#and would work with killua's story arc so well

[sickkonline]

Orpheus and Eurydice and how they inspired Killugon.

this is just speculation on my part, but since it’s pretty well known that togashi uses myths and legends within his work, it’s pretty plausible.

not going to give too many details cuz i know y’all are only here for killugon so here we go

Apollo in this situation would be Ging, obviously, and the lyre represents becoming a hunter. Gon is Orpheus. Gon falls in love with Killua during the hunter exam, (just like i thought) and then…

Illumi comes (Hymen.) He says assassins aren’t meant to be friends and says eventually, Killua will end up killing Gon.

I think “dancing with Nymphs” could refer to Killua going along with the zoldycks ways of life, like killing people, even though he does not belong. Killua does not DIE, but I think the death could represent returning back to his house that’s full of death, or his spirit breaking. (especially after his first taste of real true friendship and love)

Gon DEFINITELY makes it clear thru the zoldyck family arc that he wishes he was there for killua, how he wants him back at his side. He makes it clear to everybody, it’s why Leorio and Kurapika were so willing to go along with him.

Isn’t the testing gate LITERALLY referred to as “the gate to hades?” There is a clear connection there. Gon arrives at the zoldycks manor and manages to move every single employee he meets, like canary, zebro, and gotoh. (Ghosts and souls of people unknown.) I dont think this is in the manga, but I remember that in the 1999 version, Gon befriends Mike (Cerberus.)

While I think Hades should represent Silva, I think it expresses Gotoh’s feelings more. Gon proves himself through the coin game, and Gotoh allows Killua to return to Gon.

The rest of the story ends up with Eurydice dying, but I think this part of the story is more metaphorical than anything.

Killua following Gon, and him not being able to turn around and meet Killua’s eyes. It’s a common theme within Hxh.

shoutout to strawberrylianlian on tiktok for pointing this out to me, i think this is a really cute myth and really conveys just how IN LVOE gon is with killua. Amen

[maagicmushies]

Nen Talks #3 Kurapika

Hey. You got a free hour or two to spare? If not, fuck off because we're talking about Kurapika's abilities, their symbolism and their connection to his story line and this will be a yap session because he is one of the most storied characters in the series with the highest number of abilities.

So, I think for Kurapika it mostly makes sense to talk about how Nen abilities in chronological order, starting with the Dousing Chain. It's a silver chain with a ball at the end attached to his ring and while it is Kurapika's main chain for combat, the real interesting thing is that the name isn't just for show. Dousing Chain can be used to read maps and tell lies. We're already starting strong because Kurapika is someone who HATES being lied to or even having information withheld for him. All hunters are greedy to an extent, because to be a hunter means to constantly want something that you don't have. Kurapika is this with information, he (unintentionally) compromised the safety of his entire clan just because he wanted to experience more, learn more. The Dousing Chain is this hunger for knowledge taken to it's full form. You cannot lie to Kurapika, nor can you hide anything from him.

His next chain is the Chain Jail on his middle finger and no, I don't think that is a coincidence. It's a gesture brimming with spite and anger and how Kurapika binds the Phantom Troupe. There is more to say about Chain Jail, but it's better saved for a little later on. Next up is the Holy Chain, allowing Kurapika to heal himself or others. This one is almost purely subtext, but Kurapika has a lot of holy themes tied to him. He wears a monk's garb as his primary design for the Yorkshin arc and his primary adversary, Chrollo, has a lot of "anti-christ" theming going on with that evil bible, a cloak adorned with St. Peter's Cross and his twelve disciples. Kurapika is the holy soldier on a mission of righteousness while Chrollo is the embodiment of everything that Kurapika strives to avoid.

The turning point in Kurapika's abilities is the reveal of Emperor Time. It's not a chain, but instead a state he enters when his emotions reach a fever pitch and his eyes go scarlet. Instead of Kurapika being a Conjurer with 100% potential in conjuration with diminishing returns everywhere, it turns him into a specialist with 100% potential everywhere. This is the ability of someone who wants to do everything on their own. Hunter x Hunter's cast is initially set up like one of Togashi's previous works, Yu Yu Hakusho where everyone has their own strengths and no one can truly do anything on their own. However, Kurapika defies this, breaking away from everyone and trying to find any way to be his own team. It's not that he's selfish, it's just that this is HIS holy war and doesn't see the need to drag his friends into it. This aspect of Kurapika isn't just spiritually destructive, but physically destructive because late in the manga it is revealed that there is another restriction tied to Emperor Time. One second for the Emperor shaves off one second of Kurapika's life. As his search for his clan's eyes gets harder, he needs to use Emperor Time more and more. No one really knows how much time Kurapika has left. We just know that he has lost at least 6 years of what he would have had originally, and likely much more than that. After he completes his quest, that might be it. He might just fully burn out. Kurapika has acknowledged this possibility... and is mostly ok with it. Just like Gon and Killua (and his arch nemesis, Chrollo), he doesn't have a ton of self worth, that's what allows him to grab ahold to this great power in such a short time and leads well into the Judgement Chain on his pinkie. Judgement Chain forces someone into an oath with Kurapika and if the oath is broken, the chain which is wrapped around the heart will crush the heart, killing them instantly. I think the allusion to "pinkie promise" might be intentional? As said earlier, oaths and truths are a big thing to Kurapika, so this makes sense but the real tragic thing here is that Kurapika has used Judgement Chain on himself. In order to stop himself from going out of control on his revenge quest, he has made a Judgement Chain vow with himself to only use Chain Jail on Phantom Troupe members. Failure to acquiesce will kill him. Kurapika... still doesn't really know what will happen if he accidentally uses it on someone who isn't a troupe member. It's this lack of foresight and lack of self worth that keeps showing up for him, Kurapika just keeps digging down with no plan on how to get back up and seems to be resigned to the idea that he may never get back up.

The final chain and the one I likely have the least to say about is the Steal Chain. It's his index finger. It basically sucks someone's aura out of their body and then gives that aura (and the ability carried within it) to an ally using Stealth Dolphin. Steal Chain holds a similar role to Chain Jail in Kurapika's characterization, this idea that some nen users are terrible people who need to be chained to hell, having all of their godly nen powers removed. Kurapika really likes this idea because he even uses Judgement Chain to impose this on Chrollo. It fits into that religious theming that keeps coming up with Kurapika, his mission is one of righteousness or at least that's how he sees it.

There are largely two forms of story telling done through nen in Hunter x Hunter. One form hints at a characters backstory and struggles and how they've evolved past it while the other hints at the core of who the character really is. Kurapika's skillset is a fantastic case of the latter, because you get such a vivid picture painted just by knowing what these does. His obsession with truths and oaths, his religious subtext with the troupe and his lack of self worth. It's all communicated through his chains and eyes and this is honestly a fantastic showcase of what a "main character" ability looks like for this series.

[hxhhasmysoul]

So, if you asked to write your top 5 fav from JJK and HxH, what genre will you put them (or you agree that they should be in shounen)....

HxH top 5+:

Gon - he fits battle shounen well but he's also do great in a sports show. Any type of adventure story would suit him, it wouldn't need to be fighting related, he's so curious. And also detective stories, he's very perceptive. But also psychological horror or thriller where he has to face the darker parts of his personality. And high fantasy, Gon's obviously an elf or a hobbit or like a cross between them.

Killua - he would do well in some slow burn romance, period probably where a lot is unspoken. He could also do well as an eccentric detective, genius with poor people skills but actually very observant and empathetic on the inside XD

Alluka (and Nanika)- shoujo, possibly a magical girl one but with slightly darker undertones. You know, both cute and creepy. Or like darker, maybe supernatural or horror yuri drama. Nanika would either be her twin in this, or the dark magical being connected to her like she is in hxh. And obviously gothic horror.

Canary - she would also make a great magical girl, but also any kind of story of reluctant heroine would suit her - she serves the Zoldycks out of necessity but she also grew very emotionally invested in that. Also yuri drama would suit her very well. And considering how she scammed Amane in the Election arc I feel like some kind of story where she uses her wits to achieve her goals.

Leorio - apart from the obvious aka any medical drama, any scenario where it's him against the system. Probably cyber punk would suit him well, because of how such reality would clash with his values. But also rom com, he'd be kinda bad at it and it'd be funny.

____________________

JJK to 5:

Yuuji - I mean he's a shoujo manga heroine, I stand by it wholeheartedly. He's be good in slice of life but also in something very dramatic and painful. And he'd be perfect for romance where he's the clueless one and others pursue him, maybe even harem anime. Also some kind of story where he has a service job and deals with it, kinda heavy but funny story, probably heart warming in the end. Also musicals to utilise his singing skills and charisma.

Nobara - any story where she's the underdog climbing to the top or where she has assert herself against the world. She'd be great in slice of life too, especially comedy. And stuff with yuri on the side though no romance for her as the main plot, like she's more about her goals. And anything where she's ride or die, can be as tragic as Thelma and Luise but also a lighter play on that trope.

Kenjaku - comedy, obviously. Horror, duh. But also spy thrillers, both as the main character, kinda an anti hero, or the villain. And like any historical drama that is intrigue and/or creepiness heavy. And cyber punk with the body hopping. And obviously any story about them being an overbearing parent with a difficult relationship with their kids, like heavy family drama. Kenny's got range.

Sukuna - porn. Any story where he's the ruthless ruler or contender to power - period drama, modern, sf, crime. Any story where he's a cannibalistic serial killer, especially styled after true crime where he'd have groupies. Reality tv where he's the hated judge. But also some heavy drama where he has to deal with societal rejection and/or has to face the personal consequences of the way he is, like the thing Gege is denying him rn. Or a more silly and topey high school drama version of that like a bully getting his comeuppance and rethinking his life, something teen oriented.

Yorozu - so like mad scientist anything for her. But also Crazy Ex Girlfriend kinda thing where she slowly works through her issues and gets over seeking validation in shitty men. Also like Sex and the City but like if Samantha was the main character (as she should've been). Like a reverse rom com. She'd also do well in musicals and super hero stories before the started to strive for being serious, because she's over the top.

[worldunbent]

i was going to give my ranking of hxh arcs but tbh i enjoy/don't enjoy them for such different reasons that it feels impossible to try to directly compare them. i also could not possibly justify ranking the chairman election arc as highly as i would. general quick thoughts on each instead

hunter exam - it took me a little while to get into it, but starting from around netero's introduction it really picks up and the ending is stellar... on mc+ keith talks about how the show makes you nostalgic for the hunter exam as it goes on and it is kind of great how an arc that feels full of danger and uncertainty at the time becomes almost cute and whimsical in retrospect.

zoldyck manor? - not sure if this counts as an arc but i like it. there's some excellent work in tone with how simultaneously dark and goofy it is.

kevin's heaven's arena - sure does exist. speaking of arcs that feel different in hindsight, greed island kind of makes this arc look worse because that also had a shitton of exposition but it was with a wacky character in a wacky setting while in kevin's arena you're getting powerpoints from a kind of boring character in a kind of boring setting. there's nothing about this arc i really hate, but not much i enjoy either.

yorknew city/phantom troupe - YEAH BABEY. if we go by the dichotomy that everyone is either a yorknew fan or an ants fan, i am definitely a yorknew fan. i love the setting, i love the parade of freaks, i love the inexplicable lengthy digressions about art forgery. all of the character writing is so sharp and funny and tragic. i could talk for ages about how many things i like about this arc on a beat-by-beat level. on a broader level, the pacing is also excellent (even with the lengthy art forgery digressions) and i love how it's a break from the very typical battle shonen-y structure of the surrounding arcs.

greed island - i wasn't expecting to like greed island because i don't like training arcs and have very little interest in stories that deal with video game mechanics but for some reason i really enjoyed it - it's partly because the arc just has great character work (this is where killua emerged as my favorite and stayed that way for the rest of the series even though he was squarely my least favorite of the main four for quite a while in the beginning) and partly because togashi is having so much fun with his own worldbuilding and bizarre ideas that it's hard not to get drawn in. the video game aspect is less interested in the crunchy mechanics... well, it is interested in the crunchy mechanics, but it takes a very broad view of the game's design as well, which is a lot more fun to me. obviously the weak point of this arc is that the villain just sucks ass. i won't deny that.

chimera ants - wellll sure. i like a lot of this arc, especially the continued character and relationship development for gon and killua and a bunch of the new characters on the hunter side, but the stuff i enjoyed most wasn't really specific to the ants. i didn't hate them but i struggled to find them as interesting as togashi clearly did and that's... an issue when the arc is as long and ant-focused as it is.

