- A while ago I was rewatching the series with a friend and we got to the Knuckle fight. My friend says he obviously enhances his fists right and I then realized why Knuckle doesn't have a simple power like Enhancement. While fighting Gon, he's gentle and gives warning that prevent damage or potential death for Gon. APR and IRS are skills that conjure a being which allows Knuckle to hit a person with all of his might, AND NOT HURT THEM! It doesn't even kill them if his aura exceeds their, just makes them extremely weak so they can be captured. In fact, Shoot or Knuckle probably inspired the other to make their ability.
- I was confused at first as to why Neferpitou's ability is that of a Torture Technician when cat people are usually used in Japan as fluffy Moe bait- I thought it was random. And then I happened to watch my own cats stalk and pounce on some toy mice and rip them apart, and then it hit me: she's a cold-hearted Torture Technician precisely because she's a catgirl/part-cat Chimera Ant, and therefore would have had the ability beforehand as an actual cat with his prey. Genius.
- Kurapika Kuruta's name (or just the name of his clan). "Kurutta", in Japanese, means "gone crazy/ gone mad". Can you guess which character spent a whole arc zigzagging between the two sides of the Despair Event Horizon?
- Pakunoda is a Materialization-leaning Specialization-type nen user. Emission is diametrically opposed to Materialization, so she ought to be crap at it. And yet, she can very effectively use Materialized bullets, without them decohering and fizzling out as soon as they leave the barrel. She is just that good.
- Or maybe the bullets go fast enough to not disperse before doing their purpose? Machi's Transformation, which is two steps removed from Emission, same as Specialization, and could keep strings going for a good dozen of meters.
- But those strings are still attached on one end to her main aura, so they don't fall under Emission. It's only when a nen-object completely leaves contact with its originator that Emission skill becomes an issue, like when Machi sewed Hisoka's arms back on and told him to be careful, because her threads are much weaker when they don't attach back to her, or with Kurapika's Judgement Chain once the connecting line back to his hand breaks off.
- Specialization types seem to be able to combine two different Nen types and use both effectively. Kurapika could deal with Uvo's enhancement powers not because Kurapika was just that good, but because his specialist power allowed him to use enhancement as though it was his main Nen type.
- Specialization is frequently shown combined with Materialization and Manipulation (e.g., Chrollo uses Materialization to conjure his skillbook, but actually stealing the abilities is a Specialization power) because hatsu for those two nen types lend themselves easily to expanding to Specialization. Other characters as well sometimes combine two adjacent Nen types into their hatsu (e.g., Biscuit is primarily a Transformation user, but her hatsu, Cookie, also uses Materialization.), and can incorporate non-adjacent ones in some circumstances, but at a stiff penalty in effectiveness (e.g., Hisoka and Machi are both Transformation users, but they can use Emission to detach their gum/threads from their main aura in exchange for decreased range/tensile strength respectively). Kurapika's Emperor Time/"Absolute Mastery" ability is explicitly stated to be a property of the Scarlet Eyes, and implied to have been both unusual and a real Game-Breaker power: When reminded of the Kurta clan, both Ubo and Feitan, two of the Ryodan's biggest powerhouses, both recall first and foremost about them that "man, those guys were really strong". As the catch-all "everything else" category, Specialization isn't really something that (general) you can hold up one example for and say that it's representative of all or even most Specialization abilities, but Emperor Time is an especially poor example for setting as "standard". It's sort of like holding up the Sharingan as a representative standard for bloodline limits in the Naruto setting; nothing else really compares.
- According to Hunter x Hunter wikia
, objects materialized with aura can keep existing even being far away from the Conjurer. This seems pretty broken for Conjurers, since Emission is their polar opposite type of Hatsu, keeping an aura-made object separated from the Conjurer's body should be near impossible, but there are other examples: Kortopi's duplicates, Welfin's missiles, and Knov's doors. - There’s also the fact that the purpose of Pakunoda’s Memory Bomb is not to deal damage, but to transmit memories that Pakunoda has between her allies. Also, they seem to have the efficacy of regular bullets, which probably isn’t all that great considering the caliber of most nen-users. Even Zushi could withstand chops from Killua when he first debuted, and Killua could break steel chains and push the first three testing gates before learning nen, so his punches likely far outstrip regular bullets.
