Neato.

Well then, my theory. I'm not going to bother trying to guess the specifics of the pesterings, but ultimately Killua is somehow going to have to sacrifice his friendship with Gon to save his life (or maybe something more esoteric like his freedom or whatever). I mean this has been hinted at and teased for quite awhile but now there is a way to force him to do so without turning him into a dickhead.

As for the elections, I think Pariston is going to worm his way in, one way or the other. I think Ging will do something that will stop him from having a complete victory (as it were) but I'm not sure I see why Togashi would be showing us all of this if weren't for some massive shake up in the Hunter society. (Ging would just step down anyway so there's no point from a storytelling perspective to do so) Oh yeah, Gon will probably lose his licence.

As for Alluka, I think there is some hints of demonic possession or similar scenario, as the ability doesn't seem to be Nen related, which opens up a whole different dimension to the Hunter world (perhaps literally). I'm not sure if I welcome the idea though.

It seems to me that the "real" Alluka doesn't actually have the same Nen ability as the "fake" one. The "real" one very nicely put forth a pestering that Killua DIE, and yet he didn't. It's still an unknown whether this version can grant any wishes, but I doubt it. Probably, it's a split-personality thing, and only the "fake" version has any Nen abilities at all.

On that note, I'm curious as to Alluka's past. For instance, it was implied that he escaped the Zoldyck family because Illumi and Kalluto were looking for him (her? Perhaps one version is male, the other female??). It was said that Alluka has no fighting abilities to speak of, and considering how Killua literally had to beat his way out of there, injuring Milluki and his mother... I don't see how that happened. How the hell do you let a walking, talking death-bringer out of your sight? Was it intentional?

But here's what we do know. Kalluto went looking for Alluka, and found his way to the Genei Ryodan, and sometime later returned, and so did Alluka. So I think we can guess that he found Alluka with them and brought him back. However, this would imply that the Ryodan used Alluka's ability to remove Kurapika's Judgment Chain from Kuroro.

Of course, that's a pretty heavy wish. What kind of pestering did Alluka have after that? Yeesh...


I could care less about the elections. I don't like politics in real life, and I certainly don't like it in manga. I'll be happy when that entire business it done with. I mean, come on! We're discussing a character that can grant ANY WISH at extreme later cost, the possible death of the two main characters, a wish of such caliber that it might result in pesterings which could kill thousands (including, pretty much, EVERY CHARACTER WE KNOW IN THE SERIES!), and God knows whatever else... and you keep cutting away to an ELECTION?! I'm sorry if I'm having trouble giving a shit!

>>68202
Watch as the election turns out to be the most important bit at the end.

> Kalluto went looking for Alluka, and found his way to the Genei Ryodan, and sometime later returned, and so did Alluka.
Where did it say that, besides they already found the nen removal guy in Greed Island. I think you're getting ahead of yourself, when they refer to "brother" you can't be certain which one.

>and you keep cutting away to an ELECTION?! I'm sorry if I'm having trouble giving a shit!

It doesn't help that there is not a single person on the election committee the audience actually know. The sections with the election committee is like whole other fucking manga.

>>68202
So you don't like worldbuilding? You don't like seeing Ging? You don't want to know who takes Netero's place?


Nobody "likes" politics per say, but it's important, don't be an ignorant pleb.

I don't like the Zodiacs though, their designs are shitty and the personalities are dull.

>>68206
>Worldbuilding

Very little of that going on here, chief.

>Seeing Ging

He's a douche, but we always knew that. He's also...pretty boring.

>>68206

>See who takes Netero's place

I couldn't possibly care less.

>>68206
>I don't like the Zodiacs though, their designs are shitty and the personalities are dull.

It's mostly this that makes me not give a shit about the election.

Where the hell did the zodiacs come from?

Besides, there was an earlier zodiac group, certainly lessens the impact of this one.

>The sections with the election committee is like whole other fucking manga.

This, THIS! A thousand times this! Thank you for putting a phrase to the feeling I'm getting every time it cuts away from the characters I actually care about, to inform me what's happening with this silly little committee.

You know what would be interesting? If they quit the political posturing and started FIGHTING! I mean, Ging is there, and they are all high-level Hunters, so you gotta think they all have wicked awesome Nen abilities. Because some of them are physically... weird looking, I'd imagine they have WERID abilities, kind of like those Injuu (who all got rather comically destroyed by Ubogin, but who are we kidding, that man was EPIC and it's so unfair he got killed so early) or something like that.

That would get me interested, because HxH is, after all, a manga about FIGHTING. Would it interest me for them to suddenly start playing a perfectly ordinary soccer game? No! If I wanted to see that, I would go read a manga about playing soccer.

It would be a lot more HxH-like if they were to hold some kind of fighting competition to decide who gets to be leader of the Hunter organization (INB4 Togashi already did that in YYH). Why does it have to be someone like Pariston who is good at... politics? Netero sure as hell wasn't! He just went around generally being a total badass, and got Mr. Potato Head to do the paperwork for him, I'd imagine. I mean, shouldn't the leader be someone who is good with Nen? Wouldn't that sort of thing be best decided by beating the holy fuck out of each other in as spectacular a way as possible?

Especially Ging. All I'm interested in right now is seeing what the man is capable of, besides being a jerk and a terrible excuse for a father.

Also man, Ging's appearance in this arc is a gigantic anticlimax. I didn't even realize who he was until someone pointed out that he should probably be at the hospital.

Something I found intersting:

In the manga, when Leorio and Kurapica face Hisoka in the swamp, there is a third man there (an unimportant character) who suggests they retreat by running in separate directions. He is later seen dead (pinned to a tree) after having been killed by Hisoka.

In the original anime, this character is nowhere to be found, and it's instead Pokkuru (a minor character, much later seen getting killed and then brainwashed by Pitou to teach other Chimera Ants about using Nen) who suggests the retreat strategy.

In the new anime, they scrap the idea of the third man altogether, and instead have Kurapica suggest running away.


So why is this? Why do anime directors choose to make totally-unimportant minor changes to the manga's canon? Does anyone have any insights into the psychology of this?

More important is that Hisoka starts randomly killing people in the fog in the manga and first anime while in the remake, Hisoka is defending himself from people who picked a fight with him.

New director has done nothing worth commending other than the new cast members.

>Latest episode.

Awww, they skipped the entire sushi-making portion. That was my favorite freaking part. It was so hilarious! I'm sad now...


>USE SOAP WHEN YOU WASH YOUR HANDS!

Um... okay, sure thing Gon.

>>68266
>Awww, they skipped the entire sushi-making portion.

Good, that shit was retarded.

>>68266
I shall wait till they arrive to the Chimer ants arc then. The original is one of my favourites animes ever.

>>68282

That will be like... two years from now...

>>68284
Then i shall wait two years.

...okay, so where the heck is the new chapter??

Also, is it just me, or is there some kind of weird thing going on with most the Zaoldyck boys being dressed up as girls? Milluki doesn't have it because he's a nasty fat slob, but all the rest do, even eldest Illumi. Why?!

Did their mother REALLY want a daughter to the point of total delusion? Was the reason Killua beat the shit outta her (and leave the family) because she tried to dress HIM up as a girl, too? If Killua dressed up as a girl, would Gon date him?

It's just weird.

>>68401
Androgyny/gender-bending is the manga-ka's bread and fucking butter. I don't think I can name all the times he's done this kind of thing in HxH, and don't even get me started on Yu Yu Hakusho.
And then there's the whole deal with characters like Hisoka and Palm, and their inappropriate affection for 12 year old boys...

>>68403
Yeah, didn't he try to even make a series based entirely on gender bending once? I remember reading him talking about that in an author's note. And then there's Level E...

Man likes him some girls who are boys and boys who are girls.

http://mangastream.com/read/hunter_x_hunter/76466254/1

>>68425

Okay, goddamn it, is Alluka a boy? A girl? A "girl" as Killua put it? Togashi is just trolling us at this point.

I'm actually beginning to think it might REALLY switch genders depending whether it's Alluka or "Nanika".

