~ my quick review thread of the latest Hunter x Hunter Chapter 418: Hypothesis, by Yoshihiro Togashi (@Un4v5s8bgsVk9Xp). Spoilers up to this chapter. Please read the official translation at VIZ Media and consider supporting the author:
https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/hunter-x-hunter
~700 words / 5 minute read / Adaptation of my Tweet Thread (links in subheadings) from earlier this morning:
Tserriednich x Netero
Simply put: he’s a Netero. Mind, body, soul. It is all here. Including the amorality…though Tserri’s roll on that front has been especially pernicious.
With the Futuresight Ability – heavy restrictions on altering the fate of people within his field. It is more about hiding / stealth / fooling others.
Changing the state of OBJECTS but not BEINGS is a huge restriction but being able to move around himself and influence the surroundings is still hugely powerful. He can set up room scenarios or simply escape pursuers with ease while also continuously faking his death at their hands!
How the hell would you capture this guy?
Ephemeral Zone Diagrams
I love when Togashi sensei starts drawing spatial diagrams with various scenarios hashed and fun little chibi toons. // The possibility remains throughout this chapter, titled Hypothesis, that elements of Tserri’s understanding are false. // Is this really only Level 1??
Thank God For Me
Like many young people today, 4th Prince Tserriednich has mastered the ability of *Dissociation.*
Seems it and Zetsu go hand in hand.
Dissociation defined ~ Dissociation is a concept which concerns a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a false perception of reality as in psychosis.
Tserri’s major weakness while using his ability is *physical contact.* As someone who has violated and mutilated countless others, namely women, with his own hands and through his heinous black market enterprises & proclivities — Tserriednich will now have to especially fear *being touched* lest his illusions run out and he’s caught in the act of trickery by someone who knows more Nen than he does (and wants him truly dead).
Open Questions about Tserri’s “Ephemeral Future”
OK some things that confuse / intrigue me about Tserri’s ability:
1) Can he not see <or> influence his *Ephemeral Self* at all? He just sees Ben stomping air where he’d be but does not see his double’s bloody mess. And he cannot make his Ephemeral Self do anything but stand silently where he was? Because that is the same as what he did in those 10 seconds before?
2) Can he create / introduce *new* objects into the field while it is active? Clearly he can if he’s writing his will and placing it somewhere for Salkov to find and read — all while his ability is active. // This act of writing or making new objects in this way is simply part of *his ability to manipulate OBJECTS inside the ephemeral reality*
3) Do the aimed bullets still fire in the real area of that room? Clearly Ben and Theta fired their guns and those bullets must’ve hit the wall. But we don’t see evidence of this by Tserri checking it himself.
Ephemeral Killer Tserri?
Ooh, another major intrigue:
Tserri could theoretically still kill someone this way with a gun or thrown knife by *dropping his Zetsu state while the projectile is still in the air*
Would this not work? Of course, he’d then reveal himself and unsummon the illusory reality.
But the missile would continue traveling to its destination, right?
The Return of Theta & Her Divine Knowingness
One of the greatest chapter conclusions yet.
Theta is back and her role is unresolved.
I believe she *did* see him, or sense him, due to her curse mark from Tserri’s Guardian Spirit Beast!
Them two are marked by fate; The Devil’s Tour commences.
~
Coda: Theta is one of my favorite characters; one of the bravest souls and perhaps our only hope of designing Tserridnich’s demise; she is now a prophet of the Anti-Christ, knowing he’s out there, moving about, coming for it all…and yet unable to know when or how he shall come again into her purview.
Can she make it Kurapika…? One can only pray.
END.
Thresholds of Transformation 