Hunter X Hunter Episode 124
What They Say:
Gon, a young boy who lives on Whale Island, dreams of becoming a Hunter like his father, who left when Gon was still young.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Hunter x Hunter had a surprisingly enjoyable episode previously that involved a lot of time spent with Ikalgo and Welfin. While Ikalgo has kind of won me over in a way with his personality, the use of him in this arc has been pretty nicely done so far and putting him up against Welfin worked exceedingly well. Largely because it finally gave us a look at what happened to some of those humans that were rebuilt under the Chimera Ants and how they’re coping with it. The two had a pretty good if tense time with each other as they worked through what was going on, especially with Ikalgo sort of bluffing his way at times about how far he’d go, but it was instructive to see what was going on with Welfin and how he’s perceiving the events that are going on. Both characters have proven more likable in a single episode than most of the other supporting characters in the series have after entire arcs.
What that episode also lead into was seeing the rebirth of Palm after she was captured and now transformed by the Chimera Ants, which has made her a bit sexier in some ways. The problem is that we start this episode off by following Killua along and realizing that he’s being followed by her and that she isn’t who she was before. He’s intent on trying to save her of course, but a lot of that comes from the fact that he can’t let Gon see her like this as it will likely be the final straw that breaks him. Gon’s pretty intense at the moment and even though he’s waiting patiently and quietly with Pitou, he’s ready to take it to the next level at a moment’s notice. For Killua though, his attempt to try and reason with Palm doesn’t exactly go well as she transforms into a “Black Widow” character that is hugely intensely and dangerous and provides a few solid hits landed on Killua from the get go.
The faceoff between the two is definitely nicely done since Palm can more than hold her own against Killua due to the way her hair works as a defense here and the kind of whipping costume it creates for her. There’s a great intensity to her as well that’s like night and day from how we saw her before, which makes it all the harder for Killua as well, though he does try going for a reasoning route with her in the middle of the fight, even if it is all about buying some time for Gon to finish what he’s going through. It’s nicely done as we get a little montage sequence that goes through some of what’s lead to this point with some of the others that were captured and manipulated over the course of the arc, which is pretty fun to watch unfold overall. But it’s also good to see that Palm is different from the rest as we really see who she is and the way she views herself, even in this form, making for a second striking transformation sequence.
In Summary:
Hunter x Hunter is working through a fair number of stories within the arc and it does them in the kind of expected mildly drawn out way that a shonen series of this nature does. Thankfully, like the previous episode, this one is largely “self contained” in a way as it deals with what Killua has to face with Palm, the kinds of choices at hand and what she’s like in her transformed mode. I’ve not exactly been a huge fan of Palm, but it’s pretty nicely done here and is a piece of the overall puzzle that shows how the Chimera Ants are operating and the kinds of dangers that they do represent.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.