(Does anyone know why the translation was delayed two days? I saw the raw; it came out as predicted, as did the other Jump regulars.)

Damn, this has gotten hardcore interesting real fast. Also, Killua being a good big brother makes me smile.

>>68426
I could believe Alluka is a girl and Nanika is a boy. Considering Killua's treatment of Alluka vs. his family's, Killua probably knows better.

I still have NO idea what's going on

>>68429
What is there not to get other than Togashi's gender ambiguities?

>>68433

What I'm wondering is why the family and Killua are having such a disagreement, here. It's obviously best for everyone involved if Killua and Alluka have an extremely-powerful escort to get to Gon's location, so everybody should be happy with the arrangement. Why does Killua want to do things on his own??

Also, another thing I was recently wondering. It was pretty well stated that the Zaoldycks aren't particularly secretive about who they are or what they do. It was said that pictures of them go for millions of jeni or whatever. So... how come nobody ever recognizes Killua?

Because if they DON'T, then I don't see what the danger would be of letting Killua and Alluka out on their own. They won't be specifically targetted by powerful groups for ransom or whatever, and Killua can easily fight off the common bandit or mugger.

Also, is it just me, or do you get the distinct impression that that terrifying new butler lady is Bisuke's mother...?

>>68444
>What I'm wondering is why the family and Killua are having such a disagreement, here. It's obviously best for everyone involved if Killua and Alluka have an extremely-powerful escort to get to Gon's location, so everybody should be happy with the arrangement. Why does Killua want to do things on his own??
Because he wants to save Alluka from his family

>Also, another thing I was recently wondering. It was pretty well stated that the Zaoldycks aren't particularly secretive about who they are or what they do. It was said that pictures of them go for millions of jeni or whatever. So... how come nobody ever recognizes Killua?
Because most people don't know he's a member of the family? They aren't secretive but people still don't know who they are, they live in a fortified mountain after all. Remember when those TOP ASSASSINS were hired to kill the Genei Ryodan? Even they didn't recognise the Zoaldycks, it's just a peculiarity.

>Because if they DON'T, then I don't see what the danger would be of letting Killua and Alluka out on their own. They won't be specifically targetted by powerful groups for ransom or whatever, and Killua can easily fight off the common bandit or mugger.
Because they don't want anyone knowing what Alluka can do, "she" is like a secret weapon. Above all else the Zoaldycks are cautious, they wouldn't want the Hunter's organization to attack them or whatever.

>Also, is it just me, or do you get the distinct impression that that terrifying new butler lady is Bisuke's mother...?
Could be the other way around, did they ever mention how old Bisuke is?

>>68444
I figured pictures of them went for millions of jeni because no one knew what they looked like. Hence why they would pay for them in the first place, so they could find out. Like when Tom Cruise and his wife had that baby.

Today's episode followed the manga to a freaking T... I was really impressed, not to mention surprised.

Also, shirtless Killua murdering people is always a good thing! I'm sure Hisoka was around the corner fapping to the sight...

>>68446
>Could be the other way around, did they ever mention how old Bisuke is?
I'm pretty sure Biskue is, like, 57. So probably not.

>>68426
Really switching genders is one option. Also, aren't the Zoldycks supposed to "only have sons"? Maybe they just don't acknowledge their daughters as such. (Also, maybe they usually aren't letting their daughters live unless they show potential like this one) (Or maybe they don't usually let daughters live BECAUSE they show potential like this one)

Alright, Morau, that was pretty cool of you.

And this was pretty satisfying.

Ok i just gave up and reread the whole thing

i get whats happening now

god how long did chimera ant take

i think i like greed island the most

>>68676

How

Greed Island was so fucking boring, it was seriously just Gon and Killua training while a bunch of assholes nobody cares about fart around with game mechanics that will never be important again in the background

>>68678
But it was soooo cool.

And that's how you make the election interesting.

Fuck yeah Leorio

>>68205
LEORIO COMING IN ADDRESSES ALL OF MY ISSUES WITH THE ELECTION.

LEORIO 2012.

Leorio! Holy shit he's the greatest.

Also, his nen ain't too shabby. I wonder if they're straight portals or black holes or what.

And Gin for world's shittiest father. But we knew that already.

(Oh hey, Hanzo got another vote.)

Leorio's triumphant return to the manga!!!

I wonder what the heck was up with than ability? The punch from the black hole came AFTER Leorio had already finished punching, so it was like a completely different fist rather than his own transported. So, materialization? I thought he was put in the databooks as transformation? (Hisoka would clearly classify him as reinforcement...)

Either way, I can see how that would be a useful skill for a doctor. No need for the "open" part of open-heart surgery if you can just materialize your hands in the chest cavity.

Leorio for President, 2012. If your father is a dick, he will punch him in the face. This is a campaign I can get behind.

>>68689

>Chapter still not released
I know it's harder to translate than most jump, and the hiatuses make scanlators shy away and so on but come on

I read the Chinese scans of the chapter and shit gets real.

>>68690
I like the cut of your jib.

http://mangastream.com/read/hunter_x_hunter/29465071/1

>>68865
And in the chapter, a fine selection of crazyface.

Also, this guy looks cool. I hope he pops up as relevant some time later.

>>68866
Yeah there's some crazy people I want to see at some point later on, like that M. Bison lookalike.

Illumi and Hisoka shenanigans are awesome.

Also
>Pariston Hill
tee hee
>Leorio PALADAKNIGHT
Woah

>>68868
Might as well be named Leorio Heisagoodguy.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Moral's last name is supposed to be McCartney, because McCarnathy is just... weird. So many characters, my mind spins. I can't believe Pariston is actually a triple-star hunter! He looks so much more like a boring paper-pusher than anyone who could legitimately kick someone's ass. I bet he's Manipulation.

(How in the hell did we get over 300 chapters into a manga without finding out one of the four major character's last name?? Paladaknight? Seriously??! Togashi just does fuck-whatever he feels like, these days.)

The Zaoldyck family is about twenty levels of fucked up, though... The only loving feelings are between three pairs, and everyone else is either business or obsession or frank animosity.

>>68883
We didn't know because frankly he's gotten very little development. Even his backstory is barebones as fuck. Gon, Killua and Kurapica have stuff happen to them and do things that matter to them. We don't see Leorio studying or whatever, he just shows up from time to time.

>>68883
Oh, the Zoldyck family has a lot of love. It's incredibly messed up, twisted and convoluted love, but it's familial affection all the same. It's actually amazing how fucked up the family is, given how level headed and reasonable Silva and Zeno are. I mean, for assassins.

Oh Hisoka, so funny

>>68889
Well, I'd actually debate that Silva is just good at hiding his crazy.

This chapter was pretty awesome.

>>68883
Remind me please, but what the fuck is that toad thing that has the caption "Basically Untouched"?

I pretty much have no clue who that is.

>>98908

That's Maha, who is Zeno's grandfather... which would make him something like 100 years old by now (interestingly, we've never seen Zeno's father. Perhaps he was killed?). He's been vaguely referenced a few times and I think went along with Illumi in the Yorkshin arc to kill the godfathers.

Seriously though, Zaoldyck men must rigorously produce children at the age of 20, every generation, to have a guy that many generations back still around...

Maha-100
??- 80
Zeno- 60
Silva- 40
Illumi - 20

You've got 8 years, Killua... get with the program. We're already behind schedule!

>>68908
He is the great grandfather.

http://mangastream.com/read/hunter_x_hunter/44614653/1

Hisoka, once again proving that Bungee Gum is one of those most useful and versatile nen abilities in the entire series.

Gotoh ;_;

His ability reminded me of Steel Ball Run

Oh god this page!

>>69033
Cute and creepily codependent!

>>69034
Pretty much par for the course with the Zeldycks brothers then.

>>69026
God, I seriously can't emphasize how much Hisoka makes any chapter ten times more exciting for me to read.

Damn Killua's going full yandere.

>>69266
Killua? He's probably the most sensible person in this entire situation now that Gotoh's exited the scene.

Oh, Hisoka. You so fly.

Man, 328 was fucking cool.

