There are SPOILERS! If you have not watched Hunter X Hunter and want to, DO NOT CONTINUE READING! I REPEAT DO NOT CONTINUE READING! Okay let's turn the fuck up.

Hunter X Hunter is a anime about a 12 year old kid named Gon Freecss who aspires to become a professional hunter like his father and actually go search for and meet his father Ging Freecs. He's later accompanied by his best friend Killua Zoldyck a 12 year old prodigy assassin from a family of assassins. Killua's family (besides his father Silva) are assholes also so naturally Gon and Killua are made for each other because Ging Freecss is basically a deadbeat father and asshole. This shitty father left Gon to go do more hunting so Gon is raised by his aunt Mito. He basically tells Gon later in the anime not to look for him cause he doesn't want to see him basically solidifying his "Ain't Shit Father Of The Century" award. Anyway this anime is really interesting. It starts off very light hearted. Watching the Hunter Exam Arc I didn't expect any darkness to it besides the couple of fights I seen in the arc and then BOOM! Yorknew City Arc happens and I'm like "What The Fuck??!!". The anime just took a turn for greatness! Blood, Fights, and more blood. I was blown away. I like this anime because it's a roller coaster of emotions. It's very bi-polar like St.Louis weather.

PLOT

I finish the "Greed Island" arc which was also pretty light hearted and arrive at the "Chimera Ant" arc. The writer waste no time this shit is dark from the jump. It's about this huge ass Queen Ant who eats EVERY FUCKING THING. Basically the forest she's in is like Golden Corral to her. The mission of this queen ant is to eat humans with a power called "Nen" and birth the ultimate King ant along with 3 powerful ant guards to protect him to rule the world. She eats normal humans for a while birth a bunch of humanoid ants and they basically hunt down animals, regular humans and humans with Nen abilities and turn them into meatballs to feed to the queen. The bitch basically never stops eating. Gon and Killua arrive there and run into a old friend of Gon and Gon's father named Kite. He met Gon when Gon was younger and is Ging Freecss protege. Hopefully Ging gave him no tips on fatherhood. Kite tells them about the ants but had no idea of the queen's plan. After Kite's research team finds a huge ass ant arm washed on a shore Kite, Gon, and Killua set out to a reservation called "NGL" to find the queen ant and stop a possible infestation.

This arc is very interesting. It's all about humanity. Ants are learning how to be human and the humans are learning how to be human but as the arc goes on the ants learning how to be human really fucks up their purpose because they get away from the qualities that make ants successful in the ant world. Ants don't have individuality like humans do. They are known for working together all day everyday. Once you give them human qualities, personalities, and traits you give them the power of emotions and desires outside of their purpose. As far as humans learning to be humans. The hunters are learning more and more about themselves especially Killua. Killua is the second or third most interesting character in this Arc behind the ant king Mereum, and the blind girl Komugi. Killua comes from a disciplined and conditioned background so there are so many habits he has to break in order for him to be a "Normal" human being and become a better fighter. He was trained since birth to kill, run away, be non emotional, and expected not to have friends. Majority of the arc Killua is depressed about not being strong enough and feeling he's not really a true friend to Gon. The development of Killua is really one of my favorite things about this arc especially Killua's breakdown where he believes he's nothing to Gon but someone makes him realize that he is the most important person Gon needs. A very touching scene where Killua finally opens up his emotions and expresses them. He's finally learned how to be human.

