HXH 88-89 REACTION!

Not a huge deal, but you forgot to tag this video, and tags are really helpful when people join and want to catch up.

sandbun

I love how he seems to effortlessly work in subtle nuance. My favourite part of any story is looking deeper into the subtext, and there's a lot in HxH.

Seeno Evils

That’s true lol, I forget he earned it by being recklessly selfless*, like Gon lol. *Typo

Christopher Rivera

Thanks. I share things to see what conclusions others might derive from them, maybe a slightly or even very different interpretation than what I have. In the manga, Togashi shares details from his vacationing in Egypt, visiting the Pyramids, etc. so we can easily assume none of this is coincidental and has symbolic meaning.

Christopher Rivera

Deku eating AM's hair was always a running joke for me and my friends. One that came from a place of love, we really enjoyed MHA when it came out. It's referencing how Deku was the only one that tried to save Bakugo from the slime dude, despite having no quirk.

Seeno Evils

I love all the cool little details in the show. I always learn something neat from your comments.

Seeno Evils

About Killua weakness, right now what they are trying to do is to go fight the ants and Killua is not able to do that. He sees them as more powerful than him. Right now he will always retreat when he sees a powerful opponent. Maybe think of it as a debilitating social anxiety where you’re not able to do anything. In a fight if Killua thinks the oppopen is stronger he will not be able to do anything besides trying to escape since it’s so ingrained in him. That is what they taught him. I think Biscuit wanted to shock him otherwise nothing will change. If she only says you are too cautious without any shock value Killua will not be motivated to change since it has always worked for him in the past being cautious. There is a grain of truth otherwise it would not be effective. In the hunter exam when Illumi said he’s going to kill Gon, Killua could not do anything since he believed his brother was stronger. He gave up and snapped, he could not do anything. Yes Killua and Gon relationship has grown a lot since then but there is still a grain of truth. Now Gon is reckless and stubborn. He wants to go back to the ants. Killua has to be able to accept a little risk otherwise he will not be able to do anything against the ants. If you look at who shall we send against the ants. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Do you send Knuckle, Shoot, Killua, Gon, Palm? In evaluating every candidate you have to take into consideration Killua overcautiousness and see if he can be useful against the ants. Same for everybody else but now Biscuit is talking to Killua and addressing his weaknesses.

Dany DLTV

Hmm, interesting, I wouldn't have thought about the ability to choose being a weakness/ something to make the condition stronger....but it kinda makes sense🤔 I'd still say though, that all in all, being able to choose (with the risk of choosing wrong) is better than having no choice at all😅

Diego Zenhäusern

JD did say this, but I'll point it out as well just in case: Gon must say the entire "First Comes Rock, Rock, Paper [choice]" thing when he attacks, it's one of the conditions he set on his ability. If he didn't chant it, he would just be throwing a "regular" Ko punch (or the equivalent transmuter/emission alternative).

Herman

Can I just say, that I appreciate how the show lets Bisky read her magazines without making her look like a freak or a perv (letting her drool over them, letting other characters make fun of her etc.). Instead it's just really matter-of-factly and as if the show is saying: It's just something she does, she's a human being too and there's nothing wrong with it... live with it!

Diego Zenhäusern

So maybe I'm reading to much into this, but to me the fact that Bisky was prepared to reveal her true form to Killua (given how insecure she is about it) really showed how much she actually cares about the two of them 😊!

Diego Zenhäusern

Yeah, I'd definitely agree with you, that he'd never leave Gon behind to die intentionally. However, I think it's entirelly plausible (if not even likely, considering most of their opponents will technically be stronger than them), that he would get Gon killed by hesitating to long to enter a fight to help him, when Gon is relying on him to do so. And I'm not talking about him hesitating to take on someone like Pitou (Who is clearly out of their league) , but maybe someone like Rammot (Who's on average probably still stronger than the two of them, but likely beatable under the right conditions and if they both really commit to the fight)...and I'm also convinced that is what Bisky is trying to explain him. So I don't think that Bisky's claim is entirely correct and I'd assume she's being hyperbolic to make him really think about that possibility🤔

Diego Zenhäusern

Well Bisky isn’t implying the opposite extreme, just that he should lessen his extreme caution. It’s like the common advice of “eat more vegetables” it says more but not to the point of excluding everything else.

Christopher Rivera

@Radoras - Togashi puts details about his characters all over the place.

