ok this is a huge hxh rant that probably has spoilers for the end of the greed island arc and the beginning of the chimera ant arc. it’s mostly me being angry at the 2011 anime for leaving VERY IMPORTANT STUFF out and changing an important relationship very significantly so. proceed carefully.
Alright like i said on a previous post, I was watching the 2011 anime w/ Denis today. We finished the Greed Island arc (which was mostly very faithful to the manga, except for the most gory deaths which were obviosuly censored) and started the Chimera Ant arc. And like rIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING the story started to get a bit warped?? Like I had watched a few episodes from about the middle of the arc before and aside from that beginning the arc seems to be p faithful to the manga, but still. The beginning is crucial for the rest of the arc and it shouldn’t have been changed like that.
And I think I know the exact reason it got like that. You see, both the manga and the 1999 series start (as in, the VERY FIRST chapter/episode) with Gon as a small child and Kaito. like
This is from the first chapter. It is shown even more prominently (and more emotionally as well) in the 1999 anime. For some reason it was completely CUT from the beginning of the 2011 anime. That part was important because it’s the moment Gon discovers that his father was a hunter because Kaito tells him that.
Now, the big difference between the 2011 anime and the manga/1999 anime is that in the former, Gon somehow already knew that Ging was a hunter. In the latter, it’s a major thing that Mito-san was hiding it from Gon in order to protect him from becoming a hunter, and he only found out the truth through Kaito. This, the fact that Kaito saved him from foxbears and that Kaito was Ging’s disciple are the MAIN FACTORS of why Gon has such a deep connection to Kaito. Did we get this in the 2011 anime?? No!
In the 2011 anime, after the Greed Island arc ended and Gon and Killua used the card to get to Ging but ended up finding Kaito instead, we only get a short confusing flashback of the first time Gon and Kaito met, and no trace of the true bond between Kaito and Gon. Hell, Kaito DIDN’T RECOGNIZE GON at first. Gon didn’t recognize him immediately either. This is in such stark contrast to the manga, where Kaito and Gon not only recognized each other IMMEDIATELY, but were HAPPY (albeit confused) to see each other again.
Compare this to the 2011 series’s reunion, where Kaito’s first reaction upon seeing Gon is to push him and Killua to the ground and draw his weapon (i know it was because of the ants – i’ll go back to those hell bugs in a minute –, but still). Gon only recognizes him after Kaito complains about having to kill an animal, just like he did when he saved Gon from the foxbear. This only confirms that their bond is practically nonexistent in the 2011 anime, because Kaito didn’t even introduce himself to Gon when he saved him, and only discovered Gon was Ging’s son after Ging told him, much later.
Now, the reason why i got so worked up on this subject was that Gon and Kaito’s relationship is vital to the Chimera Ant arc. it’s what keeps the plot moving – first with Gon and Killua tagging along Kaito and the crew of amateur hunters to find information about the ants, then with Kaito sacrificing himself for Gon and Killua to escape, and finally with Gon’s utter determination to find Kaito and bring him back, and later to revive him using Neferpitou’s power. Without a strong bond between Kaito and Gon, it all seems… Excessive. It seems excessive to go to the lengths Gon went – reaching the point of destroying his own body and risking his life to defeat the ant that killed Kaito – for someone that really didn’t have a deep connection to him to begin with.
I guess that’s why I’ve seen people who only watched the 2011 anime disliking Gon over that and the way he treats Killua while having what is essentially a mental breakdown – in the manga, you never doubt that Gon’s connection to Kaito is strong and important enough for Gon to be selfish the way he was and to unintentionally hurt Killua’s feelings like that. It wasn’t smart, it wasn’t logical, it was deeply emotional, because Gon and Kaito really cared about each other.
Now, aside from Gon and Kaito’s relationship, another thing that bothered me was the pacing and the way the beginning of the arc was presented.
In the anime, Gon and Killua make contact with the chimera ants almost immediately upon meeting Kaito. Kaito offers a rushed explanation about the ants, which allows the Queen to be shown and have her mission of building a colony and give birth to the king explained almost as soon as the arc begins. Kaito’s colleagues are introduced, they show the giant ant finger to Kaito, Gon and Killua, and their investigation of the finger’s origins starts almost immediately.
In the manga, though, it wasn’t rushed like that. Kaito, Gon and Killua spent that first reunion alone around that fire near the river retelling their adventures, and on the next day Kaito explains his job as a wildlife researcher to them and introduces his colleagues. Then Gon and Killua spend some time working with them, discovering new species and generally having a good time. Afterwards the ant finger is shown to the team by the government worker that hired them (in the 2011 anime, it happened on a flashback, and Gon and Killua were not present), and THEN they go on their investigation. It’s slower, and to me feels less forced than in the anime.
To me, it feels like things were rushed to “get to the good part” faster, so to speak. I mean, they succeeded in getting that, but at the cost of smoother transitions and some character interactions.
All in all, those were the things that bothered me most regarding anime/manga differences. I’d talk more about it, but a) this post is already Too Fucking Long and b) I’d like to get a bit further in the anime to have a more grounded opinion. Well, that’s it i guess. i should get to bed and stop thinking about this stuff
EY FATTY BOOM BOOM 