If there is one type of Manga narrative that has wowed audiences both at home and abroad, it’s shonen.
The shonen genre, which is primarily aimed at younger adolescent audiences, is a spacious tapestry of power fantasy, rules-based battles, and young men progressing through sensational adventures.
It’s a strategy popularised by Toriyama’s unrivaled Dragon Ball, and it’s been reimagined and regurgitated in all shapes and sizes.
Yoshihiro Togashi’s long-running pump action masterpiece, Hunter x Hunter, appears to be a conventional shonen story on the surface.
Each arc emphasizes a tired trope, for instance, a training story or a story arc of colosseum battles, which Togashi has previously covered in YuYu Hakusho.
Hunter x Hunter, on the other hand, tends to take these methodologies and shatter them apart in unconventional ways before returning to its Shonen heritage.
It deviates not from necessity or shame but from an eagerness to constantly invent.
It is at its core a narrative about the world’s grey morality and how human relationships define right and wrong.
| Written by | Yoshihiro Togashi |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Directed by | Noriyuki Abe |
| Original run | March 16, 1998 – present |
What is the Hunter Exam?
The Hunter Exam is a yearly event that applicants must complete in order to become Hunters, an elite group of humans who are members of the Hunter Association.
These exams are made up of multiple tests and phases that can vary greatly. There have been 289 Hunter Exams so far. The Chairman of the Exam Commission is also the Chairman of the Hunter Association.
Participants enter the “secret” second exam after passing the first half of the exam and receiving their licenses. The hidden exam is revealed when Gon and Killua meet the Hunter Wing during the “Heaven’s Arena” arc. Nen is introduced to the young boys as they seek to fight their way to the 200th floor of Heaven’s Arena.
The benefits of the Hunter Exam?
Passing the Hunter Exam results in the issuance of a Hunter License, which might be beneficial to the owner. Aside from the recognition, the license holder receives the following benefits:
- 95% of all public amenities are free to use. Furthermore, all of these services come with first-rate perks.
- Unparalleled freedom to tour the world.
- Access is provided to around 90% of countries that ordinarily limit outsider admission and to 75% of locations where the general public is not permitted to enter.
- There is almost no legal accountability for any form of murder.
- The Hunter License can be sold as an expensive collector’s item.
What is the Moral of Hunter x Hunter?
One of the most interesting points in Hunter x Hunter is that there’s no black-and-white dynamic between the villains and the main protagonists. It’s not simply as if the villain is inherently bad and the protagonist is inherently good.
Instead, all characters have two sides that have an opposing sense of morality and outlook on life.
I think every character in the series acts very human-like and within their interests (except for Meruem, but he isn’t a human).
Humans in the Hunter x Hunter universe have inconsistent morals and behavior. That makes Hunter x Hunter interesting. You can feel that every character has a purpose in life.
We can see that even the most messed-up villains have a sense of morality in one way or another. For example:
- To achieve their goals, the Phantom Troupe is willing to torture, murder, and steal. They do, however, appear to desire to defend one another and Meteor City outside of battle.
- The Zoldycks are okay with killing individuals as long as their households (and Killua) are not endangered. Illumi is quite evil, but we’ve never witnessed him so enraged as when Hisoka asks if he can kill Killua.
- Kurapika’s family has been slaughtered, so he decides to commit crimes actively. I mean, placing an instakill spike Nen Technique in someone’s literal heart isn’t exactly a lawful activity.
- When the main character gang is more concerned with one another than with anyone else, they all act this way. Gon, in particular, would die for the people he cares about.
- This is also equally true for monstrous Chimera Ants. The person who wants to save the queen withdraws violence to save Meruem’s twin, and Youpi refuses to “spare others” after seeing the rose.
I’d additionally like to highlight that hunters in Hunter x Hunter aren’t superheroes tasked with saving the world or upholding the law.
There are police and militaries. Hunters are simply carrying out their duties; it’s a profession, so quintessential hero morality shouldn’t be expected of them.
Most people, including Gon, are extremely selfish.
In the end, it’s just individuals doing the stuff they want to do, whether that’s ruthlessly murdering innocent people or taking over the world as the apex species, each character in the Hunter x Hunter universe has their sense of messed-up morals.
There’s no right or wrong; what truly matters in the Hunter x Hunter universe is absolute power and survival.
Does Gon have Morality?
Gon, like every other character in Hunter x Hunter, has a fixed set of morals and rules that he abides by, no matter how skewed and messed up his sets of morals may be.
Honestly, other than Genthru and Hisoka (plus all the individualistic Chimera Ants and arguably Pariston), the majority of the villains are complex within their moral system (just like the protagonists). It’s just that Gon isn’t that judgmental.
Before going on, we also have to realize that Gon is still a child; although he has monstrous life energy, strength, and skills, he’s still a child at heart and views the world from a completely selfish and individualistic standpoint.
When you consider that Gon tends to treat other individuals like wild beasts, his morality is completely consistent.
He examines what they desire to do and how they act, but he rarely morally judges them.
He’s similar to a more mature version of Kid Goku.
In a more realistic setting, he demonstrates how distressing a person with both a childlike outlook and a significant amount of power could be.
What irritates Gon is when a person who could be considered a predator in this picture, such as Pitou or the spiders, unexpectedly behaves like lambs and solicits forgiveness or judges somebody who killed a comrade.
That irritates him greatly.
Gon was perfectly alright with the bombers since they had the mindset, ‘we know we can’t expect you to restore us; we can only beg.’ They were consistent and stated it right away, whereas the spiders acted as if they had every right to hate Pitou for killing one of their members.
Gon certainly gets annoyed when villains act nice.
Is Gon a Sociopath?
Not really; although Gon might seem vicious at times, and sure, he has a pretty messed up a moral compass and he’s still capable of empathy. Perhaps he goes to such an extent (sacrificing his life to kill Pitou) because he’s too empathetic.
It’s shown in the first installment of the series. He does not judge Killua because he was raised to believe that human life is worthless and that violence for money is completely acceptable.
He doesn’t become mad at Hanzo when he injures him because he understands his mettle; he does \n’t judge the troupe when he believes they are completely incapable of empathy but also gets angry when he uncovers that they are.
Even his behavior during the Chimera Ant arc is motivated by his crushing sense of guilt. He had a psychotic breakdown at the time, but his “regular” self is genuinely very empathetic, even though his lack of judgment may quarrel with it at times.
Conclusion
- Yoshihiro Togashi’s long-running pump action masterpiece, Hunter x Hunter, appears to be a conventional Shonen story on the surface.
- One of the most interesting points in Hunter x Hunter is that there’s no black-and-white dynamic between the villains and the main protagonists; it’s not simply as if the villain is inherently “bad” and the protagonist is inherently “good.”
- Each character has two sides that have an opposing sense of morality and outlook on life.
- To achieve their goals, the Phantom Troupe is willing to torture, murder, and steal. They do, however, appear to desire to defend one another and Meteor City outside of battle.
- The Zoldycks are okay with killing individuals as long as their households (and Killua) are not endangered. Illumi is quite evil, but we’ve never witnessed him so enraged as when Hisoka asks if he can kill Killua.
- Gon, like every other character in Hunter x Hunter, has a fixed set of morals and rules that he abides by, no matter how skewed and messed up his sets of morals may be.
- Honestly, other than Genthru and Hisoka (plus all the individualistic Chimera Ants and arguably Pariston), the majority of the villains are complex within their moral system (just like the protagonists). It’s just that Gon isn’t that judgmental.
- Gon might seem vicious at times, and sure, he has a pretty messed up a moral compass, but he’s still capable of empathy.