History DeconstructorFleet / HunterxHunter

* The Chimera Ant King, Meruem, is a deconstruction of a MightMakesRight ArrogantKungFuGuy EnemyToAllLivingThings; in essence, he is a walking one of [[Characters/DragonBallCell Cell]]. He's born as an incredibly strong demigod even without Nen, and will only grow stronger the more he eats humans, especially Nen users, until he eventually takes over the world through sheer might. Meruem starts off firmly believing in his own personal strength, valuing the lives of nothing around him as they are beneath him. As the story goes on, however, he receives several lessons in how the world really works that sends his lofty ambitions crashing down. For starters, strength can be meaningless in certain scenarios- he finds himself unable to beat Komugi at Gungi, and when he threatens her with violence, she doesn't react with fear and instead states she's ready to die. This renders Meruem's strength meaningless before her, and the resilience Komugi shows in the face of death instills a sense of honor into him. He then begins to understand that everyone has value in some way, and that his linear understanding of power from strength blinds him to meaningful experiences that others can give him. From then on, Meruem becomes much more mature and sophisticated, choosing to negotiate with Netero instead of fighting with him. [[spoiler: This proves to be a mistake, since the King is a NaiveNewcomer to this world and underestimates what humans are capable of.]] The climax of his character arc is [[spoiler: choosing to abandon his principles of might and power, and to instead form a legitimate relationship with his intellectual equal, Komugi.]] Meruem's character arc demonstrates how unrealistic a true genocidal conqueror would actually be, as well as how starved for meaningful interactions with the world and the people within it they would become by being all-powerful.

* Gon is a massive deconstruction of the StockShonenHero. While he is indeed a nice and kindhearted young boy, the series makes it clear that due to being a child, Gon lacks concrete morals. Instead, his IncorruptiblePurePureness makes him come across as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality alien and confusing]] to his allies and foes. He gets irrationally angry at people who cross his particular standards of morality, while also being accepting of ostensibly bad people if they don't violate his tenets. A perfect example of this is his best friend Killua, who is by all possible definitions, a mass murderer and gleeful sadist. Gon often becomes laser-focused on achieving his goals, to the point of being a detriment to the people around him and himself, and his refusal to back down from certain situations comes across as naïve and shortsighted instead of brave.

--> '''Gon:''' I never knew... how frustrating being weak could be...!

-->'''Izunavi:''' Nobody's equal in strength. How you feel day to day will affect you, as well as where you're fighting and its context. Nen is even more complex. Joy, sadness, fear, hatred, carelessness, devotion, excitement, doubt, pleasure, shame, determination -- all the emotions you're capable of factor into Nen. It might enable something ''beyond'' 100%... \\

** And more specifically, because the use of Nen can be summed up on the surface as KiManipulation + PersonalityPowers, this means that if any nasty people like the Kakin Princes mentioned above get ahold of it, they'll inevitably develop some equally nasty power (or a seemingly conventional or unimpressive one with some surprisingly scary uses) of their own choosing to go along with their now superhuman physical abilities. Ponder on that for a second; think of the worst person or people you know, and the kind of superpowers they'd kill to have if they could get it. In the world of Hunter X Hunter, not only is it possible, but there are already more than plenty of them already in the world doing god knows what (Hisoka, Genthru, the Phantom Troupe, a number of Chimera Ants, ''especially'' Pitou, etc).

-> '''Gon''': I thought you were all a bunch of cold blooded monsters... but I see you can shed tears for your friends! So you're capable of empathy... but you've killed so many people! Why couldn't you feel that for them, '''what the hell is wrong with you?!'''

* FiveManBand dynamics are played straight and deconstructed. While Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio band together at the beginning of the Hunter's Exam, they slowly drift apart over the course of the series. Leorio and Kurapika drop out of the plot during the Greed Island and Chimera Ant arcs, while Gon and Killua are PutOnABus for the Dark Continent arcs. The four have actually spent more time ''apart'' in terms of chapters than they ever have together, demonstrating how a group of tight-knit friends can grow apart due to something as simple as differing priorities. This is interesting because Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio map onto the team from Togashi's first big series-- namely The Overpowered IdiotHero ([[KidHero Gon]] and [[JapaneseDelinquents Yusuke]]), the Small Scary Killer ([[HitmanWithAHeart Killua]] and [[AntiHero Hiei]]), the [[BewareTheNiceOnes Smart Pretty Boy]] ([[LastOfHisKind Kurapika]] and [[SomethingAboutARose Kurama]]), and the Big Idiot With A Heart Of Gold ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Leorio and Kuwabara]]). The only character to make an appearance in every major arc in the story outside of the Chimera Ant Arc is none other than ''Hisoka.''

