#hxh analysis

I've seen countless people say Chrollo isn't actively chasing Kurapika down because he secretly understands or even forgives him on some level and I couldn't disagree more. During the course of yorknew, Chrollo never even considered Kurapika as an actual person to begin with, let alone recognised him as a mirror. The reason is simple, he just didn't care. Their interaction shows that Chrollo only viewed him as an annoying external anomaly, someone who had managed to disrupt the PT and not as some fated rival. A mutual pointed out to me that in the original JP text, Chrollo exclusively refers to Kurapika as "kusari yarou" (chain user/bastard), which totally depersonalises him. This is why I think that Kurapika is entirely insignificant in Chrollo's eyes.

During that car scene, Chrollo realises Kurapika is emotionally volatile so he deliberately weaponises his own indifference to toy with him, effectively denying Kurapika any real sense of closure regarding the massacre. Chrollo might not give a fuck about Kurapika's trauma but he is great at understanding emotions and in a way, his behaviour could be read as psychologically getting back at him. Even if he didn't show it outwardly to Kurapika, Chrollo was furious about Uvogin (his tears and the requiem prove that). His attitude in the car can be considered pure pettiness to hurt the guy who killed his friend. Which yes, is truly hypocritical considering that he and his group of friends genocided Kurapika's clan but Chrollo isn't the type to lose sleep over his crimes. He has never regretted the life he chose, so why would that change now?

While I believe that Chrollo has zero interest in Kurapika as a person, I also think he holds a massive grudge towards Kurapika for the deaths of Uvogin and Pakunoda who were his closest companions but Chrollo is a pragmatist. His philosophy dictates that the survival of the spider comes before any personal vendettas. He doesn't hunt Kurapika now for the same reason he doesn't hunt Silva, pursuing them would cause the spider more harm than good and neither of them are currently active threats to the group.

When Kurapika was an active threat though, Chrollo was way more angry and emotional. This panel is so unique because it's incredibly rare to see Chrollo look this visibly frustrated. It highlights his habit of internalising blame but it also shows the deep yet quiet resentment he carries. If an opportunity arises where he can eliminate him, Chrollo will absolutely kill him or steal his ability without a second thought.

I think people don't focus on a very important point when theyre talking about hisoillu's possible deaths. One of them being that as much as Hisoka and Illumi want to live and wont go down without a fight, they both will NOT allow the other to die to anyone else.

This was mainly demonstrated multiple times by Hisoka. Other than the fact that he's generally possessive over his toys and Illumi is one of his toys, Illumi is also THE highest ranking toy in Hisoka's toybox. This was proven when he was willing to sacrifice both Gon and Killua, also two of his highest ranking toys, just to stop Nanika from killing Illumi and getting to fight Illumi himself. Aka, he wasn't about to let someone else take Illumi from him.

While the idea itself is fucked up, it is also a form of love that only Hisoka is capable of. Which brings us to the second and most recent point, this panel.

I dont think I really need to explain anything here lol. He explicitly stated that he wants to love someone to death one on one. And he loves Illumi. So he wants for him and illumi to love each other to death. So anyone else getting to Illumi before him is like a BIGGG FAT nono. He may actually get pissed about it, and thats coming from a man who didnt even get angry when he was killed.

Third point is he quite literally contracted Illumi to kill him. I think thats pretty straight forward.

So Hisoka isn't going to let anyone touch Illumi. Not that either of them need protection, but matter of fact is they're both overprotective of each other.

Illumi's deal? Well. He's very trigger happy when it comes to sacrificing himself for some reason. When he gets an opportunity to trade his life for his family's lives hes running over whispering "i've dreamed of days like this..."

So whats the point here? Well. He loves Hisoka. He married Hisoka. Hisoka is legally contracted with the Zoldycks now. Hisoka is a Zoldyck. Hisoka is family. u get what im saying.

There's also the time Illumi mentioned that he knew him and hisoka were going to kill each other in the end anyways. So our guy here has the same fucked up mindset of love as Hisoka. WE"RE The ones that will kill each other. He's made that very clear.

