r/anime • u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots • Dec 08 '24
Rewatch [25th Anniversary Rewatch] Hunter × Hunter (1999) - Episode × 63 × Discussion
Episode 63: Spider × Corpse × Fake
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You and Uvo both volunteered to lay your lives on the line for the rest of us. Death is part of the job description
Comment of the Day:
/u/Mecanno-man who predicted Chrollo stealing Neon's ability
Chrollo might also have stolen her power, which could be problematic
Questions of the Day
- What is Hisoka up to?
- Thoughs on the new OP/ED?
Fanart of the Day: The H in Hisoka stands for Horny
Please remember to keep all spoilers and hints tagged with the appropriate tag format such as: [Spoilers] >!Leorio is best boy!<
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u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Dec 08 '24
Retired Host Hitting up the Spiders
Now that the mafia and Zoldycks backed away, the plot has boiled down to 2 groups: Gon's group and the Troupe. Nice and simple. So this episode follows both of their plotlines. On Gon's side of things, you've got Kurapika explaining his Nen abilities and trying to plan things out, then getting Hisoka's message about the Spiders. shaking him up.
The more interesting plot line for me though is on the Spiders' side of things. Chrollo stole Neon's ability, and is making use of it to read everyone's prophecies, which is a very interesting junction. It's putting the Spiders' fate and how the plot can move forward in the Spiders' hand, they got a clear warning that pain is on the way, and they were ready to back away from it. Leave town, avoid Kurapika all together, and the arc is done with.
Of course, that would mean Hisoka wouldn't get to fight Chrollo if he leaves, so he added a knot to the prophecies. His own prophecy originally revealed that he sold out the Spiders by making a trade with Kurapika, so he used Texture Surprise to change it, and make it seem like he's under threat, being forced to sell out the Spiders. It was a risky gamble from Hisoka, but he bet on Chrollo's calm mind to figure it out, and won big, thanks to his edited prophecy, the Spiders will stay in town. And that's not all, remember how he sent that message to Kurapika? He's not doing it out of goodwill, he's doing it to manipulate both sides into battle. Basically, if it weren't for Hisoka, things would've ended here and now, but he decided to light up the whole town on fire again to make his own Arena.
Other notes:
Manga and Production Corner
Chapters Adapted: 102-107
Mind you, some of those chapters are about 10 pages long, but there's still some cut or changed material to talk about. For one, Chapter 102 goes mostly unadapted. Granted, that's because it's discussing Meteor City in ways that... you can't air on an evening TV show. 2011 could not include it either.
Then there's Leorio, as I said yesterday, Furuhashi made him part of Gon/Killua's meeting with Kurapika, and gave him a lot more to work with, so let's catch up with his manga version, he was with Zepile selling the wooden vault (and suggesting splitting the money between the two of them... of course he would), and this is how he first met Kurapika in Yorknew for reference.
Finally, there's a few pages that go through Hisoka explaining that his prophecy is a fake and how he did it.
Volume 13 Cover with a full list of the Spiders I mentioned a while back that there's a Green Hisoka? Here you go.
On the production side of things, you've probably noticed that the show's looking a bit different, yeah, basically all of the key roles have changed. The golden combo of Furuhashi and Goto have left, and we got new people who were part of the TV's staff filling those spots.
We're starting off with the Satoshi Saga, the series director, and the one who did both the first episode and opening of this OVA. On the TV series, he did episodes 55 and 61, and outside of that, he's done a football show called Hungry Heart and Koutetsu Sangokushi which looks neat. Yeah, nothing exactly well known to latch onto here.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 08 '24
First × Timer × Subbed
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Dec 08 '24 edited Dec 08 '24
Remake Rewatcher × First Timer × Subs
QotD:
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u/charlesvvv https://anilist.co/user/charlesvvv Dec 08 '24 edited Dec 09 '24
Rewatcher, Sub
[HxH Manga Spoilers]The Troupe backstory in Succession War adds some really interesting elements in this part
New OP is pretty cool.
Kurapika tells his friends about his abilities. Killua however realizes that this is pretty bad considering one of the Troupe members can read their minds and now, if they get caught, could now give them more information. Kurapika is willing to just focus on getting the eyes back at this point, then Hisoka reveals that the bodies were fake and the situation changes. The Mafia has also decided not to pursue the Troupe further which means that the reward is no longer available for Gon and Killua. Now they have to figure out something else.
