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Old 06-09-2014, 09:27 PM   #401
Talon87
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(Spoilers about pacing through Episodes 075, 133 of the 2011 HxH anime.)

Spoiler: show
About a week ago, on a complete whim, I loaded up Episode 045 of Hunter x Hunter. This led to me rewatching all of the Yorknew City arc from that episode forward. And once that finished up, I just couldn't resist: I had to go ahead and watch all of Greed Island as well. I just finished Episode 075 tonight. And ...

Well, I've gotta say: pacing, pacing, pacing! I remember both of these arcs of Hunter x Hunter being thrilling yet infuriating to watch as they aired what with how we'd only get 22-minute morsels of entertainment once each week. The episodes themselves were delightfully entertaining but the seven-day wait between episodes was killer. So what happens when you remove that seven-day wait and get to marathon the story instead? You get one hell of an entertaining story. Because of the serialized nature of Hunter x Hunter, each episode has to offer viewers some entertainment. (At least that's the ideal, the working theory. And in practice it holds up in the vast majority of cases.) So each individual episode is nice. But when you get to watch one after the other, it's like eating caviar.

The other thing I have to remark on is how ridiculously long the current story arc is. Everyone knows it, but you don't really know it until a case like this. I felt very satisfied with Yorknew City on the reviewing but I was a little surprised by just how quickly the plot moved along. The same goes for Greed Island. For both story arcs, I'd be like, "Well from what I recall, A happens next, then B, then C, then D, and so forth." And the show would prove me right! So what's the problem? Well, the problem is that even though I remembered A --> B --> C --> D, I could've sworn that there was some padding in between each of these events. But no! No, no. There was no padding in between these events. To Togashi's credit, his writing is almost entirely devoid of even the minutest amounts of filler: and as a result, what had felt to me like an infuriatingly long wait for my pot of gold at the end of the story arc rainbow when I watched Yorknew City and Greed Island air on television for the first time now felt like not such a long wait after all.

Let's talk facts. The number of episodes between when Kurapica kidnaps Uvogin and when the Yorknew City arc wraps up, inclusive, is only fifteen episodes. (Episode 044, that I didn't see, would be the start of this window; and Episode 058, the final episode of the story arc, would be the end of it.) The number of episodes between the start of Greed Island and the end of it, inclusive, is only seventeen episodes. (Episode 059 is the beginning and Episode 075 is the end.) The number of episodes between the start of the Chimera Ant story arc and where we are right now is a whopping fifty-eight episodes. (Episode 076 is the first episode and we're about to see 133 tomorrow and we know for a fact that it will be more Chimera Ant material.) Let that sink in for a little bit. Yorknew City? Probably about twenty-four or so episodes long in total (with the inclusion of Kurapica learning Nen, Kurapica getting hired by the Nostrade family, etc). Greed Island? A verified seventeen episodes. Chimera Ants? Fifty-eight fucking episodes. ^^; Togashi could have told two Yorknew City-sized stories in this same window of time and had spare room left over for half a Greed Island.

The final thing I have to comment on is the absurd nature of the power creep during the Chimera Ant arc. Re-watching Yorknew City and Greed Island, I couldn't help but to laugh at how once-scary threats seemed to be utterly impotent next to a Neferpitou or max-power Gon, never mind a Meruem. No, actually: it's worse than that. Few if any of the characters seen in Greed Island besides Biscuit Krueger would've been anywhere near a match for Knuckle Bine -- including Greed Island Gon and Greed Island Killua. The arc makes a big deal about claiming that even though Gon has more raw potential and stronger basics than players like Tsezgerra or Genthru, he doesn't match up to them in terms of their experience and all that that affords them -- wisdom, insight, aura reserves, and so on. Even as Greed Island wraps up, there are individuals like the Nen-purging shaman who remark on the fact that Gon managed to defeat Genthru, correctly surmising that he must have used a clever plan to ensnare Genthru -- because otherwise, had it been a strict 1v1 fight, Genthru should have won. This now feels like a sick joke. Because Genthru doesn't feel like someone who would match up to the stronger Chimera Ant commanders like Zazan or Leon. He doesn't feel like someone who would match up to Knuckle or Morel. And we know that these characters are outclassed by the Royal Guard. Who are in turn outclassed by Netero, Max-power Gon, and the King. While I realize that power creep is a fact of life for nearly every shounen manga on the planet and that you're always going to get a little bit of this feeling I'm describing when you decide to go back and re-watch older story arcs, I have to emphasize that the gap in power level between the end of Greed Island and the end of the Chimera Ant arc is ten times greater than the gaps in power between any two adjacent earlier story arcs. End of Yorknew to end of Greed Island? Not as big. End of Heavens Arena to end of Yorknew? Not as big. End of Hunter exam (we'll skip the visit to Killua's house) to end of Heavens Arena? Not as big. Those gaps all felt like they were on roughly the same scale, like they were points on a line graph that belonged to the same function. But the gap between the end of Greed Island and the end of the Chimera Ant arc is just insane. We go from "characters' lives are endangered by a man who can create a small explosion" to "characters repeatedly survive megaton explosions; characters can summon stars and planets with which to crush or incinerate enemies; literally being petrified by lava and losing every limb of your body doesn't have to mean death so long as your servants feed your the flesh of their own bodies; and more."

As far as rewatching old episodes goes, I think I'm done for now. I don't have the desire to go back and watch any of 001 thru 044 having just recently watched the superior 045 to 075; and I don't really feel like "re-"watching a story arc that, in the present, we still haven't escaped. ^^; It makes me slightly ill to even think about doing it. But maybe in a year or so once the dust settles and HxH 2011 is wrapping up, I'll be able to look back at the current story arc a little more fondly. And maybe then, at that time, it'll be as much of a treat to watch Episodes 076 thru 130-whatever as it was watching Episodes 045 thru 075.
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Old 07-09-2014, 12:29 PM   #402
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Episode 137: With the Chimera Ant arc officially out of the way, Episode 137 being the first full episode beyond the wrap-up of the story arc, I'm ready to hop back on the saddle and post here about episodes once again.

Spoiler: show
So after dicking around with chimeras -- what is with mangaka and their fascination with one of my least favorite fantasy concepts!? -- for nearly half the manga's run thus far, Togashi finally decides to get us back to ... well, all the other plot threads that are hanging loose from previous story arcs. And what better place to start than the mystery man himself: Ging.


I was surprised to discover that Ging was assigned the boar. Like the narrator disclaims, not all of the Hunters fit their Netero-assigned animal. I guess time will have to tell to what extent Ging does or does not suit the boar. Some pertinent trivia from Wikipedia:
  • "According to the myths, the Pig was the last to arrive when the Jade Emperor called for the great meeting. Other sources said that Buddha called for a great meeting when he was about to leave the earth. The Pig came in last." This adds some lemon zest to the jab that Saiyuu offers Ging when he remarks that even Ging has made it to the meeting before Pariston.
  • The personality of the boar depends on which element he has affinity with. Quoting straight off of Wikipedia ...
    • Those who were born in the year of the Wooden Pig are said to possess stronger convictions than the rest. Yet, like the bamboo, he is flexible when the situation calls for it.
    • Those born in the year of the Fire Pig are supposed to be enthusiastic, extroverted, rebellious, passionate, brave and valiant; however, they can also be hot-tempered, snappy, uncontrollable and short-tempered.
    • Those born in the year of the Earthen Pig are believed to be calm, practical, hard-working, brave, smart, wise, stable and patient; however, they can also be stubborn, possessive, nearsighted and very harsh.
    • Metal, being the hardest of the elements give the Pig an air of firmness, rigidity, persistence, strength and determination. The Metal Pig can be controlling, ambitious, forceful and set in their ways. They are often more self-reliant and prefer to handle their problems alone.
    • Being its natural element, those born in the year of the Water Pig are said to show the extremes of being a Pig. They can be very emotional, deep, nurturing, sympathetic, empathetic, imaginative and intuitive; however, they can also be cold, moody, jealous, sentimental, sensitive, escapistic and irrational.
    As one might expect from horoscope-type stuff, the five pigs cover an enormous range of personality possibilities, so it may prove inevitable that we see elements of the boar in Ging regardless.
  • "The Pig belongs to the 4th Trine of the Chinese Zodiac, along with the Rabbit and the Goat. It is said that the relationship between these three archetypes work best as they strive for aestheticism, beauty, and a more philosophical, and intellectual approach in life. Their calm nature gives them great leadership abilities." Perhaps this suggests that Ging will be teaming up with Piyon and Ginta.
  • "The Snake is said to be the most incompatible with the Pig as the jovial character of the Pig is very opposite from that of the reserved and contemplative Snake." While Geru didn't seem to be especially antagonistic towards Ging in this episode, perhaps we will see antagonism out of her towards him in the future.
I'm interested in Ging's comment to Beans about hunting some "prey." The most obvious candidate is Pariston ... but part of me wonders if that may be too obvious, if Pariston might not be a red herring and that, while he's naturally scheming and wanting to be in power, he isn't actually evil. (Doubtful given the disappearances that Mizaistom brought up, but we'll see.) What if Ging's prey is another one of the Zodiacs? What if it isn't even a Zodiac but rather, per Ging's remarkable ability to think hundreds of steps ahead, it is someone on the outside? We'll just have to wait and see.