* The Phantom Troupe takes an ax to EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. The Phantom Troupe are a bunch of immoral rogues who kill and steal whomever and whatever they please, caring little for the damage they cause in their rampage. However, they have a strong bond due to having grown up in the awful [[WretchedHive Meteor City]] together, and there are numerous scenes dedicated to showing their genuine comradery with each other. This gets deconstructed when Gon meets them and points out that they're all huge hypocrites. Even though they protest to love each other as family, their lust for destruction shows serious MoralMyopia. If they can understand what it's like to love and be loved, how can they kill so many people without blinking an eye? While [[spoiler: Uvogin's]] death does shake them up, Gon calls them out on their selfishness, which ends up making them look rather pathetic.

* The Phantom Troupe takes an ax to EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. The Phantom Troupe are a bunch of immoral rogues who kill and steal whomever and whatever they please, caring little for the damage they cause in their rampage. However, they have a strong bond due to having grown up in the awful [[WretchedHive Meteor City]] together, and there are numerous scenes dedicated to showing their genuine comradery with each other. This gets deconstructed when Gon meets them and points out that they're all huge hypocrites. Even though they protest to love each other as family, their lust for destruction shows serious MoralMyopia. If they can understand what its like to love and be loved, how can they kill so many people without blinking an eye? While [[spoiler: Uvogin's]] death does shake them up, Gon calls them out on their selfishness, which ends up making them look rather pathetic.

** And more specifically, because the use of Nen can be summed up on the surface as KiManipulation + PersonalityPowers, this means that if any nasty people like the Kakin Princes mentioned above get ahold of it, they'll inevitably develop some equally nasty power (or a seemingly conventional or unimpressive one with some surprisingly scary uses) of their own choosing to go along with their now superhuman physical abilities. Ponder on that for a second; think of the worst person or people you know, and the kind of superpowers they'd kill to have if they could get it. In the world of Hunter X Hunter, not only is it possible, but there is already more than plenty of them already in the world doing god knows what (Hisoka, Genthru, the Phantom Troupe, a number of Chimera Ants, ''especially'' Pitou, etc).

* Nen itself is both a ''massive'' deconstruction of KiManipulation in general while also [[PlayedStraight playing it straight.]] Compared to similar techniques in other series, Nen has a very definite and detailed structure that determines how people develop the abilities they have and how to best make use of those abilities. How a persons' Nen manifests (called a ''[[SecretArt Hatsu]]'') is heavily dependent on the individual and there are techniques that some people simply will not be able to use. Also in comparison to other series, where fighters generally spam their special attacks all the time, Nen users are incredibly conservative when it comes to using their abilities in order to keep their opponents from learning the particulars of that ability, including its strengths and weaknesses.

* Neo-Green Life, an isolationist nation introduced in the Chimera Ant arc, examines the LuddWasRight trope and how difficult and ''dangerous'' an "all natural" society would be in the modern world. NGL permits no technology newer than agriculture, meaning visitors must discard everything from synthetic clothing items to necessities like eyeglasses, tooth fillings, and medical implants at the border crossing or face ''execution''. The checkpoint ([[LoopholeAbuse conveniently located just outside of NGL's actual borders]]) must employ highly advanced technology like MRI and ultrasound in order to effectively enforce this policy. NGL citizens would likely do what they could to protect themselves on the micro scale (e.g. treating a family member's disease or fending off a wild animal), but problems on the macro scale (e.g. an epidemic or an out-of-control invasive species) are, according to NGL's philosophy, "nature taking its course" and are probably impossible for the government to address anyway. The country's low tech level also means information moves extremely slowly within NGL (the internet is used at the aforementioned checkpoint for international relations, but only handwritten correspondence is permitted within NGL proper), which allows the Chimera Ant infestation to get out of hand before international aid can be summoned. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:[[EvilLuddite the country's founder and ruler simply wanted to ruin people's lives]]]].

** The series makes it clear that even though Nen is difficult to obtain, just about anyone can work towards unlocking it. The result is that there is no way for normal humans to ever measure up to those who have the capacity to use Nen, and the freedom this gives someone with no conscience world-bending powers is shown to be absolutely devastating. In particular, the fight between Chrollo and Hisoka has a large amount of civilian casualties due to [[spoiler: Chrollo turning the entire audience into people-seeking bombs.]] This also becomes a problem later on in the Dark Continent arc, as unsavory characters like [[MilitaryBrat Benjamin]] and [[SerialKiller Tserriednich]] start getting their hands on some seriously devastating powers.

* Kurapika's quest for revenge is a brutal deconstruction of ButForMeItWasTuesday. If you galavant around the world killing whenever convenient, sooner or later you ''will'' piss off the wrong person.