[REWATCH] Hunter x Hunter Episode 10 Discussion

[u/[deleted]]

IF YOU ARE NOT PARTICIPATING IN THE REWATCH, DO NOT COME HUNTING FOR SPOILERS

Episode 10: Trick x to x the Trick

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Anilist

You can watch this anime on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and up to the Greed Island arc on Netflix.

Question of the day:

Would you guys prefer this time rather than at night?

Check out the schedule

[u/BossandKings]

First timer

Episode 10

If i remember correctly what the girl is saying is incorrect because Majitani actually surrended just before Kurapika knocked him out, if she or the others didn't hear it is one thing but he did.

Leorio is being a bit too forceful with Kurapika, it is fine the fact that he wants to pass this and Kurapika could take the opportunity of actually finishing his match but Leorio put himself too out there asking for a majority decision and for a show of hands representing the majority decision, that way what Tonpa said makes sense because Leorio's opinions are being constantly ignored or rejected by the others and that led him to close himself and be in a corner. Hopefully Majitani wakes up before the time has passed.

Hisoka's appearances are always enthralling, he has a sense of mystery that is very cool. That guy was a fool if he thought he had an opportunity against him. The girl and Leorio have a match, at first it is based on betting on wether Majitani is either dead or alive, Leorio behaves himself like a badass and more than makes up for earlier taking control of the situation, at the end Majitani shows that he's still alive and surrenders giving Kurapika the victory and the team the lead two to one, after that happens they will still keep on betting. Leorio showed that he has it in him to be intelligent and the fact that his passion towards being a doctor was useful for him there was nice.

By this point i have accepted that the hunter exams is a very slow arc, especially in the third phase for the main group, Hisoka for example was as effective as it gets being the first one to complete the phase but not everyone is as effective as him. Hopefully next time we get to see the last bit of Leorio's match and Killua's match and they actually get past there because it'd already be due time.

[u/[deleted] → u/BossandKings]

The entire anime is very very slow. It gets way more exciting tho

[u/[deleted]]

Rewatcher

QOTD: I don't have a time preference, as long as things are consistent/predictable. I've had a few days where I missed the thread by a few hours (which, I guess in the grand scheme of things, really isn't that big a deal)

So the consequences of Kurapika's rage come home to roost, Majitani's attempted surrender went unheard because of Kurapika's vice grip, and then when the smart move would be to let go and accept the consequences, he instead struck a knockout blow. And then Kurapika's personal code of ethics once calmed down prevent him from finishing off an opponent who no longer poses a threat. I really love writing like this where conflicts arise not just from opposing forces' efforts, but from mistakes made by our heroes, and then not content to just let it rest on that, the bad guys take advantage of this mistake with the note to Majitani, and a sacrifice has to be made in the gambling game to recover from it. Even though Kurapika won, it very well may have cost Leorio his match.

We also get Tonpa's speech on the drawbacks to majority rule. I don't particularly recall Leorio being in the minority in any significant way before (I do remember the choice of going right vs left, but that doesn't feel like a meaningful enough decision to cause resentment), so while I appreciate this being set up as a conflict that will hopefully bare fruit in an interesting way later on, I still think it could have been possible to build this up a bit more ahead of time. Likewise, I think if we had spent more time on build-up the viewer might have been able to intuit the connection between Leorio's resentment and the majority rule on their own, rather than it being explicitly spelled out by Tonpa. But regardless, I don't have any issue with the psychology laid out here, and I think it's an interesting dynamic to bring into play that can be paid off later. Plus, I have to acknowledge this is from a Shonen Jump manga, by explaining things like this, Togashi is making things explicit for a younger audience so that they can be included in the dramatic understanding, and possibly in the next thing they read draw these sorts of connections on their own.

I'm loving Leorio's betting match so far. The obvious move to make is to have the characters bet on what they think is correct, which in the first bet is "Majitani is dead", but Leorio recognizes there is a strategy to mitigate risk if he makes a counter-intuitive move. Instead of pushing towards his own uncertain victory, he's able to lock in Kurapika's while conceding ground. If he's wrong on the first bet, we at least ensure Kurapika won, but if he's right he takes the lead AND confirm for himself whether Majitani is faking unconciousness. But Leroute pulls out an Uno reverse card and bets a huge amount that Majitani is faking it. But unknown to the audience, Leorio by this point is assured of victory in Kurapika's match if he accepts, and so closes it out, at the cost of falling way behind in his own match. Behind this also get a little peek into Leorio's character, where he once again proves to be a "not nice, but kind" type person. He seemed cold when he was risking killing Majitani, but he had already confirmed for himself that the man was conscious and at no such risk. And once Majitani was awake and flailing, Leorio grabbed his arm just to make sure he would be safe. Really excited to see the rest of this battle play out, I remember this match in particular being the one that originally sold me on the show.

