Okay, so I've gotten a bit further into Hunter X Hunter and while I've only just barely started the Greed Island Arc, I've seen enough of Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe, that I feel it's okay to compare the Yorknew Arc to arcs in YuYu Hakusho, something that may be a bit tough because the Yorknew Arc doesn't really have any direct comparisons to YuYu Hakusho in terms of concepts.
Although the Phantom Troupe are similar in role to the antagonists of the Chapter Black arc, the way these events are handled are drastically different from anything in YuYu Hakusho. That said, since there are some bare similarities, I would like to illustrate them right now.
Both arcs make use of an antagonist that is relevant in some way to one of the main characters, each of them feature an elastic-powered sadist who was a major threat in the previous arc, every one of the members is better at what they do than almost any of the main cast, and certain events cause an elite fighter of some type to get involved for some reason. However, much like the character comparisons from the previous post on this topic, these similarities are only skin-deep.
While it is true that the Phantom Troupe are relevant to Kurapika in the same way Sensui was relevant to Yusuke, these two sets of antagonists are relevant in very different ways. The Phantom Troupe were directly involved with the genocide of the Kurta Clan. Sensui's only connection to Yusuke at the time of his introduction was that he was the Spirit Detective before Yusuke took the role, which is really minor in terms of relevance.
That said, though, we do see some similarities to YuYu Hakusho appear in the form of Phantom Troupe members to characters of the aforementioned series. However, I would like to stress that many of these similarities may just be templates and not directly associated with the characters I'm about to compare, with one notable exception within the Troupe, which I'll get to.
Chrollo is a power thief and, while that may not have any direct comparisons in YuYu Hakusho by itself, his appearance, personality, and religious symbolism are quite similar to Shinobu Sensui. Chrollo shares Sensui's haircut and hair style, and though he's not the strongest character in the series, I don't think, he is strong enough to contend with Zeno and Silva Zoldyck simultaneously, something that very few other characters could achieve. Though the symbolism is quite different, both characters do have some degree of holiness associated with them, with Sensui's being in his Sacred Energy Power, and Chrollo's being in his St. Peter Cross on his back and forehead.
Next, we have Uvogin, who is, at the point in the series that I'm on, the first and one of only two members of the Troupe who actually die. Though Uvogin does not have any direct comparisons either, his appearance, personality, and powerset all make me think of Bui who had a similar hair-cut, similar height and build, and similar over-the-top strength. The fact that he was beaten by Kurapika rather than Killua may also have some relevance on this matter, since I stated previously that Kurapika may, in fact, be a combination of Kurama and Hiei, the latter of whom defeated Bui.
Next is Phinks, who seems to have a lot of similarities to Yusuke Yurameshi in terms of powers, strength, and color scheme but he's a lot more aggressive, angry, and also quite a bit smarter. Other than that, I haven't seen enough of him to verify his origins.
Shalnark may be a much more brutal and more openly antagonistic version of Jin but I have no proof of this, I just noticed the similarities in their demeanors, which could be said of a lot of anime characters, really.
Kortopi has the ability to replicate things and has most of her face hidden, which is similar in some regards to Karasu, though the fact that she's not largely a combat-type suggests that she may have other origins as well.
And finally, Franklin's muscular build, tall height, serious demeanor, and ability to fight long range with Nen are fairly similar to the younger Toguro brother of YuYu Hakusho, though how they achieve the bullet effects is largely distinct from one another.
Other than them, the other members in the Troupe seem to be distinct from anything in YuYu Hakusho. Pakunoda, Machi, and Shizuku are all representative of this, having no discernible connections to anyone in YuYu Hakusho, except, in the case of Machi, her demeanor and hair color are similar to Genkai, which is not notable.
The only exception to this is Feitan, who is probably the only member of the Phantom Troupe whose character concept was lifted directly from YuYu Hakusho. Let's break it down: Feitan is incredibly fast, much more so than any other member of the Troupe. Though Machi could stand up to him in terms of reflexes, it's safe to say that Feitan is easily the fastest member of the group. He's also rather short and lean, with a predominantly black color scheme, he has a sadistic sense of humor and also has an inclination toward torture, he's skilled with a sword, and his Nen is also partly fire-based.
Just in case you haven't seen YuYu Hakusho, all of these things are Hiei point for point. Though there are some notable differences, like Feitan's eye color or his tendency to cover his mouth rather than his forehead, I would say these differences are superficial rather than the similarities. He's the only one in the series so far who's like this and, unlike Killua, Feitan has so many similarities to Hiei that, when he's finally introduced in the dub, casting Chuck Huber in the role is only going to cement this for me.
Other than that, we got to see more of what the Zoldyck family can and will do in certain situations, and though Zeno's lightning Dragon does seem to be directly inspired by Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame, since Zeno's a martial arts master and an assassin, I can let that go, especially since he doesn't seem to have any notable similarities to any other character.
Silva is also worth mentioning for showing that he may very well be one of the strongest characters in the series in terms of overall damage output. Though I'm fairly confident that Meruem and Netero could probably beat him at full strength, you don't have to be at the top in order to be among the best.
Killua has also started to develop his Hatsu, and while there is a lightning user in YuYu Hakusho, that being Suzaku, that similarity is so general and downright pointless that I almost feel bad for even bringing it up.
That said, one thing I did notice about the Yorknew Arc was that it was pretty nonstop for the most part. There was barely any time to rest in the entire arc and, while seeing Kurapika again was pretty cool, I was a bit tired after finishing the arc. So much happened with so little break time that I needed to take a day off just so I could rest and prepare for the Greed Island Arc, which seems to be pretty slow so far but I'm not going to judge it yet because it's only just getting started.
That said, before I go, I do want to mention that Greed Island may be taking a concept that was used in YuYu Hakusho and taking it to its logical extreme. And what I mean by that is, Greed Island is a video game created by Nen users that can only be played by Nen users and also sucks you into the game. Now, ignoring the "Sucked into a video game" cliche, this concept is relatively similar to the power of the Chapter Black character Game Master, who had the ability to take any video game of his choosing, bring it to life, and assume the role of any of the characters, based on the fact that he had the ability to become the Goblin King when we see his power in action.
That said, I just started that arc and it's starting off with Gon and Killua gaining some new powers, which would've been helpful in the previous arc, considering how tough the Phantom Troupe are. However, we'll see if this is a concept that is worth expanding on or if its ripping from YuYu Hakusho just renders it unwelcome.
That's all for now.
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