That's just something I fundamentally disagree with. A lot of shit happens in that arc. Way more shit happens in that arc than everything before it. The growth that so many of the characters go through is insane.
Been watching the anime aawell. Currently on ep 100 and had to take a break,the chimera ant arc just seemed to fall flat for me when
gon and killua lose their fights which they prepared for a month for, then gon has his nen sealed. I thought it would have been a good moment to show they have become strong however they only ever seem to lose in the show. Greed Island at least gave them a win, but the entire show seems to have been then training to fight an opponent and losing. Eg 1st arc gon lost in the exam, then the tower are he manages to fight hisoka a bit and lost. Lost to phantom troupe and win a fight in greed Island. Meet kite, run from neferti then loose again. I know it's building up now to them winning properly and I'm glad the show doesn't pull wins out of nowhere like other shows eg. fairy tail, however throw the audience a bone with a win lol
I'm mindful I've watched the show very quickly as watched 100 eps since aprox Xmas,and just burnt out though. Also kinda miss hisoka, kaprika and leorio they all seem to have been forgotten about lol was soo glad to see the phantoms again in the arc though.
On mobile and sure I spelt all the names wrong lol
That's just something I fundamentally disagree with. A lot of shit happens in that arc. Way more shit happens in that arc than everything before it. The growth that so many of the characters go through is insane.
Agreed. (Vague spoilers about the point of the arc)
CA seems like it has nothing to do with the main plot until the arc ends and you see how much it affects everything
That ending monologue with commentary on mankind is one of the best social commentaries on real life from fiction that I have ever seen. Yorknew is amazing, but CA is just simply better
This would have been on par with Yorknew for the best arc if the pacing wasn't insanely awful. They really didn't have to drag it out the way they did. The corny narration on top of that only added to the frustration.
Maybe we can just all agree that HXH currently houses two of the GOAT shonen arcs with Yorknew and CA. YuYu Hakusho has a few with the Dark Tournament and Chapter Black. Togashi is on another level
OK. See, I think people romanticize (yeah, I know I'm basing this off one comment) certain parts too much.
Meureum still wanted to subjugate humanity when he was fighting Netero. Gon never became a monster, he just got angry and hulked out at the expense of his own life.
Meruem's no fucking saint, but at the end of it all the guy still managed to find meaning in the lives of humans...he had to be fucking nuked to come to that conclusion, but he still did. My main problem with Gon in this arc was how narrow minded he became. he obsessed completely over the goal of avenging Kite to the point that that's all he saw. Period, there was no innocence or middle ground with him. When he threatened to kill Komugi, whom was half dead on the ground being protected by Pitou I was pretty much done with Gon. Meanwhile during the very same arc Killu came to the very same conclusion that Zeno and Netero did. I may speak in hyperbole over those events. Gon isn't like a war crimes monster or anything, but his view of the world and his thought process is just too narrow in my opinion and I really don't think he'll grow up right if it doesn't broaden. Think what happened to Sensui in Chapter Black of YYH. Good kid, deranged adult.
Been watching the anime aawell. Currently on ep 100 and had to take a break,the chimera ant arc just seemed to fall flat for me when
gon and killua lose their fights which they prepared for a month for, then gon has his nen sealed. I thought it would have been a good moment to show they have become strong however they only ever seem to lose in the show. Greed Island at least gave them a win, but the entire show seems to have been then training to fight an opponent and losing. Eg 1st arc gon lost in the exam, then the tower are he manages to fight hisoka a bit and lost. Lost to phantom troupe and win a fight in greed Island. Meet kite, run from neferti then loose again. I know it's building up now to them winning properly and I'm glad the show doesn't pull wins out of nowhere like other shows eg. fairy tail, however throw the audience a bone with a win lol
I'm mindful I've watched the show very quickly as watched 100 eps since aprox Xmas,and just burnt out though. Also kinda miss hisoka, kaprika and leorio they all seem to have been forgotten about lol was soo glad to see the phantoms again in the arc though.