>>69268

>>69274

Killua is just murderously protective of whomever he loves. Considering his upbringing, that might be one of the only ways he understands to show his affection. I can understand that.

I find myself wondering, though. When did Killua ever get the time to learn how to fly a blimp?

>>69274
In comparison!

>>69274
It's kinda annoying to me that we've never heard of Alluka in the least bit even after all the time that we've spent with Killua. You'd think with how far he's going for her, that she'd be foreshadowed a bit more.

>>69283

Yes, well, HunterxHunter has never been that well-constructed a story.

>>69290

Yeah, it's not One Piece or anything like that... *rolls eyes*

>>69290
Yeah, I love it to pieces but I agree. Hellm even nen itself was just kinda stuck in there with no precedent.

>>69295

You are correct, One Piece is much better constructed. But more relevantly, HxH is just a bad story with some nifty actions scenes from time to time. It starts practically in media res in an obnoxious Test arc, and then immediately segues into an awful training/tournament arc. It's something like a hundred and some chapters in before it develops anything to maintain interest that isn't Hisoka. Supposedly main characters vanish for hundreds of chapters. And ten we have the ant arc, which started out with a ton of promise but turned into a horror show by the end...

Well yeah, I don't exactly read HxH for how well crafted it is, I read it because it's really experimental in both it's writing and art. Considering how bland and generic YYH is, it's quite the difference.

>>69283
All the care Killua had for Alluka was apparently suppressed by the same needle Illumi implanted on him that prevented him from facing stronger opponents. And Alluka was there in the Zoldyeck family photo.

Alluka's introduction might've been sudden in the story, but you can tell that it's something that Togashi had been planning from the start.

See the pattern:
>Illumi
>Milluki
>Killua
>Alluka
>Kalluto

>>69308
Fuck me, I never realized any of that.

Course, I still think Alluka could have been better built up to, but still, that's pretty intricate.

>Yes, well, HunterxHunter has never been that well-constructed a story.
>But more relevantly, HxH is just a bad story with some nifty actions scenes from time to time.
>Considering how bland and generic YYH is
>even nen itself was just kinda stuck in there with no precedent.

Am I on Bizarro-/jam/?

>>69313
>opinions aren't unanimous
Say it ain't so!

>>69308

I'm not saying that he didn't have it planned but the fact that suddenly Alluka is the most important thing to Killua when we hadn't even heard of him until a month or two ago means that he kind of botched it.

>>69298

Maybe I'm lacking perspective, since I just read it in one go last year, but it's always struck me as very standard shonen.

>>69314
I don't know, calling YYH bland & generic seems something a bit far-fetched to me. Especially since it's anything but (starting with the Sensui arc).

>>69315
>Maybe I'm lacking perspective, since I just read it in one go last year, but it's always struck me as very standard shonen.
Oh it very much is a standard shonen, but it's the way he plays with it that makes it different. For example, Gon isn't just the never give up shonen protag, he's a kid who's stubborn as fuck. It's little but it makes a difference. Or you have the big bads introduced, and yet the entire arc revolves around Killua and Gon running away from them rather than fighting. Hell Kurapica with his ability specifically designed to counter them only kills one of them.

The biggest difference though, is that everything is governed by some slightly anarchic set of rules, which makes things a little more interesting as they have to think outside the box. ie Nen, Hunter Exam, Greed Island, etc

On the art side it goes from bog standard post Dragon Ball shonen (Gon) to a more realisticly stylized (Leorio) in character design alone. The art style can shift from panel to panel, for example in Chimera Ant arc he would have panels talking about war and such where it looked more like a seinen than a shonen (with true black and white rather than greyscale), sometimes his panels look like they came out of a sketchbook, other times they look like crayon doodles on a napkin and sometimes he has those oddly detailed close ups of peoples faces like Illumi recently. One page that did that made me laugh because it was detailed creepy Palm next to moronic plain Sailor Moon lookalike Biske.

I'm not saying it all works, just that it's interesting how Togashi plays with it.

>>69319
My bad, Kurapica actually kills two, forgot about Pakunoda.

I'm not sure how to qualify the storyline of HxH next to other works, because it's not really all that similar. It takes a lot of chances that other manga simply don't, though I will say calling it a simple shounen series is totally unfair.

If you want to stick it in the same classification, though, I think it's the best shounen series in publication right now. For me, this has a lot to do with that (easily-learned Nen abilities aside) it always struck me as very REAL. Even though the world map is different and they have a different written language and all that, I always got the feeling that this stuff could be literally happening on our world. I don't get that feeling with other shounen series; those always seem more like a fantasy world, something that takes place on another version of Earth, one that is not necessarily ours.

I can't really define that feeling, either, but I do know that the new anime just hasn't been able to capture it at all. It just feels so shiny and cartoony in comparison to the gritty realism of the manga and original anime (which is kind of my opinion of ALL digitally-colored animation versus traditional, cel-shaded animation) so I'm constantly being reminded that I'm watching something fictional. Manga/first-anime HxH always had more of a documentary feel to it, for me. Like I said, it seems like it could have really happened in some very dark corner of the world right under our noses.

Also, I really like it that the protagonists AREN'T the top tier of power in their world, and for the most part, not even freaking close! You don't see that very often in shounen. It kind of makes sense (back to that realism aspect) that the little kids who are the new fish in the pond aren't going to magically gain superpowers that exceed those of their elders just because they happen to be the main characters.

It's kind of like how Naruto was in the very first arc, when he finally goes out on a real mission, fresh out of ninja-school, thinking he's pretty fly having just learned an awesome forbidden technique. Then he runs into Zabuza, a "real" ninja, and very quickly figures out that he isn't worth SHIT next to that and he's gonna die. Well, that's out the window because Naruto is now in the top tier, himself (after beating Pein) but even before then, he was never really in a "supporting" role. It was like Kishimoto had to come up with contrivances about how the jounin were always out on OTHER missions, which is why the weak-by-comparison main characters had to do very important things to keep in front-and-center where the action was.

Togashi never has to do that. The Chimera Ant arc was brilliant in its execution, seeing how Gon and Killua were there mostly as an advanced distraction/delay team so someone light-years above their power could take on the REAL main villian. Even when Gon got his super-powerup, it didn't go the typical shounen route of him using this new power for beating the main villian, either. He used it to pretty much pointless effect, seeing how the Rose's poison probably would have claimed Pitou, too (had he gone to Meryem's side with the others). That's something you just don't see happen very often, especially this late in a manga — by now, usually the main characters (youth or not) are going toe-to-toe with the biggest contenders of the world.

>>69325
>Chimera Ant arc was brilliant in its execution

Haha oh my god no. That was awful.

>>69326
Having done a recent reread, I thought that the Chimera arc wasn't really all that bad when read all in one go, and in many ways it was pretty great.
It was just horrible to read through with all the hiatuses.

Assuming it's not on hiatus anymore, can HunterxHunter replace Bleach in the big three nao? :[

>>69327

It wasn't awful all the way through, but it turned into a real clusterfuck towards the end.

I like the Chimera Ant Arc, but it had issues.

Hiatuses, the issue of Palm being absent and then suddenly relevant with no buildup, the excessive amount of time we had to spend listening to the fucking butterfly bodyguard's thoughts. Same goes for all the monologues from the god damn wolf chimera. Interesting characters definitely, I actually really liked the wolf one, but it got to the point where I didn't feel like I reading anything new.

Prior to the palace invasion it was kinda aimless, too. Boring for a bit, but it didn't last long.

Still, I think the primary reason most people don't like the Chimera Arc is because of all the hiatuses. I really don't feel like any of the flaws I listed really crippled the arc the way the hiatuses did.

>>69325
>If you want to stick it in the same classification, though, I think it's the best shounen series in publication right now. For me, this has a lot to do with that (easily-learned Nen abilities aside) it always struck me as very REAL. Even though the world map is different and they have a different written language and all that, I always got the feeling that this stuff could be literally happening on our world. I don't get that feeling with other shounen series; those always seem more like a fantasy world, something that takes place on another version of Earth, one that is not necessarily ours.

