Hunter x Hunter 2011

[oyabun]

But he had to maintain an army of puppets for a couple of days, not to mention running around town all the time. His job became even more difficult when the megane guy chickened out. I'm sure he is tired.

[Buffalobiian]

Pssh, we saw both of his fights. One lasted like 10 minutes and the other one he slept through.

edit: ^ what he said.

Except he never really slept during Cheetuh's match (actually sleeping would be stupid, and Morel isn't stupid).

I thought he was referring to his lack of sleep. He's been maintaining his puppets the entire time.

[Kraco]

Talking about continuous efforts, luckily for Gon and Killua Pitou has been going through the same without rest as well. Not fighting, but she (yeah, I paid real attention to her body for the first time, and I'll call Pitou she from now on) has been maintaining an army of puppets plus monitoring the palace surroundings with nen practically nonstop. To that must also be added healing the king's arm, which probably wasn't a breeze either, since repairing is always much harder than destroying. Thus logic dictates Gon & Killua won't be fighting Pitou at her best state.

[DarthEnderX]

Assuming that she has any of a normal humans limitations on rest and stamina and whatnot given that she's not human.

[MFauli]

Kraco, what convinced you that Pitou was female? Let me guess ... her tits?

[shinta|hikari]

That, and her body shape, face, voice, and overall demeanor.

[DarthEnderX]

Kraco, what convinced you that Pitou was female?His uncontrollable erection.

At least, he HOPES that means Pitou is female.

[Kraco]

His uncontrollable erection.

At least, he HOPES that means Pitou is female.

Sorry, but those exoskeleton joints would remove all chances of that happening. Which is also why I hadn't paid any more than cursory attention to her body shape until now, after the discussion here.

[DarthEnderX]

Yeah, crazy chitinous legs is a pretty specific fetish I suppose.

Still...I've known some pretty hot harpies and succubi, so weird legs isn't necessarily a deal breaker.

[shinta|hikari]

His uncontrollable erection.

At least, he HOPES that means Pitou is female.

Guilty as charged.

[enkoujin]

I assume all of Togashi's gender-ambiguous characters are men. Don't want to repeat the same mistake I had with Kurapika back in the 1999 version...

[Buffalobiian]

I assume all of Togashi's gender-ambiguous characters are men. Don't want to repeat the same mistake I had with Kurapika back in the 1999 version...

Hotel-uniform Kurapika is probably the hottest character in HxH.

[MFauli]

btw shinta, i see youre in charge of making those hot signatures? could you make me one featuring pitou? id gladly change my sig then. though i dont have any sexy source material, the fanart-community sucks in terms of HXH :(

[shinta|hikari]

I'll try if I get some free time and a good picture. There should be some porn for her somewhere.

[MFauli]

awesome, thx. looking forward to it :>

[MFauli]

ugh, sorta filler episode >_<

guess we´ll have to wait one more week for the infiltration to begin. ugh

[DarthEnderX]

So boring! Like all of a sudden I'm supposed to give a shit about this wolf ant!

[Buffalobiian]

Hah, Palm will never be as they imagined, fish scales and everything...

As for the preview, I'm guessing the chairman was training with Killua's grandpa? It would seem strange for the gramps to take on an assassination job when he knows it ain't worth the money.

[DarthEnderX]

It would seem strange for the gramps to take on an assassination job when he knows it ain't worth the money.How do you know what the Hunter's Association is paying?

[Buffalobiian]

How do you know what the Hunter's Association is paying?

You're right. I don't. I assumed that whatever they could pay wouldn't match the death probability of going against the chairman.

[DarthEnderX]

Maybe it's something more valuable than money. Like the ressurrection of a lost loved one. Or a really sweet hat.


So, am I mistaken, or did Ikalgo crawl inside his old squad leader's body?

I bet the pregnant chick is going to end up being his opponent. Since they don't want an ant running around undoing their nen abilities.

[Buffalobiian]

So, am I mistaken, or did Ikalgo crawl inside his old squad leader's body?

That's precisely what happened. Ikalgo is controlling him.

[Kraco]

How do you know what the Hunter's Association is paying?


You're right. I don't. I assumed that whatever they could pay wouldn't match the death probability of going against the chairman.

Were you thinking the Hunters corrupt number 2 man might have hired the Zoldyck family to take out the chairman now of all times? That would certainly be deliciously vile. However, the preview didn't even give me an impression they were fighting against each other, more like they were together attacking somebody else. It would be quite early for them to face the King, so maybe they were training or the plans changed.

I don't think the Zoldycks would so easily reject jobs, though, if the pay is appropriate. They have the reputation of the most infamous assassin family to uphold, plus they would have never got so powerful in the first place if they kept avoiding tough commissions.

[MFauli]

no episode this week. already the worst year ever.

[MFauli]

wow, this is so intense. I´m almost at the point where it feels exhausting to keep watching, due to all the anticipation. Wow.

How to start this, hm. Do we know something absolute about Netero´s "power level"-rank in the world? When he was facing Pitou and starting to grin, "bad move", I was thinking that they have to be careful not present the royal guard as too weak now all of sudden. So, I´ll assume that Netero truly is the strongest character in the world of HXH, or at least very close to that. Otherwise it´d ruin the so-far built up menace that the ants had been posing towards mankind.
And I love it. Obviously, Netero is more capable than the royal guard members. But we know that king also is on a whole different level.

And what an opening. Guess I didnt pay enough attention to the preview last episode, since I expected Killua´s grandpa and father to arrive. Seeing the grandfather and Netero together gave me the chills. So freakin awesome. Arriving on a mystical giant dragon bird, jumping down from kilometers above ground, flying downwards, and finally releasing a rain of energy attacks. Omg.

It was fantastic when Pitou realized that her usual superiority wasn´t a given in this confrontation.
Also, it felt kinda arousing and hot, when she was pulling on her own tail :> I definitely need a new signature with an even more attractive picture of her lol.

And, of course, as always a perfect transition into the ending theme: Everyone appearing in front of Youpi. Did I get this right that Knuckle and Meleon were invisible to him? So the rest of ´em acted as a diversion? Man, that felt like watching Shingeki no Kyojin when Knuckle´s colleague was running aside the stairs and spottet the profile of Youpi´s head ... and then him slowly turning his head, spotting the intruders. OMG.

And ... I have no idea what follows.
So Knuckle and Meleon will search the king. Netero will also search the king and probably encounter Pouf on his way. Although I believe Pouf will be tackled by Killua´s grandpa. I thought that Gon and Killua were running away sideways from Youpi, and that would fit, since I expect them to fight Pitou. So Knuckle and Co. will fight Youpi, with a draw of luck, since Pouf is occupied by the surprise guests.

Or wait ... are we to assume that Netero´s appearance was part of the plan? Forgot if they knew about that.

argh, dammit. The wait. THE WAIT. >_<

[Kraco]

111:

Netero is quite a monster himself... and an ancient monster to boot! Even so I found it a little interesting Pitou seemed to suffer no damage whatsoever, even if Netero himself wasn't expecting any, merely hoping for Pitou to stay away for a while as a result of the hit. Pitou's tail is also funnily resilitient, not snapping after such a stunt. Gon and Killua really have their work cut out for them if they intend to stop that unstoppable abomination.

I really liked the Zoldyck elder questions and answers session scene. It didn't do anything to explain directly why or how the Zoldycks were drawn in, but instead it revealed a rich history between the darkness of the assassins family and the light of the Hunters figurehead. And that's all that's needed, in the end. I really like how we have two geezers in this battle, with their decades (or a century) of experience to counter the ants' stupendous, surreal inborn strength.

[DarthEnderX]

I got the impression that Netero felt that Pitou's decision to meet him in the air meant that he could remove her from the situation entirely, and he didn't think she'd be able to stop herself from Team Rocketing over the horizon.

I was half expecting him to punch a hole through her and she'd have had to heal herself before going on to face Gon.

[poopdeville]

Damn, Netero is a huge bad ass. I've read the manga, but I forgot the story of the 10,000 punches. It was all around impressive. His reaction to reaching his limit was gratitude. And then he becomes a Buddha-like figure. "Feed me, and I'll help you reach your limit." It's really no wonder he became chairman of the Hunter Association. He probably could have done it if his "base" power was weaker, but still had the gratitude and subsequent enlightenment.

Yeah, Netero must be in the top 5 in terms of sheer power, and definitely the top for battle experience.

And yes, the team on the ground knew that Netero was coming. That's why they timed the plan down to the second. So that the Royal Guard would end up having to engage the ground team while Netero (and I guess Zeno) fight the king.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought it was kinda funny how gratitude and enlightenment still resulted in Netero developing/keeping his cheeky humour. You'd think that he'd be some calm, mature guy who's seen everything and thus is never truly swayed be emotions.. such as the desire to throw pride-hurting jokes at people. For me, his final personality doesn't seem to match all the gratitude and Bodhisattva nature he's supposed to have.

Confused Pitou sure was sexy, as was her actually trying and struggling.

[shinta|hikari]

Neferpitou is too hot.

I don't even care if she has a dick under those shorts anymore. I'd still do her.

Sensing an attack from 2 masters miles away in the sky just from instinct? That cat like aggressive pose? Her cute helpless face as she falls without any way to return before hitting the ground? Pure win.

[DarthEnderX]

You guys are easily aroused...

[shinta|hikari]

I cannot deny that but Nef is a different case.

[MFauli]

oh fuck me!
the first five minutes, i was in a state of perma-near-crying, not because of something happening, but because of me being scared of something happening. Ugh >_<
But I have to make two complaints: What was it with Knuckle´s pussy punch?! Sure, he used his special technique, but couldnt have have tried to actually hurt his opponent, too? Now, if that was supposed to be a fatal punch, he´s out of the game.
Secondly, I dont like Youpi´s new head. While he´s still scary thanks to all the build-up, the new head makes him look more generic.

Fuck, I really fear for Knuckle and Shoot. I´ve been saying all along that they´re too weak for the royal guard. Can´t see them survive it :(

And then those last ten or so minutes. Fuck. Pure excitement. Made me feel physically exhausted AGAIN. I cannot take that >_<

Best fanservice moment: (kind of) nude Pitou :>

[Kraco]

What was it with Knuckle´s pussy punch?! Sure, he used his special technique, but couldnt have have tried to actually hurt his opponent, too? Now, if that was supposed to be a fatal punch, he´s out of the game.

Youpi called himself a shield, so logic dictates he's tougher than Pitou. Netero's super punch did absolutely no damage to Pitou despite making her fly a kilometer, so why would Youpi give a shit about Knuckle's feather punch, aside from the annoying fact he has no idea how it was delivered? So, yeah Knuckle should review his opitions, especially since his special technique will counting forever.


Best fanservice moment: (kind of) nude Pitou :>

Where did her boobs disappear..? She did have those, back in the episode where I admitted Pitou must be female. Now they were all but gone. Did she transfer matter from boobs to legs to make them grow so thick?

[poopdeville]

That was pretty good. I liked how there was a narrator.

[DarthEnderX]

Man, this makes me wish all shonen series where people move superfast was in a constant state of slow motion like this.

So fucking tense!


Komugi looks way less gross when her hair's not stupid and she's not dripping snot.

Now if she could just get rid of those eyebrows.


Problem I have with this episode. Killua recognized his grandfather's Nen ability. Even though the last time Killua had been home, he didn't even know wtf Nen was yet.


So, yeah Knuckle should review his opitions, especially since his special technique will counting forever.Yeah, even if he was to go hide behind the stairs or something, Youpi will have long since killed everyone before he goes Bankrupt.

[Buffalobiian]

The idea was to have Youpi not to take any damage, so that he'll brush off that 'attack' as inconsequential and not try to find the source. It screwed them over here because they didn't know he was going to be a tank.

[Kraco]

Pitou will likely have just as huge nen reserves, meaning she will be no worse for wear despite having acted as a radar station continuously and controlled the puppets. These guys are superior to humans in most ways. I'd expect their life span to be significantly short, though. They matured very fast and have highly damage resilient bodies, which would suggest they will crumble on their own soon enough or cancer will kill them. Maybe 10 years max. No wonder the king took over a country and set his plans in motion so promptly.

[Archangel]

That was pretty good. I liked how there was a narrator.
Good, you'll be getting a lot more of that

[DarthEnderX]

There's been a narrator for, like, the whole series. Not sure why he's just being mentioned now.

I mean, he's the one that told Netero's backstory last week.

[Buffalobiian]

Well.. I'll consider narrating a backstory different from narrating the motives behind every move of a battle (that lasted for around 15 seconds in real time, Komugi's scene not withstanding). The latter is more about explaining so there's more focus on the guy who is doing it.

I love how Youpi knows he's a dumbass so he just stops thinking. Decision-making without the smarts!

edit:


Best fanservice moment: (kind of) nude Pitou :>

Notice what they did to her legs there.

