Chrollo is the coldest villain in anime

antagonists are very important pieces to any story they come in all shapes and sizes and allow the writer to express their creativity to their limits in ways that they are usually restricted with their protagonists the concept of evil has been explored for centuries in storytelling and the dynamic between what's truly an evil person versus simply someone who has a different worldview to you is a strong force many writers use to bring life to their works in anime many writers have towed this fine margin to bring you some of your favorite characters pain from naruto aaron jaeger from attack on titan hitachi and sasuke uchiha also from naruto our characters are instantly come to mind who fit into the conversation of villain or anti-villain as you may have noticed three of them are from naruto and that may just be a personal bias however i believe musashi kishimoto is one of the writers who explores this the best and puts the most emphasis on it this is one of the reasons for success however we're not here to talk about that today today i'm exploring context hunter's crollo you guys specifically requested this character and so i'm doing it leader of the phantom troop and a fan favorite i believe krolow slots perfectly into this category that's what he would have wanted [Music] to wreak havoc croto is the leader of the phantom troop one of the most notorious criminal organizations in the hunter hunter world he is clearly held on a pedestal by his peers who respect his position and use his word as final from the get-go the power he possesses is blatant he has fully tamed and is in control of some of the most vicious criminals in the series from watching the series is obvious as authority is not up for discussion and there is no evidence of any cracks in the concrete of the power dynamic of the group proto talks phantom troop listen instantly the audience is drawn into crolo he is clearly very young he has a strong presence among his peers why how these are the questions that subconsciously increase the aura of uncertainty around the character and thus make him more interesting mystery breeds interest the phantom troop are the foundation of the story in the new york new city arc one of hunter hunter's best ox and as this arc unrevealed we were able to witness more and more of how the troop operates crolo's power is clear and the viewer's attention is directed to this however after some more watching another contradiction becomes obvious he has ultimate control yet does not come across as tyrannical at all he is quiet extremely observant and listens more than he speaks he honors the opinions of his troop mates and takes him into consideration when he speaks he is articulate and soft-spoken his words are few but they are precise and to the point he usually communicates only with reason and already with emotion one particular scene that highlights his intelligence and ability to reason and understand is when he broke down the fortune that was given to him perfectly using the intel he was given to extract as much information as possible the troop often break into altercations due to differences in opinion in the ark however when crollo is present he is able to perfectly defuse these situations without taking sides or making his peers feel less significant or valued he is eerily secure and comfortable in his position as a leader not once does he use fear or intimidation to put his players back in line he doesn't threaten punishment or wave carrots of reward to motivate his group there's a deep sense of understanding in the group that glares at you throughout the arc but is never expressed into words what is their philosophy what is their motivation why is he their leader and why does he command so much respect from his peers these are some of the questions the viewers left with and i will use them to explore the character of chrolo further in this video the phantom trooper also known as the spider which is one of the aliases they use we find out that this is more than just a symbol to their group but also describes the entire dynamic of the group in a flashback to the origins of the group a monologue crolo gave to his peers as shown where he describes himself as the head of the spider and them as the legs in the character's words i am the head and you are the legs of the spider natural law dictates that the legs blindly follow the head however this simply represents a chain of command it does not apply to my life or death if i happen to die one of you can replace me and there may come a time when a leg has more importance in the head make the right call my orders are top priority however i am not your top priority our goal is not to keep an individual alive but the spider instances where the dynamic of the troop is stated so obviously are few and far between therefore in regards to getting answers to our questions this is gold that i will refer to throughout in a couple of sentences crowler managed to communicate to his peers expectations his and their standing in the group and a chain of priority to be used when making decisions he makes it clear that his word is final when he says that his words top priority however he cleverly differentiates between this authority and his life he makes a distinction to emphasize the two are unrelated and from this we can deduce one thing that is absolute his motivations are not self-serving or related to himself he makes it clear that he is as disposable as others yet that his authority while he is here is not therefore this must mean that he values authority not to elevate himself but instead because he sees it necessary to keep in the group alive tagashi gives us one answer however rather than satisfying the questions this answer just serves to get us further invested into his character while more questions arise why is he so self-sacrificing if he does not value his life what is his motive when a villain is self-serving