GON VS PITOU: GON SACRIFICES EVERYTHING! | Hunter x Hunter Reaction | Ep 131, "Anger x And x Light"

Gon’s journey could almost be read as a cautionary tale why kids like him should never, EVER be granted so much power. He's a good kid, but lacking emotional maturity and a sense of morality will turn anyone into a ticking time bomb if they're confronted with harsh realities their young minds can't comprehend. It's no wonder that his powerup isn't portrayed as a triumphant moment, but like something out of a horror movie. Togashi twists the classic shounen transformation into a manifestation of his inner turmoil, willingly sacrificing his own lifespan in a fit of rage to satisfy his own needs and turning into a monster, while the actual monster of this arc unlocks his humanity.

"Meruem, king of the ants... ...You understand nothing... about the bottomless pit of malice that dwells within the human heart."

Doing us all a great service releasing it tomorrow, I'm very excited to see your reactions to this episode!!

Parental abandonment and self-destructive tendencies aren't coincidental.

so, there it is. all that foreshadowing since basically episode 1 of the series. all the times other remarked on how unusual, almost crazy gons personality was. the time he let himself be tortured rather than giving up during the hunter exam. the time he sacrificed his limbs just to get a chance to fight bomber. what always turned out to be his greatest strength now turned out to be his greatest weakness as well.

4:17 "he's like 12" is the realest thing I have every heard someone say about this scene lol. He's still a child, it's heartbreaking.

Smart move releasing this so soon after. Every time I’ve rewatched this episode this sad/dread washes over me.

You could say he's Gon off the deep end.

I remember back in the Yorknew City arc how Killua was completely against using Kurapika's method of gaining power through sitting a very heavy restriction on himself and Gon agreed with him, and now Gon's done far worse than that for basically the same reason. Also, I think Gon has overdone it and he could've still defeated Pitou without going to that extent, but he just wanted to completely destroy Pitou.

Fun fact: This episode was the only time we hear Killua’s footsteps. Thanks to his upbringing, he has quiet steps( Melody even said so back in York New) but completely lost his training when he saw what Gon had done to himself

The “Rock” Count went from cute to SICKENING 😅

So what happened is: Gon made a nen vow. He'll sacrifice his life, give up the ability to ever use Nen again, and so forth. He's basically stripping himself of everything he has, can be, or will be, for one explosive burst of power. So yes, he did make a nen vow/contract. Kurapika gave up 1 hour of his lifespan per second he used Emperor Time. Imagine that, but if he gave up everything for like... the span of a few minutes needed to fight. That's what Gon's done.

i love it that u remembered that nen after death exist!

This is why HxH is often called a deconstruction of the shonen genre. For one of the biggest fights, you'd expect a grand, epic, and fun to watch fight like the final fight in the last episode of JJK. But instead, it gives you a one sided execution with a sad tone. And like what I've been saying. HxH fights arent really fights but more like sided executions. Not saying that the common battle shonen format for fights are lesser than this. I really do enjoy some good ol' exciting shonen fights than even lasts episodes. It's just that HxH does it really differently which makes it so interesting.

This wasn’t a fight between two combatants, it was just a murder.

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"cowardly" is a laughable thing to state lol. People are in the middle of war and the expectation of respect is still expected. The idea that as a person with less power that they should adhere to the same starting point in a fight (whether they want to is another thing) is asking for immediate loss (not that they can't win, as one could cite the powers of love and friendship lol but still). I would be more focused on surviving, not having a fair fight. I'm throwing dirt in peoples eyes, low blows, rage baiting, all of it.

A 12 years old island boy crash out is something

The arc where a monster gained humanity and a human became monstrous.

I think one good thing this entire episode does well is the complete 180 of the idea of the "rage transformation" in a lot of anime, because unlike a lot of other examples of this kind of transformation usually the audience would be hyped to see the protagonist going to a completely new length of power just because of their pure blinded rage towards their opponent, but this rage transformation gives a completely different feel because Gon doesn't feel like the hero in this scenario, in fact he feels much more like a villain with the lengths went to even gain this transformation, he sacrificed everything, right down to the point where he decided by the end of it he couldn't use Nen anymore, he squandered all of his potential for this one moment to kill Pitou, and when he does you don't feel any satisfaction because he doesn't feel any satisfaction either, all you're left with is this uneasy feeling that Gon used everything