[DarthEnderX]

Well.. I'll consider narrating a backstory different from narrating the motives behind every move of a battle (that lasted for around 15 seconds in real time, Komugi's scene not withstanding). The latter is more about explaining so there's more focus on the guy who is doing it.It's certainly an improvement over having characters explain their OWN attacks.

[Kraco]

I thought the narration was a bit too heavy in this episode. Basically narration is nothing but abridging, since it's used when the actual monologue, dialogue, expressions, and action on screen isn't enough to tell what's going on, due to an aggressive pace, nothing else. Although some the narration in this particular episode was so obvious that I think the narrator simply fell in love with his own voice and couldn't shut up anymore.

[poopdeville]

Man, this makes me wish all shonen series where people move superfast was in a constant state of slow motion like this.

So fucking tense!


Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at, but you did a better job. There was almost no dialogue, and everything was in slow motion, so the narrator had to do the exposition. I liked the part where Gon was the first one to realize he had to charge to protect the plan. He charged instantly, with no hesitation, and no explanation until the narrator did it. It made it seem impulsive and shrewd.

So, I brought up the narrator because of how he was used as a pacing device.

[MFauli]

still waiting for someone to make a highres screenshot of "nude" Pitou :>

[MFauli]

DAT CLIFFHANGER ARGH"!!""11

[Kraco]

Gon had such a nice expression right before the ED. Mito would be proud!

[DarthEnderX]

Sweet Jewish yo-yo's brah.


Pouf is seriously just the lamest character. I hope Morel can beat him.

It's too bad Cheetu's old power can't be used anymore once someone beats it, cause taking someone out of the fight for 8 hours would be really useful to the ants right now. Even if he couldn't keep them in there till they died.

[MFauli]

okay, i have to admit: the ending of this episode fell flat to me. In itself, it was awesome that Knuckle, despite what would be the better, more logical choice, chooses to show himself, because he couldn´t stand watching his dear friend slowly but surely approaching certain death.

However, I fully expected this episode to at least end with Gon meeting Pitou. So, well, duh.

Also, I really hope they make future episodes more exclusive, instead of trying to show each battle ground at the same time. At the same time, I want to know what happens to the other characters. Damn, why can´t each episode be a double-episode? We got those during the high times of Naruto regularly :(

[Kraco]

In itself, it was awesome that Knuckle, despite what would be the better, more logical choice, chooses to show himself, because he couldn´t stand watching his dear friend slowly but surely approaching certain death.

I'm not so sure sticking to the plan would be such a splendid choice. Maybe it would have been if Knucle's loan shark technique was worth shit against a monster like Youpi, but as it is, it's much wiser to fight him 2 vs 1 than first allow Shoot to kick the bucket and then face the monster all alone.

[Buffalobiian]

If Meleoron hides Shoot, he'd be able to take more of Youpi's eyes out. Youpi shouldn't be hitting all over the place when fighting Knuckle, so it should be easier. The flipside is that Knuckle doesn't see as good at dodging.

[David75]

With the King out of the castle, Meleoron/Knuckle next goal is gone. I guess they just don't know yet. Story wise it's better that way for the audience I guess?

[DarthEnderX]

I'm not so sure sticking to the plan would be such a splendid choice. Maybe it would have been if Knucle's loan shark technique was worth shit against a monster like Youpi, but as it is, it's much wiser to fight him 2 vs 1 than first allow Shoot to kick the bucket and then face the monster all alone.This. Everyone will have been dead for weeks by the time Loan Shark actually hits Youpi's limit.

I didn't remember them establishing that hitting Knuckle actually makes the number go down either. I thought you had to defeat him to get rid of it, but aside from that, it just kept going up.


With the King out of the castle, Meleoron/Knuckle next goal is gone. I guess they just don't know yet. Story wise it's better that way for the audience I guess?They're pretty much back to their original plan at this point. Knuckle and Shoot against one Guard. Gon and Killua against another. Morel against the third, sadly without Knov backing him up.

[Buffalobiian]

This. Everyone will have been dead for weeks by the time Loan Shark actually hits Youpi's limit.

I didn't remember them establishing that hitting Knuckle actually makes the number go down either.

return hits give Nen back which reduces the count. That's how you ultimately defeat the technique. He told Gon about it in their fight.

[MFauli]

oh god, someone freeze me for a week, please! Dat cliffhanger.

Evil Gon is about to fully awaken. the chills.

Welfin is hilarious. Beating himself due to his super paranoia.

Don´t see how Knuckle can even surviva against Youpi. Realistically, he shouldn´t even be fast enough to run away. That will be interesting. And annoying, when it keeps us from seeing Gon vs. Pitou.

[Kraco]

Gon's episode ending expressions just keep getting better. That almost makes up for the ridiculousness of how long it has taken them to reach the room and Pitou. I have a feeling no fight will begin in the next episode either. Pitou looked a bit surprised, though, which was nice. She's in a difficult spot now: If she fails to heal Komugi, she can expect the king to slay her, without listening to any excuses. Yet she can't very well keep healing her if Gon and Killua start to beat her to death. I'd find it a breach of good writing if she asked them to wait, though, which is why I don't expect that to happen. Her only salvation might be for Gon and Killua to wait until she's finished. Unless she can fight and heal at the same time, of course, but we do know using the mending technique does restrict at least her other nen abilities.

[Munsu]

I stopped watching the anime after Greed Island ended, will see if I can catch-up soon. But quite disappointed to see that we're well along in the arc, maybe towards it's end, and there's still no new manga material... not sure what will happen then.

That said, the next arc seems a good spot to stop/take a break as any, so we'll see what they decide.

[Buffalobiian]

Last time I heard, the anime's only been confirmed till the Chairman arc so .. it sounds like that's the plan.

Is Killua's grandpa going to fight the king as well? He just gives everyone else a ride on his dragon while he jumps into some shadows... :S

Welfin is indeed hilarious. I would probably get become someone like him too if not for the fact that I get tired/annoyed about thinking after a while and just decide to wing it.

[DarthEnderX]

Seriously, Welfin gets way to much goddamn screentime for a character that doesn't fucking matter at all.

[shinta|hikari]

Agreed.

Nef will probably still be a beast even while in healing mode. The situation is set up to be the handicap that gives Gon and Killua a fighting chance against Nef. Remember when the narrator said that the phlegm girl's presence will greatly change future events? Well this is it, as well as Cell's willingness to fly on Shenron to some deserted duel ground.

[DarthEnderX]

Nef will probably still be a beast even while in healing mode. The situation is set up to be the handicap that gives Gon and Killua a fighting chance against Nef.There's no way Gon is going to attack Pitou while she's still healing Komugi. Unless he misjudges the scenario somehow and he thinks she's doing to her what she did to Kite instead of healing her.

[MFauli]

There's no way Gon is going to attack Pitou while she's still healing Komugi. Unless he misjudges the scenario somehow and he thinks she's doing to her what she did to Kite instead of healing her.

I´d hate you being right. It has been teased that Gon turns into a little piece of hate and nothing else when it comes to Pitou. What I want to see now is him going at her without thinking of anybody else. Even forgetting about Killua. He´s here to kill, to end this bitchcunt that murdered his friend. This is not a time for typical emotions, no time for including other people. It´s Gon. And it´s Pitou. And that´s it. That´s what I want to see.

Fuck Komugi.

[DarthEnderX]

It has been teased that Gon turns into a little piece of hate and nothing else when it comes to Pitou. What I want to see now is him going at her without thinking of anybody else.
Then he wouldn't be Gon anymore.

I'm not even sure why you assume he hates her. The other characters have been describing it as a kind of grim focus, not hatred.


He´s here to kill, to end this bitchcunt that murdered his friend.Except he doesn't think Kite is really dead. Remember that Gon still thinks beating Pitou is going to release Kite. He thinks he's saving Kite, not avenging him.

[shinta|hikari]

Really? I thought that Gon thinks that killing Nef will release Kite from control and he can finally rest in peace.

[MFauli]

Then he wouldn't be Gon anymore.

That´s exactly what makes it so exciting. The whole situation is not-Gon. And yet it IS him. That´s why we´ve seen this super dark, grim look on his face for some episodes now. I believe and hope that Gon will fight Pitou in a way thats uncalled for his usual nature. At least once he learns that Kite is dead for good.

[DarthEnderX]

Really? I thought that Gon thinks that killing Nef will release Kite from control and he can finally rest in peace.That wasn't the impression I got.

I'm pretty sure he used the actual term "saving Kite" multiple times. I don't think Gon thinks Kite is dead(and really, there's no reason for him to, nobody but the audience knows how dead he was), and he thinks if he releases Pitou's control, he'll go back to being himself.


That´s exactly what makes it so exciting. The whole situation is not-Gon.Pretty much everything that's happened in this series has happened because Gon is the way he is. If he stopped being that, I'd lose interest in the character. If you have to betray who the character is to make something "interesting" then you aren't a very good writer.


At least once he learns that Kite is dead for good.Do WE even know that? I mean, we really don't know how Pitou's power works.

Yeah, he was dead, and the obvious conclusion is that he's just a zombified puppet now. But Nen can do anything the writer wants it too, maybe he really WILL go back to his old self if Pitou is defeated. We don't really know yet.

[Kraco]

Yeah, he was dead, and the obvious conclusion is that he's just a zombified puppet now. But Nen can do anything the writer wants it too, maybe he really WILL go back to his old self if Pitou is defeated. We don't really know yet.

He might be better off dead. I mean, how pitiful would it be to get defeated by a practically newborn enemy, only to get resurrected by the same enemy to be a puppet, and then finally be saved by two kids he was training just a little while ago and judging far from ready to face the very same enemy. He would need more than a few bottles of booze to get over that chain of events.

[MFauli]

Pretty much everything that's happened in this series has happened because Gon is the way he is. If he stopped being that, I'd lose interest in the character. If you have to betray who the character is to make something "interesting" then you aren't a very good writer.

Then that´s where we´re disagreeing.
Having a character behave out-of-character for a single event only makes that character more interesting in my eyes. Especially when there´s a perfectly fine excuse, like having a dear friend bein killed (or something close to it). One could argue that Gon´s permanent happy-go-lucky attitude is annoying at times, so seeing him being forced out of his own comfort zone is something I´m more than looking forward to.

Such a moment of "losing yourself" can then later be used for further plot progression, too.

That´s how I see it, anyway.

[DarthEnderX]

Well, I have no problem with the whole "sudden realization of something horrible sends you into a berzerker rage" aspect.

But that's not what's happening here. Gon's known about Kite for weeks. He has the opportunity to see what's happening before the fight starts. There's no "temporary insane rage" excuse at play here. He'd be making a conscious choice to betray the beliefs around which the entire series is founded.

[MFauli]

My assumption is that Gon has been in a "Berserk rage mode" all the time ever since waking up after Killua knocked him out and carried him away from where Pitou attacked Kite. It´s not your generic shounen-rage shit, but some growing feeling inside Gon that never left, but only now shows once he´ll face Pitou directly. That´s what I think, at least.

The way Gon´s expression has been going completely blank and dark and black from when he stepped into the battle field makes me think that. He´s got the look of a killer, reminiscent of Killua´s old self. And Killua noticed that and seems to act as the one who will pull back Gon when necessary. He´s the cool one. "The" Gon has been gone for a few episodes now.

We´ll see if I´m right or not.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm just gonna throw this out there.

People (and anime characters) can change. I'm not saying Gon did, but they do.

[Kraco]

Aside from what the shounen textbook will make Gon do in this particular case, I don't think his general personality is as much happy-go-lucky as it's doing whatever he wants to do or feels is the right thing to do (purely according to his own values; he doesn't give a damn about some preacher's morals, justice or other lofty things). He's not so unlike Hisoka with the exception of valuing his friends greatly, and naturally having somewhat different interests. And that's great.

In other words, if he wants to attack Pitou in a berserker rage right away, he can do it. It wouldn't change his personality as such. However, as a person who values his friends, he might not entirely ignore Komugi. It would depend on how he views her existence.

[DarthEnderX]

I feel like we haven't even been watching the same series.


People (and anime characters) can change. I'm not saying Gon did, but they do.I'm not saying he didn't. But a character changing is only good if the character wasn't already awesome.

Gon is awesome.

[MFauli]

Maybe too awesome!

[Buffalobiian]

They won't automatically assume that killing Pitou will release Kite. Everyone knows that Nen can linger. A few episodes ago they (or the narrator at least) wondered at whether a dead Meleoron would stay invisible. With the same logic, a dead Pitou could mean a zombiefied Kite.

Gon will need to beat Pitou into submission, but I don't think he's got the luxury of pulling punches. He needs to go all out regardless.

[Munsu]

Well, I've resumed watching HxH after stopping at the end of Greed Island... a few more episodes in and just saw what happened to Ponzu which I had completely forgotten about. Quite sad, one of my favorite characters in the Hunter Exam.

[DarthEnderX]

They won't automatically assume that killing Pitou will release Kite. Everyone knows that Nen can linger. A few episodes ago they (or the narrator at least) wondered at whether a dead Meleoron would stay invisible. With the same logic, a dead Pitou could mean a zombiefied Kite.