it makes understanding them self-explanatory we've seen it over and over said villain wants authority to gain more money status and power end of story togashi throws us off by giving the villain of his story a moral framework that is separate himself if we go back to the plot after the troops attack on the auction they find out that the mafia groups were informed about their plan and therefore anticipated an attack this left the troop questioning how they found out with the first suspicion being that a tree among them had notified them this is the most obvious explanation that most people would come to however crolo disproves this theory saying that there would be no incentive for any of the troop members money glory and prestige do you truly believe that any of us care for those things other than the fact that this displays krollo's exceptional ability to reason and come to a conclusion that considers multiple perspectives it also provides us with another piece of information to answer our question if money glory and prestige are so insignificant in the eyes of the troop that they can use it as an absolute to draw conclusions from what are crolos and hence the troops motivations why would they target merchandise from an auction if they don't care about money or reputation surely these are the only two things that can be gained from such a mission we can delve further into the backstory of the troop to get a better idea the troop originates from meteor city which in luria's words is a city populated by people who as far society is concerned don't exist the city is home to 10 million people yet officially it is known as unpopulated therefore the city itself has been outcast and not even given the simple honor of being acknowledged let alone helped the city is also used as a garbage dump where all sorts of trash and even people are disposed of the people have no official identities and therefore technically do not exist as a result they are also perfect recruits to be hired as hitmen assassins etc the mafia took advantage of this and established a trade relationship where they supply the residents with weapons in return for their services this leads me to my next point that the troop are essentially the world's unwanted children looking at it from this perspective makes a lot more sense of their at first glance contradictory actions they represent the resentment of a city which the world left to rot and refused to acknowledge naturally it therefore seems that they feel no more obligations to the world their actions like the attack on the auction reflect this these loud ruthless attacks are to validate their own existence to the world the troop is another part of this crolo carved them an identity by creating a group that they are part of that is significant around the hunter hunter world in the series everyone knows who the phantom trooper however many only find out that they originate from meteor city later on they are almost like the choir vengeance of meteor city i say choir because it doesn't seem like they are trying to build a reputation based on their desire to be seen and heard i basis of the fact that crolo clearly rejected glorial prestige as important as mentioned earlier as well as the fact that people only find out that they originate from meteor city later in the story if they had wanted people to know them being from meteor city would have been better communicated identity is what they lacked so they embraced the troop crollow uses whole to build a strong organization the organization gives them an identity and a purpose therefore they are loyal only to it and hold no more obligations to anyone else they abide by no laws other than the rules of the spider the rules of society are relevant to them a prime example is when uvo a member of the troop explains that he doesn't like the idea of money if he wants something he takes it they live for the troop die for the troop this explains why they'll take lives with no regret and then mourn the death of a comrade or die for the sake of the organization togashi questions this unusual behavior through god's confusion while observing this camaraderie makes him question whether they are so different to him after all i don't think it can be argued that they aren't evil however they do show glimpses of a moral framework within the organization still i don't see an end goal for them it seems that they live by the philosophy of keeping the spider alive and nothing else all that being said crolo still seems different from the other members of the troop he seems like he is as unpredictable as they come and that the understanding he has with his fellow troop members is not one that needs to be vocalized the truth also allows individuals to pursue their own interests without being questioned it's not military asking itself and this starts with chrollo despite his very calculated and intelligent nature he seems willing to throw caution to the fire and allow chaos to unfold we are reminded multiple times of his lack of attachment to his own self first when he attaches no importance to his life in the face of a threat against the organization and second when he was captured by kuru pika and was eerily calm describing him being held hostage as no different to an afternoon coffee break he is a very very well written villain although his actions are not justified he is an icon of freedom who seems to do what he wants when he wants reveling and executing on his plans weirdly without being attached to the outcome his popularity as a result is no surprise to me characters that represent freedom whether they are good or evil usually are well received in storytelling and this is most likely because the desire to be free is a very human thing something that stood out in the scene when he was being held hostage was how melody the character he was able to read people's motions based on hearing the heartbeat confirmed the cribbika that crowler was being genuine