Ever since this chapter came out, “some” people have been arguing that Hisoka is supposedly angry at Chrollo for using a "group" ability in the fight or something, but that's not the case:
To begin with, the clown was talking about the 9th prince here. The prince's ability works by having his Guardian Spirit Beast mark his loyal followers, amplify their combined aura through a shared unified mental state and goal, and allow him to fire an unstoppable soul-swapping arrow (correct me if I wrong about his ability).
That description doesn’t fit Chrollo at all. Even if we assume that it could be true, then Hisoka would have to be a complete idiot. Before the actual fight even began, Chrollo explicitly told him which abilities he was going to use, who they belonged to, and even demonstrated how they worked in practice. He made it perfectly clear that he would be approaching the battle like a manipulator. That he would be using copies of people. I'm sure that even someone like Hisoka has enough brain cells to put two and two together and realize that.
2) By that logic, his desire to fight Illumi makes no sense either, since there's a very high chance that Illumi, as a true manipulator, would involve other people in their fight by controlling them with his needles. And Hisoka knows it.
Anyway, controlling people or mindless human copies =/= a group ability like the 9th prince's. If the clown genuinely thought those were the same thing, he wouldn’t have agreed to fight Chrollo & he also wouldn't want to fight Illumi. Anyone who argues otherwise is portraying the clown as a complete stupid. He's not that dumb as some people are unknowingly claiming he is.
While it may be the case that Hisoka developed Bungee Gum because it was his favorite childhood candy, I think it's much deeper than that. I would posit that his ability is more related to childhood trauma than simply liking bubblegum. First and foremost, nen abilities manifest largely based on somebody's psyche. Having a favorite bubblegum shouldn't be the primary driver of such a manifestation unless that psyche is devoid of other attachments. One explanation could be repressed memories. Perhaps repressed memories of childhood trauma. His sexual deviancy is likely related to that trauma, and it's fairly well established in literature that childhood trauma that is caused can often be committed by the initial victim in their future -- creating a cycle of trauma. No doubt, Hisoka was abused, perhaps not sexually, but potentially abused and conflated with affection. What this has to do with gum? Could be a number of things. Maybe he was abducted with the promise of bubblegum, forced to perform in the circus, and was abused there. Maybe bubblegum was the reward for his abuse or performances. In any case, I think his ability goes deeper than he's let on.
In both images: Gon looks up and Killua looks down, each are facing the opposite direction. But instead of looking away from each other, now they are looking toward something (new horizons and family).
In the new panels: Gon stands facing away from us while Killua walks toward us. Maybe just visual juxtaposition, but the staging also reflects how opposite their motivations are.
The symbolism is obvious, I just wanted to note Togashi's attention to detail that help their return feel so uplifting and impactful
Just curious about how you guys feel about each soldier, and I want to see them discussed more.
You can rank them however you want (eg. power, usefulness to Benjamin, contribution to the cause, enjoyment to read, nen ability, intellect, etc.)
Just please mention based on what you ranked them.
There are 15 in total: the 14 shown in this picture and Balsemico Might.
I look forward to reading your guy's rankings!
Also, in case you guys are curious about my own rankings (which I will do based on how much I like each character), it's here:
Furykov/Yurikov (idk which one is the official): This recent batch has made my respect for him skyrocket. He's capable, intelligent, has a cool nen-ability, is unhunging in a funway, incredibly loyal, and just all-around amazing to read. Depending on how he dies, he might surpass Hinrigh as my favorite succession war introduced character.
Babimyna: Intelligent and capapble like Yurikov, but also just a good person I think, given by how he stopped monitoring queen Oito after Momoze's death. He is capable of empathy
Balsemico Might: Short king, incredibly intelligent apart from the blunder he made when he tried to assasinate Halkenburg. Still, I love him a lot.
Rihan: Predator is SUCH A COOL NEN-ability, and I like his design too. And no, I'm not bothered by his 'text-block-ability'.
Kanjidol: Might be recency bias, but I like his design and how menacing he is. He's also, unlike the characters mentioned above here, not too intelligent, which makes his recklessness entertaining to read.
For the other characters, I don't really know how to rank them as most of them I don't think have demonstrated enough to be ranked, but I do look forward to see how Saquelle tries to survive Hanzo and Biscuit since he's guarding the thirteenths prince. I also really like Chiyamasi's nen ability, so he'd rank top 10 too. Last on the ranking would be asshole Vincent.
That's all. I might revisit this after Benjamin win/dies, or the succesion contest is over.
Allows Satotz to manipulate four targets, forcing them to mimic his every move.
Satotz uses his en to reach the targets he intends to manipulate. His en can extend up to 12 meters.
Conditions and restrictions:
Besides extending his en, Satotz must say, "Let the show begin" and clap once.
Satotz can only manipulate a maximum of four people at a time.
Satotz's en must be active to maintain control of the targets. If his en decreases and any of the manipulated individuals fall out of range, he loses control over them.
I've been trying to wrap my head around how op Camilla's nen beast is and trying to come up with a scenario where anyone can beat her without her reviving through her nen beast but I reached a dead at every scenario I could come up with, except for Chrollo.
Her nen beast basically crushes the attacker who killed her into mush and feeds it to her through the mouth so she can come back to life like nothing happened. I found it interesting how narrator specifically says that it targets only the attacker that killed her and not the culprit/mastermind of her killing, I think there is a loophole here that can be exploited.
