Hunter X Hunter/Headscratchers

• How did the Hunters' Guild get so much political power? Entire sections of the world are closed off to non-members, most public services are expected to cater to them for free, they can organize for violent criminals to be released from prison under only their supervision, and they can kill people with no legal repercussions. Something's fishy about this bunch.
  • Would YOU like to be the one to tell people like Netero "No"?
    • This. If you take every instance of "Hunter" in the series, and replace it with "Certified Badass", it might be a bit awkwardly worded, but it wouldn't change the meaning of the story at all. You can be a Badass without being a Hunter, of course, but only the Hunters' Association can certify you as one.
  • Probably lots and lots and LOTS of things like donations, rewards for jobs like monster/criminal extermination, etc. The insanely powerful hunters provide a LOT of benefits for normal people, so naturally, rewards for such work is probably expected or offered. And as mentioned above, you want these people to stay happy. Because God help you if you piss them off, or even just annoy them.
  • Depending on how many hunters are like Gon mentally, only a few of significant power will due, closing yourself off to them would be like an open calling card and challenge to get into said area.
  • It's pretty obvious that Hx H-world politics don't work quite like they do in what we laughingly call the 'real world'... examples like the Neo Green Life/League and Ryuusegai, the Underground Auctions in York Shin (which happen annually at the same time as the regular auctions), the Hunters Exam itself... none of that would quite work in the real world.
  • Not to mention that the "restricted" parts of the world are either too dangerous or too delicate for normal people to enter, they probably have a controlling interest in the companies that sponsor those public services, what kind of prisoner would be dangerous to a hunter and what kind of person who was dangerous to a hunter would become a prisoner, and it's not like they can kill just anybody without legal repurcussions, just guys with bounties
    • No, when talking to Netero about his reasons for taking the Hunter Exam, Hisoka says "Even if we kill someone, we're out of most of the responsibility..." Nothing about bounties in that statement. To answer the original issue, considering that Hunters are Nen users, and presuming that one in five is strong in Manipulation, you have a group of people who can run the world from the shadows very easily.
    • True, although "most of the responsibility" is very vague.
      • My guess is that they assumed that if you go over the line way too many times, more people will pay other hunters to go after you, solving the problem and in a way keeping you in line. That's why no matter if you are the leader of the most fearsome mafia, you don't to go bullying every other organization, difference in number is difference in number.
      • It's later find out that a kill here and there wont be a problem but by hunter law you'll be pursued if you abuse the rule as Illumi did.
  • It's kinda like Hunters are so badass that the rules of society don't really apply to them, anything they want they have the power and force to take it themselves if they wanted to, whether it be getting into dangerous areas or all kinds of services that require a fee for normal folk. Essentially the Hunter status is a way of skipping all of the potential damage they may cause by giving them free rein to achieve whatever they want without the restrictions that normal people face.
    • Politics can't exactly function normally in a world where some people have superpowers. Some hunters like the examiners or Wing are at least seen trying to seep nen a secret from the general public, which is technically good because anyone could theoretically learn how to use it. For the association, it's probably also also a matter of having superior power, but it's still the difference between giving a few people power, teaching them how to use it and hoping they won't brake anything too important, and giving everyone power and letting it all go to hell. The second option would probably render whatever law they have over in their world obsolete.
  • When Satotsu was giving Gon his license after Hunter Exam was over, he explained that Hunters were given all of those advantages because of the good their predecessors did in the past.
• How come his family says that Killua is the heir to the family business and one of their most talented when Kalluto has full control over his nen abilities at an age Killua didn't even know nen existed?
  • Nen isn't the only indicator of skill. Recalling Killua's past battles, it seems that, compared to Kalluto, Killua's Weak but Skilled enough to be better than him.
  • Killua manages missions of the same difficulty without benefit of Nen at all. That makes him even more awesome. Perhaps it's what his mother was worried about - with Nen added on, he would be even more impossible to control.
  • Kalluto just got the knowledge of the existence of nen earlier somehow, there is nothing that says you need a certain level of power to use nen, Killia could had learned nen earlier if someone else would had told or attack him with it, and with his alleged skill he would had been more skilled than Kalluto at that age (10 I think)had they learned about it at the same age.
  • It's said that as the heir Killua is given a more severe training. He said that they made him participate in the Heaven's Tower but he left before the 200, so they probably wanted him to learn nen the hard way (by baptism) than more safely like they probably did with Kalluto.
• Why do all the folks with machine guns fire from the waist?
  • They're gangsta.
  • I dont think this is that uncommon in the real world. If you're firing full auto you need to compensate for recoil somehow.