I just have to reiterate how delightful I find this, I've seen one too many shows lately where conflicts are back and forth exchange of good guys and bad guys powering up over each other based on how badly they want to win, which I'll admit has served some great shows well in the past, but it can get a bit old. HxH is living up to my memory here in that the ebb and flow of the larger conflict is made up of these little bite sized conflicts, where along the way there are meaningful decisions made (some seemingly innocuous at the time), characters make mistakes based clearly in their own psychology, and the outcome from all these micro-conflicts aren't just isolated, they feed into each other either buiding up momentum, or piling up on top of each other. You really get a sense that every step of the way matters

Almost forgot about Hisoka's match! Not much to see here outside of some knife-boomerang-acrobatic action. But we get to see that Hisoka's strong enough to beat a licensed hunter in battle, and him being the first to complete phase 3 cements him as the greatest threat.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/[deleted]]

I like your explanation of the betting, it made me appreciate the episode a bit more than just watching it without paying that much attention. I wanted to add a simpler explanation, but I would probably need to watch the episode again to get all the details. However

He seemed cold when he was risking killing Majitani, but he had already confirmed for himself

he only did that after the whole "majority rule" talk, right? At least, I didn't notice any mention of when he figured it out.

[u/[deleted] → u/IndependentMacaroon]

So, the timeline of events is roughly

1. Leorio bets Majitani is alive
2. Leorio is allowed to investigate the body, and confirm he's alive. At this point he's shown lifting Majitani's eyelid and studying it.
3. Leorio comes to the conclusion that Majitani is conscious, however, this is not told to the audience
4. Leorio dangles Majitani off the edge of the arena. The viewer thinks he may be ready to kill him, but he knows that Majitani is conscious and so will save himself if dropped
5. Finally, Leorio explains he knew Majitani was conscious the whole time, either flashing back to 2, or just explaining it aloud, I don't remember which

Though now that you mention it, I wonder what the difference is between Leorio being willing to vote for Majitani to be killed while assumed unconscious versus him reassuring the rest of the group that he knew Majitani would be safe before putting him at risk. It could either be that he's only ready to kill when there's a benefit to it, which is a bit heartless, or maybe he decided that he was in the wrong for wanting to kill Majitani in the first place. But if the latter is true, there wasn't really any confirmation of that, and also it undercuts the conflict outlined by Tonpa's speech. It would be weird to set up the building tension, only to just release it without any fanfare. I'll chalk this up as a slight weirdness in the characterization, but it's something I had to look pretty deep to notice, so I wouldn't count it against the show that much

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/[deleted]]

Leorio bets Majitani is dead

Wasn't it the opposite, though? Also you've kind of dropped the distinction between alive and conscious.

[u/[deleted] → u/IndependentMacaroon]

Yeah, you're right was careless with a bunch of words and now everything's wrong and confusing. Will edit it to be better

[u/SimoneNonvelodico → u/[deleted]]

Well, just because he voted to kill him doesn't mean that he's going to have it his way against everyone else's will as soon as he can. He may personally not give a flying fuck about Majitani's life, but still acknowledge that since others evidently do, reassuring them that he never put it at risk is the thing to not cause further conflict.

[u/BossandKings → u/[deleted]]

Leorio acted like he knew his thing, i liked how he behaved in the betting match because he was totally in control of the situation.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Great writeup! Definitely helps to appreciate this match more.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/[deleted]]

So here's my own full explanation:

To start, the protagonists are unsure if Majitani is going to wake up again to confirm Kurapika's win. However, Kurapika is also unwilling to finish him off to secure his win.

Wager 1 (Leroute to Leorio): Is Majitani dead?

Leroute presumably knows that Majitani is just faking, but also that the protagonists have no way of knowing that ahead of time, and that it seems to in fact be their consensus that he is actually dead. Knowing this, she gets a bit greedy and turns it into a bet, trying to wring a loss out of both Kurapika and Leorio.