When I first heard Koyama Rikiya's voice attached to Ging Freecs a hundred episodes ago, I thought it was pretty darn cool if mildly distracting. It's difficult for me to not associate this voice with Emiya Kiritsugu, but with Ging largely off camera I was allowed to accept the idea that Koyama had been perfectly cast for the role. Then as we saw glimpses of Ging throughout the Greed Island story arc, my confidence in the role assignment began to waver. And now, now that we have Ging right in front of us, I'm definitely scratching my head wondering why that voice is coming out of that man. ^^; It's not a bad voice! But I can't help but feel like it's mismatched to Ging's character, from what we've been shown.


While it isn't 100% clear what we're witnessing here, I took it to be Gon receiving his Hunter's license card. Togashi, you have no idea how satisfied I would be if you got the boy his card back ...


Of all the eleven other Zodiacs, Mizaistom is the one who most strikes me as a non-throwaway character. His design isn't over the top like most of the characters, his demeanor suggests a competent and powerful Hunter, etc. At the same time, I get the impression that he is one of the Zodiacs whom the narrator was speaking of when he indicated that some went out of their way to resemble the animal codenames which Netero had assigned to them. Like ... I seriously doubt that he wore that silly helmet before becoming Ox.

Listening to Mizaistom speak, there were times where I heard shades of Ohtsuka Akio, the man who voiced Rider in Fate/Zero and Uvogin in our very HxH 2011. He sounded just like him during these moments, but they were ever so brief. For the most part, Mizaistom sounded like a completely different person. (Whereas Uvogin pretty much sounded like a carbon copy of Rider.) So I was curious: is Mizaistom voiced by Ohtsuka Akio? Or is he not and I'm just imagining things? Well, it turns out ... that go me! He is voiced by Ohtsuka Akio! I guess Madhouse loved the guy too much to (quote unquote) "let his talents go to waste" on a character like Uvogin who died too soon. I guess we'll just have to see how long Akio keeps up the charade with Mizaistom, putting forth a personal effort to not sound like Rider/Uvogin. I give it four months tops. But maybe he'll prove me wrong! :o (Though if Mizaistom is ever to bellow, then I think it will be unavoidable. Dat Ohtsuka Akio battlecry. )


Pariston, design-wise, feels like such a throwaway character. His design just feels so utterly generic and forgettable. Like, he looks like someone who could have been one of the auctioneers during the Yorknew City arc. Or maybe one of the shopkeepers that the boys ran into while trying to make enough money to purchase a copy of Greed Island. But I guess that's the point with Pariston: his design is meant to evoke the feeling that he looks completely ordinary, totally harmless. You're supposed to appreciate with him just how badly looks can be deceiving and how, even if he's been animated to look like Generic Male Character No.3033, he's going to prove to be quite formidable in one way or another.

According to Wikipedia, the rat enjoys the following characteristics:
  • Positive: ambitious, intelligent, persuasive, sociable, charming, god like, charismatic, shrewd, industrious, meticulous, tenacious, artistic, eloquent
  • Negative: vindictive, manipulative, selfish, cunning, self-destructive, exploitative, scheming, arrogant, amoral, jealous, suspicious, ruthless, critical, venal, envious, greedy
Again, there are so many traits listed here that we could probably convince ourselves of the correctness in labeling almost any character a rat , but I think it's fair to say that we've already seen quite a few things out of Pariston that seem to line up here. His ambition, charisma, and eloquence have all already been brought up; as have his cunning, scheming, and -- if Mizaistom's accusations are on the mark -- ruthlessness.

I was curious to see who Pariston was voiced by, to see if I recognized him in any other roles. For whatever reason, once I found out that he was voiced by Takahashi Hiroki I scrolled down first to the HxH section to see if maybe he had voiced anyone else in the series already, much like Ohtsuka Akio has. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that ... (Yuki, see if you can guess the answer before clicking!)

Spoiler: show
... he was none other than the voice of Hisoka in the original HxH anime! :O Dun dun duuuuuuuuuun! So that's neat. That they brought the guy back, if not as Hisoka then as, presumably, a major antagonist in this next story arc.

As for roles in other anime where I might have heard him before, he played Japan in Hetalia, Kikumaru in The Prince of Tennis, and my man Harima Kenji in School Rumble. Toss on Joey Wheeler in the raw version of Yu-Gi-Oh! and yeah: this guy's alright in my book.


Of the twelve Zodiacs, I think that Cluck is my favorite. Her design strikes me as the most fun and aesthetically appealing. On the boring end of the spectrum, you have Pariston and Ging; and on the over-the-top end of the spectrum, you have Botobai and, if she modified herself through surgery and wasn't already an anthropomorphic dog, Cheadle; but snugly in the middle, you have Cluck. Her design suits her assigned animal but it's mostly restricted to her clothes and hair. She otherwise looks like a normal, attractive woman. She doesn't have the needle teeth of Kanzai, the ridiculous mustache and facepaint of Botobai, the dog ears and dog nose of Cheadle, etc. She doesn't look like she fell out of One Piece the way that Ginta does either.

Okay, so, I could go on forever and ever and describe all twelve Zodiacs, but that would take much too long. So I'll wrap it up here and just mention two more Zodiacs but for a very specific reason.


Saiyuu is a solid example to me of a silly, juvenile concept+design. I'm not saying I necessarily hate him, but like ... his design is pretty much Togashi's lazy tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous Sun Wukong the Monkey King of Chinese legend. This is obvious in two main ways: his looks and his name.

His looks speak for themselves; if you've never seen depictions of Sun Wukong before, go look them up. Although I guess I can say "Infernape was inspired by Sun Wukong" and leave it at that as well.

But what about his name? Well his name, Saiyuu, is the first two syllables of the Japanese name for Journey to the West: 西遊記 or Saiyuuki. So it's like ... his name is a play on words, and not only that but it's the sort that a 5th grader would be expected to come up with. ^^; Not to knock Togashi too hard for this, but it's this sort of thing that takes me out of the story. It's already a hard sell that the twelve best Hunters (beneath Netero) were solid matches for the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. But when you break the fourth wall with hammy references to real-life history and culture, I dunno ... it takes me out of the story. ^^;


Which brings us to Kanzai. He is a cute character, I'll grant Togashi that much, but my word if he isn't horribly cliché. "Oh look: he's supposed to be a tiger. Oh look: the clothes he wears resemble the uniform of the Hanshin Tigers. NEVER SEEN THAT ONE BEFORE." Making it worse, much like with the case of Saiyuu, is Kanzai's name: Kanzai. It's one voiced letter away from being Kansai, i.e. the Kansai region of Japan with which the Hanshin Tigers are associated.

I dunno. I want to like Kanzai. Especially since he had some interaction with Hisoka and Hisoka graded him an 85. But yeah ... I don't like what a breaks-the-fourth-wall gag he is.


What's amusing to me about the election is that the election itself seems like a boring story arc premise compared with all of the previous ones yet it's the characters involved who promise to make it entertaining. It's going to be fun to watch Ging corner his prey. It's going to be fun to see what tricks Pariston has up his sleeves. It's going to be fun to see to what extent the other Zodiacs ally with Ging, Pariston, or neither. And I guess it's going to be fun to see who winds up as the new chairman of the Hunter's Association. I remarked to Yuki that since Togashi went to the effort of having Ging stipulate that every Hunter is a legal candidate to become the next chairman, it most likely means that the next chairman will be none of the Zodiacs. I then joked to her -- "Watch it be Leorio. " But I'll just say it right now: that would be too silly. Anyway, we'll see. I won't be surprised to see Gon & Co. rally the voters to vote for their preferred candidate instead of voting for Pariston. But as for who that candidate will be, only time will tell. (If Beans is a Hunter, then maybe it will be Beans.)


I thought the voting scene was both cute and silly. I liked seeing familiar faces, sure, but it felt awfully canned that the characters we knew were all together in line like that. I was glad to see Bisky but torn that she was restricted to such a meager cameo. Maybe it's asking for too much for her to be in every single story arc going forward -- maybe we wouldn't even want that for her -- but I sure do hope that if she sits this one out that she'll be back in a big way for the next one.

I couldn't help but notice that Wing and Goreinu were together in line. That could just be Togashi/Madhouse squeezing recognizable characters in together, but it could also be implying that Goreinu knows Wing (whether he did before Greed Island or whether he's only met Wing in the time since we last saw him). We'll have to see.

Hanzo's cameo was nice too but, like Bisky's, left me feeling a little frustrated. Ever since the Hunter Exam a year and a half ago, I have wanted the boys to run into Hanzo again. Patience, I guess! Patience.


