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Hunter X Hunter is full of inspiring characters with goals that will make your heart pound with determination. Then, of course, villainous hooligans with their own web of madness test these hunters.
Leorio Paradinight might not have the same spotlight his peers share in the anime. That is primarily because Leorio is an upstanding young Hunter. He is confident that his dreams of becoming a doctor are far more critical than anything else a Hunter’s license could bring him.
First of all, what is Hunter X Hunter? HxH is a Shonen series with a heavy focus on adventure, fantasy, and combat. The series was written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi for Shonen Jump. It started publication in March 1998 and is still going, With the occasional hiatus for the Mangaka’s health.
It was first animated by Nippon Animation, with this series known as Hunter x Hunter (1999) airing from October 1999 to March 2001. The 1999 anime covers the story from the Hunter Exams to Greed Island. As more story arcs came and went in the manga series, Mad House and Nippon Animation decided to come together and release a new series catching us up to the Manga.
This anime is known as Hunter X Hunter (2011) and aired from October 2011 to September 2014. The animation has changed to be brighter, so some might dislike this change. However, unlike the first series, the 2011 anime starts from the Hunter Exams and leads us through Greed island, the intense Chimera Ant Arc, and Leorio’s finest moments in the 13th Hunter Chairman Election arc.
I will excitedly explain my favorite Hunter, Zodiac Member, and Doctor-in-training in this character guide. Leorio has been incredibly busy. He may not have been on a grand search to find his father. Many not be seeking revenge against the brutal genocide of his clan. Nor proving himself beyond his family name. But, we still have a lot to cover. So hold onto your briefcases.
Leorio Paradinight, the Boar of Medicine
Japanese VAs: Nobutoshi Canna (Pilot OVA), Hozumi Goda (1999), Keiji Fujiwara (2011)
English VAs: Jonathan Love (1999), Matthew Mercer (2011)
Leorio is one of the four main protagonists in Hunter x Hunter and appears as soon as Gon leaves for the hunter exams. Leorio likes to put on a selfish, even narcissistic front, but his goals are entirely altruistic in reality.
While he acts like he only cares about money, he only wishes to obtain the endless resources of a Hunter’s License to further his education. Once he becomes a doctor, he plans to make medicine accessible to even the most desolate soul.
That doesn’t leave him without his faults. Leorio is probably the most hard-headed of the bunch, though thankfully, he always seems to think his impulses through. Even if they are still impulsive acts, there is a reason behind them. Above all, if Leorio cares for or respects you as an individual, he will fight for you whether you want him to or not.
Sure, his loud mouth might make things worse, but the heart counts. This is something the characters of HxH often agree with on him. Due primarily to Leorio’s impulsive nature and outspoken beliefs, he became the favorite in the 13th chairman elections.
While he didn’t end up the Chairman, in the end, Leorio impressed the Zodiac enough that he soon found himself a member under the codename “Boar.”
Appearance
Leorio might look like he is nearing his thirties, thanks to his muscular build. Also, being taller than most other Hunter x Hunter by a foot or more. However, he is only 19 when he debuts in the series. While that puts him as the oldest of the four main protagonists, he isn’t even old enough to drink until we see him again in the chairman arc. Don’t worry; even characters like Killua mistake Leorio for an old man.
Befitting Sir Paradinight’s upstanding goals and aspirations, Leorio is an incredibly snazzy dresser. Leorio understands a doctor must earn the defining piece of their outfit. So while Leorio hasn’t received his medically certified white coat yet, he continues to dress so that that coat will have a good home.
Where the other four members often change outfits in varying ways during the different arcs, Leorio understands not to mess with perfection. Minus a few times where he has lost his shirt in the heat of battle, Leorio is almost always seen in his stylish dark blue business suit with black formal shoes.
He does, however, change the shirt and tie he wears under this suit. Sometimes it is a sensible white shirt with a turquoise tie. Other times, it is the far more stylish baby blue shirt with white pinstripes and a matching white tie.
Facially, Leorio prefers a short yet stylishly spiky hairstyle topped off with rimless tea-shade glasses with a gold frame. In addition, he usually is seen carrying a black briefcase with a repeating pattern of red diamonds on it in the 2011 anime and green with a minimalist design using purple triangles and a diamond.
