Biopolitics and Humanity: ‘World War Z’ and ‘Hunter x Hunter’
Introduction
Marc Forster’s World War Z (2013) depicts humanity’s struggle against destruction by a virus that transforms people into zombies. Likewise, the ‘Chimera Ant Arc’ of Hunter x Hunter (2011-2014)— an animated series based on the manga by Yoshihiro Togashi— centres on the battle between the human ‘hunters’ and the aforementioned ‘chimera ants’, with both species seeking to eradicate the other. These conflicts between human and non-human can be read in terms of Foucault’s theory of biopower as biopolitical battles between “our” body and “their” body. Through this framework, it becomes clear that when we engage in these conflicts the divide between human and non-human, is increasingly blurred, and the humanity of mankind comes into question.
Politics
According to Schmitt, the ‘specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.’[1] The political enemy is ‘the other, the stranger… essentially something different and alien, so that in extreme cases conflicts with him are possible.’[2] The battles in WWZ and Chimera[3] represent two of these possible political conflicts between friend and enemy. The act of political distinction is literalised in the former by the phenomenon of ‘turning’. The protagonist, Gerry Lane, notes that a human takes 12 seconds to ‘turn’ into a zombie after being bitten.[4] Here, Gerry’s observation that a human has become non-human allegorises the political decision, as his new otherness is sufficient to place him in opposition to humanity. Likewise, in Chimera, the show’s teenage protagonists Gon and Killua meet Kite, a more experienced hunter tasked with hunting the ants. Kite pushes the boys to the ground before firing his weapon in their direction, avoiding them but killing multiple Chimera ants. [5] Again, a political decision is made, as Kite designates the boys friends, the ants enemies, with immediately violent consequences.
Biopolitics
If politics is the distinction between friend and enemy, ‘us’ and ‘them’, then biopolitics distinguishes between ‘our’ body and ‘their’ body. Foucault writes that ‘war [is] regarded… as a war between races,’ and that ‘a “biopolitics” of the human race… is applied to ‘man-as-species… to the extent that they form a global mass.’[6] The biopolitical wars between the human race and the ants/ zombies are conflicts between two opposed bodies ‘with so many heads.’[7] This is epitomised by the non-human races:
Within these multi-headed bodies, the individual is subsumed to the whole, and the will of one is all. The shot from WWZ (left) reflects the multitudinous yet collective nature of the zombie horde, united in the common goal of scaling the wall in order to consume the humans within. However, as the zombies pour through the streets, the camera flits between shots of the pursuing horde, and the horde of humans being pursued.[10] Forster employs a repeated match-cut, filling the frame with indistinguishable bodies mindlessly following one another, and already we see an equivalence emerging between the behaviour of both races. The chimera ants display behaviour reminiscent of these hordes (right); their swarm formation connoting the literal hive-minds of real-life insect species. Furthermore, after the birth of the ant King his royal guard members declare: ‘the three of us will serve as your arms and legs,’ evoking the metaphor of the body-politick which is literalised in a biopolitical society.[11]
The eradication of the individual is emphasised through the motif of self-sacrifice in both texts. In Chimera, the Queen of the ants is central to their biopolitical society, her reproductive role embodying what Foucault terms a ‘natalist policy’ of maximizing the birth rate.[12] Anime blogger Bobduh describes the ants as ‘a species… more willing to be part of a grand organism, than a wild, unpredictable individual.’[13] Accordingly, in spite of her individual significance to her species, the Queen willingly sacrifices her life to the grand organism, dying whilst giving birth to the King, whose birth is intended to ensure their triumph over the humans.[14] However, Chimera’s humans also display behaviour reminiscent of their enemy. At the beginning of the arc, a group of hunters discover the location and growing power of the ants. Ponzu, a hunter with the ability to control bees—gesturing towards the hive-like nature of human society— uses them to send a warning to Kite, but dies in the process, sacrificing her individual life to aid the whole.[15] In WWZ, self-sacrifice blurs the biopolitical distinction evermore, as the above shot is followed by swathes of zombies plunging from the walls, their dead bodies cushioning the fall of those to come. This suicide-by-falling is an anaphoric reference to an earlier scene, in which, after swallowing infected blood, Gerry stands on the edge of a building and counts to twelve; the implication being that he would jump if he were to turn.[16] This scene underscores the fine line between human and inhuman, by mirroring both races’ behaviour and by showing the ease with which Gerry could designate himself enemy.
