Continuing with the Chimeral arc of Hunter x Hunter. One thing I really appreciate about this show is that this show respects those with more experience. It doesn't matter how much will power one has, Gon and Killua never stood a chance to beat even the apprentices of two of the really experienced hunters.
At the same time, in this show, just because one has a lot of experience, doesn't mean they can just overpower anyone. In most shonen they would be curbstomping the opposition. In this show, even for mid level antagonists the big shot hunters had to device strategies because they couldn't just brute force the problem away. And as always the fights are impressive and inventive. After having gotten sick of many shonen fighting shows, this is the breath of fresh air I needed.
The chimera ants themselves are pretty great antagonists. They feel like they come from a completely different genre, and their very biological and perverse nature sort to speak introduces a horror vibe to the show. That said, I don't like the premise of these chimera ants. First of all they are not really ants (yeah yeah I know nitpick) and they sort of stretch suspension of disbelief in many ways. They are born already adults, extremely powerful for no apparent reason, and there is no way the world didn't end by then because apparently they have existed before considering how much they seemed to have already known about chimera ants. It feels like they just came out of nowhere. Their designs can also get extremely silly, undercutting the horror this arc has tried to establish. I mean c'mon, one of them looks like Larry the Lobster from Spongebob. Although Neferpitou sort of escapes this, her design is silly and she makes cat puns, but somehow induces the most horror at times.
There are a few things I missed though. Apparently there was an awesome palace infiltration that my brother told me I missed, but I really can't afford to watch all episodes with my work load.
Miscellaneous thoughts, what is it with this show and pedophiles, and I am finally seeing hunters doing some hunting instead of seeing them perpetually testing or dishing out bullshit tests.