Getting to see Hisoka and Illumi again was nice. Though I'm not sure how much I care for the idea that many of the Zodiacs rank lower on Hisoka's scale than Illumi. (Piyon, 77; Kanzai, 85; Ginta, 90; and then, I presume it was Illumi that Hisoka was sensing when he detected the 95, 95.) I appreciate that not every Hunter is a warrior. You've got your Menchis and your Leorios, true. But I dunno ... I guess it just kind of makes the Hunter's Association feel sort of like Mensa in the sense that, while Mensa claims to be an organization for the world's smartest individuals, most of the world's smartest individuals don't actually bother to be a Mensa member. (Why pay money just to be told that you're smart? ) Furthermore, I guess it strikes me as silly that Hunters like Bisky aren't Zodiac material in Netero's eyes yet more childish, less powerful individuals are. (In before Hisoka claims that Bisky is only a 60 and I have to choke Togashi. ) Anyway, point is, Hisoka establishes that Illumi is a 95, cementing Illumi's status as one of the world's most dangerous men. One can only imagine what Hisoka would think then of Silva. ;o

I agree with Yuki that Hisoka's reaction to the news that Gon's and Killua's lives are in danger was amusingly cute. It's funny that he cares so much about their well-being ... even if it's only because he wants them to be ripe before slaughtering them himself. ^^; That look of determination on his face ... it's like he's saying, "No. I will not allow it. Tell me, Illumi, and be quick. Tell me where the boys are, that I may rescue them posthaste." Super Hisoka to the rescue? ^^; Should be entertaining if it happens.


Togashi and his traps. Before the issue of Kalluto's gender is even resolved, we have Togashi introducing a new Zoldyck trap! Although this time, at least, Togashi is kind enough to confirm right out of the gate that the "girl" we saw Killua carrying in the OP credits is in fact a boy. I guess it will be interesting to see why Killua is heading home (presumably to retrieve his little brother) when his goal is to cure Gon. Presumably the boy possesses powers which Killua believes will prove useful/necessary in curing Gon. But still: from what little we've seen of the character, he seems to be little more than a Flandre Scarlet, a terrifyingly powerful little devil who kills without remorse.


Last but not least ... the OP and ED credits. So ... going into this episode, I told Yuki that I placed the odds at 9:1 against Madhouse giving us a new OP song. And I even said that those odds might be too generous. Well, sure enough Madhouse did not give us a new OP song. We return to the first verse of "~Departure~" and get some new animation to tide us over. But the ED is where the real surprise lurks. Because the ED:
  1. I wondered which new band would show up. Surely not Yuzu again!
  2. I was confident we'd be getting a new song.
Not only did Madhouse have Yuzu stay on to give us their fourth ending in a row ... but they didn't even give us a new song this time. TROOOOOOOOOLLHOUUUUUUUUUUUSE! We get a remix (or a second verse of the original version?) of the fifth ending theme song, the one we just finished saying good-bye to. So yeah. Not only could we not escape Departure ... but we could not escape Yuzu and their third song either! ^^; Craaaaaaazy.

The OP credits have some fun visuals. I especially like the part with Killua carrying his little brother by piggyback. I'll have to go revisit them before I can offer more comments. This post is already super long though so maybe I'll just save that for next time.

As for the ED credits, all I'll say is: they give me the impression that this story arc is going to be the last one Madhouse animates before pulling the plug on HxH for a while. The picture frame with Gon, Killua, Kurapica, and Leorio -- unless it is an actual thing that shows up in the story, and even then ... -- seems to be a strong visual representation of us saying "Farewell, and hope to see you all again soon " to our four friends. I guess only time will tell whether I'm correct or not. I told Yuki though that HxH 2011 began airing right after Madhouse wrapped up work on the second season of Kaiji; and so I wonder if maybe, just maybe, they plan to put HxH on hold and return to Kaiji for a season or two; and then, having bought Togashi some time to hopefully wrap up his current story arc in the manga, they'll return to animating HxH for one final story arc before, inescapably, they catch right up to Togashi and have to retire the show indefinitely.

Last edited by Talon87; 07-09-2014 at 12:38 PM.
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Old 07-09-2014, 01:05 PM   #403
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Lil' Bluey

>Pariston's voice

Whaaaaaaat. XD

>Hisoka

Something I just thought of...

Spoiler: show
Wonder how he'll react if he finds out Gon supposedly can't use Nen anymore.


>Trollhouse

*imagines Troll House cookies*

>ED

I just listened to the full version again and...

Spoiler: show
It is another verse of ED5. ^^;
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Old 07-09-2014, 01:11 PM   #404
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbleucorsola View Post
Something I just thought of...

Spoiler: show
Wonder how he'll react if he finds out Gon supposedly can't use Nen anymore.
Probably like he did in Episode 058:

Spoiler: show
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Old 07-09-2014, 04:49 PM   #405
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137

Spoiler: show

It's still a bit early, so I can't say EVERYTHING I want to say yet, but I HATE the direction Togashi has gone with Alluka. He's done similar stuff in past works, but not like this, and the inflammatory posts that appear as a result of Alluka are not fun at all.

Most of the Zodiaks in the original manga (iirc) didn't get much focus, so I feel like the episode did a much better justice by showing them and giving them lines. I also agree with the Koyama casting, while he's certainly capable of playing a big-eyed character (like Nangou) was a wrong one. Ging looks like Gon + 10 years. Although, given how in the Chimera Ant Arc Gon-san kept his childish voice I'm not surprised at Madhouse's bit of a miscast here.

Kurapika is less hot that she was in previous appearances...
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Old 07-09-2014, 06:13 PM   #406
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I'm only going to ask this one last time: can we please keep discussion about the latest anime episodes strictly related to material which has aired on television so far? That is all I ask.

I don't want to know that you're excited for what you think is going to air on television in twenty episodes. I don't want to know that you can't wait to see my reaction to a character we've yet to properly meet. I don't want to know that this was your favorite arc, least favorite arc, or in between. I don't want to know that this week's episode was your favorite or least favorite of the story arc. I don't want to know that what I just witnessed is the flashiest flash, the biggest explosion, the most powerful move we're going to see in the story. I don't want to know anything that takes away from the surprises I hope to enjoy in trailblazing this story arc for myself.
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Old 07-15-2014, 07:07 PM   #407
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Episode 138:

Spoiler: show
This was an entertaining episode to watch. However, by episode's end I had a number of reservations, criticisms, or doubts about Togashi's latest character and the impact that (s)he will have on the plot.

A friendly little disclaimer since I'm not interested in entrapping anybody -- not a single one of the questions posed in this post is intended to be answered by anyone who has read ahead or otherwise has access to spoiler knowledge. Most questions are rhetorical; and the few that are not are not solicitations for actual answers from people who know them thanks to privileged information. Do not offer corrections if you have read ahead. If I've said anything wrong, leave it to fellow show watchers to catch it. If none us catch it and we keep going on with a mistaken assumption, too bad: do not correct us. Thank you.


First, though, let's discuss the opening scene of the episode. I'm not surprised to see that Pariston is already trying to append rules of his own to the election process. However, what does surprise me is how easily the others acquiesce to his demands. Was not Ging the one who won the right to establish the Constitutional rules of this process? And was not Beans the one assigned the task of Election Committee Chairperson? So why is Pariston even able to put his proposed rules to a group vote a) in Ging's absence and more importantly b) in Beans' absence!? Why is it even put up-able for a vote!? Shouldn't Beans be the one who pretty much, at this point, has full authority to add or refuse rules? I dunno ... it just seemed surprising to me that the group, Kanzai excepted, was so willing to go along with Pariston's suggestions.

I wonder what his agenda was regarding the seizure of fraudsters' and jokesters' Hunter licenses? Surely he's not after their cards for their resale value. It's got to be something else, something tied to denying people the right to be on the board or some such. Like ... maybe he was planning to get a hold of Ging's license card or something. Who knows. In any event, I wonder how this will affect individuals who fail to vote for the next election? Will Killua, Shalnark, or any other licensed Hunters who may be unable to reach a voting center in time find their Hunter license cards confiscated?

Moving along now to the main attraction ...


Alluka is an interesting character. However he ... she ... is not without her problems.

Let's start off with the matter of Alluka's gender. In last week's episode, Illumi indicates that the Zoldyck family has another son, one we've never heard of before. He specifically says ゾルディック家には、もう一人弟がいる -- literally, "In the Zoldyck clan, there is one more little brother." There is no gender ambiguity with 弟 otouto -- it is the word for little brother. This establishes in viewers' minds that Alluka is yet another one of Togashi's traps.

But fast forward to Episode 138 and CrunchyRoll is using "she" this, "sister" that, all of these feminine nouns and pronouns when make reference to Alluka. The thing is, for much of the episode the writers and consequently the voice actors are using either gender-neutral words (e.g. あいつ aitsu) or else they use no words at all; in the latter case, the word which would signify the subject or the direct object (whichever Alluka would be in that particular sentence) is omitted and left to the listener to fill in contextually. This carries on until 13m35s, at which time Killua says なんで俺は…こんな目にあって妹を…放っておけたんだ!? -- "How could I ... leave my little sister ... in a situation like this!?" He clearly refers to Alluka as 妹 imouto -- and just as was the case for 弟, there is no gender ambiguity with imouto. It means "little sister."

