Hunter X Hunter - General Discussion

[Sandman87]

This episode was irritating. "We could send Kurapika out to see if the guy he fought is dead or unconscious, or we could have Leorio engage in an idiotic bet with the next contestant that costs us a bunch of hours in order to find out."

This show seems to have developed a thing for candles all of a sudden. First Gon's contest with the candle guy, and now Hisoka meets a knife guy who likes candles. Interesting contrast; Gon's contest was about keeping candles lit, while Hisoka's ended with knife guy and candles getting snuffed. Also, Hisoka has him some mad acrobatics skillz.

23 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

This week: the sociology of the majority! Also, Leorio almost violates the Hippocratic Oath (if that exists here)...

Only if the Blue Meanie can be considered a patient and if what Leorio was doing was medical treatment. Nothing in the oath about defenestrating bad guys.

[lathspel]

What I like about this show is that the protagonists are naive but not dumb.  They make mistakes, but they aren't illogical about their bad behavior (that bugged me in Bleach a ton).  I'm really enjoying this more than I expected, considering where it started.

I will say that, since Leorio is a doctor, he probably should've checked that guy's pulse earlier.  (And, who lets someone change their bet after they make it?)

[Sandman87]

Leorio loses his match, along with losing 50 hours of the remaining time, which makes the final contest a tie-breaker. Ah well, at least he got a grope out of the deal. Then the biggest, most murderous dude in the history of anything ever goes up against Zoldyck...and gets curb-stomped instantly. The kid literally rips his heart out and hands it to him. Everyone else, on both sides, freaks out a little. And then they're off to the penalty box room, where they'll have to wait for 50 hours to pass before resuming the exam. Meanwhile, Ikkaku and the Pinhead-looking guy successfully finish their exam runs.

I'm absolutely convinced that the Waiting Room is another challenge. Maybe just to see if they can go 50 hours without strangling each other, maybe something else. It'd be hilarious if they stretched that part out to 100 episodes, so that the viewers had to take the 50 hour penalty too.

[ZoqFotPik]

Quote

It'd be hilarious if they stretched that part out to 100 episodes, so that the viewers had to take the 50 hour penalty too.

The fan reaction to that would be epic, I remember "The Endless Eight". I would actually respect the creators for committing to something like that, I would never in million years watch it all, but I would respect them for doing it.

[Lantern7]

Pinhead? For some reason, I think those are mushrooms growing out of him.

Dunno who's worse . . . Leorio or Sanji. I'm thinking Leorio, since he actually got to feel up a woman, and he screwed over others to do it. If Kurapika and Killua took turns punching him in the head, I wouldn't have blamed them. You think Leo would have played it like that had he known how scary Killua was? Yes. Yes, he would.

Anybody else think that Killua had removed his opponent's scrotum and nuts through the chest cavity? It's the packaging that makes me cringe a little.

[Sandman87]

Gon & friends spend almost the entire episode trapped together for their 50 hour time-out. Unsurprisingly, Leorio and Tonpa barely manage to keep from murdering each other. Everyone else just waits it out as best they can. The whole group eventually get out and end up almost fighting to the death, until Gon figures out that they can take a shortcut by chopping through the walls. They make it to the end with almost no time to spare.

Meanwhile, several other examinees manage to get to the end, including one who immediately DFOs once he's through the door. Does that mean his corpse will advance to the next stage?

[lathspel]

Like Kurapica, I'd view an extended period of enforced idleness as a great opportunity to catch up on my reading.

[Matt K]

I'm kind of sad that they had Leorio loose.  It seemed pretty obvious he would just so all 5 of them would have a turn.  I would have enjoyed it if they went against expectations and had him win, plus she show kind of caps over Leorio and I'd like it if they made it clearer why he's not just dead weight being carried by the group.

[Lantern7]

Gotta like the lateral thinking for Gon. Choose the long route, walk ten steps, hack the heck out of the wall, take the easy way down. On the downside, the group didn't tie up Tonpa. If he doesn't get killed in the next phase, it'll be a miracle. "ARRRRRRRGGHH!!!" "I SURRENDER!" "I DON'T CARE!!!!"

