Kurapika finds himself taking on the role of the leader, not that it will be an easy job.
What They Say:
Uvogin was able to escape with some help from his fellow bandits. However, after the blow to his pride, he is determined to track down Kurapika and defeat him.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Uvogin having now escaped and Kurapika’s team having no contact with their leader, their job is getting more complicated and uncertain. Kurapika’s drawn back in from his conversation with Hisoka that has netted him at least a little information. But as much as he wants to deal with the Phantom Troupe and find out what happened to the Scarlet Eyes, he has to take the other job seriously because of how he feels about such commitments. Without a completely clear plan at the moment, they just have the bosses daughter Neon to talk with and the boss himself from there to try and figure out what it is that they should actually be doing, though her protection still comes across as pretty important.
The decision that does come down is that Neon will end up leaving, but only when her father, boss Nostrade, arrives the following night. So that gives the team the job of protecting her for the next twenty-four hours directly. Which won’t be easy as Uvogin is intent on finding them and taking them down because of what they did to him by capturing him. While Kurapika’s team is pretty decent, he has an edge by being a Hunter, not only in skill but also in information access which changes how they mean to deal with the coming threat. What we end up seeing is a few tracks going from here, with Uvogin hunting them down and gathering information while Kurapika looks for the best place to hide out. And we also get a nod towards Gon and his group as they try to figure out more ways of raising money to get closer to getting the game that they need.
While Gon’s prowess has worked well to spread his name as someone with some real strength behind him, it’s cut down on those that will actually challenge him. What helps is that they get someone that wants to use him to their own advantage but will help raise them some money. But what was originally planned, an arm wrestling gig, turns into “hide and seek” instead where the group of ruffians is set to go hunting down the Phantom Troupe without realizing who the targets are. It’s only a few of them, but they’re each worth two billion Jenny each, which makes it hugely appealing to them. While most of those that sign up for it will never have a real shot, it’s an opportunity to bring Gon and his group into line with Kurapika and his storyline, something that’s been long overdue.
In Summary:
Hunter x Hunter has a lot of things going on here but very ltitle action, which isn’t a bad thing when you get events like this. It does a lot of setup here and moving of the characters to deal with the changes in circumstances from what the Phantom Troupe has done. I wanted more of the small time that Hisoka and Kurapika had at the beginning but I also really wish we had something of the fight between Kurapika and Uvogin actually happen here. Kurapika has some good stuff here overall, especially as he does with Neon and her ways as well as her dad. But we also thankfully get some good Gon time which is pushing the groups back together, which will lead to a bit of a mess till things settle out as one might expect. It’s all building well and is definitely making me desire more episodes much more quickly than we get them.
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.
