3dchoujinbag

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more Choujin X part 3

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my brain has been rotted by Choujin X

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Selfless Sacrifice vs Selfish Survival: A Comparison of Kurapika and Borksen

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone compare these two characters yet, but they make a really interesting contrast. Both are caught up in a mess not of their making, both will have to face the fourth prince at some point…both are very analytical and intelligent specialists.

For all of their similarities, their perspectives are incredibly different.

Kurapika, currently, seems to care about everything but his own survival. He’s trying to save all these lives at the cost of his own, willing to sacrifice himself to ensure Queen Oito and Prince Woble’s survival. His goal started with the eyes, but the problem is Kurapika cares too much. Now he’s not only trying to save Oito and Woble, he’s also doing his best to control the course of the entire battle for succession, just to save the children caught up in it.

It would make Kurapika’s life so much easier if he cared less, but that’s not who he is. Still, he needs to learn how to be more selfish and prioritize his own survival along with the lives of the people he’s trying to protect.

Hopefully, his arc will end with the realization that there are reasons for him to keep living. And then he can finally allow himself to enjoy his journey, like he promised Pairo.

In complete contrast with how Kurapika seems to have given up on living, Borksen is entirely determined to survive. While Kurapika’s life is literally being eaten away slowly by his use of emperor time, Borksen’s inner monologue at some point states that she plans to live a long and peaceful life.

(This is really funny in retrospect…)

Moderate career ambitions aside, Borksen’s primary goal is her survival along with the survival of her friends. As we’ve seen in chapter 408, she avoids thinking too much about the deep-rooted problems of her country because she doesn’t want to put her own life at risk. Speaking up or trying to create any change would no doubt be dangerous.

Borksen will put all her effort and considerable intelligence into her simple goal of survival. She just wants to life a good, long life—and who can blame her for that?

Except now, thanks to Morena’s manipulations, she’s finally left with no other choice but to put her life at risk. Borksen won’t allow herself to be subsumed into the Heil-Ly’s murderous philosophy. She can no longer choose inaction. Now, her only choice is to try to do what she can to defy Morena: even if her own life wasn’t directly at risk, the whole world is at stake.

Borksen can’t walk away from this fight. Whether she likes it or not, she’s now a major player in this multi-faceted war on the Black Whale. Now that martial law has finally been declared, we’re about to see the war on the lower decks and the succession contest on tier 1 collide, and it’s going to be messy.

In conclusion: Kurapika and Borksen will likely meet at some point, and I’m so curious about how that will go.

[3dchoujinbag]

Call me cringe or whatever, but I still think Mahito's "I am you" is one of the most interesting lines in all of Shounen

because on one hand, he could be just doing it as a cliche "we're not so different you and I" type of things where Yuuji hates curses just like Mahito hates humans

but on another more fascinating read, he's being completely honest. All those feelings Yuuji is feeling right now, all of the hatred and disgust and disdain? That's Mahito's entire existence, what he'smade of. That's why Mahito doesn't just kill people, he warps them, changes them into unthinking murderous monsters because that's what hate does to a person. You ask why he delights in carnage and pain then goes back to being a silly little goofball? Because that's what humanity at its worst is. A selfish violent child that revels in the power they have over others and then runs screaming and crying the moment that power is gone

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The wait for the next chapters is excruciating and it's murdering me, so I've decided to write a long review/retrospective on the themes and community reactions to these latest chapters. It was my first time reading HxH as it was publishing so I sort of cherish each chapter released here. These ten chapters can be divided into three parts: a return to the Succession War, the Mafia, and lastly Morena's card game. It's a story that has almost twenty storylines and it sometimes feels like there isn't really a possible way to connect it all and have satisfying ending (or even just an ending, whether satisfying or not) to these storylines. But more than other batches so far, each of the story's plotlines are slowly connecting.

Part 1 (401-404): The Somewhat Tedious and Genius Succession War Edit: 401 had a lot to cover and analyze so I only did that for this first post. I'll make another one covering 402-404!

For almost two years, no one else was in the room where it happened. Chapter 400 left us with Kurapika's reappearance and accepting Tuppeba's contract from Longhi. But that felt like a painful while simultaneously underwhelming cliffhanger. At that point, we hadn't seen Kurapika for a little over ten chapters…which for the fan base then mattered a lot as there was a five year long hiatus to get to those chapters. It also felt like a strange plot beat to end on, why would Kurapika accept a contract from Longhi when she hid the fact she used nen (making her the most possible candidate for Silent Majority)? It also felt like somewhat of an underwhelming plot thread to get back to since Tupebba so far felt like a boring prince who was already searching for some peace in the war and an alliance with Kurapika was already expected (or at least this is what I think of her). The only possibly interesting threads here are Kurapika being the collaborator for Tuppeba's nen beast or Longhi (who up to this point hadn't even spoken a line) being Silent Majority…It just felt like plot, not anything emotional to cling to with this story line!

