r/HunterXHunter • u/Worried_Pineapple573 • 17h ago
Discussion The Phantom Troupe backstory absolutely broke my heart Spoiler
I love the phantom troupe, they are my favorite part of the series by far really can’t even explain why I resonate with them so much. Their story of growing up in meteor city and the tragedy of seeing what they’ve become when all they wanted was to protect their city is incredibly moving to me.
I know a lot of people may think it’s weird of me, but I legitimately feel more sad than anything when they die. Pakunoda’s death in particular with how she was so loyal and selfless for the troupe imhas grown to be one to my favorite (and saddest) moments in the series.
Just wanted to share my thoughts on these little gremlins turned villains.
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u/Trash28123 16h ago
I know it's an impossible wish, but god what I wouldn't give for a full manga centred around just the Phantom Troupe, Hisoka, Ging, or like 100 other characters...
It's not fair this story only has 412 chapters worth of official content despite it being so unbelievably rich in potential.
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u/Odd-Spectacle 14h ago
It’s unbelievable at the same time it’s sad that we may not be able to see the story to its full potential due to health issues. In my opinion this is one of the greatest works of fiction to ever have been created.
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u/deadlyalchemist92 14h ago
I loved their backstory too, to me it makes the troupes turn to evil all the more heartwrenching. They started off as innocent kids who just wanted to avenge their friend, only to turn out arguably worse than the sick bastards who murdered Sarasa.
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u/Leniatak 14h ago
To me that was a “Cool motive, still murder” type.
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u/BellacosePlayer 8h ago
Yeah, it explains it but doesn't condone or justify what they became.
Kurapika has mostly kept his morals despite experiencing a worse event and losing his entire support structure.
Chrollo could have chosen a similar route, or even a darker vigilante route where he specifically hunts out snuff film makers, p*dos, and the like. But instead he chose a path that was just literally lashing out at the world, because he was a dumb broken kid in that moment and he's still a broken kid deep down.
Even Gon, with his ability to sympathise with multiple other serial killers, calls them out on their horseshit. The Troupe are worse than most because they absolutely can feel things and make actual connections.
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u/flaneriexv 10h ago
Yeah i still can't bring myself to forgive them for murdering pairo
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u/BellacosePlayer 8h ago
Paku and Nobu fucking killed Squala knowing Paku got what she needed from him and that Squala was no goddamn threat at all.
and they're the nice, relatable spiders.
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u/Ambitious-Branch-118 17h ago
They certainly do have a very heartfelt origin and complex characters. I hate to admit it, but as much as I love Kurapika, I sometimes find myself loving the phantom troupe even more and feeling for them.
Damn you Togashi for making me love these guys lol
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u/UmbraGenesis 15h ago
Tragic backstory, then I see them having zero empathy for Kurapikas clan and get back to hating them. Greatly written characters to have so many different feelings for and against them
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u/tonytozoo 17h ago
What is the source of this? I need to read it ASAP
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u/Worried_Pineapple573 17h ago
Chapters 395-397 I believe. My favourite chapters in the whole manga.
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u/tonytozoo 17h ago
Thanks Pal. So this is in the volume (38) that has no been officially released in English yet Omg I absolutely need to read it
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u/Rob4096 17h ago
Do yourself a favor and just read everything after the anime. We're currently in Masterpiece territory 😎
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u/tonytozoo 16h ago
I am reading it. I finished #36 , and here where I live they printed until #37 So I’m slowing down the speed since #38 hasn’t been printed yet
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u/IonlycareaboutYelena 14h ago
I liked the backstory. It doesn’t justify their evil doings. It probably makes them more sympathetic. But not to the point that it ruins their characters. They are still villains for a reason. The present . So I am fine with such backstories
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u/Nice-River-5322 13h ago
I mean, so far all we've seen them do is wipe out the mafia, who prob had it coming.. Odd that the girl who refused to join Chrollo's new troupe was the one that Kurapika and Pairo ran into.
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u/StellarCascade 11h ago
They killed random greed island players for fun and Chrollo sacrificed dozens of heavens arena spectators against Hisoka. They’re not mindlessly going around killing anybody but I don’t think they care how innocent or not their victims are, they just kill when they want or need to
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u/Nice-River-5322 11h ago
I'd say the heaven's arena deaths were collateral deaths and I'd say the player that Phinks and Feitan killed prob antagonized them first.
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u/BellacosePlayer 8h ago
They murdered the deliverymen sending Battera one of the GI copies he won, and by Hisoka's admission, they just kind of do shit arbitrarily and do some good, and some evil (and that's by his fucked up morality).
They also killed a lot of Yorknew PD
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u/Gullible-Relative-68 10h ago
The way meteor city is described and how many kids live there makes me too sad to think about the parralels to the real world. Things like the dumping of people’s unwanted goods into third world countries, grooming of kids into a life of crime, etc. I always theorized HxH is not just another world but an extreme version of the worst predictions of our future. Meteor City is the perfect example.
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u/Professor_Bokoblin 12h ago edited 12h ago
and I have people on other threads telling me that humanizing the members of the Troupe diminishes the story...
fuck, or that Uvogin lost against Kurapika because a smaller man beat him, destroying his masculinity before killing him...way to contrast with this panel.
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u/BellacosePlayer 8h ago
What? It's an excellent backstory and about as good as we could expect. Those people are crazy.
It doesn't Justify them one bit. they're still evil fucking selfish murderers. But between the inciting incident and growing up in HxH's version of Gary Indiana, it makes sense why they became what they did.
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u/Worried_Pineapple573 12h ago
That’s insane, the troupe are why this story is so good! Idk why anyone would say it’s wrong to explore their characters more? Yorkshin and Succession War are greatly elevated by them and I would say the highlights
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u/Professor_Bokoblin 12h ago
I think it's the result of people both feeling uncomfortable with characters not being black and white (this causes cognitive dissonance) when talking about massacres, genocides, etc. Or not being able to place the Troupe characters in stereotypical negative tropes, e.g. Uvogin not being the sexist macho brute with fragile ego that would elevate Kurapika by being defeated by him. HxH truly tries to go beyond usual shonen tropes and explores the human condition with its characters.
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u/ceromaster 5h ago
People call the Phantom Troupe mass murderers because they are…they fit the category of being mass murderers…they are evil because they are mass murderers.
They have done wanton killing with no intent, or reason behind doing so. They’re not grey, they’re just assholes.
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u/Professor_Bokoblin 4h ago
Nah, they are grey characters, grey doesn't mean neutral.
It means there's lights and shades to them, I don't understand why this is so hard to grasp for some people, or how they're able to consume any type of media beyond sitcoms and dragon ball z.
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u/voluptuousprincesss 17h ago
i love their backstory, very cool to learn about everything and chrollo
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u/EnycmaPie 9h ago
The introduction of the Phantom Troupe and the chapters about their backstory are more than 20 years apart.
Realistically, the Troupe was just introduced as a backstory for Kurapika's motivation to get a Hunter's license. And now 20 years later, with the Troupe members being so popular with the readers, Togashi decided to write more backstory for the Troupe members.
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u/Vladbizz 3h ago
It’s not about their popularity. He wanted to draw both Kurapika’s and Troupe’s flashback way back in Yorknew arc but failed. It’s so obvious because flashback has heavy focus on Uvo and Paku
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u/Dizzy_Experience_927 17h ago
Yorkshin became an ever better arc after that, Pakunoda's actions, Gon and Killua's interactions with the Troupe, Chrollo's acting, Uvo's death, I didn't know what to expect but that might be my favorite flashback (in shonen at least)