Do you have any idea how much I agree with everything in this statement?

I don't think any other series gives us as much depth to a world as Hunter x Hunter. This is probably a strange opinion, but one of my favorite arcs was the antique buying-selling portion of the manga. Barely related to anything else Gon had been doing and mostly useless knowledge for any future encounters, but the detail that Togashi puts into it and the scenarios he comes up with are simply flat-out fascinating. Even in something as ordinary (for a shonen) as antiquities, there is a surprising amount of depth to be found with stories to be told.

I don't think any other shonen manga could do that.

>>69328
The big 3 is just a popularity thing, where Bleach has faltered for years. Hell Toriko is far more popular these days. So yeah sure why not.

>>69325
>>69331
>I always got the feeling that this stuff could be literally happening on our world
I think this goes back to what I was saying about rules. And yet the world is still crazy and governed by people's whims. For example, we understand how important being a Hunter is because despite all the shit you have to go through to become one, the privileges make the risk worth the reward. Or with Nen, abilities might have a limit of some kind, but they are still worth having. Or to bring it full circle, Killua's family has a shitload of rules and yet Killua still finds a way to say fuck that.

In other shonen people are basically allowed to do what they want regardless of the consequences, whereas in HxH they have to convince them that it's for the best.

>>69325
>For me, this has a lot to do with that (easily-learned Nen abilities aside) it always struck me as very REAL. Even though the world map is different and they have a different written language and all that, I always got the feeling that this stuff could be literally happening on our world.

You are delusional, the HxH world is just as ridiculous as any other Shonen world. It's just ridiculous in the direction of cynicism instead of fantasy.

>>69329
>Ant arc is a clusterfuck
But it wasn't even all that confusing. Humanoid-ants discover how to use nen. They instinctively start building their colony. The entire situation could have been averted if the committee had just sent out an army of hunters to stop them, but only a handful of hunters got sent because Pariston is a dick and won't let the gang have backup, so Netero himself had to go fix everything.

Ant Arc was long, yeah, but the only clusterfuck in it was Gon making a restriction on himself to kill Pitou, and even that is actually in character for him because he's kind of simple minded and selfish.

>>69335

Clusterfucks need not be confusing. It just got really, really dumb and unsatisfying. Do I really have to remind you of the breastfeeding scene?

>>69336
>Ant Arc was dumb and unsatisfying
That's your opinion. I liked how Meruem died by bomb-poison instead of someone strong defeating him.

It just shows how even in a series where people can lift boulders or kill you with gum, normal humans can make the most dangerous shit of all.

>>69337

Here's a fact, though: Because of the bomb being a slow-acting poison, every single chapter from that point to the end of the arc was completely pointless. Totally a superfluous waste of time. This was, admittedly, exacerbated by the hiatuses, but even taken in one go...what was the point?

And it also highlights one of the weakest points about Togashi's worldbuilding, and his writing in general: There's a bomb, this world-defining bomb which killed a ridiculous amount of people, and the reader has never heard of it until Togashi pulls it out of his ass and sets it before us. It is weak as hell storytelling.

>>69339

To be clear: This is like creating a fictional world similar to a Cold War-era USA, and not mentioning the equivalent to the nuclear arms race. Or writing something similar to the Bush-era, and not mentioning the 9/11 equivalent.

>>69339
>Here's a fact
No that only an opinion

>>69339
I understand why you would find the bomb end anti-climatic, but I don't get why you think it's surprising for a secret bomb to exist in the series.

There's technology everywhere in the manga, it's not like the setting is some medieval time where cars, computers, or televisions didn't exist. It's just natural that weapons of mass destruction can also exist in the series.

>>69340
I feel like this goes back to my previous post about the antique shopping mini-arc.

I never would have guessed that there was anything like that in the HxH world, but it's not out of place(well, maybe in a contextual sense), in fact it makes a lot of sense. When I read HxH there's a lot content out there that I can't hope to imagine because it really is a world of its own.

How much do you know about horse-racing in real life? Very little, I bet, but you'd be surprised by the depth there. It's more than just breeding and whipping.

HxH reinforces its sense of realism by putting so much detail in the world beyond just the protagonists. Any sort of revelation you'd get in Naruto or One Piece or whatever, is always closely centered around the main characters and their adventures. But HxH makes it clear that the world does not revolve around Gon, it has its own affairs, events and story to tell. Because of this, I don't find it strange when something new is revealed (even if it is a last minute save like the bomb was). In fact, I feel it answers issues I would normally have had with other series namely: Where is the government when the villains are attacking? How is the world responding? Why don't they just nuke the villain? etc.

I've grown so used to not asking these questions by just thinking "well, it's about the characters adventures" or "it's just a story after all", but HxH isn't satisfied with that. It's not just Gon's adventures. It's Gon's journey through the world.

>>69347
This is actually the reason why I find it believable that Kurapika and Leorio would've been gone for so long in the manga.

There's just no way their own stories (Kurapika being in the underground Hunter world and Leorio in med school) could intersect with what Gon and Killua were doing at the time, so they were never forced in to participating in the Greed Island and Ant Arc because there wasn't any point in them being there. They had their own goals and own lives to focus on after all.

>Any sort of revelation you'd get in Naruto or Bleach or whatever, is always closely centered around the main characters and their adventures.

Fixed that for you.

>>69347
It's really more Killua's journey than Gon's at this point.

>>69342

It's not surprising that it exists, it's poor storytelling that something that world- and society-defining had never been mentioned before it was actually deployed.

>>69354
From what I remember, the rose bomb was never brought up in the series because it had been banned a long time ago, and only a few countries still know about it or use it. It's existence hardly makes any significance in the Hunter x Hunter world at the present because it doesn't get produced anymore, and was only brought up again to fight against Meruem. There's really no point in making a big deal out of it.

>>69355

It can't have been that long ago, look at this page of a Rose's detonation. Sure looks like the modern world to me.

The existence of something like that - even if its production is banned would have a massive distorting impact on politics, on how people relate to government institutions, on the general atmosphere of the world. Much like nuclear weapons had in real life! And let's not bullshit ourselves, the Rose is a very thinly-veiled nuke.

>>69354
It did feel like a Deus Ex Machina of sorts, but only the poisonous bomb. It could have been "just" a micronized atomic bomb, killing the King instantly, but it was necessary for the catharsis of Meruem & Komugi.

To everyone (well, at this point it might only be one person...) saying the Rose was pulled out of Togashi's ass, yeah it sort of was. But there's a good reason for that. Up until the Ant Arc, we've been looking at the HxH world though the very naive and limited vison of the four main characters, two of whom are extremely sheltered little boys who nver got out in the real world, and never attended any kind of traditional schooling. Where did YOU learn about politics and nuclear weaponry? Probably from school, right?

It wasn't until the Ant Arc that we even got to meet some of the higher-ups in the Hunter Association, the kind of mature ADULT (keep in mind, Kurapica and Leorio are also no older than 20) people who would actually know about this kind of stuff and have been around for a while dealing with it. If you look at it that way, this arc sort of represents the loss of innocence for both Gon and Killua. They leave behind the happy child-like world where everything is happy and fun, and even your greatest enemy (Hisoka) really doesn't even want to kill you (at least not yet). Then all of a sudden they're thrust into a very adult world, where the fate of humankind hangs in the balance of a single battle, where there is a very real possibility that they might die. Is it so much of a surprise that Killua had that complete breakdown in front of Palm? Is it any wonder that Gon flew completely off the rails when his entire PURPOSE for going there (Kaito; don't pretend like he gave a crap about saving the world or defeating Pitou or any of those adult matters) was failed utterly?

I suppose this brings us to whatever hole Alluka crawled out of. Suddenly, Killua realizes that the world is a very bad place, and people he cares about might die, and the idea is intolerable. For the first time, he knows what it means to love someone. So he decides he's going to go back and save his little sister, because he's grown up a little and now wants to protect his loved ones.

Gon is still out of it... but I am really looking forward to seeing how he is going to mature following this experience, too.

