Thoughts on TotallyNotMark's Analysis of Hunter x Hunter #4: York New City (pt.2)

TotallyNotMark is anime analyzer on Youtube. Popular for his Dragon Ball Analysis videos, he expanded to other anime series since 2020.

I liked TotallyNotMark's analysis style. His newbie perspective is entertaining and since he knows good writing. I'm amazed at the nuances he picks up on his first watch-through. So when he began his Hunter x Hunter reviews, I decided to follow him arc by arc writing my thoughts on his work.

I already wrote my thoughts on his first three videos here. The Hunter Exam arc in the first article. Zoldyck Family & Heavens Arena arcs in the second. The first half of York New arc in the third article. This is the article one which covers TotallyNotMark's review of the second half of York New arc:

The Review Video:

You can check the playlist for the other videos here.

Thoughts & Impressions:

Something I noticed from watching the first four reviews is that this series totally suits TotallyNotMark's analysis style. The story is all about characters and they're complex and never feel off. They're also unpredictable but every action of theirs makes sense to their character. That's perfect to analyze from both the narrative and the psychological perspective.

1:33: The story didn't go or conclude as TotallyNotMark expected. The action is sparse compared to other Shonen series.

• Welcome to the real Hunter x Hunter!

Writing a character driven story at such scale without destroying the pacing is difficult. (I know because I write this way too.) Togashi is clearly a Pantser type of writer. Writing a story with this style makes unpredictable stories. The author himself doesn't know where it'll go.

• 1:50 Fantabulistic seems like an actual word to me.

• 2:30 The Phantom Troupe is arguably the most popular group of anime villains by fans. They have human personalities, goals and flaws. Fun to watch, but still undeniably evil.

• Togashi story frames the Phantom Troupe side of the story so fairly, that they're almost the protagonists of this arc. (Kurapika would be the antagonist.) ...Think about it.

TotallyNotMark mentioned that despite receiving most of the focus and dialogue, the Phantom Troupe leader Chrollo is still enigma to him. I believe this is the case by design!

• Like TotallyNotMark pointed out at 3:35: The scene in which Gon and Killua got captured and questioned flows perfectly. There's a moment in it when Gon arm-wrestled Nobunaga, that became more meaningful to me every time I rewatch the scene. Especially after finishing the series.

Chrollo Lucifer

5:02: "My friends call me Boss!"

• No wonder Chrollo is one of the most popular characters in Hunter x Hunter. Despite being a murderer who leads a group of plunderers, he's so calm charismatic and loves his people, but he has no remorse for anything besides them.

• The symphony scene is terrifying but awesome. As TotallyNotMsrk said, the focus on Chrollo's hand gestures while he orchestrate s the massacre tells so much about how The Phantom Troupe views their missions.

If you're reading this and only watched the anime. Around this point in the manga. There's a cover-page that shows the rules for Chrollo's Skill Hunter ability. I'm sure TotallyNotMark read them. The rules were not said in the anime as far as I know.

• The Zoldycs vs Chrollo fight is impressive. Not only because of the powers in it but because none of the parties involved took the fight personally.

• The Zoldycks value life. (I applaud TotallyNotMark for noticing and mentioning this.) This information about them add another layer to the complexity of their family. To them, killing is only a job.

• My impression is that some of the Zoldycks view their profession as necessary evil. Zeno and Silva who were hired in this fight are the most reasonable Zoldycks in the story... Killua doesn't want to be like his father, I won't be surprised if Killua grew up to be like his grandfather whose morality seems at a level between them.

• It's interesting choice to show that page of the manga at 9:26. The sketchy drawings have a way to convey speed. (One Piece does it sometimes too.)

• The ending of the battle is unusual, unexpected and perfect for all the characters involved. Since no character viewed the battle personally, as soon as the reason for the fight ended.

• Both fighters went like: "We're cool? We're cool!" and went on their way.

• The ones who hired the Zoldycks died and no one is left to pay them. Why they died? Chrollo anticipated this fight so he hired their son to kill their employers beforehand!

