![]() (You really have to see it to believe it.) The protagonists meet a leader who apparently spent, like, two years standing in one place and punching the air ten thousand times a day. A nuclear blast culminates in a resurrection scene that doesn’t feel like someone coming back from the dead, so much as it resembles a cannibalistic orgy. A woman whose power involves wrapping her very long hair around herself fights a kid in a dictator’s mansion. An octopus named Ikalgo decides he’s the BFF of one of the main characters. It didn’t mean he was no longer the king, but it meant that he had an identity that wasn’t bound to being king.Here are some very out-of-context things that happen in the Chimera Ant arc of the 2011 anime Hunter x Hunter, which is now streaming on Netflix. Learning his name was a crucial step in his journey toward humanity because it let Meruem identify himself as something beyond his position as king. He could now say “I am Meruem,” which actually identified who he was as an individual, completely separate from his role as king. Learning his name from Netero changed that. His perception of himself was limited to his role as the king he could identify himself by saying “I am the king,” but that only identified what he was, not who he was. After getting to know Komugi, Meruem actually began to wonder who he was beyond his role as king. He was the king, and that was his identity. Prior to meeting Komugi, Meruem had never even thought about whether he had a name. ![]() I’ve already discussed his growth in depth, but this aspect deserves special attention. Like many of the arc’s themes, the humanity inherent in having a name is most clear in Meruem’s character. Villain or not, Leol’s decision to change his name makes him one of the most human of the Ants. He wanted his name to reflect who he was, demonstrating a level on individuality that none of the Ants had at first. The Ants all initially chose their names out of convenience, not any emotional attachment, but Leol changing his name means that it mattered to him beyond a simple designation for convenience. Just changing one’s name wouldn’t normally be to significant, but the fact that Leol wanted a different name and actually got angry at anyone who used his old name shows a major change in his attitude toward names. ![]() Hagya was always proud of being part lion-he loved bragging about being king of the jungle and such-so he changed his name to Leol, which sounds closer to lion, in the latter half of the arc. The Ants’ burgeoning humanity is later shown in Hagya’s actions. His choice of name was an early sign of his underlying humanity, which is just one example of an Ant’s name holding some meaning for them. Colt later becomes the first Ant to peacefully reach out to humans in the hope that the Hunters can help save the queen’s life, and is the first Ant to show real humanity. ![]() The fact that Colt chose a name so similar to his human name reveals that, consciously or not, he still held some attachment to his human side. The parallels between their names aren’t immediately obvious to most English speakers, but the way the two names are written and pronounced in Japanese are almost identical: Colt is Koruto (コルト ) and Kurt is Kuruto (クルト). Colt, one of the squadron leaders, was originally a human boy named Kurt. The Ants also began to care more about what their names were. Even if their actions were monstrous, the fact that the Ants began identifying themselves as individuals meant that they were becoming more human than ant, since ants don’t have any concept of individuality. As soon as the Ants began identifying themselves as individuals, they also began developing individual goals, desires, and ideas. Some remained focused on gathering food for the queen, while others began to care more about enjoying the hunt, a selfish desire that was never present before. ![]() Shortly after they all chose names of their own, the Ants began acting more and more individualistic. ![]()
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