And then 401 completely subverts everything we thought could have happened in that room by possibly making one of the most theme wise relevant chapters of the whole series, characterizing a dozen characters in one swoop, making Longhi one of the best written women in this arc, making the whole community go rabid with theories, and connecting the Succession War to the overarching Dark Continent.

Before I get really into how perfect of a twist this was, I do have to complement the dialogue and art itself. As always with this arc, characters aren't dumb. They know what the others might be thinking and usually don't make as many stupid mistakes. But they do make mistakes and like most readers theorized wrongly that Longhi was Silent Majority. So in a sense, Furykov is somewhat a stand-in for the reader in being convinced she's Silent Majority. But Longhi as a character is straight-forward, they know what they have been theorized of being and immediately disproves themselves as Silent Majority. Her dialogue is always on the defensive and in complete composure (until it's broken towards the end). A main flaw in this arc is that a person's character gets lost quickly under their long monologues. They almost feel like an inhuman smart robot and by "they" I mostly mean Kurapika. I love them to death, but it feels like for some portions we barely got to see him have personality past the first ten chapters of this arc. But in this chapter he feels appropriately snarky. Hell, he was even sarcastic!11! (Also just look at how the chain falls between them...I feel like Bateman looking at that one business card)

Longhi matches Kurapika's tempo, infact she uses his own lines against him and it works as great writing on two levels. It not only counters Kurapika's threat and establishes Longhi as perhaps similarly smart (setting off some potential parallels between the two as well), but it also might serve as foreshadowing. I think this is Chekhov's .22. We've constantly seen guns against nen users in this arc, more than in any other. We've had Theta shooting Tserrie, Musse shooting Cammy, Cammy shooting Benjamin, Halkenburg shooting his father, and Halkenburg shooting himself. It's always ineffectual and I fully believe this arc will payoff this motif by making it actually effective in killing some nen user possibly blinded by ego. Throughout the chapter, we basically see Longhi's defensive composure break down. It's not really that deep to analyze, we can just notice her breaking down as she explains the more personally affecting parts of her past. Especially, how she sees (and refuses to internalize?) how Beyond sees her.

I think that perhaps to analyze what is really going on here, we have to step back and look at the overarching themes of this arc and Hunter x Hunter...It's pretty much generational trauma. Both in a cultural sense and in the trauma our parents leave us. 1. The Dark Continent and the multiple generations that went to it beforehand 2. The Mafia War with Illegitimate Princes, the whole "carnival" system with Morena (More in the cultural sense of caste systems and being looked down on because of birth, so in effect they are affected by previous generations and their place in the world). This tie in also becomes a lot more obvious with Morena's card game with a Parent and Child. 3. The Have-Nots are another form of the caste system and a passed down trauma from their place in society 4. The Succession War is generational trauma in the most literal form of it. Whoever "wins" passes down what they went through to the next generation of children in a cynical cycle that has been going on for years. I feel like Longhi and the Beyond Children are another massive example of this theme. A person's purpose is practically decided before they were even born in Kakin. It's not just the caste system, it's so many systems of corrupt monarchy and people playing their large games without thinking of who it affects. People play along with these systems because they want to remain in their comfortable position in life (as eventually seen by Borksen). One of the large themes of this arc is the effect of these large world changing decisions we see main characters do on the fly on normal people around them. Up to this point, we really hadn't seen an exact evil that Beyond planned to do. He might bring back a calamity, but if we were against him for solely that then we would have to be against Netero who wanted everyone to also go to the Dark Continent before Beyond. I find it really genius that we first find out how evil he is by seeing how ruthlessly efficient he is in his plan. As Netero once described him, he is a better Hunter than he was. I feel being a better hunter makes you more morally questionable. We are even seeing a hunter like Ging, perhaps an ultimate epitome of a Hunter, team up with Beyond (he probably doesn't know a lot of the shady stuff or he might have something up his sleeve, but I'm just saying an example). All his plans were in some way set off by Netero not allowing him into the Dark Continent until his death. There is tons of reason to speculate that he manipulated events to lead to his father's death and now he is not only betting on a murder ritual which includes children, but also having children (Who their parents then feed propaganda to) who are nothing more than pawns to him and their utility is in death.