(Un)natural Selection
This motif of self-sacrifice is tied to a further aspect of Foucauldian biopolitics apparent in the texts. For Foucault, war is ‘not simply a matter of destroying a political adversary, but of… destroying that [sort] of biological threat… to our race.’[17] However, he explains that these ‘threats [are] either external or internal.’[18] The mechanism that allows the biopolitical body to eliminate internal threats is called ‘modern racism’[19] and Foucault summarises it thus:
The more inferior [individuals] die out, the more abnormal individuals are eliminated, the fewer degenerates there will be in the species as a whole, and the more I— as species rather than individual— can live, the stronger I will be, the more vigorous I will be.[20]
He explains that racism employs Darwinian ‘evolutionism’ in its ‘broadest sense’ as ‘the selection that eliminates the less fit,’ as ‘the precondition for exercising the right to kill’ members of one’s own species.[21] Moreover, this killing of the self is somehow also a rejection of death. In biopolitical thinking, ‘death [is] something permanent, something that slips into life, perpetually gnaws at it, diminishes it and weakens it,’[22] and so bringing about the death of inferior individuals is really a means of removing this notion of death from the population. In this sense, racism is a rejection of death and weakness.
This biopolitical rejection is clear in the behaviour of WWZ’s zombies, as Gerry notes that he has “witnessed them literally bypass people… Why?... because those people were sick… they were terminal.”[23] Forster’s zombies literalise Foucauldian selection, refusing to allow ‘degenerate’ individuals into their population, and yet this process is shown to be common to the humans also. Foucault writes that racist killing is not limited to ‘simply murder,’ but ‘political death, expulsion, rejection, and so on.’[24] In the film, those deemed “essential” are housed on a warship, safe from the zombie threat. Due to Gerry’s essential role in the biopolitical battle, his family are given refuge on the boat, but following his apparent death, they are deemed “non-essential” and subjected to “immediate relocation.”[25] Like the zombies, the humans adhere to biopolitical logic, expelling non-essential individuals from the body. Forster depicts this metaphorically when Gerry severs the arm of a soldier which has been bitten.[26] The image of the body politick is evoked again, as Gerry makes the biopolitical decision to designate the arm as an interior enemy then violently removes it.
In Chimera, non-human racism is manifest in the King’s plans to undertake a mass “selection” of humans to join his army, in which only those “with the physical and mental strength to serve as soldiers,” would survive.[27] Moreover, later in the arc, the King elects to test his mental strength by challenging world champion board game players. He remorselessly slaughters those that he defeats, indicating a zombie-like refusal to value those weaker than himself.[28] However, the champion of a game called “Gungi” repeatedly defeats him, leading him offer her a wager to test her resolve. The champion, named Komugi, asserts that the wager is meaningless; the game is her livelihood and so she gambles her life with every game. Recognising his own weak resolve by comparison, he rips off his own arm in an act equivalent to Gerry’s amputation.[29] Again, the mutilated body becomes a metaphor for wider biopolitical selection:
Additionally, the hunters demonstrate the capacity for selection. In the episode ‘The Strong X and X The Weak’, Gon and Killua are left behind by the Hunters entering ant territory, with Gon lamenting: “I never knew how frustrating weakness could be.” The title of the episode tells all: like Gerry’s family, the boys are deemed weak and non-essential to a strong body. The resentment of weakness is most evident in the strongest hunter, Chairman Netero, an aged man whose power eclipses that of his peers. Foucault writes that one form of weakness which biopolitics seeks to eradicate is ‘the problem… of old age,’[32] and Netero epitomises this problem. After seeing a powerful King’s guard called Neferpitou, Netero declares that the ant is stronger than himself. He insists that he is at “less than half [his] former strength,” and that “growing old is no fun,” reflecting a resentment of his growing incapacitation.[33]
