Ah, so it’s kind of explained in chapter 378!
The Troupe does not acknowledge the power dynamics of society (a major theme of this arc), which makes them the wild cards this arc as much as Hisoka, imo. Even in Meteor City there appears to be some kind of power dynamic that the Troupe clearly has little to no regard for. I’m curious to see where this develops!
No, I don’t think the narrative approves of it, though it isn’t condemning Keeny because condemning suicidal people is just kinda shitty. But it does narratively not endorse his actions. His sacrifice was tragically and horrifically futile in the end: he died to join his wife and daughter, but he did not save those girls like he wanted to–and he did sincerely want to.
The fact that they not only didn’t escape, but Kacho actually died, narratively warns against his actions.
I think it’s warning Kurapika and also Chrollo both what will happen if they continue to attach themselves to the dead. They won’t just die themselves, but their deaths won’t matter in the end. It won’t help anyone alive, it will only create one more dead person. Seeking death just creates death. Proper grieving probably means letting go of revenge and of the eyes specifically for Kurapika, and revenge for Chrollo though we will see whether he chooses to let go or clings (in which case he’d die).
Tserriednich’s nen beast is creepy AF. I’m going to quote the always wise @aspoonofsugar from a conversation we had a few days ago about the nen beasts representing the prince’s unconscious desires theory: for Tserriednich, he is probably more in touch with his unconscious. He doesn’t really seem to hold himself back from his desires like say Momoze was definitely repressing, and Sale-Sale too. But Tserriednich is an entitled $%^& who gets what he wants, when he wants, and he has no care at all for anyone else who suffers. He views women in particular as existing to serve his desires:
Tserriednich’s beast has prominent breasts and womanly features, but is an animal, showing how he objectifies women in particular (for the love please let Oito, his foil, be the one who takes him down).
It also has a mouth that, when it opens, reveals another layer, and so on, probably showing layers to Tserriednich’s facade. There are probably horrors we don’t even know yet.
Benjamin’s looks like a bug. Which is ironic, but it looks like a beetle which is generally hardy but also it’s a bug.
Not to be graphic here but the head looks like the head of… well it’s a phallic symbol, which again fits because Benjamin is very much a manly man. He kind of represents toxic masculinity in a lot of ways, and that seems to be a theme this arc is directly trying to deconstruct with Oito vs Tserriednich, Tserriednich being a predator, etc.
It also has multiple mouths, like Sale-Sale’s, perhaps indicating that Benjamin, despite his being very in touch with what he wants (to be king and ruler), also really just wants to be heard as well as consume.
Well, Emperor Time is something that would surely have had Leorio, Gon, and Killua all try to stop him had they known, so it makes sense to me that Kurapika did not open up about it.
But in truth it’s kind of a metaphor for how Kurapika functions: he opens up and trusts friends, but he holds his darkest self-hatred back. He trusts them with a lot, hence why he told them, but he doesn’t trust anyone with how deeply he actually hates himself and wants to punish himself. He trusts that he matters to them to an extent, but he’s holding a part back, and I do think he’s going to have to tell them/they will find out eventually. (Alluka can you… help please. Or an Ai, any Ai.)
But in general Kurapika wants to be close to people. He’s emotional to a fault and he allows those emotions and his love for people to drive him, but he paradoxically represses those emotions under the guise of cool logic and goals. It’s almost like a Chrollo parallel lol XD His telling them may not have been strategic. It may have been actually an example of him letting his emotions break through, but only a bit.
Please let this arc be the arc in which his emotions really start to break out.
Me too. Illumi is my favorite, and I too am interested to see how he and Kalluto interact since they are foils. Both of them are active in trying to get their brother back (for both of them likely it’s Killua too), but I somehow wonder if Kalluto’s loyalty to the Zoldycks is a bit… different than Illumi’s.
