Hey guys,

I played RE2R as my first RE game like 3 years ago. I only completed it once from Leon’s POV.
In the meantime I’ve played RE4R and today I completed Requiem.
I saw the veronica reveal and was curious what I should play before.

People are saying I should play 1 and 2 (claire), given she’s a main character in Veronica.

Now my question is if it is worth doing a Claire run, and how should I do it?. I’ve read that you can do a first or second run for claire. If I had to pick one, what do you guys recommend? and is it like a new game or is a lot similar compared to the Leon route.
LMK :D

I know this movie is almost 30 years old, but I watched it for the first time a few weeks ago. This was my first Ghibli movie and I was NOT disappointed.
I wrote a lil review to get my thoughts out and on paper. So yeah I thought why not post it here. Enjoy :D

This movie starts of extremely fast paced. They introduce the main character and his village, what happens to him and why he's doing what he's doing. This all went by really fast and I didn't mind it that much, it didn't lose my attention at all and was excited for what was next. In hindsight I would've liked a slower introduction and more characterization for our mc, but it is what it is. I liked the mystery it set up. Still a good introduction.
After a bit he gets to the iron village. Loved this part. The whole idea behind it is cool, I loved Lady Eboshi and all the interactions in the village were funny asf. Here we also get more context for the world and the place he's at. Here it is pretty clear this is a man vs nature kind of story and I love those. The action scene where San fights Eboshi was sick too. I like that Ashitaka is in the middle ground here and tries to please both sides. The scene where Ashitaka is taken to the Deer God by San was beautiful. After this Ashitaka has a lot of interactions with the animal side and it offers different sides to the story. Liked the interactions between San and Ashitaka also. The rest of the movie is pretty much the showdown between the humans and the animals.

In this movie we see many different perspectives of this conflict and I think its really interesting. There are many great themes in this movie like the cycle of hatred, revenge, humanity vs nature, life and death, and human greed. They are handled extremely well in my opinion and definitely had me questioning stuff. The whole conflict between humans and the forest, whilst offering many perspectives. We have San who's mostly on the wolfs side but she changes her mind, the different sides of the animal species, Lady Eboshi wanting the best for her village but at the cost of the forest, the dirty rat who wanted the Deer God's head for his own gain, Ashitaka being in the middle ground. There isn't a clear right or wrong in this movie. A lot is very grey and that's what makes all these different perspectives so interesting to me and it allows the themes to flourish.
This really elevated the movie for me.

The showdown was great. As I said, all the different sides of the story made it much better. The part where The Wolf and Boar leader are slumping to the Deer God and end up dying was great. Very cool scene. I feel like the Deer God decided that they were better off dead. They still bared the hatred and want for revenge of the previous generation.
I really liked the conclusion of this movie as well. I get that it doesn't give much closure but I don't mind. Nothing is really resolved. Lady Eboshi will build her village back up again and start mining, the emperor is still there and the Shogun attacking the village will come back. It feels pretty realistic in my opinion. The fight between humanity and nature never really ends. San and Ashitaka's final interaction was sweet too.
All in all The plot was great. It could've done a little more but still not much to complain about. As I said the themes were amazing and I have no complaints there.

Now about the characters. I think they are quite good.
I like Ashitaka, but due to the fast pace in the beginning we don't get to know him that well. He's very likeable and has some depth, but it could've been better. San is the character I wanted to see more of the most. She's so interesting and the way she grew up lays great groundwork for a well written character. I'm not saying she's not, but I think it could've been better. I also would've liked more interactions between these 2. I think the romance is fine, they went through a lot together and are very alike. Feelings starting to rise isn't that crazy here imo. I just wish we got to see more of it and have them be more fleshed out.
I loved Lady Eboshi, great character and don't really have any complaints here. Her morals are very interesting.
I liked the rest of the cast as well. The animals were interesting, the people in the village as well.
If the plot was more complex and the main characters were more fleshed out, this movie would've been perfect to me tbh.

The production was PHENOMENAL. As to be expected for a movie made by Miyazaki. The animation, art style and the music were so amazing and some of the best I've ever seen. Really immersed me into the world. The feel of it is just such a unique experience.

Great first Ghibli experience. Was not disappointed.
9/10

https://preview.redd.it/9n40u9njhefh1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=79147c6cfdccf9fdd481b6f5d8cdfcb957b7c38a

Could anyone tell me what chapter this panel is from? Thanks!

Hey guys, I've recently been more active on reddit for the first time. HxH is my fav anime oat so i obv joined this community. On my recent rewatch this year I decided to write a review/analysis for my fav arc oat, Chimera ant. (Also wrote something quick on ep 116 en 131 so lmk if anyones interested in that).

At first I talk about the plot, I walk through it from beginning to end and give my thoughts while describing everything. So this part might not be that interesting for everyone. If you want you can skip to the character part, which would be more interesting.
I mostly wrote this review for myself to get my thoughts out and on paper. The review is copied from my notes on my iphone, so it might look weird sometimes.

This review is HUGE so I doubt anyone is gonna read it anyway, but if you do lmk. You'd have my respect lol.

Chimera Ant

Plot: 9.75/10

In this section i’ll just talk about the plot from beginning to end, i’ll talk about some character moments etc. but i’ll get deeper in to that on the character section.