Personality
Leorio has a complex set of morals. In the span of our first meeting with him in the 1999 episode, he goes from angrily defending Gon against a con artist he clearly finds dishonorable. However, just moments later, he is seen happy to steal fish from a merchant the moment that merchant needs to chase down an unrelated thief.
Given how Leorio acts in the future, there could be plenty of arguments that he did this in an attempt to shake Gon by showing himself as a hooligan. Leorio is seen to steal from a safe, but supposedly only after he has staked them out to be terrible people.
As in the same scene, he steals from a safe, he immediately grabs the keys to free Gon and seems aware enough to bring the rest to give to Gon to let him free the rest of the animals.
Leorio feels he needs to act tough, but in reality, trauma and a need to keep strong have hardened him into being bold. At its core, his reasons for becoming a Hunter show him to be one of the most selfless characters in the show. Thanks to the loss of a friend in the past, Leorio is now determined to gain a Hunter’s License to attain the unlimited funding this affords him.
While he will tell everyone he is in it purely for the money and material possession, Leorio has always planned to use it to allow him to pay for all of his patients’ medical costs as a Pro-bono practitioner.
Abilities
Physical Merits
Even before he learned to use Nen, Leorio showed repeated superhuman capabilities signs. So besides the robust constitution and balance, he needed to treat the preliminary Hunter exam’s Boat test like a pleasant stroll. Still, he has shown to be strong enough to paddle a boat across half of a large lake in seconds due to the fear of seeing a lake monster.
Lerio has been shown to take a lot of damage and bounce back to his feet.
Street Smarts
It is never explicitly stated why Leorio has a good eye for cons. Still, he likely seems to have a strong eye for business. He has been excellent at haggling, running street competitions, handling bets, and building plans based on the spending habits of a city. His knowledge of cons likely comes from his views on medicine, wanting to buy out the entire con if he could.
Medical Prowess
While Leorio’s medical capabilities grow stronger as the show goes on, he is shown to have a high understanding of medicine early on. He has handled multiple first aid situations throughout the show.
Leorio has even name-dropped medicinal herbs he is looking for when it comes to more nuanced problems. It should be noted that he could not tell the difference between real wounds and shapeshifted wounds in the early series.
Switchblade
Leorio is a more practical fighter. While he never actually had an excuse to use it in a fight, Leorio is often seen brandishing the Switchblade in signs of trouble. Leorio later uses it to deliver a message to the Phantom Troupe. It is either thrown away or kept by them.
Nen
Nen Type: Emission
Leorio is the weakest protagonist when it comes to Nen. Where Kurapika, Killua, and Gon were all training their Nen abilities, Leorio was primarily focused on pursuing his dreams of becoming a Doctor. Since learning nen, he has still managed to pick up a few tricks, such as heightened perception and the ability to close off his aura with Ten. However, he continues to be multiple paces behind his peers at Nen.
This has not stopped him from becoming one of the most well-regarded Hunters. By the 13th Chairman Arc, he even seems to hold a higher reputation than the other three protagonists, very nearly winning the role of 13th chairman and landing himself a seat on the Zodiac. However, Nen isn’t everything in the HxH universe.
Remote Punch
Leorio punches the nearest surface, creating a portal. A line of nen is drawn from this portal to where Leorio wishes to send his punch. His arm is physically sent through this portal, leaving it momentarily vulnerable to attack.
However, the punch itself is enhanced through Nen and is strong enough to send Ging, known as one of the best hunters around, flying into the air and onto the ground.
Background
Early History
We learn Leorio’s backstory in the 1999 anime when Tonpa leads him into a trap that leads him to hallucinate. There we learn that the source of Leorio’s desire to become a doctor is rooted in the loss of his close friend, Pietro.
Leorio is racked with guilt over his inability to learn medicine in time to care for his friend. As a result, he is stuck in a loop of blaming himself for not studying on time. Coupled with not having the money required, this created a barrier between him becoming a real doctor and Pietro getting the surgery he needed.
Before the Boat
When we first meet, Leorio depends on our source. In the Manga and 2011 anime, Leorio is first seen reading a (Supposedly risque from his expression) manga on the boat to the hunter exams.
