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Mar 13, 2013 9:02 PM
#1

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What the fuck is with this story writing. Netero, a guy who has trained his whole damn life, who is probably one (not the strongest, but one) of the strongest Nen users around goes against Meruem and just can basically do nothing, nothing at all. Even his secret final Zero attack did so little damage....


But a bomb


A fucking....BOMB almost obliterates Meruem

A mass produced item almost kills the strongest enemy to this point, effectively rendering Nen fucking useless and pointless.



GREAT WRITING TOGASHI
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Mar 14, 2013 1:00 AM
#2

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so basically it should have been a generic and predictable fight

how did you even read this series all the way up to that point without giving up on it
Mar 14, 2013 9:43 AM
#3

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Artorias said:
What the fuck is with this story writing. Netero, a guy who has trained his whole damn life, who is probably one (not the strongest, but one) of the strongest Nen users around goes against Meruem and just can basically do nothing, nothing at all. Even his secret final Zero attack did so little damage....


But a bomb


A fucking....BOMB almost obliterates Meruem

A mass produced item almost kills the strongest enemy to this point, effectively rendering Nen fucking useless and pointless.



GREAT WRITING TOGASHI


I think you are overreacting a little bit but yeah I agree that Netero's fight was very underwhelming considering all the hype that surrounded the character since he was introduced. I mean I figured he was going to lose either way but it was pretty lame almost in the style of DBZ how he did pretty much nothing to Meruem. Reminded me of the hyped up battle between Piccolo and Cell in the Cell Saga.
FullmetalRaikouMar 14, 2013 2:42 PM
Mar 14, 2013 2:30 PM
#4
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netero really shows his ugly side in that fight, but what pissed me off more was when the first chapter after the hiatus stated the king suffered from a deadly poison, it's like wtf?
Mar 14, 2013 5:15 PM
#5

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RomanDogBird said:
so basically it should have been a generic and predictable fight

how did you even read this series all the way up to that point without giving up on it


It should be a battle that doesn't end with a giant cop out that ruins the usefulness and depth of nen.
He was doing a good job up until the Chimera ant arc, writing with more battles of wit instead of power wins everything. But then he decides to start writing power wins everything, and ends it by nullifying everything.

Poor writing
Mar 16, 2013 10:03 PM
#6

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Artorias said:
It should be a battle that doesn't end with a giant cop out that ruins the usefulness and depth of nen.
He was doing a good job up until the Chimera ant arc, writing with more battles of wit instead of power wins everything. But then he decides to start writing power wins everything, and ends it by nullifying everything.

Poor writing


Well, I disagree that the outcome of this one battle somehow "ruins the usefulness and depth of nen". I think that so far Nen has been shown to be a powerful and versatile ability; and, just because, it is not an all-powerful ability does not mean it is ruined. Establishing that you will die, no matter how strong your Nen, if you have a nuke go off in your face is a limit I believe I can accept.

However, I do agree that the Meruem-Netero fight was not as satisfying as many of the other battles in this series have been. It was definitely lacking when it comes to clever strategies/uses of Nen that have determined the outcomes of most of the previous major battles.
Mar 17, 2013 6:27 PM
#7
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It really doesn't matter how many years he's trained for. He's still a human, and the Chimera Ants(especially the king) are so much more powerful than humans that even with nen we can't make a scratch. A bomb however is significantly more powerful than a human and much more destructive, and the King is still a living organism--I'm not really sure why you're surprised. HxH isn't generic powerup shounen. There are humans with some pretty crazy powers, but they're still human, and a bomb of that magnitude will still wreck them.
Mar 19, 2013 10:51 AM
#8

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NarcolepticSloth said:
It really doesn't matter how many years he's trained for. He's still a human, and the Chimera Ants(especially the king) are so much more powerful than humans that even with nen we can't make a scratch. A bomb however is significantly more powerful than a human and much more destructive, and the King is still a living organism--I'm not really sure why you're surprised. HxH isn't generic powerup shounen. There are humans with some pretty crazy powers, but they're still human, and a bomb of that magnitude will still wreck them.

Thanks for sparing me the need to respond in length.
Mar 19, 2013 11:41 AM
#9

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Your wanting it to be generic and claiming it's bad writing don't add up.

How your complaint sounds "omg why didn't he pew-pew Meryem to the afterlife, he's a top tieeerz"

For that effect, you need DBZ, Bleach or OP to fill the gap. Not Hunter x Hunter. The fight was more about showing characteristics in Meryem, Netero and humans in general, as well as Meryem and Komugi's relationship afterward.
End Zionazism
Mar 25, 2013 1:49 PM
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Artorias said:
What the fuck is with this story writing. Netero, a guy who has trained his whole damn life, who is probably one (not the strongest, but one) of the strongest Nen users around goes against Meruem and just can basically do nothing, nothing at all. Even his secret final Zero attack did so little damage....


But a bomb


A fucking....BOMB almost obliterates Meruem

A mass produced item almost kills the strongest enemy to this point, effectively rendering Nen fucking useless and pointless.



GREAT WRITING TOGASHI



You know bombs are pretty friggin powerful even if they are "mass produced".



Artorias said:
RomanDogBird said:
so basically it should have been a generic and predictable fight

how did you even read this series all the way up to that point without giving up on it


It should be a battle that doesn't end with a giant cop out that ruins the usefulness and depth of nen.
He was doing a good job up until the Chimera ant arc, writing with more battles of wit instead of power wins everything. But then he decides to start writing power wins everything, and ends it by nullifying everything.

Poor writing


But overwhelming power DOES win everything.
Like people said if a nuke is blown up in your face
you will in all likelihood...

DIE.