- Or maybe the bullets go fast enough to not disperse before doing their purpose? Machi's Transformation, which is two steps removed from Emission, same as Specialization, and could keep strings going for a good dozen of meters.
- Okay, during the episode where Gon rides the ship that leaves Whale Island to take the Hunter Exam, (the first Episode, in The Remake at least), there's this scene about this guy and this crate of apples or what. That scene wasn't made for randomness, or to show y'all how nice Gon is. Probably to get him in a position close to the Captain, but here's the point: The crate could have held anything. But it had to be apples. And not just apples, green ones. Translation? UNRIPE APPLES. Tell me how this is NOT a Shout-Out to Hisoka.
- Except that green apples =/= unripe, necessarily. They could be granny smiths or golden delicious. If they really were unripe apples, that would mean they're cargo (since they'd ripen about the time they put into port to sell them) in which case they shouldn't be messing with them at all.
- Although "green" is sometimes used as a term to describe someone inexperienced, so it might still be a valid metaphor.
- Except that green apples =/= unripe, necessarily. They could be granny smiths or golden delicious. If they really were unripe apples, that would mean they're cargo (since they'd ripen about the time they put into port to sell them) in which case they shouldn't be messing with them at all.
- Due to Leorio being Put on a Bus for a few arcs, it can seem like his reaction to Gon's status after the end of the Chimera Ant arc is too extreme. But then, remembering Leorio's backstory and motivation makes it a lot more obvious that he would have such an emotional reaction to potentially losing another friend in such a way.
- So at first it seems like the extra 'Hunter' in the title is a non sequitur, but then think about this. There are many types of Hunters; Gourmet Hunters, Beast Hunters, etc.; What type of hunter is Gon? Well, he's hunting for his father, so I guess that makes him a hunter who hunts hunters; a HUNTER HUNTER.
- Though Togashi says the name came up from when he was watching a variety show, where one of the comedians repeats words twice. So it's really just a coincidence.
- Actually, in that same interview he went on to explain that the title "Hunter Hunter" (as in a Hunter who hunts Hunters) was the seed that lead to Gon's entire motivation. The repeating comedian thing was just the spark.
- Though Togashi says the name came up from when he was watching a variety show, where one of the comedians repeats words twice. So it's really just a coincidence.
- Finding out that Ging can copy Nen abilities that rely on physical attacks makes him getting hit by Leorio make way more sense. It's possible he lets himself get hit by new abilities to be able to copy them.
- Leorio's Nen ability didn't make much sense to me at first. I figured that a doctor like Leorio would come up with a technique like Neferpitou's Doctor Blythe. Instead, he created a teleporting punch. Ging's explanation helped me realize that it was actually a perfect fit. Leorio may be a skilled doctor, but he's also a hotblooded and aggressive guy. Of course he would come up with a technique that can literally punch out cancer!
- Even though it's not exactly the pun behind Killua's name, note how phonetically similar his name is to the word "Kilowatt". Now, who's the character whose attacks mainly foster around electricity again?
- This probably falls into an in-universe example of Fridge Horror as well, but remember the scene where Zenji (that one mafioso who tries to outbid Kurapika for the fake Scarlet Eyes at the underground auction) meets Kurapika outside of the auction house after he lost, only for Kurapika to reveal his own Scarlet Eyes and paralyze him in fear? This seems just like Kurapika being super intense and scary, right? But think about it- Zenji might have figured out that Kurapika is a member of the Kurta clan, but with the limited information Zenji has on Kurapika, it's equally likely that he thinks Kurapika somehow replaced his own eyes with the Scarlet Eyes he just won in the bid. In fact, Zenji thinking Kurapika replaced his eyes is backed up with the dialogue he provides. He asks, "Who are you!?" If Zenji had already figured out Kurapika was a Kurta, he wouldn't need to ask that question. Instead, he thinks that Kurapika is an insane bastard willing to rip out his own eyes and replace them with ones he just won in an auction, which is definitely cause for "Who are you!?" No wonder he was so petrified.
- Komugi is so skilled at Gungi that she always outwits the profoundly intelligent Chimera Ant King at her game of choice. Komugi also pledges to kill herself if she ever loses a game, which is obviously not conducive to her well-being. Now, consider that Nen has a system of Vows and Limitations, where the user promises to restrain themselves in some way for greater power.
