Discussion Sub-Characters loose ends

[TheBoss]

Ok Idk where to start...
My biggest anger with togashi is that he creates some incredible characters and then he seems to forget about them and just keep going with the main plot.
Examples: Zushi - We get to see him for a whole arc and he stays together with killua and gon for a long time there.
Melody - she is the reason i made the topic, Man ever since I first came in touch with the series I always wanted to know more about her past and the Dark Sonata.
Before the bashing begins I know that togashi couldn't explore all the sub characters and he could have chosen to save their stories for later, BUT with all this story of dark continent and the chimeras I feel that we may never know about them anymore...
Come on Togashi forget the Dark continent and make a arc with melody's story

 

[Cinnabar]

Well... He did show Zepile trying to partake in the Hunter Exam, and we see other Hunters like Satotz during the election. He also reintroduced Pokkle and Ponzu in the Ant arc. XD

I don't know. On one hand, I do want to learn more about the side characters. On the other, I also don't mind if Togashi doesn't show us more about them and just lets our imagination do the work. I also like how he doesn't give us anything, but then he gives bits and pieces of the other characters are doing every now and then (like what I have said above). He could always reintroduce some of the characters again.

For example, the characters are only a few months away from the next Hunter Exam so maybe he'll show us some of the side characters there. Maybe he'll reintroduce Menchi and Buhara when we get to the Dark Continent. Who knows?

 

[mrsticky005]

I get the feeling that whatever happens with the Dark Continent it will affect EVERYONE.

The election arc shows Togashi at least hasn't forgotten them.

 

[TheAmericandream]

It's a Togashi tradition to me, introducing cool things on the side like Battle Olympia or Dark Sonata,and moving on. I guess I've just gotten used to this. We can all admit its better then Akira Toriyama in Dragonball, how he likes to have characters like Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Tenshinhan, Kamesennen and so many others stay around in the main cast and become more and more useless. For some reason it hurts more to have a character become white noise then to cast them off and do nothing with them.

 

[mousiehamster]

I LIKE the way that characters just disappear. It's like a living, breathing world, where different people who get together for one thing go off and do their own stuff. Hunters all specialize in their own stuff and seek their own path, however esoteric their specialty is. Damn even Tonpa is living the good life, hunting the the good hunt - his hunt. Perhaps that's a theme in HxH - the beauty of people reach for something that they really want deep down inside, whether its cooking, archaeology or whatever.

 

[riniloves]

Tackles so much about everything...

Spoiler: My opinion:

Well One day Zushi might take the Hunter Exam according to the current time in 339 we are in September (I'm sure its September coz they show Kurapika in York Shin) - and Zushi has 4 months to prepare for that. But did Zushi wanted to be a hunter? or no?

Senritsu (Melody) in York Shin arc talks about the Sonata of Darkness and she said she is looking for the manuscript... But what if there are copies?
The past affiliation Senritsu was been with (the Friend and her the got drunk) says he learned it from another friend.

Spoiler

But what if that "other friend" got apprentices? Even if the manuscript is destroyed, Senritsu must still find those "other" people who knew it. So in York Shin arc she and Basho talk about something they talk about life and Basho said

Spoiler

Mere reason we see her, him and Linzen casting their votes. Last time we saw Senritsu she is with Kurapika that was 4 months after York Shin arc (Killua called Kurapika around the time in January - when Gona nd Killua was still in GI )

Spoiler

I think she , Basho and Linzen went on their seperate ways, coz Snritsu cant contact Kurapika too. Senritsu cant stay there, the one she is looking is a person another pro-hunter and a possibility that "THAT" pro hunter might shared the secret. That pro-hunter, his dead friends , friend might go to the Dark continent.

I think the Dark Continent will be everybody story. There are lots of Hunters thats gonnna be there, find treasure, working with somebody (contract), expedition. It will all fall. Things that happen in Chimera Arc affect the Inner continent that much, the expedition team led by Pariston and Beyond Netero and whoever is funding it seems Desperate to go to the sealed place which was been forbidden to them 200 yrs ago.

And Its not that all the people going there can just step inside without being prepared. Ging (is funded by those people according to 338) is been preparing for a long time now and needs a lot of things

Spoiler

actually I'm excited about the Dark Continent, various hunter skills are needed for an expedition and it seems Gon has find his companions.

