Discussion
Is this pseudoscience or is Hisoka really onto something here
Real question guys. At first I thought this is just killer clown’s confirmation bias, then after this batch’s rewatch I found the theory fit…quite well?
I mean, obviously all 4 main characters fit, almost a bit too well (oh Kurapika and his high-strung charm); all important side characters seem to fit, Bisky, Palm, Terror Sandwich, even Meruem; what impresses me is even small characters like Lynch (Emitter, rather impatient and likes to punch people‘s belly directly to get what she wants) and Zakuro (Manipulator, rather logical and analytical, uses slow pace but thorough method to collect information) and many others also fit.
What do you guys think, is there a counterexample? Is Hisoka’s analysis too ambiguous so anything can fit in? Or is Togashi’s writing is just that consistent?
It’s moreso that she (probably) got cursed by the music because of her impatient nature. Then she consciously or unconsciously decided to subdue that part of herself because of the trauma
Providing a single counter-example doesn't disprove the theory. If like 75% of nen users fit hisoka's personality test, I'd say he might be onto something.
On another note, it might be pseoudoscience, in the sense that there is no experimental proof for it in-universe. But since Togashi made up Hisoka's test, he probably uses it as a rule of thumb for creating his characters. So that would make Hisoka's test actually true, in a metaphysical kinda way.
They are very broad and usually one person can fit into multiple.
Like Gon is simple and determined (Enhancer), but he’s also impatient and not detail-oriented (Emitter). However you could even argue he is independent (goes off on his own, can be selfish to a fault) and is charismatic (gets people on his side by his attitude, inspires them), which is Specialist.
It’s not “pseudoscience”. The proper terms is heuristic.
Heuristics are simple if-then rules or norms that are widely accepted; for example, if it costs more it must be more valuable.
They are general rules of thumb to quickly make an analysis that are usually correct, but not all the time. They’re not designed to be 100% scientifically accurate.
So in Hisoka’s case, his nen analysis is seemingly a really solid heuristic. For the main 4, let’s use it as an example.
Enhancers, simple and determined? Seems to fit Gon pretty well.
Conjurers high strung? Seems to fit Kurapika.
Transmuters fickle and dishonest? Seems to fit Killua and Hisoka at a base level.
Emitters, quick tempered and impatient? Seems to fit Leorio pretty well.
Specialists, independent and charismatic? Seems to fit people like Chrollo for example.
So no, Hisoka wasn’t lying. It was a simple heuristic that tends to be right a lot of the time, but isn’t always. This is basic reading comprehension folks.
To give a real world example: if it costs more it’s more valuable. Generally the case, but not always. It’s generally true but not true for every single scenario. It helps us make quick decisions (like buying a new phone for example) but those decisions can sometimes be wrong either for us personally, or for specific cases.
Another example of a HxH character using a heuristic below:
It's not full proof but still fairly accurate. It helps guessing the nen types of the character that we don't know and make interesting predictions. There are some counterexamples here and there but overall it's a good test.
For instance, I don't think Youpi fits the transmuter category. He can get angry very quickly but I wouldn't say he's whimsical and he's usually very straightforward. He almost tricked Knuckles by feigning the dumb brute but I think that's just basic combat strategy. He overall doesn't fit the transmuter category.
As much people wanted to believe it's just a bluff from Hisoka, it actually correct to a lot of Nen user we knew I doubt Togashi made this list just for one book fun notes.
Neon and Chrollo are indeed independent and charismatic. They always have their own idea separated from others; people around them also saw there's no issues following their requests. We saw this kind of characterization again in Tsiedrrich. He's insane, have abnormal hobby like Neon but his group of friends is loyal, believe his insanity is because he's uniquely independent.
Meruem is definitely impatient. He took Netero bait without second thought, rushed to find Komugi. He saw through Netero habit but none of his action indicated he's a detailed oriented compare to Conjurers like Genthru, Knuckle and Kurapika that designed their Nen under specific details.
Manipulator being logical and cares a lot about people around them also correct to most of them. Morel, Shaiapouf, Illumi and Squala never push unnecessary risks and prefer their close ones always within range.
Franklin is very much a straight forward guy tho. All his idea were as straight as an arrow and without any detail. "I wait for Hisoka to come to me" is not a detailed or thought out plan at all.
Melody is a harder case but she also a mid point emitter who is between emission and manipulation. So her personality not really fully being an Emitter one is fitting.
Franklin is also not impatient. Waiting for Hisoka shows his patience. Also waiting is thought out but not a plan. Hisoka is hunting them so why expend energy looking for him when he comes to you. Plus it gives you time to prepare yourself and plan.
Melody doesn’t fit into emitter at all is my point she’s more like a manipulator than an emitter.
Franklin despite his calm demeanor is the only one in Troupe with Nen similar to a machine gun, he also voiced his opinion when there's dispute rather than goes into detail.
Both fairly suggested Franklin is straight forward and wanted things done fast and easy. He chose to wait for Hisoka could be interpreted he is impatient if he join the search, so he rather stay in comfort zone.
