The Hunter X Hunter Chimera Scene That Fans Agree Went Too Far
As an action anime, it's understandable that "Hunter x Hunter" features its fair share of brutality every now and then. When combat is an everyday occurrence, characters are bound to get injured and many are likely to die. That's just the way it goes. Even so, there are violent events peppered throughout "Hunter x Hunter" that are so brutal that they can even take longtime fans by surprise on a second viewing.
In particular, many fans point to the Chimera Ant Arc as a source for many instances of brutality. Focusing on the Hunter Association's fight against the infestation of deadly Chimera Ants in the country of NGL, the arc contains some of the swiftest and most grotesque deaths as the genetically-gifted Chimera Ants hunt and consume humans to further their own species. Across the 60-episode arc, however, fans typically point to one scene in Episode 84 that they agree goes too far.
Pokkle goes out in the most horrible way possible
Near the beginning of the Arc, "Hunter x Hunter" takes a bit of time to revisit a longstanding Hunter named Pokkle. Currently hunting Fantastic Beasts in NGL, Pokkle and his crew have an ill-fated run-in with a group of Chimera Ants, including the powerful Neferpitou. After his teammates are killed, Neferpitou uses a pair of antennae to probe Pokkle's brain, forcing him to spill out all the relevant tactical information on Hunters before sending him to get butchered and devoured by the Chimera Ant Queen. It's a pretty harrowing scene — and one that stuck with many fans on Reddit.
"[It was] one of the most f***ed up things I've seen yet in HxH," wrote u/Monte_Carlo_1971. "Like, I was honestly a bit disturbed. The way he talked in monotone, and stuttered. That was... yea, it definitely wasn't fun."
"Nothing like getting lobotomized before getting fed to the queen after all that hard work in trying to sneak away from the ants," wrote u/ShaKing807 in response to another Reddit user. "This is a Top 10 Most F***ed Up Scenes in anime for me."
Don't take this to mean the arc is bad, however. Fans in other Reddit posts have expressed the opinions that the brutality helped deepen the impact of these character deaths, as professional Hunters are killed off with relative ease. Even so, that makes the fate of poor Pokkle no less terrifying to witness.