The last thing Illumi's going to allow is for anyone to take Hisoka's life that isn't him. He accepted the contract of killing Hisoka for a reason. In general, its not very fun for someone to steal an assassin's mark, is it?

CW: HxH Succession war spoilers

Two details I like here:

The intimate exchange at the top characterizes both guards very simply and effectively. We have only had one short scene with Yushohi and zero with Mr. Bald Ben’s Guard #3 here, but I love their mutual melancholy in this scene, with Chamathy offering a small amount of comfort and agency to Yushohi before essentially prepping him to die. This is not an order either can refuse, but one asks if the other is ready anyway. Togashi nails it with both of their expressions on this page.

Because Kurapika doesn't see himself as the same person that Leorio fell in love with during the Hunter Exam. Instead, he's sacrificed everyone he's loved, including himself, to achieve his goals. He's turned into a monster that's killed people without hesitation, who was ready to tear apart anyone and everyone that stood on his path. And, most of all, he's endangered the people he cared about most to get what he wanted: to reclaim the Scarlet Eyes. He put people in danger without thinking, and now the conseqeunces are weighing on him.

But all Leorio wanted was for Kurapika to come back to him. To answer the phone, just once, so that Leorio knows he's okay. To be reminded that Kurapika still loves him, because Leorio never gave up on him, no matter what happened. Leorio didn't care what Kurapika did, because deep down he knows that, despite whatever methods he's undertook, Kurapika hasn't changed who he is. Leorio knows he is still a good person—a kind-hearted soul who will sacrifice everything for the greater good—or he wouldn't be undergoing this process in the first place. Instead, all he cared about was that Kurapika came back to him alive, that he would get to see him and hold him once more, that he would get to remind Kurapika how much he loves him.

Kurapika believes he's lost himself; that the original man from the Hunter Exam is gone. That he's a monster who deserves to be shunned away. But Leorio stands there, accepting him back, sobbing in relief because he just gets to see Kurapika's face again. Kurapika's pure heart is still there: the man who solely wished to end the Phantom Troupe so they could never pain anyone the way they pained him; the man who wanted to reclaim the eyes of his brethren so their deaths couldn't be used for profit; the man who sought to end the flesh collecters market forever, so no human could ever be sacrificed again for the greed of another.

No matter what happened, that Kurapika never left.

First, and most central to this theory, I am a firm believer that Nanika is in fact "Ai", one of the Five Great Calamities from the Dark Continent. Ai gets its name from the sound it makes, which is the same way Nanika replies when given a wish. (In the English dub, this is translated as "'kay", since "ai" is also an alternative reading of "hai", which means "yes/okay".) "Ai" is also the Japanese word for love, leading to my interpretation that Ai (and therefore Nanika) is a being whose nature is love and care, not destruction. In addition, Ai's title is "codependence of desire", which could relate to Nanika's desire to please and her wish-granting abilities. Basically, for the sake of this theory working, I am going with the assumption that Nanika and Ai are one in the same.

To my second point: while killing may be easier for her, her healing abilities do not cause the same destructive backlash. While her granting other wishes hurts and kills others, healing only causes her to feel tired. Given the opportunity for proper rest, Nanika is capable of healing very extreme injuries in seconds/minutes and with no long-term consequences. Sure, she has to be touching the target, unlike when she kills, but I do not necessarily think that discounts my theory. According to Killua, in fact, healing is an exemption to one of Nanika's other rules: no matter how much effort it takes, she won't make any cruel requests afterwards.

As far as I remember from my last rewatch of the episodes Alluka is introduced, there is no mention of victims of wishes made before the rest of the family found out about her. The earliest (chronologically) flashback featuring Nanika shows that Killua is already aware of her and how her powers work. He makes a wish to her in this scene ("lift me up high"), implying that he has made wishes to her before, since he knows what to do. However, to my recollection, there is no mention of deaths caused by wishes made during this time.

While this could be explained as the Zoldycks not knowing about Nanika and therefore not tracking anything, I propose another answer: there simply were no deaths at all.

