Hunter x HunterHow impressive is your knowledge of Hunter x Hunter? Is it more impressive than the properties of Bungee Gum? Rankings of everything in the HxH universe, from strongest nen abilities to the saddest moments in the series.
Updated October 22, 2021 11.2K votes 2.1K voters 55.0K views
Over 2.1K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The 15 Saddest Moments From 'Hunter X Hunter,' Ranked
On the surface, Hunter x Hunter looks like a happy-go-lucky shonen that's filled with light and joyful moments. When they're doing things like fighting Bubble Horse on Greed Island, it is exactly that. But there's a lot more to this incredible 2011 anime than just the fun parts. There are actually some intensely sad parts, too.
What are some of the saddest Hunter x Hunter moments? Depending on who you ask, the answer will be different. That said, most of the fandom can agree that Gon's unhinged transformation is among them - as are Meruem and Komugi's touching final moments. Other tear-jerking moments include Knov's breakdown, the Zoldyck family's treatment of Alluka, and more.
Break out the tissues, because there's probably at least one item on this list that will make you shed a tear or two, or three, or a thousand.
This isn't just one of the saddest scenes in Hunter x Hunter, it's one of the saddest scenes in anime, period.
As the King of the Chimera Ants, Meruem isn't really sure what the point of his existence is other than amassing power. While his Royal Guards find plenty of meaning in that pursuit, Meruem is looking for something a little more personally meaningful. He finds this with Komugi, a human girl who is an expert at a game called Gungi. When playing with her, he finds himself utterly enraptured by the game - and unexpectedly attached to Komugi. He develops a bond with her beyond anything he was thought to be capable of feeling.
Sadly, the two don't have much time to spend together. After the poison from Netero's Poor Man's Rose infects Meruem, he wants to play one last game of Gungi with Komugi in what little time he has left. He warns her that the poison is contagious, but she decides to pass away with him. They continue playing until their strength runs out, then move to laying in each others' arms calling out to each other until only Komugi remains. If you're not crying by the end of this scene, you probably don't have tear ducts.
After Gon uses Limitation Transformation, his body is nearly destroyed. Seeing him so profoundly damaged is sad enough, but what really drives it home is Killua's reaction. He blames himself for not being able to stop Gon before he took such drastic measures, and is terrified of losing him if he can't carry out his plan to have Alluka wish for him to be healed. He reveals this deep-seated guilt during a conversation with Palm.
Killua's reaction to Gon's condition the only one that's sad: Ging's seeming indifference hits pretty hard in a different way, and Leorio's clumsy speech in front of the rest of the Hunters has some impact too. But it's hard to top Killua's guilty tears in terms of pure misery.
When Gon finally realizes that it's impossible for Neferpitou to heal Kite, he's emotionally broken. At first, he quietly repeats the information to himself as he tries to process the finality of death, but once it finally sinks in, he's filled with more rage than anyone ever thought possible. He accesses all the power he'll ever have in his entire life in order get revenge and destroy Pitou.
The end result isn't a triumph - it's miserable to see a sweet, well-meaning kid so overcome with rage and grief that he has no room in his heart left for mercy. Watching Killua's shocked reaction to finding his horribly changed best friend in the aftermath is no picnic, either.
In one of the shows' more brutal moments, a little boy named Kurt and a little girl named Reina are attacked by Chimera Ants and transformed into a member of their ranks. While Kurt turns into a winged being who successfully integrates into the Chimera Ants, Reina becomes a silent little girl with an ant head.
After Meruem and the Royal Guards are defeated, the surviving Chimera Ants attempt to reintegrate into society. This includes Reina, who is reunited with her mother. One would expect her mom to recoil in horror upon seeing a human with the head of an ant, but she immediately recognizes her as her daughter and embraces her. It's actually a happy moment, but one that highlights all the pain and suffering that it took to get there.
Kite's body is eventually recovered by the rest of his allies, but this is not a cause for celebration. That's because what they discover is even worse than Kite simply not being alive. His body is being controlled by the Chimera Ants' Nen, making him not only unable to recognize his allies, but forcing him to mindlessly attack anyone who gets near him. Gon is devastated by this, and tries repeatedly to get close to Kite even though doing so gets him hurt.
This moment is made even worse in retrospect, because everyone believes that Kite is still alive underneath his controlled state. In reality, what they're fighting is actually little more than well-preserved corpse.
When we first meet Pokkle and Ponzu, they're among the many contestants in the Hunter Exams. Both try their best, but only Pokkle is able to pass the exam and move towards his goal of becoming a Beast Hunter. But Ponzu's bee-based techniques make her useful despite her lack of hunter status, so she ends up joining Pokkle and a few other friends to infiltrate NGL and try to deal with the Chimera Ants.
Sadly, the two don't make it out alive. Ponzu is shot repeatedly while Pokkle is kidnaped by the Ants so that they could force him to reveal the secrets of Nen before ultimately disposing of him. Pokkle's broken voice as an Ant fiddles around in his brain is low-key horrifying.
The poison icing on the equally poison cake is that just before they meet their grisly fate, there's a moment when the two of them are riding on a motorcycle together, looking very content to be in each other's presence. Though they're not confirmed to be in a relationship, that moment brings up questions about what could have been.
