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Hunter x Hunter (2011) Arc Review: Chimera Ant Arc Part 2
Episodes: 29 (98 - 136)
Author: Yoshihiro Togashi
Characters
Returning characters = Gon & Killua, Netero, Palm, Zeno and Silva Zoldyck, Morel, Knov, Shoot, Knuckle, Kite, Pitou, Pouf, and Youpi.
Meruem = The King of the Chimera Ants. Gifted his name, he battles between ant and human on his conquest of the NGL.
Komugi = Champion of the board game “Gungi”. This blind girl baffles the King by continuously defeating him, slowly becoming his source of affection and purpose.
Meleoron = Chimera ant with the Nen power of erasing his existence while holding his breath. Becomes allies with the Hunting party for revenge on Mereum.
Ikalgo = Chimera Ant that with the quality of an octopus. Faces off against Killua, who spares his life, and later saves Killua and allies himself with the hunting party.
Cheetu and Leol = Chimera ants that have the qualities of a Cheetah and a Lion respectively and were former captains of the queen. Killed by Silva and Morel.
Welfin = Chimera ant that has the qualities of a wolf. Faces Ikalgo in the underground.
Plot
The Hunting party - made up of Gon, Killua, Morel, Netero, Knov, Shoot and Knuckle - enter East Gorteau where they head toward the King.
Gon runs into Meleoron, a Chimera ant who wants revenge on the King for killing someone he remembers from his human memories, and they become allies.
The King and Komugi continue to play Gungi and the King injures himself as a show of resolve. He begins to change on the inside from her influence. Pitou treats him and has to lower the palace defenses, and Knov creates a portal inside using his Nen.
Ikalgo saves Killua’s life after his deadly encounter with the Ortho siblings.
Leol is killed by Morel in battle, Knov is incapacitated by fear from the Royal Guards’ aura, and the rest of the extermination party ready themselves for the palace assault.
Zeno and Netero storm the palace from above with a rain of Nen, while the rest of the party goes through the portal (except for Knov). Komugi is injured by the first attack.
The King orders Pitou to heal Komugi, while Netero and him head to a remote location to fight. Gon and Killua find Pitou healing Komugi and Gon is enraged and confused.
In his anger, Gon pushes Killua away. Killua leaves and eventually finds a Chimera ant transformed Palm, who was captured earlier being controlled by Pouf. She later regains her senses.
Shoot and Knuckle face Youpi. Shoot fights until he can no longer and Knuckle does his best against the creature one-on-one.
Killua saves Knuckle and uses his new ability “Godspeed” before Knuckle and Morel (now without his pipe) fight Youpi again.
Netero and the King fight. Although the King has the upper hand, Netero tells him that his name is Meruem, and commits suicide - exploding a powerful bomb hidden in his body.
Pouf and Youpi rush to the King’s aid and use their own life force to revive Meruem. He is revived more powerful than before, with a dose of amnesia, and flies back to the palace.
Pouf uses this chance to try to kill Komugi. Killua protects Komugi from Pouf’s mini clone and gives her to Palm to protect, and races back to Peijing to assist Gon against Pitou, who left to heal Kite.
Pouf tells Pitou that it can kill Gon. Having heard that it won’t heal Kite, Gon sacrifices everything to rage and profound sadness and envelops himself in a ghastly aura that transforms his body.
Gon kills Pitou by removing its head. Killua arrives and saves Gon’s life from a corpse-puppet Pitou and Gon deals the final blow in an explosion of the Jajanken.
Meruem returns and is a godly force among all. He confronts Welfin, and Welfin reminds him of Komugi. Youpi suddenly dies and Pouf follows soon after from a poison in Netero’s explosion.
Meruem finds Palm and Ikalgo, who have been hiding with Komugi, and is aware that he has limited time to live. Komugi stays by his side despite knowing that she will die too, infecting her with the poison by his presence, and they die in silence underground.
The remaining Chimera Ants begin their own lives, Gon remains in critical condition, and the Zodiacs gather to determine Netero’s successor.
The Praise
Wow. JUST WOW. The emotional rollercoaster, the powerful soundtrack, the stunning animation, and the character collisions in the second half of this arc is unparalleled. So let’s get into it. First, the emotional rollercoaster that we witness as we see Gon consumed by revenge for Kite’s death and Meruem’s maturation to protect and care for Komugi. Meruem becomes more human-like in her presence and it gives the audience every chance to see that he can change and love, extremely unlike his first introduction - bursting out of his mother and slaughtering some of his army along with human villages. On the opposite side, we see Gon slowly go from hopeful to vengeful as he realizes that Kite cannot be saved. The happy-go-lucky Gon dies before the palace assault and he’s replaced with a demon-child that
resembles Meruem’s one-track mind at his birth. And let me just say how much it hurt to see Gon become that. Yes he got an amazing power surge to fight Pitou, which was bone-chilling in the best way, but to see him become that gives every indication that the Gon we know and love will not come back. That emptiness in his eyes was masterfully done. He pushed Killua, his best friend, away on his quest for revenge and that stung even more since we watched their genuine friendship since the very first arc. I was afraid of what Gon would do AND what would become of him.
As you all know, I enjoy my fight scenes because they’re so much more and this arc is about strategy, deceit, and pure power. In my opinion, there’s few other anime that truly capitalize on having so many well-developed characters in one place like the palace. What do I mean? There isn’t really a strict one-on-one fight. In fact, most fights against Pouf and Youpi shift between members of the extermination squad and the King interacts with almost everyone. I could’ve easily seen these fights being one-on-one, but Togashi approached it in a style that feels like a real assault that flows with real-time changes to the plan in the spur of the moment. So many character interactions and defining moments come from this arc. So much that they’re widely known even before someone may watch the anime. Gon’s transformation was something that I stumbled onto before I ever laid eyes on Hunter x Hunter (2011), but it was extremely emotionally charged to see Gon transform. Killua’s “Godspeed” was a really nice surprise though.
The atmosphere and choices that surround the moments in this arc make it something that stands above. The pacing doesn’t let up and focuses on many things at once without seeming overbearing. The narration is a technique that I never expected to see but it adds to the
understanding of every subtle move and the dramatic split-second moments. Soundtracks display Gon’s rage and amplify any battle move, for better or worse, so that the panic or hope is felt. “Theme of Kage” and “Rasetsu” do an incredible job of making Gon to appear more frightening than the King himself - or any other villain introduced thus far - and the swell is something you will never forget when you first see that form. I dare say that this stands with the most iconic transformation in anime of all time and I mean it.
The Critique
This isn’t necessarily a critique as it is a cautionary note: This arc is dense and emotionally taxing. It is nothing like the others before it and it goes to darker places that you would’ve guessed. The most critique-like thing that I can say about this section of the Chimera Ant arc is that the narrator can seem dry and “out of left field” in his sudden appearance, and can sometimes feel like he’s pulling you from the action, but his place is solidified when the explanations are A+.
The Verdict
Hunter x Hunter (2011) has had some amazing moments throughout the previous arcs, in the fights, character development, and
soundtrack - but this is the icing on the cake. It’s so well-woven together. Morality, existence, and what it means to be powerful are just some of the things that are explained in the Chimera Ant arc. I won’t cite a specific magazine or poll, but there are some that voted this arc as the best shounen arc and it’s a fan-favorite. There’s a reason that Hunter x Hunter (2011) is well-known, but this arc is what changed the series forever and it’s better because of it. Gon and his friends have fought against antagonists, and even villains, but the conflict of morality and revenge make monsters out of men and you’re going to love every heartbreaking minute of it. ~D.
Rating: 10 gold nuggets out of 10