As we have seen, biopolitics sees ‘death [as]… something that slips into life… and gnaws it,’ in the form of infection, old-age, and other weaknesses. Thus, as Foucault writes, biopolitics ‘literally ignores death.’[34] In Chimera, Kite is attacked by Neferpitou, who rips off his arm while Gon and Killua flee. Killua laments that he “let Kite die”, while Gon asserts that “Kite is alive!” Appreciating his optimism, Killua thinks: “Gon, you are light.”[35] However, the episode ends with a shot of Kite’s severed head resting between Neferpitou’s crossed legs, giving the earlier scene an intense dramatic irony.[36] Gon’s “light” is simply a biopolitical ignorance of death, and so his final promise to “get stronger” in order to save Kite foreshadows the second aspect of biopolitical evolutionism.[37]
Survival of the Fittest
This biopolitical process of unnatural selection, of eliminating the weak, is primarily a means of strengthening the population. As Foucault says: ‘The more inferior [individuals] die out the more… [the]… species… can live, the stronger [it] will be.’[38] In order to succeed in the biopolitical war between our body and their body, the power of our body must be maximized, firstly by the rejection of the weak, and secondly by the strengthening of the strong, ensuring that the fittest somehow survive—or live— more.
For the texts’ non-humans, the strengthening of the self is enacted through ‘immunization’.[39] According to Esposito, ‘immunitary protection’ seeks to defeat an Other, ‘not by expelling it outside the organism, but by making it somehow part of the body.’[40] Forster’s zombies bite humans, simultaneously weakening their enemy and strengthening their ranks. Like a cancer, the power of the zombie horde lies in its ability to multiply exponentially by subsuming the other into the self. The horde moves in unfathomable numbers, flowing like water, irresistible as the ocean’s current:
Similarly, the ants consume the human other, but their capacity to improve is noticeably biopolitical. They reproduce through a process called “phagogenesis” Ancient Greek for ‘creation by consumption’. Kite explains that:
When a Chimera Ant queen eats other organisms she is able to pass traits on from those organisms to the next generation, and she can also eat multiple species to pass on a mix of genes to her offspring.[42]
In this sense, the ants perpetual evolve, maximizing life with every new generation. As the King states: “The Chimera Ants’ long evolution has culminated in [him],’ and he is thus “the pinnacle of individual strength.” Embodying the “total support of [his] species,” the King represents the biopolitical dream of a body politick united and without weakness.[43]
The King declares this while standing over the withered Netero, having effortlessly bested the world’s strongest hunter in battle:
This shot, more than any in the arc, reminds us of the inherent frailty of the human body. The dream of natural perfection is a fantasy. In the King’s words, his existence is a “feat the human race… cannot match.”[45]
In his essay Civilisation and its Discontents, Freud recognises man’s biological limitations, but equally elaborates that ‘with every tool [man is] perfecting his own organs… or is removing the limits to their functioning.’[46] Our bodies are flawed; we cannot improve them through the ingestion of others and so man has evolved through unnatural means, becoming ‘a kind of prosthetic God.’[47] In WWZ, a sprawling horde of Zombies is drawn to a stadium, before a gunship obliterates it with a single strike. Next, soldiers pour gasoline on a tower of zombies and setting them alight in a shot that calls back to the earlier wall-scaling episode:
In a kind of Promethean ascension to techno-evolutionary godhead, humanity has “found a way to push back” against the exponential growth of the horde, which previously overcame them.[49]
Equally, Chimera’s humans continuously enhance themselves through unnatural means. Hunter x Hunter is a ‘shounen’ anime, a genre which— according to anime blogger ZEROREQ011— is ‘centred around the theme of self-improvement.’[50] The arc subverts the trope of shounen anime by presenting this power-crawl— typically an inspiring triumph over human limitation— as a potentially appalling culmination of biopolitical thinking. The show’s power system allows individuals to make a pact in order to gain more power. When Gon faces Neferpitou in battle, he recognises his natural inferiority to the ants, resorting to one of these unnatural pacts. “I don’t care if this is the end, so I’ll use everything. I’ll kill you,” he says, transformed into a terrifying, hellish brute:
Gon before and after his transformation.[51]
