#important meta

The Setting of Heaven’s Arena

This is the view we get of Heaven’s Arena; it is not clean or brightly colored or sleek, as many of the buildings we’ve seen up to this point are (Whale Island, Trick Tower, the airship etc.) It is monochrome and bulky. What stands out are the various parts stuck together like some steampunk frankenstein monstrosity, reaching out into the sky. This is as close as we get to the Tower of Babel, and it’s pretty ugly. Does this have symbolic meaning about how as people in this series try to reach higher things just get uglier and uglier? Maybe. Maybe it’s just a nasty building. 

But it does have a gritty, street feel to it, like it was picked up and tacked together cell at a time. We see once we get into the arena itself that that’s not necessarily the case, that the rooms higher up are actually quite nice, but we also see the stark division that exists in the Hunter x Hunter world: the weak and the strong; the poor and the privileged; background faces vs The Characters. 

The upper floors are what we’ve already seen to an extent in the hunter exam, the world where the best live. But we see the streets-- the normal world-- for the first time now, and how it interacts with that upper echelon. These streets aren’t a great place to be if you’ve got enemies up high. Where is the law, when Zushi (below floor 100, therefore not elite) is abducted? Where is law when people are broken in their nen ‘baptisms’ when they reach the 100th floor? Where is rule of law when Killua threatens the lives of several 100th floor occupants? Nowhere, because, honestly, what are the police going to do? As we’re introduced into the world of nen and get to more closely observe the interactions between the common and the elite, we begin to realize how horrifically unfair this whole world is, and how self contained and unregulated the sphere of Hunters really is. 

The idea of self policing and vigilante justice will prove hugely important in upcoming arcs. This is why all Hunters must have basic combat skills, as is said in the 2nd hunter rule; fighting is an essential part of what it means to be a Hunter, because there is no one else to defend you should someone dangerous (and with nen, who isn’t?) decide to go after you. There is no calling the police. Can you imagine trying to take someone like Illumi to court, who could manipulate judge and jury without a second thought? The civil system of laws that we common people know cannot exist within the Hunter system as it is presented in Heaven’s Arena. This kind of lawlessness will feed into the cowboy-style justice that Gon delivers, based not on any strict code but on what feels right according to his personal morality. That’s...concerning, considering how stable powerful hunters tend to be (read: not at all).

It’s one of the things that leaves such broad swathes of gray morality left for our characters. For instance, later in the case of Kurapika. We see that the police cannot do anything to stop the Phantom Troupe from attacking the auction. Neither can the Mafia. So in order to get justice, Kurapika must take on a vigilante role and commit murder. If not justice system is in place, is it truly murder, or an execution? Who has the right to make those decisions? Hunters are absolutely terrifying both in their enormous power and lack of civil restraints on that power. They can do pretty much anything they like, as long as they’re either a) strong enough to fight any challengers (Ging), or b) generally approved of, so they go unchallenged (Kurapika). This tiny, elite society with exclusive access to many resources and very little oversight has only the flimsiest of rules, and those rules do little to protect the common person. Hunters are not allowed to hunt each other, but everyone else is fair game. Great! When you’re faceless man #7 walking down the street, you’ll be really glad that Hunters operate by such strict rules right before getting accidentally blasted sky high as collateral. 

The difference between the regular world and the Hunter world is made abundantly clear, as in this arc, Killua and Gon make that transition and go through all the accompanying shocks. 

The main shock is, of course, nen.

Nen, Rules, and Expansion

It’s been remarked upon before that nen is the ‘magic’ of this world, and it brings with it an essential component of popular shonen anime-- the ability to expand. Most series that involve fighting will bring in a fantasy component at some part, because as cool as punching and kicking are, after awhile, they tend to get boring. Every arc, and in some cases, every fight brings new revelation to the character’s abilities. Part of this shows growth in the characters. Part of it is largely just entertainment value-- if every fight brings something new, then we’re always kept guessing. You’d be hard pressed to find an anime that does this better than Hunter x Hunter, in my opinion, because it circumvents one of the most problematic aspects of this trope: the miracle cure. 

Often within this idea of constant expansion is a sort of deus ex machina, a last minute discovery of the power or object that lends our protagonists new abilities. It’s the miraculous evolution halfway through a fight, the stumbling upon the artifact that just barely lets them use the next level of their powers. Due to the nature of nen in Hunter x Hunter, this is almost impossible. 

And when it is, there’s serious consequences. 

This version of Gon is the one that gained power quickly and recklessly. Or consider Gido, severely handicapped as a result of having undergone nen baptism-- another form of gaining power quickly and recklessly.