Yeah, I would like to see them interact with Morena. I definitely think she and Chrollo will interact because her ability to create murderous followers is a direct contrast to his Troupe. But Morena was scarred and cast out by her king father because she was illegitimate. Illumi and Kalluto were rejected as heirs by their parents (side note: I sincerely doubt it’s a coincidence Killua is the one who looks the most like Silva and was chosen as the heir. Ugh.) For Illumi this probably stings more because he’s the eldest, and frankly despite him never hinting verbally he has no problem with it his actions kind of betray that he does. He wants to have control of the family via Killua, but he also wants Killua’s love.
A fundamental characteristic of Illumi’s is that he is repressed. Even on the volume cover every other spider is frowning. Illumi has no mouth, fitting with the repeated comments that he is expressionless.
But we know he has those feelings.
Anyways all that to say I see the potential for an encounter with Morena, should one happen, provoking said repressed feelings in Illumi. (This arc already seems to be dealing with repression via the princes and their nen beasts.) Which I actually think would make him more dangerous to Killua and Alluka in the short-term but also gives me some hope for his character in the long run. But that’d be beyond this arc.
I think Illumi and Hisoka should interact. They’re engaged-ish, so we should see them. I’m also wondering, again, if Illumi is as serious about this as he says he is. He is emotional even if he’s repressing, so is he really a-ok with killing Hisoka, who is the closest thing he has to someone actually liking him? Does he really want to do it? Or might he find another solution? Illumi joining the Spiders is also a fundamental conflict of interest with his supposed loyalty to the Zoldycks, so… does he expect them to survive? Or is that conflict going to blow up in his face this arc or the next? I’m also curious to see if Kalluto and Illumi will have conflict, even if neither of them express it to each other.
Another note: neither of them are really at risk of dying imo. Illumi has too much unfinished business with Killua so there’s no way, and Kalluto also has that set up for finding his brother so I’m not really concerned for him either.
#subtle.
But in actuality it kind of is fitting that predator takes on a yonic appearance here. Sale-Sale is a womanizer, and this entire arc has undertones of male chauvinism in that Nasubi has eight wives, Tserriednich is quite frankly a sexual predator, etc., and our MC Kurapika is helping a single mom with a baby girl. Therefore it works that predator takes on the appearance of something that the men in this arc are, well, seeking to prey on, and turns it around to fight back against them: their chauvinism is going to destroy them. (Yes, I know Benjamin is the one targeting Sale-Sale but the thematic points still stand,)
Sale-Sale loses his nen beast, and as is observed, he’s likely going to die swiftly thereafter, possibly off-screen before the next chapter.
It’s also noted that Sale-Sale expects his mother to do everything for him so he can do as he likes (particularly sexually).
Speaking of Sale-Sale’s nen beast, going off of @aspoonofsugar‘s theory that the nen beasts represent that subconcious desires of the princes, Sale-Sale’s nen beast’s design hints that he wants to consume but also wants to be admired, and also that he has no particular substance to him. It’s a shapeless creature with so many mouths on it, and its ability moves the hearts of people to like him, to want to be him, as is observed.
But when Predator takes the nen beast down, everyone is left wondering what on earth they were thinking in admiring him: because there’s nothing to really admire. There’s no substance; there are only desires themselves.
And so the prince who wants to consume is not even going to live to the banquet in all likelihood.
And then let’s go back to part 1, because it has a less flashier subtitle, where Melody deals with Fugetsu and Kacho. At least someone thinks killing kids is bad.
But Kacho and Fugetsu’s sisterly relationship really contrasts with the other sibling relationships we’ve seen among the princes. Tserriednich and Benjamin as well as Camilla and Halkenburg have pretty antagonistic relationships with each other, whereas Fugetsu and Kacho really just want to save each other’s lives, but because of their asshole father, they’re instead supposed to kill each other.
Instead of traveling to a new land as part of a fun game, they’re being forced to travel to a new continent as part of a killing game. It’s really just tragic all around and if anything happens to either of them I’m gonna die with them.
Also: what is foreshadowing, I sincerely doubt anyone in this arc will win what they want by killing anyone (not that I don’t think many princes and Spiders are going to die; I definitely do) but my guess is what will get our main cast out of dodge is an alliance, not striking down everyone around you.
