Hunter x Hunter Volume 4: A Nice Group of Chapters Nearing the End of a Standout Arc

We start off this volume with a slightly disappointing chapter where Hisoka doesn’t fight Leorio or Kurapkia and instead just asks for something. Yeah, that’s all. It leads to a casual showing of a smart move of Kurapika’s to save them and not fight, despite her efforts, but how it was built up and executed feels so disrespectful. It’s like, why build up to something just to do nothing? It’s like if I built up to some awesome fight and then quietly ended it with a whimper. While here it shows Kurapkia’s intelligence and smart wit, it feels repetitive as we saw both of these characters avoid Hisoka literary before, so why again? To show if there was growth? Well, that could’ve been done less disappointingly. Overall, a mostly disappointing start, and after all of this, we see Hisoka kill some dude that has barely been shown, so I guess that’s it for a start.

After this, we see Gon get trapped by someone before Hisoka kills that dude and punches Gon into another dimension. Not literary, but this moment in particular is one of the best things to come out so far. He just punches this dude so hard the literal universe had to take a step back to zoom in on the beatdown he took. Without a doubt, one of the most disrespectful moments in the manga so far. Imagine being punched around so hard you had like 3 panels just showing how badly you got beat for the whole world to see. After this, we see Killua deal with some annoying opponents for a whole chapter, and it’s a solid but more standalone and forgettable chapter out of a more Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio-centered volune.

Now, we see our group finally escape and win, like others in this section of this exam, and now go to the arena. Well, right before the arena, we get probably one of my favorite parts of the series, where we see the final contestants questioned by Netero, and it feels like a nice breeze of fresh air to soften the mood before the big banger of an ending for this arc. One of the best moments in the series happens when we see Gon break down and have a one-on-one with Kurapika as they are prepared to leave and would make someone who doesn’t like this character cry since it is so poigant. It is one of the first times we have ever seen Gon so honest and vulnerable, and it really sets us up for the end of this exam. Overall, a fantastic little section that shows Togashi’s writing at a peak that the rest of this volume doesn’t top.

Now, at the arena, we see Gon versus Hanzo, which is a decent representation of Gon’s outlook of never giving up but feels undeniably tedious, thanks to the simple fact that we already know that. Really hitting this truth here in some arena feels annoying and not as important as it attempts. Then, after Gon defeats him with sheer audacity and main character syndrome, we learn Killua totally killed someone and… Yeah. Get ready as the tea level is about to rise and I’m not even started as I literary can’t even get started as most of it is next volume and the little here I could use to give you all bread crumbs would be just rude. Just know, the drama is increasing and its getting better than good. Fantastic.

Overall, these chapters are solid but less fantastical and more decent. Thankfully, the artwork and paneling help to support the dying writing on display with some truly meticulous and popping choices by Togahsi, such as when Gon is told Killua killed someone, the panel with Gon looks like it is standing up, like his hair, and then shots to a shot of Killua with blood on his face in an empty background. While it is a simple stylistic choice, the simplest ones are often the most brilliant ones that really go unexplained. The issue, I think, with these chapters is that they are less team-focused when it seems so needed and attempted. Like we need as much of them together as we can get, but Togashi just splits Killua up, which makes sense, but still feels like a sloppy choice when we could’ve had our team together in that place, and yes, Gon was missing too from the group, but he came back to them, as Killua should’ve. Such as when Gon has to carry his teammates out of that tunnel, why wasn’t Killua there? Why he was busy, it wouldn’t be hard to, in the final little game before the final round of exams, to just have him here in this team moment that might’ve hit harder. It all feels half baked. Though, overall, when looking at this chapter and its quality on its own not comparing it to before chapters, it’s a strong group of chapters that may not be up to par from before but are still quite stunning.