Gon will need to beat Pitou into submission, but I don't think he's got the luxury of pulling punches. He needs to go all out regardless.Yep. All of that.

I don't think Gon seriously needs to worry that if he hits Pitou TOO hard he'll kill her. It'll probably take a whole bunch of "ultimate attacks" just to drop her.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Gon should worry a little more about surviving. Nef is going to hand his ass to him otherwise.

[Kraco]

Yep. All of that.

I don't think Gon seriously needs to worry that if he hits Pitou TOO hard he'll kill her. It'll probably take a whole bunch of "ultimate attacks" just to drop her.

We have seen these ants are remarkably hard to slay, short of destroying the head, so he has lots of leeway. Well, even destroying the head would leave the body functional for an amount of time, but asking questions or making requests might be quite difficult...

[Munsu]

I'm still not quite clear on what you guys are actually debating that is out of character for Gon.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Darth is expecting Gon to act like a shounen hero and let Nef heal the girl first before fighting.

Mfaili wants Gon to attack her without caring. Darth is saying that is out of character.

[Munsu]

I think Darth is expecting Gon to act like a shounen hero and let Nef heal the girl first before fighting.

Mfaili wants Gon to attack her without caring. Darth is saying that is out of character.

Ah I see. It would be certainly out of character, but still within the real of possibility in the sense that if he did go after Pitou while endangering the girl then clearly Gon isn't in his right state of mind.

So while Gon doing that would be out of character for him, Gon isn't operating from circumstances that are quite normal for him either. The being the case, I don't see what the problem is one way or another.

In the end, what does out of character even mean in this context? That Gon would be doing something that's not the norm to him? OK... what's the problem then? We're clearly not operating under normal circumstances. That being the case, the most important aspect for me is, if Gon does end up acting out of character... is it something that him and other characters around will recognize, or will they take it in stride as if it where normal for him to act that way?

I think that's the better way to look at it. Say Gon "messes up" and didn't act as he should've according to his own principles, what are the repercussions then? And would Gon learn from the experience or not?

I wouldn't fixate so much on what Gon is going to do or not, but on what comes after and how it affects Gon individually, those around him, and how they view him.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Darth wants Gon to not act out of character because he likes him that way. Not that way that way. Just that way.

[Munsu]

I think Darth wants Gon to not act out of character because he likes him that way. Not that way that way. Just that way.

Good characters don't fit into nice tidy little box. You just have to understand the reasons behind actions, the context, and how the story develops from there.

That said, one things is acting out of character and it's another to not even entertain the possibility that Gon may act a certain way because if you discount the possibility of Gon acting this way then you don't know Gon at all.

Gon is a walking contradiction.

[MFauli]

Btw. what would be really interesting is if Komugi died due to the disturbance caused by Gon and Killua, and how Pitou reacted then. she´d go totally nuts, I guess. She´d lose her right to face the king ever again, so she´d likely put everything into reasing the people that are responsible for that from the face of the earth.

Anyway, how about we talk some more about Knuckle? Of all the characters, he seems to be super-fucked right now. From what we´ve seen, he should be weaker and slower than Youpi. He cannot get away from that monster and he has no means to defeat him. So what´s his plan? He definitely needs reinforcements the most.

[Munsu]

Right now I'm on the episode that Pitou is introduced, she's awesome... one of my all-time favorite HxH characters. Hope to see more of her as I catch-up.

I have to say that I'm enjoying the Chimera Ant arc quite a bit more animated than in the manga, it feels like I'm watching this story for the first time as I don't recall a lot of the details.

Heck, you guys are discussing what Gon will do against Pitou and I don't even know right now after I had read the manga when it came out.

[Kraco]

From what we´ve seen, he should be weaker and slower than Youpi.

Why would Knuckle be slower? Youpi is really top heavy, so he might not be a fast runner. Pitou has been shown to enlarge her legs to gain the uber speed she has, but Youpi has been doing nothing but adding mass to his upper body, which should, by the same logic, make him not only slower but also clumsier when moving at high speed. Knucle has nothing to worry about as long as Youpi simply is following. But even Youpi might not be stupid enough to continue that for too long.

[Munsu]

OK, I'm all caught up now. Have really enjoyed seeing this arc animated, in all a much better experience than what I recall when reading the manga.

Here's hoping the next handful of episodes are epic.

[DarthEnderX]

I think Darth is expecting Gon to act like a shounen hero and let Nef heal the girl first before fighting.This.

It's like Krac said. Gon values his friends. But more importantly, Gon considers pretty much anyone who isn't expressly an enemy to be a friend. If he thinks attacking Pitou will kill this girl she's healing, then he won't do it.

[MFauli]

And my stance is that Gon doesn´t stand the slightest chance against Pitou if he leaves any room for mercy.

We´ll see how things will turn out. I just want to add that IF Gon is all typical shounen-hero, all these close-ups showing his dark expressions were for naught. That´s dumb then. To me, these expressions were meant to show that the usual Gon is away-from-keyboard and a Gon with only one goal - killing Pitou - has entered his body. In other words, the current Gon is more akin to what we know Killua for. That´s what I find exciting.

[DarthEnderX]

The anime is still ridiculous for having Gon react this way over a character he technically barely knows.

None of reaction makes sense since they cut out that arc from the manga.

[Buffalobiian]

Are you talking about that bear-killing thing when Gon was young?

[DarthEnderX]

Are you talking about that bear-killing thing when Gon was young?Yeah, but in the manga, it wasn't just a bear killing thing.

Kite hung out with Gon for, like, months back then basically teaching him to be a Hunter. He's the one who ACTUALLY inspired Gon to become a Hunter and was really more of a father to him than his actual father was.

All of that was in the original anime series, but not in this one. So his insane reaction doesn't make sense here. Kite is a guy he met once as a kid, and then recently went on one mission with. He's had a grand total of a few days worth of interaction with the person. This whole thousand yard stare thing he's doing just doesn't feel warranted in this situation because of it.

[Munsu]

Yeah, but in the manga, it wasn't just a bear killing thing.

Kite hung out with Gon for, like, months back then basically teaching him to be a Hunter. He's the one who ACTUALLY inspired Gon to become a Hunter and was really more of a father to him than his actual father was.

All of that was in the original anime series, but not in this one. So his insane reaction doesn't make sense here. Kite is a guy he met once as a kid, and then recently went on one mission with. He's had a grand total of a few days worth of interaction with the person. This whole thousand yard stare thing he's doing just doesn't feel warranted in this situation because of it.

In general I'd agree, but that has little relevance for a character like Gon who is quick to make attachments to other characters and build friendships, etc.

Also, you can rationalize some of what's been eating at Gon is not merely about a friend being killed in battle, or injured, thare's a very brutal and inhuman aspect of what has been done to Kite... robbing him of his self. And above all, Gon still has festering anger at himself for being too weak to prevent this in the first place.

So whether it be knowing someone for a few months, years, days, or minutes... it really has little relevance when it comes to Gon. But that aside, there's a lot of factors influencing his current state, and it's not solely that this particular character named Kite was made into a tortured zombie.

[MFauli]

oh wow, this tension!

Absolutely loved this episode. Gon didn´t quite do what I hoped for, but he also definitely didn´t react like his usual self or a typical shounen-hero. If it wasn´t for Killua, he´d have raped Pitou without any mercy. He even verbally attacked his best friend, saying "you have it easy".

Despite everything, I must say that Killua is way underestimating Pitou/overestimating himself. Does he reeeeally believe that Kite can still be saved? Because if that isn´t true, he´s giving up their best chance at defeating a member of the royal guard. Add to that that they´re likely still way weaker than Pitou.

I wonder how honest Pitou was when she said "I´ll do anything if you let me save this girl". If I were Gon, I´d have made the demand "save Kite, then kill yourself". Would she do it? I´m unsure about any kind of honor codex with Pitou, since she hasn´t shown clear tendencies. On one hand, she´s this crazy, playful monster, on the other hand she´s super loyal and obedient when it comes to the king. But Gon isn´t the king. So was it a cheap lie then?

But damn, those animations of Gon´s emotional despair were so damn fantastic. His aura going all-out Dragonball, him moving his body in utter disbelief and lack of direction.

I will make this prediction: Pitou lied and will instantly go on the offense once Komugi is healed. It´s the only option that makes sense to me, since she doesn´t have any moral duty to stay true to what she told some mere human, AND I cannot believe Togashi would have all this build up, only to cancel the actual battle.

[Kraco]

This was the best animated struggle a person had with himself that I've seen for a long while. Though I wish the backstory DE was referring to had been there, so that this scene would have been more meaningful. So that Kite would really have been a personally important person for Gon, because that's what this episode was all about.

I'm not so sure Killua believes Kite can be saved. He's the more pessimistic of the two usually. But he might have wanted Gon to remain a better person by placing even a slim hope of saving a friend above quick revenge executed in fury. Killua will forever be an assassin, but I reckon a part of why he values Gon so much is that Gon isn't a killer by nature.

I also don't see why Pitou would honour anything she might promise to Gon. Only the king matters to her. Her personality is kind of a product of serving the king as well. Unless she thinks she's serving the king, in some manner, by leaving with them, she ought to ignore the whole thing afterwards and try to get rid of Gon & Killua. If the king is still away at that point and thus not in a position to override any of her decisions, I reckon a slight chance could be that since the king wanted to save a human, Pitou could extrapolate from that she should also honour an agreement with humans.

[poopdeville]

Killua didn't stop Gon just because he was "losing it" or even because of Pitou's promise. Killua realized that healing Komugi would help move their plans along. They are there to keep the royal guard away from the king. And now all they have to do is sit around for an hour while Pitou does her thing.

[Kraco]

Killua didn't stop Gon just because he was "losing it" or even because of Pitou's promise. Killua realized that healing Komugi would help move their plans along. They are there to keep the royal guard away from the king. And now all they have to do is sit around for an hour while Pitou does her thing.

That doesn't make much sense. If Gon had killed the defenseless Pitou, she would have taken a much more permanent sort of leave of absence from her king's side. Killua might have found it interesting that the king and a royal guard would be so desperate to save a human, but such a thing would be of nothing but academic interest unless the Hunters are planning to lose and the king is allowed to live. I could actually believe Killua making preliminary plans even for such an outcome, but I don't think that's what happened.

[poopdeville]

Except that all of the hunters expected to die during their mission. Permanence was not their goal. A few seconds delaying the guard was.

[Kraco]

Except that all of the hunters expected to die during their mission. Permanence was not their goal. A few seconds delaying the guard was.

Bullshit. They were planning to win, not die trying in vain. People may say they are ready to die for the mission but only brainwashed nogoods actually do it willingly, real men would only do it when there's no other choice. Shoot was perhaps already accepting his death, but as Knuckle demonstrated, they didn't go in planning to die. Gon would have never done it anyway; not in his personality or way of thinking. In the first place, his second goal is to save Kite, which would hardly go together with getting killed in seconds.

Not to mention what you said isn't replying to my point. Why delay somebody for an hour if the other alternative is to delay them for an eternity? Makes zero sense unless there's some heavier reason to choose the single hour.

[Munsu]

Seeing this episode animated was simply amazing, you guys covered pretty much what I wanted to say about it already so not worth repeating from me.

[Belial]

damn that was an emotonal episode, the animation and strugle were perfect

[shinta|hikari]

I'm pretty sure if Gon attacked Nef, she would have defended herself, causing Komugi to die, then she will kill the two brats in vengeance. Simply dying is not a choice, because that would have also caused Komugi to die, leaving Nef with nothing.

In the larger scheme of things, Killua made the right choice, since it delayed the guard and saved his friend's soul.

I really hope Nef doesn't turn traitor after this. I really like her and I hate those who go back on their words.

[DarthEnderX]

Despite everything, I must say that Killua is way underestimating Pitou/overestimating himself. Does he reeeeally believe that Kite can still be saved? Because if that isn´t true, he´s giving up their best chance at defeating a member of the royal guard. Add to that that they´re likely still way weaker than Pitou.Yeah, but if Kite really can't be saved, does it really matter if they defeat Pitou or not? The battle between Netero and the King will be long over then, and that's really the only one they care about.

Any way you look at it, the job Gon and Killua were given by the Hunters was too keep her from helping the King. And they've done that for the next hour at least(although technically, if they hadn't shown up, she'd have been busy for 3-4 hours).

Now their own personal mission of helping Kite? That's another matter.


I wonder how honest Pitou was when she said "I´ll do anything if you let me save this girl". If I were Gon, I´d have made the demand "save Kite, then kill yourself".At the bare minimum, they should be asking her to explain how her powers work.


I will make this prediction: Pitou lied and will instantly go on the offense once Komugi is healed.I want to say...Pitou will keep her word unless the King gives her a direct order. His command is more important than her life or her honor. If things go badly for Netero, the King may come back and order Pitou to kill them.


