I don't know about "not one of those guys would have let Gon die", I don't think they'd have time to react to a death blow. I'm pretty sure Kurapica and Killua would've been able to handle Hanzo. Kurapica has looked quite uber when he has his red eyes thing going, and Killua, well... it's Killua, he looked very unimpressed by Hanzo's performance and we know he's a bit of a monster.
... fucking Munsu, making arguments i can't counter without spoiling shit.
I have a VERY STRONG FEELING that Hanzo is stronger than Killua.
It seems evident that some of us have seen the previous series and some of us haven't. I disagree with people in both camps but for the sake of those in the latter, I can't go any further with my argument
"You are not free whose liberty is won by the rigour of other, more righteous souls. Your are merely protected. Your freedom is parasitic, you suck the honourable man dry and offer nothing in return. You who have enjoyed freedom, who have done nothing to earn it, your time has come. This time you will stand alone and fight for yourselves. Now you will pay for your freedom in the currency of honest toil and human blood."
- Inquisitor Czevak
Well it seems obvious to me that people who haven't watched the old one should get their mouth off those thousand cocks they're currently choking on and go watch as while us cool kids discussed and compared the shit out of it.
I guess I should be considering myself blessed to not have ever watched the original series. It seems to be actually detracting from others' enjoyment of this series by comparison. I like what I'm seeing every week as this shounen stands alone in surprising me with its developments. As this is a running manga again (which I don't read), I decided to only watch the concordantly running anime for the long haul; for better or for worse. And right now, its all for better to me. This is a very enjoyable series as I see it. Things like how dark or gory it is or should be are thankfully foreign to me.
I'm sorry that those who watched the previous series may feel disappointed by the new one's direction. I really am. I hope it gets better for you, too.
As for contribution to discussion, victory by pity seems to be the only way Gon could win this one, which does feel a bit silly, but that effectively makes him a hunter guaranteed now, right?
Ignorance is bliss vs. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
This fight and the way Hanzo gave up surprisingly fast suggest Killua is more of a killer than Hanzo. Ninja and assassin aren't that different at all; I guess you could say they are merely from different parts of the world and ninja had more use in spying as well. It doesn't take that much to kill a person, not even in HxH, I suspect, so between those two the one making the first successful strike would be the winner. It likely wouldn't happen on an open battlefield like this; they aren't assassins and ninja just for the kicks of the title.
Fantastic episode.
I cannot really explain how it makes any sense, but ... this episode felt totally different from any before. It made me feel as if I were watching Neon Genesis Evangelion, if that makes any sense. The music, the change in atmosphere, the high stakes... Chilling, absolutely chilling.
Itīs scenes like these that convinved me of HXH being the best shounen-series.
Really? The just glanced over the Kurapica fight? Surely they fucking realize this is a *tournament* in a *shounen* series...I'm all for proper pacing but this is getting ridiculous.
...Killua's match was awesome though.
"You are not free whose liberty is won by the rigour of other, more righteous souls. Your are merely protected. Your freedom is parasitic, you suck the honourable man dry and offer nothing in return. You who have enjoyed freedom, who have done nothing to earn it, your time has come. This time you will stand alone and fight for yourselves. Now you will pay for your freedom in the currency of honest toil and human blood."
- Inquisitor Czevak
Man that was tense. Excellent episode.
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"Always be yourself... unless you suck."
What I really loved was how confidently Illumi approached Kurapika, Leorio and Hanzo guarding the door. Forget about Leorio, and also Kurapika. But Illumi KNOWS how strong/skilled Hanzo is. The fact that we can assume that Illumi is not a hot-blooded idiot, itīs likely that he *is* strong enough to engage all three of them in a battle at once. Itīs kinda scary to imagine how powerful Illumi is.
The only real complain I have with how the show has progressed till now is Leorio's character development.
I guess they had to cut a lot, and he suffered the most, leaving a feeling he was only very lucky to be with Kurapika, Gon and Killua.
Of course being lucky and being able to team with people that will help you is also valid to become a hunter, but it doesn't feel right in the way he's been portrayed.
I guess his good points should have been when he healed someone important (those shape changing creatures) and the Bourbon/Ponzu cave trap. But it felt lacking.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
I'm very curious about what Hisoka was whispering to people..
______________________________________
"Always be yourself... unless you suck."
Kurapica's fight wasn't about building tension so much as it was about being awesome. Awesome fights are what shounen series are about, in large part. I mean, if you're going to skimp on things because you assume your core audience has seen this already, then why should your core audience watch this again?
Anyway, I was really looking forward to Kurapica's fight being updated and made more awesome, but barring that, there's still the original:
"You are not free whose liberty is won by the rigour of other, more righteous souls. Your are merely protected. Your freedom is parasitic, you suck the honourable man dry and offer nothing in return. You who have enjoyed freedom, who have done nothing to earn it, your time has come. This time you will stand alone and fight for yourselves. Now you will pay for your freedom in the currency of honest toil and human blood."
- Inquisitor Czevak
I donīt mind the shortend fight between Hisoka and Kurapica. Even though Kurapika manages to successfully land a hit on his opponent, Hisoka is clearly so overwhelmigly superior to him, itīs not really interesting to watch. Basically, itīs a repeat of Hanzo vs Gon.