[Haak]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

I think the beauty of Hunter x Hunter is its ability to create that sort of moral dissonance. That despite all the terrible things the Spider have done, it managed to create an emotionally effectual scene of Paku's sacrifice. A certain admiration has to be there for the way she put her group before herself.

It is not like villains have to be people who always do evil things in 100% of scenarios. The spider wouldn't maintain itself as a group if they weren't held together by something more than just "hahaha I AM EVIL!!!" It also doesn't mean they are not supposed to be held accountable to their heinous actions. All it means is that the spider is more complex and nuanced than your typical scooby doo villain.

Similarly, you could see that our so called protagonists are not the most chivalrous bunch around either. Killua has killed several people. Kurapika has killed someone in his search for vengeance. Gon turns a blind eye to all the carnage that is around him and has displayed a scary side of him in the heaven's arena arc. They are not 100% pure white knights either.

Hunter x Hunter characters in general are colored with shades of grey instead of just pure black and white. It's why the cast is often so fascinating and compelling.

It's not like I don't appreciate that. I still do. It's just that there are times when I think the story is saying "Yeah these guys lack a lot of morals, but they have certain virtues and that's what matters". Sometimes the perspective just seems a bit off to me. Maybe it still works for some and you did say you still felt sympathetic to Paku's death, but I just found it a little irksome. On a certain level, I could appreciate the cleverness and and ambition behind it but I couldn't appreciate it.

On a separate note, whilst Hunter x Hunter has made great use of characters that lack morals, I'd also like to start seeing more grey characters like Kurapika who are grey because of their morals, not the lack of it.