Fun fact. Remember the bomber dude back in Greed Island? He had an ability called Little Flower, which allowed him to make an explosion with his hands, which he named after the Miniature Rose bomb

Netero, a man who spent half of his 110 year old life praying, said "If theres a hell, ill see you there", what a line

Take special note on how the narrator points out that The Miniature Rose was compact, cheap and easy to massproduce. It shows that Meruem and The Chimera Ants, as powerfull as they were individually, were NEVER ready for humanity to take its gloves off, let alone go to full scale war.

Fun fact: netero loses the same arm and leg he used against gon and killua on the airship in the hunter exams.

The word that Netero uses for evolution has another meaning its Malice, the King, could never understand the bottomless pit of the Malice of humanity

its very telling about how we view shonen protags these day that alicia can see gon threaten to murder a innocent person and think its cool and badass. simply because he's the MC. i think togashi was trying to tell us something with this arc: just because you're the MC doesn't mean you're the hero. and it goes to show the parallel journeys of meruem and gon. meruem will rise to greater heights in the light while gon falls deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Netero's sacrifice would normally be seen as an act of courageous sacrifice, but in here we see just how fucked it is for him to resort to this. Also, holy shit a fucking nuke just exploded

Gon, mr "how can you kill someone that has nothing to do with you?!?!" to the phantom troupe, drops a "next time you delay me, ill kill her"

19:55 "Evolution" here is originally written in a way that you can read "malice" in it too btw, "dont underestimate humanity's potential for malice/evolution"

hearing a guy who has spent 30 years praying say "ill see you in hell" goes hard as fuck

It's not even just that he's frail he finally doesn't have the spare aura to look younger than he really is for the first time in probably decades

20:00 In japanese, the specific way Netero said "evolution" can also mean "malice", like the way its written can be read both ways in japanese.

The King found out just how petty humans can be and he just so happen to fight one of the pettiest humans of all…Rip Netero 🫶

Goes to show how good of a hunter Netero was, he had a backup plan that he knew would get the job done.

Just then the king felt true fear for the first time in his life

I love how when being a strong honorable Fighter failed him, Netero straight up cheated and appealed to Humanity's Infinite Malice. Also: STOP SHITTING ON KILLUA'S YOYO, HE PICKED THAT AS HIS WEAPON FOR A REASON😂

34:34 Me watching this scene: oh my god Gon no! what have you become! meanwhile these two: YEEEEEEEEES

Idk if this is a fun fact, but Netero's "Do you think i need 2 arms to pray? A prayer comes from the heart" is VERY similar to what Toji said to Mahito in JJK season 2 ("do you think i need hands to clap? A clap is the acclamation of the soul") and considering how much Cursed Energy is inspired by Nen (Binding Wovs and Restrictions for example), it might just be a reference to HxH

The poor man's rose is my favorite moment in all anime. It tells us that humanity has created this horrible evil weapon of mass destruction that no one creature can hope to survive, but also it was never used after the ban, so in a way humanity also managed to defeat that weapon as well. Just goes to show that the power of even the greatest individual human (Netero) is nothingn compared to the entirety of humanity, and that this collective power is something even the most powerful individual ever (king), never stood a chance against.

Aight folks, two more days before 130/131 We getting ready

"tis but a flesh wound"

Expensive fight, it costs an arm and a leg.

Each of Killua's Yo-Yos weigh 110 lbs (50 kgs)

Netero with half his limbs cut off: "it's just a flesh wound"