I have a reason to live
So one of my favorite characters introduced in the current arc of HxH–perhaps one of my favorite side characters in the entire series–is Queen Oito Hui Guo Rou. She’s a really interesting character to me, notably in how she foils several characters with long-running arcs, and through that foiling she carries great potential for thematic resonance not just for this arc, but for the arcs of Chrollo, Kurapika, and even Ging and the Zoldycks. I’m very excited to see what Togashi will do with her.
To start with, I want to mention that the Succession Contest Arc has a lot of blatant similarities to the Yorknew Arc in terms of set up. Oito is, after all, not the first woman Kurapika has been hired to protect in an arc that also focuses on Chrollo, the Phantom Troupe, and their inevitable interactions with Kurapika. Back in Yorknew, we meet Neon Nostrade, a girl who, just like Oito, is treated like a pawn by all the men in her life and who Kurapika and Chrollo don’t treat any differently: both of them, despite Kurapika being a protagonist and Chrollo an antagonist, treat her as a means to an end.
For Chrollo, that end is to steal her power, for Kurapika, it’s to collect the eyes. Clearly Kurapika is more sympathetic and did not intend to harm Neon, but the reality is he was still aiming to use her (and no, Neon was not a saint; collecting body parts is creepy). But, Oito is similarly treated like a pawn in a game by a King Man Child who marries her as his eighth wife and wants his offspring to kill each other. (It’s worth noting that there’s a faint parallel there between Nasubi and Neon’s father as well, in that both of them view their children as valuable by what they can do.)
Neither Chrollo nor Kurapika are willing to look deeper at Neon, to notice what she potentially had to teach them as @aspoonofsugar writes in her brilliant meta on Neon here. As a result, they both suffered for it and went down paths that led to their current predicaments, and to Neon’s own death, because she was treated as a pawn. Neon’s death is probably on both Chrollo and Kurapika because of the stealing of her powers and the thereafter ruination of her family finances to hire protection, regardless of whether it was Hisoka or a mafia enemy who killed her.
Oito herself describes her past as, well, exactly like Neon:
But Neon was not a pawn, and neither is Oito, as she’s making it clear. If the lesson Neon could offer Kurapika and Chrollo (both fatalists) is that life is not written, that fate can be changed, that choices do matter and that those choices affect other people as well (and that people are more than just their worst qualities) then it stands to reason that perhaps that is the lesson Oito offers as well. Of course, we haven’t seen Oito and Chrollo interact, but honestly I expect them to at some point.
Oito herself changed–she is essentially Neon changed–obviously, as she expresses. She also expresses remorse for her past actions, realizing that they’ve led to her daughter being in extreme danger–yet at the same time, she has her precious daughter. She has the capability to offer the same lesson Chrollo and Kurapika missed from Neon: people can change. The future isn’t written.
And Oito is changing her future specifically to protect the one she loves. It mirrors Kurapika’s decision back in the Yorknew Arc, because he chose to save Killua and Gon above revenge and as a result the future Neon predicted changed.
I do think it’s entirely possible that both Chrollo and Kurapika this arc will have to choose whether to protect someone they care about, or to continue their selfish path. Chrollo is the one most directly at risk, as I do suspect he’ll have to choose between his Spiders and revenge on Hisoka/Tserriednich/s treasure, but I can see Kurapika having to choose between saving Oito and Woble like he promised and Tserriednich’s treasure/the eyes as well. (Which is what @aspoonofsugar theorized the other day in her own Oito meta!)
Neon’s body collecting also has a parallel in this arc, and this character also foils Oito: Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou. Interestingly, look at the description of the women he says he hates (and presumably kills after sexually abusing):
He dehumanizes them and says their humanity comes down to what they know. Tserriednich doesn’t even seem to think change is part of the equation; all that matters is if a person can satisfy him and if they can’t, they are worthless. He’s an even darker reflection of his father.
But back to Oito. Unlike both Tserriednich and Neon, Oito is not prodigiously talented in nen.
In this sense she is also unlike Kurapika, and unlike Chrollo–both of whom are noted to be talents for their ages. Again, this returns to the idea that the lesson Oito has to offer is not in nen or her abilities, but in her ideals and her ability to change, which is necessary to keep living (something Neon originally pointed out).
