Next series to read.... Vinalnd Saga. I'm starting it this weekend and will be chatting about it chapter by chapter on my Patreon Discord if you wanna join: www.patreon.com/merphynapier Or you can follow my weekly reading vlogs on my second channel where I give updates on what I'm reading: kzfaq.info/love/ngq...

I love how this arc is starting to parallel Chrollo with Kurapika. Chrollo used to go by the ideal that a spider can be replaced but now he's going off on emotion and seeking out revenge. I wouldn't be suprised if Hisoka takes out all the troupes around Chrollo which would leave Chrollo in the exact same spot as Kurapika.

This arc is more satisfying on second read

The history of Post-Mortem Nen thus far: * First Introduced in Chapter 120 to explain why the Phantom Troupe can't risk pursuing Kurapika. * We then see Nen-after-death used with Pitou's Teripischora ability--animating her body even after she had died fighting Gon. Since then, we've seen post-mortem nen in: 1) The Seed Urn, a conjured object that outlives its creator. 2) The Sun and Moon, a Nen ability that continued to exist in Chrollo's book even after the original owner died. 3) Hisoka's use of his Bungee Gum to reanimate his body after he died. 4) Benjamin's Nen ability, Benjamin Baton, that allows him to inherit the Nen abilities of his soldiers when they die. 5) Camilla's counteractive Nen ability, Cat's Name, that activates after she is killed. 6) The Nen ability of Kacho's Guardian Spirit Beast, Without You, whose activation is triggered by the death of Kacho or Fugetsu and starts to work from then on. 7) The Have-Nots' Nen ability, Yomotsu Hegui, a Nen curse triggered by, among other things, the user's suicide. Edit: As a commenter pointed out: Post-mortem nen is also mentioned during the palace invasion scene, where Gon was the first to notice that if Dragon Dive connects with Meleoron and Knuckle, Meleoron's nen after death would likely be activated leaving their corpses to be undetected by the invasion team.

The person that shot himself in the head is actually one of Halkenburg's bodyguards who swapped bodies with a 1st Prince soldier. It's actually a pretty neat, less talked part of the arc, and that's characters exploring how their own abilities work. After firing one of his "arrows", his soldier's bodies swapped, and the next discussion that happened is "what would happen if you die? Do you swap back? Do you die? Do *both* of you die?". We also see a bit of this exploration with the third prince and his coins. I actually really like this whole part of the story where everyone isn't immediately proficient in their abilities. I hope we get more of this sorta stuff in the future. Also Theta is such a massive death flag I'd actually be surprised if she made it out of this ship alive lol

00:00:00 ⟾ *Intro* - Succession War Arc, 2nd Half 00:00:21 ⟾ *Format* - Highlights, Overall Thoughts, Theories 00:01:10 ⟾ *Kurapika* - plotline, abilities, strategy, potential, reveals 00:03:05 ⟾ *Pieces in Play* - Princes, Guards, Mafia, Spiders, Hisoka 00:03:37 ⟾ *Nen Beasts* - abilities, designs 00:04:06 ⟾ *Tserriednich* - {ser-ride-nick}, prodigy, cunning, abilities, development, 00:05:18 ⟾ Tserriednich - *Guardian Spirit Beast* : abilities 00:06:26 ⟾ Tserriednich - *Theta* , women 00:07:24 ⟾ Tserriednich - *Melody* 00:07:37 ⟾ *Mafia families* - *Heil-Ly Family* : Morena Prudo: abilities (Contagion) 00:09:13 ⟾ *Overall* - abilities/opportunities/rules, build-up phase, building tension, complex web 00:12:10 ⟾ *Overall* - fight scenes, bigger scale 00:12:58 ⟾ *Xi-Yu Family* - Lynch Fullbokko, Zakuro Custard: abilities 00:13:36 ⟾ *Phantom Troop/Hisoka* - Chrollo, Hisoka impersonating Illumi theory 00:15:20 ⟾ *Leorio* - where is Leorio? {shown in the Medical Ward on Tier 3 (with Cheadle), carrying medicines} 00:15:33 ⟾ *Kakin Princes* - Tserriednich (4), Camilla (2), Tyson (6) 00:17:06 ⟾ Kakin Princes - Halkenburg (9), Salé-salé (8), Luzurus (7) 00:18:37 ⟾ Kakin Princes - Kacho (10) & Fugetsu (11) 00:19:21 ⟾ Kakin Princes - Marayam (13), 00:19:47 ⟾ *Overall* - main character, setting, bold moves, text-heavy, intricacies, ambitious, slow set-up 00:21:48 ⟾ *Theories* - *Nen-after-Death* : fake-out deaths, resurrections, varied abilities, Hisoka, Camilla, Tserriednich, Kacho & Fugetsu, build-up to big reveal 00:26:52 ⟾ *Overall* - build-up, intricate web, tension, opportunity 00:27:38 ⟾ *Theories* - Nen-after-Death 00:28:09 ⟾ Theories - Succession War connected to Dark Continent Gates, Nen-after-Death, Nasubi (family vs. kingdom), Tserriednich, Kurapika 00:31:02 ⟾ Theories - Kurapika: nen-after-death to hunt spiders 00:32:35 ⟾ *Overall* - unpredictable 00:33:23 ⟾ *Outro* - Future Plans 00:33:59 ⟾ [Promo] [Credits] ☕

