not that type. However, Hibari is in many ways fairly feline in temperament. He’s a spoiled rich kid at heart and he enjoys refinement and luxuries, even TYL; a look around his rooms in the Vongola base show that he’s pretty particular about enforcing his sense of style and ownership on his territory. He won’t remember anniversaries with little gifts, but he hates unbalanced debts, and if someone gives him something and he actually accepts it he’s likely to reciprocate in kind. Potentially offhand and without apparently meaning anything ~special~ by it. He won’t ever propose a date (except fight dates, and there he won’t so much propose as leap upon someone if he’s In The Moment) but neither will he reject good food if it’s offered him. He hates being trapped, constrained, or tricked and the key point is that even “in a relationship” he remains a free agent. He is a very loyal person in the sense that he’s incredibly possessive. If he considers something or someone “his” he will happily murder anyone who touches or disturbs them, not out of any particular sentimentality or softer nature, but because it’s disrespectful of his authority. (And possibly, maybe, because he cares. Like one sugar grain of caring to every three liters of possessive anger. This is an important balance to keep in mind.) He hates having his sleep disturbed, but he loves comfort, and he would tolerate sharing a bed if he were too comfortable to move or if the warmth were preferable and the other party could keep from waking him up. (And if they did wake him up, no force on earth would stop him from attempted murder, save laziness.) So Hibari in a relationship is only very, faintly, marginally more affectionate than Hibari any other way. Not unlike letting a stray cat into your house, he will sleep wherever the fuck he feels like, eat your food, claim your space as your own, claw you if you touch him and he’s not in the mood, and waltz back out the door again whenever he feels like it. The difference being that if he has a legitimate bond or tie to someone he will always come back, in his own time and when he feels inclined.
what i should actually cover in a fucking shipping manifesto: why yamamoto makes hibari feel feels
This is one of those pairings where I feel like a reaction I get a lot is “it’s pretty in art, but it doesn’t make sense with the characters.” Except people are wrong, because they’re totally fucking (and if they’re not, they should be) and this is why.
From whence cometh the sexual tension
At first glance, Yamamoto and Hibari look like polar opposites. Yamamoto is sunny and good-tempered, chipper, reliable, and ordinary. Hibari is aloof, violent, terse, and genuinely strange. However, they have a kind of common ground in the fact that they’re both very physical creatures. In their first meeting, Yamamoto is the one who spots Hibari first, and the one who holds out the longest against him without intervention (about 2.5 seconds). Though Yamamoto is an athlete and Hibari is a fighter they share a love of being challenged, even when Yamamoto isn’t yet up to Hibari’s standards. Yamamoto has the confidence to attempt taking him on, something relatively few people seem to do; Hibari might not consider him a worthy opponent but he respects him enough to utilize more of his weapon’s capacity than he does for other people (excluding DW!Tsuna, who at this point in the manga is pretty broken).
In fact, there are strong parallels to the way they both treat combat. Neither Hibari nor Yamamoto seems to take the violent situations they’re in “seriously”--which doesn’t mean they’ll fail to give something their all. Both have a high degree of pride in their strength, and not without justification. According to Fuuta’s stolen rankings, Yamamoto is the second strongest in NamiChu while Hibari is first. The gap between them early in the manga might be huge, but by the beginning of the rings arc, Yamamoto has improved enough to seriously catch Hibari’s eye. It’s also the first indication that they have very similar ethics regarding battle. Whereas Gokudera and Tsuna might fight to protect others and for the good of the family, there’s some part of Yamamoto that views the fight itself as a matter of personal pride. Hibari and Yamamoto, more than most of the others, take genuine pleasure in the battle itself and not just in the cause or the outcome.
BUT WHAT DOES HIBARI FEEL
Hibari is a tricky subject. By and large it’s overly simplistic to claim that he has a soft heart beneath his exterior crankiness. He really doesn’t. He won’t make handmade valentines, he won’t pine or sigh longingly over an absent sweetheart, and he won’t ever let the words “I love you” pass his lips. Furthermore, it’s not even a tsundere act on his part. It genuinely would not occur to him that those would be things a partner would require; if it did, he would be annoyed at the idea or expectation that he would provide it. Rather than caving he would be much more likely to walk away or to lash out.
That’s not to say that he’s incapable of romance, but it must and will always be on his terms and it’s extremely unlikely that he’d think of it that way. Rather than romantic attachments he has conquests, obligations, or possessions. He’s a territorial person and a demanding one. His claim on Yamamoto reaches back to Namimori Middle, because just as he prizes his school above all else he places value on those who can add to its reputation. In the novels, he’s shown helping Yamamoto train the baseball team (by beating the shit out of them) because it’s important to him that they do well and bring honor to his precious school.