If Oito is symbolic of life, as a mother, Tserriednich is symbolic of death–he’s the fourth prince and four is associated with death in Japanese culture, collecting the dead’s eyes, murdering women, the water turning into some kind of putrid mixture during the nen type test, etc. I’d also expect this foiling to continue.
Which leads me to my next foiling/theme I want to discuss, about how Oito’s influence could spread beyond just this arc and beyond just Chrollo and Kurapika’s long running arcs.
Besides Mito Freecss (who while lovely isn’t fleshed out), she’s like, the only good parent we see in HxH. She’s willing to do whatever it takes for her child, which sets her up as a sharp contrast to Ging, who abandoned his son (and will presumably have a role on the Dark Continent), as well as Kikyo and Silva Zoldyck, and of course Nasubi.
Nasubi, Light Nostrade, Kikyo and Silva, and Ging as well, seem to value their children and their relationship with them solely by what they can do. Can they gather the wits and strength to kill their siblings? Are they talented enough to propel the Zoldyck name forward? Are they good enough at being a hunter to find their father?
Woble can do nothing at all. She’s a prince, yes, but a baby. She’s helpless in a Succession War. She’s helpless in the world as a whole. And Oito loves her daughter and will risk anything for her anyways.
If the Succession War continues to be a deconstruction (which every arc in HxH has been and which it already is so far in Kurapika’s abilities being revealed to be killing him, etc) I’m going to venture a guess that however this ends (and I do expect Oito to make it out alive), it won’t be through abilities or powers or even shrewd strategy, but through connections, through the things Oito identifies as being “what really matters”: friendship, family, love, all those good things HxH likes exploring the limits of, but also the beauty of. Oito is symbolic of the beauty and good in the world that makes it so exciting. The journey matters, but it’s the people you love along the way, the relationships you cultivate, that make it worthwhile, not the power struggles and fights. That’s at the very core, I think, of what makes Hunter x Hunter such a great story.
YAAAAAAAY! I love HxH! It’s my favorite so I’m so happy to hear you want to start it!
I haven’t seen the 99 animation, but I’d recommend the 2011 (it’s kinda the same but adapts more arcs). It is very, very faithful to the manga. It depends on what you prefer as a medium. The anime is very long and goes through around 340ish chapters of the manga in 148 episodes, but the animation quality, the colors, the voice acting, the music, etc–they’re incredible. The OPs are great too.
The manga is also excellent, obviously, and the one issue I have with the anime is that they skip a scene towards the beginning that is relevant (they put it back in as a flashback when it’s needed). However, it really just comes down to whether or not you tend to prefer watching or reading: you’ll get the story the same way. There are currently 380 chapters, so once you finish the anime, you can read the latest 40ish chapters–the current arc is nowhere near finished, but it’s really good so far!
Time for me to blather about my favorite dysfunctional dumpster fire family in manga, the Zoldycks.
^^actual footage of Kukuroo Mountain
In particular I want to talk about the Zoldyck children because the adults can eff off. Each of the five children appears to have coped with their trauma in different ways, and yet at the root of each of their characters we can see a common desperation for love, freedom, and acknowledgement/worth. They kind of all center around Killua–fitting because of the abusive and manipulative way his parents treat him as their heir–and represent different parts of him and ways in which he needs to grow, as well.
Illumi
Ah, Illumi, my son and favorite character 1/3 of the time. The Zoldyck’s eldest child, who was raised on his own for at least five years. I wrote a bit about what that likely means for his character here and here, but the short version is that I doubt it’s a coincidence that the three most well adjusted Zoldycks (Killua, Alluka, and Kalluto) were all born around relatively the same time, in contrast to Illumi and Milluki, the two most isolated kids in terms of age gaps of at least five years between other siblings. It’s also interesting that Illumi and Milluki are in many way polar opposites. Illumi will go above and beyond, whereas Milluki is lazy.