When I first started this arc and learned ahead of time that the story isn't at the Dark Continent yet, I felt kinda annoyed. But Im surprised at how invested Togashi has got me in the succession. I'm glad he made this choice tbh. It makes the world feel more grand. And it'll be a lot more interesting getting to the Dark Continent with all of this narrative context behind it, as opposed to if it were just a simple voyage. This has potential to be better than the Chimera Ant arc depending on how the rest of it goes imo.

My favorite moment was when Biscuit shows her true form to the head servant to convince him than nen is real and he immediately starts simping for her muscles and becomes enamored with her.

This arc is so complicated with so many moving pieces that I can barely remember what is happening. Doesn’t help that I read it almost two years ago either. I really need to do an arc reread before the next chapters come out. And take a lot of notes. XD

Leorio is with Cheadle on a lower deck. At some point they mention how there's irresponsibly low medical staff on board so I'm hoping Leorio gets time to shine when things pop off and people start needing medical attention 🙌 On another note, something I find interesting about Luzurus is he's basically doing what King Nasubi's alleged "winning strategy" was. I think it was one of the mob bosses that mentioned that he just kinda laid low most of the time and eventually won lol.

The twins were too innocent for this war. Separated for the first time, one creates a nen beast to bring them together, and the other creates one so they never have to be apart (as fitting for someone with that level of separation anxiety). During this hiatus, we could comfort ourselves with the fact that as long as it doesn't come back, Fuugetsu stays alive and doesn't have to know.

I do think the king is more than a one note character. Because if you look at his dialogue with his confrontation with halkunburg it does show care and wanting for his children to better themselves, he gives halkunburg good advice to actually take action but on the other hand he also has 14 caskets for those who will die but there is supposed to be one winner, so either he will win himself or will sacrifice himself. There was also a real life painting during that confrontation with halkunburg of “Saturn eating his son” so it’s more likely the king himself will win.

I'm so invested in the Succession War right now that I temporarily don't give a damn about the Dark Continent haha. Probably will be my favorite arc once it's completed.

I think Kurapika will die in this arc, and then Leorio will become the main character when they get to the dark continent. The dark continent is really dangerous, so they’re gonna need good doctors. Plus i think Leorio has stated before that one of his goal is to cure all disease, and there’s a thing in the dark continent that is said to be able to cure all disease.

This arc has the potential to be the best arc ever

You are so damn lucky. Just as you catch up, another 20+ chapters are coming out. To put it in perspective, we have had only a total of 20 chapters in the last 6 years

The thing with Togashi and his penchant for being unpredictable is that even if he did take the predictable route, that itself is unpredictable based on his track record. I love how it’s being shaped the audience to be in a state of constantly being on our toes and engaged with the potential meanderings or switches within the story.

At around 5:00 while Merphy was explaining the 10 second thingy, I was reminding myself that she has not read JoJo yet. I have no idea if she would be up for it. But as a manga reader of JoJo I am happy that the series got as big as it is now. Back to the regular programming now with the Succession Contest Arc. This will be fun.

