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.