SPOILER WARNING: There is an error in the spoiler disclaimer for this video. It says just the anime, but there is one honourable mention and a couple of minor details that involve post-anime material. So please keep that in mind.

Don’t let the fact that Hisoka’s Bungee Gum only getting placed #10 distract you from the fact that Bungee Gum Possesses the properties of both rubber and gum.

Kurapika's ability feel like it's the reason nen was invented in the first place. It defines the boundaries of the system so cleanly.

I think the most thematic part of Killua's ability that wasn't touched on here is the fact that it allows him to react purely on instinct faster than he could even think, which is in direct opposition to the needle that was once within him that manipulated him and subdued those battle instincts. It's a direct defiance to his family and show of confidence in himself

I love you focusing on the brittleness of Gon's Jajanken. It was never meant to be the best power in the world because its foundation is based on a flawed and volatile mindset. Bad for powerscaling, amazing for storytelling.

I think I'd put Morel's Deep Purple somewhere in the top 5 because his nen represents HxH more than anything, flexible in its approach and malleable in its circumstances, what it means to be a Hunter, and what's important in a battle: Power vs Intellect and Experience vs Talent. Morel also falls into the category of don't judge a book by its cover from his design to how he utilises his nen affinities. He is a great character, and I believe Togashi successfully achieved Morel's characterisation as good as it could ever be within the time frame. Additionally, my fav nen ability in the series is Knov's Hide and Seek.

Melody is a character I found myself appreciating much, much more on rewatch. She's a calming presence who keeps the characters down to earth, and her ability is so gentle and grounding, I love her so much and I hope we can see more of her soon

I know Kurapika chose chains because in his words "there are some people who need to be chained to hell", but they could also be seen as chaining himself down. Knowing Kurapika's story and how he ends up by Yorknew, it is very surreal going back to the first 2 arcs and seeing him look genuinely happy with Gon and Leorio. And he avoids that happiness in the name of duty. He threatens his own life constantly in the name of that duty. It is his chain just as much as it is the spiders'. The absolute worst part is that I struggle to say I wouldn't make the exact same choice in his position.

Chrollo's Skill Hunter is number one to me for its thematic value. *"To dive deep into the darkness within the heart of an ability's previous owner, all while making it completely my own... That is the true thrill of 'Skill Hunter'."* I hope Togashi will focus more on Chrollo's amazing character in the upcoming chapters.

I love the story behind knuckle's ability. It's obviously influenced by that time he punched a cop and ran away, it also enhances his self proclaimed greatest skill "running away"

I love how this video opens with the truest statement I've ever heard. Nen really is the best power system

Already love this new style of video Top tens for media but the picks are judged by their complexity dont come often, on top of your own your spin being put on it is also great

Knov's ability was so OP he had to be written out of the palace invasion. Basho's ability that makes haikus come to life but only if they're good haikus is really interesting and I hope we get to see what constitutes a good haiku in the future. I wish we got to see what Pokkle's other arrows did all the phantom troupe has really cool abilities, especially Feitan

The fact that Chrollo and the other spider members want a sense of identity in this world and the fact that Chrollo's nen ability is a manifestation of the fact that he doesn't have an identity of his own and so has a tendency to steal from others for him to better understand himself was so well pointed out. Amazing video as always senpai 😁.

My favorite thing about Nen is that it doesn't matter how powerful your ability is, if your opponent knows how to use their ability that much better than you, you'll be taken down.

Illumi Zoldyck's needle manipulation is great and powerful. It can be used in all aspects of battle.

Peak video! Togashi really does put so much thought into every aspect of the story. Aside from all the abilities mentioned in the video, I love Pouf and Pitou's abilities enough to have them in my top 3. While most nen abilities feel reflective of the character they belong to, I feel like Pouf and Pitou's do the opposite. Pouf's spiritual message allows him to understand how those he uses it on feel, which is quite ironic since he was unable to have a complete understanding of Meruem's feelings for Komugi until the very end. Whereas Pitou's Puppeteering is just a way to control lifeless corpses, without any feelings or emotion, similar to Illumi with the difference that the bodies were alive with his case. Despite that, Pitou was, in my opinion, the most understanding of the royal guards, able to understand and be completely sincere with Meruem and even Gon.

I love how simple Hisoka’s ability is. It really shows that an ability doesn’t have to be super overpowered. It ultimately comes down to the person who uses it.

Love the inclusion of powers like Kalluto's, Melody's and Morena's - all powers that people may forget due to them being less significant characters, but all of them with just as much thought put into them as there is for the most important characters like Gon and Killua. Really shows Togashi's skill and how he prioritizes quality even in the lesser characters.