MERPHY GETS CAUGHT UP RIGHT WHEN NEW CHAPTERS ARE COMING, YOU SHOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL. we have literally waited years for this and merph waits a few weeks for a return 🤣

Wow I didn't even noticed that Nen after death is such a big theme on this arc. I love how you theorizing things and I really enjoyed this arc despite the lengthy wordy trait of it Lol. Don't worry I am not bothered of how you dislike resurrection trope, its very understandable and valid. Great Video

Togashi oftens blueballs situtations or plant weird red herrings. I can see a scenario where the war is at its peak, all going all out, only for a big dark continent event to happen and mess up and restructure alliencies with the goal of just surviving.

We just call the fourth Prince TerrorSandwich. Also according to an interview one of the reasons he made such a large and complicated arc with a lot of moving pieces was because of the Marineford in onepice, he wanted to try to make something as big with a lot of moving pieces

Kacho's death hurts me. Right now. After reading it two years ago. It still hurts.

Melody is a young women with a bright future. T is going to want her damaged arm framed after she hears here play more for him. I truly believe they will have a twisted one sided version of Komugi and Meruem where she tries to placate him to stay alive and gather intel without lying and getting marked by his beast. Melody is going to go through so much this arc. She still has to discover Kacho died and replaced by her beast too. The twins storyline is the one I want to see the most. I feel the Kacho beast and Wobble will be secret weapons in the upcoming fights. She's a beast so she is immune to the abilities of the other beasts and is probably invulnerable like most Nen-constructs. I feel like Tyson probably is as nice as she seems because her suddenly being twisted isn't that shocking; she actually implies she expects to die and her religion is her last will. Feel Tubeppa(#5) will play a big part in the arc too similar to how Werefin came out of nowhere to be a bigger player. Agree with Luzurus. I never thought about the theme of death and resurrection this arc. The most overt is the coffin chamber for the Princes. Those hands that killed Kacho are probably the Princes who have died in previous Succession contests. A theory is that the King is the original King who uses the Succession Wars to resurrect or the new winner gets all the previous King's memories to be a better King. The current King won the previous Succession War. His half brother(the Mafia boss who talked to the 3rd Prince) told us this. Seems they've been doing it for a long time.

I’ll be honest I have not read this arc but I love how you explain things so I had to watch/listen to this video.

I put off reading this arc for a long time after watching the show because I had heard about the massive amounts of dialogue and the fact that it wasn't finished. When I finally did read it I kicked myself for putting it off. The beginning was dense and a bit hard to get through but it is shaping up to be an incredible story and I'm so excited for togashi to continue it

this is my favorite arc/part of HxH. I really love all the mind games, all the different characters that we have in this arc. I also like all the plot lines that we have, and in some point, all the plot lines will come together. is so well structure, organized and well thought. I think that the end of this arc will be a battle Royale between everyone in the boat. there's a lot more things that makes this arc( that is not even close to finish yet) my favorite arc of HxH manga. I loved your reviews Merphy. I'm looking forward to see your reviews again when the next chapters came out.

It's been a delight to reexperience the story with you, thank you for sharing your thoughts! Looking forward to continuing the journey when the new chapters release.

Tserriednich is easier to remember if you keep in mind that his name is meant to call back to Friedrich Nietzsche but all scrambled up. Probably because he wrote The Antichrist, and Tse has a lot of "The Omen"/Antichrist themes going around him. About your theories, I do think Illumi is acting weird and lied to the Troupe, but I think he is actually trying to get Kalluto imprisoned so he doesn't have to face Hisoka too. Illumi's plan is probably putting Kalluto somewhere safe under the watch of the Zodiacs before escaping to confront Hisoka. And I suspect most of the Troupe knows that as well, which is why they didnt call him on it. They dont want to kick out Kalluto, but also know he has to GTFO. I also think Nasubi/The King is suspicious and detached, and he probably does love his country way more than his kids, but I think he is more straightforward than you think. He actually probably just intends to die after a winner is chosen, and his death will probably power up the Nen Beast of the successor so it can form a new regime according to the ideals of the winner. As you mentioned, most Princes have Nen Beasts to gather allies in different ways. And the winner is probably going to be the one that can best make allies, because that is just how the regimes are meant to work in the eyes of their ancestor. Very vague Jojo and DBZ spoilers ahead: About the themes in the arc. Togashi is calling back a ton to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in the current arc (kinda like Chimera Ants often called back to Dragon Ball). For example, the bullet catching scene calls back to a Jojo Part 3 scene, and half the abilities in the arc seem to reference a Stand. And I suspect it has a lot to do with the Nen after death theme. In Jojo, Fate is probably the most recurring theme, in that it is some kind of unavoidable will of god that things are meant to go in some way and standing against Fate is futile for the most part, but also taking advantage of it often backfires. Togashi seems to be addressing Fate in multiple ways in the arc, the strict social hierarchies condemn people to certain fates and the powerful like the Mafia bosses are angered by those that try to go against their social role, Tserriednich can see his Fate and change it, the very "butterfly effect" structure of the arc seems to go against Fate, and: the "Nen after Death" resurrections kinda feel like people going against their fate, so I think that we are probably going to see what Togashi thinks of that theme in Jojo when Tserriednich finally meets his fate. And in general, I'd recommend you to read Dragon Ball and JoJo for the sake of Hunter x Hunter. I think they are not much your style of manga, but a whole LAYER of Chimera Ant arc was a metacomentary on three fights in Dragon Ball (Piccolo vs Roshi, Goku vs Freeza, and Gohan vs Cell) so there is still a part of the arc that kinda was missing in your analysis, and I imagine the SW will do the same for JoJo.

