LogFAQs > #904819505

Episodes 110-115

Recap: The attack begins with Netero and Grandpa Zoldyck descending from the sky and performing a meteor strike on the palace, and they easily isolate the King, who is concerned about Komogi. G/K and friends enter via Knov's portal and unexpectedly run into Youpi right at the staircase. Youpi is handled by Shoot and Knuckle, who eventually sheds Melereon when he needs to help Shoot. Morel surrounds Pouf, who begins to transform. G/K make their way to Pitou, who is healing Komogi.

The Chimera Ant Welfrim realizes something is amiss when he discovers Knov's shoes and scent. He's also alerted to Killua's intrusion, Ikalgo's wearing Flutter's body, and a vague sense of Melereon's presence - but he withholds information to play his own politics.

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Holy fucking shit, these episodes are bad.

The little action that happens is really good, with some cool images that I'll get to. But the pacing is on par with Goku vs Frieza in the final 5 minutes of Namek... and there are at least five storylines to juggle. And unforgivably, the narrator for some reason has become the main character of the story.

Look at Episode 110. Look, Welfin is a really cool character. He's the most cunning of the Chimera Ants, he has his own quirks (due to his hyperactive senses), he has political machinations that give him distinct motives from other ants. But it's pretty late to be introducing this dude, whose little investigation, we find out, does not directly impact any of the main action for at least the next five or six episodes (and now that the invasion has begun, has little chance to affect it at all).

You'll recall that we last left our heroes literally with their eyes on the castle. Episode 110 ends with Morel counting down the seconds until it's time to go. Welfin, retread territory on the feelings of the Royal Guard (especially Pouf), fanservice shots of Leol/Hagya's underling, and Killua recapping his worries take up the entirety of this episode. So we've been blueballed for an entire episode not advancing the plot, at one of the most critical junctures.

On to Episode 111, then. It's go-time! Except that nope, the narrator suddenly takes over (and will continue to take over for the next five episodes) and brings us up to Netero and Killua's gramps. Now Killua's gramps's move is awesome and the image of diving is great. But for some reason, Pitou is denied inner monologue here (a recurring theme) as the narrator drones fucking endlessly about what she's thinking and how she's reacting. What the fuck happened to show, not tell? Every Gon-Hisoka interaction has been action-packed, allowing us to digest events after the fact, but focused on showing us events (and often, insight - see Gon's learning from the bird!) instead of this fucking garbage narration that grinds things to a halt.

The first half of the episode ends with Pitou facing Netero in mid-air... and the return from commercial break is five minutes of Netero flashback (alongside a weird confessional/documentary-style video of Grandpa Zoldyck hyping Netero). It's every bit as bad as the flashback to the ruler of NGL. Maybe this garbage is acceptable in a quiet moment, but it continues to grind the pacing to a halt. And the result of Pitou getting hit is again described by the narrator instead of by Pitou's inner monologue or even the visuals, which are REALLY FUCKING OBVIOUS. All that happens - Pitou uses Doctor Blythe, attached to her tail, to anchor herself in mid-air. That's it. But the narrator feels the need to step in and explain this to us.

The episode ends with the crew facing Youpi in a matchup no one expected, in one of the coolest end-of-episode images. This of course should have happened at the beginning of Episode 110, as (you'll recall) Episode 109 ended with everyone preparing to step into the portal.
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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