13th chairman election - i completely understand the flaws that other people see in this arc but i simply enjoy the events that take place and sometimes that's enough. it's a stupid political farce that for some reason has been jammed into the same space as a fucked-up family drama. and the stupid political farce is also a fucked-up family drama itself. it's just so weird and specific that i can't help but like it.

dark continent - i barely remember anything that happened this arc. i do think it's really funny that togashi takes a second pass at the same bit nobody liked in yyh where he starts explicitly powerscaling and says that actually all those past insanely powerful villains are weaksauce b-tier fools and all the real strong guys are over there -> go there now -> -> -> it's not better this time but it is funnier because he's doubling down.

succession crisis - the fact that i don't like something called the succession crisis arc is hilariously out of character but sorry the pacing of this is just so weird and i find it hard to care about most of what's happening. there are definitely parts i like but they're swimming in a sea of togashi just throwing out absolute overload of new characters and ideas too fast to actually develop most of them.

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update  V2 56

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Welp, I made it through the series in-tact. Finished the last two episodes and am done with it with one final  “M/ELODY”. The presence of Ghost Yuki really did do so much to elevate this last stretch; even if you’re not fooled by him being there and can see the twist coming, the big reveal of the twist is so much more effective when he’s there to even say, in Yuki’s own voice, that Yuki died three episodes back. As crushing as the whole ordeal was, it made sense that a heavy price would have to be paid in this tragic disaster story, and what price heavier than one of our most central characters? I almost cried along with Mirai and her family, and it hurt to see Mirai fall into the depression that Ghost Yuki as her coping mechanism had shielded her from, but seeing Mari once more and getting closure on the whole experience helped to make it better. A stunningly well done short anime...just not one I’d choose to revisit.

Hunter x Hunter - OK, I am starting to get to where the Chimera Ant forces are kind of working against the show, in that I’m actually not as enthused to be watching Gon and Killua or any of our main good guys because the bad guys are so damn mesmerizing whenever we cut to them saying or doing whatever. I could look at these guys and listen to their internal squabbles and plan-making for an entire episode, that’s how powerful their intrigue is, and we’ve still not even reached the birth of the King yet! While now I’ve seen the first kills of Ant leaders, the creepy guys who used enslaved humans like dogs, rabbit-faced Rammot has unlocked the power of Nen in his body, meaning that things are about to only get more difficult from here!

Fruits Basket - Really creepy, squeamishly unpleasant episode that gave more focus and insight into Shigure and Akito, already two of the show’s most villainous figures, and what their relationship is really all about. One sighting of Shigure and Mitsuru is enough to get Akito jealous and paranoid, and she snaps at Shigure for a past incident where Shigure slept with Akito’s mother Ren, which he did as a petty sort of “payback” on Akito for sleeping with Kureno. And then the two of them end up making out with each other, with Shigure revealing he’s been waiting for Akito to truly love him ever since Akito was a child, as he’s loved her from the day she was born. EWWW.

Re:ZERO - As I brought up as a “Christmas In July” post, I watched the Memory Snow special. It was absolutely thoroughly delightful. No straightforward narrative to speak of other than what Emilia Camp and the villagers did in a situation where Puck’s magic overloaded and generated snow and ice all over the area, but getting to spend more time with these characters and watch their antics left the biggest, dumbest smile on my face for the duration of it. It’s not really a “holiday special” but it just creates a Christmas-y mood the more it goes on, reaching its pinnacle in a stunningly beautiful climax. There is an underlining bittersweetness since this all takes place between Arc 2 and Arc 3, so we know Subaru and co. have hard times ahead. But in some ways, that only makes this thing all the more magical.

Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works - Saber and Shirou do sparring together, Rin and Shirou eat and talk on the school rooftop, Shinji launches a Golem attack inside the school but gets defeated. Not much to say other than if in the future we somehow ever got new El Hazard content to be dubbed, Kyle McCarley would be a perfect replacement VA for Jinnai - so much Jinnai energy in his delivery!

Symphogear GX - Two episodes seen, two of Carol’s creepy doll servants taken down. The first one put a lot of focus on Maria and the crisis of confidence she was having since last time, and the second one put just as much focus on Kirika and Shirabe as they start to grow out of their bad girl habits and learn what it means to work as part of the team responsibly and without holding anything down as a burden, and I just fucking love these two lovestruck dumbasses so goddamn much. Between these was the most interesting part: Hibiki meets her dad again. Her dad seems like the biggest, skeeviest and most irresponsible louse in the world, and talking to him only for a little while is more than Hibiki can bear. This’ll be trouble for us all, as troubling as Carol recovering and spying through Elfnein’s eyes!

Eureka Seven - Almost another totally goofy episode where Gekko State get around to doing something they apparently really wanted to do: hazing Renton by sending him on phony mission, which is being followed and caught on film by Moondoggie. The interesting twist here is that Moondoggie used to be the youngest and victim to his teammates hazing, one who gave up on such bogus missions easier, and he’s jealous of Renton now that he’s getting that “honor” instead! So naturally this culminates in Renton and Moondoggie in a beyond awkward “date” where Renton is clueless and Moondoggie is pissed. Hilarity ensues, and Renton manages to impress the crew by seeing it all through in spite of the humiliation. On the side there’s scenes with Dewey evaluating the remains of a Scub Coral assault to give his findings to the Federation Council, and the very last scene was surprisingly grim: Holland wants to distract his mind, is watching the footage of Renton’s hazing mission and at around a part where Renton’s saying things about himself that clearly Holland deep down believes applies to he himself, Holland calls himself “so uncool.”

Gintama - Another two story episodes where the first segment did nothing for me, but the second one with the big alien cockroaches was a riot, especially with how it ended. More comedy like that, plz?

[telehxhtrash]

I originally wanted to make two separate posts about this but i’m actually making a single one : the overarching theme of love, redemption, second chances and Togashi’s overall positive and optimistic writing are leading me to believe a few things concerning Killua and Gon’s relationship, namely that we’ll get an explicit romantic confession to canonize their relationship, but also that Gon is actually the one who fell for Killua first.

First of all, I know I say it a lot but I really, really do believe that by the end of the manga, Killua and Gon’s relationship will be a canon romantic one. I wrote a short post about this already, but I’m gonna explain briefly my point of view on this as I believe it’s important and relevant to the points I want to try and make in this post.

• Killua is pretty much canonically in love with Gon. There’s just too much subtext concerning this matter, and the “shinjuu” line single-handedly canonizes that fact. Togashi is a very, very smart man, and doesn’t throw random words around, he knows the weight of the word shinjuu and what it implies, and the entire chimera ant arc focuses on Killua’s feelings towards Gon, so there is no doubt in my mind that Killua canonically has romantic feelings for him. These two tweets live in my head rent free because it’s so wonderfully written, so here you go :

• I also deeply believe that Togashi would never leave this ambiguous. I wrote a full post about this if you want to read it, but basically, it doesn’t fit Togashi’s writing style. A lot of people say that Togashi’s queer rep is ambiguous in HxH, but it’s unfair because HxH is literally not over yet. There are still ambiguous things because the manga is still developing. Thing is, Togashi has put queer characters in his previous works, and it was never ambiguous. It was always explicitely stated. Same goes for the relationships between his characters. There’s no reason to believe this wouldn’t be the case for HxH.

• Togashi’s positive writing is echoed in Killua’s story arc, in the sense that Killua reflects Togashi’s optimistic writing style and the overarching theme of love, redemption, second chances and the power human connection. 

Killua’s character arc is one of slowly changing your life around, becoming your best self with a little help from someone to show you the way, it’s about positive growth, healing from trauma and going against what people think of you. It’s about healing and becoming your best self, no matter what.

It’s a very positive character arc, and one that’s been thoroughly demonstrated during the entire story.

That’s why Killua’s romantic feelings towards Gon could never stay unrequited one way or another, because it just would defeat the entire positive narrative of Killua’s character arc. Because Killua’s character arc is about healing and growing, and even though you thought you could never do that, learn how to love. It’s about finding love after abuse. 

And to me, the only way to complete that story arc, when we know that Killua canonically has romantic feelings towards Gon, would be for Gon to return those feelings. Because Killua’s character arc isn’t only about learning how to love someone no matter what, but also about being loved in return. That’s how you complete Killua’s positive story arc. 

I’ll come back to this theme a bit later on, though.

• There’s no way Shonen Jump can intervene and censor HxH. Now, I think I’m one of the few meta writers who actually believes this, but I’m 100% convinced that Shonen Jump always knew that HxH is queer work. I wrote multiple posts about this : the first post I linked mentions why SJ probably knows ; on the general gay subtext in both anime adaptations ; on 99 specifically and finally on the fact that it’s weird that gay subtext was emphasized in 99 anime when there was none in canon material only for it to appear later on in the manga.

But to summarize, there’s just no way Shonen Jump doesn’t know. 

First of all, Hunter x Hunter is published right after Yu Yu Hakusho. Thing is, Togashi ended YYH for a few reasons, but one of them was because he didn’t feel free of doing what he wanted to do with his story, because Jump kept on declining his ideas.

This led him to completely drop the story. Now, if you’re a manga writer who’s been deeply disgusted by how your last manga was controlled, what would you do ? I’m sure you would make 100% sure you could take your next story wherever you wanted. And I’m certain that’s what Togashi did. Because to be able to write his story the way he wanted, he had to make sure SJ would allow him to go anywhere he wanted. That includes his characters and their relationship dynamics, which are the basics when you pitch a story.

Togashi also emphasized in one of his interviews that he’s free to do whatever he wants.

Furthermore, Togashi’s editors and Shonen Jump aren’t dumb. They can definitely pick up on the gay subtext. If they didn’t want gay things in HxH, they would’ve never let Togashi publish some chapters, ESPECIALLY the chapter where Killua declares he’ll commit shinjuu with Gon. SJ isn’t dumb. Shinjuu hits HARD, especially in japanese, so they definitely know what it means (it’s literally the equivalent to saying them dying together would be like Romeo and Juliet).

Finally, and that’s half crack-theory half serious, but one of the main reasons I believe SJ knows is because of the 99 anime adaptation. It was HxH’s first anime adaptation, and Togashi was involved in it to some extent. Now, 99 is extremely gay. I linked the posts where I talk about it above, but basically, it’s rainbow flags overlay on top of the characters in the opening, gay opening and ending song lyrics, over the top gay lines and situations.... which is interesting. Because like i mentioned in one of these posts, it’s interesting that this gay subtext was present and highlighted in the anime adaptation when there was none in the manga at that stage. It’s very, very interesting that gay subtext appeared later on in the manga, after the anime adaptation went crazy with it. I firmly believe it’s because Togashi pitched his manga as gay to the 99 animators, and if so, that’d mean SJ would also know.