Pitou's ability to control herself after death is the first use of post mortem nen I think

I don't know how the Succession war will end, but I do have a Dark Continent theory. I don't think Kurpika is the last of the Kurtas. I think they came from the DC , and we're going to see a whole overpowered clan of them. Then we'll learn about how the ancient Kurtas had a war with what was Meteor City before it was ruined. Kurapika is going to make some hard choices and learn harder truths. I also think Leorio is going to use the nitro rice to save Kurapika’s life.

This is what Togashi said in the interview : He said: "In the arc right now, I'am adding a ridiculous amount of character while also stressing out about it..." Kishimoto responds: That must be hard to draw... And Togashi: Many artist have done it before... Oda-sensei, for example. That's it. He never mentions Marine Ford. That came from Yonkou. He only asume that Togashi was refering to Marine Ford, the OP's arc with most characters in it.

This is the calm before the storm Once this arc is finished and they reach the dark continent They will see in the distance Vergil 😂😂😂

Consetion war was hilarious 😂🤣😂🤣 I counted 5 times, did I miss any? The best was the first word of the video lol

can't wait for your thoughts on vinland saga, glad you enjoyed HxH!

Crazy how you started reviewing hxh the manga comes back. Really enjoy the videos and can't wait for whats to come

First Ramble word in the beginning, "Concession War Arc" lol

I always simplify fourth prince ability with "diavolo stand" 😭

(Sorry for my english) Surprised she didn't mention the Untouchables (Camilla army) that a real cultural event in India. Sick stuff. Or the fascinating convo between Halkenburg and the King. What i love about Togashi's writing it's his obsession for humanity darkest corners. You can really feel his disgust for it as a species (chimera ants arc) but paradoxically he knows how too recognize that we can also shine thanks to our induvidualism. The succession war is, again, just a deeper discussion on that topic with the 4th prince as a personification of Togashi's biggest obsession, the flaws of the human race. Morena, his lineal sister (same mom same dad) from the 2nd branch of the royal family incarnate Togashi's disgust for it. One coin two face type of thing.

pre-death hisoka Bungee Gum has the properties of both rubber and gum post-death hisoka Bungee Gum has the properties of both rubber and GOD

My theory about the guardian is that it will be a test of strenght. Beyond told the zodiacs that they'll unleash him once they get to the DC. I mean, he's been there already so he'll end up being one powerful individual, prob the only one who can pass the test of the guardian.

Yeah should've made notes is a understatement the story starts turning into a novel or something but still love it as there is so many interactions and fights to go down on the boat

One character I really like is queen Oito because she really is just a normal person caught up in this awful war. I really love the moment when she sees Momoze being assassinated and is just fully willing to blow their cover and reveal that they have been spying on the other princes. It's a nice reality check when everyone is so caught up on this espionage and assassination that she really just doesn't want her stepdaughter to die. She's really unassuming but she is learning nen and might end up being a major player in the arc.