Things become further muddled when we enter the flashback sequence. Mitsuba, the maid who wound up killed by Alluka later in the episode, refers to Alluka as Alluka-bocchan, an honorific usually reserved for the young son of an aristocratic family, frequently translated into English as "Young Master." (The female equivalent would be ojou-chan.) And Yasuha, the replacement maid who ends up wishing to become a millionaire, similarly calls Alluka Alluka-bocchama. These ways of addressing Alluka seems to corroborate Illumi's take from Episode 137 that Alluka is indeed male. Alluka is also dressed in boys' clothing in these flashback scenes.

At 19m15s, we see Alluka playing with dolls. (And not just any dolls -- take a closer look and you'll find that it's none other than Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask from Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. ) Clearly Togashi and/or Madhouse is teasing the matter of Alluka's gender. Soon after, CrunchyRoll has the boys' mother using "he" to refer to Alluka instead of the usual "she". Does this mean that even CrunchyRoll can't keep Alluka's gender straight? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps Killua is the only one to refer to Alluka using feminine nouns and pronouns. Or perhaps something happens between the past and the present that accounts for this shift in how Alluka looks and is perceived by certain characters. Maybe someone wished that Alluka be a girl and so he got gender swapped? :o Who knows. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.


But enough about gender. What about Alluka's powers? That was where the real meat of the episode was, after all. Well ... thoughts. Lots and lots of thoughts.

As far as the mechanics on Alluka's powers go, I think I understand it as follows:
  1. Alluka will make requests until either three have been granted or four have been refused.
  2. If three requests are granted, Alluka will enter a mode where her eyes and mouth turn black and she will grant any one wish. Upon granting that wish, she will revert to her normal state.
  3. If four requests are refused in a row, Alluka will kill the person who refused her as well as a minimum of one other person.
  4. The grander the wish she grants, the more difficult her subsequent requests become to grant.
But then there are gray areas, like ...
  • When granting requests, do the three requests have to be granted consecutively for it to count towards getting a wish? Or can they be punctuated by refused requests?
  • When refusing requests, Killua indicates that the refusals have to come all in a row. So ... does this mean that lives can be saved if you make sure to not allow Alluka to ever ask the same person for more than three requests at a time? Like, say that one woman who Illumi tossed into the nursery had been asked, "Give me your liver, " "Give me your duodenum, " and "Give me your spine. " And say Illumi had then opened a trap door and she'd fallen through it. And say he'd then tossed in a new person. If that new person were asked, "Give me your brain " ...
    1. would they have died on refusing? Killua implies no. Killua implies they have to all come in a row from the same person.
    2. would the original girl still die if we brought her back in and allowed Alluka to make even one unreasonable request of her?
  • When granting requests, can different people grant the three? Or does it have to be the same person who grants all three?
  • When refusing requests, Killua implies that it has to be the same person refusing Alluka all four times in a row. Is this true?
  • Togashi demonstrates that the wish isn't necessarily reserved for the person who granted all three requests. See: Mitsuba granting Alluka three requests, Alluka transforming, but then Killua asking Alluka to toss him up, Alluka complying, and Alluka returning to normal, the wish having been granted. This to me seems kinda shitty. ^^; It means that someone could do all the hard work of granting her requests and then not get to be the one to make the wish.
  • What happens when Alluka kills people who refuse her requests? Does the counter reset and she'll start making simple requests of people again? Or does Alluka continue to request people donate her their livers and spines until finally somebody does oblige her her unreasonable requests and the wish that they decide to make is one which will thankfully reset the counter? (Example: "I wish for you to wave at me three times in the next minute.")
For the time being, I'm going to work with the assumption that both the granted requests and the rejected requests must come from the same person and must come all in a row for them to count. I'm also going to assume for the time being that Alluka's power remembers where you are in the list o' granted and refused requests. So like ... if you refuse three requests, leave, other people come in and grant Alluka requests, and then you return, it's going to remember that you denied her three requests, it's going to ask you one new request, and if you refuse that one then that's #4 and you'll be killed. As for whether Alluka's counter resets once she kills someone for refusing her, that one I'm still not sure about.


Now for what I've been dying to talk about all post long: my thoughts on Alluka's powers. Not their rules. And not miscellaneous minutiae like Alluka's gender. No, I've wanted to discuss what I think about Togashi introducing Alluka as a character. And what I think is ...

This sucks. I don't know what to think. ^^; I'm torn.

Part of me dislikes what Alluka signifies: a convenient Get Out of Jail Free card. It was bad enough when Togashi invented the shaman who could purge Nen from people's bodies, thus potentially freeing up not only Chrollo Lucifer but also potentially freeing up Kurapica. (It shits all over the point of a Nen contract that you make with yourself. How is the contract meaningful if you know that with relatively little effort you can get the Nen purged from your body and start anew? ) And it was bad enough when he invented Archangel's Breath during Greed Island, taking away the meaningfulness of any lost body parts we might ever again see in this series. ("Lost your arm? Not to worry! Just go to Greed Island and get yourself an Archangel's Breath! Problem solved! ") Even Neon Nostrade was kind of bad, what with her ability to flawlessly see the future. But at least Togashi had the sense to restrict Neon's divination to just the next month!

But with Alluka, all of these past plot conveniences must step aside. Because will Alluka, we're told that we have the magical wish-granting genie. Make any wish, Killua suggests, and Alluka can grant it. The greater the wish, the greater her subsequent requests will be. But you can still make any wish you like. Any wish and she will grant it. "Bring my mom back to life." "Okay! " "Turn Reina back into a human." "Okay! " "Fix Kite." "Okay! " "Free the world from suffering." "Okay, Emiya Kiritsugu! " Alluka is greater than the Holy Grail of Nasu's Fate/stay night. Which, for a universe like HxH, is kiiiiiiinda insane. Especially when the tradeoff appears to be "The next person I run into is going to get boned by some god-awful requests which will probably end in their life being extinguished." Yes, that sucks for them, but in the grand scheme of things that is a minute price to pay if it means otherwise limitless access to wishes on the order of erasing all suffering from the world. (Once again, we'll just have to see if people dying resets Alluka's counter or not.)

Another part of me dislikes Alluka for the silly plot implications she has for the Zoldyck family. Like ... why should I believe that Silva Zoldyck would have gone to all of this effort to keep Alluka alive but separated from society when:
  1. he doesn't appear to want to make use of her wish-granting powers for the advancement of his family or himself
  2. he doesn't appear to consider Alluka human
  3. he claims to not consider Alluka his daughter and bids Killua to not consider her his sister
  4. he's an assassin by trade
That's the thing. He shows all the signs of someone who would be willing to kill this girl (boy?) off rather than keep her alive ... yet he's going to extraordinary lengths to keep her alive. Someone's gotta go down there periodically to feed her. Someone's gotta go down there to tend to her other physical needs. Why go to such great lengths to keep an inmate alive on Death Row when you yourself are a killer by trade? It makes no sense. If you had killed Alluka ten years ago, you'd have spared who knows how many people their lives and you'd have also not had to go to such great lengths to keep her imprisoned. In imprisoning her like this, you've now created a monster who likely resents you. And who won't even hesitate to try and find you in the middle of the night and pose impossible requests before you. Are you going to kill her then, before she can squeeze out that fourth request? If so, then what are you waiting for, Silva? Given that Milluki used Alluka's powers to get himself a new computer -- and given that Silva allowed it -- I'm going to assume that Silva does have at least some interest in his son's/daughter's abilities? But I dunno. It's all just so very weird to me, that he's gone out of his way to transform Alluka into a monster who would kill him in his sleep given the chance.


But I also like Alluka for other reasons. First up, I think it will be amusing and/or interesting to see her cross paths with Pariston. Which I have to imagine the arc is setting us up for. I have to imagine that after Killua asks Alluka to cure Gon that she'll then be kidnapped by Pariston, who will have found out about her miraculous wish-granting powers, and that when he hopes to become the new Chairman of the Hunters Association, all he'll find waiting for him is a grisly fate.

Another thing I like about Alluka is that Togashi seems to be setting her up for "one last wish" with this story arc. Which is to say, the wish Killua is going to make of Alluka is going to be considered big enough by the universe that what it would take to grant Alluka's next three requests will be absurdly impossible. (The sort of thing which will make "Give me your brain" look like child's play.) Not that I think this makes scientific sense -- personally, I'd say that if a shaman can achieve the same effect as the wish Killua plans to make, then surely it can't be that costly! -- but I think it makes artistic sense. Like ... I can totally see Togashi heading here. "Killua makes the ultimate wish to save his friend, and now Alluka is pretty much off-limits for life to anyone else who was hoping to ever use her powers again to get their wish granted." Of course, this is only going to be true if Alluka's counter doesn't reset once she kills a failure. If killing someone who fails to grant her four requests in a row resets her counter, and she then goes back to making simple requests like "Make me a sandwich " or "Pick me up ", then disregard what I've said here.