The 1999 anime is different. We instead run into Leorio as Gon is heading for the ship. A crowd is gathered around an arm wrestling competition. If you can beat the man claiming to be a hunter, you win the prize money. Leorio attempts to take the Hunter on, but a stomach as empty as his wallet leaves him so thoroughly defeated he is flung to the dirt.
Witnessing this, a friendly Gon gives Leorio an apple. Gon follows Leorio hoping to find where the ship to the Exams is, only to be marked by a con artist who overheard. Leorio contemplates leaving Gon behind, but his conscious wins over accusing the man of taking Gon in hopes of receiving a ransom or selling him.
After a brief confrontation which Leorio efficiently settles, he quickly tries to lose Gon through alleyways and parkouring over a wall. He finally shakes Gon briefly by loudly stealing an armful of fish and running as Gon stares in disapproval. Kurapika is seen dining behind them, having witnessed this thieving incident, giving a reason for him to immediately disrespect Leorio.
In a fit of Karma, Leorio’s briefcase is then stolen. Gon helps retrieve it from the thief using his fishing rod, warming Leorio up to him, and he tells Gon where the ship will be and when it will take off for the Hunter Exams.
Leorio is then seen working for a Zoo owner, who hired the fake Hunter that beat Leorio in an arm-wrestling contest. While the pair are scheming, he watches the fake Hunter’s pay get placed in a safe while taking note of the code. After Gon is kidnapped and placed in a cage, he grabs the Hunter’s salary from the safe and the keys to the animal cages.
After letting Gon release all the animals, he gets Gon off the hook by using a portion of the money he stole to pay for the damages after exposing the Hunter as a fake.
These hijinx make Gon and Leorio late for the ship. However, thanks to Gon’s quick thinking, they can make it onto the boat in only a couple of years Leorio shaved off his life being flung from land to sea by a fishing rod.
The Preliminary Hunter Exams
Leorio is seen relaxing around the boat. He initially shows disinterest in the scuffles of the ship, only appearing to be focused on them once some knife play is put on display.
Later, Leorio expresses boredom and frustration at the stillness of the wind. This tips Gon off to seek out the other clues around him to the coming storm. Leorio does not initially believe the kid is capable of deducing all of this from his surroundings alone. Finally, he grows begrudgingly convinced as the Captain takes Gon seriously and immediately calls for the crew to prepare the ship.
We see this happen through Leorio’s perspective. We also see him completely tank a bucket to the face. It shatters on impact, and, while dazed, Leorio is simply bewildered and red-faced. From the wooden bucket as much as his irritation towards the event. This event impresses the ship captain much like Gon’s instincts do.
We learn later in the episode that the voyage to the Hunter Exams acts as one of the preliminary tests a hunter must take to make it to the Hunter Exams proper.
The Captain works as its instructor. Except for Leorio, Gon, and Kurapika, The rest of the crew, hoping to make it to Hunter status, flunk out thanks to the mixture of fear, nausea, and clumsiness, causing them to be able to go one due to extreme bouts of seasickness. Leorio is so unbothered by this that he takes the time to refresh with a crisp apple.
For whatever reason, Leorio is angry to be asked by the Captain of the ship his finely shined shoes are standing on for his name. Only after Gon and Kurapika introduce themselves, Leorio does remember manners befitting a soon-to-be doctor.
He continues to hold his ground on having to reveal his backstory. Finally, Kurapika agrees with him, though his tone of disapproval while calling him Rioleo shows Kurapika doesn’t enjoy Leorio’s attitude about it.
Their struggles escalate after Leorio finally gives and claims he only wishes to be a Hunter for the resources afforded a Hunter. This seemingly selfish reasoning angers Kurapika further, leading to the two deciding to settle their differences on the ship’s deck.
Before their battle can go beyond clashing swords, the storm sends a crewmember flying off into the sea. Without a second thought, Gon flings himself after the crewmember with the intent to save him. Leoprio and Kurapika both work together, abandoning their fight before it begins to keep the inspiring young boy from dying.
When Leorio pushes on his recklessness, Gon assures him he only did it because he knew either Leorio or Kurapika would grab him. Kurapika and Leorio respectfully make up at this moment. The Captain is impressed by this feat and decides Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio all pass the Preliminary exam and take them to the nearing testing place in Zaban City.
