The Ging stuff might have been hit and miss, but thankfully the Kurapika and Kakin's plot threads were excellent from the get go
It's still a little odd how far Kurapika had managed to climb up the chain of command for a mere hired help to the boss of the Nostrade family, but I guess a lot happens in a year and a half. I still wonder what ever happened to Neon and her father, given the last time we seen him in particular he was too busy shitting his pants over Neon's stolen power, while Neon was confused about what was going on.
I guess we will find out eventually, though I hope it won't take us years to get there lol
In any case, this is pretty much the end of Kurapika's journey in trying to reclaim his brethrens remains. He had already listed all the unseen targets he hunted down to get back the Scarlet Eyes, which sounds pretty much what you'd expect when think about who would gain a weird and grotesque type of "item" from the black market such as human organs, though it was a little shocking seeing how Kurapika referred to each one as a monster. I mean, in a sense, they are for having bought the eyes, but I would've thought his view harsh view would be limited towards the Phantom Troupe.
But I guess his comment about how he kept on losing something every time he managed to get the eyes back would make sense then. Kurapika is findin himself at the end of his path, and there is nothing left for him to do once he's done. He has no home, no family, and no one to welcome him back. Glad to know he's as foolish as ever in that regard, since he does have his friends who would welcome him with open arms, but that for the future I suppose.
Kurapika being Parriston's replacement in the Zodiac is an interesting position for him to be in, in particular because it allows him even greater influence in the story going forward but also because it is a nice change for his character. Kurapika had always been tied to the events in Yorkshin, because it was where his arc and character truly took off, but because we hadn't seen him for such a long time it was important to have him change locations else wise it would have been more of the same.
I hope he does remain in the Zodiac even at the end of this arc and gets to be more of a player going forward, even though I suspect that once he manages to get to Tserriednich he'll then bail out the first moment he can. Shame, since I think I really like his interactions with the Zodiac's and Mizaistom. They make a really great detective team.
That said I doubt it will go as smoothly as Kurapika is thinking. I'm sure he's done some stuff that is ethically questionable and at times reprehensible, but the 4th Prince of Kakin is on a different level.
I think that the set up of a war of succession happening on board this cruise towards Unknown Lands to be the best part of this, primarily because it is the biggest question mark on what will happen in that plot thread.
The Dark Continent plot is simple enough for as grandiose as its scale. They will get there, but won't be able to explore it fully given just how huge its size and dangerous it can be. There will be twist and turns I'm sure, but we won't be uncovering all of these mysteries from the get go, and not from this single trip after how big of a deal it's been made just how wild and unconcerned Mother Nature is with mankinds attempts to explore the continent.
The princes plot on the other hand is much smaller in scale, but harder to predict in what will happen by the end. The plan is that 14 younglings are going in, and 13 of which is going to die. Given how absolutely gruesome the Chimera Ant Arc was at its start, it suspect that a lot of the kids will be meeting a very terrible fate, and that the top 4 princes each will be dead when all is said and done. Benjamin and his brother are each as monstrous as Chimera Ants in their own way, and I don't think they will manage to survive when their so gung ho about murdering every member of their extended family.
The thing that adds the most to the succession plot is the Guardian Beasts. The idea that the Nen urn that was made by the first King to insure his eventual heir to be the strongest vessel is a really cool idea for some mythos, and also gives a lot of creativity when it comes to how Nen works when there aren't exactly any one of the princes experienced in the art or given an absolute advantage in battle like it was thus far post Hunter Exam.
I won't post the picture of the King's spider titty monster, but it is as ridiculous as I remember it. It makes sense given that the way the best is meant to portray and be influenced by the vessel, and we know that the King is someone who is very much lustful and likes boobs, but it makes me shudder to think about what sort of Nen beast Tserriednich is going to get then given Togashi's tastes and what we had seen from the guy who loves skinning women alive because of his sick twisted form of art.
Having re-read these chapters, I feel I'm ready for the new one now. I already know from the impressions that it's going to be lengthy and wordy, but I just hope it remains interesting.
--Edit so not to double post
Coupled with all of that, Togashi has a strong sense of characterization, and just as importantly, a good feel for how to sketch out the basics of a character quickly. This is evident in how quickly Togashi can get you to understand a character after their introduction. The flip side to this is that he can sometimes introduce a frustratingly large glut of characters and then do almost nothing with most of them, but the handling of most of the characters is strong enough to mitigate that factor, and the emotional journeys that many characters have gone on is beyond what most other titles in the genre are ever even attempting. The world building in the series is also quite strong, and much deeper than almost any other shounen manga.
The comment you wrote about Kuwabara is some beautiful stuff, but to keep it on Hunter X Hunter, I'll say that I can agree on this point.
I wouldn't go so far as to call HxH the gold standard since I do think there are chunks in the story where it's not that great, even as a whole it is a very great series and a lot of thought has gone into creating and writing it (a given, since it takes years at a time for the story to move haha). But I do think so far as action Shonen manga go, it is a cut above the rest.
The issue is that Hunter X Hunter exemplifies how much of a double edged sword having such a brilliant creator at the helm of a series. Togashi does whatever he likes, and that works because what he does ends up working out by the end wonderfully and gives out a poignant message for each arc. But because of his tendency to do whatever he feels like, it can cause a lot of the focus and at time even type of series to change drastically and leave a lot of what were interesting aspects and characters on the back burner for years without doing anything with them.
It's frustrating, because he is really great about what he finds interesting to work on, but once he loses interest he'll just move on without looking back lol. The Hunter exam sort of became a cliff note at this point, while Greed Island's conclusion just showed how much he lost motivation to work on that concept any longer because he wanted to do the Chimera ants for example.