#strawberrymeta

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if you watched hxh and came out thinking gon isnt a strategical genius i think you mightve been sleeping because sure he isnt great at math but hes incredibly skilled at analyzing his opponents and figuring out the best way to defeat them.

like his fight with genthru is such a nice view in his character because it shows us how his stubborness will end up hurting him, it shows us how fast he can come up with a way to win, how little regard he has for himself and how far hes willing to go. greed island was necessary to set up the end up the chimera ant arc and give us more insight on gon and many fights before that have already shown us qualitys like that.

back in trick tower gon was the one who came up with a way to save everyone, when they were captured by the phantom troupe and killua was ready to give up and die to give gon a chance to escape gon remembered what zepile had told them about forging, found a way to apply the method to their situation and managed to save both killua and himself, things like this show just how smart gon really is and i think we should appreciate it more

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A fish symbolizes fertility, feelings, creativity, rebirth, good luck, transformation, health, abundance, serenity, intelligence, happiness, strength, and endurance

seeing as the fish is a betta, betta fish have a fierce and feisty nature and symbolize unique individuality, solitude, aggression, strength, power, freedom, beauty and defiant spirit

owls are associated with darkness, which includes magic, mystery, and ancient knowledge as well as the moon

here pictured is an eurasian eagle owl, which represents wisdom and knowledge and the species is threatend with extinction

dogs are often depicted to symbolize guidance, protection, loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, watchfulness, and love

though,here seen could be a wolf or a wolf dog too

wolves are a symbol of guardianship, ritual, loyalty, and spirit and have the ability to make quick and firm emotional attachments, and need to trust their own instincts

frogs are associtated with youth, cleansing of a toxic enviroment, love for others and yourself and they are often drawn with people who need to release the negative emotions theyve been holding or who need to take better care of themselves

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to analyze leorios character development from the hunter exam arc to the yorknew arc you first have to talk about the person he was/he was trying to be at the beginning.

obviously leorio is good from the core as confirmed by melody but at the beginning of and during the hunter exam arc he was at his lowest, putting up a facade and showing little care for himself.

his facade gets broken through quickly by kurapika, its one of a greedy, money loving idiot and how leorio sees himself and as such presents that way. leorio, as ive said before, believes his goal to become a doctor is a selfish one purely to relieve his own guilt. everytime someone compliments him he gets extremely embarrassed as though he believes hes not worthy of the praise.

so to come back to my original point, this first layer is how leorio sees himself, someone whos selfish and idiotic, greedy and weak. this facade is the one most of the fandom chooses to see sadly.

another prominent trait leorio shows in the hunter exam is his hotheadedness, particularly in moments where he feels as though hes being looked down on or when someone plays with the lives of others, most notably the old lady with her choice riddle and hisoka.

the encounter with hisoka brings me to my next point: his disregard for himself. especially during the hunter exam arc leorio shows just how little he cares about his own life as he faces down hisoka and lets hundreds of snakes bite him to warn kurapika and gon.

the snake scene is, in my opinion, crucial to leorios further development. kurapika and gon risk their lives to save and help him and that changes things for leorio. he realizes theres people who care about him, people whod miss him.

i still strongly believe in the leorio orphan theory and if it is true, he didnt have anyone before coming to the hunter exam, having lost pietro.

this care gon and kurapika show him is a turning point for him to become less reckless and he allows himself to show his caring side more. had melody read his heartbeat during the hunter exam, im sure it wouldve still sounded kind but not as calm and soothing.

thats how he was able to become the voice of reason in yorknew. its why leorio is the one most invested in keeping the group together. gon and killua are kids who dont think stuff like that through and ive discussed many times why kurapika isolates himself.

but of course this doesnt fix leorios problems. hes still plagued by guilt and a feeling of helplessness he tries to fight as its clearly seen in the 13th chairman election arc. he feels guilty and useless and does what he can to help gon.

hes selfless and kind and empathic and caring, thoughtful and wise but at the same time plagued by guilt, insecure and has little regard for himself.

his development from the exam to yorknew mirrors kurapikas development nicely and both of them feel guilty for letting the people they loved get taken away even though it was not either fault. they can help each other heal.

[krpk-remaking]

so many people characterize kurapika as just very cold, formal and polite and while those are traits that are part of the facade kurapika puts on its not really how he truly wants to be (and he isnt that polite anyways.) the truest hes been to himself was during the hunter exam arc where he, while being a smartass, also had fun with the others etc and of course his backstory, he was a fun loving rowdy child similar to gon. just bc he develops this cold calculating serious shell later doesnt mean that that is who he really is! hes having a depressive episode and hes traumatized! ive seen some people think that thats all kurapika is and that he doesnt care about his friends but thats simply not true. he regrets putting them in danger back in yorkshin which is exactly why he cut them off. kurapika put his friends safety over his revenge before and hed do it again and hes doing it with woble right now! kurapika is really doing terribly right now and judging him based on that protective layer he developed isnt really fair. him trying to shut all his emotions off doesnt erase the emotions hes surpressing. hes doing it to protect gon killua leorio and woble and thats a core part of his personality. he wants to love and be loved but he doesnt regard himself as human anymore because of his actions (not even worthy of kurta clothing)

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its so funny how characters even say and repeat things about other characters yet most people still get it wrong! chrollo says kurapikas biggest weakness is how much he cares about his friends and people go oh he doesnt have feelings he hates his friends. so many fucking characters go oh gon is so clever hes so smart and curious and good and people go haha hes stupid and evil, so many characters say the same about leorio they say how talented and kind and smart he is and people still go leorio is stupid and selfish. killua himself will have a wonderful arc about letting go of his insecurity snd believing in himself and people will still go oh killua is my little white haired murderboy whos a monster and hates himself how can you miss these wonderful characters that are right in front of your noses!!

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ive been wondering about this panel and specifically why kurapika was just holding the phone while griefing and not even hanging up or anything but im pretty sure its because he knew leorio would eventually call again and because leorios presence comforts him he kept his phone there in his hand waiting for leorio to call as a form of comfort and to feel less alone

and in this panel, where theyre shown at moments kurapika especially appreciated, leorios shown on the phone, calling him! kurapika appreciated it so much but wouldnt allow himself to pick it up bc he doesnt think he deserves any care shown for him

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dont say leorio didnt care about the other three before the zoldyck family arc... he wasnt even close with killua, killua kept making fun of him but leorio has always redcognized that killua is a child. hes always been watching out for him and for gon and kurapika too of course

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kallutos reaction to gon kurapika and leorio coming to pick up killua makes me sad especially with context of what other things theyve said... for example in the musical kalluto wonders why killua wants to leave and why he wants to have other friends when kalluto is there for him and while we havent seen killua and kalluto really interact one on one and so dont know about the nature of their relationship keep in mind that

1 kalluto is ten years old

2.canonically jealous of alluka even thiugh she was trapped in a basement for multiple years and the only positive things that have happend to her are killua loving and rescuing her

3. killua is the only sensible part of this family kalluto had for their whole life with alluka being locked away and the others being. yknow. like that

kalluto just wants their big brother back and for that reason joined the phantom troupe at like age ten. they only want killua to love them too and maybe they want to be rescued as well... killua please come back you forgot one!!!