The fact that Meryem is even structurally intact (for the most part)
after that is incredible much more that he SURVIVED a nuke at point blank range.

Strategy is all well and good but you can't be strategic against a nuke.

That other series are able to tank Nukes and barf up universes
doesn't mean HxH is bad writing but simply a testament to how
incredibly absurd those stories are. Now before you get your
panties in a bunch realize that just because those stories are
absurd doesn't mean they're bad. It's just DIFFERENT story telling.
Mar 31, 2013 11:46 AM
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So Science > Nen apparently, what's so bad about that?
Apr 26, 2013 1:55 AM

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Disagreed too, I would have been displeased if Meruem emerged from that nuke detonation unscathed.

However, his death from the radioactive fallout could have been a little less "inevitable" if you know what I mean. Wasn't there a hope in hell that he could have been cured of the sickness? Even if there wasn't enough time/ Pitou was dead, hence unable to heal him, the what ifs could have been explored a little.

That said, that dying sequence was the best. Komugi was the perfect foil for this antagonist.
May 11, 2013 12:55 PM

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I much preferred it this way, netero still won, it just cost him his life.

Plus we got to see that mereum didn't want to fight, but actually wanted to understand and try to live with humans, the fight wasn't just there for action. Also set up the scene with him and komugi, shed a tear or two over that :P favorite shonen villain thus far :D

Idk how you can call that bad writing, but hey, you are entitled to an opinion.
Does anyone else need a doctor to confirm that someone without a head is dead?
May 15, 2013 7:44 AM

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FireValkyrie said:
It really doesn't matter how many years he's trained for. He's still a human, and the Chimera Ants(especially the king) are so much more powerful than humans that even with nen we can't make a scratch. A bomb however is significantly more powerful than a human and much more destructive, and the King is still a living organism--I'm not really sure why you're surprised. HxH isn't generic powerup shounen. There are humans with some pretty crazy powers, but they're still human, and a bomb of that magnitude will still wreck them.


LOL , maybe you should go read that part about Kite dieing and servicing as a plot device for Gon anger and his random ass power up .
May 16, 2013 11:02 AM

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SkyDemonCannibal said:
FireValkyrie said:
It really doesn't matter how many years he's trained for. He's still a human, and the Chimera Ants(especially the king) are so much more powerful than humans that even with nen we can't make a scratch. A bomb however is significantly more powerful than a human and much more destructive, and the King is still a living organism--I'm not really sure why you're surprised. HxH isn't generic powerup shounen. There are humans with some pretty crazy powers, but they're still human, and a bomb of that magnitude will still wreck them.


LOL , maybe you should go read that part about Kite dieing and servicing as a plot device for Gon anger and his random ass power up .


Gons power up wasn't random, we already knew about the means to gain great power by making rules/conditions, kurapika has already done it, gon just went to the extreme and made the rule that he can never use nen again.
Does anyone else need a doctor to confirm that someone without a head is dead?
May 16, 2013 6:17 PM
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jimbob1141 said:

Gons power up wasn't random, we already knew about the means to gain great power by making rules/conditions, kurapika has already done it, gon just went to the extreme and made the rule that he can never use nen again.


I think the only question to be asked is why haven't all of these characters submitted to some form of rule/condition? If Netero had maybe asked for the same thing as Gon, than perhaps he'd have beaten the King. I dunno
May 17, 2013 11:15 AM

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Billbillstar said:
jimbob1141 said:

Gons power up wasn't random, we already knew about the means to gain great power by making rules/conditions, kurapika has already done it, gon just went to the extreme and made the rule that he can never use nen again.


I think the only question to be asked is why haven't all of these characters submitted to some form of rule/condition? If Netero had maybe asked for the same thing as Gon, than perhaps he'd have beaten the King. I dunno


You make a very good point there actually, can't argue there :P
Does anyone else need a doctor to confirm that someone without a head is dead?
May 17, 2013 11:24 AM

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I actually think that is one of the things that makes Hunter x Hunter unique from the other shonen jump's. It was a pretty epic fight btw.
..
May 17, 2013 3:07 PM

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Billbillstar said:
jimbob1141 said:

Gons power up wasn't random, we already knew about the means to gain great power by making rules/conditions, kurapika has already done it, gon just went to the extreme and made the rule that he can never use nen again.


I think the only question to be asked is why haven't all of these characters submitted to some form of rule/condition? If Netero had maybe asked for the same thing as Gon, than perhaps he'd have beaten the King. I dunno
I don't really think so, because I think Netero had already reached his limit with nen(after all it's his life energy), and wasn't at his prime since he was already old, Gon basically almost committed suicide and if you notice Gon looked like an adult, so maybe when he made that condition then it probably made him grow faster(don't know how to explain it) also, remember Gon has limitless potential and pitou stated that his nen was as strong as the Kings
RX-782May 17, 2013 7:36 PM
May 17, 2013 5:47 PM

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I thought the fight was awesome, probably my favorite fight out of everything I've ever read.
May 19, 2013 6:51 PM

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the fight was epic ..not just between the two most powerful characters whith super cool abilities.. but two Deep characters

and i have nothing against using a bomb that can exterminate nations in minutes..and you can't have an ability that vague like that with nen
kitosamaMay 20, 2013 11:46 AM
May 26, 2013 3:27 AM

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Oh Mikasa, again bashing on OP and calling it genereic? Can´t you use your brain for once, in a way that doesn´t make the human race going into a simultaneous collective facepalm?
I know it´s hard to breathe, think and type at the same time - so just take your time. Collect your thoughts. And post something productive. Just once in your life.

Now on topic - actually this fight played out extremely well.
It´s a similiar story to Whitebeard in One Piece. Whitebeard was called the strongest pirate alive and he proved to be worth the title. But he said it himself - that title refered to his younger self.
If he were in his prime, he would´ve wiped the floor with the marine HQ.
Now to Netero, he as well stated that he received that title a long time ago. Age has gotten the best of him and seeing as Meruem got cornered by him really showed us that if Netero were in his prime age, he would´ve probably beaten him.

Now on to the main point of my post - this fight was a battle of humans vs. a new species/animals.
Compared to humans, animals are superior in a lot of areas. They can swim better, run faster, fly, have much better senses, are stronger, etc.
The only thing we have going for us and that saved our existence in the first place is our intelligence.
It´s the ability to create things to make up for our own shortcomings.
If you pit a human against a lion, bear, shark, whatever without any technology or weapon whatsoever, he´d lose.
By using guns, knives and poison we are able to keep them at bay or kill them.
We are not born with the weapons to defend ourselves against predators like that, we have to get dirty and nasty to survive.
Now, in HxH, humans have the ability called Nen. Nen is the art of controlling ones life force and giving it a form. So in fact, next to it´s weapons, humans have a natural power that let´s them compete with beasts and animals.
Now, there is a new species that not only combines the natural abilities of animals and beasts, which are already far superior to our measly bodily abilities, with our human intelligence which enabled us to survive that long against the odds of nature as well as the ability to use the life force in the form of Nen.

Now with all that in mind, pit the supposedly strongest human/hunter at his life span's end against the fresh born strongest collection of animals, beasts and humans of a superior race that absorbs the life force of anything he eats and you can compare it to a fight of an old hunter with a knive vs. a young grizzly bear.
Sure the old hunter has his experience and training to fight against opponents like that, but vitality is at his enemies side. His experience can´t overcome the burden of age, thus letting him lose in terms of agility, strength and stamina.
So how can the old hunter bring down the grizzly bear? How can Netero defeat Meruem?
By relying on something that I already mentioned before - humanities iron will to survive, using any means possible.
Atomic weapons, Biological weapons, Chemical weapons, pick your favourite.
If it was an old hunter against a grizzly bear using a grenade as his last means, it´d be "well, he only had a knive, he fought against a bear, if that was the only way to kill it, why not?"
It´s the same for Netero. Just that the survival of the human race depended on it and his enemy was the ultimate life form.
And to put it into Netero´s own words:
"King of the ants, Meruem. You don´t understand a thing about the limitless malice of mankind!"
If some race gets too large, we burn it.
If something annoys us, we poison it.
If something threatens us, we exterminate it.

So this fight shouldn´t piss you off, but should actually impress you, as it really is above other fights, especially in the shounen genre.
It´s not willpower, friendship, life force or magical artifacts that saves humanity. It´s technology, it´s the unbelievable malice and viciousness to use any means possible to stand atop the food chain and defend it´s title of evolution`s finest.
It´s technology, with the sole goal of killing everything it touches, originally designed to kill it´s creators, namely humans.

This fight showed us that in a world of Nen and other supernatural abilitites and beings, no matter how strong a human is, he can´t overpower human´s enemies: Time and nature.
And to overcome them, we rely on every means necessary. Be it poison, chemicals or something else.
Even the ultimate life form can´t compete with the wicked creations of mass destruction that humanity created. Nature lost to the inventiveness of human´s desire to kill.
one_eyed_dragonMay 26, 2013 10:13 AM
May 26, 2013 5:57 AM

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thumb up
May 27, 2013 10:18 PM

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one_eyed_dragon said:

Even the ultimate life form can´t compete with the wicked creations of mass destruction that humanity created. Nature lost to the inventiveness of human´s desire to kill.

I like you. I liked that post.
May 28, 2013 2:55 AM

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@ one_eyed_dragon
May 28, 2013 10:48 AM

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Thank you for the support and applause, Togashi might be a lazy bum at some points (wether it´s due to his illness or Dragon Quest, I do not know) but the man knows to make an interesting narrative and create likeable characters left and right.

It might be the wrong place to ask this, but is there a reason why people do not like the chimera ant arc?
I, for one, thought it was on par with the Yorknew arc, at points even better than that.
I also heard the chimera ant arc to Hunter x Hunter fans is what the Marineford arc is to One Piece fans...what´s that about?
May 29, 2013 6:47 PM

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one_eyed_dragon said:

It might be the wrong place to ask this, but is there a reason why people do not like the chimera ant arc?
I, for one, thought it was on par with the Yorknew arc, at points even better than that.

CA is by far and away my favorite arc; the atmosphere, intensity, and quality of writing is just the best Togashi's done.
May 30, 2013 12:17 PM

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i guess some viewers don't like too much violence despite being a shonen.. there is no other explanation for hating this arc.
May 31, 2013 8:19 PM
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one_eyed_dragon said:
Even the ultimate life form can´t compete with the wicked creations of mass destruction that humanity created. Nature lost to the inventiveness of human´s desire to kill.


I like the thought and detail you put into this post, but I think it's more passionate rather convincing. The idea is really brilliant and agreeable, buuuuut.. it doesn't fit in with Togashi's story.

Why?
Nen against "Human Invention" has already been challenged many times in Togashi's story. I don't want to spend too much time with examples and specifics, but a clear ex. is in the York New Arc. When Ubo challenges against the hoard of mafias. Their pistols, machine guns, snipers, and even rockets never phased him. In fact, I just re-read the arc to make sure, he doesn't even have a spec of (his) blood around him.