Why delay somebody for an hour if the other alternative is to delay them for an eternity? Makes zero sense unless there's some heavier reason to choose the single hour.That's assuming that you really do get to one-shot Pitou. And some survival instinct doesn't kick in, she instinctively raises her aura to protect herself, Komugi dies, and then you have a full-power Pitou, enraged at having failed her King to deal with.

Better to just let her waste an hour if she'll do it willingly.

EDIT: Basically, what Shinta said.

[poopdeville]

Bullshit. They were planning to win, not die trying in vain. People may say they are ready to die for the mission but only brainwashed nogoods actually do it willingly, real men would only do it when there's no other choice. Shoot was perhaps already accepting his death, but as Knuckle demonstrated, they didn't go in planning to die. Gon would have never done it anyway; not in his personality or way of thinking. In the first place, his second goal is to save Kite, which would hardly go together with getting killed in seconds.

Are we watching the same show?

None of them want to die. They all know they are weaker than the ants, and that they probably will die. And they know that their mission is worth it, since they are the world's last line of defense against the ants.


Not to mention what you said isn't replying to my point. Why delay somebody for an hour if the other alternative is to delay them for an eternity? Makes zero sense unless there's some heavier reason to choose the single hour.

Because the alternative isn't to delay them for eternity. The alternative is to let Gon allow his emotions to control him, attack Pitou in a fit of rage, and get killed instantly by an enemy with better instincts, reflexes, and powers.

Killua knows what their mission is. To delay the Royal Guard, so that Netero can deal with the king one on one. Killua knows that he and Gon are both too weak to kill Pitou.

[David75]

So you thought this was a good episode?
With all the repeats and almost no development episode?
DB was mentionned, and yes it was your below average DB ep with so much delaying you think nothing happened for over 20 minutes. And that was almost that.
And it comes after so many eps that does the same thing, it starts to become really annoying.

[shinta|hikari]

People really have to appreciate the more subtle things in life. I have a friend who says the exact things as you do. While I understand your desire for story development, the delivery in this episode was impeccable. In order to enjoy this, focus less on your time efficiency and more on the details. Gon's reaction itself is a treat to those who watch a lot of anime, since it departs from the usual shounen hero trope. Comparing this to DBZ charging episodes is absurd. Just Killua's thoughts in this episode alone comprise more content than such drivel.

[enkoujin]

Any way you look at it, the job Gon and Killua were given by the Hunters was too keep her from helping the King. And they've done that for the next hour at least(although technically, if they hadn't shown up, she'd have been busy for 3-4 hours).

From Pitou's side, there are many advantages to overestimate the time it takes to heal or to delay the healing like extra time to come up with a strategy against Gon + Killua, waiting for the other Royal Guards to be done with their opponents so that they can help her, diverting some of that aura from Dr. Blythe to regenerate her broken arms, and to let Gon cool his head so he's less furious (and hence, stronger).

[DarthEnderX]

True. Most of what happens next is going to be based on whether Pitou is a liar or not. And there's no real way to predict until that get's revealed.

[Buffalobiian]

Firstly, I'm also with David about feelings for this episode. It was good and bad in ways. Firstly it was weird if nothing else in watching both Gon and Pitou acting so out of their normal character. And really, it did feel kinda long. It may have been necessary, but it still felt that way. I screamed "get the fuck over it" once, at least.

As for the comment about Killua overestimating himself/underestimating Pitou, I'm with the guys who are saying that this isn't the case. They're not here to kill Pitou. They're there to revive Kite (they still think that this is possible) and separate the King from his guards. The latter part is done already, and you need Pitou alive to do the former.

Pitou is only "likely" to be telling the truth, but add this to the fact that he's saving someone it becomes the obviously favourable choice. Only Gon doesn't see this because his rage has nowhere to go. The best character this week was Killua. Props for keeping your cool and not going lashing out when Gon bitches back at you.

As for Pitou's words, as said above she should probably honour her words unless they endanger the King directly (and not in some roundabout "maybe" way that only the overthinking Pouf/wolf would come up with).

She broke her bloody arm damn it. If that's not enough then take her legs. She's offering those too, just in case you needed insurance.

[Kraco]

So, some of you think Pitou could have terminated her healing technique and raised her own defenses in a fraction of a second, to be able to cover her whole body? Because if Gon had really attacked, Killua would have also attacked with the full skill of an assassin. We have already learned that a part of nen defense is to decide which part of your body to defend. If you guys are right and Pitou's brain operates at 5GHz, thus allowing her to somehow make it in time to defend against Gon's super attack, she still wouldn't have known which part of her body to defend against Killua. I very much doubt she could have simply evaded, sitting on the floor and everything. Not that she would have evaded in any case, seeing how she was sitting between Komugi and Gon. Following the king's order was more important to her than her own life. So, she had no choice but to act all meek and seek a diplomatic solution in order to continue healing.


Are we watching the same show?

None of them want to die. They all know they are weaker than the ants, and that they probably will die. And they know that their mission is worth it, since they are the world's last line of defense against the ants.

I guess we aren't watching the same show. They aren't even the world's last defense. They are the first defense. A private organization working with the absolute bare minimum of manpower the organization bothered to send in, which includes two brats who are there only because they have a secondary, personal objective. I very much doubt they would have gone forth with the operation if they didn't believe in their chances. The whole delaying the royal guards, not defeating them, also sounds like something that prioritises the lives of the attackers, though naturally it's also crafty in the sense that it might make their pride force them to fight till their last breath, which is what almost happened to Shoot.

[Edort4]

Komugi alive is a tool/hostage you can use against the king if Netero fails. Killua is thinking 3 steps ahead. Actually is Gon the one that is being stupid and ruining lots of possible usefull tactics.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't think anyone would stoop so low as to use Komugi as a hostage, nor do I think it would actually work against the king if he was threatened like that.

Still, it doesn't change the fact that Gon isn't thinking and can barely grasp anything else beyond punching Pitou. It's more about revenge/venting for him than saving Kite.

[Edort4]

I don't think anyone would stoop so low as to use Komugi as a hostage, nor do I think it would actually work against the king if he was threatened like that.

Still, it doesn't change the fact that Gon isn't thinking and can barely grasp anything else beyond punching Pitou. It's more about revenge/venting for him than saving Kite.

Thus far Komugi is the only one that has severely damaged the king. A 3rd party with the power to do damage/influence like that on the king can be useful in lots of ways and maybe being a show for kids they wouldnt write about using her that way but it makes lot of sense. Its human extinction they are facing if the king keeps the selection process and creates an army of millions of ants.

[Buffalobiian]

Netero wouldn't, at least. Politicians probably would, but I see Hunters differently. For one, they even had to pay Killua's granddad out here, as if 'saving the world' wasn't enough..

And it wouldn't work either. The king damaged himself voluntarily, but pressuring him into it? I see too much pride for that to happen.

The whole point was that they had no qualms about killing the king because they thought he was some monster, but even though they're still proceeding with a fight the two aren't entirely sure they should be fighting the being who is capable of love.

[MFauli]

Gon "not thinking" was part of the plan. His and Killua´s job is to fight Pitou, and theirs´ wasn´t a stalling mission but a crystal clear kill-mission.

And Gon isn´t doing anything for revenge. If that were true he´d have killed Pitou. He didn´t attack because Killua explained how they´d need Pitou alive to bring back Kite.

[DarthEnderX]

His and Killua´s job is to fight Pitou, and theirs´ wasn´t a stalling mission but a crystal clear kill-mission.

And Gon isn´t doing anything for revenge. If that were true he´d have killed Pitou. He didn´t attack because Killua explained how they´d need Pitou alive to bring back Kite.These two statements seem to conflict with each other.

Either they were on a crystal clear kill-mission, or they needed Pitou alive. Which is it?

[shinta|hikari]

That's hilarious. A crystal clear kill-mission where you don't kill.

[Kraco]

That's hilarious. A crystal clear kill-mission where you don't kill.

It makes perfect sense after a bottle of crystal clear vodka.

[MFauli]

Well, what do you think they told Morel during the planning? "We´re trying to capture Pitou alive to save our friend"? Morel would have put them both off mission instantly. The mission was to kill Pitou, but the special, unexpected situation changed that.

[DarthEnderX]

Ah, I see. You're saying the Hunter's Association's mission was for them to kill Pitou, but their personal mission was not.

I agree with that.

[Buffalobiian]

And Gon isn´t doing anything for revenge. If that were true he´d have killed Pitou. He didn´t attack because Killua explained how they´d need Pitou alive to bring back Kite.

The fact that Killua had to explain that to him tells you it wasn't the first thing on Gon's mind. His impulse was revenge, to "get Pitou back for what she did to Kite". Only after an entire episode did he accept the fact that Kite's well-being comes before his desire to pound Pitou. Even then he couldn't hold himself back for more than one hour, even though Pitou really holds the cards to Kite's revival.

[Kraco]

117:







- -- -- - -- -




A somewhat useless episode. That also meant the narration took the main role and I began to bloody hate it. As soon as this infiltration mission launched, I've been feeling the narration is too overpowering, but it wasn't so bad when stuff happened. But now that pretty nothing happened, it felt like the narration was pure mockery.

I admit I was wrong: Both Knuckle and Shoot are blistering idiots, who think dying in a grand fight is more important than completing their mission and living to tell about it. Truly Netero was scraping the bottom of the barrel when he was manning this mission.

Cheetu got the kind of an end he deserved for being so stupid.

[yapchagi]

narrator is so damn annoying. I want to watch something, not listen to his annoying voice the whole time for the past few episodes!!!

[shinta|hikari]

I like the narrator. Definitely better than having characters explain the situation themselves while in life or death instances.

Only 3 minutes have passed since the start of the mission.

[DarthEnderX]

Poor Cheetu. Spared from his previous fight just so he can have a scene where he dies making the Zoldyks look badass.


Shoots decision is obviously both hot blooded and infuriating. To know that the enemy would have just sat their while his power ticked away at him, and to decide to go poke the bear instead...

Now it seems like Gon is going to take on Youpi as well, leaving Gon to deal with Pitou on his own. Though, if they really are just gonna sit there for an hour, Killia's got time to go around helping whoever and still be back into time to help Gon.

He'll probably get wounded too badly fighting Youpi though so Pitou and Gon can have their big climactic shonen battle.

Which, is kinda what I'm expecting for this arc. For it to be like the Invasion of Konoha arc in Naruto. Where the highest level battle in that instance is the 3rd vs. Orochimaru, and here's it's Netero vs. the King, the actual climax of the arc was Naruto vs. Gaara, or Gon vs. Pitou here.

It just seems like everyone elses fights will be long over before Gon's even starts.


I like the narrator. Definitely better than having characters explain the situation themselves while in life or death instances.I agree. It's far less stupid than the trope of having people explain their own powers to their enemies.

[Buffalobiian]

To be fair, I don't think we hate the narrator as such. We hate that time's moved so slowly for 3 minutes. The narrator's the side effect, not the cause.

Killua might not get hurt much either, since he's got Meleoron giving him a free shot. Given that he says he only needs once chance, I'm expecting something big. The question is how that'll play in with Knuckle's plan since the latter's getting Youpi to explode and all.

[MFauli]

Narrator hater can suck it.

Another good episode. There really haven´t been any bad episodes, it´s just that every single second is so great that the weekly wait for more is cruciating.

But seriously, Knuckle and Shoot are dumb beyond belief. Suddenly turninng this into a fight for their pride. They really deserve to die now ... or not, since that´s what they seek :/

One more complaint: Here we´re having a "fight for humanity", and yet Zeno and Silva leave the battlefield. I can´t help but feel that this takes a lot of suspense and excitement away from the whole fight, because it creates an atmosphere of "well, maybe Gon, Killua and Netero cannot defeat the ants, buuuut there are enough other, stronger guys in the world. So no matter what, the ants won´t win".
In other words: The royal guard needs a serious power boost right now, and the king better be ridiculously, absurdly powerful. Otherwise, well, just get the Spider members there and it´s all over.

[shinta|hikari]

Maybe they are just ridiculously professional and never do anything unless paid for. That is what gramps said in this episode anyway. It's the first time he killed someone without a contract.

[Kraco]

One more complaint: Here we´re having a "fight for humanity", and yet Zeno and Silva leave the battlefield. I can´t help but feel that this takes a lot of suspense and excitement away from the whole fight, because it creates an atmosphere of "well, maybe Gon, Killua and Netero cannot defeat the ants, buuuut there are enough other, stronger guys in the world. So no matter what, the ants won´t win".

Like I said before, this isn't any last stand for humanity. I guess you could call it the second stand since the mission to stop the king before he hatched failed, but this is still nothing but an effort by a few members of a private organization to do some pest control on their free time. Obviously nobody in the world cares about the North Korea like country they are in right now, either, so even if everybody in it was eaten by ants, the rest of the world would hardly make more than a few headlines out of it. The Zoldyck honchos simply leaving when their part of the mission was over illustrates that further: The threat simply isn't so significant yet that anybody but those directly involved would go out of their way to do anything about it.