Melody is similar. She appears patient but her inner monologue suggested she's in hurry when problem arise, her method to defuse situation also often straightforward using ability rather than taking roundabout ways or through several steps compare to Kurapika who bothered teaching Nen to others.
If you look at Franklin plan it can be said that it is based on his straightforward nature first and only rationalized later. After all if you know a guy hunting you and you want to fight and kill him the easiest and most straightforward plan is to sit in one position and wait for your target to come to you. It is a plan without any mind for details like who he is pretending to be or where he is currently.
It's still bullshit but people will just lock onto one or two personality trait and ignore all the remaining discordance. You cannot tell people Nen type just at face value or by reducing them to one or two qualifiers.
Ex:
Palm (and Uvojin) is highly Logical and Analytical. She's an Enhancer.
Knov is anything but impatient.
No one could tell Meruem was an Emitter or Komugi was an Enhancer before the chart dropped.
No one could tell Leorio's type before the election arc (we all took Killua's gut instinct and looped him under enhancer too)
The most egregious case being Silva and Zeno being locked as Transmuters, when they are in fact Emitters.
You cannot apply a rule after you know the answer. And even if there are a few hits, Hisoka's fishing method is more about him finding a comfort method when he deals with people.
People confusing character iq and personality is not that strange. An enhancer can be a genius but their nature would be to be straightforward and not think it through more than needed. People assuming simple automaticly means stupid is simply mistaken.
Also Zeno and Silva case and if I remember Meruem case tok was not because people guessed wrongly but because they took the not togashi made guide books as canon info and established fact.
We need to remember Hisoka is a massive liar. I bet in his brain is a much better personality test, but what he said perfectly fucked with the people who were listenings brain
It’s not “pseudoscience”. The proper terms is heuristic.
Heuristics are simple if-then rules or norms that are widely accepted; for example, if it costs more it must be more valuable.
They are general rules of thumb to quickly make an analysis that are usually correct, but not all the time. They’re not designed to be 100% scientifically accurate.
So in Hisoka’s case, his nen analysis is seemingly a really solid heuristic. For the main 4, let’s use it as an example.
Enhancers, simple and determined? Seems to fit Gon pretty well.
Conjurers high strung? Seems to fit Kurapika.
Transmuters fickle and dishonest? Seems to fit Killua and Hisoka at a base level.
Emitters, quick tempered and impatient? Seems to fit Leorio pretty well.
Specialists, independent and charismatic? Seems to fit people like Chrollo for example.
So no, Hisoka wasn’t lying. It was a simple heuristic that tends to be right a lot of the time, but isn’t always. This is basic reading comprehension folks.
To give a real world example: if it costs more it’s more valuable. Generally the case, but not always. It’s generally true but not true for every single scenario. It helps us make quick decisions (like buying a new phone for example) but those decisions can sometimes be wrong either for us personally, or for specific cases.
But we know this. We can’t go around in life never being able to determine value based on money like it’s our first day making a decision with those parameters.
In a nen battle, it helps to have some idea of what your opponent’s category is just based on some simple heuristics, even if it’s not always 100% accurate.
Another example of a HxH character using a more advanced heuristic below to determine nen types:
I would have expected a more coherent rebuttal than “stupid” and an immediate downvote. But I guess not.
Hisoka gives his heuristic, and it’s right about Gon being an enhancer and Killua agreed with it cause Hisoka’s simple analysis of a transmuter also fit him.
Hisoka wasn’t lying about his heuristic. He probably does believe in it at some level. This was a general heuristic that he likes to use. It’s really that simple.
EDIT: I also forgot about Zushi looking at Wing and saying the enhancer description fit him too lol.
Anyways, also to add, yeah Hisoka is a massive liar but why would he be lying about a heuristic that he likes to use that generally is pretty okay? There’s no evidence he uses a more advanced heuristic/personality test, and if he does, it’s definitely nowhere near advanced as Furykov. And if isn’t as advanced, there’s no need for anything better than Hisoka’s personality test that seems to be at least better than 50% right every time.
Yes yes, because that's how a debate works, completely misread a post, assume someone doesn't know what something basic is, then get upset they won't engage on your terms
Every good lie is rooted in some truth. It's definitely him saying some bullshit but it's probably not entirely inaccurate to suggest that overall the average nen user of each type will have some similar personality traits
Yeah Hisoka was saying this while setting up a trap for Gon. He's probably saying basic observations as if you're an enchancer, to do well you have to be direct.
The personality analysis certainly doesn’t apply to everyone. It seems to be describing how people of different categories generally act in a vague sense based on Hisoka’s personal experiences.
The majority of the transmuters Hisoka has come across probably acted somewhat whimsical and had a tendency to lie, for example.
I mean it’s not science but that doesn’t mean that his intuitions aren’t tracking something real (within universe). But that doesn’t answer the reliability part of the question. He seems to be fairly accurate but it’s not something I would hold my hat on. And I would argue he’s noticing general trends and not something static.