Your argument has a very good point, but I think the big problem here is Togashi's "Inconsistency" with his own work. It's true that man's malice outweighs nature's evolution, but this is only in the real world. In Togashi's world, it's really hard to make an accurate guess. When rockets clearly aren't effective, something like a well made knife works against Silva Zoldyck. Having a bomb destroy Meruem makes sense, but the idea of the Rose was poorly constructed. Togashi has spent over hundreds of chapters to explain the strength of Nen, and suddenly brings out the idea of a 'Mini-nuke' in one chapter...

With that being said, I can clearly relate to the creator's post, even though I too enjoyed the CA arc, it was extremely dynamic(In a bad way, unfort). When Togashi was planning the idea of The Rose, he should've put in a better structure within his story. Build up on the idea of man's inventive malice, not throw it in the air with couple of pages in 1 chapter. Even after, Togashi focuses on the horror of Nen, i.e. Gon's Nen illness. Modern medicine is useless, and the nen-based injury is focused on a different scope.

I think sometimes, even for me, the events that happen are ridiculously dynamic. But the creator of this post has the normal reaction many readers like and my friends have. So your 'essay' can't make a strong point, because HxH is really random and dynamic with both logic and suspense.
Jun 1, 2013 2:27 AM

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I can´t deny that the logic of Hunter X Hunter is a bit inconsistent, especially considering that each arc basically introduced totally new systems.
In the hunter exam arc we had the rules of the hunter games limiting some of the more powerful hunters, different beasts and areas, in the yorknew arc we had the mafia/humans vs. the phantom troupe (basically no rules - all out) thus we had a glimpse at OP nen abilities plus new rules introduced by Kurapika, in the Greed Island arc we had the rules and physics of the game and in the Chimera Ant arc we had the new rules set by the evolution of the ants.
Bascially each arc had a different point of focus as well as a different set of enemies, rules, etc.
It´s not always Hunter X Hunter, it´s hunter against human, hunter against monster, player against hunter, and so on.
Unlike One Piece who has the overall system of Devil Fruits (in a nutshell, I know, it´s deeper than that), in the Hunter X Hunter arcs, Nen isn´t always the focus of the fights. There are lot of other factors that play into fights as I mentioned.

That interpretation was just one of my own, Togashi could´ve meant something totally different.
But what I can see from this fight is what I already wrote back then.
Togashi doesn´t have to write panels explaining the malice of humanity - we could see that in Illumi, Hisoka, the Phantom Troupe, The Bomber, etc. aka the "bad guys" added to the fact that we know what we humans are capable of, no need to explain that we have a history of bloodshed, seeing as this world has established it uses technlogy based of the real world.
You mentioned Uvogin´s case of him fending off a rocket without being fazed, it´s a good example to strenghten my point.
What killed Mereum wasn´t the bomb itself, it was the poison. Uvogin´s nen was useless against the worms as well as the tranqulizer, meaning if he were to be caught in the exlposion, he would die as was well, even if his aura could´ve protected him from the blast and heat.
No matter how hard you train, no matter how strong you are, if you are hit by atomic rays your cells will be destroyed, if germs enter your body it will react to them and weaken you in the process, if you inhale nerve gas it´ll prevent you from moving your muscles as you want them to, hence atomic, biological or chemical weapons.

You can be a black belt master in hand to hand combat, be in the prime of your youth, live and eat healthy - if you´re poisened, you are going to die the same way a unhealthy fat 55 year old guy.
Netero trained his whole life. He was dedicated to strengthen his own abilities.
Yet, he couldn´t beat time. He can´t stop himself from aging.
Mereum is the ultimate life form, a collection of genes containing humans, animals, beasts, insects, etc. and his body absorbs the aura of the beings he eats and grows even stronger.
Yet, he can´t beat the synthetically created poison of the rose.
Togashi doesn´t need to explain why Netero relied on the rose. He doesn´t need to explain why the poison killed Mereum. Netero knew that he would die in this fight - he hinted a few times at it that he would have to sacrifice himself. Nen wasn´t enough to kill Mereum.
Netero knows what humanity is capable of and realizes that despite all of his training - age got the best of him. So he relies on what humans did since centuries - if you want to kill someone that is stronger than you - use a weapon. In a fight for survival it doesn´t matter if you get dirty - if you live, you win.
If your home is infested with ants, exterminate them with poison.
It´s the story of how we humans fought against nature.
Humanity survived - the ants lost.
Jun 1, 2013 1:31 PM
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It's true humanity won and ants lost, but my point is to help better explain the creator of this post. Why his disappointment SHOULD be a normal reaction, which is because you don't throw in a technological warfare within the very few pages of solely one chapter. Your points are convincing, but you are missing my main point. The Rose was fit in poorly as manga writing. It can even seem like a way of just killing off Meruem. I know Togashi has a way of just moving the story when he wants to, but I strongly believe you can't interpret technological growth within the "malice of bad guys' persona." You build up on the notion of science's impact.

Also to reply to the part with poison. I LOVE HxH because of their susceptibility to poison and such. HxH, being a story about 'HUNTING', is a very thrilling and suspenseful psychological manga. The smart, witty, and patient hunters are pretty much all alive (Opposed to the brute strength char). They don't just solely utilize their Nen, but the feats of HUMAN intellect (Not just human's inventive malice). So I can agree with you on this aspect, there's no need to further explain about human's evolution against nature.

What I am talking about is the main message the creator of this post has sent. It's jaw dropping, a WTF to people's faces when they're introduced to the Rose within couple pages of 1 chapter. This can be original, creative, but was very displeasing as the climax of the CA arc. Like I said again, just so you don't get the wrong idea dragon... The Nuke, poison, is very likely. It makes sense, but just very disappointing for a skillful writer like Togashi. If he maybe gave strong noticeable hints (NOT loose or hypothetical gestures) about this Rose within Netero, I would be a bit more satisfied. What I mean is a sentence from Netero's mouth, talking about the Rose. Because there was no clear indication of this nuke until it finally happened.