SO GLAD YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS ARC

I'm still angry that Togashi left us with Clash: Part 1 as the last chapter before the hiatus. I mean we're waiting almost 4 years now to get to Clash: Part 2. And welcome to Hiatus x Hiatus

One theory most people forgot is that the Chimera Queen was hurt and running away from a threatening situation of the dark continent, and she had all her hopes on his son, expecting him to be the light that illuminates it all. She never was explicit on if he's son should be evil or not, she just needed food and his soon was supposed to be the ultimate king. is a theme most people forget, chimeras goal wasnt evil, they just changed the food chain. reflecting what humanity does being on the top of the hierarchy

WELCOME TO THE CLUB MERPHY!!! I am happy and sad that you finished H×H. I truly wish you will only have to wait for a few years for a new chapter. (3 years max)

This is why I'm happy you're getting into Manga overall because you're getting to see how vastly experimental Storytelling can get and the freedoms of experimenting with "tropes" can become in the form. So many times writers and novel readers snub Manga because it's not what they consider as "good story telling." or "It has pictures, so it's probably going to be as corny as western comics or it's for kids" when they really get into rather darker themes than most comics, and a lot of western media as a whole were actually more influenced by Manga than people realized. For a long time Manga readers and anime watches were seen as "dorks who don't take things seriously." We are also understanding how storytelling *can* be done and not just the same tropes done in the same way over and over. It's the same with TTRPGs (Table top RPGs) being snubbed as a form of story telling, but yet look at Malazan. It was written origonally as a setting backdrop for a TTRPG game the writers were wanting to experiment with. Some companies even write short stories and books that are set within the verious settings that their games can be set in. (For example: Goodman Games have the Zines called "Tales of the Magician's Skull" that has a bunch of short stories with also things that people can use to play in their games, just to name a very small example.) So I hope to see you one day maybe talking about how you vew story telling after you have experienced enough Manga to get an idea on how you feel about the differences.

Togashi is phenomenal at using death for plot movement. Even his first big series, Yu Yu Hakusho, has the protagonist die in the intro of the series.

with people's after-death nen activating left and right, succession arc is actually a huge zombie apocalypse

04:40 Imagine Merphy trying to explain how King Crimson works

Regarding Tyson, her entourage reminds me of the Happy Happy Cult from Earthbound, which was based on a very notorious real life Japanese cult called Aum Shinrikyo which was active in the 80s and 90s. Not saying there's a connection between the two properties, but a Japanese person would spot the comparison between Tyson and the Aum (or any number of other New Religious Groups in Japan) immediately.

Now that you mentioned that there's people that can create their own armies, we have to remember they're heading to the Dark Continent, the place that already exterminated powerful human armies and hunters, so whoever win the succession war is going to have a mayor role in the dark continent arc

i really like your idea of kurapika basically becoming lady stonehart from the game of thrones books

I'm not caught up. I didn't realise you'd gone so far. Dope. Dope.

Hunter xHunter is just so unique. It’s been may favorite for many years

HxH never disappoints. Thanks for these reviews! Just popped in to say that the Fugetsu chapter was one of the saddest and sweetest manga chapters I can remember reading in a good while. And this in an arc about political intrigue and mafia wars. Togashi is such an incredible master of tone.

A LOT of people have mixed feelings about this arc because sometimes there are literal walls of text that sometimes even cover the art, but I enjoy all of the mystery and the twists! I’m hoping this arc gets animated so I can finally know how to pronounce Tserriednich correctly because Togashi was on one when he named him 😭😂

Most HXH arcs are 6 vols long with Chimera ant being 11 volumes long, This arc i think will be Chimera Ant length - we've had 5 vols with a volume worth of manga uncollected, apparently Togashi has written 20 new chapters taking this arc up to 8 chapters, so 3 more vols to go lol

I think considering all the kurapika death flags and the fact that he was said by the troupe to possibly be capable post mortem nen, that it will have something to do with him. Also, I'm looking forward to the troupe and kurapika meeting or at least hearing the other's on the ship. Mizai already said kurapika will flip out if he learns, but considering what happened the last time he and hisoka were in the same place together I'm eager to see what the troupe will do. I will be really shocked if the succession war actually ends with one prince winning, seems like it's going to go completely off the rails at some point, but its uncertain how. I've seen it theorised that the contest will be cancelled, that all the princes will die, and that it will fail if they reach the new continent before the winner was declared. Also, and i doubt this will happen, if the ship really is on the verge of complete destruction, I'd be interested to see what kurapika, the association hunters, the royal family, the troupe, and the mafia will do if they have to cooperate to prevent everyone dying.

