100% Blind HUNTER X HUNTER Review: The Chimera Ants Arc (1/3)

all right okay i can now see why so many of you have been excited for me to get to this arc this is without question the strongest arc of hunter hunter and one that left me with my jaw on the floor a number of times every series has their iconic moments dragon ball had goku versus frieza one piece has shiva the archipelago and hunter hunter i now realize has this in this video the material i'll be covering is both thoughtfully composed to highlight the series greatest strengths while also single-handedly executing upon long built up previously

established plot points and overarching themes creating something unlike anything i've ever seen from a manga producing character writing that feels so incredibly brutal and honest that i honestly couldn't help but shed a tear for all those involved and this is only the first 33 or so chapters however while this arc gripped me like none other before it it also filled me with tremendous sadness the moment i began my journey through its opening pages and i'm not talking about the story this is an arc i'm sure you've all been waiting for me to cover and i

am so thrilled to say that thus far i've loved it so let's dive head first into this creepy unsettling and existential nightmare that is hunter hunter's chimera and [Music] [Applause] ark [Music] if it's okay with you guys i sort of want to kick off this video with a somber and rather serious subject as i have already mentioned in the opening this week's material brought to light something that deeply saddened me in part due to the pervasive despair that coats the pages of its narrative but also due to one undeniable issue lingering in the background of

indeed this arc and the entire series yoshihiro togashi's dwindling health and output something you may have noticed in my videos is that i haven't drawn attention to or outlined a single one of hunter hunter's most commonly known issues its seemingly never ending string of increasingly long hiatuses the bad art that accompanies it on occasion and even the vitriolic or disparaging comments the whiter anime community loves hunter hunters and sometimes even tagashi's way because of them for the purposes of this video i was required to read volumes 18 to 21 of the manga written and illustrated

by tagashi himself from as early as volume 1 it became tradition for tagashi to address his audience with either a joke of some description or some important news from his life in these volumes opening pages in prior volumes these segments have been a way for tagashi to communicate with us about a fun holiday he recently returned from it acted as a place for him to announce his marriage to the woman he loves and even the birth of their first child together it's all been positive and normally this is something i look forward to reading before

i've opened any of the volumes throughout my read-through however when i opened these specific volumes the messages from tagashi painted a very different and very sad picture volume 18 i had to redraw a lot of this volume too volume 19. this volume was even more work volume 20. with volume 21 reading like a plea for help or at the very least understanding i'm just barely getting by for those of you that aren't aware of this up until the beginning of the chimera ants arc hunter hunter while missing certain weeks here and there was predominantly a

consistent weekly series in shouldn't jump like any other its art with very few exceptions was pristine regardless of whether you were reading the original magazine publication weekly or the compiled volume later however as tagashi waded into the chimera ants arc the breaks between releases became larger and larger due to serious health complications tagashi suffered with this resulted in the majority of the chapters hitting weekly show and jump in an entirely unfinished state sketches missing panels descriptive dialogue in place of art these unfinished pages have spread all over the internet and have severely misled fans about

what the hunter hunter manga actually looks like when i began this series i was flooded with messages from people attempting to dissuade me from reading the manga as my primary source entirely based on the idea that these unfinished pages represent what the manga has to offer but the thing is i'm reading the collected volumes of this series and with each new release tagashi has gone back over and redrawn or touched up all of the unfinished chapters despite his chronic health conditions tagashi took the time to finish or redraw all of them and they look absolutely

amazing it's a meme on this channel to say things are the best yet but the content in these finnish volumes is genuinely some of his absolute best work and not even remotely in the realm of novel or scribbles over my career as a review channel whenever i began a new story there were always those that would disparage me from choosing to read the manga over the anime every community has its own challenges but in the case of hunter hunters it was the widespread misinformation concerning hunter hunter's manga i received hundreds of posts showing me the

bad artwork and citing that as a reason to not read the manga primarily and yet now having arrived at the quote bad bits over halfway through the series i found that not only have i never encountered a single bad or unfinished product but it's also been stunningly beautiful i'm well aware that i'm not 100 up to date yet and if i get there and find that there are legitimate issues i will acknowledge and talk about them but thus far over 20 volumes deep the rhetoric that hunter hunter's manga is ugly or lacking in any way

