gon, kite, and a problem of madhouse’s adaption: a thread

first, i LOVE madhouse’s adaption as a whole. but it does have some... weak points. the biggest for me is kite, because not only was it bad in story context, but made a portion of the fandom completely mischaracterize gon

in both the manga and 1999 adaption, it is very clear that kite is meaningful, as he appears in the first scene. the entirety of the first chapter/episode is dedicated to showing kite and gon’s first meeting, and showing what it means to be a hunter

by saving gon, we can see that they are generally kind people, however, because he killed the foxbear, they aren’t completely moral people. by saving gon, this establishes a connection between the two

by kite telling gon about ging and hunters, kite has given gon a motive,. motivation and ambition is very fundamental to hxh, and 2011 takes out any reasoning for it past “i want to see my dad.” with the previous adaptions, we see what being a hunter is actually like

togashi clearly sees kite as an important character as throughout the rest of the manga gon still makes references back to kite despite it being years. this lasting impact of kite throughout the story makes it not a surprise when he finally comes back in caa

it also doesn’t make it surprising when gon immediately feels an attachment. in 2011, he’s more just a person who was in gon’s life for a day and left. the heavier emotional connection is gon. this, unfortunately, will lead to something worse

by removing his first scene, kite himself now also seems like a lesser character. we didn’t see what he was like when it was just him and gon, without the numerous other side characters.

kite dies. gon is devastated. now, in the manga this makes a lot more sense considering the build up of his character. in 2011, a lot of other people had died already, the impact isn’t there as much. and if a viewer sees his death as insignificant they don’t think gon will either

gon’s emotional weight of the palace invasion has been removed. he now seems irrational, for mourning a man he “never knew.” and thus, he is now a “monster” for getting upset at pitou for taking away someone who he deeply cared about and NOT someone he met for a day.

kite’s removal is one of the strangest changes in 2011 for me as it clearly would become important later, not just for kite as a character, but gon.

anyways idk how to end threads but thanks for reading :D