What They Say:
Gon, a young boy who lives on Whale Island, dreams of becoming a Hunter like his father, who left when Gon was still young.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While there’s not a lot of characters involved in this arc overall that are getting a lot of detail, there’s enough that it can spread the storyline nicely as we see the various ways they’re handled. Granted, it’s not as complex as Game of Thrones or even a number of prime time US TV series, but they give everything the attention it needs. We got a lot of Knuckle and Shoot in the previous episode with what they were working through, which was decent but left me wanting to get back to what Killua was up to. When that episode ended with some Morel material, you knew that was going to be a focus here. And no disappointment with that since Morel is one of the more interesting adult characters from the Hunters Association that’s being used here since he has the confidence to do what’s necessary and the experience to back it up, but also a few moments where he can be legitimately surprised and cautious because of the uncertainty of what his foe could do.
With his matchup against Pouf, we get to see some unusual abilities right from the get go, which isn’t a surprise as the Chimera Ants are all unique and special snowflakes with a variety of powers that don’t always make sense. But sense went out the window awhile ago when they introduced the Nen and other forms of manipulation with what people can do. Pouf is kind of comical with what he can do here with his little mini-me versions, which are positively cutely-creepy, and it puts Morel on his guard in a good way since he knows that Pouf is just playing mind games with him now. That whole situation gets a lot more complex quickly when Shoot and Youpi’s fight ends up spilling into the same courtyard and the stakes feel like they rise a good deal. Bringing the two matches into the same locale definitely works for me though since it’s something that can help bring some of it to resolution closer if they play out at the same time.
The show takes a bit of a circular route with how it sets up the fight that happens as both of the Chimera Ants kick things off, which is kind of expected as they balance out the still moments with the big action pieces, and seeing the way that it works as Shoot deals with Youpi while Pouf is setting about with his own mission is pretty well, especially since it also touches on Pitou and others, giving us a quick roundup of where everything stands. Naturally, there’s no real conclusions to what’s going on here, but we get some solid action in the second half as the fights get underway and the tension of the moment as so many little things are going on, including Pouf making his way personally to Pitou, which is about to turn that area into quite the fight with the way Gon is feeling.
In Summary:
With little bits of story mixed in from the side here and there, the majority of this episode is a balance between dealing with the preliminary moments of the fight where the sizing up is done and the actual fight itself. There’s a good bit of tension throughout it and some of the fight that we get definitely works really well. But the tension is at its strongest at the end with what it can set into motion and what Pouf may really be doing. It’s a good episode but like so many of them recently, it just leaves me wanting more and to get to some meaty situations and some resolution of some of the storylines.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