I LOVELOVELOVE this arc. It's so intense even though there haven't been many fights/confrontations (At least not like heaven's arena-chimera ant arc). It really feels like there are so many characters that can tip the scales in their favor and win the war, but it's almost impossible to pinpoint. I also love that every decision, every action, and every word said could make all the difference.

We call the 4th prince Terror Sandwich.

Another interesting nen after death possibility, Kurapika recognizes just how much of a threat to humanity the 4th prince is and Kurapika uses chain jail to seal off his aura which would kill him but because of nen after death it becomes permanent and not something that could be exorcised like judgment chain was off of Chrollo

Welcome to Hiatus x Hiatus.

I think it’s worth mentioning that the Black Whale 1 is not actually going to THE Dark Continent but just a random continent outside the bounds of current world. So unless someone changes the course of the ship, nothing related to the “gates” and “gatekeeper” is related to the setup of the arc thus far.

One Piece has been my favorite series and Manga for a long time. BUT right now, I have to admit, Hunter x Hunter is the best of the best! And this Dark Continent Arc is my favorite so far in the series! It's so Diabolically and Geniusly Good! I can't get enough. I just read non-stop from the end of Greed Island till being caught up and Togashi is just Sublimely Brilliant! Incredible writing! Prolific, Intelligent and Great story telling!!! VERY realistic in the chaos, ebb and flow. A true Masterpiece!

As for theories. Kurapica is going to have to choose between vengeance or protecting the prince possibly raising the prince as a mentor if the mother dies with whatever lifespan he has left. I believe Kurapica catharsis will come from confronting the evil prince with the rest of the eyes. I think most or all of the spiders will die by the powder keg situation in the boat and by Hisoka. Chrollo will lose all he cares about leaving him in the Kurapica position of looking after Hisoka for revenge.

Concession war arc! Kurapika trying to get that popcorn

I do want to say though with HISOKA that he won’t be getting another chance, while he maybe a bit stronger than before and he has much more ways he can use his ability due to his ability being part of of body that by somehow he gets in to a bad position and start to loose consciousness or he gets hit by an ability that shuts his aura nodes off like from Kurapika or enter a room that serves as a zetsu force field he would drop to the floor like a rag doll with a corpse like body. Hisoka may look to be in tip top shape but he is undeniably a walking corpse.

hilarious when illumi was at the front of the boat, just above the eyes of the black whale, exactly the place where the needle was placed in killua's head. crazy to think that not only does fugetsu not know yet that kacho's dead, but melody didn't even find out yet that she helped the girls, leading to one of their deaths. that old man also died for nothing, basically. and i wonder when fugetsu will find out that kacho has died. it's not certain whether or not others will be able to see the fake kacho, but i reckon others cannot, cause then the fake kacho would not be able to stay with fugetsu to protect her, like she's supposed to, since she's a nen beast. i think the theory about illumi being hisoka is togashi misdirecting, and i'm not sure in what way. chrollo's not stupid. i don't think he's just take what illumi said for face value. he must be keeping an eye out for illumi, and maybe is trusting the rest of the troupe to keep an eye out for him as well. that last shot where the phantom troupe was together and everyone was looking in different directions was crazy. it felt like that'd be the last time the phantom troupe would be together as a whole again. i think most of them will die, if not all. i'm hoping chrollo and kurapika call for a truce for whatever reason. dunno what would instigate it. i was hoping they'd be able to go together to meteor city at the end of the manga to fight gyro since gyro's going to meteor city, which was the home of the troupe. i figure at least someone from the troupe would have to be alive for what would seem to eventually be the final battle of the series. also, kurapika seems to be becoming chrollo. kurapika's now stealing/borrowing nen powers like chrollo is, he's also a specialist, his dolphin ability in one shot sort of symbolizes an upside down cross, associating kurapika with the antichrist, which chrollo is (tho tserreidnich and morena also seem to be candidates as well). they both lost a loved one who is associated with significant and unique ownership of a cellphone (Pike and Shalnark). they're both wrestling with two goals at the moment. kurapika both wants to protect prince woble and get the eyes back. chrollo both wants to get the onboard treasure, and kill hisoka. and certainly the two of them will seek revenge with each other, chrollo for pakunoda and uvogin's deaths, and kurapika for the murder of his clan, which still hasn't been resolved. if i recall correctly, he claimed he would kill every spider, which hisoka also claimed he would do himself now. also, if you look at the dates in the chronological timeline of hunter x hunter, you'll notice that we're getting very close to september 11th, 2001............ prepare for the boat to possibly sink? there will certainly be a disaster of some kind. not that i think the dark continent expedition wouldn't still take place. i think kurapika might use emperor time too much and end up close to death. with a ticking clock, he and leorio might end up going to the dark continent to try and find that thing that'll extend one's life (which don freecs may have found). at least leorio would be super interested in trying to save his friend's life. maybe kurapika would have other reasons for exploring the dark continent himself. other stuff, hmm... hard to remember it all. woble's kurapika's innocence. i think woble's blonde too. potential spoilers since i think this might literally be true. check out the cover for volume 35. you'll notice that everyone who's died so far is on the left side of the urn. the princes on the left side of the urn will probably die during the remainder of the arc. i think the ones on the right will survive.

