hi! a while ago you mentioned that hisoka has interesting parallels with ging - do you mind explaining what you mean? I can't really think of any, it seems like they approach gon in very different ways. they're both motivated by fun, maybe?
oh, I meant largely in the sense of how gon relates to adults in his life! one of the biggest things I was thinking about while rewatching this time is how gon is a child in a world of adults, and how he is affected by the adults around him, both in positive and negative ways.
ive said before that hisoka is interesting not so much as a character but as this almost inhuman warping force of nature that emphasizes the conditions of the world and people around him. his actual motives don't interest me in the slightest, but put shortly - if there's a situation that allows an unabashedly destructive person like him to thrive, then that says something about that situation. if people are reacting in certain ways to him, then that tends to say a lot about who they are as people.
gon's most formative relationship, the one that serves as a driving force for the vast majority of hxh, is his relationship with ging. to him, ging is this elusive, almost untouchable figure. gon may be able to catch up to him someday, but to do so, he has to become stronger, and specifically he has to submit himself to ging testing his strength via greed island and kite. there is a certain threshold of danger and risk associated in catching ging, but that's something that gon considers exciting. necessary, even. if you're going to approach a powerful figure, it is going to involve bodily harm, and gon is much more okay with that than he should be.
hisoka is another adult that gon feels compelled to prove himself to. part of this is hisoka's machinations, but I do think it's important to point out that both ging and hisoka are motivated to make gon stronger by putting him through mortal peril. and gon himself is excited by this prospect, though he is also afraid of hisoka. a big part of his desire to challenge hisoka in heaven's arena is him viewing hisoka as this unattainable figure who he wants to acknowledge his strength, despite how scary it is. I wouldn't exactly say he sees ging in hisoka, but I will say that his viewpoint of ging is something of a blueprint for how he interprets adults who are stronger than him. he ends up wanting to be acknowledged by them, despite the clear warning signs that they don't really care about him.