*Edit. Ahh I forgot to mention because I had just remembered, the POISON used were affiliated with physical prowess of Nen capable hunters. Meaning that they actually took the risk to inflict an injury which eventually led to poisoning. This is also another reason why I like Togashi's manga, poison is not just a cheap trick (Until the Rose, sort of...), it takes skill from the Hunter to apply poison to their opponent. This may be for gassing, knives, or insects/bugs.
12_21_2Jun 1, 2013 1:35 PM
Jun 4, 2013 9:06 AM

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Dangerr said:
one_eyed_dragon said:

It might be the wrong place to ask this, but is there a reason why people do not like the chimera ant arc?
I, for one, thought it was on par with the Yorknew arc, at points even better than that.

CA is by far and away my favorite arc; the atmosphere, intensity, and quality of writing is just the best Togashi's done.

thumbs up, character writing was really on point here, and there was a multitude of awesome battles (the only part I didn't like was the artwork and the constant narrartion). Definitely one of the best arcs I've seen from a shonen.
Jun 4, 2013 9:08 AM

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Artorias said:

A mass produced item almost kills the strongest enemy to this point, effectively rendering Nen fucking useless and pointless.


Never mind things like collateral damage and the cost of his life. Yep nen is soooooooo useless.
Jun 10, 2013 5:05 PM

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Artorias said:
What the fuck is with this story writing. Netero, a guy who has trained his whole damn life, who is probably one (not the strongest, but one) of the strongest Nen users around goes against Meruem and just can basically do nothing, nothing at all. Even his secret final Zero attack did so little damage....


But a bomb


A fucking....BOMB almost obliterates Meruem

A mass produced item almost kills the strongest enemy to this point, effectively rendering Nen fucking useless and pointless.



GREAT WRITING TOGASHI



I don't care who you are. If you are an organism, unless you have already been exposed to a poison or radiation, they will harm you; also, it was no normal mass produced bomb. The Miniature Rose was a such a dangerous weapon that it was banned in all countries. While I wish that the battle could have ended in a different way, it fits right in with Hunter X Hunter, and it is fair game in this fight. Now if this was how a fight ended in Dragonball or Hokuto no Ken, I would be pissed.
Jul 17, 2013 3:58 PM

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SkyDemonCannibal said:
FireValkyrie said:
It really doesn't matter how many years he's trained for. He's still a human, and the Chimera Ants(especially the king) are so much more powerful than humans that even with nen we can't make a scratch. A bomb however is significantly more powerful than a human and much more destructive, and the King is still a living organism--I'm not really sure why you're surprised. HxH isn't generic powerup shounen. There are humans with some pretty crazy powers, but they're still human, and a bomb of that magnitude will still wreck them.


LOL , maybe you should go read that part about Kite dieing and servicing as a plot device for Gon anger and his random ass power up .
Yeah but even after gon powered up he faced huge reprecussions from using that much power.
Jul 22, 2013 9:08 PM
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Why? The fight was awesome!
"Savage Pirate We Love You"
Jul 24, 2013 12:06 PM

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embracebuddha said:
SkyDemonCannibal said:
FireValkyrie said:
It really doesn't matter how many years he's trained for. He's still a human, and the Chimera Ants(especially the king) are so much more powerful than humans that even with nen we can't make a scratch. A bomb however is significantly more powerful than a human and much more destructive, and the King is still a living organism--I'm not really sure why you're surprised. HxH isn't generic powerup shounen. There are humans with some pretty crazy powers, but they're still human, and a bomb of that magnitude will still wreck them.


LOL , maybe you should go read that part about Kite dieing and servicing as a plot device for Gon anger and his random ass power up .
Yeah but even after gon powered up he faced huge reprecussions from using that much power.


It's not even really a random ass power up, considering he isn't going to be doing that again in a hurry :P so calling it a plot device for a power up is kinda wrong.
Does anyone else need a doctor to confirm that someone without a head is dead?
Aug 25, 2013 9:31 AM

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Jun 2013
384
MikskizO said:
So Science > Nen apparently, what's so bad about that?

Even though Nen is something above Science, it is still topped by Science after all.
Gutalala ~~ sudalala


"It would be great to live as a human"
-Meruem, King of the Ants
Oct 6, 2013 1:36 PM
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Oct 2013
1
Artorias said:
What the fuck is with this story writing. Netero, a guy who has trained his whole damn life, who is probably one (not the strongest, but one) of the strongest Nen users around goes against Meruem and just can basically do nothing, nothing at all. Even his secret final Zero attack did so little damage....


But a bomb


A fucking....BOMB almost obliterates Meruem

A mass produced item almost kills the strongest enemy to this point, effectively rendering Nen fucking useless and pointless.



GREAT WRITING TOGASHI



First of all, Meruem died because of the poison not the explosion itself but the poison in the explosion. The King is able to become stronger and have the nen of each human he devours. It's showing us that there are beings/creatures out there which are far more stronger than Humans. If you read after that, Ging says that the hunter world is small, the world map is huge, who knows what creatures lie ahead. It's just the powers of those creatures. If it was a human who just learned nen then ok that would be fucked up. But the Chimera Kings are at a whole different league.
Nov 24, 2013 1:58 AM

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Sep 2011
565
Nen useless? The heck?

I don't see why a wishing machine can be useless.

Can Alluka kill the King with a wish? Yes. He is not immune to Nen.
(But with great risk and consequences because that's how Nen works.)

