Hello again, if you've already read the first two posts on this topic, then you should be very well on your way to understanding what's coming next. If not, go ahead and do that. Today I'm going to be covering comparisons with the Greed Island and Chimera Ant Arcs. Although I'm not quite done with the Chimera Ant Arc just yet, I've seen enough of the Chimera Ants and the way they behave to start drawing comparisons, and even if I haven't, this post isn't going to focus too much on the Chimera Ants. More so, this comparison is going to cover some things that I've noticed up until the point I'm currently at, good and bad things in relation to YuYu Hakusho.
Since I left off on Greed Island, I should probably mention now that the Greed Island Arc was exactly what I predicted it would be. And what I mean by that is, last time I speculated that Greed Island is taking a concept from YuYu Hakusho and expanding upon it. However, because I had just started the arc, I had no idea how accurate that was going to be. And, as it turns out, that comparison was far more accurate than I initially thought it was going to be.
In YuYu Hakusho, there is a character by the epithet of Game Master. He has the ability to take existing video games, channel his spirit energy into them and bring them to life. Greed Island is closer to that concept than I initially realized. My first tip was when Shalnark, one of the Phantom Troupe, enters the game with Kortopi and Shizuku and does some analysis and investigation. And he comes to the conclusion that the island they're on might be a game or it might be a real island in the real world, something that the other Troupe members, Phinks and Feitan don't register when they enter the game, they were just planning on having fun.
This is where Feitan and Hiei differ. Last time, I made note that Feitan and Hiei are so similar in every way that it's impossible not to see the parallels. However, one thing to note is that when Hiei is presented with a video game, he doesn't really care much, he just wants to get on with his business. Feitan, by contrast, got a hold of the game with Phinks for the sole purpose of just playing around.
In any case, as the arc progresses, it turns out that both assumptions Shalnark came to are true. Greed Island does indeed exist in the real world but it is nonetheless still a game made by and spawned by Nen users. Though the mechanics of the game in question differ from the game Game Master made them play, and Greed Island is much more light-hearted than that part of the Chapter Black arc will ever be but I think that may just be due to how dark Chapter Black was in general.
Along the way we are introduced to a new character and, before I get to her, I want to point out a problem with Hunter X Hunter that I firmly believe YuYu Hakusho handles better. I didn't touch upon it before because I didn't realize just how much of a problem it was until today but I'll get to that in a little bit.
Hunter X Hunter has a problem with introducing characters and then abandoning them. Characters that are prevalent in previous arcs, run out of steam as time passes and they become more or less forgotten about. Although there are several characters that this applies to, the deceased notwithstanding, I think the most egregious examples have to be Kurapika and Leorio.
Just so we're clear, I was hoping so much that I was wrong, that I actually decided to look into this and spoil some of the later arcs for myself just to see where these characters stand and, as it turns out, what I'm about to say about these characters is more or less accurate.
In the Hunter Exam, Leorio and Kurapika are made a big deal, so much so that the Exam puts just as much focus on these two as Gon and Killua, maybe more so considering that Killua was by himself and Leorio and Kurapika spent more time with Gon. Then the Zoldyck Family Arc came about and Killua was the goal and still present but Kurapika and Leorio were focused on just as much as Gon.
Then we get to Heavens Arena and Kurapika gets a single episode to himself before Yorknew begins. Then Yorknew begins and Kurapika and Leorio are given more focus this time around. However, now we also have Melody, a character who I didn't expect to be all that significant outside of Yorknew but who is nonetheless a pretty likable character and who also plays a pretty big part in the dealing with the Phantom Troupe. Then we get to Greed Island and Kurapika and Leorio are gone again shortly before Gon and Killua actually enter the game. Kurapika gets a small cameo in Greed Island when discussing the Bind on Chrollo and a little bit of what happens to characters whose Nen are stolen by him but this is such a small portion of the arc that it doesn't redeem his lack of presence and Leorio still hasn't shown up.
Then we get to the Chimera Ant arc and Kurapika and Leorio are still gone. And this is where it starts to become a bit more egregious because while Kurapika and Leorio don't show up at all, Pokkle and Ponzu have reappeared, and though Ponzu dies off pretty quickly and I suspect Pokkle is going to die pretty soon as well, that doesn't excuse the complete absence of what should have been major players in the series.
Then the Chairman Election Arc comes up and Leorio becomes a big part of it but Kurapika is still absent. Kurapika does seem to be a relatively major player in the Dark Continent Expedition Arc, as is Leorio but this isn't enough. It happens way too late, and after Gon and Killua are written out of the series. I don't think Gon and Killua will be gone forever but it's a major problem when you notice that, out of four main characters, only two of them actually impact the plot at any point in time.