is a misguided exaggeration that flies in the face of tagashi's hard work now i'm not going to drone on any further instead i will let tagashi's work speak for itself throughout this video oh yeah by the way did i mention that the beginning of this arc is incredibly weird and sort of cheesy as mentioned above the ark is filled with really interesting and beautiful imagery yes and while the star of this arc is no different it is set apart almost immediately from the other arcs in this series between every story so far the hunter exams

the lumber family arc the heavens arena arc the york new and greed island arcs hunter hunter has almost made it its life's mission to tie every single arc seamlessly together allowing for the story to naturally flow into the next however the chimera ant arc does not do this or at least it doesn't as much as the others and as a result of that for the first few chapters of this arc i was really worried that this highly praised arc was going to be disappointing spoilers it wasn't largely the beginning portion of the story looks as

though it was shot like one of those cheesy old-timey monster movies from the 30s and 40s complete with authentic giant chimera and bug monster one of the biggest revelations at this time was that of this character the chimera and monster while unique it didn't strike me initially as being designed to emote in any meaningful way and if i'm being honest unlike the driving forces behind many of the prior arcs we didn't have a tie to this arc's antagonist in any meaningful way or at least not in a way that we were aware of which i

think largely contributed to this arc slow start for me predominantly but that's not even to say that its weakest part didn't have amazing and touching moments establishing a character's defining actions like a young boy trying to defend his little sister from this chimera ant monster helped to establish the antagonistic force of the story as well as set the tone for the coming conflict now this introduction was fine but compared to the other acts it felt lukewarm and the last thing i wanted was to watch a story waste kite's reintroduction to the series seeing how hyped

i was having just finished greed island and for those of you who haven't seen or read this arc in short it might sound like the antagonistic and protagonistic forces have nothing to do with each other and in a way you're right gold and kilowatt are just after teaming up with kaid and his crew as they engage in ecological activity all the while on the other side of the world the chimera and queen slowly begins to kill animals and eventually people trying to grow her family with the goal of one day in the not so distant

future of giving birth to the chimera and king and that's the beginning of this arc in a nutshell really one plotline that while cued doesn't have any particular direction and another that feels like a run-of-the-mill monster movie both fine yes but not at all connected however that doesn't last and what comes next is the absolute best or most raw material i've yet seen produced by hunter hunter this is where the business of the story kicks off and boy does it never stop the action in this portion of the story is the strongest in the entire

series and i'm speaking from a manga perspective here people can give the initially released sketches all the grief they want in the world but at the end of the day the finnish manga speaks for itself because once kite and the team are enlisted into the ngl zone to investigate the infestation of chimera ants the scenarios and encounters they experience the deeper they go into the sinister wilderness the more visually stunning the manga looks and the more intense the story becomes there's honestly a terrific horror element to this story that what it began in a much

less refined or savory way evolved much like the monsters themselves into a more sophisticated product i'm always thrilled when a manga can do something creative with its paneling and tagashi employed a simple but brilliant choice to kill his battle in the forest of the ngl zone alongside kite and gone after being stung by this scorpion chimera there's a moment where we think kilauea could conceivably be in trouble there's some quick panels to establish her point of view and ben this legitimately got me i was so taken aback by how takashi perfectly played with my anticipation

to achieve what he did here regular or standard paneling is fine but this is such a great and thoughtful use of the manga medium that helped drag me into this story all the more and fittingly this plays into the greater mission of this portion of the narrative to tell a heart-wrenching and compelling story centered around gon and kilauea and thankfully this is helped in part by the surprisingly warm and engaging character of kite personally at the beginning of this i was very worried that he would fall to the wayside and feel like a one-note character

but tagashi made sure to add plenty of depth and texture to his character whether it be through his position as a mentor to the two boys our peeks into his mind as he thinks about how amazing they really are and we even see that he has some comedic elements that didn't contradict or come at the cost of any of his more serious traits additionally and this is where the scene impressed me the most early on it made full use of kite's character in the same breath as the chimera ants so something i've neglected to mention

