(CR) Hunter X Hunter Anime (2011)

[whitecloud]

Little Rose, it seems to be more of a neutron bomb, which basically has explosive power much lower than a nuke (even though it is a thermonuclear weapon), but has a LOT more radiation strength, which use is "to kill soldiers who are protected by armor, to temporarily or permanently disable armored targets, or to take out targets fairly close to friendly forces"

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Dengar

^If you go by that logic, then people should be outraged over the fact that he survived the explosion in the first place, rather than survive it first and only die of radiation later.

Bingo! That's exactly what I personally felt was the weakest part of this arc. I'm perfectly OK with him dying by radiation poisoning but it feels a bit of a cop-out to me only because I felt like the King should have actually died directly from the explosion. At least that's my opinion.

That particular episode where the King was shown as surviving the explosion was actually one of the first times I was disappointed by the show ever since the very first episodes (particularly Gon's boat ride out from his home island). That stands in stark contrast with me enjoying the previous episode where the nuke was actually used so much. I felt like pulling the explosion was a very unexpected but interesting thing to do while allowing the King to survive kind of diminishes the impact of that plot twist.

[hamazura]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Bingo! That's exactly what I personally felt was the weakest part of this arc. I'm perfectly OK with him dying by radiation poisoning but it feels a bit of a cop-out to me only because I felt like the King should have actually died directly from the explosion. At least that's my opinion.

That particular episode where the King was shown as surviving the explosion was actually one of the first times I was disappointed by the show ever since the very first episodes (particularly Gon's boat ride out from his home island). That stands in stark contrast with me enjoying the previous episode where the nuke was actually used so much. I felt like pulling the explosion was a very unexpected but interesting thing to do while allowing the King to survive kind of diminishes the impact of that plot twist.

we all know togashi let king survived the explosion to make drama with komugi in the remaining episode. if king not survived, komugi will practically become useless, all of pouf thought hostility to komugi will become useless, all of palm, killua, ikalgo doing with komuginwill become useless. king survived to link all of those chain event. and let me ask, how do you continue the story if king did die in the explosion? how do you make a conclusion of this battle with remaining 2 royal guards? can you make battle as epic as neteros and gons?

no

but its okay debating things like this for now i think. it wont change what would i see in 2-3 weeks. everyone posting bout how speechless, praising and crying they are after they saw the ending :-p

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by hamazura

we all know togashi let king survived the explosion to make drama with komugi in the remaining episode. if king not survived, komugi will practically become useless, all of pouf thought hostility to komugi will become useless, all of palm, killua, ikalgo doing with komuginwill become useless. king survived to link all of those chain event. and let me ask, how do you continue the story if king did die in the explosion? how do you make a conclusion of this battle with remaining 2 royal guards? can you make battle as epic as neteros and gons?

no

but its okay debating things like this for now i think. it wont change what would i see in 2-3 weeks. everyone posting bout how speechless, praising and crying they are after they saw the ending :-p

You're absolutely 100% right in asking those questions. It's mostly the reason why I think Togashi wrote himself into a corner for a moment there. I personally though it could work wonders to actually kill the big bad guy in such an anti-climatic fashion but then there would be stuff like the Komugi plotline that would be left hanging.

I'm starting to see how Togashi's main goals with the Netero x King fight were: he wanted to take Netero, arguably humanity's only hope, out of the picture and keep setting the stage for some drama involving Komugi and Pouf. It works for that but I personally think that it wasn't the best of ways to go about doing so. Of course I also don't have another suggestion and as such I must admit my lack of storytelling ability and have trust in Togashi's.

[ookamigirl]

#134

Spoiler for plot:

So Netero's sacrifice did mean something after all.
The shock on Pouf's face was priceless.
Welfin got himself into trouble in a flash.
And the worst kind of trouble too.
The King is so much more powerful now, it's just scary!
Guss that one word was enough for Meruem ^^
It's amazing how much the mention of her name changed him.
Can't wait to see more!

[MCAL]

Basically this episode was Togashi telling all those other shounen writers to stay in the shallow end of the pool so they don't drown.

The realistic (sometimes brutally so) imagery, the insane amount of dialogue, how every character is important both plot wise and thematically,how well developed the antagonists are that they'll do unlikely things that in retrospect make perfect sense and the completely unconventional way in which the all powerful main villain is stopped. And of course Madhouse's execution makes it all the more better. It all combines to create absolute perfection.

Looks like Madhouse is changing the order of events around, which is actually a good idea (And this doesn't contradict Anbiru-san's tweets). The story will be able to flow better that way and that leaves last episode dedicated completely to a coda.

Next episode: FeelsxFeels. Bring those tissues.

[revive4563]

King's self incline to human side? Obviously it's ironic, sad end... Yeah, this story is in another league among Shounen battle series.
Now, I understand about that people was saying the ending of this arc is so sad.

btw I'm starting to think that Komugi is cute, if she hasn't runny nose.

[Proto]

Whoever designed the animation script for the ending was a genius. The imagery just keeps getting more meaningful every episode.

[Ryuga]

Considering Pouf largely considers humans to be nothing compared to Ants, Mereum's words to Welfin pretty much crushed him. His image of the King has slipped away and he knows it. A fitting end for Pouf.