Much like Naruto and the Chunin Exam, we'll be getting one-on-one battles, at least if I understood the narrator correctly. Bad news: I think the next episode is a recapper.

[Sandman87]

Recap episode. Nothing new here.

I'm a little curious as to what the giant Q-tip that one guy is carrying around does.

[ZoqFotPik]

That might be some form of Kanabo. I'm surprised they didn't skip this episode. I did think it was funny how Gon just glossed over all of the people who have died horribly during the tests.

Edited July 25, 2016 by ZoqFotPik

[lathspel]

I had almost forgotten shows have recap episodes.  This one wasn't terrible at least.  

Hey, we skipped the cooking exam with the cute hunter entirely!  And that green-haired girl too.   We did not recap when Leorio took the fall to cop a feel, either.  

From Gon's perspective, either this is only what he noticed at camp, ...or at least it's what he'll write Auntie and Grandma about.  

[Matt K]

Glad I ended up missing this weeks because I had to get up early.  Watched some of it on demand, but skipped most of it. I get the point of clip shows, but they have to be pretty good for me to bother watching one.

[Lantern7]

Did Gon reveal his last name at the end of his letter? Weird that he'd do that in a letter to family. And while I'm here: is it a little messed up that Gon wants to become a hunter like his father in order to see why Gin would abandon his family? I would've expected Gon's new pals to give each other raised eyebrows upon finding that out.

ETA: New stage! Half of the episode is Gon learning to hunt, so it'll be a while for this arc to warm up. He has to snag Hisoka's badge, which . . . it would be easier for him to protect his number and mug three other applicants to get the points to advance.

ETA2: I'm thinking "Pinhead" may be a robot. The horrible part of me reckons that he suffers from Parkinson's.

[Sandman87]

This week: The "Forest of Death" portion of the Chunin Exam...uh, I mean the Hunter Exam...gets under way. It's like Pokemon Go, but the hunters have to collect each other by way of taking each others' badges  Can you say "everybody fight?" I knew you could! I wonder if anyone will ignore their target and just collect single-point badges from the other examinees

Gon's target is Hisoka, so he decides to get in some practice with his fishing rod first. He finally figures out a technique for hooking a badge on an erratically moving opponent, but only after inflicting much trauma on the local wildlife.

Incidentally; the technique which Gon finally settled on is well known to players of video games that have player vs. player death-match, and it works wonderfully well.

[Sandman87]

Gon finds butterflies that are attracted to blood. Blooderflies! He uses them to find Hisoka smart-quick by putting them on strings, just like the fly guy from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and settles down to wait for his chance.

Leorio gets tricked by his full-time pain in the ass Tonpa and loses his badge. Kurapika steps in and helps out.

Hisoka encounters another hunter who's dying from fighting Pinhead, but Pinhead shows up to finish the job. Then he pulls all the pins out of his head, and turns into a long-haired bishi guy. Guess he's got him some acupuncture skills with all those pins, like whatshername from Akame Ga Kill.

Killua walks through the forest a lot, and someone follows him a lot.

[Lantern7]

I think we need to start placing names to these characters, because the action is heating up at the Chunin Hunter Exam.

*deep breath*

Gon continues to hunt Hisoka. Hisoka is allied with Pinhead Robot, who turns out to be Face-Changing Robot. Or is it Face-Changing Diglet? I hope he doesn't show up at week's end as Face-Changing Dugtrio. That applicant also killed Sniper Guy, and Hisoka fended off Dying Spear Guy. Meanwhile, Leorio encountered Tonpa, who was allied with Guy With Monkey Sidekick. Leorio's badge is taken, but then Kurapika shows up, and Tonpa and GWMS (and the monkey) are tied up and relieved of their badges. Leorio's target is Token Chick, so you know he'll botch that. Elsewhere, Killua is wandering the forest, stalked by one of the Asshole Brothers. Oh, and the guy who is hunting Gon doesn't show up. I'm guessing he'll pop in at the absolute worst moment for Gon, because that's pretty much how anime works.

