LogFAQs > #904361449

Episodes 96-97

Recap: Chimerants have spread across continents, including to Meteor City, home of the Phantom Troupe. Six of the remaining Spiders - including the new Kalluto (Killua's sister?!) - descend upon Zazan, the source of the infestation.

It became pretty clear as Kurapika's revenge arc ended that we would no longer be seeing the Phantom Troupe as primary antagonists. Their inconsequential impact on Greed Island pretty much confirmed that they'd be occasionally fun side characters. So when an episode centers around them, we're pretty much assured at this point that it will be a gaiden with minimal canon consequences.

And holy shit, I really enjoyed this gaiden. We get to see everyone in action - Phinks's ridiculous windup punch (suspiciously similar to the Jajanken), the mummy guy's ridiculously stupid holes-in-the-body-tornado move, death by paper cuts from Kalluto, Shizuku's body (pretty much the main justification for her part), Shalnark showing what happens when his first option as a Manipulator is taken away, and some neat tricks from Feitan. They're all reasonably cool, and done against enemies that are moderately threatening, but not enough to make us fear we'll lose some of these lovable, evil psychopaths.

It's also delightful watching the crew's dynamic in general. Perhaps the best encapsulation of their attitude is Phinks's refusing to mercy-kill the transformed humans after Zazan is killed - "Hell no. Attack me, trash!" Everyone shows up and spectates Feitan's duel with Zazan. We're given Kalluto as our POV character to show us the level they're operating at and as a WTF angle for their bizarre code of ethics. No one steps up to help Feitan when he appears to struggle, and they instead play janken to pick who gets to attack Zazan next, should Feitan fail. We're also informed that Kalluto is by far the weakest among them.

From a plot perspective, it's not a total throwaway, either. The male chimerants have talked about spreading their seed (albeit we have yet to see them sexing up a human woman - possibly just because it's too gruesome to show rape?) but it was unclear how the very few females would prosper. Zazan shows us how she can forcibly mutate humans into her thralls. (Since becoming a queen, her ridiculous boobs seem to have grown even more - and her ass, too.)

Really, the nice part about the gaiden is that it's a break that lets us do some different, low-stakes stuff. The Phantom Troupe is fun, but they can't really fit into the main plot - let's hang out with them and let them flex a bit. Seeing that zombifying/mutating power in action is something we can't really fit in the context of the main plot. And of course, it's nice to get closure (and revenge) on Zazan and Pike, who were responsible for the deaths of Ponzu and the scrubby Hunter.

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* But for real, at some point, Kalluto has to have significance, right?! It feels like with the end of the series approaching, we're not going to see Killua get revenge on Illumi, and certainly not Hisoka coming to reap his fruit. Or Gon meeting Ging lmao.

* Fantastic named attacks these episodes. SEXY STINGER OF REBIRTH. BATTLE CANTABILE - PROLOG (and JUPITER). KARMIC LOOP - RIPPER CYCLOTRON. MEANDERING DANCE. RADIATING LOVE. PAIN PACKER - UNFORGIVEN - BURNT BY THE SUN.

* Phinks wearing headwear at the beginning in the desert was an unexpected delight.
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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