Hunter x Hunter Episode Two

Do I have to put you two in timeout or something?

The second episode of Hunter x Hunter is all about the other two members of the current main character trio, Leorio and Kurapika, as the group makes their way through a pair of pre-tests for the Hunter Exam. Leorio is the hot-headed type with a heart of gold, and is shown to have good medical knowledge. Kurapika, on the other hand, possesses a calm demeanor and a bit of a cruel streak as he deals with being the last of his clan. And watching these two polar opposites clash can be entertaining. Especially because it doesn't seem like one is portrayed to be more suited to being a Hunter than the other.

The other thing that this episode establishes is how difficult it is to become a Hunter. The pre-tests in this episode involve an impossible ethical dilemma, where the correct answer to a basic "which important person to you would you save, A or B" is neither. Then, there's a situation involving a husband and wife seem to be attacked by shapeshifting monsters, which has multiple solutions, three of which are found by our heroes. I do like that there is an emphasis placed on quick and clever thinking, rather than brute force, in passing these pre-tests. It shows what the people running the whole Hunter scheme are looking for in prospective candidates. As for Gon, he takes a bit of a backseat in this episode, only showing off his powers of pure awesome when he is able to tell the two seemingly identical shapeshifters apart. He is a bit overpowered at this point, though he seems to be more than a bit naive, which could come to bite him in the ass in the future.