A third thing I like about Alluka is that Togashi seems to be setting her up for the Disney's Aladdin's Genie treatment. In other words, somebody is going to use their wish to grant Alluka's wish. Maybe her wish will even be to be rid of her powers. So someone will persevere answering her other requests and then, on completing them, will grant her her wish that she no longer have these powers. While it seems a shame to lose access to a wish-granting genie, this is surely a happy ending because ...

... of the final thing I'll mention why I like Alluka, which is that she's a tragic character. This boy/girl has only ever wanted to be loved but has been locked away from the world and treated like a monster by her own family. And all because of her powers. If she could control them -- if she could simply choose to not make any requests until she was in front of convicted criminals on Death Row -- then it'd be one thing. But the show seems to imply that she can't help herself and that the moment someone enters her sphere of existence she'll start bombarding them with requests. So like ... clearly, this is no way for a guy/girl to live. You can't have a wife/husband this way, you can't start a family, you can't keep friends, etc. If having her powers means being able to grant any wish but in exchange she doesn't get to have any meaningful sort of life, then it's completely understandable why she'd want to make the selfish wish to be rid of her powers. And, just like with Aladdin's genie, it's understandable that Alluka probably can't make the wish herself. Someone else will have to make it for her. Sooooooooo ... I look forward to seeing this happen too.
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Old 07-15-2014, 07:57 PM   #408
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Can I just say that Illumi is kinda hot with short hair? *shot*
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Old 07-15-2014, 09:58 PM   #409
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Cheadle could be cute. If she didn't look like a dog. :/
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Old 07-15-2014, 10:18 PM   #410
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Something else I've thought of ... (HxH 138 spoilers.)

Spoiler: show
If Alluka can really grant any wish, then why the fuck hasn't anyone in his/her family made a wish along the lines of the following:
I wish that when people refused your requests, there were no longer any negative repercussions for anyone.
Something which basically says, "I want you to still have the good side of your powers but lose all of the bad side." Obviously this violates the idea of equivalent exchange which Togashi wanted to try his hand at after reading Fullmetal Alchemist, but that's neither here nor there: Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'm not the one who declared that Alluka can grant any wish, am I?
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Old 07-15-2014, 11:09 PM   #411
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Couple more comments on the episode:

Spoiler: show
Can't unhear Ging as Kiritsugu now... Thanks, Talon. =3=

Who's the guy we saw talking on the phone to the security guard? I feel like we've seen him before.

I liked the scene where Killua is confronting his father. Bringing up the blood pact was clever, but a bit uncomfortable knowing Silva was just lying to him. >.> Also cool how the guard dog listens to Killua even when it senses his hostility.

I find it kinda funny the exposition for Alluka's powers was so obviously shoehorned in by having Killua's father go over the rules for requests with his son. XP Her(?) ability is certainly interesting, to say the least. Looking forward to see where it leads.

Pretty much figured the first servant would die when she appeared... Same with the last one. (What's with all these women butlers anyway?) Feel kinda bad Illumi threatened her and her lover into going along with the experiment. =/ Were they already targets or just victims the Zoldycks kidnapped off the street? "Give me your liver" though, that's, uh... Straightforward. ^^; I'm sure Dopple was amused by "braaaiiiins".

P.S. Did not notice those Sailor Moon dolls. Cute lol. Wonder if Togashi included that in the manga as a reference to his wife's work, or did Madhouse add it because Crystal is currently airing?
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Old 07-15-2014, 11:28 PM   #412
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbleucorsola View Post
Couple more comments on the episode:

Spoiler: show
Can't unhear Ging as Kiritsugu now... Thanks, Talon. =3=

Who's the guy we saw talking on the phone to the security guard? I feel like we've seen him before.

I liked the scene where Killua is confronting his father. Bringing up the blood pact was clever, but a bit uncomfortable knowing Silva was just lying to him. >.> Also cool how the guard dog listens to Killua even when it senses his hostility.

I find it kinda funny the exposition for Alluka's powers was so obviously shoehorned in by having Killua's father go over the rules for requests with his son. XP Her(?) ability is certainly interesting, to say the least. Looking forward to see where it leads.

Pretty much figured the first servant would die when she appeared... Same with the last one. (What's with all these women butlers anyway?) Feel kinda bad Illumi threatened her and her lover into going along with the experiment. =/ Were they already targets or just victims the Zoldycks kidnapped off the street? "Give me your liver" though, that's, uh... Straightforward. ^^; I'm sure Dopple was amused by "braaaiiiins".

P.S. Did not notice those Sailor Moon dolls. Cute lol. Wonder if Togashi included that in the manga as a reference to his wife's work, or did Madhouse add it because Crystal is currently airing?
I'll respond to these points in the order they showed up. 'll be easier than quote-replying to each one individually. (HxH 13

Spoiler: show
1. Sorry. ^^;

2. IIRC he's the guy who lived in the cabin on the other side of the gate. Like, the security guard lives there too but during the day he's in the security booth making sure no one wrongfully enters the Zoldyck property. But the other guy was part of a gang of some ten or so criminals who forced their way onto the property and (iirc) got devoured by the Zoldycks' pet dog. Remember? This guy survived, begged for his life, and ended up becoming employed in the service of the family.

3. What do you mean Silva was lying to him? I don't remember that. But as far as that scene went, I liked how Togashi seems to be alluding to the fact that Silva had his own Gon growing up (though maybe not to quite the same extent as Killua). Part of me really wants to believe that Silva's Gon was none other than Ging. Might seem a little silly-convenient but I dunno: I think I'd like it. Would be interesting. Especially Fox & the Hound-wise seeing how/why Ging and Silva may have had a falling out and how that could impact Gon and Killua.

4. Didn't give it much thought. Guess you're right. ^^;

5. I think that ever since we learned about the implant Illumi placed inside of Killua's head that Togashi has implied that most/all of the Zoldycks, including Illumi, are moral people to an extent and sincerely care about their friends and family. With that said, I think that the reason Illumi asked his father if he could select the replacement maid was precisely because he had a hunch about how Alluka's powers worked and he feared that whoever would be placed with Alluka next, given that the previous person had asked for (and received) millions of dollars, was going to be screwed. So he deliberately chose someone whose life was already forfeit. And he told her (and meant it), "If you can survive this, then you and your lover are free to go." Not because he knew 100% that she was going to die. But because he probably felt, in his heart of hearts, that it was only fair. "I've probably just sent this woman to her death, so the least I can do is offer her her freedom should she miraculously survive." While the woman didn't seem like the bad sort, I think part of it is that we're so used to cartoons making it so that bad women look ugly, deranged, disheveled, etc. And since this woman looked moderately attractive, kempt, and wasn't overtly evil or maniacal or anything, it's easy for us to go, "Poor thing. " And maybe she really was a poor thing, who knows. Maybe she really was a nice woman and the reason her life was forfeit was because of exorbitant debt owed to the wrong people or something. Regardless, I don't think Illumi just grabbed some random woman off the street: I think he specifically selected someone who was likely to die anyway if the Zoldycks didn't step in and grant her a second shot at life.

6. Wooooooooow ... for some reason, even though I was the one who caught it and even though I was the one who reminded you the other day that Togashi's wife is Takeuchi Naoko, I somehow didn't make the connection that the dollies were of characters from his wife's IP and thus it would have been absolutely no trouble for HxH to procure the rights to their likenesses given that HxH's creator is friggin' married to Sailor Moon's. ^^; I had been thinking, "Man, I wonder if they had to make slight changes to her costume to avoid a lawsuit or if the slight changes are just the result of the dolls' features not being too well-drawn." Now I guess it's clear that it was the latter.
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Old 07-15-2014, 11:35 PM   #413
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
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2. IIRC he's the guy who lived in the cabin on the other side of the gate. Like, the security guard lives there too but during the day he's in the security booth making sure no one wrongfully enters the Zoldyck property. But the other guy was part of a gang of some ten or so criminals who forced their way onto the property and (iirc) got devoured by the Zoldycks' pet dog. Remember? This guy survived, begged for his life, and ended up becoming employed in the service of the family.
Wow I totally did not remember this. ^^; But you're right it sounds familiar.

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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Spoiler: show
3. What do you mean Silva was lying to him? I don't remember that. But as far as that scene went, I liked how Togashi seems to be alluding to the fact that Silva had his own Gon growing up (though maybe not to quite the same extent as Killua). Part of me really wants to believe that Silva's Gon was none other than Ging. Might seem a little silly-convenient but I dunno: I think I'd like it. Would be interesting. Especially Fox & the Hound-wise seeing how/why Ging and Silva may have had a falling out and how that could impact Gon and Killua.
Eh, didn't Silva specifically say to someone (I forget who, another member of the family probably) after Killua left...

Spoiler: show
That he was certain Killua would fail in his friendship and come back to them (broken and dispirited)? ^^;
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Old 07-15-2014, 11:38 PM   #414
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Eh, didn't Silva specifically say to someone (I forget who, another member of the family probably) after Killua left...

Spoiler: show
That he was certain Killua would fail in his friendship and come back to them (broken and dispirited)? ^^;
Ohhhhhhhhhhh, that. Right. But wait ...

