When Pitou apologized to Gon for lying about Kite, that point showed the growth in her compassion as she truly sounded like she felt sorry for Gon

I've seen somewhere this phrase "Youpi protected the King's body. Pouf protected his title. Pitou protected his heart"

The "Pitou, heal Komugi" line still gives me chills, what an amazing moment

This series was so expertly written, and thanks to people like you everybody can understand just how magnificent HxH really was

Pitou really just embodies a cat. While young, they kill for sport and for fun. With boundless energy they explore and test. Then when they get older, they all seem to awaken a maternal instinct. They find something, and begin to care for it. Like how many cats will take care of the young from other species. This is most likely why the queen\genetics selected her. Pitou is a motherly figure, youpi a fatherly, and pouf a younger brother who idealizes his older brother.

Pitou is such a fascinating character. Her purity is definitely portrayed through a dark light at the early stages of her life. But as she grew to know love, empathy and loss, this purity also grew with the guidance of these elements. It's almost like watching an infant come to realisation the gravity of her previous actions now having gone through a similar experience of nearly losing someone dear to her. Her apology to her Gon was definitely of utmost sincerity, and perhaps even with a hint of regret. This is because she now has the capacity to understand what Kite meant to Gon, and what it would mean for her to lose her king. The way Togashi portrays Pitou's emotional development is masterfully contrasted against Gon's retraction into darkness. As Pitou starts to understand the human feelings of love and compassion for another, through which motivates her to engage selflessly into a battle knowing it would cost her life in order to defend who she loved. Gon's spiral into uncontrolled rage displayed through his disregard everyone else whom he cared for and cares for him by choosing to end his life prematurely to fulfil his quest for vengeance. Yes Gon loves Kite and is natural that he wants to avenge his loved one. But his actions stemmed from unchecked rage and an inability to consider and take responsibility of their full consequences. It would not be what anyone he cared for wanted, and it would certainly be the last thing Kite wanted for him - for Kite's death to cause the premature death of Gon. Kite wanted Gon to live and become stronger, not to endanger his life for vengeance when he is not yet ready to take on his opponent.

Pitou low key was my favorite along with Meruem. Their change was just as drastic as the King’s.

Pitou really embodies the role of the “Oldest Sibling” when it comes to the three Royal Guards

My interpretation of Pitou crying in the time stopped scene is because Meruem had asked her a favour and did not command; indicating that he saw Pitou as a confident in that moment and not a servant. This was the epitome of happiness for Pitou but I’m a tragic moment so the tears were complex.

When I first watched the show... I was so sold on the idea of purely hating Pitou, but the show didn't want to allow me that simplistic, narrow-minded perspective and it was all the more amazing for it.

Speaking about the importance of names, Pitou's name is of the Cambodian origin, meaning "cat diamond" or "Chrysoberyl". While the meaning of the name is quite literal, Chrysoberyl is also symbolic for "abundance and creation", meaning that the stone is used for important life decision making and creating the future.

It's so odd how little empathy people have for Pitou when her most cruel actions were committed when she was essentially hours old and had absolutely no grasp on the scope or morality of what she was doing. Hating her for that is like hating a tiger for attacking someone in the wild, the blame is just misguided and pointless. But even if she was aware of herself, Kite and the hunters were on their way to eradicate her species. It was war. I think this was a beautiful video that served to illustrate Pitou's burgeoning humanity, and the tragedy that she and the other ants were killed when they were just beginning to awaken emotions that would have made them more approachable and peaceful. She was never allowed to live for anything beyond the scope of her mission and goal from birth, and there's a tangible sadness in that. Thank you, you did my favorite character justice!

I was waiting for someone to give a deeper look in to that literal tear-jerking moment with pitou and meruem. I always get excited to relive that scene each time I rewatched the arc. Great video as always AlecZandxr.

