HXH translation meta: “Since it means nothing to you” 「関係ないからっ」
Howdy folks, I’d like to talk about this scene a little bit as I’ve recently seen some meta and analyzation going around that I think was based too heavily on Crunchyroll’s translation — which a little misleading, in my opinion.
It’s not wrong per se, and I actually like this translation in how it really packs an emotional punch. But the problem with it is that Gon isn’t really criticizing Killua here. He is ostracizing him.
What Gon is more closely saying here is, “Since it’s none of your business” (関係ないから / kankei nai kara). Specifically, Gon is telling Killua that there is no connection between him and Kite, making Killua an outsider to Gon’s conflict and quest for vengeance. (Why this affects Killua so profoundly warrants an entire post on its own so I won’t go into too much here, but essentially Gon just drew a metaphorical line in the sand between them with this comment.)
Additionally, Killua references this line a couple times after but you wouldn’t know it because the translation was inconsistent:
(In the hospital with Gon, inner-monologuing) “I get it, Kite saved your life, and he has no connection to me.”
(Before parting with Gon at the World Tree) “Well, after you told me you would defeat Pitou alone and that it was none of my business, I was pretty depressed!”
I have a feeling that Crunchyroll interpreted Gon’s line as “since this doesn’t concern you” and then from there warped it into “since it means nothing to you”. They probably realized they couldn’t use “since this means nothing to you” in these other situations and just adjusted the translation accordingly, but I digress. The main reason I wanted to bring attention to this translation was for three main reasons:
This scene was NOT about Gon accusing Killua of not caring enough. It was a scene about Gon creating a distance, both emotionally and physically, between himself and Killua.
What Gon is saying (or at least, how Killua interprets it) is that they are not close enough to warrant Killua involving himself in Gon’s affairs, and that is what causes Killua’s breakdown in front of Palm.
This line is referenced by Killua later with additional context surrounding his feelings on the matter, and that was somewhat lost in translation.
Anyway, I’d love to write straight-up meta analyzing the Killugon aspect of this, as well as a round-up of Japanese fan opinions on this scene, but I think I’ll save those for another day. (If I write them, I’ll link to them in this post, FYI.)
Thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out — I love discussing these things with people!
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