Dismayed, Neferpitou declares that “his power is now equal to that of the King,” before Gon brutally beats the ant to death.[52] Here, Gon perfects his body, making the biopolitical sacrifice of his life in order to maximize his power and defeat an apparently insurmountable external enemy. Gon’s transformation takes place in an episode titled ‘Anger X And X Light’, the latter word recalling Killua’s words regarding Gon’s optimistic rejection of Kite’s death (“You are light”), and so we see that this monstrous transformation is the horrifying culmination of biopolitical disavowal of death and weakness. Indeed, it is the very sight of Kite’s mutilated corpse that stimulates Gon’s rage.[53] Returning to Netero, in response to the King’s dismissal, he remarks: “You know nothing of humanity’s infinite potential for evolution,” as a skull fills the screen:
Netero’s last moments.[54]
Gon’s rage.[55]
Netero pierces his own chest, triggering the explosion of the “poor man’s rose”— a cheaply manufactured bomb whose effects are reminiscent of a nuclear warhead. The skull framing Netero is reminiscent of Gon’s transformed face, suggesting an equivalence between the two as self-sacrificing pinnacles of unnatural biopolitical evolution; prosthetic Gods who, like zombies or Chimera ants, have attained bodies without limits. They are inhuman.
Humanity
Humans are a physically weak species, wholly susceptible to eradication by a stronger Other, but a species capable of surmounting these imperfections through unnatural means. Biopolitical thinking aims to account for this fact through a Darwinian destruction of weak individuals and perpetual evolution of the strong, though, as we have seen, when we adopt this manner of thinking, we edge ever closer to those powerful Others that threaten our existence. To be human is to reject biopolitics, to embrace our weakness, and to accept the reality of death.
In WWZ, Gerry’s “camouflage” theory epitomises mankind’s humanity. He recognises that the zombies reject the weak, asserting that “their weakness is our weakness,” and proposing that humans inject themselves with small doses of deadly bacterial infections in order to become invisible to their biopolitical enemy.[56] Esposito describes the process of immunization as prolonging life ‘but only by continuously giving it a taste of death.’[57] Therefore, Gerry’s solution can be seen as an immunity response, but here, unlike the zombies’ immunisation, human immunisation weakens the body of the population, inverting the biopolitical desire for bodily strength. The zombies are an ever expanding mass of flesh that literalizes the biopolitical body; the humans are something altogether different, they understand there is more to life than the preservation of ‘zoe’[58] and they triumph over the other using their weakness.
Conversely, in Chimera, we see humanity almost exclusively in the non-human. Like WWZ’s humans, the ants’ immunization eventually begins to weaken them, as they inherit ever more of humanities imperfections. Meruem remarks that “human individuality is so strong,” that when consumed, “it disrupts the ants’ command system.” [59] Here, the abstract noun ‘individuality’ suggests a deeply human aversion to a biopolitics which sees only a global mass to be strengthened. The ants’ corruption by humanity is most evident in their treatment of Komugi, the Gungi champion. As mentioned, in spite of her physical frailty and blindness, Komugi repeatedly bests the King in the game. After one game, the King asks Komugi her name, indicating a willingness to recognise individuality, and becomes flustered when he realises he does not know his own.[60] Neferpitou tells the King that the girl would be killed in the planned selection, to which he responds that “after meeting Komugi, [he has] learned that strength can manifest in different ways,” demonstrating a rejection of the biopolitical emphasis on bodily strength.[61] However, he briefly reverts to his previous mindset, declaring: “I am King”, reducing his identity solely to his status as embodiment of the ants’ body politick, and announcing: “her skill is in Gungi, I could turn her into no more than… meat with the barest touch,” with the noun ‘meat’ suggesting a subsumption of individual to biological mass once more. This aggressive outburst causes a bird to fly away, and soon we see that this bird has attacked Komugi, subtly implying that the kind of biopolitical thinking epitomised by the King’s words leads directly to the inhuman destruction of the weak.[62] On seeing the injured Komugi, the King kills the bird and holds the girl’s hand, remarking that “she’s such a fragile creature”, but reassuring her that she is an “important guest”, reflecting a final recognition of the importance of human weakness.