Anyways ! In short, I believe Killua and Gon’s relationship will become canon by the end of the manga because there’s no risk of editorial meddling since SJ probably knows this is where the story is going. Killua’s romantic feelings are also pretty much canon, and the only way to complete his positive character arc would be to have Gon return those feelings and prove that you’re worthy of love no matter what. Finally, Togashi would never leave it ambiguous, because that’s something he’s never done before, and Killua and Gon’s relationship has never been portrayed as ambiguous nor subtle, it’s still developing.

Now !! This was just an introduction to what I wanted to talk about in this post, I’m sorry you still have a bit more reading to do HAHAA

But ! 

With this belief in mind that Killugon will be canon in the end, there are two things I want to talk about.

• First, I genuinely believe we’ll get a romantic, highly emotional love confession scene between the two of them. For the sole fact that it’s something deeply intertwined with Killua’s character arc.

Like I mentioned above, Killua’s arc is about overcoming trauma and having a second chance at life, a chance to be better, a chance to be your best self. His arc is about opening up his heart to new experiences and new feelings, and learning how to love and pass that love around. His story arc is representation for trauma survivors that things can and will get better, and you can overcome anything, turn your entire life around, heal, and thrive.

And to me, the completion of that story arc is definitely to show that not only can you learn to open up your heart and love someone, but that you can be loved for who you are. That someone can look at you for who you are, accept you and love you no matter what. You can be loved by someone the same way you love them, in a romantic way.

To me, that’s where the story is going. Considering Killua’s canonical romantic feelings, and the overall positive themes surrounding his character arc, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the message Togashi wants to convey.

And in my opinion, this message wouldn’t be delivered ambiguously or subtly. This narrative of being loved has always been enforced through highly emotional scenes throughout the manga, to highlight the message that yes !! you, trauma survivor !! can be loved for who you are !!

It’s been expressed through that emotional scene where Nanika tells Killua she loves him, for example.

It’s also been displayed in the countless scenes where Gon expresses his love for Killua, expresses his admiration for him, how he’s glad he’s met him, how happy he makes him, how Killua is his best friend in the entire world.... It’s been conveyed through the stargazing scene on Whale Island, through the entire Zoldyck Family Arc where Gon waltzs in the Zoldyck Mansion to rescue Killua, through the scene in Greed Island Arc where Gon tells him he’s glad to have met him, through the dodgeball match scene where Gon declares that it can only be Killua holding the ball, through the moment Gon says that the first thing he’ll do when he sees Ging is introduce him to his best friend in the whole world, Killua. 

Togashi could have chosen to show and not tell that Gon cares a lot about Killua, and that he finally found someone who loves him for who he is. He could’ve made them hang out normally, and we would’ve understood that Killua found someone who accepts him. But no, this has always been the main theme of HxH. Seeing the both of them grow closer and closer and grow and heal together. He chose to highlight the fact that he’s loved and cared for through words of affirmation to emphasize the narrative of being loved after surviving trauma. For the purpose of providing an extremely clear message of love to trauma and abuse survivors who identify with Killua : that you can find someone like Gon, someone who will love you for who you are. Togashi wanted to make it explicitly clear.

So now, since all of these words of affirmation were “platonic” (i’ll come back to the quotation marks in the last part of this post), but still highly emotional :

Wouldn’t it make sense that the romantic application of this narrative would also be portrayed through a highly emotional scene ? 

For the sole purpose of highlighting the final message of Killua’s story arc of overcoming your past and being loved and accepted for who you are, in a romantic way this time ? Of being loved the same way you love ? 

Since we’ve had so many platonic reaffirmations of this idea, I think it’d be fitting for the romantic part of the narrative to be conveyed through a highly emotional scene. Like a confession scene under the stars that would parallel the stargazing scene on Whale Island, for example, since stars are thematically fitting since they are linked to Killua’s story echoing Tanabata. 

An open love confession would be the final and ultimate way to cement that narrative of loving and being loved. A highly emotional scene, just like we’ve always had, to demonstrate the romantic application of the theme of being loved after experiencing trauma. The ultimate, non-ambiguous message of unconditional love for trauma survivors. 

Showing that you, trauma survivor who identifies with Killua, can learn to love yourself, love someone else and be loved in return.

• Keeping Killua’s character arc in mind, I want to adress a final point that I deeply believe is true. 

To me, Gon is the one that actually fell in love with Killua first.

Thing is, Gon is that type of character that acts first and thinks later on. He always does things on instinct, only giving it thought after the thing happened. So it 100% makes sense that it would apply to romantic feelings too. That’s why, to me, it’s very likely that Gon fell in love first but just didn’t realize it was romantic feelings, because he’s 12, never really thought about it and feelings are confusing. And to me, Togashi is setting up feelings realization on Gon’s part.

Gon has always behaved very intensely with Killua, always reaffirming how much he means to him. He’s always taken onto that role of providing Killua with love from the moment he met him. He accepted him for who he is, and always made him feel cared for. 

Togashi definitely planted the seeds for a possible interpretation of this idea of him falling first. The stargazing scene on Whale Island is just.... so romantic in nature. Gon tells Killua that he’s happy when he’s with him under a starry night sky, tells him he wants to travel the world with him and stay with him, because his presence next to him fills him with joy. Then we have his constant words of affirmation towards Killua, and how cool he is, how amazing and strong he is...

But to me, what really convinces me that Gon fell first is Greed Island arc. Gon’s behavior towards Killua during this arc was extremely emotional. It was deep, deep care and love for his best friend. We get to see him blush as he tells Killua that he’s really, really glad he’s here with him and glad he’s met him.

We get to see him declare that the first thing he’ll do when he finds Ging will be to introduce his amazing best friend to him.

But honestly, what made my brain explode is the dodgeball scene. 

Because as I mentioned in this post, the phrasing Gon uses is one that is used in romantic contexts to confess to someone. It’s a love declaration, literally. And I don’t believe Gon meant it as romantic, because he probably has no idea his feelings are romantic in nature. But. Togashi is a troll. He really, really enjoys toying with his readers. 

To me, the fact this sentence is romantic in nature could be Togashi putting Gon’s feelings right in front of our faces, hiding it in double meaning but still plainly there for us to see. It could be Togashi toying with us in the process of setting up Gon’s feelings, so that when it gets canonized that Gon fell first, on a re-read of the manga, you go “oh. that sentence is romantic. it was literally right in front of our eyes the entire time”. I’m probably reaching !!! but!!!! the fact is, this sentence is still romantic in meaning. It’s still coated in romantic subtext. And that’s intentional on Togashi’s part.

I’ll link this magnificent post by Quintessence that basically explains what I just said much better.

In short, it would totally make sense that Gon fell first. It wouldn’t come out of nowhere, since Gon’s behavior from the beginning of the manga can definitely be interpreted as romantic in nature. The countless emotional scenes where he asserts how much he cares for Killua can definitely be read as romantic, and Gon’s behavior can definitely be explained by him having a crush on Killua, despite him not knowing.

Now, the thing that makes me further believe this is true is the fact that symbolically speaking, it makes sense that Gon fell in love with Killua first. It would enforce the narrative of Killua’s character arc of being loved for who you are and not having to earn love.

It would literally dismiss everything Killua believes about having to earn the right to be loved. About having to earn his place right next to Gon. About having to change to be good enough for Gon.

Because if Gon fell first, then Killua was loved for who he is from the beginning, from the moment they met. Killua didn’t have to earn his love, like he thought he had to, especially in CAA, because he was loved the same way all along.

It’d show that Gon didn’t start to love Killua because Killua earned that right by changing for Gon. He didn’t start to love Killua when he started to heal and change his life to become a good person. He was always loved for who he is because Gon always saw him and loved him no matter what.

And that would once again highlight Killua’s character arc beautifully. It’d show that you are worthy of love even if you literally just came out of years of abuse. That someone can look at you and instantly fall in love with you, no matter how broken and unworthy of love you think you are. You never, ever had to earn that love. It was always here to begin with.

It’d break Chimera Ant Arc completely, it’d break Killua’s belief that he was unworthy of staying by Gon’s side and that he had to earn his place. Because he was always loved and never had to earn his right to stay by Gon, because Gon wanted him there all along. 

And that is a beautiful, deeply symbolic meaning that would complement Killua’s character arc perfectly.

It’d be Togashi showing trauma survivors that you can heal and love yourself, learn how love someone else and be loved in return. 

Showing trauma survivors that you don’t have to prove your worth to be loved. That just like Killua, even if you came out of years of abuse, a broken, scared person, you’re always worthy of love. That you’re worthy of love at any stage of your healing phase. That you’re worthy of love no matter how broken you feel you are. 

Someone will always love you and accept you for who you are. 

Anyways !! Thank you for reading this !! Those two headcanons are really precious to me and I really do believe they could come true. Because it’d make sense in so many ways ! 

I know it’s hard to imagine such a thing happening, because queer representation has always been ambiguous that it’s hard to fathom a manga being openly gay, but I really want to be optimistic about it. We got the subtext, the author interested in LGBT-rep, the positive narrative and virtually no risk of being censored. 

So I want to stay optimistic on this and believe that we’ll get a romantic love confession as a way to canonize their relationship, and that it’ll become evident one way or another that Gon fell in love with Killua first.

Thanks for reading !! 

[gallyl]

[Career x Advice] Gon & Killua

Will Gon and Killua become actual hunters in Hunter x Hunter?

In the current situation, they are rookies without specialization. Gon is nenles. Killua takes care of Alluka and must avoid dangerous adventures to stay safe by her side. But their story is not over. What are their prospects?

NOT meta, it’s a random curiosity and a birthday gift to my one and only gemini @buzzykrueger​ ^_^

KILLUA: THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Killua’s hunter card is not simply an item to travel with his sister for free. This card is a part of Killua’s identity. Killua wanted it. For him, becoming a hunter was just as important as becoming Gon’s friend. In Greed Island arc, Killua discards his father’s work mindset: “That’s how my old man operates. But I’m no longer an assassin. I’m a Hunter!!! Well, unofficially...”

Having the same profession as your friend means that you can work together and stick together like you promised each other at the beginning of the journey. Killua managed to merge the identities of a hunter and a friend. If Killua and Gon eventually work as hunters, they will always stay connected as members of the Hunter Association.

Killua is skillful at reinventing himself and giving his experience a new meaning. He changes weakneses into strengths. His growth steadily contradicts and counteracts his family. Torture by electricity? Electric nen. Nen needles? Godspeed to stop the needle and attack first. A vow to never betray your friends? Use the vow to save a sister and a friend! It would be logical to suggest that instead of killing people, he will save people. This type of job is also consistent with the author’s theme of redemption for past mistakes and crimes.

Killua is devoted, caring, and deeply protective. He prefers to live not for the sake of something, but for the sake of somebody. Apart from protecting Gon and Alluka he saved Ikalgo and instinctively killed Ikalgo’s enemies during the Palace invasion. In Chimera Arc he single-handedly disrupted mass annihilation in the Eastern Goruto and saved countless lives. Killua is a national hero in this country!