There's more of that realism, too. We can expect the characters to grow and mature naturally, and without the magical crutch of a timeskip.

>>69372
>Where did YOU learn about politics and nuclear weaponry? Probably from school, right?

No, actually, I learned about them by living in the world. These are things that work their way into the culture so throughly that you can't live in it and not know about it. Because they're formative. Because they were badly disruptive to the national psyche. Not even alluding to them is shitgodawful storytelling and your excusemaking doesn't change that.

>>69374

You learned about nuclear weaponry in the "real world"? Christ! Unless you're an old, old man who was a teenager in the 60's and could actually comprehend what was going on when they did nuke drills in school you're full or more shit than a sewer (and if you are that old, why the hell are you reading shounen manga anyway??). Anyway, that was a very special case, as since then there hasn't been an active threat of nuclear war so, surprise surprise, most little kids don't even know nukes exist. Most little kids don't even know WAR exists, unless they live in a country where it comes to their doorstep. They learn about it from a book or a documentary because it's HISTORY.

>>69375

What fucking universe do you live in? War isn't history, the United States has been embroiled in a war for more than ten years without rest. Kids aren't stupid, they know about that shit, especially by the time they're twelve years old what the fuck.

http://mangastream.com/read/hunter_x_hunter/36556959/1

>>69372
>>69375
I was gonna post a big long argument against all of this, but instead just some small things. Killua was never, ever an innocent that didn't realize people could die (he's a fucking trained assassin who's been dealing with his relationships with his family from the very beginning.) Even normal seventh graders know what WAR and NUKES are. And the Phantom Troupe arc just utterly wrecks about 99% of your argument.

>>69592

There's a big difference between "people can die" and "people I know and love can die". Even adults struggle with that difference. It's the difference between hearing about terrorists on TV and having it not affect your life at all, and having someone you know be one of the casualties. A person dying is just a meaningless statistic unless it directly affects you, unless there is suddenly some void in your life.

In any case, Killua has never really loved anyone before the series started. Even if he cared about his father, he probably believed "nobody on Earth could ever kill him", which is what a normal child would believe of their parents, even if they were NOT super-powered expert assassins.

I don't understand what you said about the Ryodan, either. Saying (insert vague concept here) destroys my argument completely without clarifying is... rather pointless.

>>69597
The Phantom Troupe arc goes over all the themes you say supposedly don't exist until the Chimera Ant Arc. Knowing that there are things that can and WILL kill you or the people you want to protect? Nobunaga. The story conforming to Gon and Killua's viewpoints on the world? Kurapika's got more screen time than them, and a lot of the story doesn't even have him involved. No adults involved? The mafia, the businessmen, the bodyguards, even down to Gon and Killua's new friend... there's tons of adults in the story already, not that Kurapica or Leorio are exactly innocents in the first place. And hell, that story had dozens of opportunities to make a mention of it! We have the biggest black market auction in the world. We have talks of world powers struggling against each other. We have an entire hazardous city that's been ignored and LOOKS like it was nuked.

Yeah, Gon gets hit harder than ever before when Kite dies. He loses his innocence in the Chimera Ant Arc: but Hunter x Hunter as a story was never innocent, and neither was Killua.

>>69604

Whatever. You know what? I don't care anymore. I concede the argument. You win; in fact you were correct the entire time.

There. Don't you just feel so much better about yourself now? Are you going to go prancing around the room cheering at yourself for having won an internet argument? My God, your rhetoric must have been SO FUCKING GOOD that your opponant actually gave up instead of offering a wimpy counter-argument. You're like the superstar of debate, man, and I salute you.

Just as an aside, though, Ryuusei wasn't nuked, it's just a gigantic junkyard.

Now can we talk about something different instead of ancient history and your opinion on why the series sucks because Togashi pulls plot points out of his ass (and pretending as if nobody else ever does). Like, I dunno: Tsubone is a Transformer. WTF is up with that?!

>>69613
Don't be a petulant child, just because the Black Rose was pulled (almost literally) out of Netero's ass doesn't mean the thing sucks. It's not like Hunter x Hunter has done something dumb before, and allowing Meryum to die playing Go was almost worth the decision. It's just not some beautiful metaphor for becoming an adult, or a sudden change in tone, so don't disservice the series by presenting it as such.

Hisoka is still being just the best, but goddamn Illumi is creepy. I actually really like the politics in this arc, at least since Leorio joined. All the top 16 are hilarious, and Pariston is one of the best villains to have never actually shown any evil or remotely negative traits.

>>69613
Candlejack don't be a bitch

>>69614
Not like Hunter x Hunter hasn't done dumb things before, I'm retarded.

>>69614

Can you really call Pariston a villian if he hasn't done anything evil yet? I mean, the only reason he could even be considered an antagonist is because he's a candidate running opposite of Leorio (and to a lesser degree, Ging). Do we even know what this guy is going to do if (more like when) he wins? Why does it have to be bad?

>>69619
That's the best part! We can't, really. We're told Pariston is bad by the characters, most of which are either new or untrustworthy. The story is mostly framed as if Pariston winning the election is a loss for the forces of good and the Hunters Association, with good and neutral characters actively making sure it doesn't happen, while hating Pariston. And hey, something DOES feel off about him... but this entire time, he's done absolutely nothing wrong, and he's never dropped his smile (even when alone!) He's genuinely friendly, smart, and accommodating... but EVERYONE (even Netero!) hates him, and the disappearing hunters make him very suspicious. Is he a bad guy? And WHY would he be a bad guy? We just have to wait and find out!

>>69621

Something feels off because he's a "perfect", extremely popular and charismatic polititian. Most people are extremely distrustful of polititians in real life, which probably has something to do with it. We assume he has some kind of hidden agenda, and given the track record of those sorts of folks, it's probably self-serving and to the detriment of everyone else.

On top of this is the fact that we have no idea what the Hunter's Association even DOES. This leads to the belief that any change (especially making it a beaurecratic mess) would be bad, because the best leaders are the invisible ones.

Wouldn't it be funny if he turned out to be just really cool or something? Wins the election and then turns over his power to a committee or something because he doesn't want the chance that he might abuse his power.

Of course, then he could control the committee from the shadows, and nobody would be the wiser! Hehe.

They can't show a heart beating in someone's hand because it's too graphic and violent for a kid's show, but they can show monkey wang??

I don't understand Japanese censorship AT ALL.

>>69650
You can show monkey wang on American television uncensored, too. Reason being: monkeys rarely wear pants. And when they do, it's adorable.

>>69651

My point was that you can't censor the penis on a real monkey, but censoring it from a drawn monkey is simple... just don't draw it in the first place.

I mean, have you ever seen an anatomically-correct animal drawn anywhere else? Scooby Doo sure ain't got not dick or balls! If I remember correctly, they didn't even bother drawing the monkey this way in the old anime, and back then nobody cared at all even if it was a little boy's dick (like with Goku).

>>69650
Nudity and violence are two totally different things. Not hard to understand at all.

Okay, it's try-to-explain-the-plothole time. It's a game anyone can play. Please abstain from just saying "Oh, Togashi is a horrible writer," or whatever else. That's no fun.

When Killua returned home after the Hunter Exam, he opened the giant door (I forget how many sets of the doors, I think it was three) which had a total weight of something like eight tons. So he has ridiculous unnatural strength even before any Nen training, yeah yeah.

How come, then, it took him (and Gon/Leorio/Kurapica/Tonpa) nearly an hour to hack through the wall between the two paths at the bottom of Trick Tower, using axes? With that kind of force (hundreds of pounds per square inch on his hands) Killua should be able to simply PUSH through the wall like a normal person would push their hand through a block of jello. To say nothing of if he would punch or kick at it...

So, why did he not do that? Was he hiding his full strength for some reason?

>>69682
IIRC, using the manga and not the anime, which I haven't seen, he kinda was hiding his strength just for shitting around reasons. He joined the hunter exam on a whim, he didn't tell any of his team that he was capable of ripping dudes' hearts out until he went ripped that dude's heart out, etc. If he hadn't met Gon and decided to stick with him because they were the same age, who knows what he would have gotten up to.

