Hunter x Humanity

What does it mean to be human?

“You believe I cannot pray with a single arm? A prayer comes from the heart. If the heart achieves the correct form, it becomes emotions and emotions can be manifested.”

Yoshihiro Togashi is a creative genius comparable to some of the greatest in his craft. His effortless ability to conjure up interesting plots and storylines with relatable and dynamically interesting characters is insane and has to be respected to the highest degree. Shades of this can be seen in his first work, Yu Yu Hakusho which has one of the best arcs in a shonen anime in my opinion, The Dark Tournament Arc. Even considering the series as a whole, Shonen tropes were brilliantly done, and characters like Hiei and Kurama had a brilliant depth to them with Yusuke also being a determined protagonist with his own fleshed out motivations. But what makes the Dark Tournament Arc stand out is a brilliant villain in Toguro, an absolutely insane ending battle but most importantly the true care Togashi gave all the little fights and decisions. The art style as a whole is not typical Shonen, and has truly horrifying elements to it and here we can see his vision and originality truly shine. It stands with Dragon Ball as one of the best before the Big 3 of Bleach, One Piece and Naruto. But it is not perfect, as the arcs after the Dark Tournament were rushed and Togashi had creative limitations on the work, with his scope being outlined and well defined, and so he could not complete all of the characters’ arcs satisfactorily. This was not how he wanted to do storytelling, as to himself as well as the fans, it was as if they had barely seen what he had to offer with respect to deep themes such as morality and existence. Fortunately, Togashi was not done yet and his best work was yet to come in Hunter x Hunter.

The Chimera Ant Arc in Hunter x Hunter is one of the most subversive arcs in a shonen series I have seen to date, as when the series begins it barely gives us a sneak peek behind it’s curtain of malice. Togashi had a ton more freedom and liberty with the Hunter x Hunter Manga, clearly evidenced by the amount of hiatuses there were, and the sheer changes in tone between arcs but it was offset by the rich quality and depth of the storytelling. What starts off with an innocent kid Gon, wanting to become a hunter and find his father in the process, becomes a story much bigger than just his journey. He makes friends with Killua, Leorio and Kurapika along the way but after a few story arcs it becomes very clear what Togashi was building towards. In this arc, Leorio and Kurapika are nowhere to be seen, and what can be dubbed as an essential archetype of shonen disappears with Gon and Killua facing the demons of their differences. Togashi explores deep themes such as tragedy, loss, sacrifice and even the fundamental thought of self and what it means to truly exist through the lens of some brilliantly portrayed characters. This to me makes Hunter x Hunter an absolute must watch, just for this one arc which is the culmination of all the character building and story arcs that Gon goes through. I highly recommend watching or reading this masterclass of storytelling before reading any further.

The Chimera Ant Arc deals with the infestation of a species known as the Chimera Ants, a unique type of insect that can reproduce through phagogenesis, which is the process of producing offspring that take on characteristics of whatever the parent devours. This meant that there was a near perfect ant waiting to be birthed, and not all ants were created with the same value. The queen would devour as many beings as she could to eventually give birth to the pinnacle of the species, the king of the ants. The very concept of such a creature existing goes against nature, with life being a cycle of growth and death and not just fodder for such absurdly powerful creatures that exist way atop the food chain. If the Ants were left to survive and run rampant, they would consume nearly all the life remaining on the planet as no one would be able to put up any meaningful resistance in the face of such strength. At that point do they survive because they deserve to? or do we or any other species still fit the bill to be afforded another chance to live? What makes us any different than them?

What is it that makes us who we are, our achievements distinct and worth attaining? This is a really complicated question but in my opinion it is really nothing because we are mortal and at the end of the day, if an asteroid hits the Earth, or the Sun ceases to exist we will also perish. This might be a nihilistic or rather pessimistic point of view but we as humans are still instruments of nature and need the basic requirements for life in order to survive and so our instincts primarily drive us to search for sustenance. We are no different than any other animal, but with one special distinction. We have the ability to improve and work on ourselves in order to reach heightened states of existence through self control. Countless people have reached this and we hear their tales and realise that this is the true meaning of what it means to be human. After our base desires and requirements are met, we need not succumb to our urges, they may exist regardless but how far we are able to control it to became greater than our sum total is something that is unique to humanity. We are able to let go of the urge for survival, for something greater than our own selves, at least in our own heads.

