Hunter X Hunter Episode 94
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 took a little time to the side in the previous episode that carries through here a bit as Gon continues on with his date. The things that came up in that episode were quite amusing in how Gon talked about the way he “dated” extensively back on Whale Island as part of growing up and while it may not be what Killua thinks of dating, it made him quite accessible here in this particular date so that he and his date can have a good, enjoyable evening together. Unfortunately for Killua, the date he was observing had to change into dealing with one of the Chimera Ants that’s come across him and is giving him a pretty good ass kicking at that. AT least at the start as the enemy just completely gets into it and enjoys what he’s doing and feeling.
The fight between the two goes in this direction for much of the first half of the episode where Killua is getting his ass kicked and it’s just becoming harder and harder to fight back. What makes it worse is that his brother gets into his head and keeps telling him to run, which has him believing that it’s because he’s not strong enough to fight back against his opponent. But Killua has grown and changed so much since meeting up with Gon and has had so many adventures and experiences, which we get in a brief but well done montage sequence, and that allows him to really step up in his mental game to handle what it is he has to face. It works well, though part of me still feels like Killua wouldn’t have been in this situation regardless of how badly he was being attacked. But the growth in him, mentally more than anything else having dealt with what’s been inserted into his mind, allows him to turn the match around completely.
While the fight is dealt with quickly enough and we get the trio back to the hotel, there’s some additional fun that goes on in dealing with Palm as she goes back to her normal style of look and expression, which makes for some awkward moments with Killua in general. But what we mostly get here is that things are finally starting to advance again as the small movements going on here makes it feel like the time of waiting is coming to a close, which is good since things in the NGL have changed so much since Gon and Killua were last there with Kite and they’re both still very intent on trying to find and save him. Their progress since coming back from the NGL has been good overall, but it’s also been stretched out in some uninteresting ways, and moments like we get here with Killua as he deals with his fight just felt overly rushed, making for some awkward pacing and execution overall for this portion of the Chimera Ants storyline.
In Summary:
The small teases we get with the Chimera Ants are certainly interesting but it really just left me wanting a whole lot more of it rather than the teases. That said, we do get some good stuff for Gon and Killua here that’s pretty different in approach and style. Kilua’s fight is well done and his growth is spot on with what it does, even if it feels out of the blue and too quickly done. Gon’s date was just a lot of fun to watch in general even if it wasn’t going to amount to anything and it gave us a different look at Palm that certainly reminded us that there’s more to her than we’ve seen before. The show is feeling like it’s starting to come together more for a forward motion and that’s helping to ease some of the drawn out feelings we’ve had recently with it.
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.