Hunter x Hunter & Dragon Ball Z: the Fall of the Shounen Hero

SPOILER WARNING: The pursuing post has important spoilers for the 2011 Hunter × Hunter anime

It most likely wouldn’t be a extend to say the most legendary confront of the shounen manga struggle genre would be Son Goku from Dragon Ball. Goku works to be the strongest in each arc, education particularly challenging when the upcoming toughest villain seems. He is also a quite fantastic-natured and down-to-earth guy. Honestly, he’s not not like Superman in people respects. I suppose it is small marvel then that online nerd boards periodically pit Goku and Superman in a person clash or one more: who’s more robust, who’s superior.

I’m not intrigued in arguing who’d conquer up who, nor do I want to argue who’s superior prepared. All I’m declaring is… if you can find a single matter that Goku has that prototypical not-Snyder Superman doesn’t… it is an obsession with battling robust opponents. He likes it way too significantly, to the point that it impacts his other priorities. Inspite of this situation, Goku is these types of an iconic encounter in shounen battlers that he is affected so several MCs in the genre due to the fact, fragments of his character reborn into new faces, superior and terrible. In Gon Freecss from Yoshihiro Togashi‘s Hunter x Hunter (henceforth HxH), we see a far more biting exploration of the terrible: that self-centeredness that Goku embodies.

It is in HxH‘s exploration of this self-centeredness that the collection requires the shounen battler to new heights, and it achieves this by offering us a flawed hero, just one that physically, mentally, and emotionally succumbs to their worst impulses.

Goku Wishes to Struggle Potent Guys

“Saving the day” and “growth via challenge” have previously showcased in shounen battlers in additional or a lot less mutual benefit—one encourages the other— but that harmony is just not generally or even obviously the circumstance for the genre. Dragon Ball and HxH‘s tales feature both of those themes in conflict with each and every other.

To return to Superman v. Goku, in her assessment of Superman’s main character, Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions summarizes the OG Male of Metal as another person who “is able of godlike feats of toughness and electric power,” but “spends his days conserving human beings and attempting to make the world a superior location.” By distinction, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama describes the OG Super Saiyan of Legend as someone who won’t “fight for the sake of others” but “wants to fight towards potent guys.” It is a self-absorbed trait that is far more apparent in manga Goku, but even now echoes in his anime edition.

Goku tends to spare the life of the villains he beats, and not for the explanations you would hope. He admittedly has a distaste for killing men and women, but right before we get missing in but another argument of why the Batman isn’t going to just kill the Joker, there is certainly yet another cause for why he provides villains 2nd chances or additional: he just desires to battle them yet again, and he’ll neglect their earlier villainy for it. This drive is associated to another troublesome quirk of his that crops up any time he faces genocidal foes: he desires to struggle them at their strongest.

A single apparent example of Goku acting on his impulses is at the finish of his 1st combat with Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z. Just after his unsuccessful endeavor at destroying Earth, Vegeta is in the end beaten and broken, though Goku’s allies and good friends gave up their life in the approach. A surviving pal, Krillin, picks up a sword. He is about to complete off Vegeta, but then Goku stops him.

He urges him to enable Vegeta escape, despite Vegeta swearing he’ll return immediately after he is healed up to demolish all the things. Goku in the English dub for the primary DBZ anime tells Krillin that Earth’s defenders have to be the better men, and that they must give Vegeta a chance to reform and a design to encourage reform from (like with Piccolo).


The initial Japanese script, while, has Goku stating a thing extra like: “I know it is egocentric, but I want to fight Vegeta all over again, so in spite of the opportunity threat, can you permit him go for me, Krillin?” Krillin agrees, not for the reason that he completely thinks Vegeta can be redeemed, but for the reason that he (perhaps naïvely) trusts Goku can beat Vegeta all over again if worse comes to worst. In that arc, at minimum, the tale doesn’t challenge Goku’s self-absorbed determination-generating.


I worry at minimum, as DBZ does take care of Goku much more critically in later arcs (arcs the place he won’t be able to defeat the most up-to-date villains by himself and he’s normally meme’d as a lousy father by the fanbase), but Dragon Ball not often forces Goku into having to deal with lasting traumatizing penalties for his additional egocentric steps. Yeah, there are want-granting Dragon Balls to revive his fallen buddies in the conclude, and certain, he’ll get the electrical power bullet in everyone’s spot if it arrives down to it. Goku, himself, would not concern dying.

