Journal Entry #29

In my watching of Hunter x Hunter, which I have discussed in previous journal entries, I

have recently finished another story arc, called the Heavens Arena arc. Overall, it was
somewhat lackluster compared to previous arcs, but is served its purpose well in
accomplishing things that were necessary for the story to continue into the future. In
this arc, the four main characters split up, agreeing to meet in a town called Yorknew
city during the famous auction that occurs there every year on September 1st. During
the months between the auction and the hunter exam, which took place in January,
Kurapika leaves to search for a patron to employ him as a hunter and Leorio goes to
medical school. During this arc, the focus sometimes shifts to show Kurapikas
experiences during this time, but for the most part, it solely focuses on Gon and Killua.
Being left flat broke at the end of the last arc, and wanting to train for what is to come
in Yorknew, the duo set off to the Heavens Arena, a place where skilled fighters
compete to seek fame and glory. Killua, having fought there at a young age, already
knows the ropes and is able to explain to Gon how the arena operates. The Arena is a
251-story tall tower that can be seen from all corners of the city in which it resides.
Competitors begin on the bottom floor, where numerous fighters can be seen in
combat. If one wins on this floor, they move up a number of floors determined by the
evaluation of their skill level. As a person wins matches, he receive monetary rewards
corresponding to the floor he is on, with the highest known reward being ten million
jenny (the currency of the world of Hunter x Hunter. One jenny is approximately one US
cent). At floor 100, competitors receive their own private rooms. At floor 200,
competitors stop receiving rewards and compete solely for fame and glory, and each
floor from number 230 to 250 is reserved solely a floor master, one of the 21 strongest
individuals competing in the Heavens Arena. Gon and Killua breeze through the first
199 floors, but on the 200th floor they come face to face with Hisoka, Gons rival from
the hunter exam who he had intended to fight in Yorknew. There, Hisoka uses a power
similar to the one that Illumi used to make his brother Killua resign from the hunter
exam, denying them entry to the 200th floor. However, a man named Wing, who trains
another competitor that they befriended name Zushi, offers to teach theme nen to
counteract Hisokas powers. They agree, and he explains nen and its usage to them. Nen
is the flow of life energy from living creatures. Through training, one can control their
life energy (known as an aura) for numerous uses. There are four techniques with which
one manipulates their aura: Ten, a technique with which one holds their own aura in to
bolster his attack and defense; Zetsu, stopping the flow of ones aura for stealth; Ren,
imposing ones aura onto others to elicit certain emotional responses such as fear; and
Hatsu, releasing a piece of ones aura to carry out a certain function. It is also explained
that both Hisoka and Illumi are nen users and that they used ren on Gon and Killua as
well as the fact that all competitors above floor 200 are nen users. The explanation of

Journal Entry #29

nen and its uses are basically the essential piece of this arc, which is all interesting, but I
think that the rest of it seems to suffer a bit. Previous arcs had provided interesting
fights, situations, and locals, none of which are provided by the Heavens Arena. The
one-on-one fights just arent very interesting, which is the arcs major flaw. Thankfully,
though, it was only twelve episodes, and barring most of the fights, it was still pretty
interesting throughout. I also do I have to say, Gons fight with Hisoka made up for a lot,
and it also introduces numerous plot threads that will become important in the next arc,
mostly pertaining to the Phantom Troupe, the group of thirteen thieves who murdered
Kurapikas clan and are planning to steal numerous rare and valuable objects from the
Yorknew auction. By the arcs end, I can definitely say that the show is getting exciting.