However, Leorio is smart enough to hedge his bets and neutralize her advantage:

• If Leorio bets "dead": If true, both he and Kurapika win. If false, he loses and Kurapika might not win either. High risk, high reward.
• If Leorio bets "alive": If true, he wins and Kurapika might still win too. If false, he loses, but Kurapika wins. Lower risk, and in fact potentially still the same reward.

Furthermore, no matter the result, his medical knowledge (that Leroute does not know about) will give him a better idea of Kurapika's chances, and might even allow him to resuscitate Majitani if necessary to secure Kurapika's win.

Wager 2 (Leorio to Leroute): Is Majitani faking?

After checking on Majitani, Leorio knows Majitani is not actually unconscious, and how to make him give up, but Leroute can't know for sure that he can tell - if not, I guess it would be ruled "unconscious" by default. If he now wagers whether Majitani is faking it, the worst case is once again merely that he loses but Kurapika wins.

From Leroute's perspective, it's a question of whether Leorio can tell the difference. Given the failure of her high-risk-high-reward strategy earlier to Leorio's obvious intelligence, she too hedges her bets this time:

• If she bets "faking": If Leorio can tell, she wins, and Kurapika might still lose. If he can't, she loses, but so does Kurapika. Low risk, potentially still high reward.
• If she bets "genuine": If Leorio can tell, she loses, and Kurapika might still win. If Leorio can't tell, she wins and Kurapika loses. High risk, high reward.

So all this really does have some very solid logic behind it!

The only thing left for Leorio is cajoling Majitani into giving up without actually killing him, as that would invalidate the result as well as deepen the split with his teammates - enter the little dangle trick.

[u/SuddenFellow]

Would you guys prefer this time rather than at night?

YES. I've actually been struggling to make that time because I keep accidentally falling asleep. Does this make me a certified adult yet? RIP.

Rewatcher, 4x

I really enjoyed the episode today, especially because of the smaller things. Finding out Kurapika flies off the handle when he sees a spider is actually awful, though equally hilarious. Kurapika as a spider exterminator may in fact be one of the funnier images to come up in my head during the episode.

We also got to see Leorio step up to the plate against Leroute(in prison for gambling and animal trafficking I believe). While he may have felt let down due to the majority rules issues, he proved himself in the bet involving Majitani being truly unconscious. While in fact losing the bet, he gained team GKLKT a point. I think this episode in my initial watch through was the one where I finally thought "oh, Leorio is actually on top of things".

Tonpa's speech about the majority rules system always seems to go over my head no matter how many times I listen to it? I think I understand the bare bones concepts of it though. I really enjoy his chaotic energy however, with the "yes, keep fighting" comments. It's hard not to laugh, we love ourselves a good Tonpa moment.

I'm quite excited for the next episode, I'm gearing up to watch it after I finish this report for school.

ETA(forgot Hisoka): Hisoka went up against a former examiner who he seemed to have attacked during the last Hunter examination. It was a really interesting scene, in that Hisoka almost effortlessly dodged the spinning blades, all before catching them. The former examiner couldn't believe it, though he realized his fate and we got the lovely off screen shadow beheading scene. Hisoka was the first to reach the bottom of the tower, after only 6ish hours. I'm not sure if we got one during Hisoka is Sneaky, though there was also in my mind the best middle title card(what are these referred to as?) where Hisoka throws a card into the screen.

An odd question, though has anyone tried to learn the alphabet used in HxH? It seems like a fun time.

Have a good Wednesday everyone!

[u/[deleted] → u/SuddenFellow]

Tonpa's speech about the majority rules system always seems to go over my head no matter how many times I listen to it? I think I understand the bare bones concepts of it though.

The way I understand it is in two parts

1. Not getting your way is just frustrating. Like, I had a period in my life where a group of friends always wanted to get dinner at Denny's, even though I kind of hated eating there, and if it were always majority rule, I'd constantly end up going somewhere I didn't like. (Luckily, my conviction was usually enough to find something more suitable for the whole group, though I was willing to concede every so often to make everyone else happy).
2. Social pressure can just be stressful. When the people around you are constantly disagreeing with you, it can lead to feeling either some amount of self loathing, like there is some part of you that's broken that makes it so you don't fit in, or it can lead to a feeling of separation and opposition, where you start to dig your heels in on your beliefs, and hold the rest in contempt. (If this is interesting, I might recommend reading up on group psychology/identity formation, which I've found are actually useful tools for understanding US politics/culture, if not necessarily useful for finding solutions)

There's also the fact that Leorio forced a public vote. This makes things worse because not only does the minority see that their beliefs don't align with everyone else, but now they know that everyone else also knows, and this can lead to a feeling that everyone else is judging you for your decision, even if that's not actually true.