On mobile and sure I spelt all the names wrong lol
Killua loses to reasons very specific to his mind set, which don't get discussed and worked out till much later, but it's worth it in my opinion because Killua comes out of it a much bigger bad ass than he is at the moment where you stopped watching. Killua is stealth best character.
His love for Komugi (and Gon's utter rejection that someone's life is worth saving but Kite's isn't and Kite is beyond helping) makes me cry every time I go through the arc
See, I don't get that. How could the pacing possibly be that bad? NOTHING happens but fighting. It's mind boggling to me that the Chimera Ant arc can be compared to 20 episodes of Goku fighting Frieza. In 20 episodes Ikalgo has more character development than Goku has in the entire Dragon Ball series.
Guess I'll throw this behind a spoiler since folks mid arc are posting in here now!
Really the whole handling of Gon in the arc felt so on point to me as a more appropriate reality of putting your super optimistic shonen action kid character in a situation like this.
He basically kept denying to himself what happened to Kite and when it was finally confirmed to him in a way that he couldn't deny it any longer dude basically had an outburst akin to a temper tantrum and the accompanying involuntary foolish action with shonen action twist (potentially sacrifice his entire future for the short term mauling of Pitou)
Meanwhile Killua continues his much more level headed growth throughout the arc as a nice contrast.
The scene when Killua arrives to tearful man Gon of obscene hair just makes it.
Probably not going to be popular with this, but Chimera Ant arc was my least favorite one of the anime. I'm sure it had deeper meaning and all that, but it was just so badly paced. The only good part was Gon's big fight (which was amazing, glad they didn't pull punches), but the aftermath was really disappointing on how it was handled, imo.
In retrospect, the pacing during the palace invasion was kind of abysmal, yet this never occurred to me when I was waiting for the episodes to come out. It was edge of your seat the whole time. Like another poster stated, the 25 minute episodes felt like they were only 5 minutes long.
Guess I'll throw this behind a spoiler since folks mid arc are posting in here now!
Really the whole handling of Gon in the arc felt so on point to me as a more appropriate reality of putting your super optimistic shonen action kid character in a situation like this.
He basically kept denying to himself what happened to Kite and when it was finally confirmed to him in a way that he couldn't deny it any longer dude basically had an outburst akin to a temper tantrum and the accompanying involuntary foolish action with shonen action twist (potentially sacrifice his entire future for the short term mauling of Pitou)
Meanwhile Killua continues his much more level headed growth throughout the arc as a nice contrast.
The scene when Killua arrives to tearful man Gon of obscene hair just makes it.
I love how best bro Killua has to step up to the plate and fix Gon's fuck up in the next arc. Gon's I'm going to save Kite mentality and short sightedness really does set him up for some tragic heart break in the end. Yeah once Killua met teary eyed Jojo Gon I was so emotionally drained. I think I took a day or two off from watching more it was exhausting.
He was lazy but at the same time countercultural to Shounen Jump's insane demands. It's still not great for Mangaka, but Togashi's laziness might have helped make the lives of Jump Mangaka better.
He might be legitimately sick or injured now. I don't think he was during Greed Island and Chimera Ant arc. If he was I'd think his wife Naoko Takeuchi would have actually helped at the time when he mentioned he asked her.
(For those that don't know Naoko Takeuchi is the creator of Sailor Moon and Togashi's wife)
I think it's unfair to call him lazy, from everything we know he legitimately suffers from chronic pain to the point he can't even move properly. I mean, look at these free-talks:
Life of a mangaka is some insane shit in regards to the hours, not surprising that it nearly kills them. The Fall of Bleach video goes into some detail about it at the 6:05 mark (with a formula by Togashi no less).
