Sadaso ditches his buddies and it’s probably the smartest move he’ll ever make.

——

It would be a lie for me to say that I haven’t been bored of the past couple of episodes since the fight between Hisoka and Kastro. Part of it is that this is my third time going through these adventures as I’ve read the manga and watched the original 1999 series. Another factor is that, aside from updated visuals and animation, the creators of this series haven’t done anything new or terribly exciting to separate itself from the previous series’ thirty-four episodes into its run. Lastly, the one thing I keep forgetting about this series is that Hunter X Hunter doesn’t exactly hit its stride until the next arc when Gon and Killua are reunited with Leorio and the arc focuses more on Kurapika and his story. Until then, I have to patiently sit through this arc where there isn’t much substance by comparison to the series’ stronger stories. 

Though episode thirty-four features three separate fights—two involving Gon and only one involving Killua—each of them winds up being totally one-sided with the third and final fight seemingly pointless to me as a viewer and idiotic from the perspective of Riehvelt after being completely overwhelmed by Killua. Part of the boredom stems from Gido being nothing more than a stagnant character as he offers no new strategy in dealing with Gon, as he was confident due to his prior victory over him. Riehvelt on the other hand is the only one of the rookie crushers whose abilities we haven’t seen up to this point, but even when they are revealed, his nen abilities aren’t anything special. In fact, they’re rather lame. 

The only saving graces for this episode were that episode thirty-four moves at a quick enough pace that you almost forget you’ve spent over twenty minutes watching it and the cliffhanger at the end of this episode. Gon’s goal in coming to Heaven’s Arena is met as his strength is finally recognized by Hisoka who agrees to fight with Gon. The anticipation of that fight is what really elevates this episode above being completely mundane. 

GO Rating: 2.5/5

A long awaited match is on the horizon!