Hunter X Hunter Vol. #31 Manga Review

Hunter x Hunter Vol. #31

The Zoldyck family secret gets out.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yoshihiro Togashi
Translation/Adaptation: Lillian Olsen

What They Say
Joining the Fray
The time has come for the Hunter Association to choose a new chairman, but it’s shaping up to be anything but a clean election. While the world’s Hunters descend into dirty politics, Gon remains hospitalized in critical condition. Killua knows of a way to save him, but it will mean facing his deadly family of assassins…and the deadliest and strangest of them all, Killua’s little sibling Alluka…

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s always a painful wait for the next volume of Hunter x Hunter.  Multiple breaks in the publishing schedule combined with a long hiatus means that Viz has almost caught up with the last released volume in Japan once again.  That wouldn’t be such an issue if there series wasn’t such a good read!

This volume follows two ongoing plots as they move forward during this short story arc.  The first issue is the ongoing election for Netero’s replacement as the head of the hunter organization.  The plotting and politics going on with the zodiac members and others who happen to find their names of the list of chairman candidates are intercut with a deadly game happening elsewhere as Killua tries to find a way to save Gon’s life.  This volume is riveting!  Hunter x Hunter has always treated every new event as a game with deadly rules, and an election and escort mission are the two latest events to take a deadly twist.

The election plot progresses quickly, with the sneaky Pariston firmly in the lead during each successive round of voting.  The rounds are needed because the existing rules stated that they needed a 95% quorum, and a large number of hunters are simply not voting.  The reason for some of the missing members is obvious, as Gon and friends are down for the count or are busy elsewhere.  The rest just can’t stand the thought of Pariston winning.

For most of the election it’s been Pariston verses Cheadle, with various other hunters leaving and joining the voting ranks.  One surprise candidate turns out to be Leorio, who gets a shining moment confronting Ging about why the man hasn’t gone to visit his son.  Make no mistake, Leorio wants nothing to do with being Chairman, but he won quite a few fans being sucker punching Ging.

Speaking of Ging, I can’t help but wonder how Gon will feel when he finally meets his father.  Ging isn’t the paragon of mystery he made himself out to be, he strikes me as a deadbeat dad who just happens to be a strong hunter and that’s it.  He certainly doesn’t have many friends in the organization.

The real meat of this volume focuses on Killua, who places all his hopes of saving Gon on his younger sibling Alluka’s mysterious power.  The problem is getting her away from the household and to Gon without jeopardizing the lives of him or his family.  It helps that Killua is the only one in the family that seems to fully understand Alluka’s powers.  (Killua is the only one who refers to Alluka as ‘she,’ which also tells me he’s the only one who seems to understand ‘her’ as a person.)

And what creepy powers they are.  The first time you flip the page and see those blacked out eyes and cartoon grin you know something is terribly wrong.  That’s only further compounded when we discover Alluka’s genie like powers of granting wishes.  Or perhaps monkey paw like powers.  As with everything in Hunter x Hunter they have extensive rules to go along with them, deadly rules.  Killua has to keep those rules in mind, along with the laws of the family, in order to get Alluka out and to Gon so she, or more appropriately the alter-ego inside Alluka called Nanika, can heal him.  The stakes are high, because any misstep means death by a broken wish or death by Illumi’s hands.  Making things even more difficult is the presence of Hisoka playing along at Illumi’s bequest.

All of that results in a deadly game of cat and mouse as Illumi attempts to get Alluka back home at all costs, and Killua tries to outwit his extremely dangerous and manipulative brother.

In Summary
Even short arcs in Hunter x Hunter are filled with life and death stakes.  Killua’s family always makes for interesting reading, and Alluka was the long missing piece in the family equation.  Alluka might be the only person on the planet Killua cares for as much as Gon, and that’s saying a lot about a kid from a family of assassins.  It’s going to be some times before the Hunter association works out their own succession troubles.  I don’t how anyone can beat Pariston’s insane lead, Cheadle and the others are only stalling for time before the inevitable.  The wait for the next volume is going to be a hard one.

Content Grade: A 
Art Grade: C +
Packaging Grade: B 
Text/Translation Grade: A

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: December 3rd, 2013
MSRP: $9.99