The infiltration

Do i really need to say that the plot is peak. This is my favorite arc so obviously everything is gonna be peak but yeah.
I think this arc starts off really strong. It doesn’t instantly hit you with flashy stuff or anything like that but it sets the stage extremely well. The way the chimera ants are introduced is super interesting and keeps you curious for what will happen. I think the whole idea of the chimera ants is also very original. The chimera ants we see in the beginning are also very interesting. Many of them have actual character and are distinct from one another. The way they interact with each other, showing their way of society is also well done to me. Characters like Colt are instantly so likeable and it gives you hints of how ‘human’ these ants can really be. Kite’s introduction is a controversial topic. Many people think it is not justified how Gon acts because of the way Kite is introduced, but i think the anime still explains their relationship pretty well in the beginning. I’ll get into Gon’s journey later ofc. The little part of Gyro’s backstory was also very compelling but short. Cool setup for a potential villain (i’ll talk more about it later, again). Then we get Rammot engaging in a fight with Gon and Killua. I think this was a cool fight that displayed the way Gon and Killua have evolved during the Greed Island arc. This also is a great setup for what happens next. Rammot is hit by a shit ton of Nen from Gon and Killua, this causes his body to adapt and be able to use nen. This is the catalyst that causes the Ants to learn Nen and it makes perfect sense. So if u think about it everything in this arc is Gon’s fault😊jk.
We also get to see different characters like Leon that desire to have their own kingdoms, we see multiple of these ants and i think this creates interesting side plots and characters.

Eventually we see a big group of ants that are willing to 1v1 Gon, killua, and kite. These fights are pretty cool and Kite’s scythe is fuckign sick. This fight also displays something important, Gon’s darkness🐺. We see him mercilessly killing an Ant without even looking back. It’s like he squatted a fly. The lack of reaction gives us a glimpse of what’s to come.
They move on and they get very close to the Ant Nest. This is where shit goes downhill. Pitou kills Kite and shows how much the gap between human and ants (Nen wise). This is the catalyst for Gon’s character arc and i think it serves as a great setup. Amazing scene too btw.
After this we get a small training arc that introduces new characters. Knuckle, Shoot, Morel, Palm and Knov are introduced. Pretty weird but funny side plot with Gon and Palm, cool fights from Gon and Killua. Knuckle is my goat. Also great fight between Killua and the rabbit ant, nice character development and made me emotional.
We also see Netero with his squad picking off Ants and analyzing them. This gives us cool insights and serves as more build up.

Then the king is born. God this introduction was phenomenal. You can instantly see how powerful and brutal he is by the way he ‘kills’ his mother and doesn’t care, or how he chopped off a head from an ant that spoke out of line. The show really makes u think he’s just another brutal king with no empathy.
I don’t think i talked about it but all the royal guards are obv born already and i think their introduction was great as well. The way they interact with other Ants show you the sheer amount of power they possess.

Then we get a little side plot with the phantom group against the Ants that went on their own, again very interesting to see how these Ants operate on their own. Fucking sick fights and it finally shows us more of the phantom troupe and their power, very cool to see. Feitan aura farming.

Now the plot starts building towards the main part. They start infiltrating East gorteau. I think the plot here was interesting and gives great set up for the Palace fight.
It’s also cool to see Killua’s character development in action. You can rlly tell he’s changed. Then we get an introduction of my goat, the one and only IKALGOOOO. This guy is just so likeable you literally can’t hate him. Nice relationship established with Killua. Meleoron is also introduced, isn’t as goated as Ikalgo but i still love him as a character. Gon’s naivety is funny to see, given how quick he trust meleoron. We also get introduced to Komugi, who doesn’t seem like an extremely important character at first, even though she is the single most important character in the whole arc. Cool introduction and has an interesting dynamic with Meruem from the get go.
Then we get some cool fights between the ants, like morel vs cheetu, morel vs leol and more. I love how unique the abilities of the Ants are, it fits them really well. We also get more interactions between Komugi and the King. He’s already displaying his growth here by protecting komugi from the birds for example. All the scenes with Komugi and Meruem are goated tbh.

I also love the way the royal guard is responding to these changes. Especially Pouf, this mf is obsessed. Such an interesting and despicable character though. Now it’s just a little bit of build up till the iconic sequence, the Palace fight.

And my god they start it off with a bang.

The conflict

Everyone fighting for their life and these mfs just aura farming. Jokes aside very cool entrance though, this causes Komugi to be injured which will dictate a lot of what will happen next. We also get to see some of Neteros backstory/training, which was cool to see. We see Meruem entering the room where Komugi is injured and this displays his human nature even more, he orders pitou to protect Komugi which also causes her character to change somewhat. Then we get the iconic staircase fight.
Idc what anyone says this fight is amazing and builds the tension really well. Yeah the narrator sometimes states the obvious but in general i think he provides good insight and adds a nice uniqueness to the feel of the arc. Knuckle and shoot my goats.
Killua abandoning his mission for a sec to save Ikalgo was wholesome to see too.

Shoots whole sequence with Youpi was goated. Zeno using his ability to send Meruem and Netero away was sick asf. We also get introduced to Welfin, who seems interesting. Knuckle saving Shoot from youpi was real too.
Now we see gon approaching the building where Pitou is healing Komugi, and shit is about to go down😭. I already wrote a whole essay about ep 116 as a whole so i won’t go too much into it but this sequence was so amazing. The raw emotions Gon is displaying and how inhuman he seems is amazing. We see this naive boy grow into this, even though it’s really been here all along if you payed attention. Killua dying from inside😔. Peak. Production wise this was also amazing, from the voice acting to the animation, etc.

After this we got more of the youpi fight. He starts controlling his rage which will serve as nice character development later. We also see Cheetuh get absolutely fucking decimated by Silva.
Meanwhile Killua pulls up and starts aura farming on Youpi. His new ability Godspeed is so sick and visually pleasing as well. It’s kind of broken but the limited time balances it out.
Poufs fight vs Morel was cool too. After this we see him engage with Youpi and Knuckle. This fight as a whole was fucking sick and had a goated ending. Youpi gaining some respect for humanity, in comparison to him seeing them as flies (he still kind of does), was very cool to see and made him my fav royal guard. Loved that he spared Morel even though it went against his loyalty for the king. Sick transformation too.

