HIIIII i am popping up in ur askbox because i really really really wanna hear what you wanted to say about knuckle/shoot !! ♥
HELLO OMG thank you for this ask i’ve been meaning to post a separate one but this is BETTER thank you <3
this is just a simple super subjective meta (?) that i thought of while i was reading the manga before and remembered when you mentioned them as catalysts to gon’s feelings in your previous post.
ok knuckle and shoot. it’s amazing how togashi managed to insert meaningful characters in hxh and i think knuckle and shoot are two of the most important ones in chimera ant arc, relative to the characterization of gon and killua, as we can see how they both PARALLEL and CONTRAST each other in a way. i believe togashi deliberately wrote their characters as such because:
he wants to showcase varying types of love; bcos
he wants readers to read through his contexts
at face value, knuckle and shoot are much like gon and killua, right? nen ability aside, it’s too obvious how their personalities kind of match. knuckle is much like gon, whereas shoot is much like killua.
BUT WHAT’S INTERESTING about them is how they CONTRAST gon and killua and how this contrast plays a role in chimera ant arc’s storytelling, and in togashi’s excellent ply in exposing romantic gay undertones throughout the arc. chimera ant arc, after all, is a romance and an epic in itself. togashi had to meticulously throw in characters that would represent something somehow, and not just there because he thought they looked cool.
and knuckle and shoot; well, for me, they represent what dudebros on redditors think of gon and killua and hunter x hunter in general, (i hate to say it but--) NO HOMO.
i think togashi placed their characters, that somehow parallel gon and killua personality-wise, specifically in this arc because he wanted to present a kind of love between two male friends. and by friends, i literally mean just close friends. and that he wanted to show us that this type of love that they have is very much different from the type of love gon/killua (who are also two male friends) has --> which, on the other hand, parallels more, in so many levels, with meruem/komugi’s (romantic love).
i really really hate to admit the “no homo” take but i feel this strongly as intentional for knuckle and shoot. although, of course, we never know they might turn out as lovers in the end. but at that point of the story, they are bros in battle. they are fighting to protect everyone and plan on surviving after that. none of them considered the possibility of leaving everything behind and of dying *ahem-killua-ahem* together because of sheer love for their bro. did they? if so, i don’t remember ever reading it in the manga.
also, aside from the one you initially pointed out, of shoot saying that his job is to act calm and stop knuckle (again, a parallel), i find that specific scenario play interesting because it’s shoot basically breaking down in front of knuckle (knuckle shedding his share of tears) and telling him to go and kick youpi’s ass for him. THIS is a contrast -- because what happened to gon and killua during that war was the complete opposite. and looking back i find that contrast funny because this is basically telling me that this is what would happen if there are no romantic feelings involved between the smol bois. would gon still push killua away? if so, would killua take it personally? if anything, killua might even smack gon in the head to bring him back to his senses and call him an idiot. but nooo, he didn’t because of an internal conflict caused by many things in his heart including his feelings for gon.
for me, while meruem and komugi represent romantic unconditional love, knuckle and shoot represent platonic love in this arc -- and somehow the story suggests that, at their young age and with everything that has happened, gon and killua are swimming in between those at that point.
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oh welp this became a killugon meta but that’s my take on knuckle and shoot lol this was longer but my internet shut down and deleted everything i typed in earlierkajrdfjkdsfjkdjkdsf ok i hope i made my point. just a little disclaimer that this opinion can change in the future just saying haha
thank you for this ask i enjoy writing my thoughts on hxh and my take on this series’ characters specifically <333333