This is the part of the story that resonates most deeply in terms of emotion, a tragedy that refuses to stop being a tragedy, even after almost all of the players are dead. It tells the story of Kurapika’s childhood with the Kurta, and his best friend Pairo ( Umika Kawashima, who had me absolutely convinced she was actually a boy and not an adult actress). I think the best part of Phantom Rouge, though, is – perhaps not coincidentally – the part that Togashi turned into a one-shot manga "Kurapika’s Memories".
HUNTER X HUNTER MOVIE PHANTOM ROUGE ONLINE TV
It seems as if Togashi took this opportunity to flesh out some of the more important elements of his character arc in a way he never had time to in the TV series, and Killua’s fans should be happy with the results. In fact it’s Killua who has most of the big character moments in the film, and there are strong echoes of what we’ll see from him in the "Chimera Ant" arc later on. Well, in fact while it’s Kurapika’s past that directly triggers the events that drive the plot, this is very much Gon and Killua’s movie in terms of screen time. When I originally saw Phantom Rouge I thought (based on the advertising) that this was effectively Kurapika’s story, with the others as supporting players. There are many different things happening in the film, which does take on an epic feel that belies its short length (about 95 minutes, with credits). Phantom Rouge is very good – it’s just not as good as an 18+ episode arc in the TV series. This may not be the best album in the catalogue, but it sure as hell isn’t a cover band. In some respects I suppose the movie could be said to have a more traditionally shounen feel than the series, but there are still elements that are so uniquely Hunter X Hunter that you never feel as if you’re watching an imitation. As such it obviously feels rushed by Togashi’s standard, and the character drama by necessity plays out in broader terms. With a movie like this you’re talking about effectively four episodes of anime, which would place it as considerably shorter than the "Zoldyck Family" arc, the shortest true arc in H x H – and Phantom Rouge is telling a much bigger story. Here’s the hard truth: Togashi-sensei is a writer who scripts almost exclusively in long arcs, with astonishingly detailed plots and subtle character progression. In fact, it could even be said that Togashi uses it to fill in some gaps in the series’ backstory (and what will later become backstory, once later arcs run their course).
HUNTER X HUNTER MOVIE PHANTOM ROUGE ONLINE SERIES
The biggest uncertainty I had was Phantom Rouge’s place in the series timeline, but with subs it’s very clear – this is between "York Shin" and "Greed Island". I saw the movie in a theatre when it came out and wrote a short review at the time – in short, I liked it a lot – and it turns out that I was able to follow along well enough to guess most of the major plot points accurately. And it’s clear very early on that this is a Togashi work – the themes he loves from the manga are dominant in the film, if in a slightly different form than we’re used to. In the first place, Togashi-sensei himself wrote the scenario – if there were any doubt in your mind about that, he kills three kids in the first scene just to make sure you know it’s him.
I prefer to take each one of these as it comes, and there are some contrary currents with Phantom Rouge. I think there are a number of reasons for this, starting with the fact that a simple line of reasoning is, "If it was good enough to be in the original series, it would have been in the original series." There’s a reflexive revulsion against anything that has a whiff of "filler" to it that poisons the well before a lot of people take a drink, and in truth the track record of side-story movies of long-running shounen classics isn’t exactly a stellar one. Movies that are outside the canon of a beloved TV usually have an uphill struggle to win over the fans before the first frame ever rolls.
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