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Episodes 47-49: Gon and Killua Meet the Phantom Troupe

Recap: Gon and Killua continue to seek ways to make money by using their Gyo to bid on items with Nen and flip them for more money. They learn a bit about counterfeiting from an appraiser named Zepile. When Leorio comes up with a lead on the Troupe, they try stalking two Troupe members and are promptly captured. The samurai dude tries to recruit G/K, but when he's left alone, the pair escapes.

Okay, I have to address the silliness of the whole G/K-captured-by-Troupe-and-escaping situation. I believe they could escape from one guy, but it feels absurd that they're given the chance. These guys are so eager to murder, and for some reason samurai dude thinks they'll willingly become recruits... and they're only twelve. This is the writer with his thumb transparently on the scales, a way to introduce G/K to the Troupe without having to deal with the real consequences of it.

The implausibility of this gaiden aside, lots of good stuff to be found. Gon and Killua's trepidation toward the Phantom Troupe is way more fun than Kurapika's nonchalant slaying of Uvogin. Maybe I'd feel differently if it were obvious that Kurapika were way stronger than G/K before they became Nen users, but based on what I've seen, G/K's attitude is appropriate for building up villains.

Killua, since escaping home, is rising rapidly as one of my favorites. He knows not to fight an enemy he can't beat, and now he's surrounded by them all the time, which is way more interesting than outmatching everyone effortlessly during the Hunter Exam. And he's not perfectly smart and composed about everything all the time like Kurapika - he can get punked and he gets very visibly frustrated when conversations don't go his way. G/K stalking the Troupe is an abjectly awful idea, but throughout, Killua knows how badly they're outmatched. And after all, it's only due to an unseen other pair of Troupe members that they even get caught.

I'm enjoying the asymmetry of information here. G/K are shocked to see Hisoka, so the Troupe doesn't know about that connection. They're also mostly ignorant about Uvo's fate, due to his ill-fated decision to fight alone. They have never seen the "chain-user's" face, and G/K are saved by their own ignorance of what Kurapika has been up to, when the cleavage-gun-woman scans their minds. It reminds me of the early seasons of Game of Thrones, where information would spread strangely, and often unreliably. Of course, Killua eventually deduces it, meaning that in the future, they couldn't escape this way.

It's something of a filler-type episode, but I really like G/K's efforts to make money. What can I say - it's fun! They get adorably upset during the bidding war, and I love the frustration building for Killua when they have a quid pro quo conversation with Zepile and he has to wait his turn before hearing answers to his questions. Gon has been pretty quiet, but Zepile notices what I've noticed - that Gon has a wonderful curiosity that is almost amoral - he's entirely open-minded about the grifters' arts and simply wants to learn the techniques. It's a Goku-esque quality, from the beginning of DB.

The point about Gon gets a cool reprise when he's captured. What gets Gon most about these unrepentant murderers is that they do have compassion and know the pain of loss as opposed to be unfeeling sociopaths - but only for their own fellow murderers. It's a monstrous crime of hypocrisy. Gon's moral code is great.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness