100% Blind HUNTER X HUNTER Review: Yorknew City Arc (1/2)

[Music] welcome back everyone to my analysis of hunter hunter a series that's educated me on some of life's most valuable lessons introducing questions that have echoed and reverberated in my mind for literal weeks questions like should we seek answers to mysteries that will hurt us can we redeem ourselves after horrendous acts and did you know that bungy gum has the properties of both rubber and gum with each question more resonant and profound than the last weaving a tapestry of a series that has deeply impressed me welcome everyone back to my blind review of the hunter hunter manga and this week's gonna be a doozy as i tackle the first half of this fabled arc discussing some of the most adult and mature subject matters i think i've ever discussed on this channel concerning shonen this section masterfully talked to my heartstrings and bonded me to its main character in ways i've never felt before this is gonna be a tough one folks so everyone thank you for joining me because today i'll be discussing the mature tale of some young men making their way to york new city and the dark underworld that resides there i'm totally not mark and this is my blind review of hunter hunter's york new city arc this story is bananas and despite this video covering half of the arc within the first few chapters it cemented itself as the strongest of the series that i've seen thus far taking the emotional moments from the first arc and action from the second and third to produce something truly unique and powerful this is a story that at least to me seems to have something that it wants to say something that i'm honestly not too used to being taken seriously in these types of stories realistic family trouble and the trauma that may sprout from it interestingly for the first time in the story instead of following one linear path or plot thread from the point of view of gon we follow two points of view with a couple of other secondary threats and surprisingly in this section kurapika assumes the leading man role in his plot thread during this section of york new city's arc and it's amazing but structurally speaking i'm a massive fan of the way this particular arc is structured and stories that are structured this way because it often ends up building momentum when heading into the second half or the climax of the story for instance this is one of the dragon ball z namek saga's greatest strengths within which there isn't really a main single plot thread we follow but instead we have the point of view of gohan and krillin vegeta frieza and secondary enemies that make themselves known and even goku and the reason why i enjoy this as much as i do is partially down to what it offers the story in terms of pacing if there's a boring scene it won't last too long before we switch to something else but most importantly this structure helps to build tension for when these individual plot threats eventually start to intertwine and mix the tension and momentum the story is afforded is infectious and hard to beat and that's exactly what this story does and at points towards the start of this arc i actually felt myself resonate with gon more than i think i have even with luffy or goku and maybe it's because i can relate to the good and the bad traits of this character he's not perfect and in fact it's the potential negative attributes he projects through his personality that i find myself resonating with and that's not something i can say about many other characters in fiction now while the portion of the story i'll be covering today does primarily deal with kurupika's trials and tribulations in york new city the scene that has stayed with me long after finishing it has to be the opening section of this arc when we arrive with gon and kilauea back at whale island there's virtually no action to speak of and while the scenery can be spectacularly beautiful at times the only reason i hold this sequence in such high regard has to be how it deals with difficult subject matter something i've come to love about hunter hunter has been how emotionally resonant it is as i've mentioned tagashi isn't afraid to strip away all the pomp and ceremony surrounding a particular scene or scenario or character and he just allows them to speak openly with each other chapter 64 is exactly that demonstrating a quiet moment of intimate and vulnerable reflection between two friends and i love it for that why i love quiet moments like this is largely due to one prevailing factor it allows us to see the characters for who they really are in as clear a way as possible we see how similar gone is to kilauea but we also see how different they are it's cute and just like the rest of the story there are some hints of sadness dotted across the text showing us how lonely gone is and how aimless kilowatt can be one exchange that did stick out in my mind as particularly sad was when gon enthusiastically asked if killua would stick around with him i assume in gon's mind he would want that forever and while killua's response was to the affirmative it was also delivered with significantly less enthusiasm and with a definite deadline that deadline being once he figures out what he wants to do with his life he'll leave and when that day comes i can only imagine how difficult it will be for gon to take that news in addition to that this opening section on top of being a stripped down and engaging narrative it was also quite beautiful in its depiction of the woods and the star speckled night sky as the two boys stare up into it pondering what the future might hold for them and if that's not relatable i don't know what is and that's not even to make mention of the role jing plays in these opening chapters through various flashbacks and recollections we learn the little information gone's aunt and grandmother know of him and the means with which he left gone with them all those years ago as a baby but interestingly he did leave behind something specifically forgone a mysterious box that neither him nor killua are able to open using force thankfully though there is a resolution to this issue which comes about thanks to the application of what little information they have concerning it jing told mito to give gon the box after he'd become a hunter kilowatt interprets this to mean nen and so gunn uses his name to open the box and fly open it most definitely does in particular a small bit of continuity i enjoyed from this was how the markings of the box match the similar markings that were made on the finger trap that wing used on gun's finger from the heavens arena arc only nine could break it and i thought that was an elegant solution jin used to make sure only gon could see this once this box opened i felt the scene shift from still within the realms of a traditional shonen series and into something seriously realistic concerning the morality of jing and how that has affected gon as a character throughout his life of the three objects left inside this box they opt to listen to the tape first and in it jing reiterates numerous times asking gon if he's sure he wants to find him and if he doesn't to turn off the cassette tape i wasn't sure about this decision first but it actually ended up to be a really great narrative choice that receives an interesting payoff later in the scene because it gives gon a means with which to communicate how he feels through action and loosely gives him a means with which to interact with his father for the first time which becomes all the more sad and disheartening when jing reveals that he doesn't want to see him in actuality he describes himself as selfish and by all accounts given what we've learned about him through mito gone's aunt and his grandma he seems to be a man driven by something else that overshadows his responsibilities as a father a desire for adventure or something akin to that perhaps gon listens to the remainder of jing's section before eventually being in no uncertain terms challenged to find him while he jing tries to not be found now uh i don't normally share my personal life in detail and that's intentional but this scene felt as though it was coming from a very personal and authentic place regarding tagashi dealing with concepts themes and relationships often not explored in this sort of manga this way and because of that i felt the connection with the material that allowed me to relate personally to gon in this instance i've mentioned in the past that this series has felt like a story trying to convince me that it's a traditional shonen all the while the subtle tidbits of poisons seep through the pages that ultimately betrayed its true intention and in this scene the beginning to this arc we explore that very poison i've been expecting to come to the forefront all this time and when it did i didn't expect it to be so ruthlessly effective in its telling and i most certainly didn't see it reflecting in some meaningful ways similarities i've experienced with my own family with all of that said the real goal of this scene isn't necessarily what's being said either though there is some terrific dialogue exchanged but what i found to be most interesting was the subtext of that scene and it's what isn't being said that subtext that i connected with on a foundational emotional level the zero emotion he refers to jing with the detached manner in which he listens and understands jing's message on the tape it all leads me to believe that gon doesn't want to connect with his father or anything like that right now instead i think he's angry and wishes to confront him or worse the tape continues to play and jing asks again if gon would like to know who his mother is without needing to think about it or to hear the question once more gon stops the tape and doesn't want to know who his biological mother is because as far as he's concerned he already has a mother in his aunt mito which i thought was a really nice and sweet sentiment that harkens back to what he said at the beginning of this arc with kilowatt in the forest however from this my biggest takeaway has to be gone's reaction to hearing that his father wants nothing to do with him on one hand it's conceivable that jing is simply saying that but doesn't genuinely mean it for someone to take all of these crazy precautions to make sure no trail can be left behind concerning this message dugon if he doesn't want to meet him why leave a message at all it's possible that gohan could have picked up on that and that's why he continued to listen i mean it's not inconceivable he's proven himself to not be an idiot on a number of occasions so maybe he doesn't believe that jing doesn't want to see him or maybe he has other motivations like i mentioned above who knows maybe he resents him and wishes pain onto him regardless i found this scene to be the most emotionally resonant and powerful out of all the chapters i've consumed thus far on this journey i don't know how to exactly feel about it yet but gone seems motivated so let's see where that leads us relax take it easy the flesh collector's mansion these couple of chapters give us our first piece of respite from gun and kilauea by catching up and focusing on kuru pika's predicament which ends up being the focus of the remainder of this video but don't worry gone and kilauea still do some cool stuff so sit tight to be perfectly honest throughout the hunter exams and the zoldic family