Can a Nuke with a powerful poison kill the King? Yes. He is not immune to physical attacks and chemicals.
(But with great risk and consequences from testing the bomb, making the bomb, and implanting it to someone with the condition of 'that the bomb will explode if that man's heart stopped')

Nen is not useless.
Science is not weak.

If a random meteor with a size of a small country came out of nowhere undetected and hits the King and Netero -or- a powerful God-like being from a different dimension suddenly came out of a portal and destroy the whole planet, will it kill the King or Netero? Yes.
(But that will be Togashi being bad at writing a story)
Jan 11, 2014 10:27 PM
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May 2013
2
It shows how realistic hxh is. Its pretty much set in our world except with powers.

And this isn't dbz. Its not about who can make a bigger explosion than the other guy. Even if they do have roses it still wouldn't make all nen useless. (You wouldn't be able to set off a rose on Killua for example, he'd just use godspeed to escape.
Artorias said:
RomanDogBird said:
so basically it should have been a generic and predictable fight

how did you even read this series all the way up to that point without giving up on it


It should be a battle that doesn't end with a giant cop out that ruins the usefulness and depth of nen.
He was doing a good job up until the Chimera ant arc, writing with more battles of wit instead of power wins everything. But then he decides to start writing power wins everything, and ends it by nullifying everything.

Poor writing
What? How can you say power doesn't decide everything when Mereum was more powerful than Netero but he still had a trump card left to win? That doesn't make any sense.
Jan 20, 2014 12:33 AM

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Sep 2007
112
Vesperlynd said:
Disagreed too, I would have been displeased if Meruem emerged from that nuke detonation unscathed.

However, his death from the radioactive fallout could have been a little less "inevitable" if you know what I mean. Wasn't there a hope in hell that he could have been cured of the sickness? Even if there wasn't enough time/ Pitou was dead, hence unable to heal him, the what ifs could have been explored a little.

That said, that dying sequence was the best. Komugi was the perfect foil for this antagonist.


You have to remember that what made the poor man's rose special is not just the fact it is a nuclear bomb, but that it spreads a highly powerful poison that self replicates.That is why, unlike nukes, it is completely banned.
Jan 21, 2014 6:12 PM

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Mar 2011
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Meruem is a fine villain and easily the best in HxH by far but his death is absolutely atrocious. Its definitely one of the worst anti-climatic endings Ive ever seen, very uninspired and rushed after being dragged from 100's of chapters. What was the point of overpowering already overpowered character just to die 10 chapters later in such a lame way? We were lead to believe that he would be unstoppable and for Togashi to mislead us and to pull out a plot device like this is disappointing. One of the chapters, we got entire chapter of black pages and their last dying words but it was so much force-feeding its unbelievable. Also to die from radiation illness after being nearly godlike was terrible. We didnt even get full extent of already overpowered pre-nuke Meruem's abilities and suddenly overpowered some more? He pulled Aizen type shit after surviving Netero's nuke. I expect that from Kubo not Togashi.

What is even worse is that he died from a nuke! A friggin NUKE!!! He had DNA comprised thousands of species and millions of humans including most of Youpi and Pouf's genes. Someone of Meruem's calibre should've evolved beyond and become immune to man-made weapons making him the force to be reckoned with. To suddenly be defeated like the way he did was anti-climatic. Basically, Togashi stopped when it started getting good. This is why he takes hiatuses; he sits down in a room to come up with what to do in the story. Meruem should be the true meaning of survival of the fittest, an alpha specimen and yet, he got killed by a human invention? Its a shame
Jan 22, 2014 12:17 AM

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Jan 2014
655
I'ts not that shame, the fact is none other character in HxH that stronger than Meruem, it's impossible to defeat him with winning phisycal or nen battle. I think Togashi want to end this arc quickly, expecially after long hiatuses. If the ending dragged again maybe Chimera arc is not over until now considering that ending with Komugi is really beautiful
Jan 22, 2014 10:06 PM
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Dec 2011
20
Wow I cant believe what some people are saying...

I for one dont believe that the ending was rushed anyhow. Thats because of one reason: Meruem was overpowered from the start. When you rush a ending you usually create a super antagonist and then power him up crazy thinking "this will be friggin epic!". But after some more chapters you think "Uh-oh I think I went overboard with this... now I have to figure out something, quick!".
Thats the standard way of thinking in such cases.

In case of Meruem however he was OP from day one. Even Netero knew that. Hell, most of you admit that there was no one to challenge him. I think almost all readers were aware of that so I'm quite sure Togashi was not oblivious to this as well... being the author and all. Thats just to say that this does not reek from any "rushing". Yes, most certainly it was deliberate. If anyone says otherwise... well you are allowed to have an opinion but I think you are just trying to fool yourselves. This was all planed beforehand (to me it certainly looks that way) - Komugi, Netero, the OP factor. Deal with it.

Tite Kubo is an example of a guy who goes with the flow... a slave of readers opinion, of commercialism... Togashi on the other hand plans out everything perfectly. This was proven in the Chimera arc and in the Chairman Election arc.
Dont get me wrong. I still think he is the laziest author in the buisness. I just think that when he actually does something he delivers pure genius.

As to the actual cause of Meruem's demise I dare say this - I think the creator of this thread is wrong. To understand why one must grasp the nature of Nen and the nature of HxH in general.
As tupadre97 already pointed out: "this isn't dbz". I love Dragon Ball and was raised on it so chill DBfans, this is just a totally diffrent manga is what Im saying.

