Religious Symbolism in Hunter x Hunter

yoshihiro tagashi is a genius i know that saying that is like saying water is wet but sometimes you need to sit back and acknowledge greatness and so i'll say it again yoshihiro tagashi is a genius the famous manga writer responsible for uu hakka show and a series near and dear to my heart hunter hunter is quite an interesting guy a lot is made of some of togashi's interests his love for video games like dragon quest his messy basement his passion for board games and bowling and the fact that he's married to the creator of sailor moon however i think that one facet of togashi is overlooked his deep knowledge of religious lore hunter hunter is a series that while inspired in part by jojo's bizarre adventure and certain video games is a largely original work at the same time however i'm certain that togashi took inspiration from religions around the world when crafting this story hunter hunter is absolutely dense and riddled with religious themes and symbolism from many cultures around the world but this is an aspect of the show that seems to be missed by many here i'm going to talk about one of the most underappreciated aspects of hunter hunter its basis in religion this video will have an emphasis on religion-centric symbology themes and visual cues that are present throughout both the anime and the manga togashi does his utmost to litter the entirety of hunter hunter with little bits of cultural and religious symbolism both visual and narrative here i'm going to do my best to reveal the vast majority of religious references so strap in let's start off simple there are several characters throughout hunter hunter such as netero marowim and franklin who have drooping elongated earlobes this is likely a direct reference to buddhism as buddha statues and art portray buddha as having similarly drooping earlobes whilst he was writing the chimera ant arc togashi also added a not so subtle reference to religion on the cover of volume 28. not much to add here the zodiac hunters of the election arc are one of the more blatant references to religion in the series they are likely a literal homage to the zodiac signs based in astrology one of the members saiyu contains a specific symbol on his shoulders consisting of a crescent moon and a five-edged star this is a common muslim symbol commonly used on country flags of muslim countries and represents both the five pillars of islam and the concept of striving towards a bright future crolo as a character is a walking advertisement for both religious and anti-religious ideas with foundations in christianity not only does he have a cross tattooed on his forehead but on the back of his jacket is the saint peter's cross a symbol for religion saint peter was to be crucified but did not consider himself worthy to die in the same way as christ so he was crucified on an upside down cross instead there is a misconceived notion that the saint peter's cross represents anti-christianity but quite the opposite is true on the other hand crollow's last name lucilfer is a nod to lucifer who by christian teachings was an angel who was cast down by god and subsequently became satan or the devil staying on the subject of crolo and the phantom troupe there is a parallel to christianity that the band of thieves represents that was by no means an accident the phantom troop is a band of thirteen essentially containing one leader and twelve apostles in the story of jesus he trusted twelve men to be his closest of allies his own twelve apostles the similarities don't stop there however in the story of jesus he is betrayed and sold out by one of his apostles judas this is basically a direct parallel to how hisoka functions as a member of the troop i'm not sure how you can call what hisoka has done in the past and is currently doing in the manga anything but a betrayal to both crollo and the troop though ironically crolo mentions the story of judas during the series specifically and says that he does not view judas as a traitor additionally there is the fact that the troop hails from meteor city a city for the orphaned and the abandoned of which the city motto is we reject no one so take nothing from us which has quite a religious connotation to it during the york new arc we see illumi on his cell phone here we can see that his cell phone has the star of david on it this shield is a prominent symbol commonly associated with judaism now that we've covered some of the literal symbols from the series let's take a look at some of the more abstract symbolism with roots in religion and culture the theme of sacrifice is a constant throughout the series seen through many characters this sacrifice on the show is synonymous with ideas based on religions such as christianity judaism hinduism and buddhism now this is quite a general comparison i'll admit and many other series focus on the theme of sacrifice however the characters of netaro pakunoda and neferpito in particular have character arcs that strongly parallel the idea of religious martyrism netero's stunning sacrifice to protect humanity pakunota sacrificed to provide her true members with the truth plus the sacrificial nature of pito's final moments and the way she protected her king all bring the nature of sacrifice to an almost sacred level in hunter