Work of this kind could be related to military/police. There’s a Crime Hunter subcategory represented by Mizaistom Nana (“a type of Hunter who tries to solve mysterious cases in the crime world”). But I’m also considering Lost Hunter (“a type of Hunter who specializes in seeking those from whom contact has been lost”) and this is why:

Loupe Highland searches for lost hunters and looks for contacts of various useful people. At present, he is either alive or killed in the Election arc, leaving the position vacant. Killua’s skills can be put directly to practice here thanks to rare nen, experience in espionage and battle. He can search for lost people, rescue kidnapped and jailed people, subvert mass homicide and save victims of natural disaster. This path could be morally gratifying and bring Killua at least two hunter stars.

Electricity can be used in medicine for CPR and cardiac pacemakers. Electrical stimulation speeds up healing of chronic wounds. Killua can even temporarily restore electricity in a building or the whole city in case of an emergency. Nowadays, electricity is everywhere. Electricity is life.

It’s reasonable to object that this work is very dangerous. This objection is valid, unless Togashi portrays Killua’s job in a sweet robin hood manner at the end of the tale.

Killua devoted his life to Alluka, but he’s born for great deeds, and Alluka surely values his potential. She promised to let him go not only for Gon’s sake, but for Killua’s own sake too. Killua is light that illuminates darkness in times of despair.

GON: FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

Gon is tricky. He may reject the concept of power and remain “normal” forever. Many readers believe that Gon will become a Beast Hunter (he confirmed his love for animals in Ch 40) or a Botanical Hunter. He’s extremely smart and knowledgeable about both, so it’s highly likely and almost certain! But I believe that his future mostly depends on his type of nen. Let me explain.

If Gon regains nen, he could change into a Specialist like his father, or an Emitter like his teen dad Leorio. Both these ideas are popular and are great. I totally agree, but i would like to ADD the most uncool suggestion: Gon will remain an Enhancer.

...but in a brand new way. The Sussession arc has an interesting panel in ch 388. More importantly, Kurapika is the one who speaks:

Kurapika continues, looking at Bill: “You have my gratitude. It’s rare for a male to be an enhancer with a support type ability. Since most of them would choose to take it in a direction where they could increase their battle power.”

That is exactly the mistake Gon made.

Indeed, he used nen to strengthen properties of rocks and floor plates (“support”), but he did it for fights. Personally, I’ve always thought that Gon’s weakest attack was “paper” (emission) because he’s incapable of sharing. He’s a hunter, a soldier and a selfish kid (in an innocent childish way). He was, as Kurapika noted, an Enhancer who “chose to increase his own battle power”.

When Gon didn’t know what hatsu to create, Kurapika was the first person he called for advice. He asked Kurapika to be his coach. Ironically, Kurapika IS a coach now, as if he realized the wisdom of Gon’s proposal.

If Gon becomes a supportive Enhancer, he will apply nen for creation instead of destruction. If you think it’s a weakness, I still believe that Togashi thinks otherwise: his story shows that giving is receiving, and love is the most powerful force in the world. This ability type will not prevent Gon from animal and botanical studies, rather the opposite.

Supportive nen requires a kind heart and a strong life force. Gon has both. His full potential is equal to Meruem and Netero. If he reverses his ability from destruction into support, we will witness someone with the power of a divine creator. A godlike teenager who regenerates wounds, reconstructs ruined cities and restores tropical rainforests and dying species. “The light that shines upon all”.

In short, if the expedition to the Dark Continent causes a planetary crisis, our hero will save the day.

This transformation would make Gon similar to Killua. Killua saves lives instead of killing, while Gon rebuilds instead of destruction. Killua’s electric nen is extremely rare and combines attack and defence. Likewise, Gon may become a rare universal Enhancer, probably one of the kind, who uses nen both ways but chooses wisely. Such ability will reflect his newfound balance between light and darkness.

A HOMAGE TO THE WHALE ISLAND?

Hatsu (発(ハツ), "Release"/"Act") is one's personal expression of Nen. Gon came up with jajanken in dedication to his birthplace. Can he draw a bigger inspiration while reconnecting roots at home?

The whales are one of the most ancient mythical creatures that appear in the nordic, biblical and Asian lores. In Vietnam, among other places, whales hold a sense of divinity. The god of the seas, according to Chinese folklore, was a large whale with human limbs. The Qur'an and the biblical Book of Jonah tell the story of Jonah being swallowed by “a great fish”, often depicted in art and culture as a whale. In the Succession arc, the expedition travels on the Whale ship to the Dark Continent.

The Whale Island could also be an allusion to Slavic mythology/folklore, where the world exists on 3 whales. There is a fairytale about a whale which was punished by God and turned into an island for swallowing the ships. Let’s hope that Gon’s home doesn’t wake up like a volcano!

We must not forget that Gon’s nen nodes were prematurely unsealed by Wing. It is a forbidden practice. Gon needs time off to grow, heal and discover nen on his own terms. The Whale could become Gon’s hatsu to represent his “true self” and “mature self”.

If we suggest that Gon is a foil of Netero, the puzzle falls into place. I am very very subjective and speculative from now on, but the guess is still a guess? Let’s see the common features between the two.

1) Netero meeting the kids wasn’t just for fun. Rather than playing a game, it looked like a trope where “a wise teacher” observes potential successors to his post - in this case sons of Ging Freecs and Silva Zoldyck.

2) Netero was also an Enhancer. He obtained this ultimate power when he reached “enlightment” in the forest. It’s highly likely that Gon will try the same method, meditating in the forest in his free time.

3) Netero’s ultimate power was Guanyin Bodhisattva (Kannon in Japan). Her Chinese name means "[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World". Her second alternative Chinese name means “Lord who Gazes down on the World”. She is the goddness of mercy and compassion. Netero conjures Kannon to protect humanity but ultimately fights to kill and destroy.

In contrast to Netero and his heavenly deity, Gon is an “earthly” person, attached to nature, home and friends. His hatsu would most likely represent the deity of the Earth. This would also make Gon and Netero complementary opposites.

All animal options for Gon’s hatsu (in no particular ranking)

Whale

Foxbear

Frog (Gon sits on a frog in Volume 1)

Turtle (if the Hunter planet rests on the Cosmic Turtle)

Adult Gon - the Enhancer and nature lover - could study and restore flora and fauna and help Killua and other hunters on their missions and adventures. It may also be interesting to see adult Gon as the new chairman of the Hunter Association, provided that it doesn’t cease to exist. Gon could improve the rules in that place. After all, the statement that all hunters are selfish is far from being true.

******

I hope my knowledge of nen is enough, please correct me if I’m wrong. I want to see the best potential of the main four and see them find happiness! I dedicate this post as a present to @buzzykrueger​, who has been my support in the fandom all this time, pls check out her meta (Happy birthday, sunshine, i wish you to reach your full potential and a happy future!). And thank you @little-lonely-flower​ for your wise guidance on this article as well!!

[mewtonian-physics]

Can you sum up Killua? I watched the show (the old one) but im just wondering if you can sum him up?

It doesn’t even have to be right! If you told me he was from Ohio, well he does have that energy to him

KILLUA... KILLUA IS MY BELOVED

so hes this kid who was raised by a family of assassins and as a result has been trained to kill since birth. this has involved a great deal of torture for him. when we first meet him in the story he's like. twelve years old and is taking the hunter exam because he thinks it will be fun. unfortunately he fails because right at the end of it his shitty abusive big brother reveals himself and fucks everything up for him along with a deeply horrifyingly relatable display of ptsd on killua's part. (he also gets his ass promptly kicked by gon for his actions. yay, gon!)

anyway we find out he's really different from most of his family because despite everything he's still a pretty sweet kid. Lil murdery but it's okay. he's working on it.

"Clean living is tough."

over the course of the series we get to see some really wonderful character growth from him as well as more of his childish side (he LOVES chocolate robots and uses yo-yos as weapons). we also find out that he is completely gay.

he's a good kid.

he also gets lightning powers during the greed island arc. it's pretty cool. i'm a fan. he can use 'em for all sorts of things too.

but none of this is my very favorite part. my very favorite part comes in during the election arc. because it's at that point that we find out about alluka.

alluka is killua's little sister. there's a lot to say about these two. for one thing, alluka is canonically transgender, of which killua is very supportive.

for another thing, alluka has a very powerful entity from the dark continent (a landmass outside of the known world) living inside her. this entity is known as nanika.

as i said, nanika is extremely powerful. see, she can grant wishes. any wishes. however, there are a lot of rules. for one thing, in order to gain a wish, the person in question would have to fulfill three requests first. if her requests are declined four times in a row, that person along with those closest to them will instantly die. quite messily. on top of that, the bigger the wishes are, the bigger her requests will be, and the bigger the consequences if refused. for example, someone once wished for a billion dollars, after which the next person was asked for organs. since that person obviously couldn't just give her their organs, they died, along with a great deal of other people.

as you can see, alluka and nanika are powerful to a degree that can be extremely dangerous if people aren't careful. this isn't something they intend to do--alluka looks very confused the first time someone dies after refusing her requests. however, it will still happen. due to her powers, the zoldyck family locked alluka up. she's left all alone with nobody to talk to her or play with her--and she's only eleven years old.

but during the election arc, killua goes to save her. (i theorize that the reason he didn't before was related to some of the brainwashing techniques illumi (the oldest of the zoldyck children) canonically used on him. he breaks out of them in the previous arc.) he is able to rescue her and take her out of the zoldyck estate, though not without illumi chasing after them.

alluka and nanika both love killua very, very much. ('if i was the only person in the world who loved you, would you be sad?' 'i'd be so happy!') nanika even asks killua to pat her head when she does a good job. because of this, killua even gets to know special rules about nanika's wish-granting powers:

If a wish is made for healing, she must make physical contact with the target. Also, there will be no repercussions. It is also shown that healing is very taxing to her, causing her to fall asleep from exhaustion.

Killua has the special privilege of issuing a "command". When he does, his request will bypass any existing backlash and will be granted without any repercussions. If somebody else wishes other than Killua, they will suffer the same repercussions of the previous wish that was supposed to be given, with the command itself not affecting the requests.

Issuing a "command" allows Killua to have his wish granted even if she is in the middle of making requests of someone else, as well as if it is his second consecutive wish.

unfortunately, killua sees nanika as a threat to alluka's safety at first, fear of illumi hurting his little sister causing him to order nanika to never come out again. alluka, however, is furious with him, causing him to realize his wrongdoings and apologize to nanika, recanting his order and asking instead that she never use her powers again, because he'll pat her head whenever she wants.

he loves them both so much. she'll scold him and he'll say 'isn't she the greatest?' gon? who's gon? gay rights are real but sibling rights are more real.

after this they travel the world together. that's where we leave off. just killua and alluka and nanika traveling the world. in case you somehow couldn't tell, their relationship is unbelievably important to me. like... it doesn't get any better than this, okay? it just doesn't.

[xiu21chen99]

hxh headcanon

y’know the fanon “Hisoka greatly influenced Illumi’s fashion, if he wasn’t already the main inspiration,” then get ready for THIS-

I've been thinking; if that were really the case then hisoillu have known each other waaaaaay before the Hunter’s Exam arc (where it alr was insinuated that they’ve worked together or helped each other out beforehand) and my one and only proof? THIS ICONIC LOOK that he served us in Phantom Rouge

bc it has EXTREMELY SIMILAR tones with this outfit of 1999 ver Hisoka

and don't deny it bc Hisoka's (2011) exactly the type to wear stuff like that. and since Togashi hasn't blessed us with a backstory arc yet, anything is possible, lads 🤩🤩

so the timelines like this

| hisoka and illumi meeting & hisoka marking a mark of himself in illumis mind | > | illumi trying out diff outfit styles that he unconsciously picked bc they reminded him of hisokas fashion choice | > | killua doing missions w illumi wearing said clothes aka killu's flashbacks in phantom rouge | > | phantom rouge time setting | > | present |

i can imagine it, can't you???