Watched last week's episode. Forgot the part where Gon reveals Hisoka's number, and we get a visual of Hisoka licking his lips. Ewwwwww.

[Lantern7]

Is there a way to get character names without getting spoiled for the current arc? The only recognizable names I have are Gon, Leorio, Kirapika (the "pika" part makes him stand out), Killua, Hisoka and Tonpa.

[ZoqFotPik]

This version of the show is around 5 years old. I really doubt you'll be able to find any non spoiler information. Also, the bald ninja guy is named Hanzo.

[ZoqFotPik]

On 8/6/2016 at 10:36 PM, Lantern7 said:

That applicant also killed Sniper Guy,

Sniper Gal, who was cleverly named Siper. I'm guessing Diglet is going to turn out to be someone important, probably a big bad. This was one of the more exciting episodes. It was interesting to see how the other examinees are handling the tests, although with such little development, it's hard not to think of them as fodder. I'm wondering why the brothers weren't sticking together. It would seem it be easier to collect badges if they worked as a team, not that they have a chance against the heart ripper.

I still haven't made up my mind about this show, I'll probably keep watching at least until MSG:IBO finishes. It's had some good episodes, but I think parts of this arc have dragged.

Edited August 8, 2016 by ZoqFotPik

[Lantern7]

*sigh* Token Girl That's Still Alive, then. I honestly thought there was just one female in the field.

[Sandman87]

Heh. I didn't have any thoughts either way, since gender isn't particularly evident in this show unless there are obvious breasts involved. I'm still not entirely convinced that Kurapika is male.

[Lantern7]

Great, now I got Leorio leering in my head. "Check out the pikas on her kura!!"

For your enjoyment . . . here's Kurapika kicking Tonpa in the face.

[Sandman87]

Oh thanks. Now I have two random women in the show conversing in my head:

"Check out Hisoka!"

"Yeah, it glows!"

"No, I said Hisoka, not his oka. But yeah...it does glow."

[Lantern7]

This post is brought to you by Hunterpedia! For all your name-finding needs!

This week: Gon watches as Kurapika plays Let's Make A Deal with Hisoka, and the villain takes a one-point badge. Gon continues to track his prey, watches a weary Hisoka attack Agon (whom I would've referred to as "The Schnozz"), and actually nails the theft. Gon has about five seconds to celebrate before Geretta (aka "Q-Tip Guy") ambushes him with a tranq dart and takes both badges. And then Geretta falls over dead at Hisoka's hand. Gon and Hisoka fight . . . well, Gon tries, what with toxins invading his system. He gets a fist to the face for his trouble, but Hisoka lets him keep the badges. That means he's going to murder six people before the week is over. That's in addition to Agon and Geretta.

[Lantern7]

Before I go to bed, here are the names I was having trouble with last week:

Gittarackur: Face-shifting pin guy. I'm thinking "robot," also.

Siper: Sniper chick. Killed by Gittarackur.

Sommy: Guy with the monkey. Dunno if the monkey has a name.

Imori: One of the Amon Brothers, whom I figure are a-holes. Pursuing Killua. Good luck with that, buddy.

Goz: Spear guy Dropped dead while trying to fighting Hisoka.

[ZoqFotPik]

Hisoka is finished hunting. He has: 1. Siper's badge that Gittarackur gave him. 2. Monkey Man's badge that Kurapika gave him. 3. Random guy he encountered in the woods' bage. 4. Geretta's badge, who was also His target. That gives him 6 points.

[Lantern7]

Oh. I'd still expect him to kill six people, because he's that big of a freak.

I'm not a fishing expert . . . can you make your hands bloody from casting often? All I could think last week was, "Man, puberty is gonna be hell on Gon."

[ZoqFotPik]

You're probably right, Hisoka will kill anyone who crosses his path, but he might not be actively hunting anymore. When I started golfing, I would get blisters if I spent too much time at the range and Gretta said he cast 7000 times, so I'm guessing it can tear up your hands if you do it long enough.

[Sandman87]

Just in case anyone had started thinking that maybe Hisoka isn't so bad, it's revealed that he sometimes needs to give in to his blood lust and kill someone. Sort of a calm berserker.

