![]() ![]() In this case it isn’t simply a matter of size but the fact that the kids are clearly exhausted – Biscuit has sent them to him immediately after they’ve utterly drained themselves finally mastering their three-hour Ren exercise, with instructions on how to effectively cheat and rig the contest in their favor. Knuckle makes the same mistake most make – he takes a look at the boys and radically underestimates their strength, to the point where he offers to let Gon punch him as many times as he wants to try and make him move a single step, after which he’ll surrender his token. In purely practical terms, Knuckle represents an obstacle for Gon and Killua, plain and simple – each has something the other needs to proceed – and sentiment (Gon clearly comes to like him quickly and vice-versa) can’t change that fact. Togashi has created an utterly fascinating conflict here, even by his lofty standards. But for the most part they’re more than anything else a rival – a rival for humanity’s place at the top of the evolutionary totem pole, and one who uses humanity’s best and worst traits as part of their arsenal. Their goals put them fundamentally at odds with humans, we find their actions horrifying (from our perspective they certainly are), and there are those among them who behave cruelly for the pleasure of it – a trait they mostly inherited, it must be said, from their human genes. As I’ve said before the Chimera Ants are fundamentally different from the likes of the Phantom Troupe or Genthru in that their basic motivation is simply to survive and expand their species. ![]() It’s easy to mock Knuckle’s view about the ants as naive and it’s likely to be proved wrong, but as with Morel’s lecture to Killua I don’t believe this is something Togashi intends to be viewed as a black and white, right or wrong issue. ![]()
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