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Smells Like School Spirit - Kyoya Hibari (Katekyo Hitman REBORN!)
“I’ll bite you to death!”
Do you remember a time back in your school days when you met someone who showed complete loyalty to your school to a huge degree? I don’t know about you guys, but reading about Kyoya Hibari, of Akira Amano’s Katekyo Hitman REBORN!, makes me wonder about young teenagers who are exuberant about the schools they attend. Hibari is a character who loves his school so much that he uses his love to achieve a position of power at his school and to justify his actions upon others with that power.
Hibari is a student of Namimori Middle School, where he is the leader of the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee. Anyone he deems to be a rule-breaker at Namimori is subject to his wrath. Hibari loves his school to the point where he has his school’s anthem as his cellphone ringtone. His pet bird, Hibird, sings the ringtone to Hibari’s delight. He has an infamous catchphrase where he proclaims “I’ll bite you to death!” to anyone he feels is disrespecting his school. Hibari is also an individual who prefers to be alone and will beat up anyone that bothers him. He is one of the most popular male characters in anime/manga today and is loved by Japanese female anime/manga fans, as they have voted him #1 as the anime/manga husband they wish to have back in a 2009 “top anime husbands” poll. Women have also voted Hibari #5 in a 2011 poll focusing on anime characters women wanted to marry.
What drives students to be deeply loyal to their schools? One factor could be the uniforms that schools require their students to wear. When you wear a uniform, you might feel a sense of loyalty because everyone else will be wearing the same uniform as you. Also, wearing a uniform can teach students discipline, as they are usually required to wear one to school. They have to make sure that they follow the rules. (For more pros (and cons) of school uniforms, you can read this article on school uniforms.) Other factors are the school’s facilities, its history, the mission of the school, and the vision that the school has.
Not much is known about Namimori Middle School, except for its anthem. Usually, a school’s anthem resonates with its core values. One has to wonder if Hibari loves his school because its matches his personal view of “discipline”. Does Hibari see himself as “vigorous and gallant” as the anthem states in its lyrics? Another thing to note is that Hibari is somewhat of a juvenile delinquent. Perhaps he owes the school his life. Teenagers tend to be juvenile delinquents mostly due to a lack of parental supervision and discipline. They try to make sense of the world and struggle to build an identity for themselves.
Perhaps Hibari’s character is a good example of how schools can cure juvenile delinquency. Develop an extracurricular activity that benefits the individual, allows him/her to be themselves, and also implicitly teaches them a variety of positive traits. If Hibari never became the leader of the Disciplinary Committee, he would have never met Tsunayoshi Sawada, Reborn, and the rest of the main characters. He also would have never taken on the huge responsibility of being the Cloud Guardian of the Vongola Family. Hibari learns to be a bit more friendly from being around the Vongola. In a sense, he has a positive way to channel whatever violent urges he may have with those he considers to be his rivals (Mukuro Rokudo, Dino, Reborn, and Tsuna). While Hibari is still a bit wacky when it comes to enforcing school rules (he does this outside of Namimori Middle School), the character does become a better person as fans can see with regards to his future self in the Future Arc.
Reborn fans, what do you think of Hibari as a character? Some have argued that he’s too perfect (the main cast considers him the Vongola’s strongest Guardian) and has little character development. His past hasn’t been focused on, but it will be interesting to see how Hibari has become the person he is today. The only thing I can say for certain is that school still serves a purpose in saving delinquents to a certain degree and Hibari is a good example of that.
With regards to Hibari’s motif as the Cloud Guardian, even clouds need to be guided properly with the aid of the vast sky.