Episode 116. I'll never forget. I've watched HxH 4 times and episode 116 more than that. Every single time. When she lays her palms open on the ground. Every time she breaks her arm. Every time she pleads by offering any part of her body that's not required for healing. And watching Gon's reactions to all of those. I get this huge jolt of emotions. After so many shocks there are always tears rolling down my face after watching 116 without fail. It's not sadness or grief. It's just emotion. Pure emotion. Maybe it's watching two conflicting parties interact and knowing exactly where they are coming from that does it for me. Maybe it's something else. All I know is that this episode is forever etched in my mind and I'll never forget the feelings HxH made me feel. And this is just the start of the emotional turbulence. Ahhhhhh

When you really think about these things, the chimera ants were literally infants, apart from Pouf(clearly as he's a full grown butterfly) Youpi learnt honor. Pitou learnt kindness Meruem learnt his identity Even Pouf learned something, how futile it was to hinder the development of the king's ideas of right and wrong. Alas the chimera ants were too powerful to be given a chance by humanity I felt bad for them, towards the end. They didn't know any better.

I believe piou's character changes didn't feel sudden and out of nowhere primarily because of meruem's character changes You could say that the guards were changing alongside meruem Kinda like dependent and independent variables

Thank you for doing this video. I've always felt that Neferpitous' development was underappreciated by people.

Her apology is the single line that makes her my favorite, its the ultimate irony and she knows it

What i loved about the chimera ant arc the most is that the ants became more human while the humans (gon and netero especially) became monsters. while at first everyone thought the ants were the true monsters, but in the end it was the humans.

Killua's comparison to Pitou as a mother cat struck me in such a way, her character just made more sense to me in that moment (as well as Pouf's). I see Pitou as a mother figure to Meruem, with a maternal behavior different from Pouf's. While Pouf tries to control and manipulate Meruem so he can become the King he thinks he should be, Pitou loves and accepts Meruem as he is and wishes only for his happiness and well being. Both of them care for him, but the way the express it and live this feeling is different. I think both attitudes toward Meruem reflect two different forms of motherhood, one toxic and the other healthy. One of the moments that hit me the hardest was when Pitou was dying and she said "I'm relieved. I'm relieved the one he killed was _me_ ". It struck me as such a phrase a devoted mother would say in sacrifice for her son.

Personally I believe post-CA if possible, Youpi could have been a knight. Pitou could have been a doctor or something similar. Meruem would have become a benevolent king with Komugi at his side and Pouf his retainer. It's kind of a "What If" fantasy if things had gone different.

I still can't believe that I went from absolutely despising Pitou for what they had done to Kite, to feeling the utmost pity for them after Gon annihilated them.

The role reverse the arc does at it's ending is so epic, no wonder countless discussions come form this point of the story.

I know I am a bit late in writing this. But there is something I noticed throughout the video. Her eye color. In the beginning, her eyes are shrouded in a crimson color, reflective of a lack of compassion and her cruelty. But as time goes on, her eyes become gold progressively, reflecting her journey to being a more caring individual. I could be reading into it a bit, but I couldn't help but notice it.

I’m glad to see more Hunter X Hunter content from you. Even tho you covered many of these elements of Pitou in previous videos, it was still engaging to hear a more in depth breakdown her character.

i honestly love pitou's character development. all she ever wanted to do was protect the king. i love how togashi placed her as this cruel and heartless creature in the beginning, but overtime, she grew compassion for others simply because she saw the way meruem showed compassion towards komugi.

Your fresh analytical sense and knowledge is unsurpassable. You're amazing and keep up the good work.

That one dislike is from Gon because he still refuses to acknowledge Pitou's capacity for compassion

This show is fucking art. I haven't changed my profile picture for nearly 9 years because everytime I look at it I want to remember how this masterpiece made me feel

The analysis done on JUST Pitou's apology is incredible! It wasn't an apology to Gon for killing Kite but an apology because they took Kite from Gon since Pitou now knows how to feel for others, Pitou could understood why Kite's death took such a toll on Gon now that they were able to understand his pain. This is something that they wouldn't have done has they been the same Pitou that they were when they first met since Pitou didn't feel compassion back then and their one job was to serve the king. It's crazy how much of a change they went through considering they weren't even alive for a full month, hell most of their development took place over just those 2 hours. Great video on a character that required a huge amount of analyzing to fully understand!

