LogFAQs > #900731541

Episodes 12-16

Recap: Tensions between Leorio and Tonpa rise during the 50 hours of solitary confinement, and they come to a violent head when the final majority decision represents either failing together, or letting three of the five succeed. Gon manages to find a workaround. Phase Four then starts, a true hunting game between candidates - and Gon's responsibility is to catch Hisoka. After taking inspiration from a bird, he manages to succeed. Hisoka apprehends him but spares him and delivers a nice punch to the face.

Oh man, what a great sequence of episodes. (Thanks for informing me to skip Episode 13 by the way!)

Let's start with the first of these, where GKKL clears Phase 3. This is the type of conflict we've been looking for - a slow build as Leorio gets ever more annoyed with Tonpa, but Tonpa is raising legitimate points against Leorio (which hurts him all the more). We undercut the tension with a great show of time passing - uncomfortable sleeping, reading and watching TV, kids being kids and having fun. My favorite is the slapping game that Killua and Gon play, where Killua catches Gon's hand and then (as penalty) gets to flick Gon on the forehead.

We bypass the rest of the challenges in a hilarious montage, but tensions continue to rise. At a trivial door, Tonpa actually votes to go forward, but Gon is the one who typos. Leorio freaks out on Tonpa and doesn't apologize - not a good sign since even if Tonpa is a jerk, that doesn't give you the right to treat his like a jerk when he isn't actively sabotaging you. Then, when confronted with the final decision, Leorio informs us all that he's voting for the three-person path and not taking no for an answer on going himself. Tonpa finally goes over the edge.

How about the ominous weapons hanging there, by the way? Amazingly designed room. This is the type of moral dilemma that was foreshadowed as early as Episode 2, and for now - as I'm sure will happen later - Gon is able to circumvent it with creative thinking. The dramatic reveal of how they got through is a little corny, but it was a high-stakes by Gon.

The three episodes I've seen of Phase Four are probably my favorite of the series thus far - very likely because they center around Gon and Hisoka. Gon is a delight to watch. He's moral and believes in friendship and loyalty - see his risky solution to the Majority Decision - but it doesn't mean he has to have Hero Syndrome and have that dissonant aversion to death and deception. Love watching him learn from the other Hunter stalking his prey instead of intervening to Protect The Prey or whatever. Love the way he practices using his fishing rod against adorable apples, then a frog, then birds. Love watching him learn that guile and opportunistic timing are the only way to take Hisoka's tag.

Oh, and I love that he does all this of his own damn initiative. The training Gon undertakes and the lessons he learns are the stereotypical type of thing that a young male hero calls boring, needing to be berated by a Mr. Miyagi to wax on and wax off about. But no mentor figure needed here - Gon is driven by self-improvement, and he's incredibly patient and observant, with great capacity for self-reflection.

Gon is also undoubtedly recognizable as human. Powerful though he is, he knows he has no chance against Hisoka's might. It's the entire reason he's practicing his dexterity and guile. From the moment that he sees that his mark is (who by the way does not have the superhuman power to detect Gon, also great), Gon is laser-focused and terrified. You can see the way that the game's zero-sum turn in the big picture informs the tenser interactions among everyone - even Gon and Killua don't name exactly who they're chasing to one another. When Gon actually sees Hisoka and tracks him, he's constantly terrified. Gon's fear of Hisoka again sets him apart from Kid Goku. It makes the moment of success all the more satisfying.
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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