Spoiler: show
Are you saying that that was when the lie took place? Way back when, when Killua headed out? If so, then no problem, confusion cleared. If not, and the lie took place this time, then I guess I'm still confused what exactly it is that Silva lied about. But I see your point if you mean that he lied back then. (I had forgotten about this.)
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Old 07-15-2014, 11:40 PM   #415
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Ohhhhhhhhhhh, that. Right. But wait ...

Spoiler: show
Are you saying that that was when the lie took place? Way back when, when Killua headed out? If so, then no problem, confusion cleared. If not, and the lie took place this time, then I guess I'm still confused what exactly it is that Silva lied about. But I see your point if you mean that he lied back then. (I had forgotten about this.)
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I was referring to the lie from back then. Although it could be said he's still playing along with the ruse by granting his son's request.
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Old 07-28-2014, 09:16 PM   #416
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Episode 139:

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Whoops. I am so far behind on posts this past week. @_@ Well, let's start off with HxH 139! This was an enjoyable episode. Since it's already aired a week ago and I have an enormous backlog, I'm gonna keep this one pretty brief. Well, compared with last time, anyway.


Alluka is ... interesting. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about his voice which screams to me "a male trap," which is exactly what he appears to be. Kudos to his voice actress for really nailing that. Or, if this is the voice she always uses when voicing characters, then kudos to Madhouse for casting her the part! You've got a good ear, Madhouse!


The scene with Hisoka and Illumi was filled with lots of exposition, some of it necessary, all of it interesting. Highlight for me was the part where Hisoka realizes that Illumi believes Killua's #1 person is Illumi, not Gon:
Hisoka: Mission failed.
(Illumi turns to face Hisoka)
Hisoka: Since the price is the one [Killua] loves most, and those he's spent the most time with, the restored Gon will die either way.
Illumi: Eh? o_o
Hisoka: Eh? o_o
Illumi: Ah.
Hisoka: Am I wrong?
(silence; and then it dawns on Hisoka ...)
Hisoka: Don't tell me ... when you mentioned that two would suffer, you were referring not to Killua and Gon but to Killua and yourself?
Illumi: Yep! That's right!
Hisoka: ... I may have issues, but you're just as bad.
Easily one of the best scenes of the past ten episodes.


The part where Silva gives Milluki the death stare was pretty funny.


Maybe if I re-watch the episode it will become clear to me, but was Killua contractually asked to die by Alluka? Or were they just playing around and she hasn't actually made any serious requests of him yet? I assumed it was the latter given Killua's explanation about how his family can't tell Alluka apart from Nanika, but the way his family was counting down the successfully-granted requests ... and the fact that Killua successfully made a wish of Nanika ... would seem to suggest to me that he really was granting Alluka her requests. If that's the case, then I think it's an enormous copout that he can just *pretend* to die and it counts as granting the request. Does that mean that previous servants could've been like, "Here you go! " and given Alluka a clod of dirt when she asked them for their livers and brains?

I thought the scene where Killua makes a wish to Alluka to kill their mother if they don't make it past the mountain in 30 minutes was pretty exciting. lol @ how much this family is an Addams Family though. "How ... how can you issue such cruel commands? It's magnificent! You've grown up!"

Aside: the picture above is the one I would've liked to have used for the banner picture this week. But I didn't want to spoil the climactic visual. Follow my example! ;p


Alluka loves Killua so much that I have to wonder how she's going to react when she discovers what Gon means to him ...
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Old 07-29-2014, 07:49 PM   #417
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Episode 140:

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This episode was okay to pretty good. Not great, not meh either. Lots of pictures but not too too much to say for most of them.


The scene with Gon and the Nen exorcist felt like a copout. I don't see how the strength of the curse placed on Gon is significantly greater than the one placed on Chrollo. Greater, perhaps, but not significantly greater. It seems obvious that Gon could be cured by using a Nen exorcist. Honestly, it would've been interesting to have had the exorcist from Greed Island show back up again, this time helping out Gon & Co. Oh well. At least they didn't rule out that a powerful-enough exorcist could do the job.

... Although that brings me to my second complaint with the scene, which is the fact that they went and said that this exorcist is the only one the Hunters Association has. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what? You mean to tell me that you've only got one exorcist in your entire organization? And even if that's the case, what's stopping you from hiring outside help? I dunno. I'm kind of getting tired of how much the Hunters Association is turning out to be the Mensa of their universe. "No self-respecting warrior of true power would even bother obtaining a Hunters license. It's not necessary. Oh, and by the way: just check out all of the punk-ass weaklings who do get license cards every year!" The membership of members like Knov, Morel, Netero, and Ging throws a wrench into that works, but the (ex?) membership of individuals like Gon and the never-membership of people like Chrollo or Silva (?) makes me question why men and women of talent would bother signing up. We've been told that there are major perks regarding connections, money, and so on, but I don't think we've seen any indications of those benefits since Yorknew City. Whatever.


The scene with Tsubone and the explanation about Level 4 and Level 5, it was an enjoyable scene. Mildly so, but still enjoyable. The big narrative takeaways from this scene were:
1. You can indeed put Nanika's curse-requests on indefinite hold simply by removing yourself from her presence. If she can't directly address you with her requests, then you can't be faulted for failing to grant them.

2. The two levels described do not entail death as a punishment. Even at Level 5, if Killua violates the rules he'll simply be taken back home. Of course this may be different at higher levels.

3. Killua insists that Alluka is female.
I'm not a fan of the first one. It's too easy of a copout. Granted, it puts a hard stop to any more wish-granting from Alluka, but it's still too easy for characters in the Hunter x Hunter universe to pull off. Second one is fine. Whatever. I see it as just some silly Zoldyck family thing which is meant to justify why the butlers are present by Killua's side for this adventure and why they act like neutral parties ... or, more accurately, why they feel like allies who at a moment's notice might become enemies. It's the third one -- Killua insisting that Alluka is a girl -- which I found intriguing. Is he just ignorant about Alluka's gender and Alluka refuses to correct him? Are his family members the ones who are ignorant? What's going on here? I wonder if Killua wished years ago for Alluka to become a girl. Or I wonder if Alluka wants to become a girl but for inexplicable reasons no one's wished it into reality yet. Guess we'll just have to wait and find out.


Because I recently re-watched most of Yorknew City, it doesn't feel to me like it's been that long since we last saw Leorio. But I remember how it felt several weeks/months ago when I did re-watch it. It felt like seeing an old friend for the first time in years. I thus recognize just how special Leorio's return must have felt for many viewers.

I enjoyed his interactions with Morel, all the more because Morel's beautiful personality was on full display. Very glad that he didn't hold it against Leorio for the latter being such a dick.


Hey look, it's HxH Sasuke! *tomatoed* Yeah, everyone's favorite emo antihero is back. Except he isn't back. He's off somewhere brooding all by himself. No, in reality I expect that he's monitoring or guarding something -- or someone -- very serious. But we'll just have to wait and see who or what it is.


I had expected the Zodiacs to be more entertaining. So far, so dull. Next. ^^;


Lots of great visuals here. An alternate shot to the one above. (Arguably the better pick but I like Leorio's face in the one I went with more.) The moment when he punches Ging. And of course his empassioned declaration that Ging can go to hell.

Yes, Leorio's display of his Nen powers was indeed the highlight of this episode. It's great to see that he can finally use Nen similarly to how Gon had his Jajanken and Kurapica had his Chain Jail. It's an especially nice credit to Leorio's competency given that, even though IRL it's been over a year since we last saw him, in universe it's only been three to four months iirc since he said good-bye to Gon and Killua in Yorknew City. And during this time he's been hitting the books, too, studying for his medical school exams. So like, the fact that he even made it this far says something for his potential as a Nen practitioner.

Unfortunately, his power appears to be a permutation on one we've already seen. ^^; Togashi introduced us to portals via Knov. While Knov's portals all connect the outside world to this one closed-off space of his, Leorio's connect two places A and B within a line of sight, it looks like. Furthermore, Knov has to place his portals manually: he can't just think them into existence. So this means that while Knov cannot use his Nen to punch someone thirty feet away (not unless he prepared a series of portals ahead of time, anyway?), Leorio can. But it's still portals. ^^; Which I love, don't get me wrong! :o I love portals, but like ... I dunno. ^^; *sigh* I was just kind of hoping that Leorio's power was going to be something novel. Something which would really surprise me. Something which would feel amazing. While I do like portals, Leorio's application of them seems to be little more than Togashi's way of lifting Monkey D. Luffy out of the pages of One Piece and transporting him here.

That stated, Leorio's powers would seem to have some interesting medical and combat implications. While we did not witness him teleporting his hand inside of someone else, I can't imagine that Togashi would've given Leorio this power and then said, "Oh! But it only works so long as you teleport outside of someone else." Provided Leorio can get inside of other people's bodies with his portals, it seems like the perfect power for invasive surgeries. You go right in there and take out the tumor or bullet or whatnot and you do so at minimal risk to the patient. No open wounds. The thing is, if Leorio can do this ... then his power also has the potential to be ridiculously lethal. ^^;; He can teleport his hand inside of someone's skull and go *SQUISH!* and squish their brain. ^^;; He can teleport his hand inside of their chest and rip out their heart. Unless the person has some sort of special power that would punish Leorio for this invasion of their personal space, he can do pretty much whatever he likes to them so long as they're in range. Sooooooooooooo ... we'll just have to wait and see if Leorio really can teleport his hands inside of people's bodies or whether he has to open the exit portal no closer than several feet away from them.


