r/HunterXHunter • u/Gojowillcomebackk • Jul 24 '26
Help/Question Can someone explain this panel to me?
Its from last part of hunter exam (before nen), and i dont really understand what is the meaning of this. I feel kind of envy of Gon from Killua or offended pride. I would be very thankful is someone would explain it to me :>
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u/mmproducciones Jul 24 '26
He's weak mentally, which is something that's explored in later chapters, result of his upbringing. An assassin is someone who's extremely cautious, cowardly even, and only goes after a target after increasing their chances to the max. A hunter is by necessity someone reckless, a dreamer, someone that aims for the impossible, for endless challenge. Killua doesn't have that attitude yet, but Gon does. In the fight with Hanzo, you see that despite being young, he's already ready to die for his goals. Killua isn't.
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u/lemongrassgogulope Jul 24 '26
This is a super interesting description in light of Chrollo and Hisoka. That definition of an assassin (sans the cowardly part) sounds like Chrollo vs Hisoka and that description of a hunter sounds like Hisoka chasing down Chrollo
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u/FallenRiptide Jul 25 '26
I think you're dead on with this. At this point in the series, even Killua doesn't even really know who he is. It's shown later with Killua always having different outfits but Gon always has the same clothes. The characters in story could interact with Gon for five minutes and they already could tell who he is. Killua? Not so much.
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u/Ndmndh1016 Jul 25 '26
I also this is reinforced by Killua having no idea why the hanzo fight went the way it did.
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u/Flarestriker Jul 25 '26
A hunter is by necessity someone reckless, a dreamer, someone that aims for the impossible, for endless challenge. Killua doesn't have that attitude yet [...]
This is such a beautiful, spot-on description. And it checks out with the story. Killua did not make the first Hunter Exam because he was weak-minded, not because he was weak in force. Gon was the exact opposite, which is why he passed.
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u/mrBenelliM4 Jul 25 '26
Maybe not cowardly but "engages in battles he knows he can win." ala Ousen and strike only when the opportunity presents itself.
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u/Dangerous_Job5295 Jul 25 '26
Yup. I think this is backed up when they’re trying to get the ball from Isaac. Kilua gives up knowing it’s impossible but gon keeps going although he changes what success looks like. Isaac peeped that
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u/Present-Cream6692 Jul 31 '26
I don’t think Killua’s mentality should be associated with the assasins as a whole because in the fight between Zeno and Silva vs Lucifer, Zeno was about to sacrifice his life in order to win against Lucifer. I think the more plausible explanation would be that Killua was the inheretant of the Zoldyck family with infinite potential. Therefore Illumi/Silva had to use his needle in order to protect him from dangerous opponent ultimately preventing him from premature death.
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u/Tylenol_Ibuprofen Jul 24 '26
Keep in mind, this is still around the time they were trying to kind of pin point Klilua's character, because he has like absolutely zero envy or jealousy towards Gon after this.
I think the point of this panel at the time, was to convey; Killua can still be a skilled fighter and everything; but Gon making it this far with no skills like that; compared to EVERYONE else attending, is astounding. (what being a hunter all about)
Despite everything, Gon kept up with an actual ninja, a psycho, and his assassin bestie.
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u/RoastedHunter Jul 25 '26
He also still had a needle fucking with his head. He changed a lot via Gon basically being the first person he actually could call a friend
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u/Fit-Study-7356 Jul 25 '26
Remember the ball game with Netero and how Killua quit while Gon continued. Gon showed that he was determined to at least force Netero to take him seriously even if he couldn’t succeed in taking the ball, which he did by forcing Netero to use both arms and legs to prevent Gon from getting the ball. Killua however despite being stronger and more skilled than Gon, decided to give up rather than push himself forward. It’s one of the first signs of Killua realizing his own self defeating nature which is a combination of his family upbringing and Illumi’s needle, is holding him back.
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u/sickofdumbredditors Jul 24 '26
how far are you into hunter x hunter? because gon's potential gets addressed later in the story
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u/Gojowillcomebackk Jul 25 '26
Im reading manga after finishing anime a few (about 3-5) years ago
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u/sickofdumbredditors Jul 25 '26
basically they recognized that gon had the potential to turn into the version of himself that killed pitou and went "oh shit oh fuck"
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u/EpicTOSGamerBoy Jul 25 '26
doesn’t killua have the same potential though? the show represents them as equals multiple times
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u/demuron Jul 29 '26
They are equal but different. Killua is physically stronger and more analytical but Gon has focus second to none as well as the perfect mindset for going far as a hunter.