Spoiler

and I just realize the Royals Ging talks about with Gon is connected with this, that dictator killed (?) the original Royals and burned all documents treaty they signed with the 5 continents (V5)

Spoiler

according to ch 340 it will take half a year for approval. and the HxH association will interfere with them, so , I guess there will be a time skip, if that happens. This is another game of tag between Zodiacs and Beyond Netero. Before entering Dark continent....

 

[Uriel]

Reading all this made me anxious and wanting for more!! Damn you Togashi.

And well, I like as was said that it's like this due the fact that makes it more believable...As if the story breathes all the time and you have a vibrant world out there. knowing everything makes you feel IN a story because you somewhat can predict new behaviors. But in HxH part of the secret why it's so good is that you can't predict what will gonna happen and that directly relates with the characters and how they evolve...Either you can see it or not.

 

[mrsticky005]

I don't necessarily want everyone involved with Gon but I think a sorta...

MEANWHILE AT HEAVENS ARENA...

would be cool.

 

[TheBoss]

Wow so many replies so soon :O
I agree with you Uriel that it makes the world he created a lot more amazing, but my fear is that he never finishes those stories that he started... I know that is a silly fear but this whole big dark continent stuff seems so unnecessary as the world we knew before had already so many unexplored plots.

 

[futurefrog]

To me the fact that he does this makes the world of HxH feel all the more real to me. It feels as though even though we aren't watching, these characters are off still living, laughing, crying, suffering, achieving, all without our eyes upon them and that's not bad, that's real. If I go to bed at night, does that mean that MrSticky stops posting on this forum while I'm sleeping? No he keeps on living and going, so do these characters. It's really an amazingly real world he has crafted. Togashi is brilliant really.

 

[TheBoss]

To me the fact that he does this makes the world of HxH feel all the more real to me. It feels as though even though we aren't watching, these characters are off still living, laughing, crying, suffering, achieving, all without our eyes upon them and that's not bad, that's real. If I go to bed at night, does that mean that MrSticky stops posting on this forum while I'm sleeping? No he keeps on living and going, so do these characters. It's really an amazingly real world he has crafted. Togashi is brilliant really.

Yep thats why he can make all these Hiatuses and we keep waiting
If we see a arc only for leorio then all my fears will be gone, but that doesn't mean I will forget you Melody

 

[duerlin]

It seems like he is creating an RPG scenario

 

[riniloves]

Leorio needs to be a doctor soon, we need his skills in dark continent arc!!!
*yes I am praying for time skip, mature Gon (not macho), Killua, Kurapika....

 

[Phantron]

I don't really feel anything about the sub characters in HXH because knowing Togashi's history I know all of them will just turn out to be at best fanfiction material because he's never going to have the time to go over every interesting thing he started. I'm not talking about say whether we'll ever see the Battle Olympia happen. It's more like will we ever know who Gon's mother is? Well maybe 15 years after the fact she's first mentioned (it took 10 years between Leorio's second to last appearance to his last appearance). His sub characters are interesting, but he doesn't take care of them which gives me very little motivation to care about them as well. It also bothers me that Togashi clearly draws in a way to purposely avoid making the vast majority of female characters attractive. If you see someone attractive in HXH, she's either about to die or she's going to turn out to be a guy. I find that rather insulting. It's almost as if being good looking, if you're a female, is a sin in HXH.

---------- Post added at 01:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 AM ----------

I guess I should give an example of how Togashi abuses his sub characters. Let's take Machi. She's fairly attractive, and was like #6 in the character voting. She's a capable fighter, and she seems to occupy the "Kuroro's girl" role. She's a senior member of the Spiders, and Hisoka is definitely interested in her. There's a subtle friction between Shizuku and Machi that's hinted in the Yorknew arc (when Shizuku knocked out Nobunaga, Machi looked at her with disapproval). So far, she has managed to avoid the sad fate of:

1. Getting brutally murdered.
2. Turns out to be a guy.

So what's a character with relatively high plot importance and meaningful combat power doing? Well right now I'd say there's a good chance she'll pull a '10 real life years since last appearance' that Leorio did. We're not talking about a minor character like Neon who only has a cute face and no real plot importance here. It seems certain that Machi would be involved in any confrontation between Hisoka and Kuroro and she's banished to the limbo, because Togashi seems to refuse to allow any attractive female character to show up. And for sub characters, she's actually doing pretty well. It's not like Pitou who had BOTH of these fates happen!

 

[Uriel]

Wait, wait...You consider Pitou good looking? o_O

 

[heron bpv]

What exactly is the problem of not having beautiful girls roaming around in HxH? Is that a necessity of sorts?