Christopher Rivera

@Radoras That's exactly what I meant...I think you just explained it better and more succinct🙈😅

Diego Zenhäusern

I'm on the fence about the topic on taking risks here...I mean, I get that you can't get anywhere if you always only play it safe & don't do anything you're not sure to succeed...but if you waste your time on really impossible (not only hard) tasks, you get nothing when you instead could go at something you actually can archieve & get results. Ok, maybe I'd never be an anime protagonist with that mindset (because those almost never have IMPOSSIBLE odds, only setbacks, otherwise the show would be over), but later looking back & realizing you wasted your time without ever having a chance would just suck XD

Radoras

It totally plays into the whole "calculating assassin"-mindset that was hammered into Killua by his father & brother; in the episode where they were looking for Knuckle & Shoot (where Gon said they shouldn't investigate them, because they have get used to fight enemies they are NOT prepared for), Killua said that they shouldn't try below 50% success chance, better yet 70% -> meaning, he only takes on fights where he is evenly matched to (or better: stronger than) his opponent. Bisky isn't telling him to pick fights with 0% chance for success, but not automatically run away below 50%

Radoras

Bisky's talk is reserved for the likes of Hunters, and specifically, of someone wishing to be on the level with Gon. Gon is only at the level he is today, as a hunter, because he didn't give in to Hanzo; he didn't take his time in the Heavens Arena fights; he didn't follow the plan straight away against Genthru; he didn't decide to give up beating Greed Island when one of Razor's spike's could have killed him or his friends, and it keeps going on and on like that. If Gon had done as you say, not be reckless, retreat from a more powerful opponent because that's the sensible thing to do, he wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be a hunter, he wouldn't have beaten Greed Island, he wouldn't have met Kite. He'd be on Greed Island and going to school (lol). Killua has to be the same if he wants to be an equal with Gon, and a friend that won't let him down. He once said something like "that's how an assassin works, but I'm not an assassin now, I'm a hunter". Well, technically he is, but he doesn't have the mindset yet.

JD

I always second guess my comments lol, basically one I deleted is just likening Bisky's threat to the trust falling exercise. Gon might be expecting Killua to catch him, unquestioningly, but Killua isn't sure that he would be there to catch his friend. If Killua isn't there, Gon won't take a fall, so to speak. It removes the risk that he might let Gon down, and that Gon might go into a situation with an incorrect assumption about having backup.

JD

The ability being used to control Kite is not Poufs, his music wasn’t doing that

coolkid558

Gon announcing his attack "rock, paper....!" is part of its strength. It's a constraint that makes it more powerful. The risk of telegraphing its beginning, and the risk of choosing wrong (say, rock instead of scissor, when rock might result in death) multiplies its power. Just like Kurapika's chains, the restrictions and risks make it what it is. Because otherwise, it would simply be Ko, the generic technique by which anyone focuses their aura 100% in one place.

JD

Do you remember Menchi (Gourmet Hunter) summing up Netero's personality in the Hunter exam? As she watched Hanzo beating Gon for hours straight, essentially torturing him for the win, she realised Netero intended that type of outcome. She said that someone who had made it that far was unlikely to simply surrender, so in a fight where you could only win by your opponent surrendering, every match could be an ordeal like that. So Netero put together that bracket and those rules knowing Gon, a child, would end up being tortured. Whether he did this for his own interest, or because he felt it was a fitting barrier to the esteemed Hunter class, isn't specifically stated, as far as I know, but that example gives you a good grounding to decide whether he could sacrifice someone for the sake of this mission, or "hunt".

JD

Something else I just noticed: Bisky was most definitely not saying that you should never run away/ running away in itself is dumb! If you look at the chart she's using (e.g. at 56:15 ) you see that there are 5 hypothetical people (A to E ) on the chart. Jet she only says 3 of them (A to C) have a fair shot at beating D. That is because even at its best, E is still weaker than D at its worst. So by excluding E from the people that can beat D she's clearly acknowledging that D has no real chance in the first place and therefore shouldn't even bother to try it. So she's saying: "It isn't wrong to flee from an adversary that's completely out of your league (e.g. Neferpitou) but if you never try to beat someone that is just on average stronger than you, you can't grow and will probably, intentionally or not, let down Gon at one point or another"

Diego Zenhäusern

Yeah, that's definitely how it felt to me. I mean she literally said that C had a fair chance to defeat D IF he was in a good condition and D only in a mediocre or even poor condition. It really felt to me like she was just telling him: "You have to believe in yourself and sometimes pick the fights you're not sure of winning, because otherwise you can't grow" And not: "If you don't fight every adversary that's stronger than you you're just a useless whimp" I mean it's like in sport: If always the same team won, when two teams face each other it wouldn't be interessting, but the conditions of each team influence the outcome each time they meet. But if one of the teams has Killuas "mindset" and assumes it has no chance of winning in the first place, I probably really will never win.

Diego Zenhäusern

I can't even imagine how hard that comment from Bisky hit Killua. Every time he gets closer to becoming stronger, he gets pushed to the bottom, and has to build himself back up from nothing. Like all his strength just got blown away. Hearing that he would have to leave Gon behind is probably crushing him, and adding so much more weight to whatever else he is currently carrying as a burden. Gon is his whole world though, they started this journey together, running through those tunnels together, climbing the tower, greed island... he will never abandon his light, and he would never give up on the one person who never gives up on him.

Mattie

Lol, that's cool!

Diego Zenhäusern

Eren and TPN are good examples.

Christopher Rivera

I know you already expanded on your thoughts at the end (on what Bisky said). But if people didn't fight against seemingly insurmountable odds, then the kids the TPN are continuing to get eaten; Erin never trains to fight the titans, or they never overthrow the monarchy, or they hand over the founding titan; Deku never slurps All Might's hair; and plenty of other stories that are built on the struggle of big vs small, strong vs weak, etc.