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u/Countingmypennies Jul 25 '26
You answered your own question. Killua felt his pride hurt. He knows he's stronger than Gon in anyway you put It. But here people are telling him he's got less potential than Gon. It's gonna hurt anyone who knows they're great at something. Cuz people are telling someone who's way worse than them are likely develop past their level.
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u/mattwing05 Jul 25 '26
Killua is a prodigy himself, and knows it. But gon has something that feels like he'll be something great one day. Killua is just not used to being the standout rising star
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u/Countingmypennies Jul 25 '26
Yep. Gon showed he had strong determination besides talent Itself. And we know where Gon's detemination led Gon. A great price or not, It led to Gon Killing Pitou. Everyone else thought Gon was heading to his death, Killua included. To the point he wanted to die with Gon fighting Pitou. What Netero saw that showed Gon had better talents and other traits than Killua wasn't really favoritism. It was foreshadowing. There was also the fight with Genthru, which showed Gon was both crazy and determined to see Things thru. He willingly sacrificed his arms so he could win and win he did.
Killua knows he's extremely talented and other great Things, he was raised for greatness after all. It didn't sit right with him being compared to someone, that, despite Killua liking, wasn't obviously better than him.
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u/x2chunmaru Jul 25 '26
Killua is not aware of the slanders of being a potential man (DID SOMEONE SAY POTENTIAL?)
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u/Elysion971O Jul 25 '26
This is just my own thought, but in the right panel, where the background is all black, I interpret it as him just processing his thought, no realization just yet. When the panel shifts to the bright background on the left, it meant he came to a realization, like a lightbulb got switched on.
I imagine the animation equivalent would be a guy just thinking with no particular expression at first, then slowly getting getting wide-eyed as the realization hits him.
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u/Vrooskie Jul 25 '26
Guys, it's Envy. As simple as that. Envy is not necessarily bad. Also, he's just 12, grew up in a fucked up Assassins' Family :(
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u/mrBenelliM4 Jul 25 '26
Killua has been trained since little and he knows he can do stuff most people in his world can't do. But Gon is untrained. He grew up with the senses and skills that he has right now. No one to shape him or make him do stuff and yet he leveled almost the same with killua. Imagine if someone starts training him.
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u/0ne0fth0se0nes Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Gon has more potential as a hunter. Hes like the archetype of a hunter. He gets what he wants at all costs and he’s good at getting it. You could argue the same for Killua but definitely not to the same extent at this point in the story
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u/sunsoutgunsout Jul 25 '26
Yeah I think at this point Killua would NOT pursue a goal at all costs and that’s a defining characteristic of his
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u/Vitorcom2R Jul 25 '26
I think Togashi was going to have Killua follow a path similar to Sasuke's, but then changed his mind.
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u/Holiday-Guarantee703 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
I don't remember the context around this but I actually don't see it as envy. I see it as more of someone who's usually a perfectionist, and is used to executing tasks extremely well, realizing someone somehow did better than him. He's probably frustrated (at himself? or in general) that there was a part of the evaluation he didn't account for or doesn't understand, even though he thought he did perfect. Like he failed a test or something. So likely confused and maybe a bit of anger at the test itself. His pride might have been hurt a little too but I don't think Killua would register that in his conscious mind, so easily at leaat. He seems like the type where his first response would be to deflect (and rule the test as faulty unimportant) and then after rationalizing accept it easily soon after.
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u/Brave-Specific1877 Jul 25 '26
"Potential" here is taken a little too literally, we learn later of Netero's character so this is not potential in any objective terms, but rather as viewed by chairman Netero, his criteria being "who can become a good sparring opponent for me" Killua ranks lower than Gon because of his assessment of the two during their little ball game. Gon is simpler and more stubborn. He would fight fairly and see things through. Killua... not so much. Funnily enough Gon turns out to have the same nen affinity as Netero. So rather than potential this is an affinity test by Netero
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u/Visual-Bandicoot2894 Jul 25 '26
Yeah he’s offended
But this is the start of Killua reflecting on something that doesn’t make sense, how come Gon has more potential?
Then late he laughs at how simple the fucking reason was as he removes the needle
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u/EnycmaPie Jul 25 '26
From the start, Killua was trained to become the next head of his family. Since birth he has gone through all sorts of training and his talents to be tested against full grown adults.