Awesome video. I do agree with most of your picks, especially Chrollo and Kurapika. I got to say, Togashi really nailed it with Nen. He creates abilities which can tell us a story about a Character and make us sympathatic without having to see a back story. It's genius writing.

i absolutely love jajanken. just the idea that this kid crouches down, gets in his stance, and yells “show me rock!” it just. fills me with joy. He’s so earnest, and I love how dedicated he is to making his frankly silly ability work.

Every time I think of Melody I picture someone so tramatized by her past that she developed a means to both detect others current mood/mindset and the ability to change it. A parent type that would make her practice music lessons days on end with no rest or food until she mastered said piece and made them "feel" the music. Always wondered if she were to wish someone harm what offensive abilities the same skill set would offer, would be able to drive someone "crazy" by mood change as well or by playing the resonance frequencies of the human body(with every body/body part being different) could she snap bones at long distance. Lots of potential to expand her power.

The Morena choice is so based too, she's such a cool character

Lists like this >>> powerscaling

Togashi, if you watch this, listen to him when he talks about Kurapika. That sense of danger. You couldn't kill Gon, but damn if Kurapika died a right way, that would be next level. No more expectations than that, just use that if, and only if, you are not feeling inspired.

Another aspect of illumi's ability is that he considers the path of assassin a lonely path, his ability allows him to do the work of many people without the need of allies, it also shows how he disregards human life and that he views people as either an obstacle or a tool, even himself as he uses his needles on his body. Also his hypnosis on killua fleshes out his possessive and overprotective love for his brother.

I haven't finished the video but I'll guess that Kurapika, Chrollo, Netero, and Hisoka's habilities are in there. Hisoka vs Chrollo in the manga illustrates why these are two of my favorite habilities, Kurapika's habilty is simply tragically beautiful, and Netero's hability shows the limits of nen unilke any other character in the series. Although my favorite nen hability is Komugi's hability that allows her to never lose at Gungi, having a power system that has purposes beyond combat is one of the elements that make nen so fascinating.

My all time favorite Nen ability is Kite's Weapon roulette, it is just such a fun concept to me.

Bankruptcy Chapter 7 + IRS is my single favorite, most creative superpower in all of fiction. It is just so brilliant and original and useful and powerful AND BASED ON THE INEVITABILITY OF TAXES

Fantastic video AJ!! Personally I'm a big fan of Machi's nen threads. I'm always drawn to abilities that are very flexible. Offense, defense, support; it's all possible! Plus it gives a good glimpse into her character with how the troupe members call her kind and we as audience hardly get to see.

In my opinion, people vastly underestimate Jajanken because it's a technique in development with subtle (but powerful) tactical advantages. It covers close range, mid-range, and long range. It's a devastating finishing blow and a way to set up future moves. You can use it for misdirection and surprise attacks, even if the opponent knows about it. It forces the opponent to guess what comes next and play mind games, with potentially deadly consequences if they get it wrong. So I don't consider it a limited or rigid ability, though it obviously has a lot of room to grow. In fact, much of what I said about Jajanken also applies to Bungee Gum, so that's something interesting to think about with regards to Gon and Hisoka's characterization.

5:54😂😅 It gonna take alot of time to think of so i think i like kite's crazy slot his ability comes into my mind whenever i think of hunting i like how ging explained that it always gave him the best choice depends on the situations but kite dont like the choices he got sometimes and his weapon can has the ability to talk is hilarious and cool. Great video as always 👌

I love how people bring up the properties of bunchee gum but the way you did it was hilarious.

Cool. My favourite is Chrollo's due to his own search for his identity and meaning through the spider when he uses shalnark's ability, similar to how he uses the spider to give him his meaning and identity.

2:13 Oi Josuke, i found the man who save you!

I also love Genthru's ability! The activation and deactivation conditions further demonstrate how Genthru is all about deception and leverage. If someone trusts him, it's extremely easy to activate the ability, but once he betrays them, it's extremely difficult to deactivate the ability. I've always enjoyed stories that establish/escalate tension using deception and leverage (e.g. Death Note). There are also some interesting similarities and differences between Genthru's ability and Knuckle's. Both are activated through physical contact, and both could be removed with Nen exorcism. The difference is obviously in the essence of the ability and its user. Knuckle uses his to reduce violence like you described, whereas Genthru's is incredibly violent and violating. APR is comedically adorable, but Genthru's bombs are a terrifying threat. One final difference that I find interesting is that Knuckle's starts violently but is ultimately non-violent, whereas Genthru's starts innocuously but leads to deadly destruction.