Irony! Q-Tip Guy who looks a lot like Kaname from Bleach scolded Gon for not paying attention to his surroundings...and then apparently got killed because he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.

Now that Hisoka said that line about "when you can punch me in the face like that", Gon will have to take that as a personal challenge and eventually punch him in the face. It's one of the rules of anime.

[Lantern7]

Before I lose track: I brought HxH references with me to an anime con. Here are the results: Gon and Hisoka.

[lathspel]

Obvious Prediction: snake charmer trapped Ponzu, but she's poisoned him, and now they are all stuck.

Not sure why Kilua had to mess with One Punch Man, other than just to make it more of a challenge.  I am liking this whole badge chase puzzle arc.  

[ZoqFotPik]

From the character thread:

Quote

Obvious Prediction: snake charmer trapped Ponzu, but she's poisoned him, and now they are all stuck.

Not sure why Kilua had to mess with One Punch Man, other than just to make it more of a challenge.  I am liking this whole badge chase puzzle arc.  

I'm think Killua did it to show Hanzo that he knew he was there and to mess with him a little. I agree with you about the snake charmer and Ponzu.

[Lantern7]

"What part of 'Don't come in here!' did you two not understand?!?" "You could have shouted, 'I've been poisoned! Keep away!!' Dumbass."

While the Panzu/Bourbon scenario makes the most sense, I can see Hisoka killing Bourbon and leaving Panzu to rot with the snakes. For the "lulz," you see. At least Killua got a win. He got to screw with four people. I'd like for him and Hisoka to meet. The sarcasm and menace would be off the charts.

[Sandman87]

I just wonder whether Killua did that badge swap to fool the guy who was watching from the bushes, or just to mess with the two guys who would want to get their badges back.

Given Gon's performance in the Tower O' Cooperation, maybe they'll all decide to dig their way out of the cave.

[Lantern7]

This week: It's the end of the Zevil Island arc, as Gon manages to get antivenom for Leorio and himself. Part of me thinks the kid might be a Gary Stu, what with the lateral thinking and the leaps of faith. But I don't find him that annoying. Anyway, we wind up with eight (nine?) survivors. I'm assuming Tonpa is still tied up somewhere. Good.

The head judge guy interviews the finalists and draws up brackets. Looks like the Chunin Exams all over again. Does that mean Hisoka would be Orochimaru? Sadly, Toonami is running a One-Punch Man marathon next week, so we'll have to wait to see how the matches play out.

[Sandman87]

In the cave of snakes, we learn that Ponzu accidentally killed Bourbon (Ponzu and Bourbon sounds like a drink that comes with a little umbrella in it) when she screamed, causing the bees that she keeps in her bulbous hat to to sting him, which was bad news because he was allergic to bees. She has literal bees in her bonnet! Gon demonstrates the power of positive thinking by letting the guard snakes bite him while he searches the dead guy for antidote, and finds enough to treat just about everyone on the island if need be. Yay, everyone escapes! Although Ponzu loses her badge to Leorio in the process. Gon & friends all pass this phase of the exam.

Next, Grandpa Grab-My-Ball interviews all the examinees who passed so he can decide who gets to fight who. The interview consists of "Who do you want to fight, who do you not want to fight, and who are you keeping an eye on?" Unsurprisingly, no one wants to fight Hisoka, and a lot of folks are watching Gon.

[Lantern7]

Anybody catch the latest episode continuing the Chunin Hunter Exam arc? Okay, I admit to being unfair, since the format here is a lot kinkier. Nine guys fight in a tournament, where the losers advance via submission. This way, we get eight winners. Gon draws Hanzo, and Hanzo works the kid over for three hours. Thankfully, most of the violence is off-camera, including the breaking of Gon's arm. In the end, Hanzo gives up in light of Gon's intense desire and stubbornness, but not before the little guy is knocked the hell out.

Anybody want to bet that the loser will be somebody we know? And you can't kill somebody without being disqualified. That has to be frustrating for Hisoka.

[Sandman87]

Yeah, that was annoying. The episode, I mean. I kind of hope that someone gets killed in the next one just to move things along.

