Hunter Hunter’s Chimera Ant is an arc that stands out in the minds of most of it’s
audience for the bold, powerful and creative ways it tackles its structure, themes, major
moments and characters.
However, given the bigger story beats involving The Royal Guards vs the extermination squad,
Pouf’s poetic internalization, Netero’s sacrifice, Meruem’s progression, Gon’s
downward spiral and the Killua exploration, it is understandable that some elements of
the story fall by the wayside in the memories of those who watch or read.
And one of the more overlooked aspects, a narrative thread that goes a bit under the
radar, is that of Ikalgo and his pacifistic stance, and how he chose to forego killing
Welfin and Brovada despite their interference with his ultimate duty.
Now, for me, this is quite comfortably the least engaging aspect of the Palace Invasion
and there are many who agree with me.
It is far from badly written, but it is comparatively forgettable through no fault of it’s own.
It was just unlucky in that no matter where this thread was tackled within the arc, it’s
placement was to its detriment.
Whether it took a break from Gon vs. Pitou, Youpi vs. Shoot, Knuckle, Morel and Meleoron,
Netero vs Meruem or Shaiapouf’s antics, Ikalgo’s situation was consistently the
less interesting plot line in comparison to any other.
However, that does NOT AT ALL mean that this one was any less important than the others,
exemplified by the large amount of time spent here by Togashi, and it also does not at all
mean that the final impact of this underlying story was not as wonderfully realized as the
others.
Now, a lot of time here is spent with Ikalgo wrestling with his inner self, trying his
hardest to do what is right for his squad while also ensuring that he does not kill
his enemies.
His job during the invasion was to infiltrate the base using his disguise, locate Palm and
save her, and then use his best judgment to decide where and how to proceed from there.
This leads to him being confronted by a couple of suspicious adversaries in Brovada and Welfin,
and a great deal of time spent on his side of the story chronicles his misadventures
in the underground, trying to proceed with his job while not ending the lives of those
he opposes.
This adherence to non-violence is a theme that integrates seamlessly with the arc’s
focus on perspective, but it also has some more specific thematic relevance through the
personal implications it has for Ikalgo.
Having been saved himself from a worthless, violent, nothing life by Killua through the
latter’s compassion, Ikalgo knows better than anyone that someone can turn their life
around and make a positive impact on the world after being helped by one small act of kindness.
He knows that anyone can change.
And so, he does not want to snuff out that potential.
It’s a constant tug of war between doing what he knows is his job and remaining loyal
to his comrades, and passing on some empathy and kindness, trying to believe in people
enough to avoid needless death.
The most prominent character apart from Ikalgo in this plot line is Welfin, who is explored
quite a bit, but the more important character with regards to the idea we’re discussing
here is Brovada, also known as Bloster.
And this may seem like a strange statement to make, but believe me when I say that while
Welfin is important in other ways, Brovada is absolutely vital to the topic at hand here.
Yet to properly understand why, we must first trace all the way back to some of the series’
very first moments.
I go over this element of Hunter x Hunter in much more detail in my video about Killua
and his relationship with Gon, but to put things plainly , a torch of kindness and empathy
was materialized when our two main protagonists first met during the Hunter Exam.
Killua, who had until this point been deprived of freedom, friendship and proper love, is
met with Gon, who is a personification of all of those things.
As the two get to know each other, Killua finds that his life is completely turned around
by Gon, simply through the type of person he is.
Killua was aimless and Gon helped him discover his purpose.
Killua had no friends, and Gon became his in an instant.
Killua was living a life devoid of light, and Gon showered him in it.
Gon changed Killua’s life around by being a simple, kind, good-natured person with an
open, pure heart, and their enduring friendship helped him develop and become the person he
became by the end of the story.
And so here, we can see that Gon provided Killua with this torch.
Now, if we move ahead to the Chimera Ant arc, this theme is carried forward.
While disrupting things for the Ants’ selection plan, Killua comes into contact and skirmishes
with a Chimera Ant named Ikalgo.
Though the two initially fight, Ultimately, Killua ends up expressing his respect for
Ikalgo, calling him a cool guy and someone he could have been friends with were they
on the same side.
Even aside from the way he saves him in literal terms, Killua’s most telling contribution
to Ikalgo’s life is the way he simply offers him validation and friendship through his
words.
And as someone who was disillusioned with his role, who has been insecure and detached,
all Ikalgo needed was a helping hand and an offer of connection.
And Killua is all to happy to oblige, using the things he learned about friendship, life
and purpose from Gon in order to help Ikalgo grab hold of a new lease on life.
At this point, Killua passes the torch of kindness onto Ikalgo, who reacts in kind by
saving his life.
The two become instant friends and Ikalgo is offered personal fulfillment by Killua
in the form of a spot on the extermination team.
Essentially, this completely changes his views and philosophy, and Ikalgo is benefitted by
seeing a whole new world of possibilities.
From here, we can fast forward to Ikalgo’s role in the Palace Invasion as I mentioned
before - his struggle to ensure that he does not snuff out potential positive change in
the world through not killing, while also carrying out his duty.
He ultimately is able to spare both Welfin and particularly Brovada’s lives.
And as such, Ikalgo passes on that torch once more - in this case, to the blue lobster thing.
Brovada is very much cognizant of the fact that he is only breathing because Ikalgo did
him a kindness, and he takes it upon himself to pay it forward.
His method of doing this is resolving to pass on this positive energy through helping Shidore
- who is revealed to actually be the chimera ant of Reina - by helping her find her home.
Reina, who remembers her past life, just longs to be reunited with her mother and village,
but is terrified to approach the people she once knew in fear of them being scared off
or rejecting her.
So Brovada supports her every step of the way, passing the torch of kindness onto her
as a tribute of gratitude and appreciation for Ikalgo.
Reina reunites with her Mother, who is quite beautifully able to recognize her daughter
even in this unfamiliar form.
And as an expression of deep thanks, Reina symbolically places the torch to rest by offering
Brovada a home and a place to belong.
Having alluded to the idea that he really doesn’t have a place to be, Brovada is delighted
to accept.
Following orders yet clearly not a bad guy, heartfelt and passionate, firm in his conviction
to do right by those who did right by him, wandering and aimless until given a chance
of happiness - Brovada isn’t a very fleshed out or deep character, but he’s everything
that he needed to be to shoulder this vital part of the story and allow everything to
follow through.
Episode 136 is one of my very favourite episodes of anime period for this very reason.
It isn’t just a gorgeous, emotionally heart-wrenching story of redemption, love and family come
full circle; it’s the final impact and culmination of a thematic thread that was spun from the
very beginning.
Gon changes Killua’s life around and shows him that there is so much possibility and
so many things to live for.
In turn, Killua showed kindness and friendship to Ikalgo, who subsequently used that kindness
to form his resolve to save Brovada, who then paid it forward by helping Reina find her
family, and was consequently rewarded by being offered a home in return.
Each character learns from and is affected by the actions of the others, all started
by a simple act of kindness in the beginning.
It’s an invisible and subtle, yet very palpable string of compassion that can be traced from
Brovada and Reina back to Gon, who quite literally never met them but indirectly helped them
through starting the first domino.
In the midst of a story that can get quite dark, it is a beautiful chain of events, benefitting
and saving people up until the very end of the Chimera Ant arc - passing on that torch
of compassion and love again and again.
Each person benefitted exponentially by that torch and further passing it on.
It is a championing of empathy, a demonstration of how far little acts of kindness can go
in changing the world, and it is one of the most under-discussed yet powerful elements
in the story.
Many thanks for watching.