[63] The King’s growing humanity culminates in the arc’s conclusion. After detonating the rose, Netero tells the King his name— Meruem— the ant having only agreed to fight the hunter on this condition. Entirely transformed from the pinnacle of biopolitical evolution into a deeply human individual, Meruem realises that the bomb has given him severe radiation poisoning and he has little time left to live.[64] His poisoning can be seen as metaphorical of his infection by human weakness, as it forces him to confront his mortality. The ant King elects to abandon the war and spend his final hours playing Gungi with Komugi.[65] Meruem finally tells Komugi his name, embracing his human identity, but warns her that his poisoning is contagious. Komugi refuses to leave, and the pair play together as they slowly succumb to sickness.[66] Here, the trope of biopolitical self-sacrifice is subverted, as Komugi’s choice is motivated not by a collective desire to strengthen the whole but by individual desire to comfort a weakened Other. Meruem repeatedly asks “Komugi, are you still here?”, a heart-breaking admission of his fear of death, essential to human existence.[67] In the end, he tells her that he is “a little tired,” and needs “to take a short nap.” He asks her: “Will you hold my hand?” before finally dying in her lap.
Meruem’s death.[68]
The agonizingly vulnerable last moments of the ants’ leader juxtapose the defiant brutality of the hunters’, irreparably blurring the political distinction between friend and enemy, human and non-human.
Conclusion
Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
J. Robert Oppenheimer[69]
World War Z is an American film. Hunter x Hunter is a Japanese anime. In the light of the latter’s evocation of nuclear warfare, little needs to be said regarding the history of these nations. The United States needs to believe that Truman was no Netero, and so the American film speaks to an intense desire within the population to have faith in humanity’s humanity. Nonetheless, when Oppenheimer uttered the above words, he recognised what Foucault only understood half a century later— that the rejection of death and human weakness in biopolitical warfare inevitably leads to becoming death itself. The anime, on the other hand, betrays this knowledge. Foucault labels ‘Nazism’ the ‘paroxysmal development’ of biopolitics.[70] We can hardly forget that the Japanese not only allied themselves with the Nazis but engaged in similar practises; held similar beliefs regarding their own superiority and the need to destroy inferior enemies. Conversely, we remember that the Japanese remain the only victims of civilian nuclear strikes in history. As both perpetrators and victims of destructive biopolitics, the Japanese public consciousness knows all too well how quickly humanity is discarded when we engage in this form of warfare. In the words of Chimera’s narrator: “We are no different from the ants. No, we are far worse.”[71]
References
[1] Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political, trans. by George Schwab, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007), p. 26.
[2] Schmitt, p. 27.
[3] The titles will be abbreviated thus from this point forward.
[4] World War Z, dir. by Marc Foster, (Paramount Pictures Studios, 2013), online film recording, Amazon Prime, <https://www.amazon.co.uk/World-War-Z-Brad-Pitt/dp/B00IKCMB9I/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NV5E9TBNR3N3&keywords=world+war+z&qid=1651406369&s=instant-video&sprefix=world+w%2Cinstant-video%2C215&sr=1-1>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[5] ‘Reunion X And X Understanding’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 21/04/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-76-reunion-x-and-x-understanding-622993>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[6] Michel Foucault, Society Must be Defended, trans. by David Macey, (London: Allen Lane, 2003). (pp. 242-243).
[7] Foucault, p. 245.
[8] World War Z.
[9] ‘Unease X And Sighting’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 28/04/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-77-unease-x-and-sighting-622995>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[10] World War Z.
[11] ‘The Strong X and X The Weak’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 04/08/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, < https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-91-the-strong-x-and-x-the-weak-642325>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[12] Foucault, p. 243.