A few years ago, I had watched a Netflix documentary about an AI called AlphaGo, a system developed by DeepMind to play the ancient game of Go, which is a strategy game known to be the oldest board game still being played in the modern world. In Go, two players take turns placing black and white stones on a board with a 19x19 grid to encircle their opponent's stones and take up the most area. A computer cannot evaluate every possible step in the future due to the vast amount of combinations. The difference between a machine and a human playing Go, is that out of the vast amount of combinations, both play to win but at the same time we think about the situation completely differently. There is a distinct human element to every game we play, as there is no such thing as an optimal move or strategy and we do things that may not typically be considered “good” moves, like not only contributing towards the goal of winning the game. Thinking out of the box like this comes from a feel for the game or intuition, which are genuinely things that cannot be explained or rather put into quantifiable terms. When the AI system was pitted against against one of the top Go players Lee Sedol for 5 games, it won the first 3 games with ease. Sedol would even describe some of the moves as things a human player would never do. But in the fourth game, Sedol played with a completely different strategy and through a brilliant move 78 which the AI could not even comprehend, and was able to win after being in a losing position. The move was described as “divine” which is heavily ironic as I believe it to be nothing more than simply human. AlphaGO would go on to win the 5th game as well and this is not to say that we as humans are better at playing games than machines, but just a reminder to the way we go about things, a manner that is unique to our own selves, a vast celebration of human spirit. To me that matters a whole ton more than some win or loss.

I bring this up, because the very theme of the arc in Hunter x Hunter, is survival of the fittest. When Meruem was born, he was fully grown and had no flaws when compared to the rest of his kind. He knew he was all powerful and with first glance, could very easily discern that nobody on his side or the other would be able to fully test his limits. So naturally as it is with a creature at the top of the food chain, he would set out to subjugate others and make them bend to his will. This was the instinct he was born with as he was still a child, but cast into the role of a king and thus did not seek to do anything to better his outlook on life or question things. Meruem truly believed that he was without flaws, and up until a point anything he kept trying to reinforce the same belief in himself. It was a self fulfilling prophecy, which would be shattered when he played Gungi against Komugi.

Meruem was trying to humor himself and sought to continue his reinforcement of beliefs by playing a lot of board games against renowned champions. Komugi was a young blind girl, who had an odd speech impediment and from first glance Meruem did not think much of her and assumed he would be better than her as her stature suggested but he never could beat her. Despite him trying again and again, she always seemed to get the better of him. He would even employ her own strategies against her but to no avail. Playing for days at a time, without eating or even caring about anything else would teach Meruem an important lesson about a fundamental facet of humanity that would alter his very process of thinking. Komugi had devoted her whole life to this endeavour of becoming the best at Gungi. Endlessly competing and improving was a concept foreign to Meruem, but was a fundamental human characteristic that he would pick up from Komugi, eventually coming to realise that power was all he had. As she sat in front of him, powerless to resist if he truly wanted to hurt her, she commanded his respect. She also did not fear him or flinch in his presence and this was foreign to him as he had never felt this before. He genuinely began to enjoy losing and started developing affection for Komugi, which in my opinion was a real and unflinchingly human part of the Chimera Ant king. By strengthening these parts of the king, Komugi indirectly imparts compassion and wonder onto the king. If this one thing surprised him so, there must be much more in the world to really go through and experience, right? His whole view on humans and their intrinsic value changed as he stopped looking at them as mere fodder and with respect. Now he knew what they stood for, and this was further evidenced when he met Netero.

Netero is the elder of the series, an old man who is the chairman of the Hunter council board who is addressed with the utmost respect by everybody in the series. For much of the series we don’t get to see him take things seriously. He jokes around with Gon and Killua during the Hunter examination, but we never get to see what he represents until this arc. Netero is not just a representation of strength, righteousness and courage in the series but should be looked at as the very embodiment of morality. Netero brought with him an extermination squad to combat the ant infestation, and his whole tone is grave when he talks to Killua after their narrow escape against Neferpitou. This in itself signified the biggest tone change in hindsight, if we observe Netero’s mindset. He grasps the reality of the situation, and knows that in order for life to exist as they knew it, the ants had to be killed. Every last one of them. He sought to compare his power to that of the king, truly living for the battle but at the same time he also knew the sheer responsibility placed on his shoulders. No one who was available at the present moment would even be able to touch a hair on the king’s head. Not even himself at full strength.