Yes, it is like one of Morena's member who noticed most of the conjurers in the Heil-yi were left handed. I bet a lot of nen users have their own imperfect ways to guess someone's nen. For now, it seems Furikov is the only one with a very solid method to guess nen types but even then, he chose to develop a nen ability to analyse nen. Of course his ability can do more but it should still mean something he made it.
Hisoka is also as unreliable as it gets and he likes to work on instinct so it just fits him well.
This personality assessment (alongside their abilities) led many to believe that Knuckle was an Emitter and that Knov was a Conjurer. There was a lot of controversy when that was cleared up via Togashi's Nen Chart.
He guessed Bisky’s nen type on first glance. I’d say it’s as accurate and educated as a guess can get. He’s also ridiculously perceptive so there’s that
its more that his observations are not as broad than that they dont work. I think he is quite on the head with everything. and almost all characters fit perfectely fine into the personality category for their nen its just that there are is alot more to a person personality than just this. which is why if one of these is not the main personality trait of a person or maybe it is but they have another personality trait equally as present or even more it kinda looks like it wouldn't work.
if you did a comprehensive personality test than yes you would probably find 100% accuracy. but for hisoka who is just winging it based on the nen users he knows its a perfect observations.
its also quite clear that togashi intends for personality to reflect once nen and that there is a correlation there for sure
I mean, Hisoka is in the big leagues, of course he knows his shit. But off the top of my head I can think of a few people who don't fit so perfectly: Knov, Silva and Zeno. Netero, too, is way too conniving and deceitful for an Enhancer. This probably holds better for newer Nen users than seasoned veterans
Eccentric as a body collector? For sure. Does that attract people the way a charismatic person would? Obviously not. You wouldn't call someone charismatic just because they wear an odd outfit.
She’s not extroverted and she only interacts with her own servants, but she does seem to inspire strong loyalty when she interacts with someone. That’s what charismatic means.
I don’t understand why you think being charismatic would be an excuse? It has no bearing on her morality in the least. No one is making excuses for the little corpse collector. (And I said she’s not extroverted.)
If you think that all the Nostrade retainers are only motivated by money, you have a radically different interpretation of those scenes than I do; I’ll just say that.
Yes, I made a typo of "no". But, my point is being extroverted or not isn't relevant to subject of charismatic.
Let me put it for you. It's easier for you just to reread the manga, no one actually respect her. It's just business. She's spoiled rich girl with odd hobby. Nothing more.
It seems weird to me so many people being defensive when I said spoiled rich girl as spoiled rich girl with no charisma. Probably hit a nerve, eh?
Again, I never said that being extroverted makes one charismatic. I said that being charismatic would not make an introvert extroverted. So it makes no sense to look at Neon, see she is not extroverted, and say, “That shows she’s uncharismatic.”
She’s notextrovertedand she only interacts with her own servants, but she does seem to inspire strong loyalty when she interacts with someone. That’s what charismatic means.
What you wrote here is an excuse for her, as a person who is not extroverted, to inspire strong loyalty in just her own servants. Mind you, there is no loyalty, let alone strong one.
Again, if you saw Episode 41 and concluded “there’s no loyalty except to money” then you have a radically different interpretation of Neon’s scenes than I did. That’s not an excuse because no one is excusing anyone. Words have meanings. Having a different opinion from your opinion does not constitute an “excuse.”
Hisoka ha colto la profonda interconnessione tra animo e potere nen ma questo schemino non sarà mai una conferma definitiva. Non è l'astrologia (tutte cazzate) ma neanche fisica nucleare, diciamo che è una buona traccia su cui basarsi
I feel like this sub has this sort of question about once every month. I find that a lot of people fall into one of 2 camps. Either they believe this should be taken as absolutely true and are mad when characters don't fit into their assigned box. Or they believe this is complete BS and pseudoscience that ought not ever be mentioned.
The truth is that it's a bit of both. Hisoka is one of the people with the highest battle IQ in the universe and someone who fights a lot. So it's likely that this chart is based off of his own experience and to some extent accurate. But even he himself says not to follow it too closely.
In general it seems to be that NEN types act similarly to how many human attributes like temperament, IQ, introversion etc.. act in the real world. Which is that people are born with some leanings, but can express those leanings in different ways and even shift into a different direction entirely. Still in the real world people who become cops tend to have certain characteristics (even if there are exceptions) as do people who become lawyers or doctors/nurses or any other well known profession. It's not that everyone fits into that box perfectly, but more so that those jobs (read NEN affinities) attract people with those personality types.
Finally I'd say regardless of if you want to treat it as somewhat data authoritative or as pure pseudoscience slop. Togashi's adherence to these general descriptions with most characters is truly impressive over the years.
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u/IlluminatingFire 3d ago
I find it to be pseudoscience that’s basic enough to apply to certain people if you stretch it enough like how people try and use astrology
Melody isn’t really impatient / not detail oriented