[Terrafamilia]

The chairman must have been looking for who had the stomach to be a torturer.

[Lantern7]

Apparently, the rest of the tournament was a flashback for Gon's benefit. The upshot is that Glitterduck was actually Killua's brother, and he laid down a major mindfuck before getting "Kil" to concede. Then the little guy killed another finalist and stalked off. Even with Killua's fuse getting lit and Glitterduck's morphing, I still consider Hisoka to be the creepiest guy on the show.

[Matt K]

Glad they didn't end up stretching this out to like a 5 episode arc.  Wonder where they're going next.

[jbrecken]

I've decided that if one of the characters voiced by a female turns out to secretly be a girl all along it makes a better story if it were Killua than Kurapika.  Imagine some timeskip that gives us postpubescent Gon running across a sneaky female assassin, who turns around and he recognizes her as his old friend.

[Matt K]

6 hours ago, jbrecken said:

I've decided that if one of the characters voiced by a female turns out to secretly be a girl all along it makes a better story if it were Killua than Kurapika.  Imagine some timeskip that gives us postpubescent Gon running across a sneaky female assassin, who turns around and he recognizes her as his old friend.

I'm still kind of upset that Kurapika isn't female.  I'm fine when a show uses female voice actors for pre-pubecent roles but unless the twist is that the character is female (like a certain show I won't name for spoiler sake) it just makes me wish the character was female, especially in a show like Hunter X Hunter where none of the main characters and very few of the supporting characters are female.

 

By the way, what's the purpose of the x's in Hunter X Hunter and the episode names? I was wondering since the X's are silent i.e. it's pronounced Hunter Hunter not Hunter X Hunter.

[Sandman87]

I dunno. Usually in "A x B" denotes that they're a couple in Japan, like "Bennifer" or "TomKat" would in the US, but that's not how it's being used here.

So I guess Killua just needed to kill someone after his brother messed with his head. That's the only reason I can think of for him suddenly lashing out at Random Old Guy. Hmm...sounds like he has something in common with Hisoka. Maybe they'll team up!

[ZoqFotPik]

I just saw today that the first 100 episodes are currently on Netflix, so if you miss an episode or want to get ahead. They are subtitled not dubbed.

[Lantern7]

This week: transitioning to the next arc. Characters that we don't really care about say farewell. Gon unknowingly breaks Glitterduck's arm. And we find out Gin (Ging?) is a Very Important Hunter. Something tells me we'll see that guy as often as Monkey D. Dragon over on One Piece.

Damn, what can't licensed hunters do? No wonder there are so many applicants. You can murder and whore around the world, and nobody can say jack. And I'm guessing you get free computer service. Oh, and the HxH world has computers.

ETA: Toonami shifts back thirty minutes, so HxH will air at 1:30 starting next week.

[Sandman87]

Nice that the hunter license basically lets one use most of the services in the world for free, but I bet they're going to end up wanting to use an awful lot of the services that it doesn't cover.

Judging by the logo, the Hunter organization must be the same folks who make Dos Equis beer.

The map of the world made me crack up. It looks like they just rotated and rearranged the continents of the real world.

Hisoka is a fruit-plucker! Say "fruit-plucker" five times fast.

[ZoqFotPik]

8 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Oh, and the HxH world has computers.

That hunter applicant way back in episode 4, the one where they were running through the tunnel, had a laptop. The kid with a bow tie and one of Tonpa/Amori brothers victim.

7 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

It looks like they just rotated and rearranged the continents of the real world.

I paused the screen, that's exactly what they did.

[Matt K]

On 9/25/2016 at 1:30 AM, Lantern7 said:

This week: transitioning to the next arc. Characters that we don't really care about say farewell.

ETA: Toonami shifts back thirty minutes, so HxH will air at 1:30 starting next week.

Hey, I actually like Hanzo and hope we see more of him (same with Mr Mustache).  That said your right, like who cares about arrow guy (although I guess they're the only two who don't seem to tie into upcoming stories).  Thanks for the heads up about the time change.  I wonder what they're adding in. 

Edited October 1, 2016 by Matt K