Neferpitou is best girl! Many thanks for this wonderful video that reinforces that statement strongly. Just like her, I too cried in some of her scenes, simply because of how emotionally charged they were, her sincere apology being the strongest since it almost made me think my fantasy of having her survive the arc and have a happy life wasn't so farfetched, there was hope.

To be honest, Togashi understood what PItou became so well that in the manga when she apologizes Gon, Togashi puts her a deeply sad face

i think at that moment meruem asks pitou to heal komugi, she realizes komugi is to meruem what meruem is to pitou, and that sparks the empathy. like she explains to gon later, she feels komugi is the reason the king is who he is, and her death would essentially be the death of "him" and pitou can imagine what losing her life's purpose (meruem) would be like for her - thus the tears

It would have been so interesting if Pitou somehow survived the arc. I would love to have seen how her relationship with Gon and Kite would develop, since Kite "survived" and now lives with the remaining chimera ants who didn't go on their seperate ways.

2:23 “today we’re going to dive in” shows a shot of Zeno’s dragon dive

I love the scene where she’s healing Komugi and she tries to explain to Gon why it’s so important, and you’ve really put into words why it’s so good. There’s just something so poignant to me about a character just figuring out a new facet of themselves or about life and trying to articulate it to others, even when they don’t completely understand it themselves. It just is always so emotional and authentic. At first I was a little disappointed that Pitou didn’t seem to get quite as much development as the other royal guards, but you’ve once again managed to lay it all out and examine new threads that I didn’t even know were there. Great job

Pitou was(and in fact still is) one of the characterers that most fascinate me durant my first view of HunterXHunter. I first knew about Pitou from a clip on the internet when Gon punches her without the context of the scene, so my expectations arriving at the arc was that this was some kind of triumphant moment from Gon with the classic use of a power up in times of desparation and when Kite died I was even more assured that this was going to happen but then the Palace Invasion started and Gon begins to complete lose himself and to ad insult to injury the scene with Pitou, Gon and Komugi happen and from then on my only wish was see Gon's death, see her putting her life on the line to save Komugi and protect Meruem was such a turn around from her fisrt impression and she grow so much in a very short period of time, so of the 3 Royal Guards she was easily the one the I care the most but I remember thar she would fight Gon in the future and that she was losinf really hard, the more episodes with Pitou I watched the more dread I fell about her end. But the end finally came and Pitou died by Gon's hands and this got me so mad that made me scream at the screen durant all of the election arc "You fucking moron, you deserve every piece of misery that you got, saving Gon is my ass Leorio" but then I watch Gon's reunion with Leorio and Gin and my rage imediatilly die down(You can't blame me Gon is just that precious of a boy sometimes kkkkk). But huge tangent aside I really appreciate your videos about her, your character analysis always bring some unique insight or interesting perspective about them.

Pitou is a newborn with the one of the most powerful and dangerous bodies in the world. We see how cruel human kids can be and do have to learn compassion as they grow up. Imagine kids were given superpowers

Your final thought is something I always wondered by myself; If Pitou probably would be able to live outside of the life she was used to, maybe if given more time to develop and mature those feelings, or maybe if the king had died before her. I don't know, I'm not an expert in psychology, this subject is far from my field, which is Computer Science, but it's still pretty interesting and fun to see those things in the media I love. Amazing video man, honestly!

Not a reader of HxH, but this was beautiful. You plumbed the depths of a character I knew nothing of, but through this came to intimately understand. Your script was well written and explained everything you needed to in a clear manner.