LIKE from the fam pic and their age gaps im guessing illu might've been 16 or 17??? that makes hisoka 20-smtg and his flamboyant ass would ofc wear suits like those

maybe they met during a mission?? that's most likely the only reason illu had to leave the estate. then hisoka sensed him or was alr there by chance or bc he was looking for a new challenge. illu found him annoying and hisoka found him interesting.

im willing to bet hisoka followed him back regardless of illus threats, and got surprised by how strong illu was at the testing gates bc illu could open maybe 5/6 doors at once and it made him schwing if ya knoe what i mean

it'd make sense too, illu would technically still be a minor so like... maybe illu was also why he's into that thing now???? "i know of your tastes quite well" remember??

and maybe hisoka's concept of "I'll wait for the fruit to ripen" was from illu too, bc if all of this was true then he got to see illu grow quite lusciously...

I STRAYED OFF POINT BUT long story short hisokas presence just became too familiar so when he left (idk to fight or smtg) then illus coping mechanism turned to fashion, bc he didn't wanna admit it but he missed hisoka... and hence the pics above^^

in short regardless of the prenup/engagement ring mistranslation, i am STILL 100% hisoillu trash. thanks for coming to my ted talk-

edit: NOW SOMEONE'S ALLEVIATED THE MISTRANSLATION STRESS I'VE BECOME AN EVEN BIGGER TRASH FOR HISOILLU WATCH ME POST NON STOP LMAOO

edit2: FORGOT TO MENTION THIS BUT!! if I'm ryt then hisoillu have known each other for nearly a decade now lmao, which would also make sense bc im pretty sure illu needs lots of time to get used to... having a give-and-take relationship??? esp one outside of the family. and like, cOME ON! im pretty sure hisoka ain't the type to let himself get tied down by marriage to just ANYONE, there had to be something there right..? if not romantic feelings then at least some sort of respect right..?

[clood]

a little leopika piece for the prompt (that i suggested, oops) ghost stories under the cut! 

vague spoilers for the succession arc, not really anything important though so you don’t need it to understand what’s going on lol 

Kurapika is unsure how he found himself here, alone in the back room of Leorio’s tiny clinic aboard the Black Whale with a fussy Woble in his arms. 

Well, actually, he knows exactly how. Leorio yelled at him about it when he arrived.

Leorio is blaming everything on him, as he tends to do, saying that if Kurapika would just take a break already and stop wandering around like a zombie about to collapse, then maybe Queen Oito wouldn’t have absorbed all his negative vibes and collapsed. It’s almost funny to hear Leorio, a man of science and medicine, spout off such nonsense as “vibes” and “negative energy.” Had he attributed it to nen, or maybe some chemical imbalances in his brain, he might understand. But something as abstract as rancid vibes strikes Kurapika as just slightly to the left of out of character for Leorio. 

Now, he sits in the strangely reinforced waiting room of the clinic and stares down at Prince Woble, who stares back up at him with impossibly large and innocent eyes. Once Queen Oito had collapsed, Melody and Bill had helped Kurapika rush her to Leorio, the only person on the entire ship that could be trusted to care for her in such a horrendously confusing and stressful time. Obviously, they couldn’t very well leave the prince unattended, so she had been scooped up in Melody’s arms and came along for the journey. 

Kurapika had been tasked with protecting the prince while Melody went into the exam room with the queen, something about her wanting a womanly presence in the room had led Melody to relinquish her grasp on Prince Woble. A helpless glance in Melody’s direction had prompted her to shout, “Tell her a story if she gets restless!” before she disappeared into another room behind Leorio’s tall frame. 

Woble has since awoken from her slumber and begun to coo softly, although Kurapika is unsure if he can really tell the difference between happy baby babbles and the beginnings of a meltdown. They all sound the same to him, and this, coupled with the fact that he has not encountered a child younger than Gon or Killua in god knows how long, leaves him grasping at a topic for a story to tell. 

He settles on the only one he knows, but he at least makes some sort of an attempt at spinning a different web than he always has. 

“Once, there was a big family that lived in an even bigger forest,” Kurapika begins, offering the prince a finger to latch onto as they both settle in for a ghost story. “They were people of the land, and they existed in harmony with the spirits of the forest and the earth. There was no reason for them to venture beyond the line of trees, for the spirits and the people past the edge of the woods were foreign and threatening. 

“One day, a young man and his companion set out to find out the secrets of the world beyond, excited at the prospects of encountering strangers and fantastic beasts and otherworldly beings.” Kurapika pauses and studies the prince. She has stopped her fussing, gazing up at Kurapika as though she were hanging onto every word he says. He wonders if she knows what he’s saying, or if it’s all a blur of sounds and vibrations to her. 

“However, the forest spirits decided they wanted to keep the companion, so the young man had to venture out on his own in search of a journey worth recounting to his friend upon his return.” His heart clenches a little at the memory of Pairo’s final request. He can’t say with any certainty that he will ever have “fun” again. He takes a deep breath and continues. 

“The young man went out on his own, experiencing the wonders of the outside world for the first time, if even a little lonely. But, his happiness was short-lived,” Kurapika says. “Evil phantoms had invaded his home while he was gone, spiriting away his brethren--everyone he loved disappeared in one night, and nobody knew where they might have gone, or which of the sinister specters of the shade might have taken them.” 

Woble, now inexplicably asleep in Kurapika’s arms, makes a face. Maybe she does understand. 

“Upon learning this, the young man gave his life in an attempt to find his clan, but to no avail. Legend says he still wanders to this day, a ghost without a home and without a family.” Kurapika wipes at tears he knows he cannot shed and wonders how much time he has left to avenge his people. He thinks of Queen Oito collapsing beside him earlier, maybe the effects of Emperor Time really are reaching her as well like Leorio had somewhat hinted at before. 

Kurapika hears a knock at the door and lets in Melody, who relieves him of his storytelling duties to reunite the prince with her mother. He takes a moment to collect himself before he tries to venture out of the back room, unsteady on his feet and suddenly extraordinarily tired. 

“You know, the young man does have a family,” comes a soft voice through his haze. “That is, if he wants one.” 

“Excuse me?” Kurapika says, looking up to find Leorio leaning in the doorway.

“The kid in the ghost story you were telling the little prince,” Leorio elaborates. “It might not be much, but there are other lonely people he’ll meet and be able to keep if you get to the end of the story.” 

Kurapika feels a swell of affection he works hard to stamp down. “Tell me then, doctor. How does the story end?” He knows he should get back to the prince and that he has about a million other duties to attend to, but he wants to humor Leorio for a moment before returning to all of that. 

Leorio readjusts his glasses and pushes gently past Kurapika, settling comfortably in one of the chairs Kurapika had been sitting in. He motions for him to sit in the empty one beside himself. 

“Well,” Leorio begins, “he meets a boy abandoned by his own father who has a heart of gold and enough compassion to understand exactly where this young man is coming from. Then there’s another boy, with a smart mouth and enough trauma to justify all the evil things he could do, but who chooses to move past it and heal, despite the injustice of it all.” Leorio pauses. “Maybe this young man could learn a thing or two from the second kid.” 

Kurapika wants to smile, he really does, but he just can’t make the corners of his mouth upturn any more than to simply set his lips in a straight line. He hopes his attempt reaches his eyes, at least, as he looks at the man beside him. “Anyone else?” he asks.

“Oh yeah, I was saving the best for last,” Leorio says with a smarmy smile. “The young man meets an incredibly smart and handsome doctor who is on his way to becoming the richest and simultaneously most generous person alive.” He looks at Kurapika with shining eyes. “Together, these four young men with no real families or anyone behind them to cheer them on make their own, strange sort of family. They live happily ever after, healing together and going on all sorts of adventures.” 

Kurapika finds himself actually looking into Leorio’s eyes for the first time in a long time, rather than finding himself in the reflection of his glasses in an attempt to avoid meeting his gaze. He finds that Leorio’s eyes have grown even gentler than they were when he first met him, the eyes of a man who would give all of his limbs and then some just to see one of his people safe and happy. 

“I’ve never heard that ending of the story,” he says, unable to keep his voice from sounding thin and dreamy. 

“Well--” 

Whatever Leorio is about to say is cut short when Bill enters the room to remind Kurapika that their evening lesson with the others is starting soon. 

Kurapika glances helplessly at Leorio as he stands and quickly says, “I hope he finds it. This family you’re talking about.” 

Leorio only offers him a sad smile and watches him go, looking like he has so much more to say despite not having any time in which to say it.

When he puts on his usual, expressionless demeanor he dons before nearly everyone on this god forsaken ship, Kurapika realizes just how little work it is to let Leorio’s words wash over him and just how much he wants what Leorio was saying to be true. 

He wants this little family.

[subdee]

6, 16, & 23 for the fandom asks!

I’ll answer for HxH, but if you want a different fandom just let me know <3

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I'll read anything as long as it's well-written, so there's definitely pairings that fandom has shown me the potential in that I wouldn't have considered just from the canon, like Hisoka/Illumi and Pariston/Ging for example.

Actually I like the fandom interpretation of HisoIllu more than the canon one, because in canon you feel sorry for Illumi but he's still definitely a villain (and to the main characters, specifically), while Hisoka is this predatory psychopath who drives the plot forward and adds a feeling of danger to all the scenes he's in. Whereas I think the fandom focuses on Hisoka as like this chaos force and Illumi as a sad robot who needs to loosen up, so they complement each other XD.

There's also @princessoftrance's Kurapika/Illumi fanart which is a pairing I would have never in a million years even thought about, in canon it doesn't make sense but in fanon it's kind of endearingly awkward. Oh and Senket is writing Leorio/Illumi for HxH Big Bang and that story rules too... also @hxhhasmysoul keeps writing these oddball side pairings that work like Alluka/Canary and Kurapika/Canary and Leorio/Senritsu and you know what, headcanon accepted. 

BUT ACTUALLY, I'll say Pariston/Ging for this one, because while I appreciate these other pairings when other people do them I'm writing a Pariging fic for HxH Big Bang right now. Haha.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

The part of the manga where Gon and Killua first come to NGL and are killing Chimera Ants and it's treated as a kind of training arc for them goes on way too long. Especially the part where they're training to defeat Knuckle and Shoot, it just goes on forever? I think Gon's fight with Owl and Bat is probably the lowest point of the whole series, it feels like forced shounen battle conventions when the manga at this point has some larger points to make. I believe Togashi was in very poor health at the time though, so it feels gauche to complain too much. Also some of the stuff in this section is just set up, which will pay off later on.

More importantly, the final parting scene with Killua and Gon is too short.   10 pages!!!!  Not even a full chapter!!!!   Gon apologizing to Kite was 5 pages all on its own.  I don’t need them to have a fanfic style tearful confession where they embarrassingly talk about their feelings and spell absolutely everything out for the audience (though it would reduce the amount of angst in fandom surrounding their separation, probably XD), and anyway, that would probably be out of character for both of them - especially Killua, even though he grew enough to say he WOULD confront Gon about how he was hurt, but also Gon bc Gon is considerate of Killua’s feelings and wouldn’t push for more, or feel he deserved more after what happened, probably.  But cmon, this is the central relationship for the whole manga, we could get some wordless shots at least.  Fellas is it gay to let your best guy friend know you are sad about being apart from him.  