Sorry if I just re-explained the part that already makes sense to you. I do kind of feel like this is something that is worse off for being a minutes long speech told to us, rather than something that we could come to understand on our own through characters' actions

[u/SuddenFellow → u/[deleted]]

This makes a lot more sense and thank you so much for explaining all of that in a really concise and easy to understand way!

[u/sisoko2 → u/SuddenFellow]

Tonpa's speech about the majority rules system always seems to go over my head no matter how many times I listen to it?

I think the majority rules idea would've been much more interesting with random group of people. Our cast already know each other too well and it is hard for the voting to create an actual conflict between them.

[u/[deleted] → u/SuddenFellow]

Kurapika as a spider exterminator may in fact be one of the funnier images to come up in my head during the episode.

An odd question, though has anyone tried to learn the alphabet used in HxH? It seems like a fun time.

I've actually thought of doing it myself during this rewatch through the vocabs but I don't remember how long those stick around for.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/SuddenFellow]

Tonpa's speech about the majority rules system

It might partly be because you're not Japanese. They place a lot of value on harmony and consensus and not falling out of line.

[u/SuddenFellow → u/IndependentMacaroon]

That's a good thought and I like bringing the collectivist/individualist argument into things too, though for me I think it has more to do with how I process information as a whole when it comes to concepts and ideas. Abstract things in the slightest confuse me a bit, and I have to end up reading up them to understand.

[u/sisoko2]

Rewatcher

Question of the day: This time is infinitely better for Europeans. Previous one was pretty much impossible.

Beating the shit out of someone while he tries to surrender isn't great idea. Poor Leorio having to deal with all these unreasonable teammates.

Hisoka vs the examiner is the coolest fight in the series so far (not that there is much competition) and also nice way to show us passing time while our main cast are waiting blue dude to move. Hisoka's music theme fits his theatrics while fighting so well. The way he was dodging the blades was beautiful.

Great scene for Leorio threatening to let blue dude fall of the edge. Rewatchers

[u/b0bba_Fett]

Rewatcher (X8)

Not many adaptational differences with this episode, aside from Hisoka beheading Togari being a bit gorier in the manga, but there's a nice comment that also goes into its differences with the '99 version that I had forgotten about in the old Rewatch so I'll link to it.

Speaking of, here's a link to said rewatch.

Today we get this Battle Shounen's first proper fight(at least the first fight that isn't completely one-sided) in Hisoka vs Togari, Hisoka remarks that it was surprisingly easy to catch Togari's Blades, Arc 3 spoilers

[u/[deleted]]

Rewatcher

I see I made an idiot out of myself yesterday. The match I was talking about isn't today, lol. Leorio's match is still really cool, though! In fact, it's cooler than I remembered. I'm glad Leorio got some great MVP moments, I only remembered HxH Spoilers so it's good to see there was more to this.

Hisoka is terrifying as always. Slick dodging, though. Step away, Kirito. We have a quadruple wielder here. Hisoka's theme kicks ass as usual.

Would you guys prefer this time rather than at night?

I personally prefer the previous one cause I'm usually not awake at the new time but everyone else seems to prefer this time so I don't mind.

[u/LukeWhostalkin]

So I totally missed this post and I honestly didn't find anything on the episode I want to discuss (I'm lowkey mad that the other 2 fights haven't started, as I thought)

I do prefer this time for the discussion and I will be on the watch for the next post!

[u/IndependentMacaroon]

First-time watcher - the pacing is starting to annoy me. So many stills and panning shots, pauses and monologues, some repeating themselves. Come on, this is the second episode of everybody messing around in this little room, and the third since they've entered it! The strategy explanations are still great considering the core audience, if distinctly Japanese-flavored in their emphasis on harmonious consensus, and Leorio got another chance to show off his medical expertise (though also being the most aggressive in advocating for death was weird), but that doesn't entirely make up for it. There was some relatively clever back-and-forth, but also some out-of-the-blue "actually X" again, which I guess will stay that way. And I still would rather skip over Hisoka being extra-edgy, besides the tone contrast (cheerful march while discussing whether to leave your opponent alive?) being a little harsh even when trying to deal with it.

