Hunter X Hunter Episode 129
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)
With such a heavy focus on the King’s recovery and his taking on the name of Mereum more formally now, the previous episode definitely had quite a different flow and feel to it. The intense emotions and general sacrifices put into play to try and save him by the Chimera Ants that serve him was nicely played and it all came together in a pretty engaging way in the shadow of what Netero had sacrificed. But that sacrifice is something that is casting another shadow as well as the Hunters that were working with him have understood what’s happened and there’s a sense that if Netero couldn’t take him down, what hope do they have? It’s a legitimate thought of course considering just what kind of abilities Netero has, but there’s also some changes in the wind and untapped ability within some of the members that could change things.
A lot of the focus early on here is all about what the Chimera Ants are coping with now that they see that Mereum isn’t quite himself, though they’re still referring to him as King as they search for Kagami as they see her as the hope of getting him back on track. They’re so focused on finding her that they’re pretty much ignoring the Hunters that they do come across since they know they have to achieve this objective before anything else. It’s interesting to watch this play out, especially since the mini-clones that are sent out to do the dirty work end up being so small that they end up not seeing a number of people out there because of it. What’s worse for them though is that the Hunters know what’s coming and are doing their best to avoid being seen, which has Killua carrying Kagami with Knuckle alongside him in order to provide more coverage.
There isn’t a lot of depth here as much of it basically has the search going on at first and then the chase as they find Killua and Kagami and they’re after her. There’s a fanaticism about the way that Pouf is during this with what he says and the approach used to get Kagami for Mereum, but there’s also the fact that Kagami herself isn’t exactly aligned with the Hunters. She’s spent most of her time with Mereum prior to this and the two developed a certain kind of relationship. Mostly though, the focus is on the way Pouf is dealing with all of this in his verbal assaults, which is split between attack Killua and praising Mereum to try and get him to remember who he was and what he represents, which is actually interesting since he manages to get so many of the controlled people to arrive at the capital as a way of making it clear.
In Summary:
The shift in tone is an interesting one now that the King is not who he was before, having suffered from Netero and his sizable use of force against him. While the physical recovery went surprisingly quickly, the mental side of it may take a bit longer and there’s some real uncertainty about what will happen at this stage. The way Pouf is handling it is something that really shows someone that needs and requires an authority figure above him to feel like the world is the way it should be and his desperation is definitely illustrative of these feelings as it nears a panicked feeling the more that it goes on. With Killua and Kagami moving right along, albeit not smoothly, things are entering a weird and uncertain phase and that aspect is definitely a lot more exciting than what we’ve had for a bit up until Netero made his sacrifice.
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.