Seeno Evils

The first part of the royal guard’s names are references to ancient Egyptian mythological figures and royalty. The latter parts of their names/nicknames are named after French children’s book characters: in the books, Pouf is a cat, Youpi a dog, and Pitou a panther (differs from their representations in HxH and I don’t know what if any meaning it has). Some of the Egyptian references... Shaiapouf = “Shai,” ancient Egyptian god of fate and destiny Menthuthuyoupi = “Menthu,” god of war, courage and the sun, also the protector of other gods. (Already described Pitou in the 84-85 reaction comments.)

Christopher Rivera

You can picture their names as a reference to rock paper scissors. Knuckle is rock (making a fist to show your knuckles), Palm is paper (open handed to show your palm), and Shoot is scissors (make a ✂️ then “snip” to make a finger pistol). Their names are also a reference to certain types of baseball pitches.

Christopher Rivera

Thank you for recording this tonight! I don't think anybody would be "mad" at you, but I know we all appreciate it... As far as what Bisky said to Killua, it's important because it's holding Killua back. She doesn't mean that he should always give it his all even if there's no chance of winning, it's that Killua hasn't been fighting at his full potential because during fights against opponents (even those of equal strength) he's busy thinking of ways to escape, instead of focusing on beating them. That's an assassin's way though: always have the advantage to make the quick kill and get out alive for the next job. I like how you're recognizing all the character development that we are seeing, especially with the new characters (e.g. Knuckle, Shoot, Pitou, Pouf [pronounced poof like a bath pouf]). Moving through this arc is like sweet sorrow... I can't wait for you to get through it, but when it's over I'll probably slip into depression. Anyway, thanks again for doing it tonight even though you may not have really wanted to. I appreciated it a lot.

Killua X

Oh and Gon says his attack so as to meet a condition he set. He feels stronger that way and it actually does strengthen his attack. Here he added “once over” as an additional condition to quickly reactivate jajanken for a consecutive attack. Genthru did something loosely similar by explaining his countdown to meet a condition and kill his former allies. It’s not really explicitly stated just implied, and why Bisky let him create that attack in Greed Island despite how childish it seemed, saying it was important that it “felt right” as a more personal attack is more powerful, similar to how your nen ability being more powerful if it’s compatible with your nen type. Jujutsu Kaisen is also using “explanations as a power up” (or requirement) for cursed techniques.

Christopher Rivera

Good example. Shoot also exhibited too much caution. Contrast to Gon who found a way to get one over on Knuckle with a move he knew had flaws. He turned a negative into a positive, not accepting the circumstances as is but changing them.

Christopher Rivera

With the bisky lesson to killua I don’t think she necessarily meant fight to die. But remember gon and killua vs netero for the ball. Killua quit because it was impossible and gon persisted through the night and grew. So like you said. It just stopped him from even trying.

Christian

You can relate Gon’s recklessness to his freedom as a child, almost like an animal with little thought of the past or future, living in the present, lacking judgement of others (it’s not like he or the animals of Whale Island could judge him). Killua living with little freedom but lots of discipline (likely under intense pain, yet ignored, learning to suppress/control his emotions). Considering how quickly they both learn, just imagine if Gon had the same assassin training?

Christopher Rivera

I think Bisky just meant Killua himself needed to be less cautious but not necessarily reckless. When she says “fight” I think she just means it in a general sense, like fighting for your dreams (or ending song 2 “Hunting for Your Dream”) or jn this case “fighting” just means “working towards the mission objectives.” The boys for example are aware their chances of beating Knuckle are very slim they’re working towards that objective regardless because rescuing Kite is worth trying anything. An ultimatum like “rescue someone or fight someone” is a particular exception but Bisky just meant her advice in a general sense, not an absolute one, perhaps where fighting may be necessary to save someone or just to make progress. No risk, no reward — while balance is usually important we often see Gon’s recklessness and Killua’s cautiousness payoff. Depending on the situation, cautiousness can cause you to miss opportunities, and recklessness can get you hurt. So moderation is what they need but without forgetting that it can benefit them to go to some extreme. “Everything in moderation” including moderation itself, always dependent on context.

Christopher Rivera

Mental fights are more important than physical ones in HxH

Knocking Master Jiro

Shoot's so great lol :D The schedule's great btw! Hope it's not too stressful or anything. Anyways, oh my god thank you for being able to see how much weaker Gon and Killua are compared to Knuckle and Shoot. A lot of other reactors sort of ignore their weaknesses since they're the main characters, so it's awesome to see you point it out. I definitely agree with you at the end about the character development happening in these episodes. Shoot crying early on was pretty indicative of his mental state, but Gon repeatedly pointing out how soft Knuckle is also highlights Knuckle's flaws. Gon and Killua being physically unprepared for the NGL and Shoot and Knuckle being mentally unprepared was always something I found cool about this little training arc. Hopefully they get over that though cause I really don't want them to have second thoughts if they make it to NGL.

Boy...the next upload is a banger.

TheBagSenpai

Osu!

Christian