The Hunter Exams
Upon being dropped off, the group is directed up the mountain towards a giant cedar. This is special favor from the Captain as a farewell. Regardless of this advice, Leorio immediately complains that this is the opposite direction of their destination. He splits from the group and then chooses to take a Bus rather than follow.
This proves to be a poor mistake as Leorio finds himself stuck in a trap organized by the Hunters. After escaping being stuck in an endless bus loop, he followed Gon and Kurapika. Leorio panics, seeing a Rhino threatening Gon, and he smacks it with his briefcase. This fails to do anything but anger him, so he runs off with the rhino in pursuit until Gon shoos it away.
They then make it to a town that acts as another Preliminary examination. This quiz requires answering a single question, “Your son and your true daughter are abducted by kidnappers, but you can only save one. Which will you save?” While Gon and Kurapika understand, Leorio spends the allotted 5 seconds pondering and annoyed.
The ironic part is that Kurapika figured it out thanks to Leorio’s anger. There was no correct answer besides refusing to answer in the allotted time. Leorio still passed, even if he didn’t fully understand until Kurapika Further Explained.
Finally reaching the Cedar Tree, they find the couple they were tasked to meet, only to find that the man is wounded on the floor and the wife is held Captive. While Gon and Kurapika chase after it, Leorio is left behind to care for her husband. It turns out, like everything in this arc, this was another test. Not that Leorio didn’t help, regardless.
Thanks to the needle mark from his syringe and the faint impression it left in both the shapeshifter’s true and shifted from that told Leorio they were the same entity. All three passed, with Leorio hailed for his confidence and medical abilities. They are then flown to the actual exams.
First Phase
The first phase is a bit of an endurance test. They have to keep up with their examiner, Satotz. While seeming simple enough, the examiner is soon walking at a speed that requires all the hunters’ to jog or run to keep up.
Five hours into this phase, Leorio finally starts to hit his wall, exhausted and ready to give up. Gon keeps Leorio from giving up under the exhaustion of the run. However, in the Manga, Leorio instead hypes himself up with a quick pep talk. However, Gon assists Leorio by using his fishing rod to retrieve his dropped briefcase in both cases.
In the 1999 anime, however, Tonpa, the rookie killer, instead leads Leorio back to recuperate using the sweet scent of the Healing Cedar tree. This turns out to be a trap instead of Tonpa’s soda trap in the 2011 anime and the Manga. Gona, Killua, and Kurapika save him in the end.
But, not before Leorio is forced to go through a heartwrenching flashback involving Pietro, where we learn firsthand why Leorio wanted to be a hunter: to pay his way through medical school.
His more altruistic goal is to make sure no one has to suffer without medicine but using the unlimited funding to give his patients pro-bono care. Killua confirms that the sap of the tree they are under forces the victim to hallucinate their worst memories until they go mad.
Eventually, Leorio makes it to the second part of the first phase. The marathon now takes place in a swamp, but the goal to keep up is still the same. Only now, there are dangers to deal with.
Hazards like Hisoka, another candidate who is looking to become a hunter. Hisoka decides to attack several other candidates purely because he is a bit of a Psychopath and the mists of the swamp give him cover for his killing spree. In this group are Leorio, Kurapika, and a hunter-candidate named Cherry. Everyone else is killed by Hisoka.
It being clear they stand no chance, the three of them split up. Leorio is a bit of a hard head. He has armed himself with a wooden stick since the other two have left, claiming he couldn’t live with himself to allow Hisoka to continue. He attempts to fight Hisoka, but he is immediately hit with a counterattack after being played with like a rat with a cat.
Despite Gon’s attempts to stop Hisoka, Leorio ends up unconscious. Hisoka decides Leorio is qualified and helpfully escorts him over his shoulder to the second phase while leaving Gon and Kurapika alive. Claiming they ‘passed.’
Second Phase
The next phase involves a cooking challenge. They have to make both chefs happy or fail. The first of the Gourmet Hunters wants an entire roasted pig. These pigs are hardly simple, as each one seems to be the size of a bus. Gon lets Leorio know to knock them out with a head strike. So, Leorio uses a vine to trip the boar before winging it on the head with his briefcase.
The second one involves Sushi, with a significant issue being that no one in the Hunter Exam actually knows what that is. Kurapika assists Leorio with pointers on Sushi, and Leorio ends up being the first to show off his dish. It, sadly, looks terrible. So he is also the first to fail. His dish was half alive.