arcs kurupika did have a couple of interesting moments but nothing that would have made me a massive fan of his character and largely that's down to me not getting to spend a lot of time with him kilowatt gon and lyorio deal with a lot of the story beats from a comedic and emotional standpoint which left kuropika in my mind as the quiet smart guy and even in being that i felt like gone was smarter than him in many instances this of course was my own mistake in pigeonholing him like this as by the time this video's material completes i was in love with his character and delighted he got to lead his very own story to show us as an audience what he's made of and spoiler alert he's made of awesomeness and well from this point on gong killua eventually leorio basically go on a much more lighthearted adventure to find enough money for the greed island videotape that will grant further insight into gone's father's past kuropika's is wall-to-wall action with a sort of noir type feel to its scenes as he gets hired by the mafia to protect a mob boss's daughter until it all goes to hell his introduction to the story begins as he seeks out the means with which to gain access to york new city's underground and auctions this means being a bodyguard apparently and it's his interview for this role that makes up his very first scene as he participates in a real-life game of among us trying to figure out who the imposters are within the room he resides thankfully kuropika is a troy heart and was able to oust them almost immediately much to the admiration of his eventual teammates heading into york new city as september rolls around and all our main characters converge on the city something i will say is that i was waiting for some sort of big unveiling of the space boasting its civilization architecture customs and culture but outside of a few flea markets and hotel rooms we don't see much of any of this city maybe i'm just too accustomed to one piece where that is very much its strength world building either way i have no idea what sort of city yorknew is and i think that's a shame and shortcoming from the manga given how much time we're spending here and how often this area was mentioned leading up to this arc admittedly this is a small gripe but it is one that prevails both in the manga and the anime on an animation front kuropika gets some serious shine in this section too with almost all of the great animation and storyboarding beats elevating his character to heights never seen by him i'll get into it a little more later on but god damn that weird hand chain thing is cool as hell and even in this scene we just saw particularly in the 1999 version the animation we see him perform within is oh so satisfying it's around this time we check back in with gone and kilauea as they tried to locate the game greed island online something i honestly find hilarious about hunter hunter's manga is how it at random changes from a timeless story to one that very clearly betrays its age anytime something concerning the internet is brought up togashi feels it necessary to explain in detail how it actually works for those of us reading because let's not forget these mangas were published in a time where the internet wasn't all too prevalent so it could be the fact that a lot of people didn't know what it was or how it worked so this is where the magic happens huh the ground zero personal computing this can be seen when gone looked up where killer was home is and now once again where kilauea explained how online shopping works as they look for this universe's playstation to put the memory card from his dad in it appears the game data on the memory card points to a game exclusive to hunters called greed island a game that has only 100 copies available throughout the world one which sucks you into its game and uses nin to function i like this literal mystery box left behind by jing not in like an endearing sense if anything this is sort of a weird and borderline mentally manipulative thing to do to your estranged son but all of that aside it's exciting to see what new information unfolds as gone presses forward towards his ultimate goal i also like how we don't get introduced to any more new characters right off the bat but instead get reacquainted with killer's brother that was torturing him during the zoldic family section of my last video using this gem of a character we learn that the game will be up for auction at none other than york new city oh yeah it's all coming together and interestingly in the manga instead of the standard chapter titles i've come to expect from every volume so far the story of york new city is broken up into several days from september 1st until the auction later that week and so in the remaining section of this video i will be covering the activity and chapters in york new city from september 1st 2nd and 3rd [Music] spiders september 1st september 1st material contains the single most important event that drives this arc forward the massacre at the auction there are three versions of this event offered up to us and truth be told all but one of them works for me the event that's depicted is the mafia squad that coulda peak has been recruited into arriving at an auction of interest to their employer and those delegated to participate in said auction stand inside while the others including kuropikas scope the place out from outside the massacre that eventually takes place is meant to act as a surprise and as an inciting incident and while it is both of those things i don't think i liked it all that much or at least i don't like how it was handled while it did surprise me it did so in such a way that made me confused and think that i might have missed a page