#the intense focusing of only giving killer’s dissociative disorder

[howlsofbloodhounds]

System killer sans canon because I said so, trust me I'm killer

Sincerely, a killer sans fictive

I personally feel like a system color is a lot more likely than a system killer but yay!! 👍 /gen

Two system skeles partying:

[ask-hunterxhunter]

How do you think the adult trio would have been had they a chance to grow up in a normal stable family? Are their behaviors (mostly) a product of nature or nurture?

This is actually a very good question. I honestly believe that, inmost cases, nurture wins against nature. I’ll try to give my analysis ofeach case. Now, I just read a little about psychology for fun (and because I loveit), I’m not an expert and this is how I see things. It doesn’t mean, at all,that I am right.

Hisoka

The whole fandom agrees that something happened to Hisoka and verylikely made him into what he is today, but how much of this is connectedto the present is anyone’s guess. I think I mentioned how I noticed that Machi thought that Hisoka doesn’t talk about the “past” (being specific about it) and how hedisplays a desire to be in control of his own life, to the point he doesn’t open up to people (which seems to be more related to his personality ratherthan lifestyle). Also, note that Hisoka is part of the main characters (not the core ones, but important enough) and yet, nothing about his past has everbeen shown or mentioned. Even with the Spiders we at least had a briefflashback of Chrollo and some explanation about the Meteor City, which can give us some ideas of how things were for those who grew up there. Heck, Togashi has told us the background of characters that are not as much part of the main plot.

With Hisoka? Nope, nada, zero. The guy may as well have fallen from thesky with his Nen activated and searching for an opponent.

It keeps going back to Hisoka’s past. Contrary to Pariston, whoseems to be a born sociopath (perhaps even a complete psychopath), this makes me think that something seems to have pushed Hisoka. Even we can’t besure of how much of what he has displayed is genuine or a façade that he keeps around others (we have rarely seen him by himself) or the levels of disordershe seems (or most certainly) has.

Is it all connected to his past? We have no means of knowing. Hehas an intense bloodthirst and is always seeking opponents. Hey, maybe he was into fighting since he was a child anyway. He seems uninterested in formingbonds with people. Has he been betrayed at some point? Has he experienced atraumatic loss? We don’t know.

However, I do think most (if not all of it) is connected tosome event, if only for how twisted Hisoka is. So, it follows that if his life hadbeen different, if he had had a safe and stable environment, he would not bethe same he is today.

Would he still be into fighting? Possibly. I, at least, find it hard to imagine Hisoka not into fighting, though he wouldn’t be that much of a sadist (even if it remained his “call”) and might have emotional bonds with others regardless of their strength (he wouldn’t judge people based on this). Depending on his “family�� and other events, he might have been a man who would actually use his Nen in order to help others. 

Illumi

Definitely yes. No question about it. We just have to look at thewhole Zoldyck family and Illumi’s own behavior and words in several occasions.For crying out loud, Killua was chained and whipped when he returned home (itdoesn’t matter if he broke the chains and his pain tolerance is high, thegesture alone is disturbing by its very nature and the insight it gives us tothe workings of the Zoldyck as a family does not paint them in a positivelight). Besides, with Illumi being the eldest, it is very possible his trainingwas even more severe due to being only child for a while and future head of thefamily, until Silva and Kikyo decided Killua would be the better option.

Just for a note, see the rest of the Zoldyck children as well… Alluka hasbeen caged almost all her life (and later she asked Killua if everyone elsewould be happier if she was dead basically), Milluki is just as focused in the familygoals and wants to please/impress his parents (he once seemed afraid of hisfather. Respect is something, fear is another), while appearing to almost neverleave the mansion. Kalluto shares a few similarities with Illumi and is also asadist that enjoys prolonging a fight just for his own amusement… While the Zoldycksclaim to love each other and maybe do/believe so, we cannot look at them andsay they aren’t toxic people (except Killua and Alluka, who got to break thecycle and escape) or that those children are examples of a healthy upbringing.

Does it all connect to the family’s “teachings”? Yes. And the fact theyare assassins doesn’t excuse any of this. If Togashi wanted, he could have madethe Zoldycks to be as dangerous as they are while having a far more stable/lovingrelationship between each other. There is a reason why this isn’t the case.