I don't get the pacing or narration complaints at all. As others have said, I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire arc. It felt like every episode was just a few minutes long and it was insane how much happened in such a short time span within the series itself. (I marathoned it shortly before the final episode, watching 100+ episodes within a weekend)
I loved the narration, it just made the sheer scale of the enemy they were facing so huge and the stakes fucking high. The sort of play by play worked wonders for me, there is very few arcs in any shounen that can even touch the amount of tension that I felt. (outside of Togashi's work, Kenshin's Kyoto arc comes to mind)
I think it's unfair to call him lazy, from everything we know he legitimately suffers from pain to the point he can't even move properly. I mean, look at these free-talks:
Life of a mangaka is some insane shit in regards to the hours, not surprising that it nearly kills them. The Fall of Bleach video goes into some detail about it at the 6:05 mark (with a formula by Togashi no less).
I have nothing but love for Togashi. If he can't finish HXH, that's fine. He's given us so much amazing material. I just want him to be happy and have time with his family
I don't get the pacing or narration complaints at all. As others have said, I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire arc. It felt like every episode was just a few minutes long and it was insane how much happened in such a short time span within the series itself. (I marathoned it shortly before the final episode, watching 100+ episodes within a weekend)
I loved the narration, it just made the sheer scale of the enemy they were facing so huge and the stakes fucking high. The sort of play by play worked wonders for me, there is very few arcs in any shounen that can even touch the amount of tension that I felt. (outside of Togashi's work, Kenshin's Kyoto arc comes to mind)
HxH honestly needs narration especially for the damn Nen fights. It's not like Jojo where you have Speedwagon screaming out exposition so the viewer knows what the hell is going on.
I thought it was super long and often verged on super boring. Even the big "emotional payoff" at the end was... well, you can't see me, but I'm making jack-off motions with my hand. I don't understand the campaign to elevate this arc into more than it was.
The Chimera Ant arc has one of my favorite supporting cast ever. Kite, Morel, Knov, Palm, Knuckle, Shoot, The Royal Guards, and Komugi; they're all great.
That's just something I fundamentally disagree with. A lot of shit happens in that arc. Way more shit happens in that arc than everything before it. The growth that so many of the characters go through is insane.
I totally disagree. Glad you enjoyed it, but nah, "development" was extremely forced. When you have to dedicate multiple episodes to explaining a character's thought process, especially when that wasn't the case with the rest of the series, then you're gonna have a problem.
Sorry but watching an octopus argue with himself about closing and opening doors sucks. Do or don't.
Edit:
briguy said:
I thought it was super long and often verged on super boring. Even the big "emotional payoff" at the end was... well, you can't see me, but I'm making jack-off motions with my hand. I don't understand the campaign to elevate this arc into more than it was.
HxH honestly needs narration especially for the damn Nen fights. It's not like Jojo where you have Speedwagon screaming out exposition so the viewer knows what the hell is going on.
The Chimera Ant arc has one of my favorite supporting cast ever. Kite, Morel, Knov, Palm, Knuckle, Shoot, The Royal Guards, and Komugi; they're all great.
Somebody could use a Nen power that could make a character from whatever they read come to life, with the only constriction that said character can not be of a destructive nature or to have once existed in real life.
HxH honestly needs narration especially for the damn Nen fights. It's not like Jojo where you have Speedwagon screaming out exposition so the viewer knows what the hell is going on.
This is actually what I find kind of funny as some people I've seen here hate the hell out of the narrator in HxH but like a lot of other narration of a similar sort in other anime. "Narration" is pretty damn common in most animes, its just the exposition dumps tend to come from different sources. Its Speedwagon in early parts of Jojo, its the narrator in HxH, and so on.
Sometimes I wonder if there's a programming language behind nen powers, because that's the only way I can imagine how the characters developed the ridiculously elaborate rules of their nen abilities.
Sometimes I wonder if there's a programming language behind nen powers, because that's the only way I can imagine how the characters developed the ridiculously elaborate rules of their nen abilities.