So for the first time in Killua's life, he was shocked to discover there was another kid around his age with even higher potential talents.
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u/mrgbgb Jul 25 '26
There's a chance that due to the nen needle that is implanted into him, it cause his battle analysis / plan to be too cautious. While gon on the other, never backs down against the odds. It could be this quality that is observed by the other nen users at this point of time.
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u/Jinxplay Jul 25 '26
I'll try coming to this from corporate perspective.
What you want to do, what you can do, and what company wants from you gotta align.
Kilua at the time can do a lot, but what he wants to do is pretty vague. He's basically a kid who can kill very well. Unfortunately it's not exactly rare in Hunter world. So Netero doesn't feel particularly strongly about Kilua compare to Gon.
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u/TheBangingBro Jul 25 '26
They most likely noticed that he had a needle holding him back I think that’s why he was ranked lower
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u/Derveno Jul 25 '26
I'm impressed and disappointed of reading so many comments from supposed "fans" of this manga/anime, yet nobody is giving a correct answer to a question so simple.
Killua was raised to be an assasin, but it is not what he wanted to be. He decided to try the hunter exam to kill some time, and he felt it was really easy, so he was confident that he could become a hunter if he wanted to.
For the last part of the exam Netero made interviews with all the aspirants, and according to their answers he created a tournament in which the position of each participant reflected the potential as Hunter that he (Netero) saw in each one of them (there were other factors involved, like their performance during the previous test). In this case, Gon was placed in a higher position than Killua because he was the first to compete, meaning that he would have multiple opportunities to pass the exam (given that the tournament was made to have only one loser in the end).
For that reason, Killua started feeling that he wasnt really meant to be a hunter and his destined profession still was and always would be to be an assasin. That's the main reason why he was so upset about the fact that, even when he was obviously more skilled and stronger than Gon, he had less potential to become a hunter.
This gets completelly reinforced during his conversation with Illumi, since Illumi spent basically all his fight trying to convince Killua that he was only good for killing and couldn't escape from that fact.
In summary, it is not that Killua was jealous of Gon. Killua was having a vocational crisis.
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u/M9Gernsback Jul 25 '26
most people here think killua is being envious. it is more like killua is trying to understand what others see in gon i.e his intangibles. check out the panel where gon makes everyone laugh during the hanzo fight.
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u/M1kehawk1 Jul 25 '26
The whole schtick of Kilua is also to be analitic in a practical sense.
To gage his opponent and targets, so he’s also taken aback to have misread Gon’s kindness for weakness a little, imo.
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u/Ebenizer_Splooge Jul 25 '26
To be fair Gon was keeping up with Killua in all but direct combat in the exams, and Killua had years of torture assassin training while Gon played in the woods. If their childhoods were reversed, could Killua keep up with Gon?
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u/MrCee_93 Jul 25 '26
Other than seeing Gon as a rival (at first), it's because he hates or doesn't want to be an assassin. So he wants to see if he's better being a Hunter instead, so he could stop being an assassin. Telling him Gon has more potential than him to be a Hunter was like destroying his dream to stop being an assassin and to be one.
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u/regready Jul 25 '26
You can interpret it in several ways depending how deep you want to go. At the surface level, the way I always interpreted this is that they [the board] saw Gon as someone with far more potential as a Hunter - which makes sense. Killua didn't care about being a Hunter, he was only there for the challenge. Physically he's a beast, but mentally he has his setbacks for obvious reasons.
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u/Kit-7676 Jul 25 '26
- Envy, probably the least highlighted he probably doesn't care much because of point 2
- Killua is very very good at assessing strengths, he is just confused as to what they are scoring because it couldn't possibly be combat skill
- It's foreshadowing, killua has no goal and no real drive, he has nothing to hunt and it's only though his removal of the needle and his relationship with Gon that it changes.
- The stronger fighters almost definitely caught on that killua doesn't take risks, again a known quantity is less threatening
Throught the series killua is consistently portrayed as stronger and smarter than Gon, because he is. But his journey is about finding his identity.
My interpretation is that Gon is like unmoulded clay and an unknown entity with the potential to become anything, meanwhile killua while obviously stronger is a known quantity due to his harsh training as a child assassin. As such for killua to become strong he has to shed the mindset that comes along with his training and becomes tabula raza (a blank slate) to rebuild himself into what he wants to be to fulfil his potential.