and claiming that he felt no fear based on the predicament his claim that he has no value as a hostage was also confirmed of course from the speech to the rest of the troop we already know this however she also mentions that he's accepted death and that he walks with her every day those were her exact words this is interesting a villain who doesn't fear death and is not self-interested and if we go back to the second attack on the auction following the death of uber he wept at the loss of his friend these are traits that are usually only present in the hero of the story tagashi does a good job maintaining this aura of mystery around corolla throughout the arc he always reveals just enough to progress the story however always opens doors to more questions i've covered what the most likely foundation the troop is built on is based on their backstory and behavior but tagashi never intends to allow you to fully understand he uses crawler to keep the viewer on their toes not knowing what his next move could be and one scene reveals that this is because crollo himself may be unsure of his moves after capturing gun and killer gun asks him how he could kill people that have nothing to do with him instantly he comments on the fact that gone seems excessively hostile for someone who just surrendered he then answers by saying why indeed because they have nothing to do with us no on second thought it isn't that simple how to verbally express our motives i'm not fond of it but oddly enough or perhaps it's not that odd is that the key to understanding myself i revisited this quote after writing most of the script and it's fascinating how this monologue covers step by step the progression i went through trying to understand the motives of the troop he went through all the same stages as i did and this just shows that maybe he also doesn't understand himself fully however his awareness of this fascinates me along with the fact that he is actually interested in working towards understanding himself first when he responds with why indeed he's validating gohan's confusion demonstrating that he is aware of the fact that his actions are unusual he then uses the rhetorical because they have nothing to do with us this is what we went through with the theory that they kill random people precisely because of the fact that they have nothing to do with them i.e as we said they feel no moral obligations to them which is by no means justified yet can be understood by tracing back to their roots and upbringing he then rejects this saying that it isn't that simple which i covered when i mentioned that togashi is still leaving something out he then asks himself how to verbally express our motives i'm not fond of it to emphasize that he himself is unsure of how to verbalize his motives earlier i mentioned how after observation there seems to be an understanding in the troop that is beyond words or maybe beyond their capacity to explain this is confirmed here he then says that maybe being able to verbalize his motives is the key to understanding himself this also confirms the analogy that chrollo is a representation of unbound freedom he's clearly discarded any mental breaks that are usually present in an individual and are conditioned in by the environment instead of seeking to understand then act as most people who act on their beliefs whether those are in line with the truth or not crolo acts and then tries to understand he doesn't fully understand and he recognizes this maybe this is why you don't get a sense of pure evil that you would from a typical villain usually villains and storytelling are intentional in their acts and have a concrete reason behind them by removing the rules or conditions that trap the standard villain in a box tagashi has succeeded in writing a mysterious character who is capable of anything a character who acts in line with himself is infinitely more flexible than one who is dependent on rules they've set for themselves this is because one reacts to the environment whereas the other is conditioned to act in a certain way crow law is clearly the former him picking up on god's hostility is just another instance of him being able to see through people another one would be when he notices that gon and kilauea are hiding something it's clear that he has a pretty good grasp on human nature and naturally this can only develop by being interested in trying to understand others a villain who explores the natures of others and is open to other perspectives than his from the iconic scene where he states his intention to wreak havoc honouring his late friend's wish to carefully masterminding the inner workings of an elite criminal organization crolo is truly a unique villain tagashi has succeeded in writing a character whose next move is never obvious and can alternate between cold calm rational decision making to unfiltered chaos and havoc and the best part is that it all somehow makes sense to gash his ability to really humanize his characters has clearly again worked in his favor by giving his stories the ability to expand and develop in unique and unimagined ways he at the same time remain decipherable and relatable crolo represents a character he clearly went through a lot of thought to write and writing this video has given me and hopefully you a better idea of the inner workings of the character as well as an idea of why people enjoyed his contribution to the story as much as they did i have done a full breakdown of corepika previously which can be found on my channel and the support i received on that video led to the creation of this one if you haven't already watch that video drop a like and subscribe and i would appreciate suggestions on videos you'd like to see me create in the future that's it for me today thank you and take care

Channel: True Nahr

Views: 346,455

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Id: PrQFUO5VGko

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2022