Moimy's Anime List | Moimy's Manga List

Moimy's Profile

Gonna cry like a bitch in the anime.

90 is a good number

let's get up to 100!

Moimy | 3 hours ago
Aku no Hana just went full baller.

You're such a bro, Moimy.

Silly timezones

But thanks :3

No No No No No
No No No No No
No No No No No
No No No No No
No No No No No

"That's all I'm going to say here, because like heck I'm reading all that."

Dude, I only wrote three paragraphs. It's not as if I wrote an essay.

"You're missing out major plot point #4, which is Killua and Gon's friendship. Gon works as a perfect foil to Killua and vice versa, and you can't deny that their friendship is pretty major. It's one of the major points of Chimera Ant, and also in the arc after it dealing with the aftermath."

I get that Gon and Killua's relationship is a staple of the series. It's the reason for Killua's reformation. For the first time in his life he didn't have to live by the standards instilled in him by his family. After a while though, the complexities of their relationship aren't really explored. Not much is done to showcase why their friendship is so special. It would have been a nice touch if the series showed Killua compulsively conforming back into his murderous nature, somewhat reverting back into the person he was prior to befriending Gon. I think that would have been a nice dynamic to run through. After all Killua was raised to be that kind of person (an assassin), so it wouldn't have been a stretch if the story went in that direction. However, if the finale of ChiAnt is any indication, the series shot itself in the foot by resorting to ass-pull power-ups.

"I don't think you quite get HxH or shounen."

After I just detailed why I felt it was exemplary as a shounen series, yeah, sure, continue to delude yourself.

What I'm saying is, if you're going to have arcs like Greed Island or Chimera Ant, that the overall goal should be to further one of those plot points - not conclusively, but a step at a time. Let's start from the beginning. Gon wants to become a hunter. Why? So he can meet his dad (Plot Point #1). In order to reach this goal he has to become a hunter, which is why he takes the hunter exam. There, he meets series foil, Hisoka, and befriends Killua, Kurapika (who's reason for taking the exam is in direct correlation with plot point #2) and Leorio. After completing the exam, he learns of Killua's recent transactions, Illumi and races off to save him, initializing plot point #3. See how easily a single story arc set in motion all three major plot points? And it does so in remarkable fashion too, seamlessly integrating themes of exploration, discovery and competition WITHOUT conforming to its nature as a "shounen" title. That's why I felt it was exemplary: It set its own identity and had its own ambitions and didn't concern itself with pointless fights and ass-pull power-ups. In fact, as you already know, up until Greed Island the first definitive one-on-one fight was between Kurapika and Uvogin, and that occurred forty episodes into the series! Fights were used to accentuate moments instead of concluding them.

The plot was forward-moving and had purpose. Supporting characters served their purpose without being obtrusive. They were identifiable yet didn't draw unnecessary attention onto themselves. Another testament towards its quality. Sadly this sentiment is lost starting in Greed Island, as paperweight Genthru, typical bad guy Genthru and his group received more face time than necessary. Heaven's Arena didn't even have this problem. Both arcs' purpose was to showcase Gon and Killua's improvements via nen training, yet because Greed Island introduced its card-based fighting system, I felt it was a distraction and non-essential seeing as how A) we already had an established and ever-evolving fighting system in nen and B) once the arc was complete, it wasn't going to be used again. It only hindered what it already had.

I know it sounds like I disliked the entirety of Green Island, but that's not the case. In fact, the highlight for me was the dodgeball game, which I felt was excellent because it allowed the characters to show off the results of their training instead of being just another fight amongst adversaries. It was just damn fun too, and even Hisoka got to join in on the fun! Competition was the key. It's a theme the series explores well, as noted by the Hunter exam. With that being the case, that's why I feel the Chimaera Ant arc isn't good. What we end up having is an arc that loses three of its key themes (exploration, discovery and competition) in favor of pointless fights, which doesn't accentuate moments but serves as a means for mild entertainment. At the point, the series is starting to show signs of wear, losing its uniqueness in the process, thus inching closer and closer to what I feared it would be reduced to: just another long-running shounen series.

The other day I skimmed up until the "Dark Continent Arc" on the HxH wikia page, and I have to admit I was pretty damn impressed! If the author can keep up that kind of quality I'll definitely reconsider my current stance on the series.