If kurapika has nen after death it's gonna be his judgement chains activating out of his corpse and going after those that he wanted to punish. Nen after death only keeps abilities going after death which is why pitous puppeteer ability was able to use pitous corpse to continue attacking.

I enjoy that we traumatized enough to always remember that Bungee Gump has both the properties of rubber and gum.

I think you might actually be further than me now in the manga. Though I've been picking back up on my manga reading outside of One Piece again lately, so time to catch up with Merph for once lol

You have amazing timing with Manga, you reached the final of One Piece when it was peaking in Wano. Now you've reached the final of HxH when we're finally getting more chapters after years of hiatus. By the way, it has been confirmed Togashi has 20 new chapters in the pipeline, the next 10 are pretty much done and the 10 after that, have been started. He has started posting pages from 401 so if he keeps motivated and healthy we should get those 20 next chapters pretty soon, which might even be enough to wrap up the succession war, who knows.

I have a feeling that's why he was sick, he probably full all nighter for years for writing this and drawing it out himself.

I wonder if the King's plan with the 14 corpses in the secret room is already foiled, since Kacho's corpse is currently in the middle of the ocean somewhere.

Great analysis! Regarding your thoughts on the purpose of the succession war and Ben after death, we did see those caskets the king had prepared, and he’s been working with Beyond, who has been to the Dark Continent. The king definitely has some hidden motive for this plan to begin with. I like your theory on Kurapika with nen after death too. That would be wild!

I think they all will die. With all these "follower" based powers, those weird capsules for the princes, and the very specific number of persons in the whale ship, seems like a some sort of holocaust for the sake of more Nen power. The game is set and it will be fun

OMG Kurapika dying but winning via nen after death is something i didn't consider. it sounds like it def will happen - look at the designs on the gates and compare them to Kurapika's village in chapter 0

I'm still here campaigning to get merphy into reading JoJo's

So excited for more chapters to come in the future

I believe there will be no winners. The war will be ultimately interrupted by 1. Phantom Troupe; 2. Reaching the Dark Continent; 3. Ging/Pariston/Beyond. HOWEVER! I do predict some princes will survive. Those princes are 4th Tserriednich, 11th Fugetsu, & 14th Wobble.

Wonderful video as always Merphy!

I don't know if that last theory works. Nen after death turbocharges powers that already exist and Kurapika doesn't have any ability that puts things on autopilot like Neferpitou did. I think his use of Nen after death would mean putting an unbreakable oath on someone or trapping something with his chains.

A small theory I have in regards to Hisoka: The calamity Hellbell sure sounds a lot like Hisoka. When it bites someone it gives them "homicidal desire ". Now I don't remember all the details, but someone mentioned the person who was bite goes on a killing rampage until they themselves die. I don't remember reading that, but it's possible I forgot. Anyway, just fun to think about. The desire part is what got me thinking about Hisoka given that he gets off when fighting (especially to the death) . Could also be the reason why he changed after he died, once he died and came back the effect of the Hellbell wore off. Now he's just pissed. 😅😂 It's probably waaaay off, but man if "homicidal desire" doesn't describe Hisoka perfectly, Idk what else does!

Finally she has come again.thank you for all Hunter Hunter videos..