23. Unpopular character you love?

Listen my tastes are very basic, I like the main characters and the characters who get the most screentime :P I'll say Ging for this one though, I really love Ging??? He's so interesting???? If Hunter x Hunter was a seinen manga, for adults, and not a shounen manga, for teens, Ging would be the protagonist.

[mysterypond]

Gon’s Dates

Pre-palace invasion during the Chimera Ant Arc, Gon mentions to Killua that he went on dates with older women on Whale Island. Why did Togashi include this?

This post contains sensitive topics which readers may find uncomfortable. I have placed the analysis behind a “keep-reading”. 

Disclaimer: I do not support his dates with older women, nor am I making excuses for why they exist, I am merely looking at this from a literary analysis standpoint. 

I have a few hypotheses about why Togashi included this within his work. 

Gon and Palm’s date was a reason to get Gon and Killua separated so that Killua could fight Rammot and pull the needle out of his head. It was a crafted situation where Gon didn’t have his nen so he couldn’t protect himself, and Palm was not only years older than him, but shown to be unstable. Killua had every right to be worried and follow them, thus leading into his arc. 

But this analysis focuses on what Gon said before those scenes. 

#1: Gon went on legitimate dates with older women

The Hunter x Hunter world itself is NOT kid friendly. The Hunter Association let Killua and Gon just take the Hunter Exam, which is so dangerous that many people die every year not only during the exam but getting to the exam. Netero uses them as child soldiers. Heavens Arena lets them fight adults way stronger than them. The boys were held hostage by the Phantom Troupe in Yorknew. The Bombers were ready to kill them over some trading cards. The world is portrayed with a happy go lucky tone, yet very disturbing events keep occuring, proving that the world out there is a dangerous place for them. So with the Hunter world being established as dangerous, we can make the assumption that this is yet again another “normalized” cognativie dissonance that Gon has. It’s to show that even though the world if fucked up, unless someone like Killua points it out, he doesn’t notice because things like this have been normalized. 

Another reason, is to give the setup for Palm’s date with Gon. This is not portrayed as a normal situation, and Killua is right to have stalked him on his date. He’s uneasy with the situation, not just bc he might have a crush on Gon but rather because it’s a red flag situation. 

As for Gon, I’m not sure he really realizes it’s so bad, especially because his reaction was akin to “hm? yeah sure” about taking Palm on a date. It’s been normalized for him. Which sets off more red flags for Killua.

Overall, if these were legitimate dates, the reason would be to set up the date with Palm, to raise red flags in Killua’s mind, and to show how normalized some of the atrocities that happen in this world are (ie, providing some cognitive dissonance for the viewers). 

#2: Whale Island has a tourism industry, and Gon’s “dates” are more just him having fun and showing women around the island, and the women are moreso “awww look this little 10 year old is showing us all the cool parts of the island” and its more of an innocent thing.

The big takeaway here is that Killua would be misinterpreting Gon’s words. We know Killua had a rough life as an assassin with all his training, and he may have heard or seen things, or just known a bit about the outside world from his jobs. The word “date” doesn’t always mean a romantic thing. Little kids have “playdates” that their parents set them up on. Going out with a parent can be seen as a “date” as well in a familial platonic sense. That language isn’t used as often anymore, but these scenes did come out over a decade ago so they are a bit dated. 

Back to the miscommunication, this would be used to spark a feeling of dissonance with Killua. One could be that he was worried for him (see above for why this would be relevant), but the other, would be if Killua didn’t truly understand what a “date” was and had a reaction more akin to “wow, Gon is so much more experienced than me.” This would further the rift that had begun forming between them during this arc. 

Going off these two points, he wouldn’t just have stalked Gon on his date because of worry/jealousy, but also out of curiosity. 

It would have also shown the difference in worldview that Killua and Gon have. Killua seeing this as a negative thing because of his upbringing, and Gon seeing it as an innocent positive thing. 

#3: It was just Togashi being “lol this would be funny”

There are some jokes that appear in Hunter x Hunter that don’t really sit right. I’ll be the first one to admit that while I love the series, there are some parts of it that I really don’t like. I can’t entirely discount the possibility that this is just an off-color joke. 

However, I don’t think this is really all that likely, given Togashi’s track record as an author for having meaning behind his decisions. I know I would personally prefer that if he were to add something like this into the story, it would be for a reason, and not just as a joke. 

[somebody-909]

What makes an anime “straight”? Exploring gender dynamics in shounen.

“Wdym straight?”

I occasionally use the word “straight” as an insult and to describe things that aren't literally straight — kind of like how we refer to the most commercially successful part of TikTok, the dreaded “straight Tik-Tok.”

Now if you had the pleasure of having to explain what straight Tik-Tok is to an adult (a boomer *gasp*), what would you say?

“It’s incredibly vain and superficial content with no substance on TikTok that is predicated on the fact that young preteen girls and boys would be incredibly perceptive to seeing attractive, upper middle-class (and white) teens dance around while scantily clad.”

Okay… But does that really explain the “straight" part of it? 

I think what makes it 'straight' are a set of gender dynamics that dictate everything. 

These male-female dynamics assert that male is male, female is female, and everything revolves around this fact. 

Of course there’s a whole lot more involved with straight Tik-Tok, but this is the core of what I wanted to get at.

These rigid, outdated (and frankly, boring) gender norms dictate everything, from the basic character design, to the types of narratives that are developed, lame tropes, gross fanservice, Everybody is Straight™… you get the point.

Now, disclaimer! I do not think that calling these things “straight” as an insult is accurate. I simply used that term as an all-encompassing and shorthand way to describe these things, and because I had originally lacked the ability to accurately describe what I was picking up on. That’s why, here I am, trying to describe it to you.

It also doesn't mean that the anime I mention are terrible and the absolute worst!! I actually quite like a lot of them, but it's good to criticize even the works you like.

1. Character Design

Let’s begin with character design. In anime that fixate heavily on these male-female dynamics, men will often have similar body types, similar gender expression, and portray and exude the same type of masculinity. The same would apply for the women, but with femininity. Sometime you can chalk this up to what I call (and I’m sure other people call) same-body (or sometimes even same-face) syndrome, where an artist has an inclination to draw two types of bodies - one for the men, and the other for the women. Regardless, it shows an aversion to exploring gender expression, something that can make character design so much more interesting on a basic level. Sometimes in these shows, a character will stray from the show’s gender design norm, perhaps having a more androgynous or queer expression (these characters are often villains, or side characters).

To show this, we can compare Grey and Natsu (a set of two boys the same age) from Fairytail, and Kurapika and Leorio (another pair of boys, only a year apart) from Hunter x Hunter.

Grey and Natsu have the same toned body, and portray similar types of masculinity, whereas Kurapika and Leorio are wildly different. The former is quite feminine and graceful, the other is more masculine.

Interestingly enough, out of Hunter x Hunter's protagonist quartet of Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio, it is the most masculine, Leorio, who is the most symbolically compassionate, as he wants to become a doctor. He is significantly weaker than the other characters as well. His role in HxH resembles those relegated to women in other anime (the healer, doctor, supporting side character... this is something I expand upon a little later). The more feminine one, Kurapika, is actually the most vengeful and filled with rage, and can be quite cold and manipulative.

In One Piece, while men may vary, all the women are given the same body, making it hard to take Rebecca, a gladiator woman, very seriously. There’s an interesting video by Spo0ski exploring character design in One Piece. (Rebecca's story arc is uh- interesting... It's quite obvious it only unfolds the way it does because she's a woman.)

But, basic character design, while an agent of characterization, may not necessarily add or subtract a lot to an anime’s story... 

2. Gender Roles

So, let’s continue on the more serious ramifications of a fixation on gender roles. In “straight” anime, a large chunk of the dynamics of the characters, their relationships, and sometimes even plot, can be heavily determined by rigid set of established gender norms in the series.

This often takes form of common tropes that legitimately detract from the story:

Women’s existence and motivations are fixated on men, whereas the men have their own motivations that are infinitely more fascinating and important to the story

Damsel in Distress - women are weaker and constantly in need of saving; they serve little else than to be the pretty damsel to satiate the man/story’s need for a romantic interest

Women are supporters/healers - women are secondary to men and are always in supporting roles; they never fight for their own motivations, but rather support the men in the fights for their own.

We can take a look at Naruto to see some of these in action. (Sage’s Rain on YouTube has an incredibly fascinating video on how Naruto had done a complete disservice to its female characters for underutilizing them and relegating them to secondary roles).

The healing ninja in Naruto are almost exclusively women. The “most useful” women were those who learned to heal (Sakura, Tsunade, even Ino tries to learn healing to improve her use). Additionally, we never really see women on the battlefield being as powerful or competent as the men. This in itself isn’t terrible, but it’s tired and boring to base the battles on this dynamic.

The more problematic aspect occurs when, despite learning healing, the women are never powerful or competent in battle, and are always just short of being able to take care of themselves. This is jarring to see, time and time again, because supposedly, the show tells you these women are strong. Sakura is constantly touted for her physical prowess and is noted for being well suited for genjutsu (but we never her see her actually learn to use it... hmm). Most shockingly, is that apart from the fight with Sasori in the early stages of Shippuden, we don’t see Sakura use her powers in a way that drives progress or victory, or in a way equivalent to her male counterparts, Sasuke and Naruto.

Tsunade is touted to be one of the legendary Sannin, a revered veteran known for her ninja abilities. And yet, very soon after her introduction in Naruto, she is saved by the twelve-year-old protagonist. While this part was heartwarming, sure, I still remember how I felt as a child watching this scene and wondering why? How? Isn’t it kinda weird that she was supposed to be super strong and now she’s being protected by this twelve-year-old boy at the lowest ninja rank?

The show is all bark and no bite; the women are amped up for no reason and no pay-off. This is why we find some of them incredibly annoying (*cough cough* Sakura Haruno, the world’s most hated teenage girl).

Going on a tangent, we can see how other shows really take the whole women weak lol seriously. 

One Piece seems to vehemently believe that women can’t fight or be strong... While yes it’s true that women are weaker than men, this is only on average. Any olympian woman would wipe the floor with any run of the mill Joe. 

One Piece has characters shown to have super human strength. Zoro and Sanji (and a whole slew of non devil-fruit users) have abilities that are very much NOT human. So the notion that ANY woman, in the entire world, would never be able to be as strong as a man is bizarre. You’re telling me that no woman is also super special and can train to get this super human power? That regardless of innate talent or absurd amounts of training, the women will be weaker and will never reach that top echelon? You know this doesn't have to be true in the world of One Piece — it was the author's choice.

It’s very hard to believe. Zoro’s childhood friend and her father vehemently believe that she cannot become the world’s best swordsman on the sole basis of her sex. But why? In a world where people exceed strength that is humanly possible, sex plays more of a factor in determining a person’s potential? 

Tashigi didn’t have to be weaker than Zoro (by a landslide). She could’ve been more of a challenge. It’s incredibly hard to believe that no woman in this crazy world of One Piece, would ever be able to catch up to Zoro simply because she’s a woman. 

But in One Piece, there are barely any female pirates or marines who are shown to have comparable physical prowess. This is also seen in their character designs (they just... don’t look very tough). 

Going back to Naruto, we see how not only are women weak, but that they have no bearing on the story. Women’s narratives are pathetic and inconsequential in comparison to the men’s; the women worry about Sasuke-kun! or Naruto-kun! or don’t often have motivations that really relate to the overarching plot. They also do not become pivotal characters (Kushina, a jinchuriki, still ends up in the good ol’ wifey category).

But the men have themes of betrayal, misunderstanding and brotherhood that are shown to have broad and powerful effects. Itachi and Sasuke, Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi and Obito... All of their narratives have such grand impacts on the story of Naruto.