Hibari is, generally speaking, incredibly aloof and indifferent. In Bullet Novel 2 he’s described as “a descended-from-noble-blood upper-class resident...no, he had the air of a fey being that transcended that kind of world.” He views himself as the force of law and order at Namimori, but at the same time he frequently seems to view dealing with menial things as somehow beneath him. Something can draw his negative attention long enough for him to maul it and then be immediately dismissed and forgotten afterwards. It’s because of this aloofness that it’s important to note when people actually do manage to strike him as notable or memorable; there are relatively few of these. Reborn, Tsuna, Dino, Kusakabe, Mukuro, Ryohei and Yamamoto are all comparatively rare exceptions to the general rule.
Yamamoto draws Hibari’s attention for the first time in the Rings arc, and that attention seems to linger and grow into a fledgling sense of respect. Yamamoto’s battle is the only one Hibari stays to watch during that arc, and while he never says what he thinks of it the fact remains that he entrusts his ring to Yamamoto during the final battle of the arc when he has to temporarily bow out. By the middle of the future arc he’s certainly aware of and acknowledges Yamamoto’s strength; more than any of Yamamoto’s other teammates, after their initial clashes Hibari never seems surprised by Yamamoto’s talent or growth. That by no means implies that he consider Yamamoto an equal, but he does him the reasonably high honor of remembering his name. The fact that Hibari isn’t really seen trying to pick fights with Yamamoto suggests that unlike Dino or Mukuro he doesn’t really see Yamamoto as a worthy opponent, but he does consider him sufficiently interesting to track his progress.
Hibari tends to form his fixations on those who defeat him and walk away before he has a chance for a rematch (Reborn and Mukuro come specifically to mind). He’s drawn to strength and he’s a pretty terrible loser--which is, oddly enough, a trait he somewhat shares with Yamamoto. Yamamoto’s acceptance of the Rain ring in order to challenge Squalo isn’t all that different in tone from Hibari’s obsession with pounding Mukuro’s face in. Both of them have considerable pride in their skill and power and become stubborn and focused in defense of it or to redeem what they consider a shameful loss. It’s a trait that could keep them both coming back for an infinite number of sparring matches in order to balance past losses and it’s also a point of potential shared understanding.
But none of this actually ties back into shippy type stuff. Which is to say: yeah, Hibari’s still pretty terrible at romance. He’s not a soft or thoughtful person. He’s a quiet and self-contained and generally reserved and frequently violent person, none of which translates well into candlelit dinners and flowers. He’s really not that type. However, Hibari is in many ways fairly feline in temperament. He’s a spoiled rich kid at heart and he enjoys refinement and luxuries, even TYL; a look around his rooms in the Vongola base show that he’s pretty particular about enforcing his sense of style and ownership on his territory. He won’t remember anniversaries with little gifts, but he hates unbalanced debts, and if someone gives him something and he actually accepts it he’s likely to reciprocate in kind. Potentially offhand and without apparently meaning anything ~special~ by it. He won’t ever propose a date (except fight dates, and there he won’t so much propose as leap upon someone if he’s In The Moment) but neither will he reject good food if it’s offered him. He hates being trapped, constrained, or tricked and the key point is that even “in a relationship” he remains a free agent. He is a very loyal person in the sense that he’s incredibly possessive. If he considers something or someone “his” he will happily murder anyone who touches or disturbs them, not out of any particular sentimentality or softer nature, but because it’s disrespectful of his authority. (And possibly, maybe, because he cares. Like one sugar grain of caring to every three liters of possessive anger. This is an important balance to keep in mind.) He hates having his sleep disturbed, but he loves comfort, and he would tolerate sharing a bed if he were too comfortable to move or if the warmth were preferable and the other party could keep from waking him up. (And if they did wake him up, no force on earth would stop him from attempted murder, save laziness.) So Hibari in a relationship is only very, faintly, marginally more affectionate than Hibari any other way. Not unlike letting a stray cat into your house, he will sleep wherever the fuck he feels like, eat your food, claim your space as your own, claw you if you touch him and he’s not in the mood, and waltz back out the door again whenever he feels like it. The difference being that if he has a legitimate bond or tie to someone he will always come back, in his own time and when he feels inclined.
what i should actually cover in a fucking shipping manifesto: why yamamoto makes hibari feel feels
- he's smoking hot with a sword
- also when angry
- and especially in kimono
- they're the token traditional japanese boys
- he wants to know what makes him tick
- did i mention he's hot