[DarthEnderX]

They also made it pretty clear that Killua's grandpa thinks Netero is stronger than he is. So if he can't beat the King, the Zoldyks probably can't either.

[poopdeville]

I guess we aren't watching the same show. They aren't even the world's last defense. They are the first defense. A private organization working with the absolute bare minimum of manpower the organization bothered to send in, which includes two brats who are there only because they have a secondary, personal objective. I very much doubt they would have gone forth with the operation if they didn't believe in their chances. The whole delaying the royal guards, not defeating them, also sounds like something that prioritises the lives of the attackers, though naturally it's also crafty in the sense that it might make their pride force them to fight till their last breath, which is what almost happened to Shoot.

Did you miss the part where they sent in the world's strongest fighter to fight the world's strongest magical beast? And that if the strongest man loses, no one can stop the magical beast? That the king would eat the world's strongest man and gain his powers?

Yes, they are the first line of defense. They are the only line of defense. Because if Netero fails, no one will be able to succeed.

[Kraco]

Did you miss the part where they sent in the world's strongest fighter to fight the world's strongest magical beast? And that if the strongest man loses, no one can stop the magical beast? That the king would eat the world's strongest man and gain his powers?

Yes, they are the first line of defense. They are the only line of defense. Because if Netero fails, no one will be able to succeed.

Haha, yeah, right. In the first place I don't think Netero is the strongest. He doesn't think so himself, I believe. I imagine for example Gon's old man is a level above. If the world was lost should he fail, Netero wouldn't be fighting the king one on one. That would make absolutely zero sense. Send ten strong men in all at once and be done with it. In fact he could have just paid Zoldycks a bit more to have those two backstab the king in the middle of the fight (if he had needed to pay anything at all, since they would also be saving themselves if they were saving the world). He would need to be as stupid as Shoot and Knuckle to stick to some ridiculous honourable duel if the fate of the world was decided in it. The ants have no such luxury since for them it's just the king, three royal guards, and some scattered small fries.

[DarthEnderX]

Some people obviously value their honor more than the survival of the human race.

The argument being that if you can't win while maintaining your humanity, then does humanity really deserve to win?


That the king would eat the world's strongest man and gain his powers?Wait, what?

He's not a Queen, he can't make new ants with other people's Nen just by eating them.

[shinta|hikari]

I think it was mentioned that the King grows stronger if he eats strong people.

[David75]

That show gets stupidly boring by stretching every bit of thin air they can...
The DB analogy really makes sense now...

The only thing I like is how Cheetu has been taken care of.
Killua's father seems to be stronger than Youpi, should we compare the crater he created with a single blow and being composed and Youpi's destruction at his peak of aura/wrath.

Now, please give us eps that advance plot or/and people.

[TwisT]

I think it was mentioned that the King grows stronger if he eats strong people.

Indeed. I think it was when the King invaded the castle and ate that guard that had nen. Pitou then explained The Kings nen power.

[Kraco]

The argument being that if you can't win while maintaining your humanity, then does humanity really deserve to win?

Does a single man really deserve to decide whether humanity survives or not? Netero never really gave me the kind of impression he would think so impossibly highly of himself. I also think he plans to duel honourably. Which is why I can't see this being humanity's best or last chance. You can easily bet your own life, but you can't be the lives of all humans unless you are the worst super criminal or don't have any choice whatsoever (like a galactic emperor abducts you to challenge you to a game you can't refuse. If you lose, he will use the death star on Earth).

Let's also not forget the king here is the result of the queen eating who knows how many humans. Technically you could say Netero could bring as many people with him as the queen needed to eat to produce such a mofo.

[shinta|hikari]

Maybe Netero has some weird skill that only works or works better when he is alone. That is the only meaningful reason for dueling the King. He does not strike me as someone who would risk the world for a manly face off.

[enkoujin]

I know it was from the last episode, but...

http://i.imgur.com/94xTGNm.jpg

[MFauli]

"Suck my dick"

Yeeeees, I´m sorry. But that´d be my reply if I was Gon :P

[shinta|hikari]

"Be my sex slave." would have been my knee jerk response.

EDIT: That face on Nef there is really adorable and pitiful. I can crush puppies and rabbits with my bare hands but I cannot imagine hurting Nef at that point.

[Kraco]

EDIT: That face on Nef there is really adorable and pitiful. I can crush puppies and rabbits with my bare hands but I cannot imagine hurting Nef at that point.

You could if she had killed and turned into a zombie your friend and mentor. You hatred would be pretty cheap if some puppy eyes would stop you.

Had I been in Gon's position, I might have refrained from attacking to allow Pitou to save Komugi's life, just like they did in the anime. That's it.

[Archangel]

A somewhat useless episode. That also meant the narration took the main role and I began to bloody hate it.

Get used to it Kraco, they'll use this device for the whole arc for some reason. The author is so lazy with his art that he made the manga weirdly descriptive, the whole thing felt like a visual novel after the castle invasion began.

[Carnage]

Honestly it would have been a pretty neat device if the pacing wasn't so horrible (i.e. the pacing they kept before the ant arc).

[DarthEnderX]

Indeed. I think it was when the King invaded the castle and ate that guard that had nen. Pitou then explained The Kings nen power.I must have missed this somehow.


Does a single man really deserve to decide whether humanity survives or not?I suppose if he's the only one with the strength to get to make that decision, he kinda can by default.

[Munsu]

I must have missed this somehow.


I don't recall the King's nen power being explained per se, but I do recall the first time the King ate a "special human" his power increased dramatically, don't know if that's what TwisT is alluding to.

Don't know if that was a permanent gain though.

[TwisT]

Had to look it up. It's from episode 93. Only thing i found on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSX2C6w8rH0 . Start watching around 1 min.

[Buffalobiian]

That scene suggests an aura capacity (power level) boost as opposed to power (ability) acquisition but either case is bad anyway if Netero loses.

Now hurry up and show me this fight. :(

[MFauli]

GIVE US DOUBLE EPISODE-FEATURES ALREADY!!!1

The ONE superior thing about the old Naruto-anime ...

[Archangel]

I don't recall the King's nen power being explained per se, but I do recall the first time the King ate a "special human" his power increased dramatically, don't know if that's what TwisT is alluding to.

Don't know if that was a permanent gain though.
He's a specialist who gains the nen abilities of whoever he eats, it's a more macabre variant of Chrollo Lucilfer's ability

[MFauli]

He's a specialist who gains the nen abilities of whoever he eats, it's a more macabre variant of Chrollo Lucilfer's ability

Anime-source please. Or do you mean "nen capacity"? That has been mentioned. But gaining their specific abilities?

[DarthEnderX]

Yeah, I think someone's being a manga-prophet, cause I don't remember them ever telling us that.

[Kraco]

118:






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Quite a jolly episode, also indicated by the fact in restrospect I hardly remember any narration, which means action happened. I can't say I'd be overly interested in the Tako as such, but on the other hand he has something going for him in the sense he's not really a powerhouse and needs to use his wits to get around. Compared to the witless ones, Knuckle and Shoot, it's refreshing. Although Knuckle was acting so carelessly that at one point I began to think he must have inhaled some butterfly scales or something.

Killua's demeanor is what really made this episode, though. Seeing Youpi so taken aback by Killua's relaxed approach was very nice.

[DarthEnderX]

It sucks that Pouf got out of the smokey jail. I hope he doesn't fuck up Gon's fight with Pitou or the King's fight with Netero.


Youpi isn't nearly as stupid as his original impressions would have lead us to believe.

So...if I understand Knuckles power, all those hits should have added more interest right? But when Knuckle hits someone with APR on it, it actually GIVES them Knuckle's aura. So he's actually made Youpi stronger until he goes bankrupt.

Which means unless Killua has unreasonably powered up, we're back to trying to to wait out APR.

[Crash]

Agreed 100%. Really anytime Killua flips the "badass assassin" switch it's the highlight of any episode though. "Sorry, what happens next is just me blowing off steam." Only he could walk up to one of those monsters like killing it was no big deal. Really looking forward to watching this fight, or really at this point any fight.

I don't think i'd call Knuckle totally witless or careless. The guy actually had a pretty decent plan, given the situation. It's just that, unfortunately for him, Youpi turned out to be a bit more cunning than he'd appeared to be.

[David75]

I didn't remember that detail for APR. But I think I remember that each time Knucle lands a hit, APR doubles.
Since it was almost at 7k before the first hit, we're takling 1792k...

[Buffalobiian]

APR doesn't double, the aura just adds up. Too bad it didn't look like Knuckle had a powerful attack to give extra aura with. Giving Youpi aura does make him stronger but only in the sense of energy reserve. It's not as if his power necessarily increases because they also have a maximum output rate.

Knuckle deserved to die for being stupid. The plan was okay but you could tell he wasn't thinking right when he got greedy about how many punches he could land. The fact he even went back proves his stupidity.

Anyway, can't wait to see Killua tear it up. His steps were actually giving off steam literally (or burning the ground). Either lightning was just that hot, or he became the lightning itself. I don't care either way, just go all Raikage on him :D.

@Kraco: you hardly remembered any narration because the dude's narration hardly happened. This episode the characters actually thought out loud for the most part.

[MFauli]

Okay, Killua is pure hotness (in a platonic way). BUT please do not ridicule the royal guard by using Youpi to show off Killua´s awesomeness. I´d be seriously annoyed if Killua had no trouble whatsoeveratall against this monster. Assuming he´s going to win, I want it to be a super close, super hard fight and I want it to be made possible only thanks to what Knuckle did to Youpi with his interest-ability.

On the topic of Knuckle, just how stupid was he? I´m not even talking about falling for Youpi´s fake rage. So let´s say he gets in close enough for the hit, then does so. What´s next? OH RIGHT, A SMALL NUKE GOING OFF IN YOUR DIRECT VICINITY! Wtf, dude?!

Ikalgo is nice, but his general weakness makes him boring to watch, since he´s made the impression of "once detected => insta-death". What I wonder, how much time has passed since Bizeff got all those girls? Did he get lucky or did the attack start before he could get rid of his pants? :P

[shinta|hikari]

Knuckle believed that he had enough time to hit once or twice AND run away outside the scope of the explosion after.

Killua isn't going to own Youpi. If you watched the preview, Killua is likely going to do hit and run tactics using the invi dude.

[MFauli]

Killua isn't going to own Youpi. If you watched the preview,


FOR CHRISTS SAKE!
No, i do NOT watch the previev anymore due to its overly spoilerific nature. But thanks :/

[shinta|hikari]

You're welcome. I'm always glad to help.

[Kraco]

Electricity seemed to work splendidly against Youpi, and Killua has plenty more to share. If Youpi gets shocked for half a second, it's already enough for somebody with the Zoldyck speed. Killua could attack with impunity as long as he sets the pace of the fight.

[shinta|hikari]

The annoying thing about these ants is their durability. Even if you can trump them in every other aspect, if you can't hurt them, it is pretty pointless.

[Kraco]

In that respect Killua is lucky: His hits look more like cutting than punches. Unlike the chitinous ants, Youpi is soft, which is naturally a requirement for his intensive morphing ability, including tentacles and whatnot. He seems to suffer less from blunt force trauma, not shattering like a hard exoskeleton would, but against slicing, penetrating attacks it's a weakness. Killua can dice him up.

[shinta|hikari]

He blows himself up yet is perfectly fine after.

I would not be surprised if he can regenerate cuts or reattach lost limbs. You know, like the Youmapi that he is.

[DarthEnderX]

Assuming he´s going to win, I want it to be a super close, super hard fight and I want it to be made possible only thanks to what Knuckle did to Youpi with his interest-ability.I keep trying to figure out how that TINY little spot that Shoot used his power on is going to come into play somehow.

Because if it doesn't, all the fighting to stay conscious that Shoot is doing is just pointless.


Killua isn't going to own Youpi. If you watched the preview, Killua is likely going to do hit and run tactics using the invi dude.Dick move.

[shinta|hikari]

I actually hope that Shoot's efforts are pointless. It's more realistic that way. Just because you tried doesn't mean things will work out.

I thought that most watchers actually watched the previews. Complaining because you didn't watch it and got "spoiled" in a forum that allows discussion about it makes no sense. It's like not watching the latest episode, coming in here, and saying, "you jerks, why are you discussing something that I have chosen not to watch (yet)."

The previews are part of the released episodes.

[DarthEnderX]

I actually hope that Shoot's efforts are pointless. It's more realistic that way. Just because you tried doesn't mean things will work out.It made more sense when Youpi was covered in eyeballs. It hinted that maybe Shoot had created a single tiny blind spot that could be exploited.

Now that Youpi isn't even bothering with that anymore, it seems pointless.


I thought that most watchers actually watched the previews. Complaining because you didn't watch it and got "spoiled" in a forum that allows discussion about it makes no sense. It's like not watching the latest episode, coming in here, and saying, "you jerks, why are you discussing something that I have chosen not to watch (yet)."One could make the same argument about coming to a forum that allows discussion that's full of people that have already read the manga.

