LogFAQs > #900094360

Episode 2

Recap: Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio are advised by the Captain to take a detour en route to the test site. They encounter an old woman with a lot of pomp and circumstance who gives them a quiz, then a shapeshifter attacking a couple. Resolving both situations, they continue on their journey.

Here's a fun episode that might hint at something more.

Let's just start out with the quiz being bullshit and deliberately avoiding moral complexity for little kids - the "save your son or save your daughter," or "save your lover or save your mom" situations are resolved "correctly" by picking neither option. But it's still fun to watch the snot-nosed obvious sucker getting led astray with his answer (despite looking like it's correct), the way Leorio (who FLIPS OUT) blushes when the old lady tells him that she enjoys meeting guys like him. (On that note, Leorio's obviously way softer-hearted than a money-obsessed jerk would appear, while Kurapika's calm superiority surprisingly hasn't turned to arrogance. The heroic trio so far seems to be going for likability - and I'm digging it.)

The part I liked most about the resolution, though, is that Gon doesn't let "winning the quiz" take away from the question that's posed. It is a crazy situation to be in, and by Gon's bringing it up after the fact, the show hints that situations might not always be so black-and-white. It'll probably be a long way off, but that's the type of thing that's got me aching for more.

As for the segment with the shapeshifters - just delightful. The monsters appear huge and unthreatening and they're so excited to have their riddles solved. Gon's prowess and apparent excitement at tracking them adds some physical fun. And while it's immediately obvious from the setup that nothing is as it seems (we're in the midst of tests, signs are warning us about monsters, and we know that these creatures are shapeshifters), the show never tries to make us think that we're in serious business territory. Shapeshifters in general make for fun stories.

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* These tests are so arbitrary.

* Love the pomp and circumstance behind the first test.

* Got super-hyped at Gon asking the second shapeshifter "Who are you?" while being attacked. Love it when expectations get inverted strangely.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness