The Chimera Ant arc always holds a complicated place in my probably-too-large place in my heart for Hunter x Hunter. On one hand, it's the arc that as fans, we're supposed to find the best. I've seen tons of comments saying "if you find this arc boring, you have horrible taste and are too dumb for Hunter x Hunter." It's like the Rick and Morty of the HxH fandom. And backing up those opinions is the fact that this is the longest, the most complex, and arguably the arc that has some of the highest highs of the entire series.
Still, from watch one to this most recent watch (three), the Chimera Ant arc has never been my favorite. For every point it has going for it, there seems to be a counterpoint. One of the biggest problems, for instance, is that going along with the fact that it's the longest arc, it's also the arc I find has the most pacing issues. And yes, I know this is where the "you don't understand!!" comments come in. The extremely analytical and voice-over heavy style of the arc slows things to a crawl, intentionally, in that there's about 4-5 episodes that take place over the space of in-universe 60 seconds or so.
This style isn't inherently bad, but it does require every moment to be interesting enough to support stretching time out so much. And unfortunately, not all the side-fights in this arc are, in my opinion. Ikalgo is the biggest offender in my opinion. His side story looking for Palm and fighting Brovado and the like carried so much less tension than all the rest of the fights. For one, I've known Ikalgo for far less time than any of the other characters, so the stakes aren't as high. Also, his Nen and his opponents simply aren't as interesting as nearly any of the other fights. This all added up to the episodes featuring Ikalgo having me count the minutes until we got back to Gon or Knuckle.
Back to Knuckle though, his fight with Youpi is probably my favorite big battle until the end. It's filled with tension as time passes, strategy with APR, and constant danger with Youpi's explosive Nen power. To me, this is an example of the arc at its best. The analytical style works great for this fight, adding to the tension of each second mattering.
The complexity and seriousness of the arc does have its drawbacks though. With Gon in such a dark place emotionally, there's much less levity and joy here, which is something HxH really excelled at, and is definitely something I love. Also, not all of the new characters are as interesting as the ones they're taking screen time from, either. Shoot, Morel, Ikalgo, Pouf, Cheetu, and Knov all range from either being interesting yet non-favorites, to downright annoying. At the end of the day, a lot of the time I just wanted to go back to see what Gon or Killua was up to, which made it rough when Gon ends up sitting for the majority of the second half. Still, there are some characters that are absolute highlights.
My favorite new character had to have been the King/Mereum. His character development is probably the highest high the arc has. Seeing how the relationship with Komugi changes him is fascinating and emotional, and the resolution is just gut-wrenchingly powerful. Hunter x Hunter has an amazing ability for making you care for characters you never thought you would, and the dark final moments of Mereum and Komugi playing Gungi is a brilliant example of that.
Gon's final fight with Pitou... holy shit. 'High point' is kinda stripping away so much of what makes that fight one of the most intense, heartbreaking, brutal scenes in all of HxH. The difference between episode one Gon to the boy who throws his life away just to get revenge sends chills down my spine. And that animation.... This arc has a ton of amazing animation, and that's definitely one of the high points.