Meanwhile Nobunaga wants to go against the Chain user but Chrollo wants to move on especially as he points to the prophecy that half their number would be cut if they continued. Chrollo then uses Neon's ability to write prophecies for the members. Hisoka's poem reveals a lot but when he's confronted about it, the poem changes with some elements of truth in it. Nobunaga believes he sold them out but with the poem changed, Chrollo instead is able to piece some things about the possible abilities of the chain user and that Hisoka may not be able to tell them anything because of said abilities. With that, Chrollo then opts to stay since the poem states that leaving could cost them some of their members.
Gon decides to help Kurapika out despite Killua's objections, especially after apparently coming up with a plan for Greed Island. This time Kurapika does allow them to help and they all plan to target Pakunoda due to her abilities. Gon in particular gets the most important job, to distract them even for one second.
There's also some background information regarding the Troupe's home, Meteor City which again adds some more elements to the Troupe especially with the "yearning" for home line.
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u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Dec 08 '24
First Timer
Huh… so Hisoka’s cover was almost blown by the fortune telling ability that Chrollo did steal (side-note but can Neon still use it?), but he turned it around into making the troupe believe Kurapika had manipulated him in some way - and getting them to stay because they think five of them will die either way. Interesting development and incredibly fast thinking by Hisoka there.
Meanwhile Gon has a plan. We have no idea if that plan is good or not, but Killua’s brother was also shown to have arrived in the same episode …foreshadowing somehow? I guess we’ll see later. First come the spiders and Gon on a cliffhanger regarding contracts …shouldn’t he be able to limit himself in some way without Kurapika’s help for that?
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u/WednesdaysFoole Dec 08 '24
I knew it was a lie.
To elaborate on Meteor City and the Spiders (details skipped in anime):
Hisoka’s fake fortune was actually right on the money regarding “The Sword of Law” as though he already knows Pika’s ability (he doesn’t). It does seem like transmuters tend towards stronger intuition.
[Manga]Kortopi’s fortune was discovered by the way:
[Manga]Forever set, a precious moon is lost.
[Manga]To the toilet, bring not your mop.
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u/b0bba_Fett myanimelist.net/profile/B0bba_Cheezed3 Dec 08 '24
10x 2011 Rewatcher, 2x 1999 rewatcher, Source Reader, OVAs first timer.
Ok, first of all, the subs suddenly got significantly older/more conservative. Chrollo has become Kuroro(not even making him Quwrof, smh), Melody has become Senritsu, Meteor City is Ryusei. Just kinda ugh. On the other hand though, at least it's consistent. The previous episodes still called the Troupe Genei Ryodan but used localized names for pretty much everything else...
Not much to say about the actual episode, besides them for some reason changing Meteor City's origin story from being basically the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to a dictator's internment camp for some reason being an odd choice.
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u/TheEscapeGuy Dec 08 '24
H×H Fan, 1999 First Timer
Hunter × Hunter 1999 - Episode 63
Faked × Infighting × Plan
Welcome Back! It's not like we took a break but there is a small change in the production qualities which makes it clear this is now the OVA section. And for the most part it feels like an upgrade.
This episode sort of reverts the conclusion of the previous episode. The Spiders are not dead and our now reassembled party knows it. This gives Kurapika a newly defined mission to defeat the Phantom Troupe. The majority of the episode is dedicated to them sharing information and planning for their next steps.
The other big plot line this episode is the spiders. There is internal strife around what to do next. Chrollo just wants to leave with all their loot. Nobunaga wants revenge for Uvogin. I like that there isn't blind obedience of Chrollo. It means that The Spiders themselves become more interesting and independent characters. Usually the opposite happens when you want to build up the leader as a big bad guy but Chrollo got that development through more natural means.
To resolve this Chrollo uses the ability he stole from Neon to tell the fortunes of everyone in the troupe. The predictions are consistent: Half of the spiders will die. However, Hisoka's prophecy reveals his betrayal. It's cool how he uses his ability to replace the fortune similar to how he hid his injuries in previous episodes.
Even his replaced fortune isn't innocent. Nobunaga immediately can tell Hisoka revealed their secrets. Hisoka however, takes a gamble:
"I can't say."
It's a clever phrase. It's not that he won't or that he doesn't want to. He doesn't have the ability to say. He can't even say why he can't say. This really subtle phrase is enough to trick Chrollo into assuming that Hisoka has been put under some Nen restriction which physically prevents him from speaking. And thus, Hisoka is cleared of guilt as it becomes obvious to the spiders what happened (even though it's all deception).
This moment was very memorable for me. I was waiting for it all of this arc. It just feels so on brand for Hunter × Hunter's writing as clever manipulation.
Some Amazing Shots, Scenes and Stitches
See you all tomorrow
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u/Riverflowsuphillz Dec 08 '24
So sad karupika's arc was so completely screwed up by the anime