Naruto is shown to be a Man’s World™, where only the men’s narratives are worth telling, and where only the men have real significance. After all, as Kakashi put it, “girls... are probably more interested in love.”

And, Kakashi was right... Women do care more about love, especially in comparison to their male counterparts. In Fairytail, Lucy and Erza are shown to care much more about their prospective romantic pairings than Natsu and Jelal. Erza, who was originally shown to be an incredibly competent character, stronger than both Natsu and Grey, ends up playing second fiddle to them.

In Bleach, Rukia, a character who was a more experienced soul reaper and very well could’ve been a source of guidance and a mentor to Ichigo, is very soon turned into a damsel in distress in the Soul Society arc. This repeats itself with Orihime in the Hueco Mundo arc. Orihime is more invested in a romance with Ichigo than he is and it’s like... the only thing she’s really there for? I mean like yeah, she’s a special girl with special powers, but it’s never like a thing the women DO. 

In fact, what is up with the whole, secret princess with powers trope? The women become important to the plot not because they have worked for it or because they have drive, but only because it’s their god-given necessity to be a holy weapon or something? It’s weird. It also lends itself to "protecting the princess" or "saving the princess" narrative.

All of the anime I mention feature incredibly compelling tales of friendship, fascinating fantasy world-building, and resiliency… It’s simply a shame that many of these themes are often not reflected in their female characters and that they are not treated with as much significance.

When I watched Jujutsu Kaisen, I liked it, and when I wondered why, I thought, “it isn’t straight.” People love this series despite having complex female characters... that are not sexualized and whose characters are not reduced to tropes. 

Nobara joins the group and she isn’t immediately groped or sexualized. She doesn’t fall in love with Yuuji or Megumi (could you imagine... gross.) Instead, she adds her own brand of chaos, has her own motivations and holds her own alongside some insane comrades (very special bois with special circumstances). 

3. Atrocious Fan Service

Fanservice is fun. We got these fantasy cartoon characters who are super hot by default, why not make use of this to please the viewers' eyes every once in a while?

The problem arises when fan service occurs to an extent that absolutely obliterates characterization and normalizes incredibly harmful issues in real life.

Female characters are relegated to not just secondary roles, but also ones of just sex appeal. Sometimes, they are sexually harassed, assaulted, and groped. These acts are incredibly harmful and can be traumatic. Yet, these female characters are never shown having to reconcile with what was done to them. Often, these scenarios are played off a joke and mere fanservice.

Besides, she’s just a piece of aSS who likes being sExUaLly HarRasSED because she actually secretly liKEs the guy, and is only thinking about how she can be of service to him and help him succeed.  

The unrealistic nature of the way women are is treated for the sake of fan service, utterly damages our ability to view the character seriously, as someone with motivations, goals and aspirations.... or even — I don’t know... a brain?

4. Shipping Wheel and Pairings

This leads to another issue… The incessant desire to pair every character with someone (anyone, please!). Either during a series, or at the end because it provides some much needed closure (?), authors may ship everyone off to someone just for the hell of it. Or in Naruto’s case, because of the next generation continuation.

All 15-30 characters in their roster will be paired up with a member of the opposite sex like it’s a game of spin the bottle. (Statistically, someone’s gotta be gay… Apparently it’s Gaara in Naruto because he doesn’t get with anyone… 👀)

Pairings at the end are somewhat unnecessary in most cases, as there is rarely any true development for them during the run-time. This isn’t a terrible issue, but when when pairing occurs during a series’ run-time is when it becomes kinda yuck, since this would mean the pairing relied on the show being "straight". You can assume that people are dating, simply because they're a man and a woman, because they seem to enjoy each other’s company, and not because there is any actual development.

Conclusion

Anime can still be good, even if I were to call them “straight”. All the anime I mentioned have their merits and have earned absurd levels of popularity. Some of them I absolutely adore. But when it comes to writing characters without the reliance on outdated cruxes — that do a disservice to your female characters and your female fanbase — we can do better. Poorly written female characters also encourage us to look at women poorly (the hatred towards Sakura kinda veered on misogynistic, ngl). 

The truth is, while some people enjoy the fan service, people probably wouldn’t really hate it if Elizabeth was less of a sack of potatoes with tits... People may actually be invested in female characters with motivations, who contribute to the group and the plot in more ways than... tits. 

Complex female characters can be absolutely fascinating. Breaking bounds and playing with gender expression and identity, playing with ambiguity, toying with the roles and seeing how to write complex characters that conform or break them is fun and refreshing. 

Nobody would’ve hated it if Sakura’s potential had actually been realized. In fact, people would’ve loved to see it. 

[ddarker-dreams]

i really really enjoy everything you’re doing with ‘hell within reach’, you’ve fleshed out the character the reader fills (?) so well i could be fooled into thinking she’s canon. really, i was re-watching the yorknew arc a little while ago just thinking about how entertaining it would be if avalor was a part of it. i’ve wanted to make an insert of sorts on my own, and your series really inspires me to put my mind to it, which is something i’ve always struggled with!

unsure if you’ve been asked this before, but do you have a particular visual in your mind for her appearance? if not, maybe for her nen sets? i know it’s a reader insert series, but still. keep up the amazing work, thank you so much for this series hehehehe

anon im getting down on one knee . i’m so enthused to get an ask where i can talk about HWR, i have so much to say!!! please talk to me about this series and i’ll name my firstborn after you. lady avalor... she is quite the stunner, isn’t she? i’d say she’s the reader i struggle the most to write, since her way of thinking and actions are so different from any other reader character i’ve written before. definitely the most morally grey from the bunch too. i can’t wait to explore more of her in the story, she’s got quite the character arc incoming. 

if you have any questions about her or her relationship with others i’m ready to write an essay whenever. (i personally enjoy her relationships with chrollo, phinks, pakunoda, and feitan the most. the latter we haven’t seen much yet, but it’ll come up more later in the story). i thought about making a silly little thing where all the troupe members go into depth about what they think of her, maybe i’ll get around to finishing it?? hisoka’s is just him going ah that one. she tried to kill me the first time i met her. it was very erotic. :) 

please do write a story though anon!!!!! for some reason, hxh feels more difficult to Put a character/reader into, because it’s so neatly packed. i’m not sure how to explain it. but i definitely understand what you mean. you’ve got this!!! 

every time i rewatch the yorknew arc i wonder what she’d be doing ngl. i have this draft laying around where she recognizes killua as a zoldyck kid. i’m still surprised no one in the troupe picked up on that in the anime? maybe they just didn’t care enough to mention it though, who knows. killua would recognize her as well, but luckily he’s far more in control of his body language to give it away. would probably later say something to kurapika like...

“Watch out for that woman wearing foreign clothing. My old man’s price on a hit for her and her family offset any potential customers, that is, if they were feeling brave enough to ask in the first place.” 

much to do, much to do. 

i digress! lady avalor’s armor sets would obliterate me if i ever tried to draw them. i have drawn her weapon sets before though, so you’re in luck ehe!! 

(from left to right: Set A, Set B, and Set C). 

this is like the third time i’ve ever drawn weapons before so please forgive how inexperienced i am with it. i just wanted to get a rough idea of what they would look like 😭😭 fun fact, Set C weighs two tons! which is the reason why it’s the slowest Set. big ass axe... 

i do have some idea of how i picture lady avalor, though i don’t want to ruin anyone’s immersion by sharing it. i’ll share her various outfits though sooner or later! and yes, they’re all dresses. because who cares about practicality for fights (not me), when you could focus on looking hot af instead. >:) 

[buzzykrueger]

I’m kind of annoyed that the hxh fandom opinion seems to be that the ball is in Gon’s court to make amends as fix things between him and Killua. As if Gon wasn’t the one who took a detour from finding his dad in the first place to go save Killua from his family, constantly provides verbal affirmation that Killua is his best friend in the world, says the first thing he wants to do when achieving his goal is introduce Killua to his dad etc. he gave Killua no room for doubt. Yet all he gets is “your second place” and Killua leaving? While he doesn’t know anything about what Killua has done so as far as Gon is concerned, he’s not just a “bad son” but a “bad friend” as well. Killua owes Gon some explanations and reassurances too, but he’s not likely to give them which is why their parting is so bleak. Even if they meet again, it won’t be like it was and Gon’s probably going to feel one mistake away from Killua ditching him again. I just hate what Togashi built up and destroyed with these two. Wasted potential and terrible take away messages all around.

Oh anon, sorry for the late reply, I had to take sometime to answer you. 

It’s very difficult to work with information we don’t have or partially have. I don’t think Togashi built up and destroyed them, or wasted their relationship development. I see and understand why you’re angry, tho.

Could it be that Togashi is “subverting” (we have to use this word very carefully, okay?) what we expect and give us no reunion at all? Yes, it’s a possibility, we have reasons for believing this. Could it be that he plans a heartful but not desperate reunion (’cause I’m more into a calm reunion than to see them suffering with emotions at its peak) for them? Yeah, it could be, we also have reasons and plot and literary and paneling hints for that. There’s no way to assume 100% sure that Togashi wrecked his own story, I would expect this from Tite Kubo but not from Togashi hahahahaah (sorry Bleach fans). He’s thoughtful of his writing and hates to put things just for putting. 

Everything has its reason to be in the story, and same goes for the separation scene - he knew people were expecting the apology scene but instead gave us a really short goodbye with no hugs and with “almost breaking” faces and cut-off sentences, why? Just for subversion? Isn’t enough subversion to give this quick goodbye without introducing Killua to Ging, like everyone expected? He could’ve give us some damn proper apologies and hugs and still break our expectations by splitting them, because the events from the CAA wasn’t something they planned for their journey, but leading Killua to Ging WAS. And he didn’t give us a question, he gave us teasing answers - so we can’t call it an ambiguous ending, as a literary tool.

But yeah, getting to the introduction of your ask, I don’t think Killua meant to hurt Gon by not telling what he went through and how afraid of rejection he was - much the opposite. Gon’s ultimate goal was finding Ging, Killua spent the entire CA arc bottling his feelings for the SOLE PURPOSE of not making things hard for Gon, and now he doesn’t want to “screw” the first good thing that has happened since they’ve met Kite. But of course, he’s so worried about his self-reached conclusion and that he wasn’t “helpful” enough to stop Gon from suffering - or how he should blame himself not preventing his ultimate sacrifice - that he can’t remember how Gon cares about what he feels, and is so perceptive of it that he tried to reach Killua’s feelings a couple times when he noticed. 

I mean, have you ever had anxiety? I’m diagnosed with general anxiety and I know how illogical my mind can’t be when I’m struggling to feel loved. I agree that Killua needs to explain Gon what he feels and understand that the rejection was something he concluded by his own fear and decided to make it true for self-preservation.  And Gon probably went so desperate into an apology for his “rotten words” that Killua accepted - of course - and played his goofy and “baaaka-” side like always, to make Gon feel better, not to punish him. So it makes sense he doesn’t intended to put more things for Gon to apologize because he was already feeling terrible. And Gon just knows this playful expression doesn’t match the one he saw when Killua screamed his name. 

But it makes sense that we need to see Gon make up things before we see Killua understanding himself, because CAA was pretty much around Killua’s suffering too, let the boy have a break and focus on Gon a little even though both messed up some of their decisions.

They both made mistakes, but they both know things are NOT alright, something is lacking, and referencing my own words: even though Togashi made room for both a reunion or no reunion at all, one thing that he didn’t do FOR SURE is hinting that their bond is destroyed and beyond repair. This is something that people reached by their own feelings, because it isn’t anywhere in the scene. 