"But Dolly," you say, "that doesn't make sense with the rules of Nanika's ability!" To this I propose: Nanika's rules are selective, and with the right circumstances, do not exist at all.

Killua explains that the more times Nanika's requests are granted, the more extreme they get, in proportion to the last wish she has granted. When she kills someone for denying her, her requests return to the easier, simpler ones. Following this, Killua's requests were very simple and likely would have caused a low death count. However, there must be at least one time where Killua was unable to fulfill Alluka and Nanika's requests - but he survived. Killua's exemption from her rules implies that they are somewhat self-imposed, but then why would she have them in the first place?

When we first meet Alluka, she makes four requests of Killua before Nanika appears. This marks another way Killua is an exception to Nanika's rules. Killua only fulfilled three of Alluka's requests (as he did not die when requested), and did not fulfill them consecutively. (If my memory serves correctly, all other wishes were granted after three requests being fulfilled in a row.) Illumi says that this is because only three requests were made by Nanika, and only her requests count; however, all four requests were made by Alluka. If Illumi is correct that only Nanika's requests count, then that implies that Nanika can grant Killua wishes whenever she wants. In addition, there is no death toll to the wish he makes when he leaves with her (to kiss him on the cheek if they make it out).

In addition, Alluka's requests to Killua are easy to complete, aside from 'die'. Since 'die' is the first one, I'm going to assume that this is because of the last wish she granted. So her first request is a more extreme one, fitting with their rules. However, when Killua doesn't comply, and only plays dead, Alluka switches to easier requests, like playing with her.

I've seen many explanations as to why Killua is exempt from Nanika's rules - she and Alluka love/care for him, want his praise, etc. However, I'm going to say that it's not because they care about him - it's because he cares about them.

Killua is the only character in the series who genuinely loves and cares for Alluka. Her family treat her as less than human, and the servants there were taking care of her as a job. A job that some of them clearly wanted out of. Killua is the only character who loves Alluka - and also the only exemption to Nanika's rules.

Here's my theory:

Nanika's rules only exist when interacting with someone who doesn't care about her.

She's a test of selfishness.

That's why Killua can get away with not fulfilling her requests, why she can grant wishes for him without waiting, why there are no death tolls attached to wishes he makes. Because unlike everyone else, Killua loves her, and this causes her to lose her limits.

Also note that, aside from Killua, all the requests made to Alluka are selfish ones. Things like making a woman rich, getting a top-of-the-line computer, or even killing people for them because the person didn't want to do it themself. These are things that a) do not benefit Alluka herself, and b) do not benefit anyone but the person making the wish.

Contrast with Killua's (known) wishes. Killua's wishes have direct benefits for people other than himself. When he asks Nanika to "lift me up high", he asks her to play with him - Nanika seems to find it fun as well, so it benefits her, too. Similarly, Alluka enjoys being with and showing affection to her brother, so she's happy to fulfill his request to kiss him on the cheek if they escape. Killua's other known requests include him asking Alluka to heal people or animals, which benefits the subject being healed. The only truly "selfish" request he makes is for Nanika to "never come out again", which wasn't for his benefit - but rather, he thought it was the only way to keep Alluka safe. When he realizes he's wrong, he amends his mistake and requests that Nanika wake up again so he can apologize to her, and make her feel better.

Conclusion/final theory:

Nanika is a being whose nature is love and care. When shown love and care by another being, she's able to grant wishes without her rules, as a selfless act of giving. However, when a person who does not care about her makes selfish requests, granting wishes causes death and destruction. Like the rest of the Five Great Calamities, Ai was brought back to the known world as a "lesson" for humankind. In Ai's case, this is a lesson to not be selfish, or to take things only for one's own gain. Nanika's nature is to help and heal those around her in a symbiotic (or 'codependent') relationship, where she receives love and care from someone in return for granting their wishes. Potentially, in her natural habitat in the Dark Continent, she would function as a check to keep the rest of the ecosystem in balance, able to fix and change things if something went wrong. This could lean into more of the 'codependent' description, as she would be benefiting from it regardless (granting their wishes to balance the ecosystem benefits every part of the ecosystem, including her, in addition to being loved by the other creatures around).