- Remember how during the Hunter Exam, the test the characters got in Trick Tower was Majority Rule? Well, the entire Election arc is essentially Majority Rule. Pariston is essentially a much, much more competent Tonpa who can effectively manipulate the Majority, as seen when the Zodiacs are meeting. Make sure to take note of every time Pariston targets a particular Zodiac for trolling, and when all the Zodiacs ARE against him he uses the rule of Majority via the entire Hunter Association. Also, notice how Pariston immeadeatly takes advantage of when all the Zodiacs are against Ging, everytime.
- When I first saw Gon's transformation into an adult to destroy Neferpitou, I was confused about one particular physical attribute he attained as a result: his absurdly long hair. But it wasn't until a full rewatch later that it hit me; the length signifies just how long it would have taken Gon to naturally reach that level of power - the sheer time it would take to get to that point would have eventually caused his hair to grow that long if he had never cut it during his training. So Gon would basically be doing Netero's training regiment every single day...which ain't no time for a haircut!
- A minor bit of brilliance with Pitou's character design. What's with those knee joints? They seem like an irrelevant detail until you remember that Pitou's a Nen puppetmaker, and joints like those aren't unlike ones you'd see on a marionette. And then they literally become their own puppet after their death...
- Why does Kalluto look so feminine despite being a boy? Considering he's jealous of Alluka, he could intentionally be dressing up more feminine to be more like her.
- A minor bit of brilliance and good Foreshadowing: When fighting Binolt, Gon uses big Rocks to beat the Scissor-using Serial Killer. Yeah, Rock beats Scissor. And Big Rock Attacks are basically Gon's deadliest attack.
- More Foreshadowing in the greed island arc, Genthrus explosive based ability is named Little Flower, we later find out that the HxH equivalent of the atom bomb is called Miniture Rose, in universe Genthru likely named his ability a synonym of the deadliest explosive he could think of, and out of universe his other ability is a bomb linked to the victims heart beat, and the Miniture Rose later is detonate when Meriums heart stops beating
- Netero's hatsu seems weird for an enhancer. That is until you figure 2 things. His deal has always been how fast he is, he made a difficult condition of always praying before he attacks, which would greatly improve Guanyin's capabilities, then trivialized it with his sheer speed. Another thing is to consider that it's possible he develop it on his voyage to the dark continent, a place filled with gargantuan monsters and creatures that you want to keep your body at a distance from.
- One thing regarding Alluka healing Gon. Why were his Nen abilities gone afterwards despite being completely healed from all the injuries? Well, remember back in the Heavens Arena arc that the method by which he had gained access to Nen was because he had his aura nodes shocked into opening, described as an “attack” by Wing. Alluka probably healed the effects of the Nen Baptism! This might also explain why Ging described Gon’s current state as “normal.” Because Nen itself is not a natural thing for a creature to do.
- Hunters being allowed to get away with murder might seem extremely careless, especially as while the Hunter Associations aren't exactly moral paragons, most seem to still disapprove of such pointless killing. Until you remember most people can't see Nen. For example, if Zeno attacked a hunter with his dragon lance, to a Nen user its clearly self defense to fight back and kill him, but to a non Nen user it looks like they just murdered an old man for pointing at them, so of course they need the extra layer of legal protection.
- A bit of Fridge Humor: why does Kite have the clown as part of his Crazy Slots ability even though he thinks it's annoying? The clown is just so irritating to him that it counts as another restriction that actually makes his Nen ability more powerful.
- During the Airship ride to the second phase Killua is confronted by an applicant believing that he is her fathers killer. During her assassination attempt Killua almost kills her but shows mercy. The same could not be said if she confronted Illumi who was disguised as Gittarackur.
- A little bit of Fridge Horror here: Razor appears to be horrifically strong during the dodgeball match. He can throw a Nen-encased ball with enough force to injure or kill pro hunters. He bounces back Gon's ball (the same ball that upon being bounced, breaks several of Hisoka's fingers when Hisoka stops it with his Bungee Gum) with seemingly little ill effect. He can also destroy a small ship with a simple ball of Nen and scare the Genei Ryodan. And, according to him, he makes most spells work. Now, consider how much aura that must take. Just how strong is Razor?
- STOP IT. YOU'RE FREAKING ME OUT.