hunter i won't talk too much about him as i am planning a full character analysis video but meruem's character arc is full of religious parallels his birth and the circumstances behind it his destiny to become the perfect king of the world the savior if you will his eventual enlightenment and realization that not all power is physical and his realization that what really matters in life is a love i mean the parallels are so numerous that i don't even know where i would start the character of netro is strongly based in buddhist ideas his early life was essentially a display of ascetism which is essentially severe self-discipline his journey in hermitage led him with constant prayer to his ultimate nen power called the 100 type guanine bodhisattva which in itself is based on religion both visually and conceptually a bodhisattva is defined as a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering beings which can be applied to netro's story and is an idea deeply rooted in mahayana and buddhism one of the more overlooked characters on hunter hunter ikalgo actually has a strong basis in religious morals as well ikalgo's strong reluctance to harm anyone throughout his mission during the castle storming despite his tasks difficulty was a display of non-violence non-violence is the personal practice of being harmless to others under every condition it comes from the belief that hurting people animals or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and refers to a general philosophy of restraining from violence due to moral religious or spiritual principles thanks wikipedia this idea of non-violence is rooted in religions and cultures all over the world though perhaps most popularly in hinduism primarily through the teachings of mahatma gandhi there is a more subtle narrative tool in both nov and wealthen's character arcs that can be considered very religious both of these men are permanently changed after they're struck to their core with the sheer terror and awe of a being truly superior and more powerful than none it can be strongly argued that wealthy and nob through merum's power and pouf's aura respectively were struck here by the fear of god or at least a strong parallel the meaning of the fear of the lord has been debated but most agree that it's the idea of living in awe respect or submission to a being more powerful than oneself submission is a key word here after being struck by terror both nov and wealth and submit and admit defeat pretty strong parallels here [Music] human life is too long to devote to reproduction yet too short to devote to learning in the helix of time perhaps that is why humans succumb to desire and seek release despite that fact life is complete with the sun the land and poetry diego's last words in the series are poetic and inspiring in nature and display a world view based in true enlightenment both a deeply religious theme and one rooted in the philosophy of radical enlightenment which advocates freedom of expression individual liberty and peace of mind many times throughout the series animals are shown to be drawn to truly great hunters such as nezero kite knuckle jing and squala several eastern schools of thought such as hinduism contained religious figures such as vishnu or shiva that had an affinity with animals as well nen itself has basis in religion as well this power system is very dynamic but it ultimately revolves around auras though they are not mentioned in the bible and thus are rejected by christianity auras themselves find bases in schools of religious and philosophical thought primarily eastern religions and more specialized schools of thought such as modern spiritualism jing's journey through hunter hunter draws so many parallels with buddhism that i have trouble believing that there was any other inspiration for togashi when writing his character jing basically takes a leaf out of almost every pokemon protagonist's dad ever and decides to leave gong he leaves him with family to go and pursue adventure through being a hunter a situation like this would likely be frowned upon by western audiences but togashi had more eastern ideas in mind when writing gin we see this through the attitude of gong who doesn't hate or resent his father for leaving him but strives to understand him and follow in his footsteps jing's story is the template of the buddha he disregards familiar responsibility which is part of buddhist traditions the buddha left both his wife and son to seek enlightenment eventually he achieved this and found nirvana complete liberation however in order to do this one must minimize and sever any external attachments and distractions which includes familial attachments in hunter hunter jing is on his quest to find nirvana it is essential to see jing through an eastern mindset in order to understand his quest his philosophy and god's positive admiration for his father the religious symbols used throughout the story of hunter hunter are plentiful and many are not without their purpose while some symbols such as illimis star of david are likely throwaway references some other ideas tell the audience plenty about the characters if they understand the meaning behind the symbolism for example the amount of buddhist ideas associated with netaro tell the audience plenty about his characterization and