There's a saying in anime: "You know a person better after exchanging
fists with him." I don't know how true is that, but this fight between Chrollo and the Zoldycks almost proves it.

We learn so much about Chrollo's mindsets, but most importantly about the Zoldyck family. This attitude of theirs is probably why Killia hated them so much.

12:25-14:10 TotallyNotMark speaks about the stark difference in how each version of anime captures the emotions of a scene.

• I prefer the 2011 version over all, but I have to agree that it fails more than once at capturing the dark tones of some scenes. *Kurapika being upset about his inability to avenge his people.

• Looking at 1999's adaptation You will feel his burden as he fights the urge to kill someone. This wasn't conveyed as hard in the 2011 as compared to the older anime adaptation. Of course, you'll have to use your imagination in manga which probably makes the scene as gruesome as you can imagine.

15:05 TotallyNotMark is thinking that Meteor City mention is a set-up for some future arc.

• It could be, but don't bother thinking about what Togashi is setting up with Hunter x Hunter. As the NewWorldReview says in one of his videos. Hunter x Hunter doesn't do any traditional Set Up, Pay Off writing style.

• I never thought of "The Spider loses half of it's members" as half of them leaving. Probably because no character mentions it. The justification mentioned by TotallyNotMark at 15:56 makes perfect sense

• Kurapika's Negativity accumulates until he meets with his friends. The animators put a lot of budget for that smile scene. #NoOneMinds

• Character consistency is the biggest strength in Hunter x Hunter. All great Manga have this to some extent, but the depth of HxH characters are impressive for a Shonen series.

• The scene of the Phantom Troupe fortune telling is my favorite of this arc. I agree with TotallyNotMark's criticism on the exposition of Hisoka's actions in that scene. It's something Togashi seems to love doing more and more in later arcs. It's dividing the fandom.

TotallyNotMark correctly figures out that one of the downsides of the Nen system's complexity, is that the author will need to "tell" instead of "showing" us the more complicated ones. The manga might get wordy.

• Nen system is hard to explain. Wait until you catch up with the current Manga arc. Togashi spent a full chapter explaining one character ability.

• Killua is an Assassin. Despite hating it and trying to become a Hunter, his habits aren't easily broken. Nice job noticing all the in nods to that, TotallyNotMatk. What you said at 21:20 about how Killua line to Gon mirrors his father's actions and grandfather's earlier. It's so deep.

• Watch the Leorio entrance scene in the video! 22:40 The Editor must be a troll, but it's so funny~

• After Kurapika kidnaps Chrollo. The next few scenes are full of anticipation and awesomeness. The contrast between Chrollo's calmness and Kurapika's hidden agitation shows how much inexperienced Kurapika is... As for Chrollo. He really doesn't care if he died.

TotallyNotMark talks about the why he always reads manga first. The anime can take some of the intention of the manga away with some scenes. Anime almost always does this with the example about Dragon Ball Z he offers between 26:15-27:00 illustrates this problem trait perfectly.

• "Taking what makes the Manga scene so good and elevate it with the strength of this type of media." True, that's what all anime should aim for, but I understand when they don't... They already work on a limited budget, and some of these improvement can take a lot of time and effort.

• The animators also don't have the luxury of trail and error, which makes it extra awesome when they make a scene like that.

That's all for today's article!

So, that was my impression on TotallyNotMark's fourth HxH video & the last one where he covers the 1999 adaptation I guess? (I wonder why he didn't talk about the OVA at the end.)

Next is the Greed Island arc. I hope I don't take too long writing it this time~

• First image is taken from the thumbnail of the linked video. All other images are taken from the manga.

• This article is a cross-post here on Read.cash and Hive's Ecency. Different images used there.

For more Hunter x Hunter:

• Read my thoughts on TotallyNotMark's Hunter Exam Arc Review.

• Read my thoughts on his Heavens Arena Arc Review.

• The first part of this York New City Arc.