THE KING ANT AND THE BLIND PRODIGY

I'm not going to breakdown every character or summarize the whole arc blow by blow but I will give my view on the ones that make this arc good. I mentioned 2 characters I thought were more interesting than Killua in this arc. Mereum the ant king and Komugi the blind, goofy, gungi (a board game) child prodigy. Lets start with Mereum. This is probably one of the most well developed villains I've seen in a anime this creature was just flat out evil. From birth he was a bad motherfucker. Literally. He fucked over his mom (The queen). He's moving in her womb she tells him to wait you're not ready to be born he basically tells her "Shut the fuck up hoe I'm coming out" and he busts out her womb fatally wounding her in the process. One of the ants tries to help the dying queen Mereum kills him instantly and eats him. He's a cannibal too obviously. All the ants watch in fear as he calls the colony a piece of shit and leaves with his 3 powerful royal guard ants to look for a better place to live. This dude was so evil the ants under him surrendered to the humans to try and help save the queen. Colt (One of the first born humanoid ants) flew to 2 hunters that were hunting him down with a white flag and it was one of the saddest moments I've seen. Mereum was so evil it got to the point that you started feeling sorry for the ants under him. The same ants that were killing humans including children I started to feel sorry for. The queen was responsible for this shit and I felt sorry for her. You totally forget she was evil cause of her shitty son. Good writing! Mereum basically slaps around his royal guards frequently, only eats the fanciest of Nen humans, takes over a palace, and believes he's the smartest and most powerful creature in the universe. He's not too far off base with that assumption until he meets Komugi.

Taking over the world is hard work. Things can get boring so this asshole Mereum reads up on how to play different board games, masters them quickly, starts beating world champion chess players brought to his palace by his royal guards and then killing them after he beats them deeming them inferior beings. Komugi is brought in. She is blind and dim witted but the best Gungi player in the world. Mereum reads the rules on how to play then starts to play with Komugi. Komugi whoops his ass in every match and earns his respect. Mereum tries to throw her off by making her bet her life on a game and he bets his arm but it backfires because she always bets her life on every game she plays. Komugi believes if she fails at Gungi she cant support her family thus giving her a reason not to live. Mereum then rips off his own arm like a lunatic. She is key to this arc because the more time she spends with the king the more you notice he bends his rules for her. He becomes more compassionate, more human, every second he spends with her. The respect he has for her being the most powerful Gungi player turns into care then turns into love. A king who thought all humans were scum and food meets this little girl and realizes he was wrong. There's a scene where Komugi is hurt and Mereum runs to her side like a concerned parent asking her is she okay and why didn't she call for help, that's when you knew Mereum emotions arrived. You see compassion for the first time. Not compassion for a ant but compassion for a human, that scene was the turning point in my opinion. She was his downfall but yet the best thing that happened to him. Everything he did led to Komugi and everything Komugi did led to him. They were meant for each other. The final scene was definitely sad as Mereum dying from poison has one last request and that's to play Gungi with Komugi. The poison is highly contagious but Komugi doesn't care and she chooses to die playing with the king. Mereum dies first in Komugi arms without winning a single match of Gungi against her the whole arc and what makes it crazy is that it's a humans arms he's dying in. The first human he's ever respected and loved. Komugi then dies right after Mereum. Definitely a tear jerker but I didn't cry like a bitch though.

GON: THE AFTER THOUGHT

Gon is the main character and I really didn't think much of his role in this arc that is my only gripe about it. When Kite is severely injured, captured, and has his body under a spell by one of the royal guard ants, Gon realizes what he's up against and goes to get stronger. He's only focused on getting Kite back from the ants. I don't even think he cared about the human race anymore just Kite. He finally sees the royal guard ant who's responsible for Kite's injuries. Gon doesn't want to talk he wants to throw hands, he's ready to kill. It's the most fired up Gon you see in the series so naturally I'm thinking this fight between him and the royal guard bout to be some G-shit. Nope! Gon takes her to where Kite is to have release the spell but she tells Gon he's dead. Gon literally cries like a pussy for 10 minutes. Easily the most annoying moment of the arc. It got to the point where i didn't care anymore and wanted them to go back to what was happening at the palace with everyone else. Gon then uses his anger and nen to transform into a muscular abercrombie and fitch model with longer hair and as much power as Mereum and easily destroys and mutilates the royal guard and he loses a arm in the process. This part stinks to sum it up.

I give this arc 4 fruit snacks out of 5. The Gon shit was the only slip up to me and that was near the very end. Great fights. A lot of blood. Tons of characters. Watch this shit ASAP.

- Benny

Check out our podcast "Polite Coolery" below.