Thank you so much for this video! Pitou is my favorite character in the series and having such a good analysis about them is really refreshing.

it’s sad to think about the fact that pitou is technically a baby, a smart one but still, she doesn’t have anything but her instincts to tell her what to do and if she was killed almost as son as she realizes what she did was wrong

I absolutely loved the way pitou progressed as a character throughout the anime but her last moments always left a sour spot for me. It felt unfair in every capacity, unfair for gon in losing kite and coming to terms with it through his rage and also unfair for pitou in both that even though she feels genuine regret at having caused such grief being unable to do anything other than her duty. Such is the nature of war

A beautiful analysis. And to that end about Pitou potentially being able to live a normal life if say she was brought back to life, told she was free and that Meruem was dead, there are some Mobage cards for a HxH mobile game that show Pitou wearing normal clothing, traveling, having fun. In fact, I'd encourage any true HxH fan to Google them. They have cards for most of the popular characters in normal settings, Kurapika as a college student for example, in the art style of 2011. The points in this video are on the dot, and the existence of these cards as well as the dialogue almost confirm these points as the writers' intentions.

People really be hating Pitou for killing Kite at like, under 1 hour old? You can't expect someone, even less an animal to be just born with such a degree in morality Kite was going there to kill their entire race, while he's not wrong from humanity's point of view, Pitou also wasn't wrong for defending the nest and making possible for their king to be born.

Always thought that in the alternate universe Pitou would've run a Hospital with Leorio interning in it, Pouf become a world class musician and poet, Youpi becoming Heaven's Arena top fighter, and Meruem becoming Komugi manager for her Gungi career

Amazing video. Pitou is one of my favorite characters in the Chimera Ant arc. Her death didn't feel heroic or well deserved to me, that whole scene was just tragic for everyone. Of course, I don't want to defend her past actions, because in a sense her death was justified, but I'm more on the side of giving her a second chance. Would've been interesting to see how she played out. Even after Meruem's death, makes you wonder what she would've done with her life. It's more complicated than that but you laid them out nicely in the video. Great stuff!

My favorite exemple of that love and care Pitou developed during the arc is how she was mutilating herself just to buy Komugi more time. Komugi's life was perfecty safe by that point, she would have survived, but because Meruem loved the girl, because she learned to care for her, Pitou was willing to break her entire body if it means that she could completely heal Komugi's.

I think it's so impressive how Togashi can make you hate a villain so much at one point in the story and then later on fear for their safety and feel sympathy for them. It's a testament to how masterful Togashi writes his antagonists. He shows a character's cruelty first and then their humanity second. That's often how first impressions of a person in real life can occur and sometimes we forget to give a person's humanity a chance to show in the second half of knowing them.

Neferpitou was the first time I’d ever seen such a horrifyingly accurate take on a “catgirl”, and that, along with their static yet maternal growth, instantly made them one of my all-time favorite villains in anime.

I know the tones are totally different but Meruem saying "I'm counting on you" with that look gives me the same threat of trust vibes as Kageyama

These videos are so underrated. As an English Major and future teacher, I wish I could view anime in the same eyes as you! Such intricate detail and passionate understanding.

Pitou would have been able to live a wonderful life post-Palace Invasion. But she just had so many sins and her duty was too binding.

I know this video is not new but I wanted so say how wonderful it was. One of my favorite aspects of Pitou is how she uses Dr. Blythe. Originally it was created by her for nothing more than essentially making toys to play with, but became a tool for Pitou to truly save someone and show her loyalty to the king And his wishes.

5:26 you did not have to flame him like that out of nowhere. It's fun to see your humorous side every now and then, it reminded me of your analysis on Tristan for april fools.

YES! I absolutely love your Hunter x Hunter analysis videos!

Your HxH and Haikyuu analysis videos are by far some of my favourite KZfaq videos in general. You have such a way with words and are able to explain themes perfectly.