or two additionally this section of the manga goes at quite a speedy pace and while i normally like that if it does come at the cost of clarity then that's where i draw the line and while i was reading this i had tons of questions in my head like is this the auction that gone went to for greed island why were there so much mafia there and finally i had no idea who was on kuropika's team i didn't know them at all and for that very reason i felt nothing when they all died now obviously an easy counter to that would be well this is a surprise so it's meant to leave you off balance just like the characters were taken off guard themselves and to that i say yeah sure but for me when reading stories what makes surprises effective in their telling is how it recontextualizes the events of that story whether that be in the past or the future when those goons revealed themselves initially i actually wasn't 100 sure who they were and what this would mean for the story this remains true in the 99 version of the narrative also but 2011's adaptation i honestly thought made things much more clear and enjoyable for me in this particular instance the event has slightly more telegraphs is much less abrupt and built up to as we feel the tension rise in the amphitheater we get to see the key characters more and leading up to it we understand their motivations that little bit more also and so on this occasion the 2011 version i thought allowed this section to breathe a little more and i honestly enjoyed that [Music] so yeah these guys are the spider troop and they were initially after the winnings of the auction hisoka included and the fight that ensues is quite brutal with this dude called uvo also he's physically the most powerful of the troop and he plows through the number one attackers of each of the mafia's ranks that is until he runs into kurapika this chain that kurupika has is freaking amazing and probably makes him the most powerful guy on the side of good if you want to call it that right now and what's more is that he gets some of the best lines in the manga once he has uvo restrained he says this ability i will only use on the spiders its sole purpose is to capture them and deprive them of their liberty jeez that's cold-blooded but also it's great to see new nen types propping up all over the place and used in such creative and innovative ways this one is particularly interesting because it comes with conditions conditions that if he breaks them will lead to him instantly losing his life a nice chekhov's gun that i can't wait to see pop up later on in the story while it explodes in his face all the while he has this guy reprimanded hisoka wants to confront him about something apparently he wants to fight the spider head honcho and kill him which means kurupika now has an incentive to work alongside hisoka the plot thickens september 2nd okay look i'm sure this has been the day and the fight you've all been waiting for me to discuss in this video gone's arm wrestling hustle with leorio to get money okay just kidding while that was super fun and gave a lot of opportunities for comedic moments with an interaction that was pretty intense kudupika vs uvo is easily the main event of this section this fight here is a terrific example of how to toe the line of awesome and emotion kurapika throughout this arc has been struggling with his emotions and keeping himself in check sometimes even going as far as to require the aid of friends along the way this achieves two things narratively it helps to communicate how much he yearns to enact revenge and it helps us see that kurupika doesn't enjoy this feeling he has treating it almost like a bandage he needs to rip off quickly with one of the most telling moments in this fight being that of its ending faced with the stubborn and ruthless uvo unyielding to his demands to give him information regarding his allies kurepika is forced to kill him in cold blood and instead of leaving him in a heap on the floor like his family has been left by this person kurupika takes the time to dig him a grave on his own highlighting for us the difference in these two warriors turned killers kurupika has blood in his hands but just like the hunter exams we know he didn't find joy in what he felt like he had to do in this fight and this moment and what a fight it is in all versions of this story from the manga to 99 to even 2011 with the latter two producing some of the best animated sequences from each version respectively 99 in particular has some terrific storyboarding with some unreal use of color in places and in the interest of being fair because i praised 2011 earlier on this occasion between the two anime versions of the fight something i noticed while watching them was that the 99's interpretation with its solemn and bleak soundtracks seem to be more in line with the characters and tone of the narrative i think while 2011's version seems to be more a little more on the hype train with the audience the hype surrounding the fight and occasion in the 2011 version grants it music that befits the high-paced action yes but this however does not serve the scene or story and instead works against it in some respects in 1999's anime adaptation the music is subdued and somber by design as i think it ought to be made all the more obvious by kuropika's laments towards its conclusion as he admits to his hatred for pain and suffering this entire conflict is one he loathes and hates to participate within but he feels emotionally conflicted and dragged into these altercations due to the heinous actions of others that slaughtered his family from a fictional lore standpoint this fight introduces me to possible strategies different nen users have when