Apologies for not writing my usual Sister Princess post yesterday. It was my birthday, and I thought it would be slightly better for me to hang out with people and have a bit of fun before work than to spend my entire morning writing a 1,000+ word post perverting a siscon anime. :p Rest assured, however, that the posts will be back next week. I have the feeling the next episode will be quite painful to watch, and will therefore provide good fodder for a post.
Anyway, Hunter x Hunter! As previously mentioned, this is the part of the anime where I got interested in the proceedings. This to me seems like a proper, interesting test for our intrepid heroes — running through a dangerous forest and risking one’s life in the pursuit of delicious ingredients is all fine and good, but this latest test has a few things going for it: There’s a conflict and a goal engineered into the concept, and everything’s simple to understand. You’ve got to get to the bottom before 72 hours are up. The majority chooses where everyone goes, creating the potential for dissension in the ranks. (Obviously, if you’re so petty as to let something like that rankle you and throw you off your game, then you are not hunter material.) Right now, though, the choices are simple, and nobody has to really admit that he made a certain choice, which diffuses the chances for dissension just a little bit for now. They’re making the choices quickly, too, which I guess is partly a product of having a limited time to get the hell out of Dodge.
And then, of course, you have obstacles in your way, because what trap-filled tower of death would be complete without obstacles to trip people up? The next few battles are sort of interest, because they probably will not be entirely what newcomers will expect — there are a couple of straight-up battles, but the criminals will come up with ways to bleed as much time as possible from the clock. The battle in the next episode will be a perfect example of that. Gon usually gets himself involved in the weirdest battles . . .
But, yeah, that Tonpa. What a prick, right? On the one hand, it’s difficult to imagine him being a competent fighter at all, although I suppose he would have to be to get this far into the exam. Despite his slovenly appearance, he at least managed to keep up with Satotz and journey through the forest in one piece, right? Tonpa has probably honed his talents to the point where he is able to get far enough into the exam so that he can crush as many rookies as possible before he gets tired of the pursuit and slinks away into the night for another year. He’s like some kind of malevolent cicada — look, it’s that time of the year, the Tonpa has come out of hiding!
Getting back to the battle that wasn’t, however, it is nice to see that the remake keeps in the description of the horrible ways in which Tonpa’s opponent would have toyed with him and bled out the time if he had caught Tonpa before he gave up. A jab to the throat and 60+ hours of cruel, unrelenting torture. Sounds like a great time to me! I’m still kind of disappointed that there is no fight, though. That dude actually looks like he can do something, and you know it would have been fun to see Tonpa get deservedly smacked around a bit. He really does have it coming not only for being such an utter fucknugget, but also for being wildly incompetent. If you’re going to be a jerk, at least be good at it!
You know what we haven’t seen here in a while? Hisoka’s glowing penis. Have some more of that!
The Cart Driver 
Tonpa’s opponent would have toyed with him and bled out the time if he had caught Tonpa before he gave up. A jab to the throat and 60+ hours of cruel, unrelenting torture.
The more I think about it, the more I’m glad that Kurapika didn’t go against baldie.
I think this phase really exemplifies HxH strengths as a shounen, I mean– there’s some really unexpected ways you can battle aside from hurrdurr powerlevels.
And yet it’s not that much longer from now that I’m sure baldie would be relieved that he did not go against Kurapika!
Tonpa is unquestionably a scumfuck, but I always felt a twinge of pity for him. He’s been a participant in,, what, 30+ Hunter Exams? How many of your friends and people you barely know do you have to see die in front of you before you just snap?
His failure to complete the exam for that long means Tonpa is no Hunter, but he’s ALMOST good enough. Can you imagine 30 years of constant reminding of how mediocre you are? It’d be enough to warp anybody’s mind.
Or, alternatively, he was just always a massive douchebag, even when he was Gon’s age. Little touches like these are what makes H x H all the sweeter, and every bit as good as the praise heaped on it suggests.
You know, I do kind of wonder what Tonpa was like when he first began the Hunter Exams. If we assume he was around Gon’s age when he started, then he’s probably at least in his 40s now — and still able to keep up with people. Not to spoiler people, but this Hunter Exam is supposed to be an anomaly with how many people pass; still, it’s difficult for me to imagine that someone that able wouldn’t pass the exam at some point.
Maybe he does lack that certain something that makes people into hunters. But it’s more entertaining for me to imagine that he was just an asshole from the start, haha.