Let’s instead examine how the Heaven’s Arena arc establishes the concrete, but encompassing rules of nen. Being one of the reasons that Hunter x Hunter stays so dynamic, nen has fairly simple and well followed rules. These rules are sometimes expanded on, but they’re never really broken in an ‘aha’ moment by anyone-- there’s no, ‘but what you did not know was that--’ scene where the rules are twisted in half by a villain. Nen exists as it exists, in a sensical and almost instinctive way. 

Wing explains nen to be a manifestation of will-- something that our two protagonists have in bucket loads. Therefore, it makes sense that they’re prodigies; past experiences have proven that Gon has exceptional willpower (the fight with Hanzo still fresh in the viewer’s memories) and that Killua possesses strength of mind equal with that of his body (extensive torture that he reacted to nonchalantly). Nen takes great discipline, and that’s what makes it immune to miracle cures; beyond the initial burst of power our leads get, they’re placed in a world where power normally takes years to attain. Though they’re exceptional, it slows their growing to a sustainable rate-- more on how nen affects Killua and Gon later, though. 

Nen gets a lot of exposition in this arc, it’s true. Some of it may feel overmuch at times (and let’s be real hxh adores exposition) but it’s all necessary. It sets clear, firm boundaries of what nen can and cannot do-- within those boundaries, a lot is possible, but not everything. And there’s a price for everything that nen brings. 

Heaven’s Arena grounds nen within rules, and creates a solid foundation for the characters building their abilities. They first must master the basics before moving on to some of the really spectacular abilities that their hatsu lets them develop, and cleanly transitions the world of Killua and Gon from the mundane to the magical. After Heaven’s Arena, nen is a given. Without this introduction, both they and we, the viewer’s would have been surely lost. Can you imagine the York New arc bogged down by explanations of nen all the time? The Heaven’s Arena arc is the beach for nen’s ocean-- though it must be kept it mind that even this shore has its sharks. It presents the basic level of nen in a way that is both gently immersive and high stakes simultaneously. Not once do we doubt the seriousness of the fights that happen in Heaven’s Arena. Gon’s life is legitimately at a risk because of the learning curve that nen offers; that too is important for how Heaven’s Arena progresses the story.  

Killua and Gon

When our protagonists enter Heaven’s Arena, they raze the competition. I mean, it is actually comedic how easily Gon and Killua tear through their early matches, advancing up to the 100th floor in no time at all. This is how things have been throughout the series so far; Gon and Killua are exceptional, the kind of rookies that pass the Hunter Exam without real difficulty (barring one or two unpleasant situations). So far, we’ve seen that they’re on another level from the common man, but we haven’t yet seen what that level looks like; Heaven’s arena opens our eyes. At the same time that it grounds us in what the real world looks like, it also shows us by merit of contrast what the nen-user’s world looks like; the view from the 100th floor. For the first time, Killua and Gon are weak, and it’s the best thing that Togashi could have done for our characters. 

This is especially relevant to Killua’s character, whose struggles have been for the most part internal. We’ve not seen him break a sweat in a physical situation ever (I personally count his fight with Illumi as mental). But with nen, suddenly he’s as much a beginner as anyone else, as weak as someone ‘naked in the snow’. We can finally root for Killua now as a protagonist rather than a distant-but-badass supporting character. We get to see him grow and improve; but first what’s necessary is to tear him down to the ground and plant him there like Heaven’s Arena does. There’s no tree that grows without roots. 

Meanwhile, Gon’s doing the same thing, growing and fighting at a pace with Killua. Not only is this significant because it’s the first time we’ve seen Killua have anything close to a peer, but it means that Gon and Killua grounded together. The inherent inequality of their relationship was presented throughout the hunter exam arc. It’s most evident in the scene where rankings are revealed for the final exam and Gon is listed far above Killua. Killua’s jealousy reveals a narratively-unsustainable truth to the viewer: Killua is much stronger than Gon, even if he lacks in that fundamental trait of likability. The Heaven’s Arena arc sets them side by side, creating a more sustainable dynamic for their friendship. 

Going forwards, this means that we can empathize with their struggles as they fight to grow stronger. While Killua’s distant prodigy and Gon’s wild-child routine are fantastic and fun in the Hunter Exam arc, people like to see a protagonist experience something familiar, even if the framework around it isn’t. Everyone’s gained a skill through hard work, experienced both the frustration and incredible rewards of when it pays off, the human experience of growth; that’s what Heaven’s Arena is to the characters of Gon and Killua: a chance to be human for the first time.