Illumi probably was essentially the guinea pig child, and yet despite being the eldest son, he is not the heir because Killua is more talented/looks like his dad/something like that. He’s incredibly loyal to his family (he tries to kill Alluka because Silva tells him she is not family) and is willing to die for his family… or, really, to earn Killua’s love.
Because what Illumi really seems to want is the same thing all the Zoldycks want: freedom, and love. He’s loyal to the family rules, almost to the point of seeming puppet-like, and yet, the few times he’s willing to bend or break these rules is for these two things. He clearly believes Killua loves him more than anything:
This scene is actually pretty heartbreaking, and even Hisoka is like ‘wtf.’
But Illumi says it’s okay to make an exception to the family rules for Killua. Because he wants Killua to love him… and potentially, because being close to Killua=a way for him to have some of the family control that, by birthright, should be his. He was rejected by his parents as the heir, but he’s raising the heir, and if the heir loves him… well.
Illumi is also willing to break his family’s rules for freedom/power potentially (in the future) for
power in terms of seeking to control Alluka to control Killua, and definitely in getting involved with the Phantom Troupe for Hisoka (which is kind of love, twisted though it might be, because love for Illumi looks like a business contract and control).
Anyways, if there’s hope for Illumi’s character, it’s probably through these two avenues, and through breaking down the one place he derives his worth from currently: his family (in a person, Silva, whom I expect to take up a major antagonist role at some point), and opening his mind to a life and bonds outside of his family.
Milluki
Probably the most minor character of the Zoldyck siblings, but he’s still quite relevant and thematic as a character. As opposed to Illumi, who seeks to earn love by controlling and obeying, Milluki only obeys his parents and grandfather, and kind of sucks up to them. He’s clearly terrified of them and yet wants their approval.
Not to mention he also criticizes the heir, Killua, but carefully.
Also, Milluki’s pretty blatantly asking for approval in these scenes and it’s denied, because to the Zoldycks he’s a useful tool but not as useful as Killua.
Again, Milluki is at least five years older than Killua, so if Illumi isn’t good enough to be the heir, it should be him, but it isn’t. Instead Milluki is basically a NEET who doesn’t leave the house and kills people via drones. His noted hobby, the only thing that gets him to leave the house in the series to attend the auction for Greed Island, is a video game–essentially, Milluki’s hobbies reflect his desire to escape into a virtual reality.
In contrast to Alluka, whom Milluki uses to kill, he has given up on the concept of physical freedom and accepted himself as a prisoner in his family, deliberately isolating himself whereas Alluka is forced into isolation and escaping the only ways he can. In contrast to Illumi, who goes above and beyond to obey, Milluki does the bare minimum. In contrast to Kalluto and Killua, he seeks out no other companions besides dolls.
Milluki’s story reads as a child who has all but given up, and it’s heartbreaking. What is interesting is that Bisky notes one of Killua’s flaws is, as well, giving up too easily, and that flaw is literally implanted in his head by his family (Silva via Illumi).
Killua
My favorite character 1/3 of the time. The most well adjusted one (by like. a lot) with a beautiful arc that I will never shut up about.
Killua seeks freedom the most direct way possible: running away. Except Illumi manipulates him into returning, and Silva manipulates him by allowing him to leave… but there’s a lot in their relationship that is sketchy AF.
He claims he’s letting Killua go free, that he isn’t an extension of himself, but we know he asked Illumi to put needles in Killua’s head, so… does he actually believe that? Or is he manipulating both Killua and Illumi?
Killua finds worth and love through his friendships with Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Palm, Ikalgo, Bisky, etc. However, like Illumi and like Alluka, he’s prone to codependency and is also prone to forgetting about those he’s left behind (Alluka and Kalluto–he says the former is because of Illumi’s needles, but the latter calls that somewhat into question). He sees himself as needing to protect Gon, but his journey through doing so is learning about how to healthily do that (and it’s so beautiful) as opposed to Illumi’s unhealthy way of trying to protect him. Illumi is Killua’s shadow self, after all, like Chrollo is Kurapika’s and Hisoka is Gon’s.
Except… we know Illumi isn’t actually the one who came up with this idea, and Killua doesn’t appear to know this.