You know, if one were a complete ass.


I also don't watch the previous most of the time because, you know, avoiding spoilers is avoiding spoilers. If I don't read the manga because I don't want to know what happens before I see it in it's full animated context, why the hell would I watch the episode previews?

I get pissed off enough when the openings or episode titles have spoilers in them.

[shinta|hikari]

The manga analogy does not work. They are different mediums. The preview is part of the episode. If you don't watch it, that's fine. But that does not mean you should stop or complain against people who have seen it and want to discuss it from doing so. Stopping me from doing just that is a dick move and being an ass something I cannot agree with, because you are preventing me from discussing something I want to talk about that is well within forum rules just because you don't want to listen to it.

Discussing previews is also another way of enjoying anime. The preview does not completely spoil the content, and allows for speculation which is also a fun way to appreciate the show. The previews sometimes even fakes out the audience, making you think one thing will happen when it will go a different route.

This does not mean that I am not willing to stop discussing previews. It just takes a simple polite request. Calling a perfectly valid post a dick move and being sarcastic about it isn't swaying me to your side. I never had the intention of spoiling content to anyone, since I thought most people watched the previews, like I previously stated.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't hesitate to discuss previews. I just usually talk more about the ep. The hit and run tactic can only work if Killua can control the battle really well. Meleoron has to be close enough to get him but stay away from Youpi's hits.

The preview isn't necessarily in chronological order either.

[Kraco]

The hit and run tactic can only work if Killua can control the battle really well.

He has to be able to control the battle really well if he wants to get anything done at all and survive. Youpi is a monster, after all. But that's why I listed earlier the two details that look really promising for Killua at the moment. The third is the fact Killua is a lot faster, but that goes without saying. Youpi couldn't catch even Knuckle.

I talk previews when the episode itself doesn't really have anything worth discussing or the preview looks super promising. It's not really such an issue with HxH most of the time, seeing how it follows the manga and isn't stretching it all the way to hell and back.

[DarthEnderX]

The manga analogy does not work. They are different mediums. The preview is part of the episode. If you don't watch it, that's fine. But that does not mean you should stop or complain against people who have seen it and want to discuss it from doing so. Stopping me from doing just that is a dick move and being an ass something I cannot agree with, because you are preventing me from discussing something I want to talk about that is well within forum rules just because you don't want to listen to it.I'm certainly not suggesting that it's against the forum rules.

But I'm saying it should be.

No offense. I just don't agree with your position on this at all. Your saying that if I want to avoid any spoilers for something that hasn't come out yet, I can't come to the forums at all. I don't get to participate in any discussion, because you just have to talk about the 15 seconds at the end that you could just as easily discuss the next week after it's actually happened.

[shinta|hikari]

You should not complain to me if you have problems with the rules. Complain to the mods.

If you don't want me to talk about those 15 seconds, just ask. Being rude is not the right way to convince someone.

[DarthEnderX]

You should not complain to me if you have problems with the rules. Complain to the mods.Hey mods. I don't like how it's okay to talk about episode previews in anime threads.

[shinta|hikari]

Sorry, but this is going to be my last off topic post. I think it would be better to place that in the suggestions thread, so it can be treated as a valid proposal and evaluated properly.

Honestly I am fine either way.

[Munsu]

This is not the Naruto forum, and no, discussing the previews that are aired and in the episodes you download is perfectly fine. Enough we do around here to restrict discussion and spoilers as it is to be bothering about someone mentioning something that he found in the previews, that more often than not are misleading rather than spoilerific.

That said, it was completely bush league by shinta|hikari to mention content from the previews when replying directly to an anime watcher who had clearly refrained from watching the previews... it lacks a certain etiquette, not that I care all that much about those. But it is what it is. But other than that, nothing wrong was done here other than being a bit of a prick even if unintended.

And that's all that is going to be said on this matter and on this thread, take it elsewhere. Now get back on topic, next posts that are not discussing Hunter X Hunter will be removed... probably with a warning too.

[MFauli]

I just want to point out why I´m unusually sensitive about HXH-previews: I stopped watching them ever since one preview spoiled the entrance of Netero and Zeno. That was just bullshit on the anime-production team´s side. And I feel like there is hardly another anime-story that has ever been this exciting AND compact at the same time. Do not forget, each episode that we´re watching contains only a few seconds of real time-events - and then the next episode will actually jump back half a minute to tell what happened in the meantime.

Obviously, I cannot forbid you from talking about spoilers, especially now that a moderator officially deemed it okay. So all I will do here now is to actually sincerely ask you not to do it. Or use spoiler-tags (we don´t have these here, eh? Maybe an admin should think about including those, would be nice).
I´d hate not to be able to talk about HXH in this thread anymore, but I also don´t want myself to be ruined any awesome scenes, just because a 10 second-preview spoils us that Hisoka suddenly joins the Chimera-king, so he can fight Gon. Or that the Chimera ants actually win and the whole world of HXH is spun upside down. Or that Kurapika comes to help. Or whatever. (None of these are spoilers, lol, it´s made up bs, just to be clear)
So, that´s that.
Do what you need to do, but please tell me now about your future intentions, so I´m not running into spoilers. Thanks :)

[shinta|hikari]

No problem. I'll stop talking about previews. I never intended to spoil you in the first place, unlike Munsu mistakenly believes. I repeated this several times now, but I thought you (and others) watched the preview, but just missed or did not consider that specific scene in it.

See, all you had to do was ask.

[Munsu]

There you go, hugs and kisses all around in the GotWoot family...

In any case, really enjoyed this episode... even the portions I recall being boring while reading the manga had a nice level of suspense and execution when animated which was cool.

Killua was certainly awesome with his arrival, but the internal monologue with Knuckle was great... his self awareness that he's being an idiot, and how he's about to die, etc. But more awesome of all was his celebration when he was running for his life after he got saved and managed a few hits in. Main character events aside, this might have been the highlight of the ARC for me so far (yes I have short memory at the moment).

[DarthEnderX]

Or use spoiler-tags (we don´t have these here, eh? Maybe an admin should think about including those, would be nice).Yeah, what's up with that? That would be perfect in a situation like this.

I know vBulletin supports them because another vBulletin forum I use has them.

[Kraco]

Yeah, what's up with that? That would be perfect in a situation like this.

I know vBulletin supports them because another vBulletin forum I use has them.

Our rules forbid spoilers, so what use do we have for spoiler tags?

Anyway, like Bud said already, that's enough about non-HxH stuff. Make a new thread if you want to continue the merry-go-round about this stuff.

[DarthEnderX]

Make a new thread if you want to continue the merry-go-round about this stuff.Okay (http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread.php/22852-Spoiler-tag-debate?p=539895#post539895).

[Kraco]

119:






- -- - - - - - -





Hmm... HxH being such a jolly series, I'll readily give this the benefit of the doubt and trust Killua had some meaning behind all those attacks. But it surely looked stupid to use his fists when he had witnessed the power puncher Knuckle had left no lasting damage with his barrage. Perhaps Killua's electricity did something that isn't yet evident but will play a role later. The other choice would be that Killua isn't worth half of my high estimation of him, and that's the last thing I'd want, no matter how much it looked so in this ep. We saw earlier in this invasion how Killua was cutting ants as if he was cutting cardboard, so that's the kind of attack I was expecting from him.

Tako cooked up quite an elaborate plan. Too bad he's too weak-willed to finish his opponents. He's not suited for war. Although considering this is a shounen show, executing a sleeping opponent would have been a bit much for a good guy...

[Edort4]

I think that Killua was so shocked/hurt and enraged by what Gon said to him that he lost it and decided to throw some "useless" punch at Koupi taking advantage of his short temp lightning speed mode + Meleoron "safe" escape to vent out the rage. I also think that to active that high speed state he has to "stop thinking" and go like in auto only reacting to the enemy not having a thought process hinder him. When he snaped out of it he freaked and run away.

Poor Ikalgo really tried hard and didnt get much of a reward. I didnt expect the part of leaving the door a bit open and sealing it so gas doesnt leak in and camouflage the gap. Writer got me on this one. Clever move.

[Buffalobiian]

Ikalgo's battle was the best part here surprisingly. Killua's godspeed was cool and all, but I can't really get excited watching fights against Youpi. That guy can think so clearly while taking damage that you wonder why he's groaning and wincing at all. I also didn't notice APR around him this week, so I hope it makes him go bust eventually since otherwise everything up till now would have been somewhat wasted. The low efficiency of electricity still gets to Killua I suppose. Back to basics it is with making your aura last as long as you can.

Well done to Ikalgo. Even if he didn't kill the crayfish, it'll still be trapped down there for a while. If he couldn't kill him he should have gone with the first plan and trapped him between two shutters - only this time by dragging the guy in there instead of luring.

Morel's on a whole different level of mind-games, hopefully that'll be as interesting as it's always been thus far. Action-wise they kind of dry, but the win's usually so fantastically intellectual that the guy really deserves an applause. Thing is, Cheetu was kind of a dumbass and Leol wasn't the brightest either. Pouf's got the brains, probably the ability and also trumps Morel in terms of intelligence gathering. His one weakness is his emotional instability.

I wonder if the "unbelievable choice" later on for Youpi would be his challenging the king. If he likes upward battles so much, that's the best way to get it.

[DarthEnderX]

Woo! Super Saiyan Killua!


Poor Ikalgo really tried hard and didnt get much of a reward.Well, even if he didn't finish Brovada off and take his body, he still trapped him. So he's taken someone out of the fight at least.


I also didn't notice APR around him this week, so I hope it makes him go bust eventually since otherwise everything up till now would have been somewhat wasted.I don't think it's going to come into play anymore.

Last we saw Knuckle, he said he was taking Shoot to a hospital. Which there shouldn't be any nearby. And we know from Cheetu that if Knuckle gets too far away from APR, it's stops accruing interest.

So the only way to make Youpi go bust now is if his aura actually drops low enough to hit reach where the counter is already at.


And the black spot has disappeared, so Shoot has finally lost consciousness.

[shinta|hikari]

I don't think Killua could have cut up Youpi. Defense is aura after all, and Youpi having so much basically makes him invulnerable.

Killua's new combo is amazingly deadly against fellow hunters. It just so happens that ants are too durable. But a normal human eating that beating?

[Kraco]

I don't think Killua could have cut up Youpi. Defense is aura after all, and Youpi having so much basically makes him invulnerable.

That shouldn't be true. You have to actively defend yourself, and even then you have to choose which part of your body to defend. At least that's what we learned during earlier parts of the show, from Biscuit. I guess for a nen monster like Youpi it's more relaxed, but let's not forget Killua could concentrate all of his strength on a surface of a few square centimeters and Youpi should be too slow to react. It's like a properly used kinetic penetrator vs an armor. The armor loses. But to continue with the same analogue, Killua was now using an ordinary HE to attack a tank. The HE loses.

But I might be able to accept Edort's explanation and think this was such a new technique for Killua that he couldn't use it yet in combination with his assassin's skills, thus rendering it largely ineffective against monsters like Youpi. It would have been cool if he had caused some damage by sticking his hand inside Youpi's body through the hole Shoot left behind. But alas, no.

[Buffalobiian]

One thing that bugs me is that Killua was already amazingly fast anyway. When he fought the Rhino guy with the tough skin, he was disappearing all over the place anyway. Sure, he wasn't as fast as what he's doing right now, but it was probably fast enough. On the other hand, he had to repeatedly land blows on the guy's chest to get through to him using electricity.

Given that Youpi's soft, he shouldn't have quite as much trouble.

What I'm trying to say is, autopilot + speed is good. I'd love to see Killua jump into a mob and just waste them all with reflexes. Something more deliberate and planned would have been better against Youpi. Like Edort says though, it's cool for blowing off steam. Slap him silly.

I don't think Killua actually stops thinking when he uses the ability. He just can't control how he'll react, nor does he want to since the reaction will be his strength in this state anyway. Right before he powered down, he was surprised at Youpi's reactions.

The "can't think" isn't entirely out of the issue though, since the needle/remote-control guy from Phantom has a similar autopilot-SSJ ability. On the other hand, that guy can't recall his actions while Killua can.

Killua was scared because his aura's gone, not because he suddenly came to his senses and realised he's facing a monster.

[shinta|hikari]

People keep saying that Youpi is soft, but ants (especially the 3 guards) aren't tough because of their carapace. They are tough because of their aura. Nef was hit by the king's tail right on the face (which looks nicely soft and supple) but it didn't get blown off. The king even evaluated Nef as strong based on that.

Youpi having a ton of aura, he can just keep a layer all around him for good defense all the time. I imagine if he becomes nimble enough to concentrate that aura into specific parts of his body, those parts would be impossible to damage using human aura levels.

[MFauli]

Question: Will Knuckle´s ability keep adding interest when Killua hit Youpi, or does it only count when Knuckle himself inflicts damage?

