Does Killua have a crush on Gon?


Watching episodes 114-116 of _Hunter X Hunter_ (2011), I started to wonder.

Does Killua have a crush on Gon? Or am I just misinterpreting his text lines?




**Short answer:** There is little or no canonical love from either Killua or
Gon toward the other. If any kind of love is to be clearly deduced, it should
be regarded as platonic or brotherly.

**Longer answer:** From childhood, Killua was deprived of the experience of
having friends. He met Canary, a guardian of the Zoldyck estate, and wished to
be her friend, but she disciplined herself to not have any personal feelings
for her employers (Killua included).

Fast-forward to the Hunter Exam, and Killua meets Gon, quickly discovering
that he wants a friendly relationship with him (attempting to sever the ties
to his former life as an assassin). In this case, you have to understand that
Killua doesn't know how to behave around friends. He does his best to be
himself, but he doesn't want to push Gon away. Even in a relationship as
simple (to you and me) as friendship, Killua doesn't know how to manage his
feelings.

As a result, personally, I would say that Killua just shares a really,
_really_ strong best-friend relationship with Gon, and feels a personal need
to protect Gon, which can appear romantic at times. Gon, being the nutty lil'
boy he is, also tends to express his friendship in odd ways...

[![Gon: "You should be by my
side."](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rif6Lm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rif6L.jpg)

Now, taking all this into consideration... It doesn't honestly seem like there
is any romantic relationship between them (though the mangaka seems to have
thrown in a few choice lines to tease fans with).

In the episodes mentioned in the question, Killua does have some very odd
lines.

[![After Gon says, "Let's
go!"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Emnuwm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Emnuw.png)

He states that if he asks Gon what he means by "Let's go!", then he "won't be
able to go back." This sounds a bit lovey at first, but I think Killua is
honestly more worried about Gon, almost like a brother might be. He
understands the rage Gon holds within, and is deeply worried that Gon might be
headed down a spiral of destruction. With good reason:

[![Gon's a bit
psycho...](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rmDaym.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rmDay.png)

Sadly, though, asking about something like that could almost seem like a
betrayal; remember that Killua doesn't want to do anything that would endanger
his friendship with Gon.

So while I think it's important to recognize that there is no canonical love
in play (at least in the anime, I haven't read past the manga's equivalent of
episode 115), I think their relationship is designed in such a way to make us
ask this kind of question. Their relationship is _far_ from simple, and that's
probably one of the things that makes it so compelling.




**Short answer:** There is little or no canonical love from either Killua or
Gon toward the other. If any kind of love is to be clearly deduced, it should
be regarded as platonic or brotherly.

**Longer answer:** From childhood, Killua was deprived of the experience of
having friends. He met Canary, a guardian of the Zoldyck estate, and wished to
be her friend, but she disciplined herself to not have any personal feelings
for her employers (Killua included).

Fast-forward to the Hunter Exam, and Killua meets Gon, quickly discovering
that he wants a friendly relationship with him (attempting to sever the ties
to his former life as an assassin). In this case, you have to understand that
Killua doesn't know how to behave around friends. He does his best to be
himself, but he doesn't want to push Gon away. Even in a relationship as
simple (to you and me) as friendship, Killua doesn't know how to manage his
feelings.

As a result, personally, I would say that Killua just shares a really,
_really_ strong best-friend relationship with Gon, and feels a personal need
to protect Gon, which can appear romantic at times. Gon, being the nutty lil'
boy he is, also tends to express his friendship in odd ways...

[![Gon: "You should be by my
side."](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rif6Lm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rif6L.jpg)

Now, taking all this into consideration... It doesn't honestly seem like there
is any romantic relationship between them (though the mangaka seems to have
thrown in a few choice lines to tease fans with).

In the episodes mentioned in the question, Killua does have some very odd
lines.

[![After Gon says, "Let's
go!"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Emnuwm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Emnuw.png)

He states that if he asks Gon what he means by "Let's go!", then he "won't be
able to go back." This sounds a bit lovey at first, but I think Killua is
honestly more worried about Gon, almost like a brother might be. He
understands the rage Gon holds within, and is deeply worried that Gon might be
headed down a spiral of destruction. With good reason:

[![Gon's a bit
psycho...](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rmDaym.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rmDay.png)

Sadly, though, asking about something like that could almost seem like a
betrayal; remember that Killua doesn't want to do anything that would endanger
his friendship with Gon.

So while I think it's important to recognize that there is no canonical love
in play (at least in the anime, I haven't read past the manga's equivalent of
episode 115), I think their relationship is designed in such a way to make us
ask this kind of question. Their relationship is _far_ from simple, and that's
probably one of the things that makes it so compelling.