As many people have pointed out, Netero's words to Meruem are translated as 'You know nothing of mankind's infinite potential for 'evolution'.', but the kanji for 'evolution' can also be read as 'malice', and it reinforces something that Meruem picked up on during the fight with Netero and over the course of his life up until now. Humans are crazy. Meruem says flat out that he knows Netero spent years training in an insane attempt to gain power, and that the experience probably brought him to the brink of madness. Moreover, Meruem also sees human individuality and emotion as something that causes unpredictable and unreasonable personalities to appear among the Chimera Ants, but he hasn't truly seen the depths of what could be considered 'unreasonable' until now, seeing a man willing to kill himself for a suicide attack that could kill everyone for miles around. Moreover, to rush into a fight with the full expectation of dying in an instant, with that same contingency in place that could have killed thousands, including Netero's own friends and subordinates, not just because it's the absolute last possible resort and a necessary evil, but because Netero is also petty enough that he would rather kill Meruem now out of sheer spite for losing or not having a good enough fight instead of doing it strictly for the sake of humanity. Hell, Netero says flat out that Meruem's words could have swayed him if he didn't focus on the mission and the fight. Why? Because Netero doesn't actually care about how the world is run, so long as he gets to do what he wants, which is fight strong people and cultivate strength in others who can give him a challenge. In a way, Meruem's world is a paradise for someone like Netero, seeing humanity brought under absolute control, its needs met, and for Meruem to cultivate its strengths and virtues into something great and wondrous over time, with Netero himself probably taking the lead in the development of this new world and being able to reap the fruits of this endeavor with almost total freedom, and all he'd have to do is accept defeat and use his own resources to help Meruem bring about that entertaining world for him. And he can't do that, not just for the moral and ethical reasons associated with Meruem's rise to power or the certainty that he'd be wiped out by the overwhelming power of the wider world thanks to Netero simply knowing how vast and horrifying the world truly is, but also because Netero has already resolved himself to fight until his dying breath and, in the event of his defeat, snatch ultimate victory from his opponent because he thinks that would be a fun way to go out. Netero isn't just saying that Meruem doesn't know how cruel and evil humanity and the world at large can be and how that has given it a limitless potential to grow, he's also telling Meruem flat out that he has no idea how unreasonable and evil the man in front of him is and how much he's benefited from humanity's growth and malice. Meruem is the culmination of the Chimera Ant species's drive to become the pinnacle of evolution and conquer the world? Well, here's one old-ass dying man missing an arm and leg. If you can't get past him, how do you expect to take over the world that is full of people who are more powerful and frightening than him?

"That is the perfect way for him to go out" Togashi: Nuh huh

I'm really not sure if any fight in any anime will ever reach this peak level. Netero vs Meruem is the pinnacle of good writing, gorgeous animation and direction, high stakes, deep character development and absolute badassery. Everything is literally perfect here.

I love how gon and meruem mirror eachother. The monster that becomes a human, and the human that becomes a monster.

you have been speciesist this whole arc and are going to judge him :)

Since we are pointing out cool aspects of Netero's final fight, one of my favorite details is that the Zero Hand wraps its target in an unconditional love, with no hint of malice or bloodlust. That was why Meruem fell for it despite being fast enough both in mind and body to counter the other 100 hands. The attack didn't register as one to his heightened senses because of the lack of killing intent. I wish we had learned more about Netero's philosophy on love since he kinda throws the word around a lot while his deeply human and malicious actions seem to contradict that character theming.

Considering the fact that Killua didn't want Gon to see what happened to Palm, I *_seriously_* doubt he would have been okay with killing Komugi, assassin upbringing be damned.

Meruem always reminded me of someone, but just now, just now, I realized who he reminds me of, he is very similar to the arrogant king of heroes himself

also dispite how strong he is, he was slowly taking damage. if he didn't figure out the unconscious pattern he would have eventually lost

I just love the way they did this, you don't often see anime with power systems resort to nukes

Meruem be like : “The look on that man’s face! With the smile of the 100-type Guanyin Bodhisattva plastered on his face, he blew himself up with an explosion! This man is completely off the rails!”

they joking and laughing about bombs killing humans, such a deplorable behaviour

It seemes ants never had a chance against humanity malice :) It becomes touching when you realizing that they could've nuke them from the get-go, Netero simply sacrificed himself for one last dance + to save innocent lives. It's also powerful because this is the first time Meruem felt fear for himself - his humanity is now complete. In manga, when the skull panel hits, the kanj used for the word "evolution" could also be read as "malice", I believe, so Netero was pretty much saying that, no, ants can't match humans not in their potential, neither in their malice - as in, there are no one more horrifying than mankind. Nen? Evolution? Martial arts? Honor? See how fast those things were brought low with a simple nuke, a small one at that. Azu and Alicia sorta miss that fact, I think, because they are constantly joking, but chrime ant arc shows the true intention Togashi always had for HxH - it is seinen masked as shonen. Man, these two been wrong all the time since Chimera Ant arc started.

gon is fully in his "meet the grahams" haunting fuckin beat down phase

The Alicia says that this is the perfect way for the king to go out but the author was like "No, because this doesn't hurt your soul, just wait a few episodes and it'll get there"

Hitting the "humanity is the most frightening enemy" troupe with that voice gives me such chills. Such malice and animosity in those words, made as a promise.