[shinta|hikari]

I think only if Knuckle gives his own aura to the opponent.

[DarthEnderX]

I think that's right.

But, if taking damage and using his own power lowers his own aura, then it should eventually drop to the point where it gets below APR.

[poopdeville]

FACT: Pitou is a guy.

Every ant, except the queen, is a male. Every ant has a penis and is capable of procreating with females from other species.

Pitou looks like a girl because of phagogenesis. The queen ate females and laid his egg. Pitou calls himself a male.

And also remember that real life male house cats have "feminine curves" compared to our human standards. So a cat-like male would look girly to us.

[MFauli]

Fact:

Scorpion girl talked about becoming the new QUEEN, not king. Not all ants are male, confirmed.

Pitou has boobs.

She has a girl-ish voice.

She uses "boku" as a quirk, but has never addressed herself as being male.

Conclusion: Pitou is female at best, neutral with emphasized female features at worst.

[shinta|hikari]

HxH wiki says that there are female soldier ants. I dunno how accurate that is though.

There is also some information about the confusion regarding Nef's gender.


The only concrete evidence we have to determine Neferpitou's gender appears in the official databook "Hunter × Hunter Character and Word Data Book." In it, Neferpitou is referred to using the pronoun "彼” (kare) which is usually translated to “he.”[22] (http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Neferpitou#cite_note-21)[23] (http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Neferpitou#cite_note-22)
When speaking, Neferpitou uses the pronoun “boku,” (translated to “I” in English) which is used by boys and young men, but it's also used by some less femenine sounding women.

Neferpitou is shown naked with a flat chest.[24] (http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Neferpitou#cite_note-23) Later in the manga, Neferpitou is described like a "mother" protecting a child.[25] (http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Neferpitou#cite_note-24)
In the cover of Volume 28 (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131108202154/hunterxhunter/images/b/b5/Volume_28_comparision.png) which is implied to be based off the coronation of Virgin Mary, Neferpitou takes the middle position which corresponds to Virgin Mary's.
From all this, it should be assumed that Neferpitou does not have a specific or “confirmed” gender. Because of this, this article uses non-gendered pronouns such as "they/they're."
In the manga, Neferpitou's chest is totally flat. In contrast, the 2011 anime may depict Neferpitou by giving it a prominent bust.
So, it is possible that Neferpitou's gender in the manga differs from the anime.

[DarthEnderX]

Every ant, except the queen, is a male. Every ant has a penis and is capable of procreating with females from other species.Ants also don't have turtle shells, and and penguin beaks, and a million other parts from other creatures.

They aren't ants, they're mythical creatures. And trying to apply real ant logic to them is ridiculous.

[MFauli]

@new episode: Haha, massive indirect hype-up of Gon. Two royal guards on him :D

Still wondering what Pouf is capable of. His splitting up-ability is great for gathering intel, but is worthless for battle. He even explained how Morel could have easily squashed him, had he known about his state during that moment within smokey jail.

And I still hate how Youpi´s explosion continues to NOT harm those near him. Come on, you cannot jump/run from the effects of an explosion when you´re THAT close. sigh. Reminds me of BTOOOM.

Nice to see Bizeff alive and kicking. He might be a bit of an asshole, but it´s kinda nice to observe a normal human guy trying to survive inmidst of all those human/non-human monsters. He´ll probably die, even though I´d like him to survive.

[Kraco]

And I still hate how Youpi´s explosion continues to NOT harm those near him. Come on, you cannot jump/run from the effects of an explosion when you´re THAT close. sigh. Reminds me of BTOOOM.

It would probably do considerable damage if people decided to hug him when he was exploding. But there likely aren't too many stupid enough around for that. For these hunters, a second is a long time to put some distance between themselves and Youpi. If they couldn't survive an explosion of that scale without any fragments from a distance, they would have no business invading the King's castle and fighting royal guards. They might not be as absurdly resilient as Youpi and Pitou, but they are still tough guys with their nen mastery.

It's nice Gon just continued sitting without a reaction, that murderous expression on his face, not giving a shit about Pouf approaching. That's how badass he is these days. Like a pro.

[shinta|hikari]

I wonder how that scene will play out. Will Nef manage to stop Pouf from interfering? The only way for him to leave them alone is if Nef manages to explain the value of the girl's life, and how Pouf's interference can light the bomb that is Gon into causing the girl's death.

This basically means that our shounen hero is holding a frail, injured and innocent girl hostage to achieve his goals. I love HxH.

[DarthEnderX]

I don't think Pouf cares honestly. I think the only reason he's in that room is to see if Gon or Pitou know where the King went. If they can tell him, he'd probably leave immediately.

Of course, neither of them knows where the King went. So will he attack Gon to try and vent his frustration? Probably. But we already know Killua was watching him so that's probably going to get him a big ol' lightning bolt up the ass.

[Kraco]

The Hunters would really benefit from having somebody who can use fire in some form against Pouf. First make him scatter and then burn the little things. After all, the smaller a particle, the better it burns. I don't immediately see what other huge weaknesses Pouf's technique would have.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't get why it was so dire to stop Pouf's approach anyway. That Gon would snap and decide to fight, then decide to beat up Pitou instead?

Also, pregnant girl this episode was pretty girly.

I suppose that the unstable girl is the one who got caught in the cocoon. Until they revealed that, I had thought perhaps she hid inside the corpse of the silent ant who was serving pregnant girl.

[DarthEnderX]

I don't immediately see what other huge weaknesses Pouf's technique would have.I'm guessing if anyone had good enough senses to tell which one was the real him, they could just one-shot him when he was tiny.

Or, someone like Killua, watching him from afar and then waiting for him to break into pieces and send all his pieces away like he did earlier in this episode.


I don't get why it was so dire to stop Pouf's approach anyway. That Gon would snap and decide to fight, then decide to beat up Pitou instead?I'm guessing she's afraid that if Gon and Pouf start fighting in the room, Komugi could get hit in the crossfire.


Also, pregnant girl this episode was pretty girly. Now I'm worried cause if they do all go back downstairs, Ikalgo will have to deal with them. Of course, I had thought that taking that taking her out was originally Ikalgo's objective, since an ant with the power to remove other people's Nen powers from people could screw up a bunch of their plans.


I suppose that the unstable girl is the one who got caught in the cocoon.Oh Palm? That makes sense I guess.

[Kraco]

121:





- - - - - - - - - -




The central characters have nicely different personalities and during a situation and mission as tense as this, those personalities developed further, or cracked like Knov. Why Knuckle cancelled his technique is a good question. I suppose it really goes down to learning to respect Youpi. Without that Knuckle wouldn't have trusted Youpi, no matter how big an idiot he is. Furthermore, according to his own words, he can't fight Youpi anymore now that he respects him and doesn't consider him a bad guy, so there's no need for the technique if there's no fight. In other words, he had given up. When he told Youpi to kill him right there and then, I at first thought it's just cowardly idiocy, but if he knew he couldn't fight Youpi anymore, then it's giving up indeed. Saving Morel granted him a perfect excuse.

The chairman really was grasping at straws when building this team. Too many eccentrics who will behave god only knows how when push comes to shove. Thus it's a good thing he didn't actually need them for anything but the initial shock, until they could ferry the King away from the palace. At least he had the reliable Zoldyck for the more critical, error sensitive part of the operation. That was a good call.

[DarthEnderX]

Man, it's as if Youpi sucked up every ounce of character coolness that Knov ever had.

Still, Netero is apparently confident that none of the Royal Guards can get to the King in time. So I guess that means they don't have to be defeated anymore.

Which means if they suddenly become cool, they don't actually have to die in this arc.

[Edort4]

I feel sad. Knuckle sucked so much. For all he knows Yupi killed Shoot and is going to do the same to Morel but he feels no grudge against him nor gives acknowledge to all the efforts 5 guys did to make Youpi go bankrupt and finish his threat (an inmense one he can beat 4 pro hunters) once and for all.

Yeah well this show was being too good it had to suck somewhere and its here with all the flower power cool guys and respect and lets let everyone live. Pouf is "bad" and he will be killed (some1 has) thats for sure, Pitou I have doubts. I think she is going to make it alive out of this and the king to. After this arc everybody is going on a picnick and to karaoke together.

[DarthEnderX]

Yeah well this show was being too good it had to suck somewhere and its here with all the flower power cool guys and respect and lets let everyone live. Pouf is "bad" and he will be killed (some1 has) thats for sure, Pitou I have doubts. I think she is going to make it alive out of this and the king to. After this arc everybody is going on a picnick and to karaoke together.And that would be awesome.

Not everything has to end with someone blowing up a planet.

[David75]

And that would be awesome.

Not everything has to end with someone blowing up a planet.

Or throw Galaxies as shurikens :D

[DarthEnderX]

*nod*

Just so.

[shinta|hikari]

I want the King to die, but Nef has been so great that she has to live.

[MFauli]

Knuckle sucks, that´s true. It really shouldn´t matter if Youpi shows respect or whatever. He´s a man-eating monster! As long as that´s an unchanged fact, all ants HAVE TO DIE.

And while I, too, think it´s refreshing that not every shounen-arc has to end with a massive death toll, this anime is in dire need for more (significant) deaths. It´d cheapen all the tense build-up, if everyone comes out unscathed. Gon and Killua are probably plot-invincible, but other characters should die. Morel really should have, maybe to spur some true growth in Knuckle. Or have Knuckle die in front of his teacher´s eyes to provoke a reaction from him. Have Palm dead already, showing how futile and naive everybody´s rescue-plans were. Youpi, as I see it, is going to suicide-bomb himself to support the king against Netero. Pitou must die once Gon realizes that Kite cannot be brought back to life (I didn´t read the manga, I just strongly assume that Kite really is dead for good). Pouf will undoubtly die, because honestly he´s the most boring of the royal guard, both in personality and ability.

No idea about the king and Netero. Judging from Netero´s attitude and the king´s willingness to open up to those that impress him, I could see the both of them survive though this arc and become life-long friends, weird as that sounds.

[Kraco]

It would have been quite refreshing indeed if Youpi had killed Morel and Knuckle after Knuckle cancelled his technique. That would have taught Knuckle a lesson of war he could have put to use in the afterlife.

[DarthEnderX]

He´s a man-eating monster! As long as that´s an unchanged fact, all ants HAVE TO DIE.Which is...dumb. Since there's already several that aren't. So it's not even remotely a fact.

I mean, seriously, half their fucking infiltration team is made up of fucking ants.


That would have taught Knuckle a lesson of war he could have put to use in the afterlife.Well, your lesson's wrong cause Togashi said so.

[Edort4]

This ants have killed more humans than Pol Pot and Stalin together. I understand that its a shounen for kids and inmature boys but I dont get how they dont care about blowing peoples heads off with a tail sweep, eating childs and orphants etc but if you speak about getting some significant hunters death you are treated like a weirdo. It is all this macho-respect-love what it is incoherent to all the ant arc thus far (and even back to some parts of greed island and the spiders arc).

[Kraco]

I think I've said something along the same lines much earlier in this thread, but these folks aren't any heroes out to save the world for unselfish reasons. I'd say there's a reason why they are called Hunters. Because they are strong individuals hunting their own interests, some of them hunting humans. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they have as many moral codes as they have members and probably not too much in the way of ethics provided by the organization, so more differences than similarities. If they have something they share, it might be their respect of their fellows as hunters. It's a pretty flimsy thing, though, and certainly won't tell anything at all about morals nor friendliness. You can respect your enemy every bit as much as your friend, especially if you are a martial artist.

In other words, if the ants are hunting humans, the ants are also hunters, the same as humans hunting ants. It's up to the individual to judge if that's okay or not (for example if they feel like defending their own species). I personally like this setting, instead of any forced goody two–shoes setting.

Other than that, considering how human these ants already look, who knows what would happen if the King copulated with a human woman. The offspring might look even more like humans but could have inherited awesome powers. It could even be a good thing for the humans as a species. That one backwards nation did pay a heavy price, but they were weak anyway. A plague might have done the same any day, considering they had nothing modern, including medicine, available.

[DarthEnderX]

I think you guys are just being intentionally obtuse.

"It's kill or be killed! If they aren't ruthless it's definitely the end of all humans! There's no other option!"

Except for all the exceptions the series keeps introducing of individual ants learning, and changing their ways, and becoming alright guys after being exposed to other alright people.

Oh, there's a bunch of them that are really strong and killing a bunch of people? How is that limited to ants? There are people like that all over the place. This is not something that only applies to the ants.

It just feels like you guys are intentionally ignoring a ton of evidence so you can hold on to some weird opinion you formed earlier in the story arc.

[DarthEnderX]

Oh yeah, other thing I forgot to mention.