thus far was how much characterization and time takashi granted these dangerous monsters to humanity so much so that through the process of getting to know them i actually started to respect and like some of the ants with one character in particular acting as a great grey area for us not necessarily due to what he does or what he says but where we know those words are coming from this is clearly a chimera ant that possesses the mentality or personality of that protective older brother killed in the previous scenes and as this ant is contrasted with

the rest of the chimeras he's in company with that otherwise we're made up of criminals that met a similar fate it helps to highlight thematically a rather strong message of this arc it's not what they look like that defines who they are it's what they do with that power and given what later happens in this arc i'm wondering what sort of mirror this philosophy will hold up to the main cast if they are forced to act upon morally ambiguous impulses and now with both sides of the conflict thoroughly explored with their nuances expressed we are

greeted by one of the most surprising and shocking scenes i've ever read in my life i've spoken from the beginning of this story expressing my impressions of gon's mindset and the contrast he creates with kilauea that they are both two extreme ends of what could ultimately be the same sort of person gone being one to throw caution to the wind and to always give everything he has no matter what and kilauea someone that when forced with an unsure situation runs and in this scene this dynamic is on display side by side for all to see

as the three of them venture deeper and deeper into the forest in search of the nest hopefully in an effort to eliminate these ants kite kilauea and gone are stopped in their tracks as kite senses an approaching enemy on top of this proving to be a terrific crescendo to the ever building tension over the last while it also made me leap from my seat in excitement as every single atom of this encounter was informed by character kite's mentor role pito's determination to seek out those with men gone's readiness to fight despite what kite said and

killer was immediately knocking out of his best friend for his own safety i mentioned in my attack on titan video momentarily that one of the best attributes different scenes can offer is the question without an answer if all your characters behave and act rationally without any flaws and never make any mistakes then you have a boring scene there's no texture there there's no interest however when you add that uncertainty to a scenario you get a scene riddled with what-ifs what if kilowatt chose to stay what if gone managed to avoid killer was attack what if

kite got a better weapon what if what if what if this was the chapter i had to take a break for and during the break my mind was left spinning trying to determine who in fact was in the right here hunter hunter has gone out of its way to almost parody in every opportunity the shonen genre as a whole and in this scene the most shonen event took place but the heroes retreated and we weren't certain if that was the right decision highlighting once more kilaueangan's greatest flaws which just so happened to be what this

arc is about additionally something else which i think is noteworthy has to be kait's demise here and now in the manga this is a massive subversion both for gon and us as the readers introduced to him in the first chapter while this is a reunion of sorts kite primarily is someone that set the foundation for the gone character we see today and when we see him get torn away from us we're left speechless surely this couldn't have happened just like this not after all this time we've waited to see him surely he could still be

alive and well and while riding that wave of hope tagashi takes full advantage of our perspective by placing some truly horrific imagery of kite's disembodied head on the lap of pito and while i mentioned this briefly last week i do think it's worth mentioning one more time in this instance the 2011 anime omitted this scene and as a result robbed it of the weight the manga otherwise gave it by design in the manga he's one of the first characters we're introduced to he helps to inform who gone eventually becomes and the reunion we get to

enjoy between the two characters is bitterly brief but in the anime he just for all intents and purposes despite the retroactive integration is very much a new character that shows up to just die the exhaustion kilauea exhibits from carrying guns unconscious limp carcass all the way back to the entrance shows just how fast and hard he tried to get out of there this kid was terrified all the training they went through all that they've overcome throughout this story seeing that look on kilowatt's face and the exhaustion he felt after simply running really puts into perspective

the mindset he was in as well as helps to amplify my intimidation towards these new antagonists all the more this is incredibly effective and potent storytelling and with my mind now fixated on kilauea thinking back to his quitting of the ball game against netero in the first arc we jeez speak of the devil it's natero your boy got sponsored by g fuel dude that's awesome like this is a huge deal and they sent me tons of creative flavors i mean do you want to try some yeah totally what kind of flavors did they give you

well they've got strawberry lemonade dude seriously like this is a really big deal for me i mean like if i don't do a good job with the sponsorship the g field monster might come what's the g fuel monster listen the stories surrounding g fuel are as old as they are terrifying everyone seems to be convinced that she feels some zero sugar caffeine free alternative to other energy drinks on the market but in reality this substance might deep within the earth's core comes with a deep and sinister curse curse why is my dear boy if you