Illumi reached a point when being… Well, the way he is, is already hisnature and for what we can see, it is entirely connected to his family and whathe has been taught or rather, molded into being. I don’t even think thereis any hope for him. If you take away the “teachings” and “assassin business”,there is nothing left in Illumi. Whoever he was or whoever he could have beenis lost forever, there is only this walking, breathing result of years of training.And we all got a glimpse that he may not be as stable as we came to believe…

If Killua hadn’t been strongenough to break away from them, he might end up the same or even worse than his“big brother”.

So, if his family was different, then he would have been different. Forone, his displays of “affection” would not be tainted by the obsession withcontrol and his love for his siblings would be genuine. Somecharacteristics of his might remain (since we know nothing of how he was orcould have been), but he would be a far more stable person and even if he wasto become an assassin, he would have more morals. He surely wouldn’t be againstKillua choosing another path in life (hell, he might even want somethingbetter for his little brother) or having friends.

 Chrollo

For some reason, I always feel that Chrollo ends up standing somewherebetween the extremes that Hisoka and Illumi represent and the same applieshere, though it is more about how (little) we know of Chrollo’s life and evenhis ending goals. It is more than we know regarding Hisoka, but not as much as we know of Illumi. While writing this, I found myself oscillating between “yes”and “no”. Out of the three of them, Chrollo at times ends up being the hardestto analyze depending on the subject…

Is Chrollo a born sociopath who is using the unfairness of society as anexcuse to achieve his own personal goals and act upon his own bloodthirst orhas this unfairness pushed him into taking what he considers a necessary attitudedue to lack of any other option?

I think, in the end, there is something seriously wrong withChrollo. The things he has done are far too extreme… Perhaps he is even moretwisted than Hisoka or Illumi.

We know he started the Phantom Troupe but while we can guess the main reasonsfor that, we have yet to actually hear them and also what Chrollo hopesto ultimately achieve with his actions (due to his behavior, it seems improbablehe doesn’t have anything like that and is truly “just” a thief. In a way, itseems to be that this is a means towards a bigger end). We know he came fromMeteor City… And what has been shown of it is pretty depressing. That is not aplace that seems to offer chances of a good life, being basically a “junkyard city”and people there don’t even have official records of existence. It is a way ofsaying they there are also unwanted trash. So, we can assume that Chrollo’slife has not been easy.  

 And with everything we know of Chrollo directly connected to the Spider, it’shard to dissociate one from the other. What has turned him into what he istoday exactly?

Like Hisoka and Illumi, Chrollo has no care for human beings and evensaid he sees no difference between them and a puppet but does care for theother members of the Spider. And when returning home, the Troupe faced theChimera Ants, so the city is also the only other thing that matters for them ina personal level. Regardless of the sort of place that is, it is their home.Other than that, we don’t know of Chrollo’s story, parents or childhood.All we have are our own ideas and the options are many.

Honestly, just living in the Meteor City is not quite enough explanationfor his whole behavior, though: Many people go through harsh lives, awful situations,abuse or torture (be emotional, physical or mental) and do not end up like him. Hell, from what we’ve seen, Leorio came from a poorbackground, saw his friend die (when he could have been saved, just to twistthe knife) and is actually the opposite of Chrollo, someone who wants to save lives.

I’m not saying the misery of living in the Meteor City played nopart in who Chrollo is, let alone dismissing how horrible it must have been!Poverty is hell. Having to chose between buying food and paying the bills,being unable to afford medicine, those are hell enough, imagine how it musthave been in a city like that then! And sometimes, people get to the limit whenthey see no way out but to go to an extreme that they wouldn’t go otherwise.

 What I mean here is that, for what Chrollo has displayed, there may verywell be something more that made him turn into someone who torturesothers with such lack of empathy or remorse. For all we know, he may haveexperienced a traumatic event or loss, perhaps not very different from Leorio’s.