If this was the case, Killua would’ve healed Gon and leave with Alluka, leaving no room for Gon to apologize. It would be a punishment and a break for sure. Killua chose to stay and make Gon feel a little better so he can meet Ging with a happy face. 

Thank you for this ask! Come back, don’t be angry at me hahaha /jk

[aspoonofsugar]

Nen and Characters: Morel and Knov

Morel and Knov, just like Knuckle and Shoot, are an older version of Gon and Killua. In other words, they are partners who efficiently complement each other and they have similar traits to respectively Gon (Morel) and Killua (Knov).

It is interesting to compare these three generations of partners. As a matter of fact both Knuckle and Shoot overcome their flaws/make progress, while, in Gon and Killua’s case, Killua grows, but Gon almost dies because of his unsolved issues. Finally, Knov is not able to face his flaw and leaves Morel to struggle alone:

It is as if the three couples of hunters offer different outcomes to the same kind of dynamic. In the meta about Knuckle and Shoot, I have written about the younger generations:

Shoot is meant to stay level-headed and to stop Knuckle from doing stupid things. This is how their partnership works, but here he completely gives up the role he is supposed to have and is simply honest with his friend. He feels humiliated by the fact that his opponent has not shown any respect for him and he wants Knuckle to avenge him because of this. It is not logical and it is surely not what Knuckle should do, but it is still what Shoot feels and this is why it is important for him to convey it and to make it known.

Shoot’s choice is the opposite of Killua. As a matter of fact Killua too has a moment where he has to choose if to be honest with a friend or to repress his feelings for the sake of the mission and he chooses to keep silent and not to convey how he feels to Gon. This ends up taking a toll on Killua and on his dynamic with Gon. He acts the best he can and avoids the mission to be compromised, but he also loses a chance to communicate with his friend and this leads to the both of them suffering later on.

Shoot’s choice to share his emotions with Knuckle might have been irrational and might have led Knuckle to put himself in danger, but is also something which strengthens the bonds between the two.

In this meta, the focus will be on the older one, so Knov, Morel and their bond will be analyzed.

KNOV: THE WORLD FROM A WINDOW

Knov’s ability is called Hide and Seek (Fourth-Dimensional Mansion)  and it says several things about the character.

First of all, its name perfectly describes what Knov does during the Palace Invasion. He basically spends the whole mission hiding from the ants and bringing his comrades to the safety zone once they are too wounded to keep going.

Secondly, it conveys Knov’s contradictions. As a matter of fact Fourth-Dimensional Mansion is a teleportation ability which conjures a home.

On one hand Knov can move both himself and others. It would appear that this power is built around the idea of bringing a little bit of every place one has been home. This seems confirmed by the fact that Knov’s portals can be open only in places he has visited himself.

On the other hand it was shown that Knov would use his power to drag people inside the mansion aka a place he is comfortable with, so that they can be imprisoned and killed:

In short, Knov’s ability seems to superficially represent freedom of movement, but it actually hides within itself Knov’s need of a comfort zone. Knov can go everywhere he has already visited, but he always takes a break home while doing so:

 This need is at the root of Knov’s breakdown:

As a matter of fact Knov is a victim of his own words:

He tells Killua that people tend to overestimate what they can’t comprehend. This is essentially what he does when he experiences the Royal Guards’ aura. As a matter of fact Knov is the character who has the worst reaction to the ants in general. Let’s highlight that the story makes clear that the ants are both monstruous and human. Whoever sees only one side of them is wrong. This is made clear by characters like Gon and Knuckle. On one hand Gon only sees Pitou as a monster and is distressed when he sees evidence of the contrary. On the other hand Knuckle’ s ideal of solving the conflict peacefully is naive and he must give up on it.

In short, the ants have a mix of negative and positive traits, just like the humans. Knov is a character who only sees one part of them and he is not able to face them and to better comprehend them:

It is not by chance that he is the one countering Knuckle’ s line of thought. It does not matter if Knuckle forged a bond with Youpi. This bond is destined to be broken because Youpi has a monstruous side which is unescapable. Knov does not care that what he has just described (a person hating someone who has hurt a loved one) is the same personality trait multiple human characters have.

Knov is too scared to see the ants as people and is stuck with the image he has of them as monsters. This is why he is not able to progress. All in all, Knov is a character who is not good at facing “otherness”:

This is mentioned even recently. Knov is the paradox of a hunter with a perfect ability to explore the unknown, but who is too scared to do it.

At the same time, him calling Killua out only to end up worse than him is important because Knov shares Killua’s flaw. In a sense, Knov is who Killua is scared of becoming:

Knov is a person who runs away because of fear and leaves his loved ones behind. He does not go to save Palm and lets Morel fight a monster alone. This is exactly what multiple mentor figures have told Killua he should not be like. However, the way Knov’s story plays out in the CAA suggests something interesting:

First of all, even if Knov is not able to fight, he still comes back to the palace to save his comrades. His breakdown does not stop him from saving Shoot and Morel. Later on, he also does his best to save Gon. So, him having limits as a person does not make him a bad friend, but only a human being. Different people have different breaking points. This does not make them unworthy of friendship and love.

This is also supported by others’ reaction to Knov. Nobody resents him and everyone appreciates his help in the mission. In the end, Knov’s bonds with others are not broken by his flaws:

MOREL: THE ACT OF LIVING

Deep Purple lets Morel change his aura in smoke with the help of his giant pipe. Once he does so, he can obtain different shapes and effects by manipulating the smoke itself.

It is a rather simple power, but it is also extremely flexible. In a sense, Morel, with the act of breathing (so with the act of living), changes a part of himself into multiple different things. This ability fits well in an arc about human potential because it conveys the persistence and creativity of humans. It might not be the strongest power ever, but it is still practical and adaptive. Moreover, if there is something Morel has shown he can do is to adapt to different situations. Knov always needs a familiar place nearby to feel safe, but Morel does not.

This difference is highlighted also by their fighting styles. On one hand Knov is not above using his house as a trap for his enemies. On the other hand Morel often ends up trapped in enclosed spaces by his enemies:

This is what happens both when Morel fights Cheetu and when he is up against Leol. Both times Morel is able to turn the tables and to win. These two battles can actually be read as representations of larger conflicts in a nutshell. In short, they can be seen as simplified explorations of the themes and the more complex dynamics of the arc.

Firstly, Morel’s battle with Cheetu is paralleled with Meruem and Komugi’s gungi game:

Both competitions have the chimera ant apparently take the lead. On one hand Meruem comes up with Kokoriko. On the other hand Cheetu successfully traps Morel in a game of tag. What is more, he is also able to use a new power to escape a dire situation. However, both Komugi and Morel are able to easily win because they have more experience than their opponents. Komugi explains she herself had invented Meruem’s move and a way to counter it. Morel shows Cheety how naive he is and how is using his own talents in the wrong way.

When it comes to Morel and Cheetu, it is interesting how they part in somehow friendly terms:

In a sense, Morel acts as some kind of mentor to Cheetu despite the two of them being enemies. This is strengthened by Cheetu being portrayed as childish and naive. The story makes clear he has talents he could use, but he is too immature to properly express them. Despite Morel’s advice, Cheetu is not able to overcome his flaws and ths is why he dies before being able to show his new ability. Both times he fights, Cheetu is not able to finalize his ability.

In summary, Morel’s fight with Cheetu shows two things.

a) The hunter’s strength lies in his intelligence and experience. This ability to evolve and to face unforeseen circumstances is among the qualities, which will lead to the victory of humanity.

b) Morel is a mentor figure to the point that he ends up mentoring even an opponent.

What about his fight against Leol?

Leol, differently from Cheetu, is framed as an equal to Morel:

Morel looks forward to the fight precisely because he recognizes Leol’s power and respects him as an opponent. This is highlighted also by Morel and Leol sharing similar musical tastes:

In other words, Morel more or less consciously sees humanity in Leol and this is why he is able to enjoy his fight with him. However, things change when he discovers Leol is using his friend’s power:

In this moment, Morel decides Leol has to die. What is ironic is that we, as readers, know Leol’s power is not even about stealing abilities, but it is about borrowing them. All in all, it is not even an ability too damaging to its victim. Despite this, Morel becomes more determined to kill Leol once he discovers he has targeted one of Morel’s loved ones.

This is basically what will happen with Youpi later on, even if the parts will be inverted. The Royal Guard will grow to respect his opponents, but he will later on refuse these feelings when his King is almost killed.

In short, Morel and Leol’s fight foreshadows how the conflict between humans and ants will end. After all, Leol himself is on of the “fake kings” who are trying to take Meruem’s place, so his defeat can be read as an anticipation of Meruem’s one. In particular, the two opponents’ conflict shows how complicated the relationships between ants and humans are. Even when the individuals show respect for each other, these emotions can be easily overridden by hate when loved ones are in danger. Finally, the difficult reconciliation between the two species is shown also by the way the fight ends:

Morel wins and kills Leol just by breathing. This means that the two species are destined to fight each other to the death just to be able to survive. There is simply not enough “air” for both.

Of course this happens because of how the world works:

Morel himself is frustrated by some of these laws, which go against his feelings and chain him to duty. He wants to act to save the people killed by the ants, but he must wait for the Palace Invasion, in order to maximize the chances of success. This necessity to chain one-self to duty is something which reaches its climax in Morel’s fight against Pouf:

Interestingly, this is the only one of Morel’s fghts where he is the one trapping his opponent and not the other way around. However, Morel is trapping himself as well:

But, in the end, he chooses his feelings for his mentees and lets go of Pouf. He might have done the wrong thing strategically and loses his weapon. Still, he is able to save Knuckle just in time and to fight freely.

In conclusion, Morel represents the best of humanity. He has all the positive qualities celebrated in the CAA. He is resourceful and able to learn. What is more, he greatly values his comrades.

This last trait is also ironically what goes in the way of him bonding with his opponents. This is interesting and contradictive. Bonds with others can both help in overcoming differences, but can also make these differences deeper. Like Knov has stated, people may become monsters for the people they love.

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF THE OLD GENERATION

Knov and Morel are two adults and as such they are in a different point of their lives from our protagonists. This has both advantages and disadvantages.

On one hand they have a more solid sense of identity, like Morel. On the other hand, they struggle more to face their flaws, like Knov.

However, they are also stable enough that they can accept each other’s shortcomings without entering in a conflict. While both Knuckle/Shoot and Gon/Killua change their dynamic during the mission, Knov and Morel’s one is solid enough not to be modified by the experiences they live. It is a bond strong enough to support them both.

At the same time, as adults, Knov and Morel are less free than Gon and Killua. Gon and Killua act to change things they disagree with, like the association’s decision to sacrifice thousands of people. Knov and Morel are too conditioned to accept such sacrifices, even if they dislike them.

Finally, it is interesting that both Morel and Knov do a lot in the beginning, but leave the mission early. It is as if their role is to prepare the terrain for their students who will succeed in completing the mission.

Thank you for reading!

If you are interested in other analysis of HxH characters through their nen abilities here is a list of the ones I wrote up until now:

-Nanika

-Kurapika and Chrollo

-Killua and Illumi

-Gon and Hisoka

-Meruem and Komugi

-Palm Siberia

-Neon Nostrade

-Neferpitou and Shaiapouf

-Kachou and Fugetsu

-Menthuthuyoupi

-Ikalgo and Welfin

-Knuckle and Shoot

-Razor and Genthru

-Pakunoda, Senritsu and Biscuit