murderxbaby:

misoforbreakfast:

murderxbaby:

Illumi has the same type of soul as a tobacco executive. As the Exxon Mobile executives who saw that that fossils fuels would accelerate global warming beyond anyone’s worst nightmares, and ordered their drilling platforms in the arctic be raised to account for ocean rise. He’s the DA in Mississippi who attempts to try the same black man for murder 6 times, despite endless junk science evidence and known liars for witnesses.

Illumi is the banality of evil. He loves his family. He does it because he was paid to. He does it because it gives him vague satisfaction. Illumi isn’t horrifying because he’s unreal. (Hisoka is fantastical, in contrast.) Illumi is horrifying because you know him, and he waves at you as he gets gas or drops his kids off at school. 

i feel like youre talking about pariston

If I had meant Pariston, I would have said Pariston.

There’s no question that Pariston is also an example of a trope not unlike this. Pariston is Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. Charismatic but deeply disliked by those that know him best, because he’s a piece of shit. He is part of Togashi’s thematic emphasis on systems of power, authority, and Fighting the Man, Dude. There’s a reason the biggest actual monster of CA Arc is the rapist who is introduced to us in the anime by leaving the shitter before picking out a woman he wants to buy to rape. 

Illumi, though, while fantastical and full of the world’s battle magic (note that Pariston reports either not having battle magic, or not thinking it’s that strong, which is almost certainly a lie) is fundamental conservative, bland and uninteresting. He is committed to his family. He does what he does because of tradition and upbringing. Hisoka is having a sexy fun time, and even Pariston admits it’s fun. Illumi does it because it’s a job, and his duty. He believes he’s doing the right thing, because his morality is so fundamentally selfish and unself-aware. Pariston definitely does whatever evil shit he does because he wants to, Illumi does it because he thinks he has to.

Far too much evil in this real world and that slightly fictionalized one comes down to a devoted family man who would sell the world for 10 more minutes of easy comfort for his loved ones.