Yuki commented to me that she was happy to see Leorio get a hit off against Ging:

Quote:
Even Ging didn't look like he knew what hit him/what to expect, so I'm glad Leorio was able to pull off that element of surprise against one of the greats.

I wonder if Ging actually got knocked out. He's just lying there at the end. XP
To which I responded:
Quote:
Well, I kind of had the opposite interpretation. I thought that Ging took a good look at the incoming punch and knew *exactly* what it was. And decided to take it on the chin rather than dodging out of the way or attacking back.
Yuki then asked me to let her believe in Leorio's moment. ^^; So ... I will? I guess? But I still wanted to share my own take on the scene. FOR THE RECORD, right or wrong, I feel like Ging saw the fist, could've responded had he chosen to, but instead chose to do nothing but take the blow directly.
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Old 07-29-2014, 09:06 PM   #418
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Episode 140:

Spoiler: show
Yuki then asked me to let her believe in Leorio's moment. ^^; So ... I will? I guess? But I still wanted to share my own take on the scene. FOR THE RECORD, right or wrong, I feel like Ging saw the fist, could've responded had he chosen to, but instead chose to do nothing but take the blow directly.
For the record, the thought crossed my mind as well, but I want to give as much credit until proven otherwise. ;(

Also just want to post this picture because it made me laugh:

Spoiler: show


Pariston: *sparkle*
Ging: >(
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Old 07-29-2014, 10:03 PM   #419
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Leorio's Nen is actually a near carbon-copy of one of Razor's subordinates. There are some small details I forget, but Leorio's use is really similar. You'd think, then, that this is kind of starting point for him like how Gon modeled his Nen after Rock Paper Scissors. Although, Leorio wasn't on Greed Island, so I'd call it a case of convergent evolution rather than copying an existing style.
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Old 08-10-2014, 11:07 AM   #420
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Episode 141:

Spoiler: show
I thought this episode was incredible. In no particular order, some talking points:

1. Gotoh vs. Hisoka: Aww, does this mean Gotoh is going to die? We'll have to see! Maybe the two will end their fight without either dying.

2. Killua deciding to bolt: Well SHIT. I understand that he's mostly screwed if he gets more than a meter away from Alluka, but wasn't part of the condition for his mission that he accept the escort of the four butlers? Doesn't this now mean that Tsubone will be forced to bring him in (even though for now she didn't show strong signs of trying to do so)?

3. Leorio in 3rd place for president, behind only Pariston and Cheadle: I know we joked about it, but seriously, what if ...? XD

4. Illumi's death stare at Hisoka, for the first time ever, when Hisoka asked if he could kill Killua: this was one of the best scenes in the episode, if over the top. Also, this scene addressed something which has bugged me for a while now: the lack of animosity from Illumi towards Hisoka even though he knows full well that Hisoka hopes to fight and kill, amongst others, his beloved baby brother. I chalked it up to the Zoldycks just being plain weird, but it's nice to see a scene like this confirm that Illumi will not remain on cordial terms with Hisoka if Hisoka should harm Killua.

5. Illumi trying to kill "only Alluka" while TOTALLY ALMOST KILLING EVERYONE ELSE: What the hell was that!? XD

6. The news that Amane is Tsubone's granddaughter: Aww + ooh. :O

7. The scene where Killua figures out the three different views towards Alluka within the Zoldyck family from the way Gotoh handled the phone call: I love stuff like this.

8. The lovey dovey scene between Killua and Alluka at the end: "If Onii-chan were the only person in the world who loved you, would you be sad?" ".................... de he he he he. X3"

9. Killua confirming that he doesn't just want to heal Gon but that he also wants to "free Alluka": this opens up the field to questions about whether he'll wish for Alluka to no longer able to grant wishes or not. I imagine that he will. But ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! D: ^^;; Can't you just wish that she still grant wishes, minus the curse bit? ^^;; lol

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Please don't answer questions, correct mistakes, etc. using future knowledge. Would appreciate it if you're someone who's read ahead that you double and triple check that any corrections you want to make use information purely from what we've seen so far. But at the same time, this thread isn't supposed to be the Talon Show. If you're someone who loves HxH and what's to discuss what we're watching, please feel encouraged to. I can understand why Doppel might be afraid to, but a little bird tells me that we have some others reading this thread who want to chime in with comments. Well, so long as what you have to say isn't going to draw upon knowledge that hasn't aired yet, please do! And even if you are going to draw upon such information, you could always place it inside of a spoiler tag for those who would appreciate reading such details.
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Old 08-10-2014, 11:32 AM   #421
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Amane as Tsubone's grand-daughter was kinda weird to me. If I recall during the explanation of Alluka's powers one of the butlers had a lover she met online, and this was disallowed, so I have to question if the Zoldycks control their butlers like an owner would a lineage of dogs or cats (which is pretty creepy given they were previously portrayed as employees and defenders) and selectively breed them, or what rules there are for bringing in new blood into the organization.
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Old 08-10-2014, 01:17 PM   #422
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doppleganger View Post
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Amane as Tsubone's grand-daughter was kinda weird to me. If I recall during the explanation of Alluka's powers one of the butlers had a lover she met online, and this was disallowed, so I have to question if the Zoldycks control their butlers like an owner would a lineage of dogs or cats (which is pretty creepy given they were previously portrayed as employees and defenders) and selectively breed them, or what rules there are for bringing in new blood into the organization.
In response to that (Episode 141 spoilers) ...

Spoiler: show
I think it's a fair criticism that Amane's being Tsubone's granddaughter can feel like a plot hole, or that it can feel like something which raises more questions than it answers. I still like the trivia tidbit for what it itself signifies though. I think that, outside of slavery, we tend to find it charming or satisfying or whatnot when some profession stays in the family. "My grandmother served his grandfather's generation, and I serve his generation." That kind of a thing. Although to be fair, Togashi hasn't been that stereotypical with it: he's assigned both Tsubone (who is older) and Amane (who is younger) to Silva. So rather than grandmother and granddaughter serving grandfather and grandson, we have grandmother and granddaughter serving the same exact, middle-aged man. Anyway, the basic idea is still there: "my grandmother was a _____, the very best _____, and I too am a _____, and I hope to one day be as good a _____ as she was."

But back to your line of questioning. Several subtopics that I guess I'll take in turn ...

Zoldyck butlers not being allowed to have lovers: I assumed this to be because the Zoldycks require absolute devotion from their butlers. You see this in butlers like Gotoh and Canaria, who place Killua before themselves and who appear to have no one they care for quite as much as they care for him. I assumed that the Zoldycks worried about what would happen if a butler were to have a spouse or a child and if the needs of that family member were to conflict with the butler's duties to the Zoldyck family. Rather than risk that the butler would choose his or her own family over the Zoldycks, they simply decided to forbid butlers from having lovers. "You give us your complete devotion. Otherwise, as you now know too much, we'll be forced to kill you."

Amane's parents and grandfather: So of course the above paragraph does raise questions regarding how Amane even came into being. Since Tsubone is still alive -- and not only is she alive but she's the #1 butler of the Zoldycks' -- we can easily conclude that Tsubone was not executed for partnering with a man and fostering a child.

I doubt that Tsubone was raped and that the Zoldycks had her carry the baby to term: the chances that Tsubone might develop emotional attachment one way or another towards the child would be too great to be worth risking. Indeed, even now she may have such ties to Amane, ties which threaten to muddy the story arc with an insolvable plot hole.

You propose that the Zoldycks might have a breeding program for their butlers. That's certainly possible. We know that they're kooky enough to be willing to do something like this, and if butlers are treated like livestock then there would be similarities between breeding a blue-ribbon cow with a blue-ribbon bull and breeding your top female butler with another family's top male butler. This still doesn't answer why the Zoldycks were comfortable with hiring Amane though. If they had Tsubone breed and then sold her children to other estates, fine, but why would they import any of her grandchildren? Hiring on any known descendants, no matter how far removed, seems like it has the potential to backfire in the ways the Zoldycks don't want. If the truth were kept from Tsubone, it would be one thing, but I don't get the impression from the way the topic was handled this week that Tsubone and Amane are unaware of their familial relationship.

There is a third possibility, though this would not be as satisfying an explanation for a granddaughter as for a daughter: Amane's father could be one of the Zoldycks. This would address the dilemma of loyalty to the Zoldyck family vs. loyalty to your (butler) family by equating the two. "You are a Zoldyck: the Zoldycks are your family." So for example, while a butler choosing to attend to the needs of her parent over choosing to attend to the needs of a Zoldyck would normally mean her death, if that butler is herself part-Zoldyck, then not only would the family be reticent to execute her but the butler herself, in making the decision to prioritize her mother over the Zoldycks, wouldn't be perceived as choosing family over her masters but as choosing family over family -- which cancels out, and might be seen as acceptable to them.
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Old 08-13-2014, 12:26 PM   #423
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Episode 142:

Spoiler: show
This episode was pretty entertaining. I didn't enjoy it as much as I did 141, and it felt like it ended a lot sooner too, but it was still pretty good. Going through the highlights ...