[13] Bobduh, ‘Imperfect Beings: Hunter x Hunter and the Chimera Ant’, Wrong Every Time, <https://wrongeverytime.com/2014/08/04/imperfect-beings-hunter-x-hunter-and-the-chimera-ant/>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[14] ‘The Strong X and X The Weak’.
[15] ‘Evil X and X Terrible’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 11/08/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-80-evil-x-and-x-terrible-623003>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[16] World War Z.
[17] Foucault, p. 257.
[18] Foucault, p. 256.
[19] Foucault, p. 258.
[20] Foucault, p. 255.
[21] Foucault, p. 256.
[22] Foucault, p. 244.
[23] World War Z.
[24] Foucault, p. 256.
[25] World War Z.
[26] World War Z.
[27] ‘Gungi X Of X Komugi’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 11/12/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-108-gungi-x-of-x-komugi-646059>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[28] ‘Power X And X Games’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 30/10/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-102-power-x-and-x-games-646047>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[29] ‘Resolve X And Awakening’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 20/11/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-105-resolve-x-and-awakening-646053>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[30] ‘Resolve X And Awakening’.
[31] World War Z.
[32] Foucault, p. 244.
[33] ‘Promise X and X Reunion’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 30/06/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-86-promise-x-and-x-reunion-623015>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[34] Foucault, p. 248.
[35] ‘Light X And X Dark’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 23/06/2013, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-85-light-x-and-x-dark-623013>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[36] ‘Light X And X Dark’.
[37] ‘Light X And X Dark’.
[38] Foucault, p. 255.
[39] Roberto Esposito, Immunitas: The Protection and Negation of Life, trans. by Zakiya Hanafi, (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011), p. 1.
[40] Esposito, p. 8.
[41] World War Z.
[42] ‘Unease X And X Sighting’.
[43] ‘Zero x And x Rose’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 23/04/2014, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-126-zero-x-and-x-rose-646097>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[44] ‘Zero x And x Rose’.
[45] ‘Zero x And x Rose’.
[46] Sigmund Freud, ‘Civilisation and its Discontents’, in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. XXI, trans. by James Strachey (London: Hogarth Press, 1910), pp. 64-148. (p. 90).
[47] Freud, pp. 91-92.
[48] World War Z.
[49] World War Z.
[50] ZEROREQ011, ‘Hunter x Hunter: Evolution and Roses’, Therefore It Is, <https://thereforeitis.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/hunter-x-hunter-evolution-and-roses/>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[51] ‘Anger X And X Light’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 28/05/2014, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-131-anger-x-and-x-light-654005>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[52] ‘Anger X And X Light’.
[53] ‘Anger X And X Light’.
[54] ‘Zero x And x Rose’.
[55] ‘Anger X And X Light’.
[56] Esposito, p. 9.
[57] Esposito, p. 9.
[58] Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. by Daniel Heller-Roazen, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), p. 1. [‘the simple fact of living’].
[59] ‘Zero x And x Rose’.
[60] ‘Gungi x Of Komugi’.
[61] ‘Gungi x Of Komugi’.
[62] ‘Gungi x Of Komugi’.
[63] ‘Gungi x Of Komugi’.
[64] ‘This Person x And x This Moment’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 25/06/2014, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-135-this-person-x-and-x-this-moment-654013>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
[65] ‘This Person x And x This Moment’.
[66] ‘This Person x And x This Moment’.
[67] ‘This Person x And x This Moment’.
[68] ‘This Person x And x This Moment’.
[69] Quoted in James Temperton, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’. The story of Oppenheimer's infamous quote’, Wired, <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/manhattan-project-robert-oppenheimer#:~:text=The%20story%20of%20Oppenheimer's%20infamous%20quote,-The%20line%2C%20from&text=As%20he%20witnessed%20the%20first,%2C%20the%20destroyer%20of%20worlds%E2%80%9D.>, [accessed 28/04/2022].
[70] Foucault, p. 259.
[71] ‘The Word X Is X You’, Hunter x Hunter, NTV, 18/06/2014, online video recording, Crunchyroll, <https://www.crunchyroll.com/en-gb/hunter-x-hunter/episode-134-the-word-x-is-x-you-654011>, [accessed 03/05/2022].
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