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Reviewed by Park Cooper Well, the storyline which I call “The Bugs That Wouldn’t Stop It” continues... but, even more than last time, you can tell it won’t last forever, because in this volume they launch their attack to finally make them stop it. That’s right. No more foolin’ around. It’s time to bring it, face to face, man to man, no more guerilla warfare, just a mass assault to destroy the king of the bugs. This review contains many spoilers, although in another way, it hardly tells you many details at all... Team Kill The King Bug = Old Man Netero and Killua’s grandfather, and boy are they surprised to find that their opponent doesn’t act like the horrible monster they expected—they find him leaning over his chess (or whatever that super-strategy boardgame he plays with that blind girl) partner, seemingly concerned for her welfare after the first initial attack. Meanwhile, after the first assault was enough of a success to get at least some other members of the attack team into the palace... other than that, everything starts going... well, not WRONG, but totally not as expected. So much for planning—it’s think-on-your-feet time, as Killua finds himself dashing around protecting innocents, whereas Gon is focused like a very thin laser on the guy-monster-who-looks-just-like-a-catgirl who damaged Gon’s friend Kite. Role reversal surprise! And in the middle of this, where IS that girl named Palm, anyway? In the midst of all this, creator Yoshihiro Togashi does a couple of interesting things. First of all, he backs up and tells a short little story of Old Man Netero’s training in his youth (a long, LONG time ago), which feels a lot like the sort of classic tale of martial arts training that you’d get back in the days before Bruce Lee modernized the kung fu movie... more like something from Kung Fu Hustle. It’s really nice. The other, very related thing, is that Togashi frequently, in this volume—more than he has ever done before—stops the action, or turns the speed down to seconds-per-page, or indeed milliseconds-or-nanoseconds-per-page, in order to explain exactly what given characters are thinking and feeling at those moments. And it’s often, again, to emphasize the old-school, samurai-like character traits of emotion in the face of honor. Fire and death and horror suddenly cut loose from 100 directions at once, and only two people remain focused like a laser on the fight at hand—Gon, and Gon’s bug opponent who we’re all supposed to be fighting so we can get into the palace. The guy standing BEHIND Gon, watching all of this in a split second, tears up and cries. Because he sees Gon’s not-being-even-one-bit-distractedness, continuing to barrel forward full-tilt toward the enemy, and he is deeply emotionally moved. So THIS, then, is dedication. He RESOLVES TO BE A BETTER PERSON in the face of this display of mental/emotional power, the power of Gon’s warrior’s soul. Now that, my friends, is some serious samurai-mindset characterization. If the guy wasn’t in the middle of a fight, he might have stopped and arranged some flowers and written a haiku on the subject, because the old-school days of War involved some serious philosophical exploration of unashamedly finding beauty in spite of all the death and destruction surrounding one. After Excel Saga, Hunter x Hunter is the most self-indulgent manga of all time, going to whatever strange and experimental places Togashi feels like going. But he continues to sometimes think of some really INTERESTING experiments. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
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