Next we see the start of the fight between Netero and Meruem. Really cool dialogue and the fact that Meruem is unaffected by Neteros attacks is funny. lightwork no reaction. I love the way Meruem just wants to talk and gain more insight about humanity because of Komugi.
Then we get to ep 123 which is one of the most underrated hxh episodes imo (not saying it’s on of the best). Forgot to talk about it but Ikalgos part in this arc is interesting too and i like his character conflicts we see, for example the fact he couldn’t kill the ant. Here we see Welfin sneaking up on Ikalgo. Ikalgo eventually gets centipedes in his head/skin but does not give a fuck. My goat. After this we get more of Welfins backstory and Ikalgo helps him realize again how it feels to tell the truth/trust people. I think Welfins character is fitting, he had a good backstory and his short development here was very nice to see.

Next we see killua meeting with Ant-palm. At first u think she’s on our side, then she’s not, then she is. Cool interaction and after this palm helps killua in his crisis. My boy is hurt and does not know what to do. Palm reminds him of his purpose and he locks in again.
After this we get more of pitou and gon. Pouf also enters and tries to communicate with Pitou. He wants to kill komugi so bad lol. Meanwhile netero and meruem continue their fight and they enter the tomb. This leads to the climax of their fight.
This fight was so amazing bro, prob the best fight in the series combat-wise. It was so cool to finally see Netero and Meruems power. Meruem is just too OP and kept growing. This mf did not even go down after zero hand😭. He did go down (for a while) after the big ass fucking nuke though.
This was just the perfect conclusion to this fight thematically, which i’ll get into more later. I think this fight also serves an important role for Meruems character development. Obviously he’s finally engaged in serious battle with a human on ‘his level’ and he gains new perspective on what humanity is capable of (big ass boom). It also causes stuff that i’ll get into in a sec.

The climax

Next pitou leaves with Gon to Peijing, she’s cooked💔. Youpi leaves with Pouf to find the kings body and they do.
Ig this is a controversial moment cause the episode is rated really low for hxh standards, but youpi and pouf give their life force to the almost dying Meruem and they revive him. I just think people were mad that he still didn’t die, i don’t necessarily think this was an ass pull. Given that Nen (life force) is a thing and the king literally grows stronger by consuming others with nen (which is stated in the anime). I think the scene itself was beautiful and funny asf. Like these mfs really nutting because of the praise Meruem is giving them. Jokes aside i liked the art style they used and the way the scene was produced.

The king has lost his memory however, and Pouf wants to take advantage of this by killing komugi. I think the fact that Meruem lost his memories is good for his character development cuz he’s kind of a blank slate again but his personality still has changed from before, he’s more mature. After this we get the iconic scene between Gon and Pitou. Again, i’ve yapped about this already so i’ll keep it short. Amazing fight, peak character moment, peak production, everything peak. Loved the way everything around Gon had been built up to this moment, and the conclusion did not disappoint. This shit made me cry. Also very good conclusion to Pitou, given her character arc.

Meanwhile Meruem is slowly regaining his memories. Palm and Ikalgo hide Komugi underground from the royal guard and the king. Then Welfin goes outside and pulls up to Youpi. He was planning on doing nothing but bc of my goat Ikalgo he said fuck it and wanted to fight him. This is bc he’s an Ant on the human side with his memories and Youpi isn’t. However before they could fight Youpi just died bc of radiation. This is my only flaw of this arc. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the cause of death, i just thought it was very anticlimactic compared to the other 2 royal guard deaths and didn’t really hold any emotional weight. Amazing scene for welfin though.

In the next episode Meruem and Pouf encounter Welfin. Pouf thinks Welfin is a threat, cause he could awake Meruems memories of Komugi. He wants to question him but Pouf interrupts him. Welfin knows he is the key to this and tries to find out how he can fit his role and save his own skin. It’s really interesting to see the way the king communicates because he can read minds now, he doesn’t need to wait for answers. Meruem spares Pouf because of his insane loyalty, even if it goes against the king at the same time. The king is about to kill Welfin so his mind is on race mode (amazing scene btw), and he said it. Komugi. And at last, the king remembers, god that scene gives me chills. Peak.
He decides not to punish Pouf. He confronts Welfin for his hatred for him. He leaves Welfin, but Welfin decides to give one last shout and said he will only ever call Gyro king and declares him an enemy.
Meruem responds, completely calm. “I hope you find him…. And if possible, I hope you can live as a human”. GOAT SHIT😭🙏🏻. This episode was so fucking good and an amazing display of Meruems growth. He’s truly become human, maybe something better than that.

After this he confronts Palm to find Komugi. Palm struggles and refuses to tell him, wanting to believe the Ant King is an evil creature. While talking to him, she realizes that this is no evil creature. However she refuses to accept reality. Meruem stayed calm and did not raise his voice or use violence. No, he did the opposite. This mf wanted to bow. However Palm could not take it anymore and stopped him (she’s still an Ant). Palm folded under the Kings human nature and revealed the location. Again, amazing scene and display of character development. After this we see Pouf dead on the floor. With this one however, i have no problems. I think his final scene with Meruem was amazing and a great conclusion. Now we get to the final scene, Meruems final moments with Komugi😢.

We see them playing Gungi, obviously. Suddenly Komugi started crying and asked if such wonderful things are allowed to happen to a girl like her, shit made me cry. Meruem reveals he’s poisoned and that she would die too if she stayed, she stayed however💔. “I believe that i was born to be here today”. Then we get a beautiful credits scene with all their memories.
Next is.... the scene. “Komugi, are you still there?”, “Komugi, are you still here?”, “I’m a little tired, will you hold my hand”. god this shit is heartbreaking.
“Komugi, thank you…. Will you call me by my name one last time?”. “Good night, meruem, i’ll be joining you soon”😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭. Fuck man this scene made me cry so hard holy shit. This is the best villain conclusion ever. But i will yap more on the character section.

