The mystery of the tape is revealed and it sets into motion a big chain of events to come.
What They Say:
No episode summary provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gon’s discovery of the device from his father has opened up a whole new world for him in relation to the man he really doesn’t know. With Killua at his side, he’s able to hare in that discovery as he hears his fathers voice for the first time and realizes that he could only have done it if he had become a Hunter and learned Nen an dall tha tit involves. The tape inside is basically an invitation to come find him, which will be fraught with its own dangers and challenges, but there’s something to be said for it. With what little we know of the family past, the loss of his mother and how it may have impacted Ging, there’s no way that Gon would decline such an invitation. It’s something that speaks directly to who he is and it’s amusing and interesting to hear his father’s dialogue about how he doesn’t want to see him for expected reasons. It sets an interesting relationship to be had between the two, even if it’s years before they meet, if ever.
With the way the tape incident itself plays out, the show moves in a different direction based on a memory disc that’s also a part of what his father left him. That brings into play a JoyStation game console that Killua knows all about in order to examine the data on it, which is game save material for a game called Greed Island. What that leads to is a discovery about the game itself, which is pretty amusing and fascinating since it’s a game that’s long gone out of print and not even easily searchable for online.
The episode focuses on the hunt for information about the game since it’ll give them clues as to where to go in order to find Ging. Killua is definitely more internet savvy than Gon and they get some nice callbacks to those who participated in the Hunter Exam as some of them have some game knowledge that Killua thinks they can use. With some good bargaining chips in hand with the memory card of the game being quite valuable for such a near impossible to find game, there’s plenty of incentive to be involved in events. But it’s also the kind of story that’s set up as a background story for the moment since the pair have to get to York New City soon to meet up with the others, which is in itself a huge game changing event that’s coming up.
In Summary:
Hunter x Hunter wraps up its bit of a homecoming arc well here as it spends most of its time focused on Gon and Killua, though I wish it had spent more with Mito and the island in general. The show has given us a lot of clues about Gon’s father and what he’s done but it’s also opened up a sprawling and complicated challenge for him in order to find him. It’s something that Killua can get completely behind since he’s not intent on going back home anytime soon himself and there’s a lot of potential for adventure, friendship and skill growth. But they also have the upcoming gathering in York New City to get on with, which helps shift them off the island. The arc is certainly short as it should be, but it’s the kind of solid downtime that the show needed to let the pair have their final moments of alone time together before going back to the larger group and all that will come with going to the big city.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
