(This article will have significant spoilers for Hunter×Hunter, if you intend to read or watch Hunter×Hunter on your own, I discourage you from reading further.)
A while back, I decided to start the 2011 anime rendition of Hunter×Hunter.
Wait, why? Well... it's rather odd, but I recently remember this girl in highschool watched the anime during the spare block we had together. And since I haven't watched an anime in a little while, I decided to give it a shot. (Yeah, it's been 4 years since I had that spare with her, but what human memory tends to bring back up is a mystery)
Okay, so I started to watch the 2011 anime rendition of Hunter×Hunter... and I was kind of... blown away?! I had kind of low expectations to be honest, since the (few) shonen anime I have watched have lacked in pace with too much filler or have had characters with unreasonable personalities for a given situation. For example, I found that Naruto had far too much filler, and Dragon Ball had a power system that was not comprehensible and lacked nuance in character and plot. Of course there is more to the shonen category like Death Note and Demon Slayer and whatnot, but I'm not too fit to comment on the category as a whole. What I found about Hunter×Hunter though, is that it was a really captivating show. It had a perfect mix of childish youth and friendship, action, mind games, and character complexity to keep things interesting. Top all of that off with a soundtrack that really evokes emotion, and amazing anime direction and you've got what people commonly refer to as one of the best works of storytelling in human history.
So what makes Hunter×Hunter (and the Chimera Ant arc in specific) so nuanced and why do so many people swear upon the impact that the arc has had on them as a person? Well, put simply, the whole arc is filled with immense details, consistent timekeeping of simultaneous events, and a plethora of lessons that are applicable to our daily life. I hope to shine some light on how the Chimera Ant arc reflects and highlights human morality and what it means to be human.
The Chimera ants are a species of ants which essentially get stronger as a species if they are able to feed on prey with stronger genes. This means that in no time at all, the ants are stronger than most humans, but also were a mix of genes from both animals, humans, and ants.
The ants are focussed on asserting their dominance over humans and are able to do so effortlessly, taking over the government of a nation, and calling an assembly of all citizens to the capital. While Meruem, the "king" ant (birthed by the queen to rule the world), awaits the arrival of all the citizens, he bides his time by partaking in the games of the country.
He learns and masters games like chess and shogi within a day each, beating the top players and then executing them for their inaptitude. Meruem then hopes to master the game of Gungi similarly in a day, so he studies the rules and summons Komugi—the blind, clumsy, and physically feeble Gungi world champion—to play with him. Unexpectedly though, he fails to beat Komugi within a day. In fact, even on the second day of play, he fails to beat her.
Even though Meruem had been growing immensely with every game he played, he failed to beat Komugi for multiple days in Gungi, noticing that she is simply getting better at the game faster than he is. Despite being the best in the world, she is still growing in potential at an astounding rate.
It is this event that softens Meruem, as he starts to take a liking for Komugi, and by extension, every human who may be physically weak, but shows potential in another aspect.
Now... maybe it's fair to say that the initial hostility and superiority that Meruem was displaying was due to his Chimera Ant genes and that his softness and changed resolve to protect the weak was due to his human genes... but the show gives us plenty of evidence to refute this claim. We are presented with human dictators who exploit the poor and weak and abuse their positions of power. We are presented with Chimera ants with human genes being more likely to act individualistically rather than on behalf of the good of the colony, and participate in hunts out of fun. Where is the "humanity" in these human traits? And why do the traits of participating in hunts only out of necessity, and in supporting all of the members of the colony seem far more "humane"?
I clearly remember one scene where one of the ants laughs when a human cries for mercy, asking the human if they have ever spared a chicken who cried the same.
When the humans attacked the ant colony, Komugi was injured by collateral damage from the fallout. It was Meruem's compliance with the demands of the humans in exchange for keeping Komugi safe that showed more humanity than the humans themselves. Meruem refused to attack the assailant, Chairman Netero, instead hoping to resolve the conflict peacefully. In the end too, Meruem was only killed by a dirty trick—a nuclear bomb.
When the "humans" demonstrate such ugly tactics in order to maintain superiority, which side of Meruem is the gentle and kind one? The human side or the animal side?
The show was trying to get humans to think about their own actions and resolve in a more objective manner. I'm sure the interpretation of this message for different people is different; some people might see this as a reason to go vegan, or a reason to do a good deed everyday. Some may see this as a sign that humanity is doomed.
The way I see it, is that it's a message that the human ethics that we accept currently are very flawed and hypocritical, but that as a human, you have the capability to act exactly how you wish. You have the capacity to analyze your actions and understand their consequences on others. You have the option to choose to be a scum or a saint. And importantly, I see this whole arc as a message to be humble. Today's humans are detached from the lives of others who they may believe to be below them, be it bugs or chickens or plants. But if we understand the importance of living humbly, and taking care of those who are weaker, then maybe we can be a little bit more "human".
P.S. There is much more to the arc that I think is significant, especially how Komugi develops a type of nen through Gungi, and about the source of Netero's power being gratitude, but it's a rather long article already. If you are interested in the game Gungi though, it has been turned into a real game that you can play on (gungi.io) if you have someone to play with.