My personal theory is that the expeditions to the Dark Continent somehow hurt the things they brought back, or damaged the land that sustained them. In getting the Trinity Elixir, the team acted selfishly and did not respect the land or its inhabitants. In turn, Ai attacked them, and was sent back with them as a lesson. Perhaps the group wanted to take all of the Trinity Elixir, instead of only some of it, disregarding the harm it would do to the land and the flora and fauna that relied on it.

And now here is the section where I say thanks, Togashi, for this absolute masterpiece of a series that you have made. I can't believe I keep finding more. I love it. This series is incredibly written, with wonderful characters and worldbuilding, and I will be sad to see it end (whenever it does) and hope Togashi will be able to write the ending he wants. I love this series dearly and I love how much thought is put into it.

Does he feel emotions, feelings and sensations?

A popular opinion in HxH community is that Illumi doesn’t feel any emotion because, as he says, in the Zoldyck family they are raised only as killing machines (even if they have other roles too: Illumi has an educational and training role and Killua is designed to be the future patriarch of the Zoldycks), but in the story he actually has a different behaviour.

Let’s just concentrate on his actions, not only on his facial espressions and on what he says.

We know that sometimes Illumi gives his victims the possibility to ask for a last wish. We know it because of the guy in the Hunter exam, Illumi’s target, that asked him to let him fight Hisoka before dying and Illumi accepted his wish, letting him go (and letting him try to fight him until the guy was about to hit Hisoka). Hisoka than says that Illumi of course accepted his last wish and the other says that it’s true because he had pity of him.

So Illumi feels pity.

Next he says, during his transformation from Gittarackur to his real appearance, that isn’t a nice sensation, but he’s glad Hisoka is enjoying it.

So he can actually feel discomfort and feeling glad that other people enjoy something about him.

He is proud of his brother reaching the last part of his exam and feeling annoyed because of his willingness to be with Gon instead of him and the family.

He can feel proud and annoyance.

He thinks that Hisoka is fully trustworthy or wouldn’t explain him the secret of Nanika (something that Zoldycks don’t want people to know outside the family) and, even if his family says Illumi never works with others, before doing anything on his own he usually asks Hisoka for help.

So Illumi feels trustful towards Hisoka.

He gets really angry when Killua doesn’t obey him because he thinks he’s doing the right thing to protect everyone in his family.

Illumi feels even anger.

And when Hisoka does his joke (joke? 🤨) about you-know Killua Illumi basically explodes in a homicidal rage and is about to kill Hisoka instantly.

So he has problems to control his emotions sometimes (angry issues?) and his homicidal instincts. He even cares a lot about Killua.

This is another point. Illumi acts against Killua, true, but because he thinks that what he’s doing is the best thing for Killua and the family. Even Bisky said that Illumi loves his younger brother a lot, a sick and perverse love, but still love.

Illumi even feels love.

That’s why i think that Illumi can actually feel anything like a normal person, but since he’s trained to be a machine has a tendency to not show emotions and ignore them if they goes against his goals and orders (but he still has problems to control anger when is about Killua) and experiences his emotions in an atypical way compared to ordinary people.

Anyway, that was my analysis and thank you for reading! I wish you all a nice day!

Young Chrollo has a creepy resemblance to Kurapika. Chrollo was driven by the goal of hunting down and killing the people who murdered his childhood friend. But he grew up to be one of the worst criminals of all.

Chrollo is a really confusing and unsettling character to me. Most vilains are portrayed as nothing more than a monster, incapable of feeling empathy for anyone. Or they are simply an insane madman. It would be easier to understand why he does all these abominable things if he was heartless and insane. But he seems very much sane and perfectly in control of his horrible actions. He is shown to care for his friends, he cries when he looses them. Yet, again and again he chooses to rip hundreds of lives apart, knowing exactly how it feels to be on the other end. This is what makes him the most terrifying to me.