 

[Phantron]

Wait, wait...You consider Pitou good looking? o_O

During the height of the Ant arc, there was probably as much fanart coming from Japan as there was for the main characters.

Granted part of that might be because there wasn't much of a choice out of the characters available.

---------- Post added at 01:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------

What exactly is the problem of not having beautiful girls roaming around in HxH? Is that a necessity of sorts?

Just because you're not trying to sell girls doesn't mean anybody who happens to be female has to die horribly.

Ponz, who was like #9 in the voting contest, probably should be in a bee farm somewhere but shows up in the Ant arc for no real good reason and dies horribly. I guess you can say some people just foolishly walk into their death but why pick fan favorites to do that? This isn't like Kite dying (who is also well-liked) because he actually has a reason to be there and he was in a tough spot to get out of.

 

[heron bpv]

But, at least on Ponzu's case, she was there because Pokkuru was leading an investigation team and recruited her. Since they were on the same exam, he probably knew of her abilities and thought they would come in hand.
Saying that they died without a reason, well... some deaths have no reason to begin with. And it's not like any of them were professionals on the same level as Kaito or Knuckle, so judging their prey's ability before it's too late was not to be expected.
Also, what be a fan favorite has to do with influencing decisions made by the author of a story? He's the one in charge, he does as he thinks would be best for his story.

 

[Phantron]

But, at least on Ponzu's case, she was there because Pokkuru was leading an investigation team and recruited her. Since they were on the same exam, he probably knew of her abilities and thought they would come in hand.
Saying that they died without a reason, well... some deaths have no reason to begin with. And it's not like any of them were professionals on the same level as Kaito or Knuckle, so judging their prey's ability before it's too late was not to be expected.
Also, what be a fan favorite has to do with influencing decisions made by the author of a story? He's the one in charge, he does as he thinks would be best for his story.

Most manga had the issue in that if you've a situation where someone has to die it's almost never the more popular characters.

Togashi is more the opposite. Here you're talking about a situation where any number of random character could've showed up in Ponz's place and die (she's obviously not important to the story in any way) but Ponz probably got the axe precisely for being somewhat popular over any other random minor character.

This tendency is also magnified by the frequency of hiatus. For example most people don't really care about Meleoron. It's not that you can't have a good character development with Meleoron, but if you know you might only get 10 chapters a year you'd rather 3 of them doesn't get wasted on a character almost nobody cares about. Perhaps if HXH is on a normal weekly schedule none of this would matter but obviously it is not, so it suffers from a rather unique problem. I don't know if Togashi does this on purpose, but if not, then he has absolutely no ability to budget his available time relative to the key characters. This isn't a 'I like XYZ so I want to see XYZ more". This is more like you're not even sure if a relatively story-significant character would even show up within 10 real life years of his/her last appearance (see Leorio).

The way the sub characters gets abused in HXh would require One Piece level of long term durability (I think it went for like 9 years without any hiatus, or something similar) but of course Togashi is about as far away from durable as it gets.

 

[TheBoss]

Most manga had the issue in that if you've a situation where someone has to die it's almost never the more popular characters.

Togashi is more the opposite. Here you're talking about a situation where any number of random character could've showed up in Ponz's place and die (she's obviously not important to the story in any way) but Ponz probably got the axe precisely for being somewhat popular over any other random minor character.

This tendency is also magnified by the frequency of hiatus. For example most people don't really care about Meleoron. It's not that you can't have a good character development with Meleoron, but if you know you might only get 10 chapters a year you'd rather 3 of them doesn't get wasted on a character almost nobody cares about. Perhaps if HXH is on a normal weekly schedule none of this would matter but obviously it is not, so it suffers from a rather unique problem. I don't know if Togashi does this on purpose, but if not, then he has absolutely no ability to budget his available time relative to the key characters. This isn't a 'I like XYZ so I want to see XYZ more". This is more like you're not even sure if a relatively story-significant character would even show up within 10 real life years of his/her last appearance (see Leorio).

The way the sub characters gets abused in HXh would require One Piece level of long term durability (I think it went for like 9 years without any hiatus, or something similar) but of course Togashi is about as far away from durable as it gets.

I dont care that Ponzu is popular or not, if togashi wanted her dead for the sake of the history development then she must die.
This popular characters invulnerabity is what killed all the fun of the other shonen, like naruto for an example.
People die, thats what makes the world what it is, no matter if they are popular or not.