I feel like a lot of people dislike a character for two factors and one can easily cancel out the other
Most people like characters because of their right or wrong doings, maybe in some way shape or form they understand or relate to why a character does something moral or immortal depending on the situation. But a lot of the times the wrong doings of an objectively immoral characters get literally excused or pushed aside because they are conveniently attractive or can be "sympathised" with.
YES THIS IS A GENTHRU RANT!!
Okay nobody likes Genthru we know this like; fork found in kitchen, homosexual found at a pride parade WHATEVER!! I completely understand the dislike or unappealing nature of him as a character because of his painful simplicity and lack of development as a one off antagonist that was made only to give Gon and Killua a training arc and something/someone to overcome in the process as an outcome of all their training and hard work. G.I is also the backbone to the chimera ant arc (literally nobody talks about this) because without G.I Gon and Killua would have never met Kite and a lot of the plot would just completely shift into a different direction.
Now Genthrus actions and motives were relatively simple and short because, again, he is a one off antagonist. He wants to win the game and keep the money for himself, he also planned to backstab Battera like he did with his old team to keep the 3 designated cards for himself and his two henchmen, Bara and Sub. That's it. That's his goal, those are his motives, money and cards.
To achieve his goal of winning the game he singlehandedly blows up and obliterates over 50 people with Countdown, stealing all their designated slot cards in the process and introducing us to his actual team, The Bombers. After stealing the cards Genthru and his crew monopolize on Angels breath and Night jade due to them being rarer cards to keep Tsezguerra and his team behind them card wise.
Genthru and Tsezguerra proceed to have an odd tension for the next 3 episodes and play cat and mouse, acting like toddlers playing with rocks for some reason.
Genthru often resorts to Violence to get his way, although he would always prefer to intimidate people first. If a person is capable of fighting back Genthru always strikes a bargain before he throws a punch. This is shown with how he communicates with both Gons and Tsezguerras team.
"It's not a bad deal, even Tsezguerra agreed to it."
Genthru trying to convince Gon via lying to hand over his cards.
Although Genthru, in his own words, tries to avoid physical conflict it doesn't stop him from beating down and killing new players. Or at the very least making them risk their lives for his own benefit.
"Come on, it's only your third time! You'll be fine."
Forcing someone to use risky dice to gain Wild Luck Alexandrite.
"We're the bombers, and I just planted a bomb on you. I can kill you from anywhere at any time."
Beat up and robbed a new player then proceeded to threaten them with the exchange of "you'll live if you bring us the cards we want."
"Awh. Too bad. BUSTED!"
Murdering a player in cold blood after finding out they've interacted with Tsezguerra in some way, shape, or form.
"You have a valid point. Then, what now? You want to die? STOP WHINING AND HAND OVER YOUR CARDS, OTHERWISE WE'LL SLAUGHTER YOU!"
Genthru after failing to convince Killua.
Genthru is by NO means a pacifist of any sort, if anything he's leaning on a silent form of sadism. He plays with the people he already beats, practically tortures and exploits because he can. And because at the end of the day it benefits him in beating the game in a small margin.
In short, Genthru usually kills if it means getting to his goal faster. He plays around with the people he kills if they're of some use to him, usually resorting to life threatening measures to do so.
Although Genthru is generally awful, just like every person ever Genthru DOES HAVE EMPATHY. Genthru does care, just not for everyone.
After getting beaten by Gon, Gon asks him to use his binder and Genthru agrees with no hesitation under the condition Bara is healed.
"I'll do that on one condition. Use Angels breath to heal Bara."
Genthru shows obvious care to his team, despite him thinking they don't feel the same care. Being genuinely surprised when Sub told them to heal Genthru instead of him. This was also surprising to us as a viewer because Bara himself called him and Sub "Genthrus Henchmen". Not wanting to push their relationship further than work partnership or an alliance rather than friendship.
That being said, let's list Genthrus crimes in short.
Genthrus crimes consist of:
Mass killing/massacre
Endangerment
Physical assault
Public nuisance
Endangerment of minors
Sedition
Murder of the first degree
Embezzlement (in a sense)
Harassment
Terrorism
End of thinking capacity
Now despite everything I've just stated, Genthru isn't indirectly hated for his actions or crimes. He is hated for his personality, looks, and putting the main character in life threatening danger.
A lot of people find Genthrus juvenile personality annoying or unbearable. The fact he says and does so many awful things without a lot of regard for others makes him borderline sociopathic. But his calm facade is all a lie to keep up his appearance of "The Bomber". Because the moment he is shaken even slightly he stumbles back on himself. A direct parallel to Hisoka Vs Kastro, where Kastro gets shaken off his feet by the same thing. A hiccup. His weak spot being not a physical disadvantage but rather a mental crack under his exterior.
"When striking a bargain, you need to show just how calm yet crazy you are."
"You're insane kid, and not my type of insane.."
Genthru prides himself on being insane. It's like a quirk he mentions every time he has the chance. But his "calm yet crazy" plaster peels off of him the moment someone does something slightly crazier. Like Gon sacrificing both arms for one hit that left Genthru not only disoriented but somewhat scared, due to the absurdity of what Gon did.
I feel like overall, Genthru is a very flawed character. Both in writing and the way the fandom treats him. Let me say this from my own perspective because I really don't think people will agree with such a take but in my years of liking him I can say that Genthru the Bomber is
not necessarily a poorly written or poorly executed antagonist.
This is something I hear very often in various conversations with people about HunterXHunter and more specifically on Greed Island. That Genthru is a bad antagonist because he's not fleshed out or skinned down deep to his soul like the rest of HunterXHunter. And no, he's not some "secretly insane villain". He's simple. That's it, he doesn't NEED a story, he doesn't need an "emotionally impactful" reason to be evil or immoral... He's a plot conveyor, that's it. He is a good antagonist because he does his job AS an antagonist. He is feared, he is something to be beaten or someone to be overcome by the leads. He poses a serious threat, he is dangerous, and he is stopped.
That's why he's a well written character. It would be useless to give a temporary character a big storyline that will never be expanded on again just to make him a "better character" when he's already fine as he is. His actions cannot be excused or sympathised with because he did it for the love of the game and nothing less.
At the end of the day, I think Genthru is great and I appreciate him just as much as every other HxH antagonist and I really want other people to appreciate him too, if not as a character then at least as a villain.
Ps. Every other antagonist in hxh has committed more and or worse crimes than Genthru, yet their actions and horrible personality traits are excused because they're "more charming", more plot convenient or just generally attractive. Examples: Illumi Zoldyck, Hisoka Morow, Chrollo Lucilfer, Pairston Hill... These characters are also more liked due to their character depths respectively but most people don't care about that and excuse their actions solely on appeal alone.
I HAVE NO ISSUES WITH THE MENTIONED CHARACTERS!! this was just used as a small example and I love all of them.