I think most, if not all of the situation, end up related to the creationof the Spider but I’m unsure of how much of it is connected to Chrollo’s personality. Even people from a loving, stable and healthy environment can end up twisted and this is not the parents’ (or anyone’s) fault. You can searchin the lives for the trigger that made them into sadistic killers and you won’tfind anything. Some people are just born psychopaths.

With Illumi and Hisoka is easier to be sure due to the motivations they display, their own desires and attitudes and the information we have onthem. Chrollo’s motivations are intertwined with the Spider, so much that he hasstated that it and what it represents are above his own life. This last detailmakes it hard to consider he is using the Spider as an excuse for hisown goals, but… What if he is lying and manipulating the others? It’s not easyto tell.

Now, personally speaking, I think we need more information about him asa person and of his life before the creation of the Spider to be completelysure… Would he have been better if the circumstances of his life weredifferent? It is very possible. Would he have been a criminal anyway, if onlywith some differences? Also possible.

When he talks about the Spider, I lean towards the first option… But thereare some moments, such as when Gon asked him how he could kill people who havenothing to do with him and how Senritsu reacted to his heartbeat that make meseriously lean towards the second one…

[michin--yeoja]

So, I held off on doing a critique on Criminal Minds until I finished episode 2... And all I can say is that it’s again very underwhelming. I was not invested at all in the case and what was occurring throughout the investigation. Most of my attention was focused on the awkward acting, poor chemistry and illogical flow of the plot.

First of all, I want to clarify that I do not expect the Korean version to be anything at all similar to the American version. I knew there would have to be major differences just due to the structure of Korean dramas. This is 20 episode drama that will have a conclusion, whereas the American one is 12 seasons and counting (although, maybe the writers were thinking it could have multiple seasons if the drama is popular? The format would call for this possibility). 

However, comparisons are almost impossible to ignore just because of how similar the writers are trying to make this to the American version. They have copied many of the same characters, apparently they’re copying the cases (as this is the same case as the pilot of the original), as well as copying lines word for word. If the writers wanted to do this, than I don’t think it’s too much to expect the quality of the drama to match that of the American version. Furthermore, the writers have 12 seasons of source material from the American Criminal Minds, of which they could watch to do their research and ensure their profiles are logical and make sense throughout the progression of the case. 

Maybe one of my biggest flaws is that I nitpick at plots because I want everything to make sense, to understand why something is happening and how conclusions are reached. This is even more so in suspense/police procedurals because I want to be able to follow the case. I saw a comment where someone said the Korean version is focusing more on showing what’s happening, instead of telling it; however, I don’t see this. In the American version, the profiles are created on evidence that viewers see, the deductions are made in a manner where the viewers can follow the logic and I think it “shows” more than it “tells”. In comparison, the Korean version comes to these conclusions and profiles in a very random manner with no evidence to back up the claims, so it seems like these conclusions have been reached out of thin air. All of a sudden the suspect has OCD, but what indicated this? Kang Ki Hyung randomly knows to look for a missing victim, but what lead him to do this? There was no victim profile, no explanation given to why his hunting grounds are second hand sale websites, and overall no concrete profile of the suspect. If you ask me, I could not tell you comprehensively the profile of this suspect, whereas in the American version I could. 

There were two really ridiculous conclusions that were drawn that are so unbelievably illogical. First was when Kang Ki Hyung miraculously gave an approximate height and weight of the suspect. How in the world did he deduce that? They had no images of the suspect from which to extrapolate this data, nor was there any evidence such as footprints to help form this opinion. What is he, psychic that he knows this? The second conclusion was when Ha Seon Woo told Kim Hyun Joon the name of the suspect. How did the team manage to narrow it down to just one person? What criteria did they use? How were there no other possible matches? In the American version, they generally have at least a handful of possible suspects and then they narrow it down from there with other factors, if possible. However, here we just see the final result. They spread this case over two hours, whereas the American version only has about 45 minutes to do all this, and they couldn’t spare the max 5 minutes it would have taken them to show this process of elimination?

The biggest issue in these two episodes is that they skipped essential scenes that would help formulate the background of the suspect/case and thus provide a better flow in their investigation. Instead we have a bunch of disjointed scenes, with random conclusions made with no evidence shown for them or which are only revealed later on.