integrate with themes prominent in the chimera ant arc flawlessly certain symbols may just be there for fun and others can shed some light on some of the deeper aspects of the series i've definitely missed some symbolism here so you'll have to forgive me but the sheer amount of religious references in hunter hunter is absolutely staggering so here i'll end my examination of the more simple religious references in the series and get into some more prominent overarching thematic ideas the idea of spiritual awakening or rebirth is a theme that is common in many religions throughout the world and togashi put a huge emphasis on this theme in hunter hunter particularly in the chimera antarct the whole essence of humans being reborn into chimera ants literally revolves around the entire idea of rebirth in the series we have prominent characters that we have gotten to know and understand reborn into chimera ants adding some emotional impact to their stories characters like kite palm and colt are all great examples of this marowim has a rebirth after the miniature rose incident and undergoes a literal holy communion to aid in his rebirth eating and drinking with the body and blood of his royal guards to begin anew gone also experiences a kind of dark rebirth or an anti-rebirth as he recklessly channels all of his rage and lust for revenge to fight with pito rebirth is a big part of the chimera antarctic and hunter hunter and if we expand upon this idea a bit further we can find even more parallels between this series and religious ideas [Music] this idea of clean slates and hunter hunter expands a bit from instances of rebirth in the series the idea i'm getting at here is a specific type of rebirth let me explain this idea of clean slates is similar to themes of rebirth and follows under the umbrella of rebirth but it's more specific in its thematic meaning and its consequence in instances throughout the series togashi has many characters who decide for one reason or another that they want to change or reset their lives or situations maybe they want to alter their path maybe they want to right their wrongs but for one reason or another many characters seek a chance to change to start fresh and begin anew to write their wrongs to change their lives to atone this is nearly identical to catholic traditions of reconciliation and confession in which a person confesses their sins and is cleansed of them allowing for you guessed it a metaphorical clean slate in their life to start from this series is full of instances of characters trying to start fresh as such so i'll provide some examples in the election arc through alica's power kilo is able to give gon a clean slate at his climax in the chimera ant arc gone had gone so far off the deep end that it seemed there was no way back and that he would be permanently changed however here alaka is able to save gon and as far as we can tell at this point in the manga spare him from any consequences that his fight with pito may have caused he is given a new chance to start fresh meet jing and go to whale island to learn nan from a different perspective having learned from his past mistakes now whether or not alaka's power is overpowered and a bit of sloppy writing from togashi is up for debate but here gone is undoubtedly given a clean slate essentially cleansed of any consequence from his dark anti-rebirth the koala man from the chimera antarctic is a bit of an enigma he's definitely one of the more distinct characters through his design and metaphysical debates though he has little impact on the overall plot he may seem like a throwaway character but at the heart of this character is a sad tale about regret remorse and redemption his art contains plenty of parallels with catholic reconciliation and we learned this in his scene with the reborn kite before the koala's death he was an assassin with a complete disregard for human life he retained his memories as a chimera aunt and became fascinated with the idea of reincarnation a concept rooted in buddhism sikhism and hinduism he now believes in the eternal ever living soul an idea that is strongly supported by abrahamic religions eventually he came to the conclusion that all life is precious he then started to strongly regret his actions as a cold killer he remained a killer as a chimera ant efficiently killing any human that crossed his path however he did not do this because he wanted to he did this to spare the humans of any torture that they would otherwise receive at the hands of the other chimera ants koala had killed the girl whose body kite had been born into in order to spare her pain but he laments at this fact saying that he should have killed his fellow chimera aunts who were trying to hurt the girl he wanted to stop this cycle of bloodshed but it had become a part of him and his efforts were in vain he had come to kite to express this regret and see if the same girl had been reborn again eventually he decides that he wants to kill himself to end this cycle of suffering however kite stops koala and forbids him to do so kite then tells him to begin serving her or him i don't know the point is for the koala man to truly repent for his wrongdoings he must serve kite and apologize every day to cleanse his soul here koala is given a fresh start his sins aren't erased