Hunter x Hunter Episode Sixteen

This scene didn't make me feel as bad as seeing Andre Ayew's shot hit the
back of the United State's goal. 

Note: I am not sober. I have been celebrating the USA's 2-1 win over Ghana in the World Cup with beer. I apologize for the change in quality of the writing, whether it is for the better or the worse.

Today's episode was quite eventful. First, Gon follows Hisoka as he hunts down Leorio and Kurapika. He plans to help defend the two from Hisoka, but that becomes unnecessary when Kurapika agrees to hand over the extra badge he is carrying (giving Hisoka two of the three extra badges he needs to pass this Phase). After an ultra-creepy scene where Hisoka becomes consumed with lust for blood (and perhaps, um, other things), Gon finds himself in the position he planned for all along, hunting Hisoka while Hisoka hunted someone else. And his plan works, in the middle of Hisoka's attack, he is able to snare the badge, giving him what he needs to pass the exam. Except that Gon himself was being hunted by a man using poison darts, who takes Hisoka and Gon's badge. But, a few moments later, Hisoka returns. He is impressed by Gon's ability to steal his own badge, so much so that he returns both badges Gon needs to pass. That's because the man who was hunting Gon was Hisoka's own target, and with his target's badge plus three extra badges, he has the six points he needs. When Gon tries to refuse him, Hisoka knocks Gon out with one punch, and remarks that he is waiting for Gon to mature before he kills our main character. Which leaves the following standings at the end of Day 3 (of 7):

Hisoka: 6 pts
Kurapika: 6 pts
Gon: 6 pts
Guy from last ep with poison arrows: 6 points
Pinhead Guy: 6 points
Leorio: 3 pts
Killua: 3 pts

Tonpa: 0 points

Tonpa's friend: 0 points

Guy who got poisoned (and bandaged by Gon): 0 points

Spear guy who attacked Hisoka: 0 points and dead

Sniper guy who tried to hunt Pinhead: 0 points and dead

Guy Hunting Gon: 0 pts and dead

Last Guy Hisoka Hunted: 0 pts and dead

(14/24 Candidates accounted for)

Hunter x Hunter Episode Fifteen

Here we see a wild Gon stalking its prey, the murderous Hisoka.

On today's Hunter x Hunter, it's more action from the Fourth Phase. Gon is able to locate his target, Hisoka, thanks to some butterflies that are attracted to blood. As he lies in wait, we move to Leorio, who gets fooled by Tonpa into losing his badge. Thankfully, Kurapika was also waiting around as Tonpa happened to be his target, and the two of them are able to retrieve Leorio's badge, Tonpa's badge, and the badge of the man working with Tonpa. Back at Gon stalking Hisoka, another man shows up and challenges Hisoka to a fight. The man ends up dead, not at Hisoka's hand, but at the hand of the Pinhead-looking guy who is friends with Hisoka. The Pinhead-guy now has an extra badge, after killing the person who was targeting him and taking his badge, so he gives it to Hisoka. This plays right into the clown's hands, as he wasn't planning on hunting for his target, just getting three random badges in addition to his own. When he finally goes off to hunt for two more targets, he finds Leorio and Kurapika, with Gon hot on his heels. As far as I can tell, here is how various Candidates stand after Day 2 (of 7).

Kurapika: 6 points

Guy from last ep with poison arrows: 6 points

Pinhead Guy: 6 points

Leorio: 4 points

Hisoka 4 points

Gon: 3 points

Tonpa: 0 points

Tonpa's friend: 0 points

Guy who got poisoned (and bandaged by Gon): 0 points

Spear guy who attacked Hisoka: 0 points and dead

Sniper guy who tried to hunt Pinhead: 0 points and dead

Hunter x Hunter Episode Fourteen

Sorry Gon, Japan's World Cup team is not that good this year.

The Fourth Phase of the Hunter Exam is introduced in today's episode. It has the following format: the Candidates each draw a number that is the number badge of one of the remaining Candidates. They are then taken to a deserted island where they have to hunt each other to steal their badges, by any means necessary. As for how they pass the exam, it uses a point system for each badge.

- Three points are awarded for your badge
- Three points are awarded for your target's badge
- One point are awarded for any other badge
- Six points are required to pass the Fourth Phase

The Candidates have one week on the island to acquire (and hold on to) enough badges to get the six points necessary to pass this Phase. Which means that, at most, half of the Candidates can pass the exam. I really like this game, it's a survival game that actually makes sense, much like most of the tests in the Hunter Exam.

After the cast makes it to the island, the focus is on Gon as he tries to figure out the best way to get his target's badge. This is especially pertinent because Gon drew Hisoka's number. And I'm just going to guess that Hisoka is the last person anyone wanted to draw as their target. The only person less lucky is the person who Hisoka drew for his own target. Either way, Gon is shown trying to hunt animals on the island, and coming to the realization of the best way to successfully hunt something, hunt it while it's hunting something else. And we see the person who picked Gon's number as he stalks his prey. Which means the next episode should be Gon's hunter hunting Gon hunting Hisoka hunting Hisoka's target. It's a huntception!

Hunter x Hunter Episode Thirteen

"Why did they send me the script to the first twelve episodes?"

We've got recap sign! And if this show is going to mail it in, then so am I! Time for a super lazy favorite characters power rankings post. I'm going to stick with the main four. Because effort is hard.

4. Leorio - He's the semi-competent comic relief character who is funny, even if that's only sporadically. And really, I usually tire quickly of any character who only exists to scream what is happening on screen. Even so, he did have a couple crowning moments of awesome, like how he confirmed Kurapika's win in the contests against the prisoners. Still, everyone else is more interesting in my opinion.

