The various storylines continue to move forward as we understand more of this particular island and what’s going on here.
What They Say:
After passing a strict border checkpoint, Gon and his new friends enter NGL where they suspect the Chimera Ant is. However, ten other teams of Hunters have already arrived before them. Meanwhile, the Chimera Ants, with their new names and individual personalities, are attacking humans.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Evolution is a tricky thing and it can wreck havoc on a lot of things. Such appears to be the case here as a new generation of Chimera Ant soldiers being born are unlike what the Queen has had before where they’re taking on names and showing stronger individualistic aspects than she’s seen before. It may be what they need to evolve and survive in this harsher world though, but I loved that she’s showing some concern over it since it does show a difference from what’s gone on before. We got a good bit of time with these soldiers before as they start wanting their own names and are more in competition with each other in some ways while achieving their larger goals. We also got a good bit of explanation about how this situation has managed to grown by focusing on the NGL territory and why it’s so backwards in certain ways that would allow the Chimera Ants to operate without being noticed for so long.
The show has a few different tracks of story going on here that are all coming together fairly quickly. While we have the various oldiers that are filling their quotas and some are splintering off in new ways in order to establish themselves more, we have the new Magical Beast Hunter making his way to the NGL as well so he can ply his trade. And then there’s Gon and Killua who have thrown in with Kite and his group for the time being to investigate it all themselves. These things are all moving towards each other, and we have pieces such as seeing some minor and interesting dialogue in Gon’s group, but for the real fun is in seeing how the Chimera Ant soldiers themselves are starting to get concerned over some of their colleagues with how they’re becoming too competitive and too individualistic.
For Kite and his group, their initial push into the NGL shows how the leaders there just accept what’s happening in the abstract as just how nature is and it’s nothing to take too seriously. They’re allowed in to investigate since they’re not bringing any technology with them, but they’re not going to get any help either. The episode does a lot of jumping around because of the three positions that are staked out at the moment, four if you consider the Queen her own position, and that has it a bit less focused at the moment because the different aspects are all tackling different views of how the area is working and the interactions that happen.It’s building a slow but well done series of events and examinations of how life is in the NGL, but it also brings us a talking pink koala in a suit who has his own goals to pursue here, which adds some levity to the situation but also a new strains of seriousness.
In Summary:
The Chimera Ant arc moves along steadily here as it expands its focus a bit and draws us into the characters just a little bit more. Gon and his group are the weaker aspect as they don’t get a lot of time, but we do see them making their progress on the island and seeing how the situation is with the locals in some ways. The rest of it focuses mostly on the soldiers themselves and how they’re becoming very individualistic in some ways and we get time with the Magical Beast Hunter group and some time with the drug runners as well, which adds another element that is only touched upon here. It’s showing us an arc that is brewing up for some big trouble in a good way and the foundations for it are being laid down clearly and in an engaging way. Even if it does bring in a pink koala which is just hard not to grin at.
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.