My guess is they can feel whether their oaths will work? For some of the more general ones it is practical to see differences based on experimentation. Kite could conjure a gun and shoot, and then see how powerful it is when using his lotto ability.
Sometimes I wonder if there's a programming language behind nen powers, because that's the only way I can imagine how the characters developed the ridiculously elaborate rules of their nen abilities.
Nen is similar in idea to the stands. The rules around it are pretty basic and the specifics of individual powers is often a reflection of the user itself and the strongest of powers are often something incredibly close to that users heart and beliefs. You can have a pretty straight forward power that has some good utility and is strong but if its just something you came up with and aren't fully devoted to, it will never become something truly fearsome. That's the reason something like Netero's power is so incredibly insane, it wasn't just that he trained like a mad man for over a decade but that in doing so he became closer to his personal god to the point he reached a sort of enlightenment. In doing so his Nen ability followed much the same results and transcended with its user and became something awesome.
I avoided the arc for the longest since I thought the idea of fighting oversized ants was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. I watched it this Summer when I had the stomach flu, and I regretted that decision immediately. It was really fucking good.
Yup...that's my "Gon what the dafuq man?!" scene. I wished for Killua to be the main character after that.
Does Gon even remember the Chimera Ant Arc? Seems like after Alluka revived him he blocked out a lot of shit. I think he remembers certain parts of it, but not all of it.
The only downside of this for me was that she "accepted" her death and never felt guilt or apologized for Kite. She had no realization moment of remorse, which is what I was hoping it was leading towards.
I felt it dragged in many parts, but I appreciate the originality of the set up, and the climax was definitely well done. HXH is definitely my favourite shounen after OP.
Gon was pretty insane when he transformed. His potential seems even higher than Netero. The King was an anomoly though. He seems to have had limitless potential in terms of power.
The only downside of this for me was that she "accepted" her death and never felt guilt or apologized for Kite. She had no realization moment of remorse, which is what I was hoping it was leading towards.
She died thinking she was acting as a shield for the king instead of just a punching bag for someone's anger-wrapped suicide pact. She was the most sensible of the royal guards and could've been truly remorseful.
The only downside of this for me was that she "accepted" her death and never felt guilt or apologized for Kite. She had no realization moment of remorse, which is what I was hoping it was leading towards.
Why would she apologize? Pitou's job was to defend the Queen, Kite went into their territory with the intention of killing the queen. She did her duty as a Royal Guard, sucks for Kite that he underestimated the enemy.
I think what the Chimera Ant arc really hammers home is that nobody in the HxH world is 100% good or evil. Everybody's just flawed as fuck and immersed in a lot of grey. It's just that when Gon hit some of that grey he couldn't handle it. Pitou wanted to protect Komugi to please and serve Meruem, Gon wanted none of that and the fact that Gon was willing to let Komugi, pretty much the most innocent character in HxH get fucked to satiate his vengeance lust is messed up and is a far cry from a Shonen protagonist thing. I'm not an apologist for Pitou cause she's my cat waifu, but there are multiple sides to every argument with this arc. Could Pitou be redeemed? Who knows, she's probably not on the same level of crazy as fuck as Hisoka and Illumi are, but she did become aware of her actions and through her devotion to Meruem did manifest other aspects of her personality.
Why would she apologize? Pitou's job was to defend the Queen, Kite went into their territory with the intention of killing the queen. She did her duty as a Royal Guard, sucks for Kite that he underestimated the enemy.
And this is why I love multiple arguments. Pitou didn't kill Kite with malice, she killed him cause that's what she was designed to do. Her job was to protect the Queen and then Meruem. Kite walked into a kill box and died cause of it. Do we mourn hunters when they get killed waltzing into animal territory looking to hunt them?
Yup...that's my "Gon what the dafuq man?!" scene. I wished for Killua to be the main character after that.
Does Gon even remember the Chimera Ant Arc? Seems like after Alluka revived him he blocked out a lot of shit. I think he remembers certain parts of it, but not all of it.