After this we get a calm lil conclusion episode, SIKE, get your heart broken again.

We see Welfin dip to go find Gyro, go my king. Bolster stays with Reina to lead her back to her village. Eventually the Mother of Reina sees her and instantly recognizes her and the poor girl breaks down. This scene made me cry as well fuck. At the end Bolster leaves, but Reina follows him and offers him to come eat. This suddenly makes Bolster cry and he’s confused by this. These mfs really got me crying over a goddamn lobster bruh💔. The final scene is Killua at Gon’s ‘death bed’. He is resolved to save his best friend on his own. Amazing conclusion to the arc.

Well thats the plot part of the review done. Was longer than i expected it to be jesus, but the other parts are gonna be shorter than this. Overall the plot was basically flawless. It is so amazing how this arc managed to deconstruct the typical shounen arc. This shit completely flipped the script. The creativity is next level, the plot was engaging, great plot twists, great moments and conclusion and just amazing themes. Speaking of themes.

Themes: 10/10

The themes of this arc are a big part of why it’s so special to me. The biggest themes obviously being Humanity, Human nature and Morality. Other apparent themes are Power and corruption, Vengeance, evolution and identity. These are just the ones that stuck out to me the most. Imma get into most of these themes and explain why they execute it so well. Humanity and Human nature are probably displayed the most. We see these ants as evil beings in the beginning of the arc. But there are also good ones residing, given that the ants are part human this is only natural. All these ants have different moral compasses and it’s interesting to see how these are displayed. Given the fact that they’re kind of ‘babies’ with the personality of their former human life. Aside from the good ants, most of the ants are portrayed as bad. The whole arc it has been Ants vs Humans. But who is really worse? We see ants doing horrible things, but are they really that bad when you compare them to humans. The most obvious display of this question was the scene where netero uses the Rose bomb. A weapon that was made with the pure intention of destruction. This is the product of humanities evilness and it raises the question, are these ants really worse than humans? These mfs used a literal nuke to destroy the king because they could not win.

Gon is also a great depiction of the evil things humans are capable of (Vengeance), but i will get way more into that in the character section.
Meruem’s character obviously depicts identity, since he is in an.... identity crisis. Again, i will get more into it later.

Well i guess that’s it for the themes? shorter than i expected but a lot of what i wanna say is in the character part.

Characters: 9.75/10

Meruem

The characters in this arc are phenomenal, they all have their traits, depth and most of the main cast is quite complex and interesting. I’ll start with my favorite character, Meruem.

I think the setup for Meruem was very well done. Before he is even born you’re already curious who this character is, what’s he gonna look like, etc. They build up the tension really well. Then the king is born (amazing scene btw) and instantly he’s established as a king with no empathy and a lust for power, this allows for good development later on ofc. The king stays this way for a while, which makes sense given the circumstances, until he meets Komugi. When he starts battling against Komugi he finds out new things about life. At first he thinks it’s the joy of wanting to beat someone better than you, but this evolves into something more. We see him break off his arm for example to apologize during a game.
We see this identity crisis deepen when he wonders what his name is, asking his royal guard. This shows that he seeks more for his identity, rather than just being the king. Eventually he decides that he shall kill Komugi, he is the king after all. He has the power to destroy anything he wants so why should he bother with this weak girl. He goes to her room to see her being attacked by some birds or something, and protects her. He shocks himself with his own actions and feelings. Which makes sense, he has no idea about subjects like love and care. Komugi starts crying and says this is the nicest someone’s ever been to her. Komugi has been treated like shit her whole life, so for the first time someone cares about her. The fact that she can’t see Meruem also allows for her to see him in an unbiased way. This goes on for a while and Meruem is conflicted. Until the royal palace is attacked.
Here Meruem realizes how much he really cares for her and orders Pitou to heal her. This event tips to scale to Meruems human side further. The scene with Netero and Zeno here is amazing too.

Then he goes on to fight Netero. The dialogue here is very interesting and adds to Meruems character. He refuses to fight him, he wants to talk it out with words. He also mentions power is meant to be wielded with responsibility, and to protect the weak. This shows a big change in character. The fight itself is insane. Then at the end we get the big boom. I don’t have much to say about Netero, i think he’s a really cool and likable character and his dialogue with the king was great. I think his backstory was quite interesting too and his conclusion was just perfect. Character wise and thematically as well (for the plot). The way he can go from silly to locked tf in is funny. Later we see Meruem being revived by Pouf and Youpi, amazing scene too. It is revealed that Meruem has lost his memories. As i said earlier i think this was great setup for his character development. His human side was already prevailing but this keeps the grounds between his Human side and Ant side a bit more even. Meruem slowly gets his memories back but he keeps missing something, Komugi of course. At last it is revealed by Welfin (which i’ll get more into later). Then we get an absolutely stunning shot of Meruem regaining his memories, and at the same time embracing his humanity fully. After this Welfin says some hostile stuff to Meruem and he simply responds: I hope you can reach your goal in life and live alongside Humans. Beautiful.
Such an amazing way to finally conclude his full character journey.

After this we get a beautiful display of this development in the scene with Palm. I talked about this already but this mf was really about to bow. This scene really solidifies that he’s fully human now and it’s amazing to see. Then we get one of the best character conclusions of all time, which i already talked about. Peak.

Meruem is my favorite villain oat and i think this explains it quite well. Komugi is also an amazing character and her dynamic with Meruem is so good. Her being blind is perfect, which i already explained i think. She really just sees Meruem for who he really is and it was a great way to develop his character. Komugi as a character alone is very interesting too. Her lack of self worth and finding it back through Meruems love was very heartwarming. Her being happy to die together with the first person to show her unconditional love is a beautiful way to conclude her character.

