The Beauty of the Phantom Troupe (Hunter x Hunter)

[Music] hunter hunter's york new arc is absolutely spectacular while i do believe that the chimera ant arc is deeper more complex and more profound in its symbolism and themes i find the york new york to be just as enjoyable this arc was incredibly important for hunter hunter as a whole it shifted the tone of the story to something much darker sinister and more mature the entire york new scenario changed things for each of our protagonists especially karapika it was a story that the series had been building up to since what felt like the first few episodes tension slowly and slowly built in a steady crescendo through the series until we reached the stunning apex that was the york new arc i had enjoyed the series up until then but it was during this arc where hunter hunter established itself as a series that i adored this arc finally captured the depth and maturity of character exploration and storytelling that the series had been hinting at but not achieved until that point and this achievement was made possible thanks to one of my absolute favorite elements of hunter hunter as a series the phantom troupe the phantom troop otherwise known as the spider is a group of 13 members one leader crolo lucille for the head of the spider and 12 members or legs of the spider this group was conceived by crollo and originally only included crolo himself feitan machi nobunaga pakunoda franklin and uvogen until crolo decided that the spider needed more legs this band of thieves and murderers is absolutely one of togashi's most impressive conceptions and that is saying something thoughts on the phantom drew greatly differ depending on who you ask and what their moral standpoint is i've heard everything about them from claims that they're entirely sympathetic to views that they're irredeemable and everything in between the one thing that is for certain is that they are an absolute joy to watch full of color and personality now the phantom troupe are so important because a lot of the york new arc hinges on the watcher caring about the stories of these individuals without being invested in this group the narrative would fall flat because the entirety of the ark is fixated on their exploits however there is an issue here the phantom troop are entirely new characters to the series there had been foreshadowing of them but other than machi's brief appearance we had no notion of what they were like yet the vast majority who have watched or read hunter hunter agree that the york newark was a resounding success so how did togashi craft the phantom troupe in a way that allowed the audience to instantly become so intrigued by them the answer is simple to grasp and difficult to execute through their absolutely brilliant characterization togashi made the phantom troupe undeniably and unequivocally human despite being seemingly simple thieves and murderers there's a lot of depth to the troop the members devote their existences to something greater than themselves something rooted in a profound camaraderie and purpose the spider functions because of the nature of its legs or members and these legs thrive in the purpose they achieve through the troops exploits it's like a cyclical self-fulfilling prophecy the phantom troop originates a meteor city a city in which the inhabitants have no origin no one to love no identity as such the spider takes these orphaned individuals and provides them with exactly what they need and crave i believe that we as humans require an identity and a purpose in life in order to find meaning the spider is so poignant in a sense because it provides its members with a place of belonging these people latched on to the only thing in their lives that provided them with freedom expression and joy and what is more human than that through its leader in head crollo the spider quite literally saved its members lives when you see things from this perspective doesn't it make all the killing and thieving for the good of the collective a bit more understandable maybe not for some but it at least adds nuance and depth to the troop and while they are self-aware that they are cogs in a machine lesser parts of a bigger picture the members of the phantoms group all have their own quirks both visually and in characterization terms although there is undoubtedly more focus on certain members this distinguishes each one and makes them more than just monotonous legs of a spider all of these aspects make the phantom troop completely engaging they're killers but they're also human beings simply living their lives in the most fulfilling way they see fit they feel they have habits and personality quirks they play cards and stuff their fingers in their ears when uvogin does his thing togashi made the troop so much more than a standard antagonistic band and this contributed greatly to the themes of ambiguous morality and justice that dominate the york new arc this aspect of the troop immediately drew me to the spider when i first started the york new arc and encouraged me to pay great attention to each of the individual members of the group the spider that is least associated with and has the weakest emotional connection with the ideologies of the troop kaluto joins the troop after the york new arc replacing hisoka with the ultimate goal of becoming stronger and bringing kilauea home in mind when first introduced he is quiet reserved and obedient though it should be noted that he is not against being a bit brutal with his killings kalito nurses a bit of an inferiority complex he is insecure and at times lacks confidence in himself especially when comparing himself to his extraordinary family members and his fellow troop members in this sense his needs do fall in line with the other legs of the spider he is a bit unsure of his place in the world however he is unlike the other troop members in that he seems to be using the troop as a means to an end rather than finding peace and solace in the spider perhaps that will change in the future nevertheless he adds an interesting element to the phantom troop going forward [Music] cortopia is definitely one of the least emphasized members of the troop despite his quite distinct character design while he was very important in some of the activities of the spider during york new and he is loved by his fellow members the story very rarely focuses on his thoughts or actions in fact very little is known about cortopian in general we do know that at the time of the york newark he was the least powerful spider in terms of physical strength so there is that i suppose his power to create replicas of virtually any physical object is very useful though and he was in the center of one of the most shocking moments of the series in recent times i did say spoiler alert bonolov is another one of the spiders that are on the periphery in terms of significance but we do know a bit more about him than we do about cortipi he's a man that speaks quite eloquently and with pride of his heritage and roots before joining the spider bonolonov was a member of the gua guo dandond a tribe that was eventually driven out of existence by modern development and society as such he is the exact type of person that the troop was meant to contain a lonely man searching for a home and people to care for and bonolon found exactly that in the troop he is quite well liked by the other true members and evidently thought of as family franklin is a calming influence in the troop that embodies the ideologies of the spider as well as cruella himself as a founding member his loyalty to the spider is deeply rooted while he is not opposed to settling things in combat with the other members he deeply cares for them and seems to be one of the only ones who can settle disputes and altercations calmly and logically with the needs of