facing off against enhancers and conjurers with kuropika's strat being well getting all the powers i guess yeah all the powers as long as he has the scarlet eyes and sticks to the rules of the chains that he conjured up then he is pretty much a master that wields the max power of all the different nen types as a specialist this seems to me at least massively overpowered but let's see how this one goes as kurapika walks as a god exacting judgment over those who wronged him and so really in theory right now the intrigue for me comes not from the question can kurupika pull this off but instead how are the spider troop going to deal with this powerhouse of a blonde guy september 3rd so gone sells his hunter license uh excuse me yeah okay so this kid's only mission it seems quite literally is to find his father this license means nothing to him despite everything he went through to get it and i kind of loved that decision from a character writing point of view gone is single-minded in his goal and will not deviate again hearkening back to his lack of hesitancy and assuredness when it came to the cassette tape left behind by jing throughout this entire subplot with gong kilauea and eventually lyorio we follow them as they try in earnest to make as much money as possible so that they can participate in the greed island video game auction that now takes place in just three days they've tried going about raising the money in ethical ways by trying to buy and resell stuff and they've even tried hustling for an entire day i'm wrestling to their heart's content but alas they still fall far short of their initial goal thankfully however this is where their plot thread starts to pick up some steam tagashi needed to find a way for them to earn some decent money and so in addition to gone selling his license he came up with i think a brilliant plan for the boys to use their nan to find products of interest in the flea market and sell them on for significantly greater profits and it works i love this idea because it proves how versatile ned is as a mechanic and it leads them down this path where they will meet this gentleman now interestingly this appraiser he makes note of something i've realized already about gone if you recall back to my video concerning killer was murder of another man during the hunter exams i'm used curiously over how gunn didn't pay that heinous murder of an innocent man any attention really whatsoever similar to kilauea in that moment gon doesn't care if he the appraiser has a shady past and he ignores all the negatives associated with it it's just curiosity and the appraiser notices this specifically saying i couldn't figure out why this kid intrigued me but i have an idea he isn't concerned with whether something is good or bad he's walking a fine line now that's a really interesting and sort of reserved way of saying that gone isn't really concerned with morality and it's that very choice takashi made to imbue a young character like that with this poison that made this character gone so terrific i think at a glance choices like this can be passed off as gone being a naive or innocent 12 year old kid which he is but in reality he's proven himself to us to be much more contemplative and cunning than perhaps any other character in this story which may very well be a breadcrumb pointing us the audience in the clear direction gone is heading down there are tons of conflicting thoughts swirling around in my head concerning gone and kilowatt to be honest on one hand i love them as characters but on the other they have very very clear issues stemming from their family that i know will manifest in some explosive ways down the line and these breadcrumbs are the hints leading to that eventual moment and now it's time for those plot threads to converge kuropika now in pursuit of the remaining spider troop forces and gone's crew now looking to apprehend them for the reward money there's this great scene that pops up as gun and killer work discuss how best to go about this once they get their eyes on their targets it's really awesome getting to see killer with surveillance or assassin's sensibilities color the choices made in these scenes and it's also pretty funny seeing how bad leorio and gone are at trying to look natural but interestingly and we knew this already gone is incredible at stalking someone made obvious during the hunter exams with hisoka now what makes this scene all the more tense as we build towards this choice they make is that killup remarks even his father had trouble with this spider troupe and unbeknownst to either of the boys is being called into action once again to apprehend them by the mob after what they pulled in the auction on september 1st again building off of that golden killer will stalk their two spider troop targets until they reach some abandoned building where okay i hate to do this but this is where i'm gonna have to leave this review off on a crazy cliffhanger that i honestly can't wait to get back to reading this week and review for you all next thursday when i finish york new city remember if you like these videos don't forget to leave a like and if you want to keep up with this series and never miss an episode be sure to subscribe and hit that bell icon now i don't normally mention that so i thought i'd give it a go this one's off and besides you won't want to miss next week when i review and finish one of hunter hunter's most famous and fan favorite arcs york new city's second half see you all there next week [Music] [Applause] foreign

Channel: Totally Not Mark

Views: 407,926

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Id: O1MkAJlnKiY

Length: 26min 52sec (1612 seconds)

Published: Thu May 06 2021