- The Greed Island spells (and items) have pretty ridiculous conditions imposed on them though. "You have to be on this particular island and arrive by this particular voluntary method which requires finding and using this particular game of which there are only 100 copies and then find this particular card from a random pack bought in this particular city." Not to mention the number limits for each card. Even an average nen user could probably get a lot of mileage by restricting something that much, and obviously Razor's at least above average. Also, he used a GM card to send the Ryodan away. No indication that they were exceptionally scared of him.
- Phinks thinks to himself, "This guy's tough" and stops to talk, even though he has five Ryodan members behind him. Though it does go the other way too , since Razor is clearly impressed by the Ryodan. Even with conditions, making most spells work must still take a fair amount of aura. Conditions make the ability stronger, and do make a strong ability look like it takes more aura than it does, but don't necessarily decrease the amount of aura needed to use the ability in the first place. Kurapika still has to use a fair amount of Nen for his chains, but because of his self-imposed conditions they are much stronger than any conjured chains should typically be. Ditto for Kite's weapons system.
- Aside from the restrictions, there are also a couple of things that we must take into account. First, god letters, which are basically patterns that you make and infuse with nen which let you use nen much more powerful than what you can normally use, which also let's us infer that you can infuse nen into objects and the nen will stay there and can be used for quite a few things, also it was stated that nen users can combine their abilities, like the bomber devil, and we know that at least 5 hunters worked together to create greed island. Taking all this into account, and also the fact that Razor mentioned that he was in charge of a system, Greed Island becomes much more plausible. They infused nen into quite a few things, pooling their nen abilities, and those were made with not only restrictions but with commands that automatically create the things in the world which is all managed by the hunters who created the game, they infuse the nen regularly to maintain their effects. Very impressive still but it does not require monstrous amounts of nen.
- STOP IT. YOU'RE FREAKING ME OUT.
- Something about Greed Island always bugged me. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of NPC characters programmed in, but the island itself is known to be real. What's to say the NPCs aren't real people who have had some type of Nen placed on them to control their actions? An entire island held captive for the sake of some game for hunters.
- At least some of them respawn, like the Gold Dust Girl, and Razor has demonstrated the ability to create humanoids with his nen. Given that at least some of them convert into cards when "killed", it's plausible that they're actually nen constructs.
- According to Killua, his family sent him to Heaven's Arena when he was 6 years old with the goal of reaching the 200th floor. While Killua ended up bending that a bit by only going through the first 199, the obvious purpose was to force him to learn Nen by fighting on the 200th floor. This becomes Fridge Horror when you realize just how brutal the "initiation" can be by people who know Nen there, to the point where people have died or become severely injured while there. And his family sent him, as a little kid, there with no concern for what would happen if he failed to learn.
- Then again, it's later shown that they could just use Alluka, all they needed was a highly skilled butler watching over him in the shadows.
- Leorio, upon completing the Hunter Exam, could have obtained all the money he needed by selling his license immediately, either for his (fake) goal of getting rich or his (real) goal of going to med school and helping the needy (including his friend) out of his own pockets. But he didn't. He has something bigger in mind. (Either that, or he's holding on to his license for access to restricted nations and to make finding work easier).
- It's the latter definitely. Having a Hunter license means that the whole world and everything in it is open to you. You can get any job you want, go anywhere you want, commit almost any crime you want, meet almost anyone you want etc. Only a fool would sell it just to make a quick buck - especially as it is irreplaceable.
- Chimera ant Queens are born when a Chimera ant King goes off and mates with another species, to produce a Queen that is a mix of species like all Chimera Ants that then goes off and starts making its own colony... So the Chimera ant queen seen in the Chimera Ant arc, the one that is humanoid, 2 feet tall and has nearly human levels of intelligence, without the human nature, is probably the product of one such Chimera Ant King and a human female.
- Actually while they never say it, you'll notice that the mating aspect is vague on the human side, and the ants seem quite detatched about it. This is a small detail, but there are two others that make the mating process much less horrifying. First if you look closely, you'll notice that The king's tail is hollow on the end, like a syringe. The second thing is Palm's transformation. She emerges from a cocoon and the royal guards discuss the trees covered in cocoons as future recruits, not as food storage. From there it's simple extrapolation that queens use Phagogensis while kings use gentic modification delivered through webbing. Much more plausible, but still plenty scary as you consider being held down by swarms of insects as one giant one slowly drags webbing over you, covering you in a hard shell from which you cannot escape as the fear of suffocation looms.