The Royal Guards

Then we have the royal guards, which are peak characters too. Even though Meruem overshadows them a bit.

Pouf is probably the most interesting to me. First of all, his character design is amazing. I think the way he’s always inside his head and overthinks every single thing is interesting to see. His loyalty for the king is what makes his character stand out the most for me. We see very quickly just how loyal Pouf is for the king and this works out just fine. The king is just doing his King shit and not straying from his path. That is until we see him slip to his human side. When Komugi is introduced, Pouf is already concerned. He worries how this will affect the king and his path. He spares the girl however, because the king has to beat her. This obviously escalates because he never ends up beating her.
We see Pouf constantly thinking and stressing about the fact that the King has grown attached to this insignificant human. However, at the same time, he feels huge guilt towards the king. He feels he is not worthy enough to serve him because of his mistakes and letting stuff like this happen. At the same time he feels guilt because he’s going against Meruems wishes, but his loyalty to the king prevails and he does what he thinks is best for him. That’s the key, what he thinks is best for him. Pouf is constantly serving the King in his head, the one who is perfect and completely focused on his path. He serves the King, instead of serving Meruem.
We see this especially when the Meruem loses his memories. Pouf sees this as the perfect opportunity to get rid of Komugi, but at the same time is torn by his guilt for hiding things from Meruem. I think the way his character is displayed throughout the whole arc is amazing and interesting to see. The way his character concludes is perfect too.
In his final encounter with Meruem, his secret is finally revealed. Meruem spares him however. They are one now and he can see that Poufs actions were purely out of loyalty towards the King. At the end Pouf realizes just how much the king loves Komugi, and how wrong he has been this whole time. He finally realizes that he was only serving the ideal version of Meruem inside his head. In his final scene we see him crawling towards Meruem, even when he’s dying, showing his resolve even more. Beautiful conclusion. I also read a comment that said: Pouf is born as a butterfly, hence why he cannot undergo any development. He is in his final stage from the start.
This explains his character well and i think it fits thematically. One of the most underrated antagonists in this arc, and AniManga as a whole.

Next i’ll talk about Youpi, my personal favorite. Peak character design as well. Youpi starts off as your regular hot headed villain who doesn’t think and acts with emotions and violence. Later on when the fight with Knuckle and Shoot starts we still see this. During the battle however Youpi undergoes quite a bit of character development and I think this is handled extremely well. We see Youpi being engulfed by his rage constantly. Eventually it got him thinking, and he realized this is where his power comes from. He learns to control this emotion because he wants to control this power. He’s learning control over his emotions mid-battle, very cool. This is already quite a bit of development for Youpi.
However, as the battle goes on, he goes through more. When Knuckle sacrifices his mission and pride to save a friend, he is moved. Youpi is shocked himself by his feelings, but he can’t help but have respect for them. Before this battle he saw humans as little insects to be crushed. When the battle ends however, he says he still sees them as insect. But that is exactly why he respects them. He admires them for having the courage to face their enemies, even when the odds are against them in every single way.
I think this single battle added so much to his character and instantly made him my fav royal guard on my rewatch. After this we also see him in the scene whilst healing Meruem. again, great scene. I don’t think he adds all that much after his battle however, and i think his death is quite disappointing. It felt very sudden and abrupt. I get that he had his character development, but a more grand moment and his final scene would’ve been way better. Something like Poufs conclusion.

At last, we have Pitou. The least interesting Royal Guard to me, but a long shot from a boring character. Again, her design is peak. Togashi was in his bag when designing these ants bruh. Pitou is a care free character at first. She doesn’t take much too serious and just does what she enjoys. Mostly fighting strong humans, she’s loyal to the king but not to an extent like Pouf. She also takes into account her own desires, even when they don’t benefit the king. Like Youpi, Pitou has a specific moment that really sets off her development. The moment Komugi is injured, Meruem asks poitou to heal her at any cost. The love Meruen has for this woman moves Pitou. And the fact that the King asked this of her, not command moved her eve more. He puts all her trust in Pitou to heal the thing he cares about the most. We can tell that Pitou actually cares about this woman because of her importance to the king, she’s growing some sympathy.
This is displayed many times during her interaction with Gon. She still lies to him about Kite, but this is for the sake of the king of course. When she arrives where Kite is, with Gon, she reveals that Kite is already dead however. What you would expect from her at the beginning of the arc is that she would want to fight Gon next, hoping that his anger towards her creates a new exciting battle for her.
However, we see that she actually feels some sympathy for him. She didn’t enjoy the fact that she had to lie to him and toy with his feelings. She tells him that she unfortunately has to kill him now. Huge development obviously. That doesn’t happen however and she gets absolutely fucking slammed lol. Very good conclusion to her character though. Her final moments are just her being grateful for the fact that this power is used on her, and not towards the king. She’s truly grown compassion and more loyalty for the king. Her death hits even harder because, in real time, she just underwent this huge character development. We never see her character flourish into the empathetic version of herself that she became/was becoming. Truly tragic. Great character, even though she’s my least favorite.

I also think the powers of the Royal guards are so cool and interesting, and they fit their character respectively very well. Poufs power of hypnotizing people, splitting himself up, reading minds and more. It all comes down to control and knowledge. Pouf is an over thinker that wants everything in his control so this makes perfect sense thematically. I already went into Youpi’s power a bit. Pitou is someone that likes to play with her victims, she only cares about having fun (at first). Her ability of having control over bodies etc. makes sense as well.

The character designs also fit their characters so well, as i’ve explained with Pouf. Youpis design really fits his character before his development, he looks like an angry mf. Pitou is a cat, which obviously makes sense given that she’s a playful, unserious character. She later grows mature, like a cat growing up and having children to take care of.