However, soon she fails everyone to show a dish to her even after they all learn was Nagiri is. The previous examiner thankfully had a stayer to watch, expecting this, and retrieved the leader of the Hunter Association, 12th Chairman Isaac Netero.
The 12th Chairman intervenes, replacing this challenge with a challenge to collect eggs hung harrowingly over a cliff Leorio. The group manages to do without issue and moves on to the next phase.
Third Phase
The third phase is known as Trick Tower. The group has to form a team of Five and make it through a tower full of traps and tricks. While the main four are now together, they need a Fifth.
This, to the frustration of Leorio especially, ends up being Tonpa. While Tonpa continues to try and continue his hobby of ‘rookie killing,’ the group can make it through under majority rules. Soon they make it to a bottomless pit where the crew has to participate in a best of 5 against a team consisting of 5 criminals.
Leorio is the Fourth member of the group to participate. He steps in when Kurapika refuses to kill his target. However, Leorio is not convinced the man isn’t just pretending to be unconscious. So, picking up Kurapika’s opponent, he threatens to hold him over the edge until the ruse is broken and Majtani, Kurapika’s opponent, forfeits.
Leorio’s opponent is Leroute. Instead of a fight, she prefers to use bets. Even betting on her own teammate being alive. The pair wage a bet using the remaining 50 hours to finish the tower. If Leorio wins, the group will have more time to make it to the bottom. If he loses, they will have less time to manage.
While initially, Leorio is winning, his lecherous tendencies are what net the criminals the round. Using the last bet as an excuse to feel Leroute up, Leorio bets that she is a man. This resulting loss ends up in the team losing time. It is up to Killua to kill his prisoner to break the tie this caused.
The final challenge of Trick Tower leaves the group with an issue. With the remaining time, the path that all five enter would take too long for any of them to qualify.
However, the other available way will allow them to make it in time but only allow three party members to enter. Leorio and Tonpa start a fight over this, building tension between the two. Still, the resulting battle gives Gon the idea to destroy the wall between the two paths from the longer path, allowing them to clear the third phase.
Fourth Phase
The fourth phase involves a manhunt on an island. The remaining 24 hunter candidates were required to hunt down the badges of their fellow contestants.
Their main target is chosen by drawing lots in the order they won the previous phase. Six points were required to pass on to the final phase. Their badge and their target’s badge are worth three points each, while any other badges they receive will only be one point. They are given seven days to complete this phase.
Relative to Leorio, Tonpa drew his number, and Leorio drew Tonpa’s number. Tonpa and another candidate gang up on Leorio. Thankfully, Kurapika had pulled Tonpa’s number and was already stalking after him. After retrieving the two badges, Kurapika suggests they team up even if he is set on points.
On the sixth day, they find Gon, who helps them hunt down Leorio’s target using Gon’s sense of smell to find the candidate’s particular medicine. They find Ponzu in a dangerous pit of snakes. After Gon rescues them all, he takes Ponzu’s badge for Leorio while she is still sleeping from the gas they used to escape. With this and the badges, Killua and Gon collected for themselves, they all continue to the final phase.
Final Phase
We only see the beginning of the final phase while the critical info of what follows is covered in a flashback. The final phase is a tournament where the candidates fight each other. Each time a hunter wins, they will be removed from the roster and receive their license.
Gon is knocked out in his round. We discover that Killua was disqualified due to an incident while Gon was unconscious upon waking up. Due to this, we do not see Leorio’s match or know if he even was required to compete in one. However, we see him offering words of encouragement to his friends in the scenes we witness.
Afterward, Leorio works with Kurapika to try and have Killua’s incident looked into under suspicion of mind-control. This leads nowhere, but he decides to join Gon and Kurapika in saving Killua from his family.
The Zoldyck Family
Leorio primarily acts as moral support in this arc. It isn’t that he is useless; it is simply that Gon is the driving force in this arc. However, we do get confirmation that, besides Killua, Leorio is the physically strongest of the group at this stage.
The entrance to the Zoldyck estate requires entering through the ‘Testing Gate .’This is a series of gates inlaid on itself, with each added door adding weight to it.