My theory is that the succession war was made intentionally by the king to develop the prince's nen, kill them, store their bodies and then use their reinforced nen after death to do something, that's what the room with all the freezer like things are.

Great job juggling 8 million plot threads. After such a hiatus I think Togashi has some exciting payoff planned for this section, not just more build up. I'm in support of Togashi getting an artist on board and just writing the manga instead. Maybe he can draw certain key panels or jus do some light story-boarding. Yes, please do that.

A popular fan theory is that Kurapika somehow is going to hurt himself to the brink of death and that Leorio's big moment is going to be to heal him as his primary motivation stems from the desire to help his best friend. He wasn't able to save his best friend before but he might be now. Maybe he'll even have to look for a cure in the dark continent which would make him a prime subject for the protagonist of the dark continent arc since the other three from the OG gang already has gotten their own arc? And Togashi is definitely a master of the resurrection trope (which I normally dislike). Doesn't feel unearned or cheap when he does it,.

I hope when Oda finishes One Piece, he'll help Togashi in the Dark Continent arc.

The Fourth Prince already has accumulated a Nen ability (that might not even be his Hatsu) that allows him to defy time. Lord knows what powers his _two_ Nen Beasts grant him.

I'm a bit surprsied with your focus on post mortem nen that you didn't mention the coffin room that seemed to be hooked up to some weird machine. For me, I absolutely love how complex this arc is. If it ever finishes, I think it easily has the potential to become my new favorite arc, though that does of course depend on the ending.

If you’re a huge Hunter x Hunter fan, you have to check out Yu Yu Hakusho!! Togashi is so good at creating interesting powers and designs, I’d love to hear your take on them. Also, a heads up, the main team from Yu Yu and the main 4 from Hunter are literally identical character types, like you’ll be able to make a one to one comparison on who is who as far as personality and kind of their looks/ powers as well!

Merphy I recommend you calling the 4th prince, Terry Sandwhich. Big up Coach Recon

I have a minor theory about the resolution of the succession war that because Togashi loves to subvert expectations and use previously established world building as a scale for something new he wants to introduce that potentially his entire purpose for setting up the war and getting us invested in the powers and interplay between these princes will be to completely subvert them when the voyage reaches the dark continent. Essentially using the extremely powerful abilities of some of the princes and their nen beasts to show just how woefully outclassed even a genius is in this new environment and create stakes for Beyond, Ging, and Kurapika greater than we could have previously understood. I'm not sure exactly how he would accomplish this and I do buy into your theory that the king is using it as a way to either create a powerful enough successor to survive the dark continent, or potentially playing into the nen after death idea, forcing them to develop their powers and then collecting that posthumous nen in some way using the ritual in a bid for himself to survive. Given that Togashi has previously established that the outcome of this voyage is not just risking the lives of the people travelling but all of humanity because of the possibility to bring calamities back to the mainland, I almost feel like the depth we're going into with the succession is a massive diversion to make us forget about the ramifications of this situation.

The true purpose of the succession contest is to have one survivor remaining and all other princes'nen after death benefiting the surviving prince and the survivor prince sacrificing 200000 people on black whale, to create the strongest nen user who shall be king, protected by the ritualistic nen that is the seed urn ceremony. The objective of King Nasubi is to create the strongest Dynasty that will last forever. And It will perpetuate for next generations creating exponential growth in the kakin kingdom, the objective of the kakin kingdom is to unite the entire world under one kingdom. Benjamin's ability, "Benjamin Baton: Those who inherit the stars" is a perfect representation of this arc as a whole. I believe Benjamin should be the king.

Every time that she called it the concession war I couldn't help giggling a little. Imagine Kurapika, the Phantom Troupe, the Princes, and everyone else plotting and killing over the survival of their cute little fruit stands and nacho food trucks. Merphy, if you are reading this, _please_ dont change how you pronounce succession.

I wonder if Togashi’s just trolling us at this point and everyone will die in the Black Whale before reaching DC. What of KilluGon comes to the rescue again? Or maybe they might encounter Gyro (if he’s still even there, he must be) and get killed as well. So many possibilities! But, man, HxH is truly unpredictable. Togashi’s a genius!

Morena's Nen ability is a pyramid scheme and that's the best thing ever

just popped into my mind, maybe those gates will have some similarities with the gates on killua's house