Finally with all this context, I can really explore the nuance of Longhi's character. At the surface it's the idea of being "fodder" or a "pawn" like so many in this arc. It's having someone else make your life decisions for you. I like this translation of it from when I first read this chapter where Longhi says "We've had our very lives and dreams manipulated by the hands of our cunning father." Her dreams come directly from her raising rather than her own self. She was raised in boarding schools and was sent to Military Schools etc and superseded any physical training due to her being born with Nen. I really like the nuance of the word "attack" here. Obviously, there are other forms of nen attacks, such as Longhi's ability. They could even be seen as positive, Beyond placed an ability that could be seen as helpful for a child's survival. However in effect, it was a literal attack on her person hood. It determined her life completely and actually it's best put as Longhi describes it, a "curse." And with that, Togashi basically characterized a ton of guards in the series. So far Guards had been usually not very individualistic. They had united goals, some seem supremely loyal such as Halkenburg's and Prince Benjamin's guards. Benjamin's guards such as Furykov go as far as to call him family and Furykov says he has had no other family except him. That just opens up so much narrative meat to these characters knowing that a lot of them (most of them unknown so far) have basically been manipulated to this position in which the point of their lives is to die and suffer on this boat. But I think this story will also be about the guards regaining their agency past generational and cultural trauma up to this point. This is the nuance of Longhi's character, she's trying to regain agency through an act of rebellion. What she truly wanted to have known what her purpose was even if her part had been the same. She was fine with being a pawn, but she didn't want to be manipulated into it. She wanted to feel like she was truly doing something important. We should also discuss the direct role of their "real" parents other than Beyond. They were in soem way bought out by the propaganda of a world united under Kakin and since they knew the plan, they perhaps felt their importance and agency in this while their child would never have it. But we also have to consider that some of these parents were "talked" into it. They might have been really poor and gave into these sham marriages as a chance for themselves. It's still selfish, but I feel Beyond would manipulate these societal weaknesses as well. But the parents also wanted their children to feel important without letting them know exactly what they were going into. So they spread propaganda to them. Inspire them with unifying the world etc and give a meaning to their lives that wasn't theirs, it was Beyond's in the first place.

Now in an act to reclaim agency for herself, she will betray Beyond's and her parent's plan. Killing Beyond's prince would the the ultimate act of rebellion as in a sense it would also release her siblings (Also on a side note, the concept of their also being "weaker curses" whose lives were basically manipulated as an appetizer rather than doing anything useful is quite disturbing too). There is one other guard in this arc that among a militia of very brainwashed feeling soldiers stands as somewhat individual. That would be Babimya.

368 had possibly one of the best moments in this arc for me. Babi turning of his en and being somewhat distraught from Oito's grief. As if he saw how cold his actions were and saw how devaluing life was in this contest and to himself. This posed no tactical advantage unless he is pretending to go easy on Kurapika which I really doubt. He stands as individual through his treatment of the other guards too. He dusts his shoulders every time another guard touches him as if he's repulsed to work with them. Why? Well this chapter gives us a hint at the answer and perhaps were his arc will go next.

Furykov is kind of our view as to what expression people are making. Like with Longhi, when she comes out of the room having told her past he asks himself if she was crying. We can't really tell that from the panel page itself, but he's perceptive enough to see it. He does the same here, he can see there's something wrong while the audience can't. Is he sad? Is he angry? We don't really know, all we know is that he has shown an emotion and then pretended not to. Almost everyone in the fandom jumped on one train here, he's one of Beyond's children. Just with this twist, so much meat is added to the character as I said. I believe he will eventually betray Benjamin and Beyond and regain his agency through empathy in this arc. Community Reactions to Chapter 401 I've really never seen a fandom so rapidly start making theories as after this chapter. It really felt like pieces of this arc were finally coming together in a way that seems fully intentional. Beyond having a child was planned from the start and people even before this chapter theorized that some prince might not be Nasubi's son based on 358s wording (Which is then referenced in this chapter). It raises a series of mysteries. Who is Beyond's Prince?? What really happened in the silent revolution thirty years ago around the same time Beyond had these sham marriages?? Which guards are Beyond's? Who will Kurapika use the week long zetsu on and if it's Tserriednich, would he become invincible? WHO DOES BEYOND WANT TO SEE?? And hell, this chapter was even fanservicey for a lot of the people who really wanted to see the Dark Continent. It actually connected the Succession War to the Dark Continent because now we wonder how Beyond having his child King would affect his plans on the continent. Oh and I forgot to mention the fucking art in this chapter. It was so glazed when it came out and everyone already knows the panel I'm talking about.

This design was just so well realized and it keeps cementing the Succession War as more of a horror arc. I love the shading here so much. Anyways this chapter was met with a looot of praise, but I do have some points against it, but it more generally ties into problems with the 401-404 portion. Well firstly, one complain I don't have but a lot of people did have with this chapter was that it again over complicated an already complex arc. Personally, I see this as fine as it's sort of complicating what we already have and adding end goals rather than adding a new plotline. If 401 was introducing a new faction of 40 people, I'd see that as a problem. But it was fleshing out characters we already knew so I think it works really well. What I don't like is the usage of Bill's character. I mean he was working with Beyond and didn't know this, why don't we get to know what he's thinking during this? Is he going to betray Beyond now or what? Write more instead of showing him have a sweat drop Togashi... MORE WORDS. Well that was actually my only point against it now that I think about it...