I love the royal guard so much and i think they all play their role so perfectly in this story. Their dynamics are amazing and Togashi did such an amazing job at writing and designing these characters.

Goddamn this section might be even longer than my plot section.

The Ants

Now i’ll be talking about the other Ants in the arc for a little bit. My favorite was definitely Ikalgo, basic choice yeah. You just can’t help but love this guy man. He’s such a wholesome character and the way he met killua instantly made him a goat already. The sequence where he’s underground in the palace is fire too and it goes pretty deeply into his character. Stuff like his own self worth and self acceptance. The way he put his life on the line when confronted by Welfin, etc. He had amazing moments throughout the whole arc. Great character.

Then we move on to my close second favorite, Welfin. He’s very underrated imo and he surprised me on my rewatch, cuz i kinda forgot about his arc. We don’t see him often but when he’s on screen he’s just the scheming typa guy that doesn’t trust anyone, not much more. Then out of nowhere he gets a fire episode when confronting Ikalgo, and we get to know much more about his character. The way they developed him in a single episode without it seeming rushed is very well done. We learn about his backstory, his motives, why he doesn’t trust anyone, etc. Through his encounter with Ikalgo he learns to speak the truth for once and trust someone a little bit, great episode. After this i think he has good moments throughout the whole arc, especially his final scene with Meruem. That whole sequence was amazing, but i already touched upon that. His declaration to Meruem hit me as well. He really grew into a more trusting character, and his new motives like looking for Gyro and living like a human is great.

Now we have Colt. I think his character is cool but nothing crazy. Very likeable, and the first Ant we see with some ‘good’ traits. He serves kind of as a sneak peek that ants can be good as well, and that their personality is very much bound to their human traits. I think Meleoron was cool too, funny character. Very nice design too and his ability allowed for cool moments. Bloster was nothing special to me until the end, especially the last episode. Great conclusion to his character. Cheetuh and Leol were also cool/funny side character. Nothing crazy but I enjoyed their screen time a lot.

Well that’s it for the ants, mostly.

Gon and Killua

I’ll start talking with the second goat of this arc, Gon. But we can’t really appreciate his character arc here without looking at his character throughout the series. Gon is established as a pretty wholesome kid on the surface. He’s always helping his friends, being nice, etc. A lot of this stuff is rooted in the fact that he cannot be weak. This is partly to blame on his dad. He cannot allow himself to be weak because he has to prove himself to his dad. This causes a lot of self destructive habits, that sometimes cause harm to others as well. Some would say that these acts are selfless, but if you really look at it they’re selfish. He does this purely out of his own urges and feelings, without having any regard for others a lot of times. This is displayed heavily in his dodgeball match in greed island. Gons morality has been shown heavily throughout the series, it just wasn’t as in your face as in this arc. We’ve always seen that he doesn’t care about ‘good’ or ‘bad’, just what seems fun to him and who’s his friend. Mfs can be evil but he won’t care because they’re his friend.
Gon’s morality is very inconsistent and he truly embodies a child. Some people dislike this part but i think it’s what his character makes him so great. And this is what makes his character arc in this arc so amazing. This was bound to happen eventually, and it did. When kite got attacked, Gon was still pretty optimistic and was convinced he’s still alive. If he really believed this or if it was a way to maintain his sanity is up for debate. When they go to the palace however we can see the changes very clearly already.
The way he’s talking to Killua seems like he has no regard for his feelings, he only cares about his goal. Then eventually he meets Pitou. This episode (116) is one of my favs. It’s scary how little he cares for anything besides his goal. He has almost no regard for the innocent girls life. He even uses her as an object for negotiating. You could say he’s, losing his humanity😜 Even though it’s kind of a meme at this point it’s still really cool how Togashi made such interesting parallels between Gon and Meruem. A parallel that isn’t really talked about is Gon and Pitou. Not really that much to say about it though it’s just kind of the same as Meruems. This is the exact moment here Pitou is undergoing her development, gaining sympathy, becoming more human. Very interesting to see.
As i said earlier, Gon’s character setup played such an important role in this arc, and it allowed this journey to make 10x more sense and hit 10x more hard. It’s so tragic to see our happy boy turn into this monster with no regard for human life. After this sequence, Pitou and Gon visit Kite. My favorite sequence/episode in the entire arc, show, and AniManga in general. This is the culmination of everything that has happens in this show. When Gon was faced with the truth, he refused to accept this. He went through multiple stages of grief in a short time, and eventually snapped.
He sacrifices everything, to destroy. He does not care about anything anymore, aside from destroying Pitou. Let’s just say he succeeds in this. Normally in anime you would be cheering when seeing something like this happen, but in HxH it just makes you sad. You can see the despair in Gon’s face even when hes dealing lethal blows to Pitou. He doesn’t want this, but he has to, for ‘Kite’s sake’.
Such an insane way to flip the standard shounen script and an amazing conclusion to his character arc. It’s definitely a toss up between Meruem and Gon for me, if we’re talking about who had the best character arc. I just prefer Meruem slightly. I really didn’t appreciate Gon’s character that much on my first watch, because on the surface he seems like a simple character. Now that i paid more attention to it i can see how well crafted and complex his character is. I’ve always liked Gon but i’ve become way more attached to him now.