I've heard it mentioned that Hunter X Hunter shares many similarities with the manga Naruto and, some similarities may in fact exist but I do not believe they were intentional and every similarity I have noticed, either Hunter X Hunter did it first, better, or both.
I think the primary example is Kurapika versus Sasuke Uchiha. Both are part of a currently-almost-extinct clan, with eyes that bestow special powers that are both also bright red, both characters are geniuses, and both are driven to do what they set out to do, which is to avenge their dead brethren. Now, I don't think I have to tell you that those similarities are only skin deep. Even if we ignore the completely different appearances, Kurapika's eyes grant him a somewhat broader set of abilities than Sasuke. While Sasuke does have Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susano'o, Kurapika's eyes grant him a straight power boost that allows him to use all Nen Types to maximum efficiency, which allows him to use his primary Conjurer abilities with the abilities of an enhancer, emitter, and manipulator. Though he has not shown any Transmuter ability thus far, it can be assumed that he is capable of it and is simply choosing not to use it because his Conjurer abilities grant him everything that a Transmuter ability could and more.
Something else to consider is that Kurapika is never painted as any form of villain in his manga. Though Masashi Kishimoto would like us to believe that Sasuke was always a good guy, that is simply not the case, no matter how much Naruto believed it. Sasuke attempted to kill Naruto, the Gokage, and was even prepared to kill everyone at the War Site at the end of the manga. Sasuke betrayed the ones who cared for him, multiple times, and he came off as irredeemable, except to Kishimoto apparently because a redemption still occurred. If not for Naruto's downright stupid obsession with Sasuke in every single capacity, Sasuke would have faced punishment for his crimes and would've been killed by Naruto.
Kurapika doesn't have that same problem. Kurapika is staying away from his major allies for the moment but he never treats them like crap, attempts to kill innocent people or start wars, and Kurapika has always been a good guy, that much has always been clear.
If you really want to push it, you could argue that Kurapika is what Sasuke would've been had Sasuke been thought out and utilized properly but it's also worth mentioning that Sasuke didn't derive any inspiration from Kurapika to begin with. A large part of Naruto was inspired by YuYu Hakusho and Dragon Ball. Some similarities are obvious: the four tails Jinchuuriki is named Roshi and looks like Master Roshi, the Four Tails is a giant ape with four tails named Son Goku, whose inspirations are obvious. Other similarities are not so obvious. For example, the Nine Tails has red fur because of Kurama's red hair in YuYu Hakusho, and the Nine Tails is even named Kurama.
When you figure out the inspirations, however, some similarities become obvious: Sakura has pink hair and immense strength to reflect Genkai, Naruto's personality is based off of Goku and his Wind Element may be inspired by Jin the Wind Master, which seems likely given their similar demeanors. And Sasuke has a lot of similarities with Hiei, specifically the red eyes, eye-centered powers, sword master abilities, and relatively terrible transition from bad guy to good guy.
Okay, that last one was probably a coincidence but the point is that, if Sasuke and Kurapika do have a lot of similarities, it is simply because Kurapika utilizes aspects of Hiei or other cliches that Sasuke is also made up of.
Now back on track, the Greed Island Arc introduces us to a new character named Biscuit Krueger or Bisky and she is absolutely wonderful. Although the similarities to Genkai are palpable, what I like about Bisky is that she's such a likeable character. That seems to be Togashi's strength is likeable characters, now that I'm thinking about it.
However, Bisky is also written out of the plot after the Greed Island arc and that wouldn't be such a problem if she weren't just so likeable that I want to see more of her. She's bubbly and responds well to compliments, like Botan but she's also 57 years old, short, has the ability to change her appearance to gain her maximum power, and also seems to be a master in the art of Nen, like Genkai. Now, all of this is to say that she is probably a mixture of Botan and Genkai, something that I've already made clear with other characters.
Now, Gon is the Yusuke in this situation but the thing is that Gon and Bisky get along so much better than Yusuke and Genkai ever did. Now, Genkai and Yusuke do care for each other quite a bit, so much so that we can see in the same series how they respond to each other's deaths, but Genkai had a tendency toward hitting Yusuke and Yusuke would always get angry at her the way he would.