• The Hunter exam proctors seem dangerously homicidal. Leading them on a jog through a man-eating plant jungle? What's the point?
  • Some Hunters will end up doing this for a living. Also, they need to weed out the homicidal candidates (except for Hisoka, obv.) because being a Hunter means massive, almost above-the-law power.
  • When you look at all the things and people they have gone through after the exam, what would be the point of giving a hunter lisence to someone who can't deal with a measily man-eating plant. They would be dead on their first job.
• What in blazes is wrong with Yoshihiro Togashi and his absurdly long breaks? If he doesn't want to draw manga anymore, why doesn't he just say so? He can afford to retire, as he has already achieved celebrity status among manga artists, won the Tezuka Prize, and is one of the handful of illustrators actually getting a large income. It would certainly be better than futilely waiting for a story that the author doesn't want to finish.
  • I don't think that's the issue. He wants to keep doing Hx H, that's obvious. He's just lazy and already pretty well-off. Here's the thing, with YYH, he was 25 and single, he had all the time in the world to dedicate to his career (even if it all went to crap after the Dark Tournament, but I digress). Today? He's 46 with a wife and 2 kids. I think it's a combination of general laziness, wanting to spend more time with his family, spending more time developing the story, and being a bit burnt out on the whole weekly grind (Which means about 5 full-fledged pages a day). I've also heard he travels a lot, which can hinder progress. Also there's the thing about his health (EVERY. SINGLE. MANGAKA. HAS. HEALTH. ISSUES. It's tough work schedule and involved a lot of sitting for hours on end and rapid hand motions, and eye strains etc.). Also, he may to taking advantage of the fact that his editors will ALWAYS welcome him back with open arms.
    • Also the fact that due to some experiences in the pass he has decided to everything on his own.
      • Well, whatever it was, he's pretty much over it, it appears.
• How can Shalnark be a licensed Hunter if everyone who comes from Meteor City(like the rest of the Genei Ryodan) aren't registered anywhere?
  • Only the original six members (Chrollo/Kuroro, Feitan, Franklin, Machi, Nobunaga, Pakunoda, and Uvogin.) came from meteor city.
  • His DNA wasn't on file (remember, he was one of the fake corpses the Mafia got their hands on) meaning that he is from Meteor City. As for the hunter license: he could have stolen it or registered under an assumed identity.
  • She materializes a revolver, she could only shot 6 bullets (which she said is the same number as the founding members). She is a founding member herself yet is not taking a bullet, throwing the number off, given that Shalnark is the smartest member so that may be the possibility she picked him.
  • He is a thief after all he probably stole it. Considering his ability he could have made the original owner tell him everything about it's use.
• When Killua returns from Greed Island to do the Hunter Exam for the second time, why does he knock out Zepile? That guy helped them get enough money to get to greed island and got Gon enough money to get his hunter license back.
  • He probably wanted to be back ASAP, and even one contestant could risk a second round. Nothing is lost by failing the Hunter Exam, so Zepile could always try again next time.
• How the characters manage to see anything in the middle of the night, in a pitch black forest, during the prelude to the first Hunter Exam.
  • It's a shonen manga, you can just chalk it up to Charles Atlas Superpower.
  • Leorio stayed behind and Kurapika followed Gon, who's spend most of his life in the wild.
  • Kurapika and Gon are both established as having more-than-human senses before that, in the manga at least. And at one point in the old anime Gon explained that the path to his home in Whale Island got really dark at night.
• The hunter exam is incredibly risky and we see applicants being killed left and right, and not just because it's a special year with creepy people like Hisoka and Illumi attending, but also because of random obstacles like monsters, or animals, or whatever they are supposed to be. So basically, most aren't anywhere near the level that it takes to actually become a hunter. Did they actually survive a previous attempt? I'm inclined to believe that they actually were rookies and just not important enough to mention, but there's nothing in canon to back it up (the manga and all the adaptations kinda are kinda mashed in my head, but I think it was stated somewhere that there were only about 20 rookies that time.)
  • The first part of Satotzu's test was just running in a tunnel, many failed to do just that. It's possible that many of the ones that died in the second half of the first test and the second attempt at the second test just failed on a very early and yet not lethal part the previous year's exam. The sushi test wasn't life threatening either.

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• How did Killua recognize Zeno's Dragon Dive? Since its a nen attack he couldn't have seen when he was kid since it would be invisible. So it means that he saw the attack after he learned nen, but the places he went to after learning nen was Yorkshin,Greed Island, then the Chimera Ant Island. So when did he meet Zeno?