I think he originally stuck to the team because they were interesting and he was having fun, not because he was out to win. So when it came to the wall it could be that he just went the interesting and fun way, not the hax way.

>>69682
Why did it take Killua and Gon days to dig their way to Masadora with Nen-enhanced shovels if they're so strong?

>>69700
Nen-reinforced rocks.

lolnenexplainseverything

>>69700
There's a lot in Greed Island that didn't seem to make much sense, and I'm not sure if it'll ever be explained. Who was MAKING those cards? What were the data girls analyzing if it wasn't a video game? How was Ging involved?

>>69705

I'd think it was Ging and his buddies that literally created the cards. Using one guy's ability for materlialization to create the cards, and then infusing them with someone else's ability for manipulation to have them do stuff. Other types of nen would be needed for other effects. I'm sure they had to put in some ungodly amount of reinforcement nen in Archangel's Breath considering it was capable of healing absolutely any disease/injury, for example.

Just goes to show you what kind of WTFHAX things you can create if you fuse together the nen of eleven high-level hunters. (Well, maybe nine if you consider those two girls didn't do much but act as gatekeepers).

Either way, it's pretty easy to say everything on Greed Island just didn't follow the normal rules of reality because it was a nen-created video game.

>>69712
I'm pretty sure the two girls weren't only gatekeepers, just as Laser wasn't only a GM.

Goddamnit Hisoka why do you always have to be the worst.

>>69864
Because that's what makes him the best.

>>69864
Suddenly, I understand why during the first few arcs, Hisoka is constantly attacked by people who have some sort of grudge against him. The guy with the spinning knives, the body-double guy at the Tower, etc.

I thought that it was just a sort of whimsical sadism, but I guess I didn't give Hisoka enough credit. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it.

Hi, does anyone here have a more extensive list of the character's real names?

So far all I know is:
Kurapika - Curarpikt
Hisoka - Hyskoa
Quoll/Kuroro Lucifer - Quwrof Wrlccywrlir (seriously, what the fuck)
Ubogin - Wbererguin
Shizuku - Chzzok
Pakunoda - Phalcnothdk

>>69961

You're shitting me with these, right?

>>69968
These are very much real. ESPECIALLY Chrollo's real name.

HxH is another dimension with different cultures and a different language. So their real names would be totally different. Scanlators follow the phonetics instead to make it easier.

>>69968
No. Some mangakas attempts at romanizations are terrible. Togashi's romanizations are so terrible they become a thing of beauty.

>>69968

Those are the (possibly troll-intentioned) names Togashi put in the official databooks, but absolutely nobody takes them seriously.

As someone mentioned a while back, there isn't even a concensus on how to spell "Zoldyck" though, knowing Togashi, it's probably something like "Sultdoaeyyg" (Salty Egg?). Most people tend to stick with what's in the Viz translations, anyway. Personally, I try not to make my head explode over stuff like "Freaks"/"Freecs", especially when Leorio's last name is apparantly "Paladiknight"... It doesn't really matter.

>>69961
Taken from the official data book:

Main Characters:
Gon Freecs
Killua Zaoldyeck
Leorio
Kurapika - Curarpikt

Genei Ryodan:
Chrollo Lucifer - Quwrof Wrlccywrlir (I have no idea how this even works)
Ubogin - Wbererguin
Shizuku - Chzzok
Pakunoda - Phalcnothdk
Nobunaga - Nobunaga
Machi - Matiy
Shalnark - Syarnorkl
Phinks - Phynkss
Feitan - Heytun
Franklin - Fulunki
Kortopi - Colhtophy
Bonolenov - Vonnornoth
(former member) Hisoka - Hyskoa

Zaoldyeck Family:
Silva - Sillva
Kikyo - Kkkyau
Zeno - Zeno
Illumi - Yellmi
Maha - Mahha
Milluki - Myllki
Kalluto - Calltt

>>68203
Yeah, that.

>>70740

Months later he finally gives us a reason to give a fuck, and it's more ants. Great.

I gotta say, I'm really looking forward to more explanation into Alluka and Nanika. The "someplace else entirely" and "something that came from a different place" make it sound all Lovecraftian and horrory.

Oh Leorio you so funny

>>70909
>"...Forget about the jacking off part."
I was dying. And he DOESN'T EVEN REALIZE that he's basically won the presidency. (Though we'll see what Pariston does)

>>70947

If Ging's right about Pariston's personality, he'll probably let Leorio take it now that his little game is spoiled.

JESUS. FUCKING. CHRIST.

>>71037
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

>>71037

There was a small (almost unnoticible) panel where Killua was taking away Gon after the fight with Pitou, where you could see that Gon had already shrunk back down to child-size. I just had a thought. What if the power of the condition actually continued to age Gon way past his adult form, until he started to shrink (like old people tend to do in manga/anime) like Maha Zoldyck, only he kept going and going until he became essentially a rotting, two-hundred-year old man? As much as the thought of cute little Gon becoming THAT makes me sick to my stomach, all the same I wish Togashi had actually drawn it instead of just having it all covered in bandages...

Also, whatever Nanika just did pretty much just got the attention of every decent nen user on the continent~

Most pressing question I have of Pariston right now: How in the the fuck did he know?

Also, what exactly is Cheadle? She's somehow part dog, yet not a chimera ant?

>>71047
He looked at Gin's sigh of relief and just guessed what that power was doing.

>>71047
It's something that the members of of the Zodiac 12 do. Each of them were given a code name by the former chairman Netero. Because they had a deep respect for him they modeled their own appearances after their namesakes. The only exceptions to this rule were Ging (Codename: the boar) and Pariston (Codename: the rat)

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck dat cliffhanger!

oh shit Pariston
Oh shit Gon
Oh SHIT GING

This is unbelievably stupid.

If Pariston actually wins with a bullshit ramshackle plan like that, I'm going to be supremely pissed. What the fuck was he planning to do if Gon didn't get healed for like a year? Or if he was healed and DIDN'T run right to the election hall to share the good news? What the fuck even made him think Gon, a no-name hunter who barely any ofthem know, was going to become some big election issue? Complete and utter horse shit.

I'm terribly disappointed at how Gon is so... normal. I expected him to be at least bedridden for a while or maybe not get his arm back, or at least be really fucked in the head. Perhaps he lost his memory, going back possibly before the ant arc; that would be a decent equivilent exchange and explain why he's not depressed. ...and where is Killua??

(Alternate sad ending: Alluka failed and Gon died. That's just his corpse being controlled by the Illumi for some evil purpose. Killua committed suicide. End of manga.)

>>71377
When it comes to wishes, equivalent exchange can go fuck itself. This was proven to be double true with Alluka's healing.

>>71337
He wasn't planning on doing anything. If he lost, he lost. He wasn't thinking about winning. It pissed Cheadle off that his plan was so damn flawed, and it worked.

>>71377
Gon was already kind of fucked in the head, though. It's been brought up before.

>>71384

That, too, is complete horseshit. He went to ridiculous lengths to win this.

>>71387
???

Like what?

All he really did was talk. He didn't go that far at any point in his plans. The final move of his plan was just to stall Leorio for the slight chance that Gon would arrive. He lucked out ridiculously. Acting like he knew it was gonna happen all along is just how he pisses off Cheadle (and 90% of the readers).

>>71390
Well, all his previous stalling and mischief was basically to the same purpose. He drew the election out as long as possible so that Gon could be healed before Leorio was voted in, but even he didn't know WHEN it would happen. That last ditch speech was literally Pariston's last resort, and he knew it. He knows this was an incredibly lucky win, and so does Cheadle, but with his casual demeanor it makes him seem like he knew his gambit would pay off all along.

I do find it funny that he thought Ging would win, when the guy didn't even make it into the top 15.

>>71398

I saw it that he was thinking Ging would use Gon's state in exactly the same way as Leorio did. The candidate did end up changing (possibly Ging attempting to give Pariston a bit more to think about since he doesn't know Leorio very well) but their "platform" remained exactly the same as he predicted it would be. Therefore, all those votes that went to Leorio would have gone to Ging if Leorio hadn't been there.