Netero is the human spirit brought to its very limit, as he is the complete opposite of the king in the fact that even though he was born with a high nen ability and physical prowess, he did not take them for granted. Instead, when he felt he had reached his physical and spiritual limits, he thought to show gratitude to this art form that he owed a significant debt to, which had propelled him to such maturity and growth. It is a pure intention and something that has to truly come from the heart. How he chose to go about repaying the debt was to go to the top of a mountain and perform 10,000 punches of gratitude every single day, in the same sequence. In the beginning, Netero would take 18 hours to complete the punches, extending into the late night. After 2 years of following this rigorously, Netero would suddenly realise that the sun was still up when he completed the punches. He had grown and honed the technique to such a point that he was able to complete it in just an hour. This left him time to reflect and self actualize truly look within himself and find compassion. When he returned from the mountain and showed off his perfect punch in a dojo, the master could do nothing more but cry and call out “Lady Guanyin…”

Netero’s most powerful ability is his 100 type Guanyin Bodhisattva, a fitting representation of the type of power he possessed. In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a person who is on the path to awakening or has received confirmation from a previous Buddha that they are on the way to Buddhahood. Any person who has developed a spontaneous desire and compassionate attitude to become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings, is referred to be a Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana school are spiritually valiant individuals who strive for enlightenment and are motivated by a deep compassion. Guanyin is the Bodhisattva associated with compassion, and is the most widely beloved Buddhist divinity. Netero’s ability involves him only bringing his hands together, with the hands of the Guanyin Boddhisattva listening to this prayer. Themes of stability, faith and unrelenting spirit and gratitude are properly brought through and represented by his power and backstory.

When Netero faces off against Meruem, he is practically forced to goad him into fighting, as Meruem talks about his grand vision of the world and how he plans to rid it of inequality. Netero has to force himself to not listen as he knew what had to be done. Meruem would eventually listen and be forced into battle, in order to find out what his real name was and in the process found his most tenacious adversary. The person who had reached the human pinnacle. He who had climbed past anyone else, to the brink of godhood. Netero’s tenacity and desire to win was so ironclad, that Meruem could not help but appreciate what he stood for. Netero stood in that moment as the last reservoir for humanity’s survival. He represented all our greatest virtues and fought for his entire race. But even his most powerful abilities would not be enough to beat Meruem, as Meruem would sever limb after limb, trying to get Netero to concede. Netero would stand stoic through everything, praying even when he did not even have hands to bring together. Netero would end up killing himself in the end, triggering a bomb known as “The Rose” to put an end to Meruem’s existence by infecting his cells with a deadly poison that would cause him to die. Netero did something that Meruem would not even dream of doing to win for his species. The look on Meruem’s face when this happens says it all. This was a move that he would not consider doing even if that was his last option. Why did Netero do it? Who really won? Is it Netero for doing what was right? Humanity won in the end, by showing their darkest side, both thematically and in reality.

Meruem lives out his final moments with Komugi in a very simple way, unlike the grandeur promised to him by birth. He remembers that he is unique, and has things he wishes to live for. He did not care about conquering or ruling anymore, but simply wished to spend time with the one person in the world he truly cared about. In fully accepting this and coming to terms with what he wanted to be, Meruem brings the topic full circle. Meruem embodied human characteristics himself. By presenting an analysis of humanity through the eyes of Meruem, Togashi weaves a tapestry like no other with an ending that is truly satisfying and one that will live on, atleast in my opinion as the best clash of themes in Shonen history.

I will conclude this article with Netero’s final words :

The line is often translated as:
"Do not underestimate humanity's infinite potential for evolution!".
But it could also be translated as:
"Do not underestimate humanity's infinite potential for malice!".

Make of that what you will.