Apologies for my bad English writing, but yes, I hated gon for this for just a little while but literally at this moment the only thing that mattered to me was that meruem and komugi sat down to play again

We're almost there fellas

Alicia made so manny nugget jokes about the Meruem/Netero fight, I actually forgot Meruem actually dioes get nugg-ified. She might be low-key psychic.

King out here taking those lows in order to find the timing to get that hop kick in and take Netero to the wall

i remember jamming out to an amv with hail to the king playing over this fight when i was younger. (good times)

Remember when you two said "King's arm would be his weakness"

Its kinda funny to hear alicia make the joke about not getting cancelled for her take on human life, since i just watched her freiren reaction where shes pro capital punishment lol

It's deifnitely interesting how much we see the Ants change over the course of this arc

You could say that it cost him more than just an arm and a leg

@23:23 that actually is a reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki that is no NYC and thinking about it if it is York new city it would still kinda make sense due to the land being closer to other land than in hxh map then irl world map

As much as I love netero, king was so fking cool in this episode 🥶

I can’t imagine how annoyed netero must’ve been to realize he needed a bomb implanted to even guarantee Meruem dies…no joy in a nuke. Of all the deaths I certainly don’t want Meruem to die off screen to a bomb.

notice that the limbs netero lost were the same ones he wasnt allowed to use during his game with gon? edit: they forgot how heavy those damn yoyos are again did they? note- neteros last line in the actual translation would go as follows: "dont underestimate humanity's infinite potential for MALICE"(not evolution)

"We don't think there's a Nen user strong enough to take the King? Nuke 'em."

After this arc you should react to a video of the battle in real time. It's only like 4 mins long. They made a split screen of the battles according to all the timestamps givin by the narrator.

Meruem was being racist and Netero called him out, not the other way around lmao

42:15 the way she cringed. 💀

That critter had it coming

Almost done with Chimera Ant. That Netero face is engraved in my mind. Its so good and so horrifying.

I think palm’s 🍒 grew when she turned into an ant

And so the king was defeated by a bomb humans, the species he considered inferior, see as cheap. No matter how strong he Was. He could have never won against humans

Alicia and friends react to her favorite bollywood movies when? that sounds really fun

You guys over estimate Gon's current power, the only reason Pitou is following his orders is because Gon holds Komugi hostage. I'm not even sure he could significantly hurt Pitou right now. Later though, as you probably have seen by now, he gets a way to kill her, but he literally has to sacrifice all of his Nen to do that, though to be fair that was more than enough, he didn't need that much of it.

Let Azu cook, Palm really got that shit on tho

Just a guess, but I don't think you two are gonna be on team "Dark side Gon" for much longer.

Not going lie I think the Eng line Was better instead of saying, he knows nothing of the potential of human evolution he said you know nothing of the Bottomless Malice within the Human heart that give me chilli both are good and true but the eng one feel more creepy and evil

waiting ep 134 reference netero bomb:)

What a fight.

you know what, ichibei would clap meruem so much

Did some one ask for stumps

Meruem is a yugioh reference... think about it; he is a king of games. LOL

4 more episodes…

Zack and Cody looking ass!? 😂

anyway think of Alien vs Predator the 3 predators vs 1000's of aliens if i can't win no one can

♥→💀

Honestly, from this point on until gon's fool came back to, if I hate him, why to begin with you don't know and I'm not going to spoil it, but let's just say that in the future the Gon's tantrums were nothing more than that tantrums, and making little komugi go through this, she just hates him.

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