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Im just posting newer art because this page is outdated 😮‍💨

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cx 2024

[3dchoujinbag]

im.... thinking bout..... the hyena in Choujin X.... the escaped zoo hyena.

it's a real hyena, probably. the zoo break out is mentioned by other characters, we see it at the ocean later. but it's also clearly not a real hyena, it speaks to Azuma, it's a metaphor for his emotional state at this point in canon (a predator lost in a world suddenly too big for it, unable to cope with the changes, looking for the right path and finding one that just leads to an unmaking).

this hyena finds the ocean eventually (it is a real hyena, the birds and bugs eat it) (it is also Azuma, and his end in the story is???)

and then of course there's the other hyena. a year and change later.

there's a beach, a corpse, Azuma, a hyena (metaphorical, not literal (yet))

there's something there, right? Azuma at the beach with a hyena twice in the same story. There's something there about a hyena being a metaphor for the you who has to change to survive, for the things people do to survive, for coming to terms with who you are when you are the hyena.

the first hyena gets to the ocean and collapses, feeding the flies and the carrion birds (there's a metaphor there too, of course). i'm not sure what that means for the others.

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WHAT I'm saying, what the larger theory is, is that the nen beasts Reveal. In line with togashi's theory on power, such a grand display of power and desire could take no other form than something deeply, nakedly revealing.

WHAT I am saying is that this metaphor shit Kicks Ass.

Benjamin's nen beast is a humaniod angel of sharp jagged features and ever beared teeth. He is agressive, militaristic and has a need for dominence. At the same time, the beast stands on his shoulders and grins. It is his ego and idealized self, as a lightweight, combat ready creature of vanity. As far as I remember, he's one of the only princes who ask what his beast looks like.

Camilla's nen beast is an abstraction, strange and surreal while overtly sexual and almost comedic. It's disconnected with reality, her alien mindset and vanity given form as as beautiful memory of an anemone.

Zhang lei's beast is a flat circle, with a crude rendition of his face at its center. The beast is wheels within wheels, with a flare like the sun, suggesting days, months and years on a crude calender, with Zhang Lei resting at the center. It's his narcisism, his scheming, and his spanning ambition, all on display.

Lets talk about penis head.

Ok: so penis head isn't technically a nen guardian beast. Technically I already talked about his nen beast, boob horse in another post. Shush.

Tsrriednich's beast is a mix flesh and fauna, virile and dessicated in turns. It's bulging muscle interpearsed with bear bones and ingraining roots. It is his fixation on death and rebirth, his sexism and reverence for the "natural" order where trash is burned. It's otherworldly wings and demented veggie head tell us his ideas of "natural" is similarly distorted.

Tubeppa's beast is a weird frog car.

Fuck if I know.

[3dchoujinbag]

Conjuring up an identity crisis: Who do you want to be?

A meta on conjurors. Part one of six part series. Sound off in the tags or replies for what type you want to see next.

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When Kurapika performs water divination and discovers he is a conjuror, his immediate reaction was that he'd have preferred to be an enhancer. It would make things, logically and immediately, easier to kill people if you can just punch most other nen users to death with relative ease.

In the end, he settles on conjuring chains. A weight of iron to drag him down to hell as his teacher roughly says; an embodiment of the ties that bind, the connection between him and the dead, him and his enemies and him and his destiny. The unbreakable chains of guilt and future.

Kite, one of the strongest magic users we see in the series, complains constantly about his power, remarking on most rolls as being "bad rolls", how irritating he finds the thing's boisterous personality, and how annoyed he is by their limited effect.

Cheetu is perhaps the most obvious, with his very poorly conceived plan of how to exploit his major advantage being badly thought out in more ways than one; his game of tag is poorly understood and negates his obvious offensive options. His choice to circumvent that drawback is even worse conceived, a crossbow playing in no way to his strengths or covering his weaknesses.

I think it can be argued that nen type is partially determined by what you fear. The conjuror fears, and is the most common victim of, lack of foresight. Their primary concern in any situation is the unforeseen variables, abilities or timing windows. Their primary fear is that they haven't thought the situation through enough, and it is a fear often realized due to their magic's rigid functions and limitations. For a conjuror, every question unasked is a question unanswered and every question unanswered is a risk they should be unwilling to take.

Being a conjuror is a parardox. In one hand, you are required to distill all your magical needs into a single object, on the other hand no object can meet every need.

What is the only object you need?

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Netero from Nen Impact

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Feitan from Nen Impact

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Killua from Nen Impact

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Morel from Nen Impact

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Uvogin from Nen Impact