>>71406
Yeah, I suppose so. Ging wouldn't likely bring that up himself at all though, which is another flaw in Pariston's plan. If what he says about his actions in this chapter are at all true, Pariston's plan was failing until the very last second. He got lucky and he knew it.

>>71408

I think it was mentioned at least once in the series that "luck" is a part of a person's individual strength (somehow). Perhaps it's within Pariston's nen ability to play the laws of probability like a fiddle? It would certainly fit if he's in Manipulation like many people believe. Something like a condition that "if I make a plan — so long as it is theretically possible — it will happen even if it's very unlikely". Considering that Alluka can do basically anything in the realm of logic and nen (Kurapika could heal himself from serious injury using high-level Reinforcement back in the Yorkshin arc) it makes sense that other elements of the fabric of reality could be so easily manipulated.

>Gon and Ging finally meet with emotions and shit
>The art becomes Greed Island-level inked sketches

Le sigh.

>Pariston winning.
>And then stepping down.
You crazy bastard. You crazy magnificent bastard.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Pariston was Hisoka. Because GODDAMN that was a lot of effort for essentially nothing but trolling. Also, I know it's a big emotional moment, but "because of me Kite was turned into a little girl" is the absolute silliest mournful declaration I've ever heard.

>>71608

Yeah what the hell was that all about? When was Kaito a little girl?

>>71610
Kite died during the Chimera Ant arc, but then was reborn as the "new queen" raised by Colt.

>>71616

Oh, right.

...how would Gon even know about that?

>>71618
To my knowledge, only Morau and Novu would know about that.

>>71604
That was. . .interesting?

I get the feeling it was partly the subject matter.

>>71622

I guess Morau could have told him? Seems like an odd thing to mention to a kid who just emerged from a coma five minutes ago, though.

Pariston

you

are

a

fucker





seriously.

That said, awww this bit. You hunter folks are good people.

Also, what was the terrible thing Gon said to Killua?

Me too, rabbit person whose name I forgot

Me too.....

[spoiler]no actually i liked this chapter, it was interesting and it got me excited for the ~future~[/spolier]

We need a Pariston/Hisoka team up as soon as possible.

Just want to mention that I STILL think the Zodiac character design is some of the dumbest shit ever.

I do like the idea of a whole room full of people yelling at Ging to be a better father, though. Most unreasonable jerk ever.

>>71675

I thought so at first, but I've getting used to the ones who have had some character development, namely Pariston and Cheadle (and a little bit of Mizaistom). The others are just their bizzare character designs and a tiny bit of description.

>Killua can just order her about
Well that's boring, makes all that hubbub about the consequences of the wishes pointless and trite.

That said it was a nice scene between the two (or three I suppose) characters

Pffffffhahaha

>>71865
I think it was nice. Everyone was freaking out about wishes and stuffs like that and is just what her love brother tell her to do

Alluka isn't too much of a Deus ex Machina because there is, in fact, only one person in the world who can give her "orders" without having the drawbacks of the wishes. However, given that that one person is one of the main characters (and not like, Milluki or one of the butlers) kinda makes it so it is...

I still think she's going to die; probably Hisoka will do it. This is Togashi we're talking about. The term "happy ending" isn't in his vocabulary. In fact, just to be a double-troll, he'll probably announce a new hiatus as soon as it happens.

So we're back to this again... *sigh*

I couldn't be bothered actually reading this chapter. The sudden shift to whogivesafuck and the napkin doodle art killed all interest beyond skimming through it to see it was about Kaito but really nothing important anyway.

>>72165
I haven't followed this in a long damn time, what the hell is up with that art?

>>72165
The chapter was actually pretty solid, horrible translation aside.
>>72166
Togashi has some kind of chronic mystery illness, which remains unknown to this point. But it's been the reason for month-long hiatuses for years on end and sloppy unfinished art, due to his illness apparently preventing him from finishing anything but the rough draft. Some people suspect cancer, but he's alive and kicking after years of this, so who knows.

>>72167

He always cleans them up for the volume releases, though. It's really quite an amazing difference to see some of the Chimera Ant arc in both versions... It's like a completely different feeling the second time around, almost like the feeling between reading a manga and watching the anime adaptation.

As for the "chronic illness", most people agree that it's a disease called "Addiction to Dragon Quest".

>>72161
Goddamnit Togashi just use your wife's endless Sailor Moon cash to hire an assistant to ink for you.

>>72175

I'm pretty sure they're separated, bro.

>>72177
>citation needed

So...how exactly does Kaito's "Like Hell I'm gonna die" ability factor into all this? I don't think it is responsible for Kaito remembering who he was before being killed. We've already seen that all of the human based hybrids retained varying amounts of their memories from before their transformation. And if it was related to his "number slot" ability he would have had to disengage his club (slot 4 I think) before getting a chance to use that one. I was under the impression that Pitou killed him rather quickly.

>>72167
The illness is hay-fever. So basically he's just a lazy bastard.

>>72175
His wife WAS an assistant for a while. I don't know why she stopped, although I have to admit the series looks better with the more simplified look.

>let's go looking for HxH fanart!
>porn of 12 year olds
>more porn of 12 year olds
>oh god so much porn of 12 year olds

fujoshi

why

I mean, Prince of Tennis, sure, okay, I can buy that, none of them actually look believably 12-14. But Gon and Killua do look 12. If you're going to make porn of them can't you at least age them up like other fandoms do?

>>72297
Because of shotacons.

>>72297
Considering how fucked up the series can be, it's not much of a surprise that the fandom is very loose in the moral aspect. Gon not being innocent probably didn't help.

>2012
>whining about shota

>>72302
Why did you even make that post?

>>72303
Why does anyone make any post?

>>72297

You know, compared to some other fandoms, there's actually not much shota of HxH. Also, most of the doujins are Gon/Hisoka... which is just terrible and I don't like it. I was expecting a load more new stuff since the new anime started (since they stepped up the Moe-factor on Gon and Killua considerably compared to the old anime) but so far very little. I am disappoint.

>>72305
Maybe we're looking in different places? I went through the recent stuff on the pixiv tag and it just kept on popping up.

>>72307
Though now that I think of it, the recent occurrence of Valentine's day probably flooded it somewhat.

>>72307

I've never been on pixiv, so that probably has something to do with it. Here's a nice thread with tons of (clean) fanart: http://www.narutoforums.com/showthread.php?t=601877

The rest of the subforum is a nice discussion place for HxH in general, also.

OK that outside world reveal was badass

http://www.mangareader.net/hunter-x-hunter/338

Woah! A lot of things just happened.

Thoughts:

Though I'm sad to see Killua go, because he's one of my faves, I can see why it's necessary as of now. He's not going to leave Alluka, and as long as he's with her any challenge that can be thrown at them is instantly solved. Also, not hanging out with Gon doesn't mean complete exclusion from the story - just look at Kurapika.

I actually liked how casual their goodbyes were. They both know they'll be back.

For all that the outside world reveal is enough plot fodder for the rest of the series, I wonder if we're going to get an internet-focused arc at some point. Yeah, Greed Island already kinda went there, but we've got enough of an online hunter community to get a completely apathetic Ickshonpay into the running, and Gin himself is revealing to be quite the netizen.

Is the outside world completely a world of beasts? The ant queen came from the outside world, and she didn't know what nen was, right? (Well, beyond that is was delicious)

I seem to remember HxH having satellite tech. How would they not know how large the world is? Or am I misunderstanding the meaning here?

>>72358
They know how large the world is. They've created a false atlas to hide its size.

From what I could glean, apparently most adults do know of the outside world, but keep its existence from their children, presumably until they're ready for the news.

>>72359

>From what I could glean, apparently most adults do know of the outside world, but keep its existence from their children, presumably until they're ready for the news.

Thaaaaaaat's retarded.

>>72354
Chimera Ants aren't supposed to be thinking humanoid beings in the first place.