Well I can’t talk about Gon, without talking about Killua. My absolute favorite character in the series.
As most of the main characters, his development was amazing this arc. We see him struggling with his battle instincts, but he finally overcomes this by removing the needle. Beautiful scene. You could say it’s a lazy way of developing a character but I think it’s fitting for the situation he is in. I love how he’s bonding with Ikalgo. We see his development in action because he actually puts his friends first this time. He was still doing this before, but he always had something else in the back of his mind. He would still not fight someone that’s stronger than him. As Bisky said, “you’ll leave Gon behind to die”. It’s nice to see that he’s fully able to trust everyone and even fully trust himself now. Look how far my boy has come. I think he went through a lot of development before this arc though so I don’t have that much to say. I love his parallel with Gon in this arc. Gon used to be Killua’s light in the darkness, but it seems the roles are reversed now. Mb that was corny. It hurts to see him suffering when seeing the state Gon is in. The way Gon acted towards him was painful too. His new powers are sick as fuck too, the fight between him and youpi was so cool. Overall he played a bit of a smaller roll than usual this arc, but he still did his thing.

The rest

Now onto the last bit of characters i wanna talk about. I loved Knuckle and Shoot. Especially Knucke. He’s such a likeable guy and i think his character is well written en very interesting. His ability is so unique as well. He’s one of my favorite side characters. All his interactions with Youpi were great and i loved his dynamic with Gon as well. Goat. Shoot is also cool and is an interesting character. Goated fight again youpi. Morel is pretty cool too. Likeable guy, cool power, big bong. Knov was also cool, mf went schizophrenic. I like Palm as well, not much to say but her final interaction with Meruem was amazing.

Jesus, well that’s all for the characters. All in all i think the characters were outstanding.

(wanted to talk ab the production but it exceeded the word limit, peak music/art/animation).

Conclusion

Well goddamn, this review was way longer than what i was expecting. I enjoyed writing it but it took a very long time lol.

To summarize: The plot was amazing, complex and unpredictable. I loved how this didn’t go with the shounen cliches. The themes were also great and had me thinking. The characters are some of the best i’ve ever witnessed. From writing, to character design and powers. I got so attached to these characters and they’re all so unique. Mf got me crying over a bug and a deaf girl.

This is my favorite arc of all time and I think this explains that pretty well. Thank you for reading.

Final rating: 10/10

Hey guys, I’ve recently been active on reddit cuz I started drawing.
I joined this community and remembered my review I wrote after finishing the series. I mostly wrote this for myself to get my thoughts on paper, makes it more organized in my mind.
So yeah I thought why not post it here. It’s quite a long review so be warned but if anyone’s interested you can check it out :D thanks

This review is about the series as a whole and contains major spoilers for Mistborn era 1 (English is not my first language).

Plot: 9.5/10
I think the plot in this series was one of, if not the strongest aspect of it. The first book was amazing, i loved the heist aspect, the action sequences, etc. But i also loved the slower parts, like the ball attendances. The second book kind of drags in my opinion, even though i still like it a lot. I just think there’s not enough stuff going on for the page count. I was also kind of hyped for the political aspect, but was a little dissapointed since it was just simple politics (maybe my standards are too high because of ASOIAF). I still liked the plot overall and thought the ending to book 2 was amazing. Book 3 had the best plot in the series in my opinion. I loved that we finally got different POVs in different places at the same time, kept it dynamic and helped with world building. I loved all the sub plots and main plots. And oh boy, the ending….
I had high hopes for this ending since everyone and their mother was glazing this, and it did not disappoint at all. In my opinion this ending was flawless and is up there with my favorite endings. The ending just made perfect sense to me. There were no plot holes that occurred to me or bothered me, the tensions were at an all time high, the character conclusions were perfect, it was heartwarming but gut wrenching at the same time. I can keep on going but i’ll stop. All in all the ending was flawless.
I also think the overall plot of this story is near perfect, as you can see by my rating. There were no major plot holes that i could think of. Almost everything was interesting to me, except for some parts of book 2 that dragged. Other than what i just mentioned, i think the pacing was also phenomenal throughout the whole series.
And don’t get me started on the plot twist. There were so many moments in this series that made my jaw drop. So many amazing plot twist that turn the story upside down. Not the best plot twist ive ever seen, but certainly amazing. Oh yeah i also loved the added behind the scenes plot that Secret History added. Kelsier my goat.
Again, Near perfect plot in my humble opinion.