Gotoh vs. Hisoka: I'm sad to see Gotoh dead, but I worried last week that this might very well happen. Gotoh seemed like the perfect character for an author of Togashi's sensibilities to kill off. He wasn't someone who was around often enough or major enough that some would be angry about losing him (e.g. a Killua or a Kurapica) yet he was still someone who viewers were entreated to fall in love with during his brief time on camera (just like Zeppile or Ponzu). These sorts of characters seem to be Togashi's go-to characters for perma-death, so when he placed Hisoka (who is too important to Togashi's setup to die here of all places) in mortal combat with Gotoh, there were really only two options: neither dies or Gotoh dies. And since almost everyone these days celebrates stories which aren't afraid to kill off their characters, it only seemed natural that Togashi might kill Gotoh off here.

Once again, Togashi demonstrates to me that he has a much stronger imagination for Hisoka's Bungee Gum than I do. I like to think I have a pretty robust imagination, but time and again Togashi shows just how versatile Bungee Gum can be. We'd already seen Hisoka use it to stop Razor's dodgeball in the Greed Island story arc, so seeing him use it to stop Gotoh's coins was nothing new. But seeing him stretch out a cord, tether himself to the ground to keep from moving, and then disengaging that tether at the right moment to hurdle away from danger ... that was pretty clever.

Tsubone the Motorbike: This had been revealed by the opening credits, so the *ahem* stupidity of the concept had its blow lessened for me, thankfully. Ugh. Don't know what to tell you. I think it's pretty dumb that this universe now officially has humans who can transform into vehicles. But WHATEVER. *sigh*

Cute Amane: Amane was pretty cute at the airport, but I didn't like the direction Togashi took it in via Canaria's remarks about Master Killua's preferences. Amane is Silva's servant. It shouldn't matter whether Master Killua would prefer Amane one way over another. I dislike that Canaria even brought it up and I dislike how Amane was shown to respond to it. It sets her up as "yet another concubine for Killua's burgeoning harem," and I don't like that.

Illumi's Needles: I don't really get why this episode decided to bust out the fancy artwork and make a big deal about Illumi's mind-control needles when we just saw them in the previous episode. ^^; Like, it isn't a big surprise that Illumi can enslave people with his needles when you show it the episode before, guys.

Illumi vs. the Hunter Association: Not too happy with this development either. Illumi has a strong argument for the ends justifying the means here that:
  • if he doesn't stop Killua, tens of thousands of people will die
  • among them will be many licensed Hunters
  • thus, Killua is no less the Rule #4-violating monster than Illumi is
  • and thus he must be stopped, no matter the means necessary
  • time is of the essence; Illumi doesn't have time to wait for the paperwork to clear and for dozens of Death Row inmates to be handed over to him
And while I'm not saying that I personally agree in the ends justifying the means nor am I saying that I think Illumi is guiltless in his actions, I do think that the universe Togashi has created is one which might very much see him in that light. "Yes, it sucks that he murdered thirty innocent civilians; but he was prepared to return their lives to any who survived; and he had to act quick to prevent tens of thousands more from dying." HxH has always been a morally gray universe, so I feel like Illumi's brand of justice is right at home here. Which is why I don't much fancy the the plot development that, no, the Hunter's Association is now putting out a warrant for his arrest, etc etc, because he's been shown to have harmed innocent civilians.

I guess the one saving grace for this plot development is that it wasn't officially ordered by Pariston or any of the other Zodiacs? That it was instead ordered by a rival political faction within the Association? So maybe it will be argued down the road that Illumi will be punished for what he did to the innocent civilians but his motivations (namely preventing the deaths of himself, his friends, his family, and tens of thousands of other individuals) will be recognized and may even play into giving him a lighter sentence.

The Anti-Chairman Faction: Kind of glad that these three have been grouped together like this since it more than likely means that they'll be around for some temporary fun during this story arc but then removed from the plot. Especially the older guy, who I definitely don't want to see becoming the next Chairman.

The Seirin Group: Uh, what now? What is this Seirin Group and how come we haven't heard of it before now? *sigh* Well, whatever. I felt like the Zodiacs were already one surprise group of talented warriors enough. Now we have the Seirins on top of that. I'm going to hazard a guess that some (or most?) of the Zodiacs are dual members of the Seirin Group, and that some characters we've met or heard of in the past are also members. As for where the Seirin Group falls on the spectrum of in-universe groups, I guess that remains to be seen.
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Old 08-22-2014, 11:25 AM   #424
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I've been meaning to at least post on the past couple eps since I found out that the animé is ending soon, but this week has been a whirlwind. x.X Anyway, ep141 was kind of silly to me and the animation felt sorta lazy. About Amane though:

Spoiler: show
I thought she'd be related to Illumi in some way given the resemblance and the way she reacted to his name. *shrug* Dunno how that would work though.


Also the scene with Hisoka and Illumi was cute.

All I really wanted to say about ep142 is...

Spoiler: show
FUCK THAT THROAT SCENE. (And I thought I'd gotten away with none of that in AgK...)

At the end of 141 I wasn't that excited for Hisoka vs. Gotoh, nor did I really expect Gotoh to die. Bungee vs. Coins turned out to be more interesting than I anticipated though, albeit short. I liked the creative "spin" on attacks/defenses, and the attempt at strangling someone with their own aura is a possibility that never crossed my mind. Nice way to use a person's strength against them (even if it didn't work ;().


As for 143...

Spoiler: show
GDI now there's a close-up of neck wounds. Why.

The highlight of the ep for me was this:


SUBARASHII~
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Old 08-24-2014, 03:59 AM   #425
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Episode 143:

Spoiler: show
Not too much to say this week. Quite late with my post, excitement died down, etc etc. Sorry. ^^; Going back over my Skype conversation with Yuki on Wednesday, I can pick out a few things to bring up here ...


Not sure how I feel about "Illumi: the new Pouf." Amusing? Dumb? Derivative? Welcome? Still, the part where Illumi is like, "You'll be so fucked up over having killed me ... I'll be in your heart forever ... " That was pretty amazing+fucked up+creepy+Pouf. It feels like it's ... not exactly come out of nowhere -- we did have the needle revealed in the middle of the Chimera Ant arc after all, with Illumi's motivations being explained as fraternal concern for his beloved baby brother's well-being -- but it still feels like Togashi's ramped up the "Illumi <3 Killua" canon a bunch in this latest story arc.


Interesting plot twist this week that Killua loves Nanika too and not just Alluka.

Makes me wonder if that's the answer to the riddle of Alluka's seemingly-shifting gender: if Alluka is a boy but if Nanika is a girl, and as Killua loves them both and considers them both his siblings that he's often referring to Nanika when he mentions his sister (or uses other female-identifying nouns and pronouns) but we've been led to assume that he was referring to Alluka.

In-universe, kind of nuts of Killua to allow Nanika to finish making requests of Tsubone, considering how "easy" hers were to grant. (Tearing off your fingernails is pretty fucking awful but it sure beats the pants off of tearing out your liver or spine.) Out-of-universe, awfully convenient plot development for Togashi to write as it frees up Nanika to fuck over Illumi, Pariston, or whomever else her next victim of unsavory requests might be.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Other Thoughts ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The moment I saw the many sliced necks in that opening scene, I figured Yuki must've been delighted when she saw it. Poor thing. ^^;

It is weird how this story is quickly shaping up to make Leorio the next Chairman. >.> I don't really understand why Togashi would think it's okay to saddle Leorio's medical school goals in exchange for the Hunter Association's chairmanship yet it's not okay to do similar things with Morel, Ging, and so on.

I agree with Yuki that the shy nurse Hunter was cute. But I wonder to what extent she's a red herring ...

Bisky's cameo, while I appreciate that we even got one, was kinda unsatisfying. ^^; It felt like it was ... I dunno ... 3.5th wallish?

lol aww @ Morel's modesty with the whole "I'm not a fighter! >.> I can't fight!" bit. This was the first I felt we'd heard him say that, though we knew his affinity with the sea to some extent owing to the fight he had with Leol. Still, I came out of that episode having thought of him as a surfing enthusiast, not as a man of the ocean. Even now, it strikes me as strange that 143 would tell us Morel's a "Sea Hunter" when we know he apprenticed the landlubber Knuckle Bine. We've never once seen Knuckle spazzing about marine life. It's always been cats and dogs and such. (Granted, most life exists in the ocean. But yeah ... :\ ... anyway ...)

Aroused Hisoka makes a return appearance this week. Given that Illumi seems to consider himself Hisoka's superior whereas Hisoka seems to consider himself Illumi's, it'll be interesting to see which man is right if indeed one of them ends up dying this arc while the other lives.
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