- Not so much on that second point. Palm's transformation had nothing to do with Meruem. It was entirely performed by Pitou and Pouf, and Palm is explicitly the prototype for it. The fact that so many cocoons are seen is practically confirmation that Meruem isn't involved in the process - there's hundreds of cocoons, there's no way he would waste his time transforming humans into lowly grunts.
- Actually while they never say it, you'll notice that the mating aspect is vague on the human side, and the ants seem quite detatched about it. This is a small detail, but there are two others that make the mating process much less horrifying. First if you look closely, you'll notice that The king's tail is hollow on the end, like a syringe. The second thing is Palm's transformation. She emerges from a cocoon and the royal guards discuss the trees covered in cocoons as future recruits, not as food storage. From there it's simple extrapolation that queens use Phagogensis while kings use gentic modification delivered through webbing. Much more plausible, but still plenty scary as you consider being held down by swarms of insects as one giant one slowly drags webbing over you, covering you in a hard shell from which you cannot escape as the fear of suffocation looms.
- Something I noticed in Hunter X Hunter that isn't really present in other shonen series is that characters will kill bystanders rather routinely, but we never see any sort of reaction from survivors around them besides shock and annoyance. Any depictions of grievance is rare. It is also a world where the Hunter Exams regularly kill off much of its contestants but is very popular, professional assassins can be celebrities, and the Heavens Arena frequently has fights to the death that draws huge crowds and is televised. Could it be that in the world of Hunter X Hunter, death is such a common thing that everyone just treats it as a normal part of living and don't take life seriously?
- Considering that even Hunters can get away with murder so long as they don't personally test the law too much, numerous parts of the world hold all sorts of dangerous creatures and entities that are still not fully known about yet, and just about anyone can gain Nen with the right training (or even accidental circumstances) and potentially go on a slaughter spree, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Just about anything in the known world is filled with excess dangers even for the most skilled, and the Dark Continent being filled with even worse things only highlights how messed up the world is.
- In the Chimera Ants arc, the way that Mereum is defeated is by Netero exploding a Miniature Rose inside himself, while it doesn't immediately kill the King and the royal guard, it is enough to give them radiation poisoning, killing them later. One of the points that is constantly repeated is on how the miniature rose is cheap and ubiquitous. If the Hunters failed, the ants could simply be defeated by carpet bombing East Gorteau, Netero made sure to bring Mereum into an isolated area to not kill the millions of peoples around the palace.
- It gets worse when you realize that the Miniature Rose is mass-produced and has the known world stuck in the equivalent of an unspoken, silent Cold War deadlock. The implications of the story are that any terrorist looking to make a bang, or any dictator not afraid to do a culling, can just toss a bunch of these around and cause immeasurable amounts of damage. At that point, forget Nen, forget the nastiness of individual Hunters or Nen-powered killers and the like, because for all the danger and power it can hold in the right hands, it has logical rules and limitations. The Miniature Rose could wipe a nation off the face of the earth within minutes and not even a proverbial Physical God can survive it compared to the beatdown from Netero hs shrugged off.
- This overlaps with Fridge Brilliance but, Chrollo comments that Neon's fortune teller ability left his book. This only happens when the original owner of an ability stolen dies. He never states when he noticed this but given that Hisoka knew about the ability and who Chrollo got it from, it's reasonable to assume that Hisoka probably killed her before or after his fight with Chrollo at the heaven's arena though after is more likely as Hisoka's view on fighting changed and he will no longer allow his opponents the opportunity to prepare when he faces them. He killed Kortopi and Shalnark to deprive Chollo of their abilities which were integral to Hisoka's defeat (also because he wanted to be a dick and hurt Chollo emotionally). Since fortune telling would be the ultimate tool for prepping against an opponent, then Hisoka proabably killed to make sure Chrollo couldn't read any tea leaves so to speak.
- The thought of someone like Tserriednich winning the Succession War and becoming the next ruler of Kakin will definitely send shivers down your spine. Not only is he a Specialist and a potential Nen prodigy with the ability to see the future, but he is also a sadistic serial killer who is best described as pure evil to all who know his true colors.
For Headscratchers, see here.