Every time I see new HxH video on this channel, my heart fills with love for life :’)

Pitou is for sure meruem's best friend. Definitely my favorite character from the show

Honestly I really like Pitou despite what she did to Kite, such a cool character

Seeing Pitou's smashed face tugs at my heartstrings. I wish she could have lived.

One of the few manga that managed to become true art and even a piece of literature.

What I love also in your video you call Neferpitou “her” adding more humanity and giving her a gender and not calling her a heartless monster only a dutiful woman after all there is a saying “ I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”…

every single HxH video you upload never fails to make me want to rewatch the entire series, such an amazing story with equally amazing characters I honestly cannot wait for the day for when another series is able to reach HxH's level of stellar writing

Talked to Togashi on the phone yesterday... He says he has over 150 chapters on the ready...and is still drawing.... He says he is waiting for One Piece to finish first

At last. My favorite. I'm usually not late to your videos, but Life happened a bit here and there, so, I had to put this one off for now. Still, thank you so much for making this. To specify, this particular character became a favored of mine in all of fiction in such unique circumstances. My previous favorite was Pokkle (I didn't prefer him over anyone in particular, I just resonated with him the most and _adored_ his Color of the Rainbow arrow system), and it's upon treating him the way she did that Pitou, somehow, gained my fascination instead of my hatred. Honestly, that says more about me than it does about her, and I do love characters that offer me some self-introspection as well. To come back to her, part of it all is comes from the fact that I had watched enough anime to recognize that she viewed the act as a means to an end, a way to be efficient and gain information to satisfy her curiosity (unlike, say, the likes of Orochimaru and Frieza, who've shown to be way less affably evil about destroying brains in their debut). I can't hate her for "being evil", because she's not being evil the same way as the likes of these two did, and the demise of my favorite character wasn't enough to remove that understanding. That whole playful cruelty shown right before she attacked Kite then pretty much sealed the deal, and her unexpected growth only fueled my interest in this character. What I'm saying is that you're an absolute, grade-A madlad for adding this video to your collection of wondrous analysis, and a personal hero of mine for shedding light on a character that is genuinely one of my top ten favorite characters in all of fiction, regardless of country and culture. Thank you. Truly.

I really appreciate your videos on hxh. You have such a compassionate interpretation on each caracter and their growth. Yours are my favorite videos on the internet

19:39 One of the most important themes in HxH is the concept of resolve. As Aleczandx explained, she never thought about her own well-being in her moments before death. Her resolve to be loyal to the king was so great that it should have been a red flag for a potential Nen after death situation. Remember what Phinks said at the end of Yorknew? So in a way, Gon vs Pitou wasn't exactly a one sided massacre. It was also a knowledge game and since Gon let his guard down, that's on him for not taking Nen after death seriously in a situation where there's a high chance for it occur. 2 individuals with other worldly levels of resolve face each other and a masterpiece unfolds. Thank you Togashi.

15:15 "and note the contrast between her and poof" poofs face had me dieing when he said that XD

The return of a legend.

Meruem, Komugi, and the royal guard are some of my favorite characters ever and one of the many reasons of why Hunter x Hunter is the best shonen manga and anime in my opinion, I love Neferpitou, my heart was in pieces when they eventually died at the end of the arc, but that's the beauty of this show ❤

What a gift of a video 🙏🏾 Thank you so much man I loved it ! And to dive this deep into such a complex character just show how boundless Togashi’s work is.

A masterpiece of a video once again. Btw, the way you used the OST from House in Fatamorgana and Xenogears really captures the tranquil and nuance of this character. Thank you.

I always love how people have different interpretation of Pitou’s crying

I love your video essays like this, not only are you well versed in the subject, but your calm voice and rich vocabulary also make your videos just so enjoyable to watch.