the spider clear in his mind there is no one with a better understanding of exactly what the spider is how it should function and what it needs to survive than franklin where other troop members may be pushed to prioritizing other things ahead of the spider's survival such as the well-being of crolo himself franklin has perhaps the best understanding of how crowler wishes the phantom troop to function he is always there to provide wisdom to his family and while he may not have as much individuality in his personality as the other true members this is due to his role as mediator he is essential to the functioning of the spider and the guy has guns in his fingers and that's just bad ass shizuku is an interesting one she forgets people's names forgets even meeting people and has an overall ditzy demeanor on one occasion she forgot that she had arm wrestled gone just days prior yeah she's a bit of an airhead still there's something endearing about this adorable murderer and her nen powered vacuum she is a bit like the little sister or darling of the group and i think that the members are very protective of her or rather they would be if she needed protection not very much is given away about shizuku's past but it is assumed that she like many of the others originated in meteor city she replaced a troop member who was killed by silva zoldick three years prior to the york new arc i really enjoy shizuku as a character there's something really fun about having a whimsical scatterbrained young woman to contrast and juxtapose some of the more stoic cold and calculated members of the troop shanlark is actually one of the most interesting members in my opinion and a classic example of looks being deceiving shunlark has a childish face and demeanor he is hardly ever not shown smiling or laughing he's light-hearted and his power literally involves turning people into remote controlled toys beneath these actions however is an intelligent unflinching detached and relatively unfeeling man he wears a smile as he dishes out death and destruction and he treats his victims like toys and becomes disappointed when they die or break as he would then need to find a new one seanark is much more of an analytical logical thinker than an emotional or sentimental person he forms connections with the other members of the troop particularly with uvogen and feiten but he is never truly close to any of them especially relatives to some of the other bonds we see in the spider shellnar tends to be the one to try and take personal feelings out of the equation when settling disputes though he was concerned about uvo's safety during his absence he simply does not feel nearly as much as some of the other members like nobunaga or pakunoda in fact after corolla was kidnapped shalnor sided with feitan and thinks in wanting to go after pakunoda in order to kill the chain user even at the risk of crollo's life as the action would benefit the spider as a whole this detachment is also perfectly illustrated in the aftermath of pakinota's death while most of the troops spent the days after the death and mourning shelner had already moved on and was entirely concerned with learning all that he could about green island to help crolo and restore the spider his logical outlook and reasoning is an asset to the troop and above all he realizes his role as an insignificant cog in the machine better than nearly everyone else as evidenced when he was not all that worried about his death being foretold but concerned about pakunota and shizuku whose deaths would leave the troop in dire straits due to losing their valuable powers in analyzing schalnark as a person it's pretty evident that he is likely the closest thing to what outsiders like gon and karapika assume that members of the phantom troop would be like but even despite his cold characterization he has found a home in the troop and is fiercely loyal to his comrades charner did display some shock and grief after learning of courtope's fate during recent events in the manga and quite interestingly one of the few times where his cold and calculating persona was broken led to his demise pakunota starts off as one of the least emphasized members of the troop so it is a bit of a surprise that she ends up being the center of one of the most heartfelt moments of the arc she exudes an air of confidence and her power to extract memories led to some absolutely thrilling cat and mouse games between the troop and our protagonists but pakunota is also much more than that in my eyes she is the quintessential example of why the troop was formed in the first place pakunota's pass is mostly unknown but due to how purely she cares for the spider and the troop members along with her love and gratitude to crolo i'd say that she was in desperate desperate need for a home and that she owes her life to the phantom troop this is demonstrated through her desire to save chrollo despite his wishes for her to prioritize the spider above its head and even more through the way that she sacrifices herself to inform her brothers and sisters of karapika's power if i were to make an inference here i would guess that pakunoda was never really treated with love or respect throughout her early life she did end up in meteor city after all and was yearning for a home and people to love and she demonstrates this love for the people that made her life worthwhile through her actions in the york new arc not only this but pakunoda greatly appreciates those who treat her and her loved ones with respect through her last memories and communicated via thinks she professed her gratitude for gon and kilauea and their desire to settle the dispute without any unnecessary death overall pakunoda ended up being one of the most interesting phantom troop members for me and she contributed greatly to the feeling of love and family within the spider which was quite effective in humanizing these antagonists i really really like machi she's basically the tsundere of the group a character archetype that i've got to admit that i have an affinity to for the vast majority of the time she acts cold and emotionless but she has a soft side for those that she cares about meaning her fellow troop members the way her behavior and true self contrast each other is actually the polar opposite of how shallmark is characterized which is pretty interesting she deeply mourns pakunoda's death and was willing to fight her own fellow members in order to save crollo's life something which you wouldn't associate with someone like her at first glance she does believe in the importance of the spider but she would put those she cares about ahead of the spider every time her scenes with hisoka and the way she brushes his advances off throughout the series are great and despite her harsh words and behavior it is clear that a small part of her cares for him though not enough to make her not want to kill him if he were to go after crollo overall machia is just a kick-ass take no crap emotional character with a great design and i think she's absolutely awesome thinks is a brash and impulsive character whose actions are dictated by a primitive want rather than any calculation he is definitely a character who chooses heart and adrenaline overhead in contrast to members like franklin or schalnark an interesting thing to note is that both shelnark and thinx wanted to kill karapika despite crowler's life being at stake but while schalnark was thinking logically and for the good of the spider thinks simply wanted revenge he isn't the brightest as demonstrated through his hilarious failed attempt at a bluff while negotiating with karapika and he lives to fight his combat style also reflects his personality brutal hand-to-hand devastating but he isn't just a mindless brood and as i said previously he wears his heart on his sleeve and