I find that people tend to exaggerate how different this series is. Like near the start of the anime thread you have someone seriously talking about how subversive it is to have the main character lose the climactic battle in a tournament arc. I also remembered a youtube video about "how Hx H moved Shounen forwards", which was just the dude talking about things he liked about the series but never bothering to compare it with other shounen or proving that the series had any kind of effect on the genre.
Edited by Druplesnubb on Jun 22nd 2023 at 10:54:24 AM
To me, rather than setting out to make a commentary on the genre by subverting tropes or some such, the series usually feels more like it's questioning the necessity of the standard tropes. Like the story doesn't bend over backwards into to get the entire Chimera Ant arc to come down to Meruem vs. Gon, because why should Gon fight Meruem. That sort of thing.
It's funny to watch people go through the Chimera Ant arc, get bored of the fights before the palace invasion, then watch the palace invasion expecting some insane battles and there are only like 4-5 fights. Gon vs Pitou, the Youpi Raid Boss, Netero vs Meruem, and the various mooks Ikalgo deals with. There's a ton of screentime that's just characters literally sitting around. Pouf doesn't even really have a proper fight at all, and all the fighting stops abruptly at a certain point to meander for several episodes of philosophizing. I'm not saying it's bad, the philosophizing is great, but it's just funny to see people gloss over the fights before the palace invasion when those are like 80% of the fights in the arc.
It is, but only in the sense that it doesn't force ideas to a conclusion if the protagonists have already met their goals. Gon loses his fight during the Hunter exam, but his goal was to earn a Hunter's license. Gon didn't go to the top of the tower, but he was only there to A: reach the point Kilua reached before and B: deliver Hisoka's badge once he learned he was there. He doesn't fight Meruem, but he didn't care about Meruem to begin with. Greed Island is the only traditional goal he meets, but thats because winning Greed Island would lead him to his dad. It served his personal goals.
Edited by Zeromaeus on Jul 5th 2023 at 12:15:02 PM
It's even funnier since Meruem ultimately turns out not to be the true Big Bad of the arc. Instead, it's Shaiapouf. And Gon has no real interactions with him either.
Disgusted, but not surprisedSo, hmm, I have bad news(?), Togashi will present in a Tv show on the 21st a "dropped ending" for the series, with the message that (quoting the source): "if he passed away before finishing the series, that'd be its ending" and also he apologizes in advance. Well, that was certaintly some news to wake up to (at least for me).
Here's the article
. Specifically, he talks about four different endings he's considered, which he calls A, B, C, and D. D is the ending he reveals here, but he says that it will only be the canon ending if he does not live to write it himself. Conversely, if he does get to write the ending himself, it will be A, B, or C. He says his personal favorite is C, but he also thinks that's the one the fans will like least so he doesn't know if he should go for it.
Kind of a strange situation, but I think I understand it?
Edited by HamburgerTime on Nov 20th 2023 at 11:10:46 AM

loooooots of words though.