Killua has found freedom and self-worth through the love of his friends, and returned to extend that to Alluka, who is to some extent the best parts of Killua: love, loyalty, and a childlike innocence, in contrast to Illumi as his shadow, and Milluki as the part of him that wants to run away and hide and Kalluto as another sort of shadow. Eventually I would expect to see some kind of confrontation with Kalluto, Illumi (well, another one, as he’s the main shadow), and Milluki as well.
Alluka & Nanika
The other favorite character another third of the time. Alluka and Nanika is the most removed of the Zoldyck children, having been treated like a thing by her family and locked away. Consequently she, like Killua, is ironically fairly well adjusted, but there are still definitive flaws. Nanika is highly codependent, willing to do anything to get love. ( @aspoonofsugar wrote a meta on Nanika’s desire for love here). Her abilities stem from a desire that is hardly different than Illumi’s desire to die to earn Killua’s forever love. Nanika wants love, and when it is denied, she lashes out at the ones who are loved instead.
Which is kind of like Illumi (not that it is the same thing, because it is not, but we can see a desperate desire for love in each).
The Zoldyck parents, of course, then define Alluka by her abilities, as that’s what the Zoldycks have done to all their kids, but it’s the most explicit with Alluka. They use her abilities to imprison her because it isn’t neat or orderly like the other siblings’ abilities. However, Alluka cannot be controlled–not just as Nanika, but as Alluka too. She’s unafraid to call out Killua on his bullshit to his face (I would pay to see Alluka call out Illumi).
This also contrasts with Milluki, who will suck up to his parents. Alluka, despite being physically imprisoned, is honestly the most free of the siblings, and I’m excited to see how she affects her siblings’ arcs now that she’s able to. She encourages Killua to grow as he needs to grow, and her loyalty and love for her big brother reflect the best parts of Killua’s love for Gon.
Kalluto
Or Baby Goth Ui, as I call him.
Kalluto, like, idk, every Zoldyck, is driven by a need to earn love. In one of his earliest scenes, he both obeys and chases after his mother as she frets over Killua.
And then we see his motivations for joining the Phantom Troupe.
What’s interesting about Kalluto is that despite his lack of focus, he has a lot of set up for a pretty major impact on Killua’s arc. He’s been lurking in the background since his introduction, literally.
Killua notes that, in his perception, Kalluto is jealous of Alluka:
But there’s no mention of Kalluto’s feelings towards him, and yet the implication is definitely that Kalluto wants to get Killua back (though it could be Alluka), but either way, Killua is misinterpreting Kalluto’s feelings–either feelings towards himself, or feelings towards Alluka… which implies a certain amount of neglect on Killua’s part in terms of being so close to Alluka but never really reaching out to Kalluto once in the entire series.This isn’t to fault Killua exactly either; he’s a kid and his parents are to blame.
So Kalluto wants love, specifically a sibling’s love, and he seems determined to earn it (not realizing you can’t earn it). He also breaks with his family’s rule of staying away from the Phantom Troupe (where they, you know, actually give him approval):
At this point Silva you might as well accept your kids are all involved with the PT they’re practically your family too welcome to hell. For Kalluto, this is probably a way of seeking both freedom from his family and belonging, as the Phantom Troupe is pretty clearly functioning as another dysfunctional family of sorts and Kalluto seems to care about them.
There’s also a dark contrast in that Killua joined with his friend Gon to find Gon’s father with him, and Kalluto has joined a notorious group of thieves and murderers to get his brother (whoever it is) back. There’s hints of Illumi’s desperate desire to bring Killua back in that, and it’s super tragic when we consider how young Kalluto is.
Anyways, all this to say the Zoldycks are fascinating in their parallels and foiling (I don’t really want to talk about the parents too much but they foil all their kids too) and through looking at each of their characters I think it can give deeper insights into the themes Togashi is exploring with the Zoldycks. None of the children are just throwaway characters; instead Illumi, Milluki, Alluka, and Kalluto really reflect the complexity of an excellently written protagonist in Killua.
hamliet 