1. For starters HxH is a more realistic world. The ones that win are those with strategy not the brawn. In DBZ it all came down to who had the highiest power level. It stayed simplistic. In HxH fights are not that simple. A person with a higher level may loose to a person of a lower level. For example if he has a bad day, or walks into the enemy's trap, or if his power is not able to deal with certain abilities, or if the enemy's will is stronger (and lets say he sacrifices something to gain more power like Gon x Pitou). This was proven countless times in the series. Gon defeated Bomber though power-wise it should have been the opposite. Chrollo was taken by surprise by Kurapika and his abilites were rendered useless. Even tough he battled with Zeno and Silva simultaneously. Does this mean that Kurapika could beat the crap out of the Zoldycks? Hell, no! This just shows that HxH fights are all about strategy, willpower, different abilities and battlefield situations.
This is excatly why the Hunters team didint storm the palace with a grin on their face thinking that sheer belief in their friends will win the day (like characters in most today anime do) but they thought about the best course of action, best possible scenario and even after they barged in they constantly had to analyze the situation, decide wheter to changed their objective based on the events etc.
After all they are aware that some of them might not survive so its only normal they constantly try to stick to the plan as much as possible. They act believable and have deep character development. Thats what makes them and the fights, and the world so realistic.

2. Nen is not useless nor is it invincible. It all depends on the user. Mainly his creativity. There are different types, and each user can develop a unique ability depending on his character, imagination, willpower and what sacrifices he is willing to take to gain that strenght. Hunters try to think their powers through. They try to find something that best suits them while covering as much ground as they can. Every power has advantges and disadvantages. Hisokas bungee gum is a well thought power, but Cheetu on the other hand was a moron when it came to developing one. Yes, Nen has probably the best potential when it comes to powers in shounen manga's. It all depends on what one wants to achieve, and whether he has the means to do it (+training,+sacrifice).

Now with both those points in mind we look again at the Netero x Meruem fight. Again this is not the DBZ universe where sheer power lets you survive a meteor crash or an explosion of a planet. Nen gives great advantages but cannot be used at every occasion. As I recall it was stated during Kurapika's training that Nen is not all powerful and you cannot create a sword that cuts through anything. The same can be assumed for an all-blockable shield. Even if you could create something close enough you would have to show great resolve and probably shorten your life span considerably. No, nen is a great ability but its certainly not godlike. If you face an atomic nuke of epic proportions you face such vile, destructive power that you are simply obliterated even if your the strongest of nen users. We can all agree that Hisoka or Illumi are strong users of Nen. Would they be ok if they were drowning? Or struck by a bolt of lightning? NEN HAS A LIMIT!

Also its worth mentioning that Meruem did NOT use Nen during the battle with Netero. This is probably based on his reluctance in fighting the chairman. His strength and durability are effects of his evolution not his power. We can safely assume that the Old Man's Rose took him off guard with his nen down.
Add to that the fact that Meruem can only feel and utilize Nen but does not grasp its concept as Netero does.

Even if he would be using Nen Netero made sure that even if the explosion wont take him, then the virus will, as even the most advanced form of life are powerless against a terminal disease... like cancer. He may have been the strongest lifeform but he still was mortal... still had his limits...

And on the final note... really people-learn your s***... when japanese write a story with an atomic nuke in it its usually not by coincidence. It most certainly holds a connection to Hieroshima as the trauma of that fatal day exist in them to this day. And no wonder! Togashi could not do it any differently - he depicted the greatest terror ever witnessed to japanese people... perhaps the greatest terror ever witnessed by humnity. A weapon of mass destruction! It crushed Meruem as it did the japanese during the war, both physically and mentally. His power didint make a difference, neither did the japanese courage, honor and strenght. With this kind of devastating horror it simply rolled over them. Considering the realism of Hunter x hunter it really could not go differently than this.
Yet I get the feeling some of you guys brush it off with a smirk: "Bah! An atomic warhead? Tis but a scratch!"

I see absolutely no irregularities in Togashi's idea. On the contrary - to me its a briliantly written, and well thought story. Even more, the Chimera Ant arc is one of the best arc's I have ever witnessed and Im really waiting to see how MadHouse will follow with the depiction. Its intense, serious, mature and cleverly written. Truly perfect. Truly epic.

Its worth mentioning that HxH is not a normal shounen but a deconstructed one. It plays with its own genre which gives a really unique experience.

If anyone read this to the end and still is bit**ing about Meruem, Netero, Nen, Komugi and stuff like that the only thing I can advise more is to just abandon this series. No offense but it may prove too mature for you. Go watch/read some nowaday-generic-commerse-shounen instead.

PS: I want to apologize for such a long post but I felt that this matter should really be approached seriously, given the fact that its still a subject of debate. I apologize 'specialy to those who would say I wasted their precious life moments...
Feb 3, 2014 2:05 AM
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Jan 2014
1
well, i also think that the conclusion of this fight is a flaw of this series.
i mean, this low budgeted, small, mass produced bomb can kill the king?
if it was like philosopher stone from FMA when you need many human lives to make it, then it's okay. but, cheap and can be mass produced? even a real nuke cost a lot of money, and can't be mass produced in a short time. i think the rose is way too OP. even the king, the most OP character in hxh(or is it killua now?:p), takes many human lives to get to the level of strength he has. but togashi didn't really explain any difficulty to make the rose...


and about king died because he was poisoned, it's just, why poisoned? i mean, when he introduced the chimera, he made us believe that these creature are capable of many impossible things, beyond human ability and can't be explained scientifically, and then he made the king died, by poison? a normal human way of dying? if a creature can can make a bomb out his living cells, can scatter himself to tiny-particle sized- pieces, then why can't its body make antibody to the poison? why not make its body cell not react with the molecule of the poison? though i prefer the king died from poison instead from exploison because his death with komugi is just beautiful...