but he is given the chance to begin anew and start his journey towards redemption taking the koala man's sorrow remorse and yearning to change into account this is the cleanest of clean slaves that he could have asked for not only are the religious parallels clear in terms of the nature of the soul about confession and atonement but this is a sentimental tale about redemption [Music] after his adventures with gone in which he experienced joy sorrow pain and friendship kilauea has developed a lot kilauea added an element of nihilism and existentialism to hunter hunter in the beginning throughout the series he has never really known his purpose in life and often pondered that he never knew what he wanted to do all he knows about himself is that he does not want to stay with his family and become an assassin and that he wants to be a friend to gong however at the end of the election arc killua has undoubtedly changed he now has a purpose caring for alaka and nanika he finds joy in this purpose he's ready to leave all of his pains and past sins behind and is eager to get started in this new journey with his beloved sibling this development may not be a reset or a clean slate in the strictest sense of the word but killua is undoubtedly turning over a new leaf and beginning a new here leaving his dark past behind him [Music] colt is a very interesting guy and essentially some of togashi's messages about humanity and the soul are displayed in him in character form colt has an extremely strong sense of loyalty and duty inherited from his past life as a child named kurt he follows the queen's orders and commits some pretty evil acts in the beginning of this arc however after he starts to become more complex and begins subconsciously displaying signs from his previous life he faces moral dilemmas when he senses that the chimera ants are beginning to plot for themselves but colt truly develops when he realizes that his queen is in danger here his sense of loyalty and his duty as a chimera ant are in conflict cult is an ant ingrained in him as an ant's honor a sense of belonging to the colony it is here where colt turns his life around he goes to the hunters for help to save his queen i can't overstate how big of a deal this is cold has stressed throughout his arc that the colony goes first but here he turns against his brethren after his queen dies he vows to completely side with the humans and hunters and dedicate his life to raising loving and protecting the newly born kite here he is turning over a new leaf and changing his ways vowing to live a life of virtue from this point on consistent with the ideas of reconciliation these instances of rebirth and clean slaves do have plenty of individual differences between them but at their core they all involve a change in some of the characters lives leading to a fresh start confession and reconciliation are one of the seven sacred sacraments in catholic worship although not all these hunter hunter characters are completely cleansed before being given a clean slate the theme of being given a chance to atone for past sins and begin anew is a constant here when you really stop to think about it the amount of real world religion that is displayed in hunter hunter is astonishing what's even more astonishing is how underplayed this aspect of the series is i'm sure that tons of watchers have seen the show and read the manga without realizing how much of hunter hunter is rooted firmly in religious ideas and themes i know for a fact that most of it went over my head during my first watch i mean i suppose there is a chance that all this could be a wild coincidence but i somehow doubt it the sheer amount of depth this siri has is truly spectacular and never fails to impress me what do all of these religious symbols and themes mean it's hard to say the themes of rebirth and sacrifice are deeply emotional and personal and can contribute to basically any story if integrated well along with being ideas that the audience can truly relate to the purpose of the symbolism in the show itself is like i said a way of adding depth and more gravitas to certain characters and arcs however is there more to this symbolism perhaps togashi was trying to communicate a message of harmony or acceptance of all cultures and beliefs through hunter hunter perhaps it's just some extra world building perhaps he adds it all just for fun either way it's all very interesting i'm sure that i haven't covered all of the religious references and themes that are in hunter hunter and if you note any that i've missed feel free to leave a comment as always let me know if you have any topics in anime or video games that you think would make for a decent video as ever thank you for watching you

Channel: Aleczandxr

Views: 430,202

Keywords: Hunter, Hunter X Hunter, HxH, Analysis, Religion, Themes, Symbolism, Symbol, Religious, Christianity, Buddhism, Gandhi, Hinduism, Jesus, Christ, God, Chimera ant, Gon, Killua, Chrollo, Kurapika, Hisoka, Review, Hunter exam, Heavens arena, Phantom troupe, Yorknew, Netero, Greed island, Top 10, Top 5, Top ten, Best, Madhouse, Anime, Animation, Togashi, Hakusho, Characters, Character, Greatest, Manga, Hiatus, Culture, Cultures

Id: uzEZU0T8O9U

Length: 23min 27sec (1407 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 06 2016