3. Kurapika - More often than not, the "last of my kind, need to get revenge" character is really boring. But, Kurapika is sort of the exception. He is actually capable of going an episode (several episodes actually) without bringing up his tragic past. And when it does come up, he completely wrecks some stupid shit trying to act all tough. And while he has some silly code about not killing people when they're not fighting back, he seems to have an interest in murder, as shown by his conversation with Killua after the heart removal incident.

2. Gon - If Gon had a cynical bone in his body, he would not work as a character. Instead, he's a kid with a big heart how can kill you if he chooses to do so, but he chooses not to most of the time. While he isn't the most book smart person on the planet, he is highly observant and a good fighter. I usually don't like the protagonist of a shounen show that much, but Gon is proving to be the exception.

1. Killua - While Gon may be the innocent kid of the group, Killua is anything but. He has killed people, a lot of people. And yet, he is able to relate with someone as pure as Gon. Maybe it's his need to have a friend of his own age and skill level, but that really makes him interesting to me. The friendship between him and Gon is what is driving the show right now, in addition to the Hunter Exam of course. But, if not for the two of them and the dynamic between them, the entire show would just be a bunch of weirdos in funny clothes competing in a bunch of deadly challenges. Killua and Gon are the ones who give the show a heart, and are the reason I care about what happens to them, and their other friends by proxy. That's a sign of a good show.

Hunter x Hunter Episode Twelve

Gon reaches for his Friendmaker.

The Third Phase of the Exam is completed in today's episode. But, first the Candidates have to spend fifty hours locked in a room. The only thing of consequence that happens is that the tension between Leorio and Tonpa increases as they banter at each other over who was worse in the series of contests. After a montage of some of the following challenges in the tower, there is one final choice of which path to take. Because of the time lost, they must choose a "short and easy" path, which only three of them can complete while the other two are handcuffed to a wall. The other path is the "long and difficult" path, which all five could complete but takes forty-five hours when they only have one. After it looks like the group is going to have to fight using all sorts of pointy implements of destruction to decide the three, Gon somehow figures out a way to get all five of them to the finish together. And he does it using the power of friendship axes.

The reveal that all five passed was quite effective, and I commend Hunter x Hunter for pulling it off. In the middle of a fight between Leorio and Tonpa, with Kurapika and Killua looking ready to join, we see Gon reach for an axe. Then, it's a cut to the bottom of the tower, with only three minutes left on the clock, incidentally the length of time the "short and easy" path takes. One of the doors that lets Candidates who have finished Phase Three opens, and it is revealed that Gon, Killua, and Kurapika have passed this Phase of the Exam. The audience figures that they are the ones who won the fight, as not only are they there, but they are covered in bruises that look like they were just in a fight. But then, Leorio and Tonpa show up, finishing the exam with them. Now, how did that happen? I won't reveal it completely, but it's a funny trick, one of which I completely approve. And seeing as the name of the tower is the Trick Tower, it looks like the Examiner approved as well.

Hunter x Hunter Episode Eleven

You could say he really knows how to steal your heart.

The series of contests is wrapped up in today's episode. First, Leorio's predictably loses his match after losing bets on the gender of his opponent (so that he could examine her himself, because of course) and a game of rock-paper-scissors. This sets up a fight between Killua and a mass murderer as the deciding contest. And it's to the death. And it's over quickly. Killua rips his heart out. Not a figure of speech, he walks to the super-strong killer and rips his beating heart out of his chest. Because this isn't an early '90s OVA, the heart is covered in a shred of fabric, but it is still beating. And when it stops beating, and the mass murderer is dead, Killua sets his heart back in his hand. But hey, my prediction of Candidates in 5 was correct!

And while this arc was literally predictable, I don't think that detracts from how good it was. Every person, save Tonpa, had a part in winning the contests and we even learned something about a couple of them at the same time. The most interesting thing to me is how the rest of the group reacted to Killua straight up murdering someone in front of them. Leorio was horrified, Gon was nonplussed (as he knew about this already), and Kurapika asked him how he pulled off that technique. As for Tonpa, wait, no one gives a shit about Tonpa so I'll move on. Now, the action moves to a room off to the side where the group must spend fifty hours after Leorio's contest involved betting (and losing) that much time. Hopefully something interesting happens.

Hunter x Hunter Episode Ten

Leorio, when you're arguing for someone to murder a person in their sleep,
you might want to reevaluate your stance on the matter.

The majority of today's episode was spent confirming the result of the third fight. It seems that Kurapika's punch only knocked out his opponent, which becomes an issue when it was supposed to be a fight to the death. So, after Leorio tries and fails to convince Kurapika to murder his unconscious opponent, he starts the fourth fight with a woman named Leroute. It is a series of gambles, and after a couple of gambles confirms that Kurapika did in fact win his fight to officially give the Candidates a 2-1 lead. Meanwhile, there is a scene where a former Examiner tries to get revenge on Hisoka, and in the process loses his head. Hisoka then becomes the first Candidate to clear the third trial. Yeah, he's still creepy.

As for what I thought about this episode, for the first time I really felt like Hunter x Hunter was spinning its wheels. The first half was just an argument where we learn that Kurapika has some moral code that doesn't allow him to kill someone if he's not actively fighting back. Which is all well and good, but Leorio points out that it doesn't really help them out as far as getting past this challenge. Killua pipes in that he's willing to do it, like the good little psychopath that he is, while Gon agrees with Kurapika. Tonpa, as usual, is just sitting back and watching the fireworks between them. Thankfully the wheel spinning only lasted for half an episode, as the action picked up with the gambling. I'm looking forward to seeing how this mini-arc resolves itself. And I'm still picking the Candidates in 5.