>>72361
I got the impression that only a select minority knew the actual truth about the world. It makes sense that someone working in a government funded NASA program would be informed that their planet was 100x what they saw on the map. But the average parent would still be under the illusion that their planet was only so big. Even if we assume that the entire Hunters Association is in on this conspiracy that constitutes only 500+ people if memory serves. Compared to the "world" population that's a really small number.

>>72370

What's the point of keeping it a secret, though? I mean, who benefits?

>>72372

It's for their own safety, presumably. Nobody should go to the "outside" because it's apparantly filled with all manner of terrible creatures that will easily kill weak, nen-less humans just like the Chimera Ants could. Humans are thrill-seekers, though, and if you don't keep it a secret that "Hey, there's a whole other half of the world filled with monsters right across the sea!" a bunch of people will happily go off to their deaths.

Also, there's the matter of keeping the secret once it's been made. A population would become very distrusting of it's government if they found out it was hiding the truth like this, enough so it might cause a revolution. The big wigs are acting in their own interest, also, by keeping the wool over everyone's eyes.

Honestly last week I was considering dropping the manga, didn't seem to have much left in it for me and the whole Alluka nonsense was/is bugging me. But this week's reveal changed my mind completely. Also is that the Godhand I see in the distance or just another World Tree

>>72374

Well let's not forget that the Chimera ants were only really dangerous as a result of the freak occurrence of eating a Nen user and so absorbing their abilities.

>>72383

They were still already 5-6 feet tall and had superhuman strength and claws, plus the ability to incorperate traits of consumed animals. Even considering they didn't eat humans at all (and instead maybe lions or bears or whichever HxH brand of magical-beast) they would gain strength and bodily weapons well in excess of the average human's ability to take care of. They wouldn't be able to threaten, say, a military with firearms the way the nen-infused ones were, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be dangerous at all.

However, seeing how the Queen Chimera Ant was essentially humanoid and certainly had mammal-like traits (such as having a live birth rather than laying eggs) as well as obviously being intelligent/sentient, it seems probable that a previous generation had already consumed humans who had been in the Outside World.


In fact, that might be another reason the Association (or whoever else) wanted people to stay out of there. The fact that there was a species that could gain attributes from its prey, sneaking around out there; should it consume a human and gain sentience, it would be a major threat to humanity simply by being BETTER in every conceivable evolutionary sense. They might have been attempting to prevent that from happening (possibly as a result of Ging and his buddies — wouldn't that be ironic? "Sorry, Gon. It's all my fault this Ant thing got started when one of my friends got eaten...") or else prevent it from getting any worse. I think the Queen's arrival had something to do with human contact, from the beginning. Perhaps she had been captured by scientists who wanted to dissect her, and was being transported secretly by ship to the human world, when she escaped and dove overboard. Perhaps she was an experiment in genetic engineering and was deliberately released (possibly by Pariston).

But I get the impression that the border between the human world and the Outside World is a vast, violent sea with windstorms that make air travel impossible. This makes it very unusual for a denizen of one world to end up at the next; and I especially don't think the Queen could have made the entire trip all on her own. Somehow, it almost feels like the ENTIRE Ant arc was an introduction of sorts to the kind of insane creatures that are in the Outside, and possibly — if my predictions are correct — a cautionary tale of what might happen if humans go there and act carelessly.

Still, I do think it's almost a cop-out, considering just about ANY supernatural phenomena can now be attributed to the Outside World. Hisoka is weird because he's from there. Ging is weird because he's from there. Nen came from there. Nanika, a demon that possessed Alluka, came from there. Of course, the magical beasts we've seen obviously came from there. It almost gives him free liscense to write whatever thinkable, and I always thought that the best part of HxH was it's strict limitations and rules about how the world works. I don't want to see that totally broken.

Chimera Ants were kept in quarantine, and the Ant Queen was a HUGE aberration in that she'd clearly eaten a human. That is not normally supposed to happen, they stated so.

Also HxH is all about revealing new things that might as well have been utterly impossibly under old rules: a large part of HxH isn't that there are strict limitations on how fantasy has to act, but rather how these big concepts and fantastical things can interact with the real world and ITS limitations and rules. Greed Island had a ton of rules, but everything about it is impossible. Nen had no indication of existing before the heroes started learning it. With Nanika we STILL have no idea what the hell it's supposed to be.

There's no indication hat the Outside World is going to explain everything. Hisoka is weird because he's a crazy bastard, which is nothing that unusual in Hunter x Hunter. Ging is weird because he's Ging. Nen is just nen, there's nothing saying the Outside World is supposed to be the source of all things fantastical. Why would you even assume that?

>>72388
The chimera ants could also indicate that the outer world is inhabited by creatures that are fully sentient without the need to assimilate new traits.There could be creatures that are masters of the outer world in the same sense that humans are the masters of our own. These creatures might also view humanity as just another thing to be dominated and come after us in full force should we make ourselves known.

So the people that originally explored the outer world realized that humanity as a whole was no match for the hostile conditions of the outer world and decided to retreat back to the safety of their safe world and make sure that no one else could compromise the safety of humanity.

>>72388
You're jumping the gun here a bit, it's possible that he uses it as an excuse of sorts (narratively it fits with Nanika) but that doesn't mean every single thing ties back to being from outside.

I could definitely see Kuroro's journey leading him there though.

Did I imagine it, or has it been brought up before that there's a race of demon people living off the map, too?

Who the hell is this guy

>>72632

Apparently it's supposed to be Kurapika but it doesn't look a single thing like him and there's really no reason for him top be looking so moody at this point so who the fuck knows

>>72633
I recognized him right away.

>>72632
Why is his hand and/or ass going bbb?

>>72633
He's been collecting eyes. Can't blame the guy for being a bit down while looking at the eyes of all his dead loved ones.

>>72636
That's his phone on silent because he won't fucking answer his calls

>>72639
By the looks of it he has been able to recover 5 pairs. Did Togashi ever give us an official head cound of Kurapika's clan?

>>72651

It would have to be quite a few. Just Kurapica's own family would be a half-dozen or so. In order to even qualify as a "clan" (especially if they only mated inside the clan), there would probably need to be at least ten families. Then again, their eyes are supposed to be a rare collecter's item, so not THAT many.

(To note is the fact that the eyes only turn red when the person becomes very upset. If any of them were killed by the Ryodan quickly, like perhaps the children, their eyes would not have changed. Perhaps most of them died without having their eyes taken?)

So somewhere around 100 I'd say. Perhaps there are only a dozen pairs of eyes scattered about, however.

(Sorry for the double-post.) While re-reading the manga, I found this page:

So, there are 36 pairs, for a total of 72 eyes, in total.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/2012-03-14/hunter-x-hunter-manga-longest-uninterrupted-run-to-end
Fucking Togashit

>>72844
>MFW hiatus

http://www.mangareader.net/207/hunter-x-hunter.html
So last chapter, some interesting developments. A bit too much coincidence for me but I like the end result

>>72892
Netero knew this shit was going to happen.

Togashi this is the most interesting page you've drawn in years, how dare you drop out now?

That said I still think the "outside world" concept is kind of fucking ridiculous.

>>72844
Goddamnit Togashi you're lucky that we love you so much.

>>72917
What the fuck, that big shiny thing at the back is a character?

Okay, I pretty much pride myself at knowing everything there is to know about HunterXHunter... but this one has got me scratching my head.

This is a screenshot from early in the latest episode (23) showing sillhouettes of the Zoldyck family. I labled everyone for convenience, but what I want to know is: who the heck is the guy(?) indicated by the question marks?

The only one I can reach for is Zeno's father (Maha is his grandfather) who was only vaguely referenced once during the ant arc. But his hairstyle didn't look like that. So... am I missing someone? Or is this some kind of stealth-reference by Togashi, for a character that has yet to make an appearance in the manga? I wouldn't put it past them. They've already put in sillhouettes of hunters who won't show up for a very long time (Knuckle and Morel), after all.

>>72986

(forgot the pic ><)

>>72987
Just by how the sillhouette looks I'm guessing it's the grandmother, but I don't think we've seen her before.