cares very much for his brothers and sisters he has formed a close bond with feitan and quickly gains an affinity with kaluto he lends his close to shizuku after she lost them and showed a moment of profound sadness when reflecting on pakunota's final moments showing gratitude to gon and kilua for their role in her peace of mind i wouldn't say that he's the classic harsh ruffian with a heart of gold but he's definitely got some similarities with that type of character archetype or rather as many similarities as a brutal killer can have feiten is one of the more popular phantom troop members which is totally understandable when you take into account his badass persona cool fighting style and quirky dialogue he's the strong and silent but slightly psychotic member of the troop skilled in the art of torture and interrogation he doesn't tend to say much and when he does he uses a pretty limited vocabulary or even his own fictional language when attempting to express himself he's cold and tends to compete with members to see who can get more kills but it should be noted that he's extremely close with his comrades and seems to be especially fond of thinks and shalnar who he's quite protective of while feitan is incredibly sadistic and enjoys inflicting pain he is also deeply invested in the spider having been one of the original members he's always involved with jobs and is able to recall exact details regarding the troops such as the exact number of days since the last meeting when new members joined and what jobs were carried out at what times while the spider is undoubtedly an outlet for feitan to let loose and express himself through bloodshed and torture he has also found a home a place of solace friends and family in the troop [Music] nobunaga is probably the most approachable and friendly phantom troop member of course this is all relative and it should be noted that he is still a cold murderer but he is more than capable of reason and actually appears to be quite friendly at times as seen when he tries to befriend and recruit gon and killua i think of nobunaga as a big contributor to the heart of the phantom troop and without him the spider wouldn't seem nearly as complex as it does it is through nobunaga where we witness the level of connection that these members can have with one another his deep friendship and subsequent mourning of uvogin brought an essence of moral ambiguity that tends to be absent from most antagonists in anime it is much easier to hate a group that is cold and emotionless from top to bottom and through nobunaga we see that this is not the case with the phantom troop as gon finds out and has trouble accepting nomunaga wasn't the character that introduced the distinct sense of family and loyalty within the troop as we'll explore in just a second but he was the one that maintained that theme and carried it strongly throughout the york new arc [Music] it's hard to believe that oofikin's death was not meant by cheers from me but this narrative was brilliant at making his death a death that was far from triumphant were karapika's actions justified you could argue ethics all day but i think that they were at least understandable yet seeing uvogin die in the way he did just left a bitter taste in the mouth and this is because he is the humanity and ideology of the phantom troop personified oofigan is a barbaric bullying bloodthirsty brute and there is no denying that but in his last moments when he could have lived on had he just revealed some secrets to karapika uvagan was resolute in the stance that he would rather die than betray the spider and this is a turning point not just for karapika or the york new arc but for hunter hunter as a whole as the element of ambiguous morality that is so deeply associated with hunter hunter is first introduced how could this evil group capable of such despicable things feel anything as human as loyalty and love for others this frustrated karapika and left him without a proper outlet for his rage which toppled the first domino that led to his feeling of emptiness at the end of this arc this made both karapika and the audience question exactly what the phantom troop were we tend to show our true selves in our final moments and in his final moments uvagan showed loyalty and pure altruism to his family don't get me wrong oovigan was actually quite twisted and immoral through some of his actions and thoughts throughout the series the way he simply brushed off and couldn't remember his slaughter of the kurtas due to the sheer amount of bloodshed that he had spread was pretty deplorable but there is a level of respect that i have for characters like uvogin characters that simply live life how they please i have a soft spot for characters that are instinctual who know exactly who they are and what they want out of life ones who are bold enough to laugh the loudest and rage of the hardest i actually find quite a few parallels in terms of both characterization and character design between uvogin and ryder from faith zero live life to the fullest is a phrase that gets tossed around quite a lot it's a philosophy that is much easier said than done living without hesitation insecurities and inhibitions is desperately difficult very few myself included can actually fully live that way that's why i get a bit of an envious vicarious thrill out of seeing characters like uv again but the beautiful thing about him is that he is only unable to live this freely due to the safe foundation of a home and the familial bonds he found in the troop and he acknowledges this through his pure loyalty to them right until the end the morning that subsequently occurs after his death hammers home the fact that uvagan was a man more than worthy of love this whole thing is a concept that while simple gets more thought-provoking the more you think about it through uvogin we see exactly why the phantom troop is so much more than a simple antagonist band as gon angrily exclaims about how unfair it is for the troop to grieve for the death of one of their own after they cause so much pain the message about this band of thieves is hammered home gone is right it isn't fair the phantom trooper hypocrites individuals that apply backwards logic to justify living a life that simply makes them feel empowered and good about themselves because nothing else does but that statement can apply to so many people not just in hunter hunter but in the world today in the end the phantom troops motivations were not so different from some of hunter hunter's protagonist characters they just got dealt a difficult hand and found a home for themselves through the only means possible i found myself in trance with the phantom troop the pure familial bonds between these brothers and sisters the sheer entertainment factor they exude and the poignant glimpses of humanity that we see from them despite the context of the narrative made them one of my favorite aspects of the show the scene where crollo sadly composes an orchestra of mourning and destruction as a tribute for uvogin is one of my top three scenes of the series and literally the moment where i said i love hunter hunter the music the dialogue the voiceover of the fortune the lighting the atmosphere the imagery the sheer sentiment and concept of the requiem it was just jaw-droppingly beautiful it's a scene that still gives me chills to this day and one that solidified my love for the troop as antagonists while i don't excuse the troops horrible actions i do find the motives and mechanisms behind those actions and the spider itself to be complex and fascinating hopefully you all enjoyed them as much as i did feel free to share what you like about the troupe who your favorite member is or perhaps why you didn't enjoy them or the york new arc thank you so much for watching and stay tuned for more

