Death in HxH might feel weird at first because the world is a very brutal place, but the main characters are very nonchalant about it right now. Gon is very detached from that kind of thing (just look how much he cares when Killua tells him he's killed people), and Killua is an assassin so obviously he's used to it.
I'm fine with how the show handles it, especially for the later stuff.
Yeah sorry but I never thought it got better. It's conditioned me a much different way, to the point that when Hunter X Hunter came back in the magazine recently, my reaction to seeing a new chapter up was always "I wonder whose going to die this time."
And I know at least one person died in every chapter that came out that time too.
Maybe it works for some people. However, it never clicked with me all throughout the manga and the anime hasn't changed my mind so far. One of the reasons Killua's still kind of my least favorite of the group is particularly how the show treats his being an assassin. It always came off like it only addressed it as a problem because it felt like it
had to and not really because it had any real interest in properly weening him away from it and allowing the consequences of it be more than what they were.
That shit with Bodoro and those two guys on the blimp still feels off to me. When I first read it I thought he was going to be a villain. The direction they went with felt like it could have worked had it been more gradual (I can't believe I'm saying this but I honestly think Dragonball did this a bit better with Vegeta).
Not to mention scenes like the one where the two guys get their skeletons shoved into fucking garbage cans. That shit was funny, sure, but part of me isn't able to fully separate myself from the fact that they're having a casual conversation with some old dude while the bones of two guys who were just alive earlier that day are in a trash bin beside them.
I couldn't help but think this stuff about friendship and Killua's feelings was a little hard to care about on its own. I'm probably alone on this but I need something there that actually holds him a little more accountable for his own actions too I guess. The thing with Illumi is great and all but I couldn't shake off the feeling that it was a little too transparent a thing to be like "This guy is the only at fault cause he conditioned Killua to do this shit" and Killua's just someone who needs help. But he's the kind of kid who can literally rip a guy's heart out and the reaction you get from everyone isn't of any lasting fear or shock. It's mostly just momentary surprise from Leorio. Gon doesn't even give a shit until way later with Illumi and only really because that time Killua murdered Bodoro it made him feel bad.
It's so weird. All the actual murder Killua commits gets brushed off before they even know who Illumi is. Then when Illumi shows up and basically does nothing it's treated like a big deal. I'm not saying the moment didn't work. It did but more as it's own moment. It didn't really do well for changing my mind about Killua.
I also don't really buy the whole "Gon is conditioned to death" thing either. Conan Edogawa still has a somewhat horrified reaction to seeing someone brutally murdered and his manga is in the 900s now. Gon's reactions being that way wouldn't be an issue if the show addressed in anyway and gave me at least a bit of a hint that this was supposed to be the case with him but without that it's just really odd.
Also, I'm mad that Zushi got treated like utter shit by the narrative for no real good reason. I probably shouldn't be but I am. That doesn't even have anything to do with death, I just felt so shitty after what happened with him there.