It's pretty lame that Killua has to recharge his lightning powers at a wall outlet. :p

[MFauli]

ep 122 is out.

while it´s still good, i have to shift discussion to some growing complaint of mine: this uber tense atmosphere has vanished. remember when every episode ended making you feel like "goddam, fuck, fuck, fuck, this is so hopeless! please dont die, guys!"? It´s not there anymore. Gon being with two royal guards? Netero facing the king? Well, it´s interesting and fun to see what happens. But there´s no more tension. It kinda hurts me to say all this, but for how much I loved the beginning of this arc, it´s definitely gotten worse. And by worse I mean "good for other shounen-series". Just not up to the standard I´m used to from earlier HXH-arcs.

Maybe it´s really the lack of dying heroes that took away tension. Dunno.

[Kraco]

this uber tense atmosphere has vanished. remember when every episode ended making you feel like "goddam, fuck, fuck, fuck, this is so hopeless! please dont die, guys!"? It´s not there anymore.

It can't be helped with the royal guards and also the king getting so much screen time plus human nature. The dread was there only when they seemed both unstoppable and totally vile and inhuman, like back when Pitou captured what's-his-name-hunter and poked his brain with the antennae. Now they have even concretely got quite human indeed, so they are just regular if strong enemies at this point. They have even been having conversation with the humans.

The fight between King and Netero looks quite promising. Coming up with the mystery of the unknown name to put some fight into the King was a good detail.

[Edort4]

I liked that the battle between Netero and the King is started. The king feels so op that I dont know how Netero is going to make it through this. I liked that comment about the king having his ant and human sides paired I think that pouf is going to try to get the ant side to prevail. Maybe using false information about Komugi but Im just running some wild asumptions cause this series has really surprised me with unexpected twists.

Maybe for once we could get some classic shounen ending like The king winning but ending badly injured and Netero passed out almost dead then Pouf tries to get his chance and kill Netero casue he left the king in that state and the danger he poses and Youpi kills Pouf, after seeing how he tried to manipulate him to get into the ant side, in some kind of respect fighters code defense that the king values to.

[Kraco]

Although I'm not normally one who would crave minute explanations about everything, but this time I'd actually like to know why Netero, after making such a sound looking analysis of the King's mental condition, thinks it's still no good and the King must die. I've hard time believing the flashback we got was too relevant: Netero doesn't look like a man who would kill somebody just because some man in a suit in his comfortable office told him to do it. So, does Netero believe an ant's physiological needs will still always prevail in the end, even if the human side seemed to be winning? The previous queen certainly was highly dangerous, but, considering the pace of development, if the king bred with a human woman, the next queen born from that union might be basically just a really powerful human, not a voracious beast like the previous queen.

[Buffalobiian]

Well, let's just say they're genetically predispositioned to like eating humans and that it would be troublesome. It's like vampires - you have the good ones who have a cultured mind, but by default they should be naturally hungry for people. I don't think any amount of breeding is going to change that.

btw, this week's preview was hilarious.

[DarthEnderX]

Manga writers sure love to give giant buddha statue powers to it's powerful old guys.


I liked that comment about the king having his ant and human sides paired I think that pouf is going to try to get the ant side to prevail.Well, if you can believe what they said last week, Pouf and Youpi shouldn't be able to get there in time effect the outcome of the fight.

Unless all this philosophising with the King has drawn out the fight longer than Netero expected it to take.

[Kraco]

Well, let's just say they're genetically predispositioned to like eating humans and that it would be troublesome. It's like vampires - you have the good ones who have a cultured mind, but by default they should be naturally hungry for people. I don't think any amount of breeding is going to change that.

Based on what? We have seen the king doesn't even enjoy eating humans unless it's a nen user. His offspring would be one step further from that, and the steps these ants are taking are huge. Also, now that the king realised he would rather keep many humans alive and not kill everything in sight, he might even ponder before every meal if it might be better not to eat, after all.

The are lots of different kinds of ants in the world, anyway. Some of them like to eat fungus and sap from plants. Youpi is half a horse these days, it seems, so he might want to eat grass from now on. Puff is like a butterfly, so sucking nectar out of flowers is probably more to his liking.

[Buffalobiian]

He's just high headed. He doesn't like them, but he needs to eat. He also said that some humans are worth keeping. I don't remember him saying that he's completely removed the label of livestock from humans either.

Which ones eat fungus?

[Kraco]

Which ones eat fungus?

Oh, I was referring to real world ants, since I was getting an impression from you that ants can't ever eat anything but meat and these chimera ants nothing but human meat. I disagree on that. I think they can eat whatever they want, though I guess they prefer meat, but so do many humans. Let's just say their upbringing had them eat only humans and consider humans the best livestock since the queen was such an abomination. Now the king has clearly noticed humans aren't food, per se. Hard to say about the royal guards, but two of them made a deal with humans, after a fashion, and I don't know anybody who would negotiate with food. Some of the random ants are of course in even better terms with mankind.

[shinta|hikari]

Maybe Netero really is just forced by his current standing to kill the king. Those dudes in black suits may have more clout than we think.

I actually find the situation to be quite interesting. The king who everyone hates is suddenly willing to negotiate and wants to save humanity, while the hero we were rooting for is now influenced by politics to kill the changed king.

Netero is also really smart when he raised the name condition. It not only forced the king to fight, but also handicapped him. A rook and bishop handicap is pretty huge, but that is of course assuming their levels were close in the first place, which does not seem to be the case.

[MFauli]

Regarding Netero´s unwillingness to negotiate: Maybe he just reaaaaally knows the chimera ants. They´re not a complete new species, they were there before. So maybe Netero was in a similiar situation before. He´s that old.

Regarding Kraco´s pro-ant argument: Alright, just let me mate with Pitou or Scorpion girl. :>

[shinta|hikari]

The thing is, Netero said that the king was wavering, and it is possible his human side will win. Then Netero went on to say that it doesn't matter because he has to kill him anyways, before he himself starts to waver upon seeing a noble king.

[DarthEnderX]

His offspring would be one step further from that, and the steps these ants are taking are huge.I've been saying that for ages now and everyone thought it was stupid.

[shinta|hikari]

But ants eat creatures to reproduce right? If we want them to become more human, we would have to feed the new queen more people.

[Kraco]

But ants eat creatures to reproduce right? If we want them to become more human, we would have to feed the new queen more people.

Perhaps, perhaps not. It would depend on how much of an ant the next queen would be. It's entirely possible it would be so much human already that the offspring wouldn't anymore inherit directly the characteristics of the food. The whole system is kind of weird, if you think about it, because the chimera ants would only remain ants if all they ate were ants. The genealogy might very well always be a dead-end whenever a colony starts to hunt larger and larger prey, culminating in humans. Once they get human enough, they wouldn't necessarily want to eat humans anymore, and so if they still had the attribute of phagogenesis, their offspring would regress due to lesser food. I feel like the King already lost the game. For example if the King mated with Komugi, would Komugi want her daughter to be a cannibal? Phagogenesis turns into a curse if it doesn't disappear.

Actually it would be quite a cool world setting if all the nen users came from families whose ancestors were chimera ants, since the humanoid chimera ants seem to have a very strong natural nen sensitivity.

[shinta|hikari]

I hope all this humanized ant developments lead to Nef not dying.

I could care less if Morel and the others died, except for Killua and Gon.

If Netero really is trying to kill the king because of politics, then I hope he gets beaten. Netero's power is actually pretty OP if not for the absurd durability of the king. It is an unavoidable strike, that would likely kill humans in one blow.

[poopdeville]

I hope all this humanized ant developments lead to Nef not dying.

I could care less if Morel and the others died, except for Killua and Gon.

If Netero really is trying to kill the king because of politics, then I hope he gets beaten. Netero's power is actually pretty OP if not for the absurd durability of the king. It is an unavoidable strike, that would likely kill humans in one blow.

Of course he's trying to kill the king over politics... the ants want to eat the humans. Or, rather, now it seems that the King wants to overthrow the governments of the world.

I actually found it interesting that Netero was unwilling to listen because he thought the King might have good ideas. They are both warriors, but they are also leaders, and understand the unfairness of what they see around them. It is interesting that the King changed his mind about people being livestock, into having ideas about creating equality. Power is for protecting the weak. And that is why Netero has to fight.

Also, Netero's ability is awesome. It's only "unavoidable" because he is so fast -- I get what you are saying about the nen Buddha statute, but it copies his movements. He worked his ass off to learn how to move that quickly. As to whether it is overpowered, there's a reason why he's considered one of the world's top fighters, why Zeno respects him so much, why he got sent to squash the ants.

[neflight86]

I believe the king suggested that Netero was also worthy of being spared, and when Netero asked something like "is that the extent of your offer?", the King said yes and negotiations were off.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 123 is out!

------------------------

















That episode went by extremely quickly. I thought we still had half an episode to go by the time the credits started rolling. Too bad Palm turned into some ant-hybrid. I don't know why I feel that way though since I didn't even like her.

[DarthEnderX]

It's just insane how Ikalgo keeps inexplicably getting all of the most interesting encounters in this story arc.

It's just weird that one of the weakest and presumably least important characters gets to do all the cool shit.

[Kraco]

Too bad Palm turned into some ant-hybrid. I don't know why I feel that way though since I didn't even like her.

It seems like she also lost her old personality. Considering how many ants have started to abandon the original "all humans are nothing but food" way of thinking, I don't immediately see why ant-Palm should be overly hostile, though, especially since there's nobody around anymore to teach her that. She should remember something from her human days and act accordingly.

[DarthEnderX]

It seems like she also lost her old personality. Considering how many ants have started to abandon the original "all humans are nothing but food" way of thinking, I don't immediately see why ant-Palm should be overly hostile, though, especially since there's nobody around anymore to teach her that. She should remember something from her human days and act accordingly.That's assuming that the process that created ant-Pam works the same as the process the Queen used.

We know being eaten and born into a new ant leads to a lot of memory seepage, and rapid personal development. Is it the same with taking a living person and cocooning them in whatever this is?

We don't really know. It could have a completely different effect for all we know. It could be turning them into mindless obedient slaves.

[Kraco]

Yeah, very true. But it just seems that if the full ants can remember and even be affected by their previous human selves, it would be strange if these semi-ants, transformed humans, wouldn't. Unless they are mindless, like you said. Still, considering the ants captured her as a spy, her fate was sealed to be either dead or something worse. Looks like it was something worse. Although there would have been also another option of the escaping medical ants just wanting to experiment, which could have resulted in anything. It's not like they expected having to flee the palace and thus not being around to see what it's going to be.

[MFauli]

Pitou and Scorpion "girl" have penises.

they dont

[neflight86]

Did I miss it, or did they ever explain why/when Welfin started guiding Bizzelf and his entourage? Last I remember, he was tailing them.

[DarthEnderX]

They never explained it as far as I saw.

Or the fact that those guys were apparently already down there while Ikalgo was still fighting.

[neflight86]

OK. I'm sure it'll be revisited down the line, like they just did for Gyro.

[MFauli]

kind of weird episode. the animation during killua´s crying breakdown was so bad that i thought he´s just faking it to make time for Gon. But the narrator explained that, while trying to buy time in the beginning, he really broke down. Sucks that they couldnt properly animate that. Made me laugh about how odd Killua looked rather than being emotional.

Also, didnt they explain how Pitou removed Palm´s memories via operation? How could Killua remove any physical barrier?!

[Kraco]

Also, didnt they explain how Pitou removed Palm´s memories via operation? How could Killua remove any physical barrier?!

And how exactly did Pitou do that? She's a soldier, not a neurologist or a neurosurgeon. She probably read some book again and did some hasty operation, not really knowing what needs to be done. I'm sure she did plenty of damage to Palm's brain, though, which again adds to the long list of reasons why Pitou needs to die when this arc is finishing. Or at least have her own brain so damaged she can't tell the left from right.

I didn't find Killua's breakdown too badly animated or feeling artificial because of that. But it slightly annoys me how he's looking less and less like a tough assassin. Right now Gon's the one looking far more merciless and asskicking than Killua.

[DarthEnderX]

Hey look! It's Bayonetta!

Kinda weird that Palm's ant form is basically just her merged with her mermaid statue.

Does that mean if they turned Morel into an ant, he'd turn into a pipe-man? :p


Sucks that they couldnt properly animate that. Made me laugh about how odd Killua looked rather than being emotional.I thought it looked less odd than it sounded. The VA's anguished cries there seemed like he was doing Pee-Wee Herman screams.


And how exactly did Pitou do that? She's a soldier, not a neurologist or a neurosurgeon.Regardless of how, it's been clearly shown before that she has those skills. She used it to force Pokkle to explain Nen to them.


But it slightly annoys me how he's looking less and less like a tough assassin.Because he's not anymore. That's kinda the whole point of his character arc.

[Kraco]

Because he's not anymore. That's kinda the whole point of his character arc.

Yeah, obviously he's not working as an assassin anymore, but I don't need two Gons, that is, two regular kids only with extraordinary powers, in this story. Thus I wanted Killua to retain something from his earlier life (aside from powers). But maybe you are right and during the series he will continue to "heal" from his abnormal upbringing until he's a weeping mess like a kid his age should be when facing deadly situations and continuous stress. Wouldn't that be great?