never really stop to consider the [Music] ghosts [Music] [Music] is [Music] what you said [Applause] [Music] [Music] initially i worried over this section possibly feeling like another waiting period however upon closer inspection it precisely focuses on some of the most interesting and fleshed out elements of this entire series the two boys while the chimera ants are the titular antagonists that are very much there to facilitate these moments of character reflection in this tale without them without this unknown powerful force shrouded in mystery unaware of where they exactly are how many there are or whether or

not kite will ever return it prays with surgical precision on the issues gone and killer will face personally [Music] this scene was viciously interesting nitero someone that once upon a time would only speak lightheartedly and with positive vibes over different subject matter is firm in this scene once again aiding in the effort to create a sense of unease and chaos around the situation implying perhaps covertly that he may very well think that gon and kilauea are valuable but in kilowatt's case he sees serious issue one that has been a recurring theme with kilauea since the

very beginning of this series his lack of tenacity i think what i found most interesting when reading the tarot's analysis of this situation wasn't what he said but what he didn't say and ultimately my wondering over why he never said it and that specifically concerns gon and his shortcomings natero throughout this exchange seemed to fixate exclusively on kilauea's issues and this is the brilliance of this scene kilowatt very much does have issues and i think they are much more pronounced and therefore clearer to others when he engages with people however gon seemingly suicidal disregard for

himself and under the right circumstances others around him have played a significant role in this series too from as early as the first arc but all of those instances or shortcomings seem to be much more closely linked to tenacity or perhaps more dangerously can masquerade as tenacity and so the latter makes me wonder does natero know of that poison in gone he's coaching kilauea and does make clear his flaws and while what he says is interesting and worth thinking about for killua i think is what he doesn't say to gone that made the most noise

in my mind if even the tarot isn't aware of it or doesn't consider it a pressing issue is netero's direction focused on the right someone for right as he finishes out in kilauea's issues and the two boys are sent on their way to overcome the set of tests in the next town we smash cut to an image of kite's decapitated head resting on pito's lap and it did that all to possibly subvert the message or instruction the terror outlined to prove the point that gone could also be nuts and that killua made the exact right

call in that moment considering natero didn't know the scale of the situation which again plays into that very philosophy i adore in writing offered by pete docter from pixar it's that struggle with no answer that makes for the best stories and that quote is pertinent because as an audience we have perhaps the best insight into this encounter and i don't know about you but it doesn't seem nearly as clean-cut as natero is making it out to be kilowatt does have this issue in him for certain but perhaps in this instance he did the right thing

geez i love this story it's so complicated and it's so detailed it's so nuanced and i it's amazing alright so this section of the story we're about to embark upon is set up to once again be a very stereotypical shown in subplot wherein the two main characters offer themselves over to a wonderful master in this case biscuit in order to overcome the challenge of collecting their opponent's tiles so as to qualify to help with the chimera and problem before the king is born and in case natero and the other more advanced hunters need assistance and

before pam cuts them into little pieces this could very well be the most unshown in training arc i think i've ever seen the boys are made to understand their circumstances understand what's at stake what they need to do and then they fail hard and i'm here for it i love that decision in this training section the two boys fail in their assignment but in doing so i think they learned the exact lessons they needed to or at least one of them does and interestingly despite the vast majority of hiccups they come out on top in

the end oh well okay not really but it's okay sort of but alright let's take a look at this because it might be the highlight of the art for me so far once we get to this town the two boys must train and we're immediately introduced to this charming character called pam she she is depicted in just the most horrific way like she looks like what would happen if you combine sally from the nightmare before christmas with a dementor from harry potter her bloodthirsty eagerness to participate in this effort with nonterror is honestly hilarious her

straightforward brutal honesty in the face of the boy's lack of development or progress really leads her to deliver some of the most dry and hilarious threats on their lives contrasted beautifully with guns kind-hearted and oblivious nature in the manga so many of her shots depict her with this wild jet black hair totally obscuring her face with the only visible discerning feature being her piercing white eyes that cut through the darkness like a wild animal caught in the headlights i'm not entirely sure what sort of role this character will play in the long run but at

