25 Years Later: "Lie ✕ Truth? ✕ Kiriko"
Another relatively faithful episode- trust me, we’ll get to some deep stuff real soon. Two more episodes soon.
Even in saying that, this episode, like the prior few, is remarkably unfaithful despite entirely taking from the manga for its narrative. Much like before, it is expanding one chapter out into its own episodic narrative, and an identifying mark is emerging in the variety of these narratives. To go over where we have been before, the first episode was one of departure, a boy leaving his mother to find his father, a very archetypal narrative, but told through the perspective of that boy’s mother.
The second was then about the same boy in the ‘real world’- a seedy town where his idealism and hope is in conflict. The third is about stubborn personalities conflicting in a tense situation, and showing the true nature of people beneath petty ideas of respect. The fourth was a literal game, complete with a host, multiple competitors who set up the mystique of the game, as well as an underhanded rival who briefly joins the group.
So the fifth becomes a mystery. It sticks completely to the world of the night, only the moon illuminating the characters, foreshadowing and dire, yet ignored, warnings plague the first half, while the second is about unravelling what this mystery is- as well as discovering there was a mystery in the first place.
Here the anime continues its ongoing trend to differentiate itself from the manga. If you read this section in the manga, Gon is strictly the protagonist- Kurapika and Leorio are major characters but their perspectives and journeys are secondary at this point. Here though, all three experience this mystery and draw their conclusions as equals, in a way that showcases their aptitude and talents.
Starting with the most changed character in this narrative, we have Leorio. In the manga, he tends to the husband and is not seen until the very end of the chapter, his skill only being stated in post. Here though, his assistance is shown, and there is even a moment that sets up how Leorio could’ve run into Kurapika in the forest to keep it in line with the manga’s reveal that the Leorio in the woods is an impostor. Leorio even receives his own moment of discovery where he takes down the Kiriko he was treating, in sharp contrast to the manga where he never solved the mystery at hand.
Kurapika and Gon both solved it in the manga, but the difference is in focus. All three characters share the screen almost equally, and it changes how we perceive them. We get more early insight into Leorio, what’s in his suitcase is in fact medical supplies, and the focus on his ability in this field sets up the later reveal for his character.
Kurapika remains more unchanged, his scenes merely receiving expansion with some setup on him being able to understand the tattoos on the woman he recovers, with the first half having him investigate ruins written in the same script, but Gon has a fairly significant change, and it’s all in one line of dialogue.
In the manga, when Gon confronts the second Kiriko, the Kiriko stops when he asks the monster its name while it attacks. In the anime though, the monster stops specifically because Gon doesn’t react at all to his attack, and Gon instead focuses primarily on how he was fighting a different monster.
It’s a weird change, and one that serves to highlight Gon’s good nature in addition to his ability to be in touch with nature, and I honestly don’t quite get it. Not saying it’s a negative, I only noticed this because I watch the episode and then immediately go through the chapter to note any points of comparison or contrast, but it’s certainly odd.
Overall, this episode is one for the Leorio fans- but it’s also one for fans of every character. The show continues to be all about striking a balance between this main party and keeping their events episodic in nature rather than mirroring the manga’s presentation of Gon as the central pillar that we hyper fixate on. In that, I continue to notice a more subtle change in character presentation- while in the manga Leorio and Kurapika are often kept together and more distant from Gon mentally, the anime has a habit of keeping Gon and Kurapika close and contrasting them more so than Gon and Leorio or Leorio and Kurapika. It’s as if the anime staff already knew the direction the narrative was going- for example, the opening half that is primarily anime original has Gon and Kurapika being portrayed as equals- both row the boat, both examine the ruins, both share in looks of disappointment at Leorio’s complaining, they are both constantly being compared. Again, this will be expanded on as we go, but for now it’s an interesting change.
As a final aside, Hisoka’s theme sees another usage as a motif this episode, and once more it is a theme highlighting deception within the exam- specifically, it is when Kurapika begins to notice the tattoo on the ‘wife’ he saved. More interesting than this established motif is that we haven’t heard Kurapika’s theme since the first episode, and we haven’t heard Leorio’s theme in general. Hisoka though is being used, consistently, as a theme for deception and trickery in these scenes- specifically with a different rendition of his theme (The Force of Sadness) rather than the main rendition labelled as his theme in the soundtrack (Waiting for Light, for Some Reason…). The only time his main theme has been used was with the fake hunter, rather than these real challenges within the hunter exams.
Something to think about as we’ll be meeting him, Killua, Tonpa, and many others in the next episode, as we finally leave opportunities for episodic adventures behind- or do we? Who knows, really?
origamiaround
tangentwithtanner
prguitarman
dededos
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
2087
