For a show that airs pretty early the heart scene was still very violent. Sure Killua didn't crush the heart, but I thought giving it back to Johness was pretty creepy. The way Killua was like "What's that? You want your heart back? Here you go." And the fact that the scene was slow made it all the more creepy/disturbing.
My problem with the scene ISN'T that it wasn't violent enough. No matter how you slice it, Killua violently ripped out Johness heart from his chest. That there is less gore than the manga does little to change that.
The problem I have is removing the crushing. Again with the addition of the bag this could be done easily.
Here's how
1. Show the bag beating so people know there's a heart in there (blood isn't actually necessary but it was a nice touch)
This was done right and was a clever censoring move.
2. Have Killua squeeze the bag with his hands. No blood needs to be shown as the heart is inside the bag and even if
the blood would in reality get out of the bag nobody said anime needs to be realistic
This should have been done and wasn't
3. Have the bag make some really gross squish/crunch sound.
Though in of itself the returning the heart is not a bad scene. I just think it could have been done better even with censoring.
---------- Post added at 10:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 PM ----------
While I am resoundingly in favour of the old anime in virtually every conceivable regard, the heart removal scene in this episode--taken purely in isolation--is something I prefer in this new adaptation. There's something subtle about it--and something very, very clever.
The removal of music is sufficient to bestow the scene with some gravitas on its own, but it was having Killua wrap the heart up in the cloth and have the screen play perform simply to the sound of the heart beat that was so achingly clever; and it's all down to what it does for the imagination.
Hiding the heart from view is necessary for the time-slot--and I won't pretend that what's happened here is anything other than a response to that--but it's how this anime takes that restriction and uses it to its advantage to evoke something sinister that I find staggering.
After Killua does his work, when you hear the heart beat sound start up when the screen dashes to Joness's profile, your imagination gets to work. You start to think: "Did Killua just...?" And then the screen turns to Killua, who doesn't flagrantly show the thing off to reach an immediate climax; he lets the thing pump away, hidden so weakly from view, in blood-soaked bit of cloth. The sight of the heart itself couldn't be more close--but you never get that catharsis...you never get that immediate shock--and this makes the scene that bit more disturbing. You never quite get to see the full extent of the horror.
If Killua had revealed the heart from the outset, that would have necessarily been the climax to a crescendo of tension. There's no way, I believe, that you can maintain a sense of unease when a pulsing human heart is in full view. The full extent of the deed would be in full view, and there would be nothing more to say about it: the shock is there, and that's that. It is because Killua leaves it up to your imagination to imagine the gore oozing inside that bit of cloth that the sight is horrific. As a result of the cloth being blood-soaked--nothing more than a paltry curtain--the heart is never more than a thin veil away from a terrible sight: it's achingly close. Having Killua go through the trouble of tying it up in a knot, suggesting continued tampering with a functioning human organ, makes the interference on his part feel disturbingly gratuitous. He doesn't outright show Joness why he's suddenly feeling cold, he lets the realisation slowly dawn upon him...but it's never actually confirmed. We all know it, but we're never quite get that closure. We're still left in palpable anticipation. Killua invites your imagination to consider the worst--to consider just how ugly the thing looks, and continue to gather suspense for the impending sight of it. The disquieting crescendo can keep building--and that makes the scene very affecting.
But there is no climax. You get close to it, but you never quite see it. All the while, Killua just holds that pulsing bag in his hand--a symbol representing an impending horror. Worse than actually finding a zombie in Resident Evil, for example, is the knowledge that you're about to find a zombie behind a door--and it's that tension before you encounter something you're not sure you're prepared for that makes your stomach turn. Like getting a vaccination, it's the wait that kills you; the process is brief and lacks impact. The effect is emulated here; having the heart wrapped in the bag represents that door or that wait--it's the difference between the tension being released and the sickening sense of tension being maintained. The fact that Killua never crushes the heart leaves its horror in tact....because it's still there. You can't get that climax to release the tension. He places it back in Joness's fingers and its relative horror never subsides, because that climax--the full reveal of the heart--is never satisfied. It's still there, so close but so far away, the quietude of the scene only augmenting the unchanging sentiment of tension--a sense of tension that, even when the electronic counter changes to '3', never goes away.
For something born out of need to meet the demands of an early-morning time-slot, I think that's absolutely genius.
That's an interesting take. I guess if I hadn't seen the alternate versions I'd be able to appreciate it more.
Though what I liked about the original wasn't so much the violence or creepiness (which are good) but the trolling.
Yes returning the heart is trolling. But I still say the manga and original anime did it best. Killua smiles mischievously
and even though it's quite apparent that Jonas is a dead man walking Killua literally crushes any hope Jonas had then.
Plus it was as if Killua was saying "your life is in my hands" then when Killua crushes the heart while
making sure Jonas sees him do it and Jonas dies at that moment and Killua is just so darn
satisfied with himself it's just a major troll.
---------- Post added at 11:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 PM ----------
Something to take note of.
While the original anime is more violent (though not nearly as much as some people would
make it out to be. The original anime still pales in comparison to the violence of the manga.)
there is a good reason why it is more violent.
This 2011 anime is being shown at 10:55 am on Sundays if I'm not mistaken.
The 1999 anime however was shown at 6:30pm on Saturdays.