Though humans screw each other over royally (Togashi going through extra lengths to beat us over the head with this fact), I still don't feel much sympathy for the Ants. And Welfin's really lucky the King's gone through some changes. If this was the King some months (?) prior, Welfin wouldn't even get to talk lol, he'd just be dead immediately.

[hamazura]

mistranslation or what? replying welfin about gyro
anime : "i hope YOU can meet him, and if possible, i hope you can live as a human"
manga : "i hope I can meet him, and if possible, it would be nice to live as a human"
the later makes more sense i think

[TurkeyFried]

Originally Posted by hamazura

mistranslation or what? replying welfin about gyro
anime : "i hope YOU can meet him, and if possible, i hope you can live as a human"
manga : "i hope I can meet him, and if possible, it would be nice to live as a human"
the later makes more sense i think

I hope it wasn't a mistranslation. The anime's line gave Meruem an air of selflessness that made me warm up to him a little.

[Reckoner]

134:

Incredibly powerful episode. Got to love the imagery at the beginning (One of the images is actually taken from the Vietname war). The moral ambiguity woven into the King's character is such utter genius. Here we have the most devastating force that mankind may have ever seen and it must be stopped at all cost, yet Togashi manages to make you feel empathy for Meruem and the ants. It may be a necessary victory for humanity, but a very ugly one that blackens the soul.

Next week is feels x feels indeed.

[MCAL]

Originally Posted by hamazura

mistranslation or what? replying welfin about gyro
anime : "i hope YOU can meet him, and if possible, i hope you can live as a human"
manga : "i hope I can meet him, and if possible, it would be nice to live as a human"
the later makes more sense i think

The problem is the manga translation might not be the right translation though.

Either way, both translations still show that Meruem has fully acknowledge humans, which is something Pouf absolutely did not want to happen, hence why he broke into tears in the end.

[HandofFate]

Great episode.
Really love how even the most insignificant weakest characters end up serving some really important purpose.

Like welfin, when he showed up, he seemed like the most useless character still wandering around, yet he was the one to make everything come crashing down.

I don't think I seen any standard battle shounen have such a great and layered antagonist as the King. He is pretty much an enlightened god now. No one is able to even touch him.
I doubt that adult powered Gon would have stood a chance.

[Penguin Zero]

Originally Posted by hamazura

mistranslation or what? replying welfin about gyro
anime : "i hope YOU can meet him, and if possible, i hope you can live as a human"
manga : "i hope I can meet him, and if possible, it would be nice to live as a human"
the later makes more sense i think

What? No, I just checked my volume of the Viz translation to be sure, and Meruem's lines are completely in accord with the translation here.

Vol. 30, pp. 66-67:
Welfin: "My only king is Gyro! You're nothing to me! All of you! You're our enemy!"
Meruem: "Is that so?"
Meruem: "I hope you get to see him. And... if possible... live a human life."

Listening to the Japanese, admittedly Meruem doesn't use pronouns. But it makes so much more sense the way the translations have it. Meruem is showing compassion to Welfin, not wanting a human life for himself. Welfin obviously wants to meet Gyro again, and he's reclaimed enough of his human mind that he wants to go back to his human life. Meruem, on the other hand, has only one human he wants to meet right now, and it's not Gyro.

[Guardian Enzo]

So is it now 100% safe to assume the arc will end at 136 and not 135?

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by Ryuga

Though humans screw each other over royally (Togashi going through extra lengths to beat us over the head with this fact), I still don't feel much sympathy for the Ants.

Well, Ants aren't that different really - if there is a difference, it's that they're still comparatively naive. Had they centuries to develop their own culture, science and technology they would become much more of a threat, probably. The point being here, they're horrible to humans, but humans are the next ring in the food chain to them, just like the animals that are shown slaughtered and hanging in the initial sequence are to humans. Amongst themselves they are... uhm... dunno really if they're better than humans, they have stuck together more but that's obviously because they both are the underdog and still have some residual hive mentality. But we've seen ants deceiving each other, lying, betraying, killing, and so on. The only true difference is that, civilization wise, this was like tricking a child: humanity sent a few of its warriors, almost as an afterthought, and beheaded the whole species, with an underhanded trick. It's the superior age and "malice" of mankind that allowed it to beat the ants, who were new to this game.

[hamazura]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

So is it now 100% safe to assume the arc will end at 136 and not 135?

either in 135 epilog or 136 prolog of next arc

[Sugetsu]

^ Togashi quite clearly and accuratelty pointed out through the king that the big human flaw is the ego, and that ants have also inherited that trait as well. This is why meruen (sp?) told Netero that he wont use humans to mate with as the ego would lead to the ants self destruction.

I dont want to derrail this thread, but the author is spot on in my opinion. When it comes to the all of the problems in the human world an empowered ego is at the center of it all. Togashi has just single out the ego but he hasnt specified that the problem specifically is the ego when brought out of balance. (I have already discussed this subject at length in other threads in general chat.) I just find it facisnating how this show arrived at same subject matter, that while very obscure in main stream cycles, many spiritualists and philosophers share.

[kakakka]

I could have said this before, but...

It's fitting Meruem started his change when he fought Komugi and his continued desire to defeat her. Humans see eye to eye when there's a common ground and same goal. A game represents that. If not for the desire to play within the rules, it's easy for us to hurt others. Leads us to challenge our perspective and in some way be civilized.