The stronger you are, the more gates open. The first door is 4 tons, the second 8, continuing upwards with each becoming exponentially bigger. As they cannot go in without opening these gates, they accept the doorman’s offer to help train them by letting them stay in his house. A house where everything, including the teacups and bathroom door, is reinforced with weights.
After 20 days of this training, in the 2011 anime, all three work together to open only the first door. While in the Manga and 1999 anime, Kurapika and Gon work together to open the first door, while Leorio is shown opening the first and second doors by himself.
After facing the challenges between there and the Servent’s quarters and a perception test involving a coin that Gon passes, Killua is finally saved. As they leave, Leorio asks Kurapika what Hisoka whispered to him in the Final Phase of the Hunter exam. Kurapika tells them that in 6 months, Kurapika should meet Hisoka in Yorknew City. If he does, he will have information on the Phantom Troupe.
The four agree to go their separate ways to train and study, then meet up in Yorknew to assist their friend Kurapika.
Heavens Gate Arena
At the end of the Zoldyck Arc, the group separated, and our focus left Leorio. During this period, he is off pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor. As mentioned to Gon and Killua by Wing, he comes to learn Nen in his own way and passes the Secret Hunter exam. He didn’t, sadly, progress much compared to his cohorts.
By the time he heads for YorkNew City, he has only learned to use Ten of the four basic principles of Nen. This is likely due to his priority having always been to pursue medicine first and foremost. However, a sacrifice had to be made due to the limited properties of time. So, for the good of humanity, our boy Leorio chose medicine.
York New City & Greed Island
Leorio meers Gon and Killua at the agreed-upon date, helping the pair haggle over cellphones. We learn he has learned Nen but has not progressed beyond controlling his aura with Ten. Leorio is the one who comes up with the plan to run an arm-wrestling competition, much like the one he runs across in the 1999 anime, to help them earn money.
Leorio shows several talents when it comes to creating a con, showing his understanding of business as much as psychology. He assures the pair that the first day is only to lure bigger wallets in.
As he predicted, the Mafia appeared and used the competition to prove that Leorio was strong. Once they do so, they invite the three to participate in a manhunt against the Auction the Mafia had previously held. Even Killua thinks this is a bad idea, as even his father is cautious of the Phanom Troupe.
Leorio believes they are still hiding somewhere nearby, thanks to the Mafia’s foothold in the city as they start searching for the thieves. After some sleuthing and bribes, the trio keeps the Troupe under surveillance.
Thanks to Leorio being the weakest of the crew in Nen abilities, Killua tells him to keep his involvement battle-wise to a minimum. Once Kurapika joins back up, Leorio is given the bench besides helping them shadow the Troupe as the driver.
Leorio helps Melody and Kurapika in kidnapping the leader of the Phantom Troupe, Chrollo Lucifer, to exchange for Gon and Killua. After this, Leorio assists Melody in Kurapika’s care after the Phantom Troupe. Then, before leaving to continue on his path to becoming a doctor, he helps Gon and Killu make sure their contract for Greed Island isn’t shady.
The 13th Hunter Chairman
We finally meet Leorio again in the aftermath of the Chimera Ant arc. Gon is in the hospital being given intensive care, and literally, nothing in the world could make Leorio more anxious. Having heard an electoral lecture is being held by the Zodiacs, thanks to the loss of the 12th Chairman in the previous arc, he decided to figure out what happened personally.
This is where Leorio meets Gon’s father, Ging. This is also where Leorio wins the nation’s hearts by Remote-Punch uppercutting. This gets Leorio in the running for 13th Chairman. He does so well in the elections that he makes it into the final four. He even nearly wins but officially becomes runner-up after a recount.
Thanks to the timing, it is very likely Leorio lost the recount, thanks to Gon mentioning to Leorio, on stage, that he wouldn’t vote for Leorio. He knows Leorio has far more important matters to attend to while studying medicine. This is after Gon appears during his speech, which Leorio completely abandons in his overwhelming glee to see Gon up and about.
Leorio is later brought on to the Zodiac council thanks to the high regard these events have given him to the public. He is asked to go on the Dark Continent mission as a representative of the Zodiac. Thanks to his high standing to the public as a hunter.
Related Characters
Gon Freecss
There are few people in the series that Leorio respects as a person and a Hunter than Gon. Having taken the entirety of the Hunter Exam together, Leorio got to see firsthand the strength of Gon’s character.