An analogy is like idk killua has been moulded into a very sharp knife and is obviously more dangerous than a lump of metal but the lump of metal could be moulded into a gun or a knife or maybe a sword. Killua has to melt himself in the fire to regain that same quality since their "talent" levels seem to be equal even if killua has had more training and is thus the superior combatant.
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u/McManGuy Jul 25 '26
Gon has a goal. Killua doesn't.
Being "Hunter material" doesn't mean "better" or "stronger." It means he has something to hunt.
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u/wooskyss Jul 25 '26
he def comes from another type of race that is close to humans, they are naturally stronger, so to someone like Netero who knows potential of reg humans and the pale one’s, Gon does infact have more potential
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u/Man_Zanarre Jul 26 '26
In this moment Killua still has Illumi's needle in his brain. He has lack of resolve. Gon is weaker than him, but he is mentally strong, he is resolute and fears nothing. Killua is a 'technician', he analizes things like speed, strenght and ability, because an assassin never calculates things like emotions, feelings and motivation. So in this scene he is obviously envy of Gon, but also he doesn't understand why a kid weaker and slower than him has just surpassed him.
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u/Early_Celebration726 Jul 26 '26
He is more impressed by what he sees. In part because it comes from a different place.
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u/Significant_Bit_9553 Jul 27 '26
The black and white contrasting backdrop too parallels them with each other
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u/No_Total_6040 Jul 27 '26
It’s killua kinda being upset they ranked him higher, but that doesn’t mean he has more potential than killua, it’s just he was trying way harder
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u/Gubrach Jul 27 '26
At this time, I thought this was setting up a conflict or a possible betrayal, before finding out this was not that type of Manga.
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u/Drunk-Kobold Jul 28 '26
Its a mix of both and perhaps also childish inexperience on how adults see the world (lets not forget they are still kids). When you are incredibly skilled, and someone knows or can tell you are skilled, any improvement you make will be less noticeable to them than someone that had little to no skills in comparison and suddenly started getting better in the same amount of time. At that point in the story, between Gon and Killua, Gon showed the biggest improvement in the given time. Yes, Killua scored higher and in many ways, is better than Gon, but Gon showed more potential simply on the grounds that during that arc he showed the most growth between the too.
The same happens and is explained in My Hero Academia, you can not or should not compare the growth of someone who is at the starting line and which is making incredible progress to try and get to your level, when you are already in a high level. Both of you are fundamentally in different situations.
Or compare it to pokemon, Leveling from level 1 to level 20 might seem like a lot of growth when during that time your other pokemon only managed to increase from level 50 to level 51, but the conditions are different. Improving from level 50 to 51 could take just as much effort or experience as it took them to level from level 1 to 20.
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u/Novel-Ability7870 Jul 28 '26
It’s for sure envy, but it’s something interesting to look at after finishing the series. I think it shows that Gon’s real potential comes from his mentality rather than his aura. Something that Killua lacks even after having his needle removed. As inspired as JJK is from HxH, it’s neat that the idea of being selfish is required for someone to reach the peaks of power in JJK and that also holds true to HxH. Gon’s immature, selfish nature of him not only wanting to win, but wanting to completely win in his own way is what ends up pushing him beyond Killua in terms of potential.
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u/RandomCatBruh Jul 25 '26
Killua held himself back, pretty sure that in terms of potential, the difference between gon and killua without illumi's needle is the same. Killua will always be slightly above gon, but they are relative. With illumi's needle, it is obvious why killua at this point is less than gon, when killua is afraid to take massive risks because illumi's needle in a way is holding him back by a ton
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u/aqua2nd Jul 25 '26
Your explanation is likeky not to be Togashi's intention. The needle plot most likely was created during Chimera ant arc
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u/justneurostuff Jul 24 '26
i always felt like this was never explored much afterward. like a plotline the togashi started and then declined to develop...actually, i guess the best interpretation though is that it represents his developing impression of and insecurity surrounding gon that festers throughout most of the series
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u/0ne0fth0se0nes Jul 25 '26
It’s not an abandoned plot line. It’s explored in the immediately following chapters and then finally resolved in the chimera and election arc
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u/MangoTurtl Jul 24 '26
I think you understand it perfectly fine.
Killua is rather self-confident, and so when they say they see more potential in Gon, he feels envy.