Channel: Aleczandxr

Views: 1,274,218

Rating: 4.9058609 out of 5

Keywords: hunter x hunter, hunter x hunter 2011, hxh 2011, hxh, hunter, togashi, manga, anime, animation, madhouse, chimera ant, arc, shounen, gon, killua, leorio, hisoka, kurapika, phantom troupe, chrollo, lucilfer, dark, character, review, analysis, music, tragedy, best, all time, top ten, top 10, top 5, action, hunter exam, meruem, heavens arena, zoldyck, yorknew, yorkshin, greed island, death, theory, prediction, uvogin, nen, naruto, bleach, one piece, hiatus, moments, scene, scenes, emotional, story, characters

Id: hXmZPAAQxVg

Length: 25min 23sec (1523 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 19 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/TheL0stChapter]

The guy who made this has a lot of other great videos that everyone should check out. Truly one of the best channels around right now, especially if you need your HxH fix

[u/Provarencr]

Great vid

[u/[deleted]]

;-; this can give you the cries man i actually wanted to cry because the beauty and depth he put in this video of the phantom troupe

[u/Douchebucketchamp]

I guess this doesn't work for me because I hated the spider. In a good way, the way they cared for another yet had disregard for everything else pissed me off so much.

[u/[deleted]]

Yorknew arc is my favorite for all of these reasons. As someone who has had nearly everyone she grows attached to walk out or leave her at some point I relate deeply to the entire group and their bond they hold with each other. It always upsets me when I see people who automatically hate those of us with low empathy and lack of care for those who aren't close to us/relatable because of the fact that people like me and the phantom troupe didn't choose to become this way for the most part. We were just dealt a shitty hand in life and lost most of the things we cared about at a young age.