But what if there was no nicely-founded way to deliver back the useless? And what if a liked 1 is killed in your put?

Gon Is One particular Actually Crazy Kid

So from Goku and Superman, we lastly appear down to Gon from HxH, who suffers from an even even worse circumstance of selfish-Goku-syndrome. Gon and Goku function on comparable wavelengths: they are the two pleasant and earnest men who deal with increased and harder worries to get much better. They also tend to spare and even come to like people today who are just horrible and godawful if they’ve been useful to them, particularly if it assists them turn out to be more powerful.

Now, Gon remaining like Goku isn’t really always a bad thing all the time, mainly because Goku’s character tends to make up the DNA of shounen heroes, the spirit of what’s inspiring about them. If Gon were not a straightforwardly-minded kid, Killua Zoldyck wouldn’t have develop into his greatest buddy. And if Gon was not his friend, Killua wouldn’t have been capable to escape his abusive spouse and children and his destiny of being nevertheless a further remorseless assassin murderer.

Even so, Gon’s person, single-minded perseverance in the direction of acquiring what he wants can encompass far far more than the mates he would like to keep—at a single position, it will come at the price of a buddy. When 1st creating Gon, Togashi imagined him as “a fantastic boy,” but he changed his thoughts, later on calling Gon “one actually crazy kid.” Following all, could you actually contact a boy who would abandon his foster mother for the adventurous Hunter existence (funnily more than enough, emulating his father who also deserted him for the exact explanation) a entirely great boy? A lot more like a child with problems, not in contrast to his good friend Killua.

So yeah, even right before getting to Kite, Gon now has a handful of screws loose. Yet in some means Gon is even a lot more excessive than Goku: in the Greed Island arc, Gon and Killua are tasked by their mentor to train with Binolt, a serial killer who preys on younger ladies and is also a cannibal. Binolt spends that schooling period intent on brutally murdering them equally, and when the boys finally defeat him, Gon spares his lifetime and convinces Killua to as very well, because no matter of what heinous crimes he’s committed till now, Gon’s grateful he aided them get more powerful.

A further outrageous thing Gon does in the exact same arc is get his arm blown off. Gon faces off versus Genthru, a serial bomber with a pattern of backstab-blasting folks. To protected an opening for a clean hit on him, Gon opens his arms up to Genthru’s attacks. It success in just one arm staying charred and the other getting a blackened stump. However, Gon grits his enamel as a result of the excruciating suffering and turns his head to facial area him, grinning, which freaks Genthru out. From other scenes but specially these two, we learn, concretely, two disturbing issues about Gon: (1) he will forget about questionable things when he’s self-absorbed by some thing, and (2) he will go to ridiculously extraordinary lengths to achieve his aims.

The Flawed Shounen Hero Lastly Falls

HxH is a reasonably long collection, and up to the Greed Island arc, Gon has succeeded at most of what he puts his thoughts to. He’s been able to throw himself into all method of hazardous conditions with out serious everlasting damage, and appear out stronger for it. Even when Gon’s all battered up and lacking 50 % an arm in Greed Island, the arc concludes with a literal card getting pulled and all his accidents therapeutic up, which include his lost limb, for the reason that of the easy story magic of Greed Island currently being a recreation world. It’s very similar to Goku and his quest for the Dragon Balls. The heroes get off straightforward. The standing quo is reestablished. It truly is protected again.

That tidiness ends in the pursuing Chimera Ant arc, wherever Gon loses Kite. Like Shanks is to Luffy in One particular Piece, Kite—his father’s protégé—becomes the closest detail Gon has to a proper father figure. Kite is the very first person who genuinely introduces Gon to the entire world of Hunters, environment him on the route to become a titular Hunter and “hunt” immediately after the legendary Hunter, his shitty father.

Gon and Killua come upon Kite when he is out on a hunt for the harmful Chimera Ants. Gon asks if the two of them can tag together, and Kite agrees. Like the forests they enter, the celebration embroil by themselves deeper into the challenge, executing well from the Chimera Ants that stand in their way… until eventually they meet up with a special just one, Neferpitou (or just Pitou).