Another issue was I felt that the writers just threw in as many psychological jargon they could fit into these episodes. There was no rhyme or reason to half of what was said regarding the psychology of the suspect. Lee Han mentioning Dissociative Identity Disorder when the fifth (or fourth?) victim was discovered when they found hesitation marks was random and honestly, very pointless. (Which also brings up the question of where were the autopsies on the bodies? Valuable information tends to be discovered there as well.). What made you think of DID? And if the suspect had DID, why would a different identity emerge during the process of killing the victim? I could understand if it emerges after the fact because different emotions and thought process could trigger that. Also, why only now did this other identity emerge when it didn’t during the previous four cases? Then, when Kang Ki Hyung said it’s due to there being two suspects... Again, why did the alpha randomly allow the beta to participate in the murder? There needs to be explanations given for these conclusions! The whole point of the show is behavioural analysis, and yet that was the most absent aspect of the investigation!

All this makes me think the writers were lazy and sloppy in their research; that they assumed they didn’t have to put as much thought and detail in their scripts because they’re essentially copying the American episodes. If anyone watched OCN’s Tunnel, then you would see what good profiling looks like and how it’s achieved.

Another glaring flaw in the drama is the awkwardness of the actors. Excepting Kang Ki Hyung, Ha Seon Woo and Kim Hyun Joon, the rest of the actors do not seem comfortable in their roles and are beyond awkward (although these three are awkward at times as well). Seriously, don’t get me started on Lee Han because he’s just ridiculous. Another thing missing is the chemistry between the team. They do not seem like a team that has worked together for a long time, rather they act like this is their first case together. There is some chemistry between Ha Seon Woo and Kim Hyun Joon, but it’s sporadic. All in all, the acting falls flat and leaves something to be desired. 

And now, on to my biggest personal problem with the drama... The characters themselves. Honestly, I like Ha Seon Woo and Kim Hyun Joon the best because they are the only original characters in the drama as neither one of them has overt similarities to any of their American counterparts. 

My question to the writers is, why did you have to copy the same characters? Why couldn’t you create original characters who would fill the same roles as the American characters? You can still have a hacker without trying to copy Garcia, a team leader without imitating Hotch, but you didn’t and you compounded that mistake by getting actors who cannot do these characters justice. My common complaint with the portrayal of these characters is that it looks unnatural and forced for them all.  Kang Ki Hyung/Hotch is semi-decent, but he’s an awkward family man (at least in the few minutes he’s in that role) and he lacks the charisma of the original Hotch. When Kang Ki Hyung tries to be as intense as Hotch, he ends up looking stiff. Na Na Hwang/Garcia, of what little we have seen of her, does not have Garia’s seemingly effortless talent, verve and uniqueness. Yoo Min Young/JJ is really actually not even like JJ. She’s supposed to have a really close relationship with Lee Han/Reid, sort of like an older sister, and a very maternal personality, but this was not what they achieved with Yoo Min Young. This makes me wonder if this was an attempt at creating an original character, but they tied in enough parts of JJ to confuse this. Last of all, the biggest disappointment, Lee Han/Reid. Oh the mess this character is... He is just plain awful. Yes, Reid is a genius, but he’s not the kind of snobbish intelligent that Lee Han is, nor is he quite as idiotic. In my opinion, everything about Lee Han is wrong and a poor imitation of Reid... But I admit, I may be incredibly biased as Reid is my baby and he is one of a kind. 

In conclusion, I think viewers who have not seen the American Criminal Minds would be the ones to enjoy this version the most because they won’t be subconsciously making comparisons between the two. For those of us who have watched the American version, it is impossible to not make these comparisons and find the Korean version lacking because of the glaring similarities. I think if the show was unique enough, but maintaining that similar premise, it would have been better received.

I am extremely tempted to drop the drama, but I’m really intrigued with the Killer Reaper case, and the Nadeul River Murder which hints at a connection between Ha Seon Woo and Kim Hyun Joon. Also, I really like Lee Joon Gi and seeing him in modern clothes and hearing his voice just tempts me to give it one more chance. Also... I really want to see him in those glasses.