Gon always saw the best in him. He considered him honorable enough to be certain Leorio would save him even after having just met him. Their trust and respect for each other only continued to grow. Leorio punched Ging so hard that his feet left the ground out of anger for how Ging treated his kid.
Killua Zoldyck
Killua has a tendency to call LEorio’ old man’ despite having learned his true age. Despite their sassing each other almost as much as Kurapika, the pair clearly look out for each other. Killua is always quick to warn LEorio about matters he doesn’t think he is safe in, and Leorio is always quick to help Gon save Killua.
Kurapika
- Mockingly calls him Rioleo.
Kurapika and Leorio, from the beginning, have a bit of a contested relationship. While they clearly respect portions of each other’s personalities, they get on each other’s nerves quickly. However, as they continue through the Hunter Exams, the pair find more profound respect and friendship, especially after Kurapika learns there is more to Leorio’s goal as a Hunter beyond just money.
Trivia
- In the 2011 anime, Leorio opens the Zoldwyc training gate alongside Gon and Kurapika in an act of Comradery. This is a change from the Manga and 1999 anime where Leorio can open the first door by himself.
- Many members of the fandom have taken to pairing Kurapika with Leorio thanks to how well their personalities play off of each other.
- Leorio’s birthday is March 3rd, the same as Hinamatsuri also known as Doll’s Day.
Quotes
“No problem, I’ll make it. You’re wondering why I am here? I always repay someone who does me a favor. By the way… What do you think this would be for?”
- Leorio to Gon in the 1999 anime, refers to the key that will free both Gon and the animal he was trapped with.
“Everyone knows the first impression is about how you look.”
- Leorio to Kurapika and Gon in Episode 5.
“I’m a simple guy. Figured I’d become a doctor… so I could cure some kid with the same disease, tell his parents they owed me nothing! Me… A doctor! Now there’s a joke!! Do you know how much it costs to even try to become a doctor? The mind boggles!! It’s always about money! Always!! That’s why I want it!”
- Leorio to Kurapika in chapter 7, Respective Reasons (Manga). Episode 4 (1999) and Episode 7 (2011).
FAQs
Question: What is the Difference Between Hunter x Hunter (1999) and Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Answer: There are two significant differences between the 1999 and 2011 anime. The first is the story arcs covered. The 1999 anime only covers up to the Greed Island arc. Meanwhile, the 2011 anime covers up to Greed Island, then past it with the Chimera Ant and 13th Chairman arcs.
The second significant difference is in the art style. The 1999 anime has a more straightforward, grittier art style popular in the 90s and early 2000s. Meanwhile, the 2011 anime has a smoother style that is easier to animate and closer to the originating Manga style.
Besides that, both cover these arcs in mildly different ways. For example, Kite appears in the first episode of the 1999 anime to inspire Gon on his journey to becoming a Hunter. This scene is covered in the 2011 anime, but as a flashback at the beginning of the Chimera Ant Arc.
Question: What is the Most Complete Hunter x Hunter Viewing Experience for Someone who Prefers Anime?
Answer: For the most complete experience, watch the 1999 anime, then start the new anime after the Greed Island arc. Finally, start the Manga from chapter 340 to experience the Dark Continent and Succession Contest arcs, which have not yet been given an anime adaptation and are currently ongoing. Its most recent chapter is number 390.
Question: What is in Leorio’s Briefcase in Hunter x Hunter?
Answer: Leorio uses his briefcase to carry his medical supplies with him. He also uses it to keep various other items in. Still, we generally only see him cracking into it when he has medical work.
Leorior hxh Guide: Conclusion
I have a unique history with medicine, but my backstory is not essential. What is important is that my struggle with medicine ad disability made Leorio an interest at first. Yet the more we learn of him, the more I grew to adore him. I became a quick fan of the 1999 anime as it gives Leorio more central billing.
The man’s fire is hard not to feel inspired by, and his beliefs on the medical system are ones I share. But, most of all, there is no protagonist whose goals align with mine like Leorio. Wouldn’t the world just be a better place if, when given a chance to have unlimited resources, our first instinct was to make certain no one suffers as we do?
I personally think it would be an absolutely marvelous one.