Hunter x Hunter is a shonen anime about two best friends and a long journey to find Gon's dad. However, some very dark implications in the series could easily qualify it as a seinen made for more intense viewing. The trauma and challenges fans had to watch young Gon and Killua face and overcome were sometimes difficult.
Most fans agree that the Chimera Ant Arc took an incredibly dark turn for many characters. However, many also argue that these intense battles and emotional obstacles are part of what made Hunter x Hunter one of the greatest shonen anime to date.
10 Gon Spends The Series Chasing A Disappointing Parent
Ging left his son and abandoned his role as a father to be a Hunter. Optimistic Gon finds this quality admirable and searches for him anyway. Along his journey, he encounters many antagonists who Ging had told not to go easy on Gon, meaning that Gon's life is at stake in most situations. For example, Gon, Killua, and many others feel the wrath of Ging's requests during the dodgeball tournament with Razor in the Greed Island Arc,
Gon doesn't meet his father until he's on the brink of death, and it ends up being one of the more lackluster scenes with Ging giving a conveniently quick "fatherly" talk and sending him away. Most fans agree that Gon deserved more after spending a lifetime looking for him.
9 Killua's Strength Comes From A Lifetime Of Trauma
While Killua quickly proves one of the most powerful characters in Hunter x Hunter, fans know that this strength comes from incredible torture and suffering. Most of the members of Killua's family play a role in manipulating and controlling him for their own gain. Even when they appear to be giving Killua free will, Illumi plants a needle in his head to control him from afar.
Upon meeting Killua, Bisky quickly recognizes the hardships he must have endured to gain all his power and nen. While Killua's growth is one of the most beautiful and transformational to watch, it is also heartbreaking.
8 Kurapika Has To Give His Relative's Eyes Away As Souvenirs
Kurapika's sole reason for becoming a Hunter is to avenge his family, who were all murdered for their unique red eyes. While caring, patient, and considerate toward his friends, Kurapika is ruthless regarding this goal.
Kurapika stakes his life on his nen abilities by swearing only to use them to bring justice to his family. While Kurapika gains a set of the Kurta Clan's eyes, he has to hand them over to his boss's spoiled daughter, Neon, and watch as the last remnant of his family gets treated as souvenirs.
7 Gon Learns About Loss Traumatically & Loses Himself In Grief
Gon took a strong liking to Kite, who knew his father deeply and served as Gon and Killua's mentor in most of the Chimera Ant Arc. However, fans quickly see that this arc is nothing like the previous ones and that there are no second chances or do-overs.
As quickly as Gon gains a new friend, he must witness Pitou brutally tear Kite apart. Gon later sees Kite's body turned into a murderous puppet and cannot unsee or recover from this torturous image. Fans see the devastating effects this has on the Gon they once knew.
6 Alluka's Family Doesn't Love Her Unconditionally
The amount of Alluka's strength and power is not lost on the Zoldyck family, nor is their knowledge that she cannot be controlled. This can be seen by the amount of security that keeps Alluka locked away. While Killua does have pure intentions by freeing Alluka, he mistakenly thinks he can free her from Nanika, the dark continent creature who lives in Alluka's body.
Fans later see that Alluka does not wish to be loved for half of who she is or to banish her seemingly "bad" side, but both are equally important and valuable. Killua swears to protect them both, and they now know happiness and acceptance, but it's disheartening to know Alluka and Nanika have spent most of their lives being feared and hated.
5 Killua Gives Everything For A Rather Selfish Friend
Coming from a traumatically abusive and manipulative family, Killua deals with incredibly low self-esteem and worthlessness. Killua sees Gon as a ray of light in his life and follows him faithfully and without question. Most of their journey is dangerous and potentially fatal. There are times when absolute resolve and transformation determine life or death.
When Killua keeps Gon from killing Pitou immediately, Gon assumes it's because this isn't Killua's fight, conveniently forgetting that every battle of Gon's is also his. Killua's love for Gon inevitably becomes the source of his breaking, and fans have to watch the repercussions of Gon's reckless words and actions on Killua and his perception of self.
4 Meruem Is Terrifying Before His Transformation
Before knowing Komugi, Meruem's wrath almost completely ended the human race. Meruem kills his mother at his birth without remorse and needlessly takes the lives of other lower-level Chimera Ants without cause or reason from the second he is born. Viewers painfully watch as he kills and eats children, seeing humans as nothing other than a food source.
Meruem is ruthless with others and has similar expectations of himself. When he threatens to tear off Komugi's arm in a round of Gungi, and she unexpectedly offers her life instead, he rips off his own as an apology. While this scene is a point of transformation for Meruem, fans still clearly see the brutality that makes up his character.
3 Bisky's Threat Helps Killua's Transformation, But It Was Still Painful To Watch
As the darkness of the Chimera Ant Arc emerges, Bisky realizes the risks. She must increase the intensity of training by raising the stakes. Bisky individually trains Killua and tells him that he will have to leave Gon because he may be unable to protect him and may inevitably put him in danger.
Bisky intended to increase Killua's resolve in an incredibly short time, but this did not make his transformation easy to watch. While Killua eventually overcame his innate fear in a life-threatening battle and pulled the implanted needle out of his head, fans still had to watch as Killua tortured himself after his defeat with Shoot for the remainder of Hunter x Hunter.
2 Gon Is Reckless With Himself & Therefore Others
Those around Gon most admire him because of his incredible resolve and will. Still, many characters who meet him at the beginning of Hunter x Hunter recognize that this will be his most significant obstacle to overcome.
Gon's shortsightedness and rash instincts get him and Killua in many difficult situations, and it's heartbreaking for other characters and fans to watch him destroy himself. His sacrifice for revenge sequentially hurts others who care about him, making the election arc more suspenseful as fans wait to see if Gon will make it out alive.
1 Fans Watch Killua Die (Almost)
Fans have witnessed Killua get tortured before, but nothing compares to the Chimera Ant Arc. Killua demands Gon stay hidden for his safety and takes on the most dangerous encounters like he always does, except that this time there is an ominous aura in the air and no room for mistakes.
Killua is poisoned and half-eaten alive by a shark, then becomes a target for a live dart game, and fans must watch as Killua gets shot repeatedly without the usual hope that he will quickly recover. In the last moments that Killua takes his revenge and collapses to the ground, he apologizes to Gon for letting him down, and fans watch in utter despair while Killua dies right in front of them. Moments from his last breath, Ikalgo saves Killua. Togashi knew how to pull on the heartstrings of his fans with this dramatic and emotional scene.