#chimera ant arc hxh

[superiorcake]

The Chimera Ant Arc. More or less. Greed Island server prompt for Poor Man's Rose challenge. Theme: obsession. This meme has been kicking around for a while and I'm late. Inspired by @remotepunch

[pr1ncessasuke]

I’m THROWING UP AND SCREAMI

(Got permission from op on Twitter to cross post!)

[cocogum]

Pitou’s gender doesn’t need to matter

note: the pronoun ‘it’ is used to indicate Pitou throughout this whole post

Before beginning, I would like to clarify that when I say Pitou’s gender doesn’t need to matter, I mean it. I say this because of the canon proofs sprinkled throughout the story and NOT because I’m saying this out of my opinion.

***

From being considered a fan favourite and the most hated character above them all, it is no secret that Pitou has touched the hearts of many whether negatively or positively.

Believing that there is an equal amount of appreciation and hate for the character, fans would often try to wonder and guess the only thing unclear about the cat ant: its gender. Many have considered the cat to be female, while some who lean more into the manga would assume it to be male and others would simply come to the conclusion that it is non-binary due to the vague anatomy of the royal guard.

There seem to be lots of ideas and possibilities surrounding Pitou’s gender and fans would often believe that there can only be one answer to this question.

Which is true but not in the way you would expect.

The anime, manga and even the mobage cards have depicted Pitou’s gender in different ways.

The anime chose to make people address Pitou as a female and portray it by accentuating the ant’s torso and hips to make the body look more feminine.

The HxH Battle Collection cards used the same method with the addition of making it wear girl clothes.

The manga on the other hand makes Pitou be addressed as a male but doesn’t bother giving any noticeable features to the body.

But despite this, the manga also moves Pitou into female roles. The first example is when Togashi put the ant cat as a female by drawing a sort of re-enactment of Diego Velázquez’s famous painting called “Coronation of the Virgin” (1644) by replacing God’s mother Mary, a woman, with Pitou on the 28th volume cover of the manga.

The second example is when Pitou is compared to a real cat mother by Killua when he sees it making a stance to protect the injured Komugi from Gon.

Togashi’s way of presenting characters in his works has always been a great strategy to confuse some fans about certain characters.

Good examples of these would have to be characters like Kurapika, Kalluto, and of course Pitou. But the difference between the cat and the other two is a huge one.

Being an androgynous bishōnen like Kurapika and Kalluto means being a boy but looking partly female and partly male. Both already have a definite gender and yet they look like the opposite gender. Or in other words, their looks are what makes them “pretty boys”.

While the others have a reason to make you stop and think about whether they’re female or male due to their looks, Pitou on the other hand does not fall into any category or label.

It has nothing. It is simply a blank slate.

Based on the hxh data book, Pitou uses the pronoun “kare” which means “he” in English. It also uses the pronoun “boku” known as “I” in English which is mainly used by boys and young men.

However, even though Pitou may use male pronouns, its body doesn’t show us distinct male or even female parts in the manga.

Many would think we did see it naked once if we look at this specific panel shot of Pitou flexing its muscles.

But while this may have been good proof that Pitou may have a gender after all at first glance, it is unfortunately not the case. If this was Pitou’s real naked form, we would’ve been able to see its knees and arms’ specific physical patterns since they are part of its body but we don’t which means this is supposed to be a comparison between Pitou and a real cat.

The HxH manga is the canon source for all things related to HxH and if we want a direct answer to our question, then it should only make sense that we all depend on what the manga has to say about Pitou. But when we take into consideration that the manga itself also plays with Pitou’s gender, if all the manga does is make Pitou look physically neutral but makes people address the ant cat with he/him pronouns, and take female/male roles, then this means that Pitou doesn’t have any gender or even specific anatomy.

Due to the many numerous proofs, the manga is more than clearly fine with making fans choose one for the ant.

However, Pitou’s case shouldn’t be mixed with bishōnen androgynous characters such as Kurapika and Kalluto.

They are there to trick you with gender. Pitou on the other hand plays with gender. It doesn’t want you to guess if it is canonically female or male but simply wants you to portray it the way you want to.

Think of Pitou as a naked male doll. Usually, male dolls do not have defined and detailed physical traits. Unlike the “naked” form we assumed of Pitou in that one panel, a male doll’s body is exactly how Pitou would look with no clothes on.

So go ahead and believe what you want to believe.

Pitou’s canonical gender is literally nothing and anything.

It’s up to you.

Pitou is truly a blank canvas brought here by Togashi for us to paint whatever we want on it.

Its reason for being what it is is such an anomaly that even its name mixes both genders to not give any place to only one gender.

The first part of Neferpitou’s name “Nefer” comes from a male Egyptian god by the name of “Nefertem” and the second part “pitou” comes from a female panther that belongs to a French children's book series called “Caroline et ses Amis”.

[stingray-art]

doomed/tragic love (my favourite)

@greedislandchallenge

[zurenie]

personally im truck freak

[souppunch]

[alexsiple]

IN THE SUMMER SILENCE, I WAS GETTING VIOLENT

[aphelion-art]

angsty boys

[moonsoupss]

[dyingroses]

You guys can have some Hunter x Hunter + text posts and tweets as a treat 💖

[wabitabi]

everthing sucks but atleast i drew Meleoron

yeah i did his hoodie bad urmmm forgive me

[pr1ncessasuke]

muruem and killua both on their knees begging palm to save their beloved komugi and gon. I just realized this parallel today and im unwell.

togashi created palm to facilitate the new themes of love and coming of age in the chimera ant arc. and created multiple parallels between the two pairs

[eiichiro]

HUNTER X HUNTER (2011) episode 135 ✴ this person x and x this moment created by togashi yoshihiro

[nendracula]

godspeed.

i was trying to hard to wait until his bday to post this but i couldnt help it 😭

[superiorcake]

The Chimera Ant Arc.

Greed Island server prompt for card #38, Fledgling Artist.

[asterbats]

finished the chimera ant arc today. this is how i'm coping