Gon and Bisky get along much better which I attribute to the fact that I suspect both were built with some amount of Botan in them. This makes sense to me because I feel like if Botan were cloned and she had to interact with herself, the two would become instant best friends. To be fair, Killua also has some obvious Botan in him but Killua is also part Hiei and Hiei clashes with everybody except Kurama and that's only because Kurama is so accommodating for everyone that Hiei would fail completely as a likeable anti-hero if he got on Kurama's nerves. Genkai never hit Hiei at all but she would still yell at him whenever it was necessary, she probably just never chose to hit him because that would cause an actual brawl, something Bisky never had to worry about with Killua.
The Bomber's pretty forgettable and though his Little Flower technique is similar to a Naruto character's Landmine Fist, I don't think it's fair to say that it makes the two series similar because the two characters with these moves have such drastically different levels of importance.
The next notable character is Kite, who I honestly ended up liking much more than I thought I would. Kite is a Conjurer, just like Shizuku and Kurapika but he has an interesting way of utilizing his Conjurer ability. He's also really nice and reminds me a lot of Kurama, the really old, really experienced friendly man who wants the best for others and who wants to see others succeed.
Initially, I didn't like Kite's appearance. His triangle eyes that blend in with his cap, his slender build, the way his hair was drawn, and even his outfit make him look more like a character that should be in Lupin III than in Hunter X Hunter. That said, I've gotten used to it and, now that I've gotten past it, Kite is a really likeable character, I enjoy his role and I hate that he gets killed by Neferpitou. Sure he comes back as a Chimera Ant and he retains his same personality and memories, which I guess is not as egregious as changing Kratos' entire personality, appearance, demeanor, and voice actor just to suit the narrative (You know what you did!!) but even so I'm not a fan of the new appearance. To be honest, I think it's the lips that threw me off.
Even so, I enjoy Colt and the way he shows that not all Chimera Ants are necessarily evil, this one's just doing his job, though I question why he calls himself Colt. Now, to be fair, I may be overthinking this but hear me out. The reason this set of Chimera Ants wanted names was because they were part human, they wanted some level of individuality. Now, we can't say this about the other Chimera Ants, but the thing is that Colt does remember parts of his past life as a human and specifically does remember Reina, the young boy Kurt's younger sister. In Japanese, Kurt and Colt are relatively similar (Kaatou for Kurt and Koruto for Colt) but in English the names are completely different and Kurt and Colt are English names anyway. This is exacerbated further when you consider that Kite is the only other Chimera Ant who has any memories of who composes them and calls herself Kite because of it. So why the name change? If he chose his own name, which we could assume that all of the Chimera Ants outside of the Royal Guard and Meruem did, then it would be more logical for him to call himself Kurt. It would make the similarities more obvious to the viewer but it wouldn't make too much of a difference to any of the Chimera Ants since none of them would have context for why he's calling himself that anyway, so it wouldn't damage the narrative at all.
This would also raise some questions about why each Chimera Ant chose the names they did: for example, if Colt called himself Kurt because of the human he's made of, then what types of humans could others have ingested based on their name choices? Well, since Colt doesn't call himself Kurt, that question is entirely pointless.
There is also one character that I want to mention whose story was certainly sad but that I don't get why it was given focus. The character Gyro. He's the ruler of NGL and he's creating an edible drug that causes harm and that's his goal, he wants to spread harm throughout the world. The reason was because he was raised by a father who didn't care whether he lived or died. He felt that his life had no meaning and he wanted to harm the world that gave him a life he didn't want. That's not all of it but those are the major beats.
Now, I liken this to Sakyo a bit where he's a relatively minor villain who is an antagonist for reasons that are entirely outside anyone's control. That said, though, we actually see Sakyo in YuYu Hakusho. He's never painted as a good guy but when his story is revealed to Toguro, you don't feel bad for him but you get a better sense that he's not the traditional kind of evil either. Just like how Sakyo wanted to test his luck by betting bigger and bigger things all the way up until the end of his life, Gyro is a character who wanted to cause harm because he was born into a situation that he could not control.
Again, though, we see Sakyo earlier in the series before any of this is revealed, and it's revealed right before Toguro's match with Yusuke so you have some time to mull over the stakes as Yusuke and Toguro are fighting. Gyro's backstory is revealed after he's already dead and we never even see this character's true appearance, all we see is a silhouette with eyes. Because of that, I wonder why we should care? Clearly the story wants us to care about this character but for as tragic as his backstory was, I kept wondering "Why did they feel the need to show us this?"Especially since he's never given any more focus afterward.
I think I've covered as many similarities and differences as these two series have. YuYu Hakusho ended a long time ago, and though Hunter X Hunter is still going, or at least the manga is, you can only pilfer so many ideas from a previous work before the idea well runs dry. So I think this is probably the last post on this topic I'm going to make, though the rest of the anime could prove me wrong. Until next time.
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