the moment she's here to act as a threat as i said to the two boys if they failed but primarily also a comedic one oh and yeah biscuits here the two boys at this moment in time are like chaos and order side by side too much chaos is utterly ineffective and too much order meets pretty much the same fate but honestly kilauea gets put on blast in this section quite a bit more than gon does in fact a great scene takes place where even biscuit takes killer with a task and tells him that either he

overcomes this issue he seems to have trouble with or he must leave guns side immediately the stakes are high for sure but even then i couldn't help but think why is no one taking gun to task about his issue nearly as harshly and then this happens so all the while we are watching the boys slowly progress and try to perfect their name in order to overcome their targets knuckle and shoot we have the stakes get worse and worse and worse elsewhere and interestingly this is where this side of the conflict starts to come into its

own for the longest time this section was just about the emotionless queen making babies and her offspring running amok gathering more resources but this time the king is here alright so uh i get the feeling this is a long-running and exhausted joke but i'm gonna say it anyway this king guy is such a rip-off design wise of cell and frieza from dragon ball but hey uh at least it's scary furthermore with a now defected ant letting the tarot know that he has no chance against this new king the hype levels rise even further plus the

terror powering up is freaking awesome with all of these different elements and interactions all of this is starting to feel a lot more like dragon ball and i'm here for it alright so look this is the last day that golden kilowatt can fight them and qualify to help natero in his effort with the chimera ants they've gotten a ton stronger in the last month and now it is go time and the battle gon has with knuckles is phenomenal one that depends on your knowledge and expectation to deliver its message obviously knuckle is an endearing character

and i do love him but i also love the mechanics of knuckles nine which force gun to be strategic and efficient with his movements he can't rush in it's a great pairing in combat killers fight with shoot on the other hand who forces him to be more direct and confident in his movements is also great that fight in particular has some sublime paneling that captures the frantic stressed out and disorganized nature of the encounter perfectly captures the chaotic cluttered and uncertain thoughts of kilauea as he tries to make sense of everything that's going on it's

unlike any fight in the series and stands out all the more because of that fact as it should this is a pivotal moment for the young one time assassin turned hunter to prove to both his mentor and to himself that he is his own person and that he is in control of his life and decisions not anyone else and they lose gon now has no nen for a month due to the after effects of knuckles nine and kilowatt in his own mind knows that he must protect gon ironically while he's defenseless and then leave him

forever this was such a remarkable place to leave this story such a low point and it's brilliant gone and killerwood did face off against their respective targets but they did so while showing that they both still have the same problems gone went headfirst into the battle with knuckle time and again and while it proved to be great training it was the same straightforward and unflitching approach which proved to be his downfall in the last encounter before he was ultimately defeated and kilowa while he did eventually face him he did so at the last possible moment

which means these decisions these two kids made throughout this maniac could have been indicators for its ending to us as an audience if we were paying attention we could have seen this coming this is such a brilliant section of the story and then there's well this character despite lacking i assume any higher soul is very much the heart and soul of this arc section she is so damn funny in this manga but again there's this weird 22 year old girl now being pacified with a possible date and relationship with a 13 year old boy and

gone who happens to be by the way a real ladies man and i don't know how to feel about that but it does help to facilitate one of the best killable moments in the entire series the fight against this random chimera ant he encounters pushes kilowatt more than i think any moment in the series has pushed him he is petrified shaking and seemingly not at all emotionally prepared for this encounter and i love this scene for a multitude of reasons but primarily i love it because the very love kilauea has for his best friend in

the world was what made him approach this enemy without any intel or preparation and the shot of him shaking and crying honestly hit me like none other in this arc but it's that history that they shared which allowed him to overcome this serious issue he had i'm not sure yet what the transmitter in his brain's knock-on effects might be for the series or his brother or how he will react but but right now kilauea is an absolute monster this is going to be fun and okay i know i hate to leave it here and break

these arcs up like i have been but with this one specifically there's just too much to cover in this review alone so next week i'll be back to continue this exceptional arc and while i don't know what's still to come i do know i'm supremely excited to share my thoughts on it with you all next week see you everyone and thank you all so much for watching [Music] you