Characters: 7.5/10
I think this is one of the more inconsistent parts of this series. Some characters are really good, some are just good/alright and there are a couple that are bland or poorly written. First i’ll talk about my favorite characters. I just love Vin and Elend. I think Vin’s character progression is really cool and pretty well done. I think she’s the most complex character in the cast. I do think the writing about her character traits and how she progresses feels somewhat repetitive, shallow and lacks some depth, although i still like it a whole lot and i think she’s one of, if not the best written character in the show. I also just really enjoy her as a character.
Elend is probably my favorite character of the series. I think his development is also really cool and well done, the execution of his progression is a little better than Vin’s in my opinion. He really stole the spotlight in Book 2 for me. In book 1 i already liked him, but he was still very naive and weak. He really showed growth in book 2 and i liked the way it was handled. The interactions between him and Straff Venture were interesting too. I also loved him in his more mature state in book 3 and enjoyed his dilemmas about being the ruler.
The romance between Vin and Elend started kind of rough. I don’t think romance is his strong suit, but i still enjoyed it a lot and thought it was very cute. I think their character dynamics work really well and helped the character growth as well.
The conclusion of Vins end elends character was also perfectly executed and in character to me. The Secret history ending made it even better.
Now on the kelsier. Although i don’t think he’s amazing in the aspect of being a complex character, you can’t deny he’s one of the most charismatic characters you’ve ever seen. From the moment he’s introduced you’re just hooked, he steals the show. I still think his writing is good, his motivations and how he got them are interesting. His character conclusion is also amazing, at first i didn’t like it that much because it was very sudden for me. But as i read on i grew to like it more and more given the added context. I also think Secret history added a lot to his character.
Sazed is also my goat. I just love him so much and i don’t think anyone disagrees here. I think he’s an amazing character that’s just so heartwarming. I also liked what they did in book 3 with him, since he’s the complete opposite of what he was. Good showcase of depression. Although the moment he got out of this depression could’ve been executed a tiny bit better, i still liked it a lot. Also him being the hero of ages was an amazing plot twist.
Tensoon is also up there with my favorites, i loved his character dynamic in book 2 with Vin. One of my favorite parts of the book. I also really enjoyed his character development and how he went against the Kandra.
I also loved what he did with Marsh in book 2 and 3. Not the most complex but still a compelling character arc
The lord ruler was also an interesting character, but in book 1 he just had aura and was the end boss. In the other books you find out more about why he did the things he did and i thought n that was very interesting.
Now onto the other side characters. I liked Spook and breeze. I think Breeze was a compelling character that was pretty complex, giving the screen time he was given. Spook also became one of my favorites in book 3, really liked that he decided to add much more to his character.
Ham was one dimensional to me, i really liked him at first but i expected more to come out of him. Dockson was very likeable in book 1, then it was like brandon forgot about him in Book 2 and then he died. Wasted character.
I think the rest of the cast was just fine, most are pretty cool characters that are just not too crazy but not bad either.
Now on to my worst character. Zane.
I fucking hated this dude the moment he was first introduced. He’s just a pretentious douchebag and i can’t stand him. Now if this was all, that would’ve been fine. There’s nothing wrong with a hate able character, but he’s just written so poorly. Brandon tries to make him come off as this edgy guy that has voices in his head bla bla bla. Now if he had done something interesting with this, it would’ve been very cool and could work very well. Instead he just serves as a plot device. Mostly to serve for Vin’s character development, since she’s choosing between Zane and Elend (also a terrible plot point that i forgot to mention). I think he’s the biggest wasted potential in the series, they could’ve gone so much deeper with him and i expected much more. Also the fact that he’s Elends brother and they did close to nothing with it baffles me. After Elend finds out about this he also reacts like this is just the typical news he hears every wednesday.
All in all i think this show has a very mixed cast in terms of quality, with some standouts, some really good characters, some alright characters, and a really bad one.

World building: 9.25/10
This, with the plot, is the strongest part of this series in my opinion. The world feels phenomenal. It’s alive, stuff happens that has an effect on other things, the lore and culture is great and it has a phenomenal magic system.
I think the magic system is very well thought out and unique. Allomancy is my favorite part. This one was introduced in Book 1 and i instantly loved it. It’s a very unique, cool and deep magic system. The room for possibilities is very large and it’s a great base to build upon. I think the execution in the actual book is also great. Then we get introduced to another one, Feruchamy. It’s a little less interesting that Allomancy in my opinion, but nonetheless it’s still a great one. It has almost all the positives i mentioned about allomancy, and i think the combination of these 2 magic systems is also very cool and allows for cool dynamics (lord ruler for example. And when you think he’s finally done, you get introduced to Hemalurgy. Obviously this was always in the books, but never explained until later. I really liked the way they kept the mystery in this one until book 3, since it allows for really cool reveals about Kandra, kollos and inquisitors. Hemalurgy is so well done, even though it’s simple, and it’s my second favorite system in this series. Even though i love all 3. I think brandon did an outstanding job crafting this complex and intricate magic system that allows the series to really flourish.
Speaking about Kandra, kollos, etc. I wanna touch on how much I like the subcultures in this series. Especially the Kandra and the Terris people. They’re so distinct and each have unique traits. They’re lore is also so cool to me. In general I think the lore is really good, not the most complex of course. But it sets the stage really well for the story and you can see the things that happened 1000 years back in today’s age really well. I think he did a great job showcasing this. The way Sazed told about all the religions was also a nice add on to the feel of the world and his character. I also think this world in general just feels alive. Book 3 also added more locations to the POV’s, which really helped the world building for me since i wanted to know more about the different places in this world.
In summary, brandon did a great job crafting a magic system, lore, cultures and more that together create an amazing, alive and real world.

Prose: 6.5/10
I’ll keep this section short since i’m not well versed in this aspect. The only book i’ve read before this is ASOIAF book 1, a Game of Thrones. The bar was obviously set really high, but i’m not here to talk about GRRM. In general i think the prose was just fine. Sometimes he had some beautiful prose i will say, but most of the times it was just alright. There were quite some moments that were written really cheesy, and could’ve been delivered better. His writing style is really easy to read though, so that’s a plus. I also think his action sequences are really well written, especially Kelsier’s last inquisitor fight. That was 10/10 action and the best he’s been in terms of action writing in the trilogy.

Enjoyment: 9/10
To keep it brief, i enjoyed the shit out of this series. I think this is partly because it’s my first fantasy book series i’ve completed, bc everything that’s new is gonna appeal to you. Other than that i just genuinely like this series so much. As i talked about earlier the plot was amazing and it was enjoyable all throughout the series, ignoring some slow parts. The characters were mixed but i at least enjoyed almost all of them (f*ck you Zane). Obviously the series is not perfect, but there were almost 0 moments where i was really bored or didn’t enjoy it.

Themes/thought provoking/impact: 7.5/10
The major themes were : Faith/trust, religion, oppression, balance, identity crisis.
These were the themes that stuck out to me at least and i think they were handled pretty well. I don’t think it was the most insane and complex use of those themes i’ve read but I don’t think it was handled poorly either.
In terms of through provoking, i don’t think this book did all that much for me. As i said, the themes in the book were handled fine but I wasn’t rethinking my life decision or identity because of it. Hence why the impact wasn’t very huge either in the big picture. It still had a huge emotional impact on me though, especially the ending. I grew very attached to this world and its characters, which is the most important thing when consuming any media in my opinion. This series will probably always hold a special place in my heart for being my first ever fantasy series.

My final rating for the whole series: 9/10