and another thing that didn't make sense to me, is, why didn't they (hunter association) throw the rose at the very beginning, even before the king was born? or throw it at the palace when people haven't gathered for the selection? and if the rose have to be injcted to someone's heart, why it has to be netero? why don't put it in other random criminals?
the most possible explanation that i can think of, is that the power of the destruction of the rose, depends by the strenght of the person injected by it. and i think it converts the strong nen power after dying into a power of destruction (exploison+concentration of the poison?). that's why they (or netero himself) sacrificed netero, one of the strongest hunter alive.if it were just normal people, the effect wouldn't be that powerful. well, thats just my theory though.
Feb 16, 2014 3:11 AM

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Oct 2008
622
kouwpee said:
well, i also think that the conclusion of this fight is a flaw of this series.
i mean, this low budgeted, small, mass produced bomb can kill the king?
if it was like philosopher stone from FMA when you need many human lives to make it, then it's okay. but, cheap and can be mass produced? even a real nuke cost a lot of money, and can't be mass produced in a short time. i think the rose is way too OP. even the king, the most OP character in hxh(or is it killua now?:p), takes many human lives to get to the level of strength he has. but togashi didn't really explain any difficulty to make the rose...


and about king died because he was poisoned, it's just, why poisoned? i mean, when he introduced the chimera, he made us believe that these creature are capable of many impossible things, beyond human ability and can't be explained scientifically, and then he made the king died, by poison? a normal human way of dying? if a creature can can make a bomb out his living cells, can scatter himself to tiny-particle sized- pieces, then why can't its body make antibody to the poison? why not make its body cell not react with the molecule of the poison? though i prefer the king died from poison instead from exploison because his death with komugi is just beautiful...


and another thing that didn't make sense to me, is, why didn't they (hunter association) throw the rose at the very beginning, even before the king was born? or throw it at the palace when people haven't gathered for the selection? and if the rose have to be injcted to someone's heart, why it has to be netero? why don't put it in other random criminals?
the most possible explanation that i can think of, is that the power of the destruction of the rose, depends by the strenght of the person injected by it. and i think it converts the strong nen power after dying into a power of destruction (exploison+concentration of the poison?). that's why they (or netero himself) sacrificed netero, one of the strongest hunter alive.if it were just normal people, the effect wouldn't be that powerful. well, thats just my theory though.

The comparison between the power of a lifeform, aura or not, compared to that of a thermonuclear device, even if it's "small" or "cheap", is incomparable - the very fact that he managed to survive the explosion for even a few minutes at point blank range shows how incredible Mereum is. As for the "poison", its obviously some sort of radioactive / chemical reaction. Again, while Mereum's strength was godlike compared to that of humans, his body, even if it could synthesize antidotes for biological poisons, chemical / radioactive agents, if strong enough, simply aren't curable through biological means.

As for why they didn't use the rose preemptively, there's a few obvious reasons. First, they wouldn't have been able to bomb the hive in NGL, because aside from causing an international incident by nuking a target within the confines of a fully autonomous nation, they had no reliable means of delivering such a device within the allotted time period, which somewhat leads to the second point; the only aircraft shown thus far in HxH's world are relatively slow-moving airships (no jets or airplanes) - there's no way such a craft could approach either the hive or later the palace to deliver the device without being gunned down, destroyed by Youpi and/or Pouf, or simply evacuating the King to a safer locale in the absolute worst scenario. Third, I don't think you quite understand the rose's nature - it isn't "injected" into the heart, but was planted somewhere else in Netero's body. The significance of his heart was simply that the bomb's detonation mechanism was attached to a pacemaker; if his heart stops, it sets itself off. Whether or not he killed himself or just died abruptly in combat, they were assuming it would be in the direct vicinity of the King - he dies, it explodes. A normal person would never have managed to get as close. Netero, while also getting the fight he had always dreamed of, also had assured maximum effectiveness of the Rose's usefulness by being at extremely close proximity to the target.
Feb 27, 2014 8:24 AM

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Dec 2012
24355
I completely agree. The fight was just underwhelming and anti climactic in so many ways, but then again most HxH fights are anti climactic for whatever reason. I liked the beginning of it though.
tsudecimoFeb 27, 2014 8:29 AM
Mar 3, 2014 1:02 PM

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Dec 2010
387
I think choreography and strategy-wise, the fight was disappointing. However, what the King and Netero represent, and the clashing struggle of those symbols and themes, makes up for it. The only problem I have in regards to the Rose was that it was, IIRC, never hinted at, never foreshadowed, never built up throughout the arc, not once. (Someone do correct me if I'm wrong, my memory isn't fresh.) From us readers' perspectives, it came out of nowhere, and, when something of that magnitude comes so late into the game, that is poor writing, imo. That said, the Chimera Ant arc is one of the best arcs I've ever seen, but it has its flaw(s). (Admittedly the sudden appearance of the Rose is the only one I can think of right now. :P)
Dec 2, 2014 9:38 AM
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Dec 2014
1
the ant chimera arc upset me aswell. At first I thought there has been a change of author then i found out he is only one, and only a hiatus. The addition of ants with nen really ruin the story not just a nen, a hax nen, that ruin the character of the antagonist of gon & killua which is hisoka & illumni. It would have been great if they wer still the protoganist target goal as power chart. And its much better if ging the one who faces this kind of enemy aside of gon & killua, who is still in the middle of their maturity. It just got me confused if ging, hisoka, illumni, silva is just as strong or weaker than the royal guard who gon finishes with one jajaken.
angelkentaDec 2, 2014 9:48 AM
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