Great picks in this video!!! Komugi's nen is one of my favorite narratively- the fact that, although it is only proficient in one aspect, she has almost limitless potential in that field just because of how strong her will was, and it resulted in convincing Meruem of the value of humanity's strength in different aspects (and arguably, we should thank her for inadvertantly saving the human race lol!) Plus, the fact that the whole time she is completely unaware of her nen's existence, and how it was based on the fact that she thought so little of herself that gungi was the only reason she should be kept alive.....my girl didn't know her own worth ;v;

been waiting for this vid i’m so happy rn

Not an honorable mention, but I want to note that from what we know so far, all of Zeno’s nen abilities seem to be based off a dragon. He threw his aura in the form of a dragon at Chrollo, he summoned and created dragons multiple times at the beginning of the palace invasion, and I think the attack with the multiple spear like lights he released on the palace was called Dragon Dive

Komugi's ability would be on the list for me, I just love how she develops nen to essentially have her life continue to have meaning, so she can keep playing gungi.

Why did I almost cry from just hearing you describe Kurapika's ability! I'm a wreck of a human being!

i love how you mentioned morena. i have my eyes on her in the manga bc her ability to have nen abilities of her own all the while being able to give others abilities is quite scary when you think about it

Hinrigh (however you spell that dumb name 😂) has a really cool ability, in last week’s chapter him turning the pigeons into handcuffs was unexpectedly cool to me, it also helps that it reminds me of Giornos life giver with some pretty cool extras.

Melody and her ability, though not much of an offensive type fits so well into the series. Her introduction worked so well in arguably the darkest arc. She reminds me of Sam to Frodo in the LOTR.

This has been long in the making, great video :D

such an amazing video!!!

My favorite is now and will probably always be Killua's abilities, which I'm sure says something about me and the types of characters that I enjoy. I still vividly remember the buildup to seeing him use Godspeed for the first time which actually happened at the very beginning of an episode and was followed by Killua laying the smacketh down all over Youpi until he ran out of juice. The best part is that Killua is still very young and nowhere NEAR his actual peak so as long as he continues to increase his Nen capacity then he'll just continue to grow more powerful and be able of even more bad-ass lightning abilities.

👏👏👏👏👏 great video as always

Great video to build up more hype before the new chapters drop for me and Feitans has always been one of my favorites

Killua's is my favorite. I resonate with turning trauma and abuse into fuel to grow beyond the damage into a better person.

Thank you for this.

My top 10: Leorio, Feitan, Netero, Gon, Kurapika, Killua, Pitou, Tserriednich, Chrollo, Hisoka. Looking forward to comparing.

The 🐐 HxH channel !!

Can't believe Hakoware was only an honourable mention 😭 I think it's possibly the most creative use of nen in the series

Thinking of these abilities in the way described here, I like the contrast between Bandit's Secret and Emperor Time Chrollo's ability represents how easily he can take from others, whereas Kurapika's shows how carelessly he'll throw away parts of himself

This was a great video for my birthday. Thanks, very enjoyable! I especially like your take on Knuckle, Kalluto, Illumi and Gon!

Me tearing up during the Leorio explanation🧑‍🦯🙆‍♂️🙇

Meruem is Cell if Cell was actually a masterfully written character instead of a typical DBZ villain.

Love that you did this kind of video AJ. I agree utmostly on Kurapika and Chrollo being the top 2, they have the best nen abilities. I also never thought about Meruem's ability in that way that is so beautiful I learn something everytime you post. I'm kinda bothered you didn't mention Pitou's ability even just in honorable mention though and perhaps Pouf but in all fairness the HMs are just that awesome I suppose you love them too but not so much enough

I love Nen abilities with high-risk high-reward hatsus, or the ones that are ultra specialized to the point where the character is immensely bad at everything else.

I'd like to add the simple observation that Kurapika's abilities are connected to chains. Although he says he needs them to chain down those that deserve it I like the idea that they represent himself being imprisoned by his revenge and (self imposed) duty.

Nen and the abilities derived from it truly are a master stroke of storytelling and characterization! In the main characters sure, but even in one off and arc specific characters like Tsubone, the Shadow beasts, and Razor, their abilities inform about who they are and what sort of purpose they would be needed for.

Just going to shoutout the great background music choices this video. You always do a great job on that (yeah don't think I don't notice. I always do.) I am detecting a disproportionate amount of Undertale/Deltarune in this one. Which is great.

This is def a new & interestin type type of vid for u but I think that's cool. I feel part of wut makes nen so great is that even if u couldn't do a vid like this or simply explain in it plain conversation I feel most ppl have a subconscious understandin of y these abilities fit these characters so well. Also Gon possibly not usin Jajanken anymore kinda reminds me of Goku's journey more than it alr did lol

Loved the video brother i personally agree to the number 1 et number 2 but i'll probably put Knuckle ability as third because of how enjoyable it made to look at his fights. And i'll add Mizaistorm ability because it embodies his values rather beautifully too.

Please do a video about your top 10 favourite characters as well!