I loved how in the tearup scene its essentially meruem asking for her help, "i the omnipotent being cant take care of this alone, please, i entrust this to you and only you" and thats it Its amazing just amazing dude

You are not gonna read this comment because of how old this video is. But HOLY SHIT, WHAT AN AMAZING VIDEO! I have always seen Neferpitou as a really interesting and complex character, that starts kinda simplistic with the whole "I just wanna fight", but later is shown how much she develops. I WISH her life had continued like some of the other ants, but I get that storywise she needed to die to Gon, to close that cycle. Tho I'm not sure how she would have reacted to the king's death. I feel like she would have gotten way too depressed, maybe taken her own life? This video deserves x10 the ammount of likes it has.

This video made her my favorite, I had a thought that she is more than just a cruel cat who is loyal to the king, because watching those last moments of her like meruem's request and everything else made me think about how this is really out of character and maybe some complex things are going on with her that i don't really have the time to think about while watching, and this video answers everything so thank you!

Every video you make give me an astronomical amount of respect to the authors. To be able to write such incredible complex stories with such well thought out plots and characters. It blows my mind to think about how much time is spent on every line of dialoged, every tiny event, to eventually come together to create a masterpiece such as hunter x hunter.

Its made even more sad that she never learn of Meruem name

It is truely a tragedy, that she not once got to experience life for herself. What fascinates me the most about Meruems request to heal Komugi is the follow-up. Not a threat, but an expression of trust and need: I'm counting on you

I think you’re my favorite youtuber who analyzes…anything. And you’re talking about my favorite series 😁

Now i finally watched the video. Pretty much every scene you chose to show gave me goose bumps.. (expect from the pouf youpi scene :p) When i watched HxH back in 2013/14 Pitou always was my favorite character, not just in HxH. And i still find her absolutly amazing, and u did great on showing why. As always thanks A LOT for giving us such great videos on those beautiful characters and storys. :)

The character development is just magnificent in this show, pitou had gained emotions and morals, and ants such as colt, welfin and the best squid showed that the chimera ants if they found people who cared for them could go on to live a human life, along with meruem it makes me wonder what would happen if pitou had also found a human who cared for her because she cared for the king but that caused her to fight gon to protect him, if it wasnt the king she was protecting she definitely could’ve lived a human life ofc she did needed to pay for her actions in the beginning since gon wouldn’t let it slide but she had looked back on her actions and even apologized to gon showing that she had looked back on her actions and regretted it

Man I wish we could get more HxH episodes it’s like chasing a unobtainable high

HxH was the most deep, complex, insightful, and exceptionally written anime that I've watched, and the more videos I watch on it, the more I realise how great it really is

Hunter x Hunter was already my favorite anime. I've rewatched it so many times. Even though watching your videos makes me love it that much more. The way you explained Pitou here really makes me want to cry. It's the type of feeling where you sit back and think wow, as much as i hate her (him?) , that is an amazing character.

Finally, my favourite youtuber uploads a video about my fav anime My day can't be better

My favourite character, thank you for your exhaustive analysis 👏🏻

Nice! I love your Hunter x Hunter videos Pitou is one of my favorite characters they’re development is really interesting. And your content is amazing keep up the great work!

You are a genuine inspiration for a hopeful essayist like me.

Honestly very happy about this video existing. Pitou’s tears is my favourite scene on the series.

When we got to the point where Pitou started showing compassion and Gon displayed unbridled rage was when I grew attached to her and wished that she didn't die unfortunately we all know that outcome T_T

From hating pitou,to feeling sorry for pitou. That's what I felt

This video made me cry in the best of ways i love your content endlessly

19:00 Most beautiful shot in the series. The reflection in Pitou’s eyes is amazing.

I know a lot of people hate Pitou for killing Kite and found their death satisfying, but after all their development, I could never bring myself to feel the same

Not only did she beg for Komugi's life/protection, she did it Gon, a child she most likely could've killed in the blink of an eye

Pitou being gifted with the King's absolute trust - to heal Komugi - is the greatest moment of her life. And explains her reaction in the moment and everything that follows.