#but hxh feels very interesting in that it tends to depict death as gruesome. and lingers on it

[metanarrates]

smth I've been thinking a lot about hxh during my rewatch is how gon, as a cheerful, determined, power-of-friendship shonen protagonist is absolutely not in a world that supports that kind of protagonist. the world of hxh is dark, gruesome, and full of people with filthy intentions. violent death presses in at all sides from the very beginning. it's better suited to tell a revenge story like kurapika's, or the story of a tragic yet very cool assassin like killua. it is through sheer power of will alone that gon is able to bend the world's genre to conform to his viewpoint, and to navigate the world via his particular brand of bullheadedness.

until the chimera ant arc. that is when gon finally flat-out does not have the power to crash through the world's barriers like he always does. and that is when he breaks down.