I’ll be happy to remind you of the two properties of bungee gum

Very understandable list. I joked about how Nen is arguably the most neurodivergent-friendly power system because the abilities are shaped by the user and their specific needs and want as a person. I can't wait until November for the next manga volume. Personally, I love all of Shaipouf's powers because they show his character really well. The cocoons which develop the ants into what he thinks is best for them, the hypnotic scales which can make ppl do his bidding, and Beelzebub make him really tough to kill. A little ideological cockroach who wants ppl to his idea of their ideal self and its hard to get rid of him. Youpi's I like because I just like shapeshifting. As for succession arc powers, I am quite fond of Kurapika's pinkie ability because it makes him similar to chrollo and allows the two characters to contrast more. Tserriendnich's parallel future is scary to think about its possibilities. Speaking of other scary powers, Koacho's Without You, god when it is revealed to Fugetsu its going to be so depressing. Finally, Benjamin's power presents another version of "taking abilities" but this time it's used to illustrate how all those who serve him ultimately are loyal to him and not themselves while showing how Ben is defined by his status as a prince and ppl worshiping him. Compared to Halkenburg's abilities which is also loyalty based, but focus on the survival of his soldiers, it really shows the differences between these two characters. In fact, a lot of the princes have these area of effect powers or manipulative powers, pretty interesting tbh. For a shallow pick, I like Hinrigh's ability for being reminiscent of giorno yet also a bit more powerful in terms of the basic abilities. Last note, I do hope we get to see more of Hanzo's abilities, just to see how it matches with his ninja training.

If this is about usefulness the Bisky's Magical Massage would always be #1. You can pretty much live twice as long while using it.

Great list, personally I'm not big on Emperor Time because of how strong it makes Kurapika but I like the rest of his chain abilities.

1.Rapid Evolving Gungi Playing Skills 2. Deep Purple 3. Beelzebub 4. Inamura 5. Magical Spa Services 6. Dragon Head 7. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy 8. Wink Blue 9. Body and Soul 10. Tag

top #1 analyzer

1) Jajanken 2) Killua's Lightning 3) Feitan's Power 4) Chrollo 5) Kurapika

Me: I like Dragon Dive because big aura Dragon goes BOOM and turns into aura spears to stab people. Alecxandxr: "Jajanken represents all that Gon was.." Once again, your analyses were very thoughtful and just goes to show how much detail Togashi has put into even the most minor character's nen abilities.

YES best choices for the top 3.

Omg, through your vid i found out the reason to Meruem's Power, and it makes sense. Togashi your writing is so beautiful that it can make me cry for no reason.

1. Chrollo 2. Kurapika 3. Netero 4. Killua 5. Morel 6. Hisoka 7. Gon 8. Komugi 9. Meruem 10. Cheetu's crossbow (I just think its funny)

The one who threatens to exterminate what’s left of the Kurta is tragically Kurapika himself.

I hear that Diddy Kong music king, I c u

Chrollo will always be my favorite. The head of the spider is the strongest.

knuckle my gentle king

havent watch but im pretty sure Kurapikas chain will be on top

"Without You" :'(

Cont complain! Glad melody finally got some recognition.. and tbh komugi was the only nen user to have a 100% success rate so she is up there for me

Big Bang Impact supremacy!

Thank you for considering the theming behind the abilities, not just their strength

he's done it! he mentioned a meme!

Yees I’ve been looking forward to this 😍🙏🏼

Awesome video. And I love that you've done a top 10 list! Outside of your Haikyuu Lessons video, you don't do them often. Any reason why you did this one, and any chance for more in the future? I think your perspective is different to most who do these sorts of lists

my favorite one is Knuckle's Bankruptcy.. followed by Knov's

I hardly noticed the deltarune music playing

U forgot to mention that hisokas bunge gum posses the properties of both RUBBER AND GUM

Awesome video as always! Your voice is so calming ☺ not HxH related, but just wondering if you've watched Fruits Basket? Would like to know your thoughts on the characters and psychological aspects of the show.

I'd love to see you do a similar video for jujutsu kaisen, as cursed energy also lends itself for this sort of character analysis. Given that it is literally negative emotions, the way characters use it says a lot about how they deal with trauma and bad things in general. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Just clicked on this vid and saw it was uploaded 52 mins ago for some reason I thought this at least months old

Kurapika defeated chorollo I see.🐢

Add Machi's to this now after the last chapter (397)

My 2 favourite ability types are exorcist abilities and post mortem nen abilities. They both feel very supernatural and the former are associated with 2 of my favourite minor characters and the latter feel cool

Bungee gum has the properties of both gum and rubber xD why do i feel like the slip off the mind comment was just to entice us into typing the most meme-able line for a nen ability ever

Solid list. I would probably swap out illumi's needles for Pitou's ablities. I think pitou's abilities are great for conveying both her immense cruelty and her compassion. Additionally, Pitou nen after death moment is my second favorite usage of nen in the series behind something that happens in the manga with Hisoka