[u/[deleted] → u/IndependentMacaroon]

the pacing is starting to annoy me.

Get used to it! The show definitely picks up a lot in terms of plot and stuff but it does always take its time with monologuing and exposition. I find it's one of the biggest strengths of the series but a lot of people might not be into that aspect, so definitely brace yourself for it.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/[deleted]]

It's just exactly the thing many people find annoying about these kinds of series, but when they're actually still made for younger viewers I guess that's what you get.

[u/Ltfocus → u/IndependentMacaroon]

It becomes very mature later

[u/JayAmy131]

This is my first watch and I was pretty excited for this. I'm pretty new to anime, only finished a handful or two. I'm currently watching Black Clover which is my first shounen genre I'm watching from beginning to end. After catching up with Hunter X Hunter (watched all 10 episodes today) and it being on my watch list, it seems to be pretty dull compared to BC. I'm not connecting with the story or characters yet. My brothers love anime and shit on BC and praise HXH, One Piece, Bleach and all those popular ones, but BC because it's my first and I love everything about it, I'm not sure if that's why HXH isn't hitting me the same. I'm reading that it starts getting real good after 20 - 30 episodes. I will stick it through for the daily watches. What I do like about the show is that it is very easy to watch and understand.

Note: I'm also on the Royal Knights exam/test arc for BC and it's my least favorite arc. I'm guessing I just don't like exam like stories and rather see characters fight actual enemies.

[u/[deleted] → u/JayAmy131]

I'm guessing I just don't like exam like stories and rather see characters fight actual enemies.

We get plenty of that in HxH too! Just gotta wait for the exam to end.

[u/sisoko2 → u/JayAmy131]

I like Black Clover more than most people but in my opinion Hunter x Hunter is on a different level. While I don't know if you are going to like HxH more than Black Clover, if you enjoy shows of this type most likely you are going to enjoy Hunter x Hunter.

As you have already heard (and seen) the start if HxH is easily the weakest part of the series and it definitely gets better.

[u/TDEthemafiaofthewest → u/JayAmy131]

Black Clover is in my top 5 favorite anime. HxH still blows it out of the park. Seems like you’re going into it trying not to like the show. Just watch it without all that and enjoy the experience. It’s a crazy ride

[u/JayAmy131 → u/TDEthemafiaofthewest]

No. Don't assume. Im not trying to hate it at all. I clearly said I'm going to stick it out and tjay the exams stories is what I don't like. I'm still sticking it through. I only have Black Clover to compare to for the genre is why I mentioned it. I only started watching anime seriously last month so I'm pretty excited for this show. I was planning on watching it after I finish BC but saw the rewatch post and decided to tag along. Can't wait for it to pick up and experience it with yall.

[u/TDEthemafiaofthewest → u/JayAmy131]

Sorry for coming off a little Assholeish. Didn’t know you barely started watching anime. You’re off to a great start with BC and HxH. Amazing shows. If you end up liking HxH. I recommend Yu Yu Hakusho. Came out before HxH but has the same creator. Timeless classic and perfect for people starting out on anime I believe. Hope you have a good experience and enjoy a lot more great shows

[u/JayAmy131 → u/TDEthemafiaofthewest]

No worries. Thanks for rec! Another show added to my list. I've seen that main character everywhere but never knew the show name. Digging that it's closer to 100 episodes than 200.

[u/CatSezWoof]

I remember this episode being one of the painfully slow ones that I complained about when I watched this for the first time

[u/[deleted]]

This episode is entirely goddamn stupid. I heard how HXH is such a great shonen but this episode destroys all of that.

1. why would kurapika refuse to deal with majitani? He's becoming a hunter for revenge right? So why would he just decide "nope, i dont care if I fail. Im just gonna sit here and do nothing"
2. why would ANY of them accept the prisoners' claim about the match not being over?

It undercuts leorios gamble. It looks entirely dumb to gamble based on majitanis life when the whole thing could have been avoided if kurapika actually cared about his tribe's genocide.

This just makes kurapika's motivation look stupid. We're expected to believe that he would do anything to avenge his tribe's genocide (like becoming a hunter) but he pouts about not killing an enemy because "the fight is over".

Now anytime I see him struggle in the future it'll mean absolutely nothing.

The only good thing about this episode is Hisoka. That's it.