The arc devolves further from the recreation that preceded it, as Kite realizes that all of them are way over their heads in what they can tackle. Kite loses an arm making an attempt to shield the boys from the overwhelming hazard. This sets Gon into a rage, but in advance of anything comes of it, an unnerved Killua knocks Gon out cold and receives them each out of there on Kite’s orders.

Other subplots animate the Chimera Ant arc just after this scene, which include one particular that requires “saving the working day.” By this point, the Chimera Ant danger has advanced to them subjugating and consuming all of humanity. For Gon, nevertheless, the only issues that issue to him now are preserving Kite and receiving revenge. He thinks, with all his naïve heart, that Kite’s nonetheless alive. He has to Kite mentioned as significantly. In his obsession with Kite, Gon steadily loses standpoint of all the things and every person all over him, including Killua. His at any time extra myopic intellect is resentful of Killua for abandoning Kite and not receiving right revenge towards Pitou.

Gon and Killua be a part of a new team to exterminate the Chimera Ants and defend humanity, but that outcome is incidental for Gon, a suggests to an close for him. By way of it, he reencounters a susceptible Pitou attempting to save an harmless human everyday living on her king’s orders. He needs that Pitou preserve Kite now lest he kills both of those the Chimera Ant and the human lady. Pitou and Killua just hardly encourage Gon to relent until eventually they mend the woman. Killua stresses that Kite are not able to perhaps be saved if Pitou’s prematurely dead, and Pitou would not honor that demand until she heals the girl first. Also, what the hell Gon…

…what a tragedy, Gon’s. The girl is saved, but Kite is just not. He are unable to be. Pitou killed him now, so you will find no way. The revelation that he pinned anything on a false hope leaves Gon with only one objective remaining he could potentially notice: revenge. But Pitou is an outrageously difficult opponent. In a morbid twist to “growth through problem,” Gon generally features his lifestyle drive and opportunity progress as a fighter to age up and beat Pitou.


And then he beat Pitou—thoroughly, just thrashed them. There isn’t really a corpse left following he is accomplished with them. And then his body shrivels up. He is a corpse whose coronary heart in some way even now ticks.

The Fallen Hero is Picked Again Up by a Good friend

In writing Gon this way, Togashi desired to be “able to write battles with out acquiring moral conflicts inside of the character,” which matches what Goku is like, roughly talking. But more than Toriyama with Goku, Togashi will take this deficiency of self-reflection and inclination in the direction of self-absorption to its excessive with Gon. Gon pushes Killua absent regardless of his sincere concern for him. He threatens to kill an harmless human being when he will not get what he wants correct away. He trades his existence and long run for quick, mind-boggling power, not so he can use it for some noble purpose like “saving the working day,” but to spite the deal with of an individual who did him incorrect until eventually it’s turned into undefinable smears of gore on tree bark.

But Togashi isn’t really condemning the shounen hero by producing Gon in HxH flawed like this. To Killua, Gon is the one particular who saved him from a long run of darkness. He phone calls Gon his mild, since Gon, flaws and all, attained out to him and befriended him. Gon’s spurning of Killua during the Chimera Ant arc shakes Killua to tears, but it will not quit him from undertaking every little thing he can to restore his best pal back again to wellbeing. He even confronts his spouse and children all over again, the source of his darkness. By Killua’s have sacrifices, this time essentially for the sake of another, Gon is manufactured healthful all over again, albeit with out a great deal of his prior preventing qualities.

Getting Goku as the heroic conventional, the most noticeable design protagonist, Gon, would make a terrible drop from grace, even though a less most likely edgy determine, Killua, finishes up turning out to be much more of the protagonist that fans of the style likely assume.

By Gon, a deliberately flawed protagonist who he adores to produce but is also deeply critical of and ready to tear apart to educate a lesson, Togashi builds upon the hero that he, Toriyama, and other shounen manga writers have made and popularized. And in accomplishing so, he has produced a work that is both of those respectful of its roots and not like nearly anything the style has ever found prior to.

Social Scientist & Record Buff. Dabbles in Artistic Writing & Anime Criticism. Contemplate following him at @zeroreq011

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