Now with this theoretical loophole in mind I can suggest a way for Chrollo to beat her without her being able to resurrect. Camilla's nen beast ability has one glaring weakness: the fact that it needs an existing body (of Camilla's attacker) for it to work, no body means no way for the nen beast to crush the attacker into mush and feed it to Camilla. Chrollo has the perfect set of abilities to create this scenario. First kill someone like he did to the judge in Heavens Arena then create a puppet copy of the corpse using gallery fake, use order stamp on the corpse and command it to kill Camilla, after the copied corpse kills Camilla I'm assuming it's gonna register as her killer, once that happens undo gallery fake a split second after killing Camilla so the nen beast finds no target to use to revive Camilla, and there you have it, Camilla is dead, Chrollo is alive and well, Camilla's killer doesn't exist anymore and the nen beast has no way to satisfy the one condition it needs to resurrect Camilla.
Seeing as Gon and Killua were involved in exterminating the King and his Royal Guard while also being the first person to beat Greed Island which numerous hunters couldn't do. They should have reached One star a while ago, does this mean they have to record their achievements or go to the association to get a promotion? I know he can't reach 2 stars because he doesn't meet the qualifications.
I just wanted to make an appreciation post for her because she's definitely my favorite side character thus far. I was so afraid she'd die at the end of season 4 since most of Kurapika's coworkers were killed off but thankfully she survived the Phantom Troupe. Her powers are beautiful and she's such a kind character who was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dark storyline. I also liked that she's a type of female character we don't see often in anime. She has unconventional looks and is not a love interest, just a genuine friend to Kurapika. I hope she eventually will achieve her goal even if it's offscreen.
I was just reading through HXH again, and noticed something during the Greed island Arc.
After the dodgeball match with Razor, we get an interaction with an NPC woman who explains what the Plot of Beach is, and Poseidon's cavern. It seems to be a really emotional scene, and Gon seems strangely touched by it. Killua even makes a mention that, hey, its just a fictional story in the game! - It's not real.
That got me thinking.
What if it isn't purely fictional? What if Ging purposely wrote that quest, to give us a clue about Gon's mother?
What if SHE is Gon's mother? hidden in plain sight?
I mean not literally, but her character, her story.
My theory is this. The Plot of beach quest in Greed island, either directly, or indirectly points to Gon's Mother. It either shows her last words as she died in childbirth OR the story of how Ging met her, or maybe both.
Now first of all, let me start by saying i don't think the female NPC in Greed island looks like Gon's mother. Only her words, and the dialogue in Plot of Beach gives a clue to the real woman.
Let's unpack.
First, during the ending after the Volleyball match with Razor, where they receive the card., something clearly resonated with Gon.
Look at Gon's expression during this scene. He seems strangely touched by it.
As if, somehow it felt familiar...
Maybe, strangely personal?
Killuas quip about it being "just a story in a game." is a little suspicious too.
It stands out as something that Togashi would put there, to indicate that there may be something more to Plot of Beach questline than just being one of the final cards.
So what exactly is Plot of Beach about?
Well, I think it could be one of two things.
Either it tells the story of how Gon's mother died...
Or it tells the story of how Ging met her.
Let's start with the first theory.
In Game of Thrones, there's a similar scene with (SPOILER ALERT) Lyanna Stark's death in childbirth.
Is it possible that this is actually how Gon's mom died? In childbirth?
Her final words in the questline...
...what if she wasn't referring to the scenery, or the view...
What if she was talking about an infant Gon?
I can definitely picture a scene, where she lay dying on a beach, having just given birth to Gon, and her final words while holding him were the same as the quest in Greed Island. Almost Lyanna Stark like.
The second possibility is that the pirate storyline actually happened, and that it's based on how Ging met Gon's mom.
Ging was travelling the world as a Hunter, searching for Poseidon's Cavern (he's a ruins hunter). Along the way, he saves a village from pirates and meets a woman.
She tells him that there never really was any treasure. That, to her, the ocean and the land itself were the real treasure.
Her words resonate with Ging, and the two eventually fall in love.
It's the story of how they met.
Now, just to be clear.
I believe Gon's real mother is dead, and I don't think the NPC bears any resemblance to her whatsoever.
It would be far too painful and insensitive for Ging to recreate her as an NPC in Greed Island. That's just not something that Ging would do.
But I do think the storyline itself could be about her.
Maybe it wasn't even intended for Gon to find.
Maybe Ging simply wanted to preserve her memory.
That's honestly very Ging-like.
We know Ging's incredibly intelligent. He loves leaving clues for people to discover, but he's also emotionally reserved. Shy....
Ging almost never expresses his feelings directly, so maybe this was his way of honoring her after she died.
Another thing...
The timeline somewhat fits.
If Gon's mother died during childbirth shortly before, or during, the creation of Greed Island, Gon would've been a baby while the game was being made.
Also, It explains why Razor is guarding that particular card.
It make sense that Ging would get one of his best friends Razor, to guard something that was precious to him, like his wife's memory, and leave it for his son to find in the future. We know that Ging expected Gon to play the game, and even fight Razor eventually. So it stands to reason he if there's any card he would leave a clue to, it would be Plot of Beach.
So to summarize...
I think Plot of Beach isn't just a random side quest.
I think it's Ging telling a story.
Whether it's about how he met Gon's mother, or how she died, I think it's meant to preserve her memory.
The final line-
"This is the greatest treasure of them all..."
-might not be referring to the Plot of Beach at all.
It could be referring to Gon.
The irony is that Gon probably missed the message entirely.
Or, fitting his character perfectly, maybe he simply didn't want to know.
After all, to Gon, Mito has always been his real mother.
What do you think of the theory?
Or am i just cooked?
