Gon Freecss

"I can't stand being on the losing end forever!"

- Gon Freecss

Gon Freecss is the main protagonist of the anime/manga series Hunter × Hunter. He is the son of the famous Hunter, Ging Freecss and is on a quest to find his father.

He is voiced by Junko Takeuchi in the Japanese version of the 1999 anime and Elinor Holt in the English version, while in the 2011 anime he is voiced by Megumi Han in the Japanese version and Erica Mendez in the English version.

Appearance
Gon is a young boy with long spiky black green tipped hair and large, hazel brown eyes. His usual outfit is composed of a green jacket with reddish edges covering a black or white tank top underneath, green short shorts, and green, laced boots. In some arcs such as the Greed Island and Chimera Ant arcs he takes off the jacket and wears only the tank top. In the Greed Island arc and at the beginning of the Chimera Ant arc he wears the Paladin's Necklace, a Greed Island card with the ability to purge any external effects to a card the wearer is holding.

Personality
Gon is an athletic, rustic, and friendly boy. Also, he isn't very good at math. However, having spent a lot of time in the woods as a child, he is very good with animals. Gon is an Enhancer, who are known for being simple-minded and determined. This determination and talent leads to both potential allies and potential enemies trusting in him and taking his side. He has inhuman senses; Gon has a heightened sense of smell and sight, as well as very keen taste. Gon wants to become a Hunter because he wishes to find out the depths of an occupation that would cause a father to choose the profession over being with his own son.

Gon is extremely confident in his abilities. Sometimes, he does not realize when the opponent is far stronger or even after he knows the opponent is stronger than him; regardless, he will continue to fight. He refuses to accept himself as inferior to any opponent that he disagrees with, including those clearly stronger than him. Togashi initially portrays this as naïveté. Aside from becoming a Hunter and finding his father, Gon desires strength above all else. Gon's greatest insecurity lies in his own weakness and not being able to protect those close to him.Simultaneously, his flaws lie in his temper and impulsive nature. Gon sometimes fails to think things through and such actions lead to him suffering. His will is stronger than most and he can be very level-headed, but this clear mind can also make him very cold at times. Though possessing talent far beyond the norm for his age, anytime his abilities are challenged, he feels as if he has to prove his antagonist wrong. He continually strives to obtain greater power, often becoming exceptionally stronger in his anger. But Gon's anger also leads to extremely reckless tendencies. When his emotions are ignited, Gon becomes irrational and completely oblivious to anything else.

Background
At the age of twenty, Ging Freecss returned home to Whale Island for the first time in eight years carrying his infant son, Gon. When questioned about the child's mother, Ging simply mentions that the pair had separated. While Ging tries to leave Gon in his grandmother's care for a little while, Ging's cousin Mito is infuriated at Ging's parenting and gets custody through the courts. Ging leaves Whale Island, never to return.

Since his early youth, due to his father's absence and Mito's dislike of Ging, Gon had been told that his parents died in an accident when he was a baby. But at the age of nine, Gon is rescued from an angry mother foxbear by a man named Kite — a professional Hunter and a student of Gon's long lost father. After hitting Gon in the face, Kite attempts to kill the foxbear's cub but Gon protects it. Kite is looking for Ging as a final test before his master will consider him to be a true Hunter. Kite's admiration of Ging awakens in Gon a lifetime goal of meeting his father. In order to find and meet Ging, Gon is driven from that moment to obtain a Hunter's License. He sights a desire to know what would cause Ging to choose his profession as a Hunter over being a parent as his motivation for becoming a Hunter.

Abilities & Powers
Enhanced Senses: Gon possesses very acute senses especially smell and hearing. Gon has a very advanced sense of smell, which caused him to be compared to a dog. Another distinctive animal trait is his evolved instinct.At the start of the series he had a fishing rod that he could swing with baffling accuracy, even managing to catch Hisoka's tag from afar while the latter was moving at high speed. The fishing rod can also be used as an offensive weapon should the situation ask for it. During the Hunter Exam, Gon was often praised for his powers of observation and agility. In battle, he is quick to think of alternative solutions and strategies. As an enhancer, he should be fairly balanced between offense and defense, but he prefers to go on the offensive, as his stubbornness tends to come out during combat. Because of it, he sometimes charges in recklessly, but at the same time doesn't give up until he can't move anymore. He is quite proficient in close combat, although he doesn't fight resorting to any conventional martial art. Rage greatly bolsters his skills, particularly by boosting his already remarkable aura. His most remarkable feature, however, is the uncanny, bottomless potential he is gifted with. Many powerful characters such as Hisoka, Wing, Biscuit and Razor were left astounded when they grasped the full extent of Gon's talent, which is often described as being limitless. This allows him to learn extremely quickly, and that is true especially in the field of Nen, with an aptitude like his being very rare. Even before learning it he managed to use Zetsu on one occasion.

Enhanced Strength: Gon has great strength as he could open the first door of the testing gate which was 2 tons in weight before learning Nen. He can also shatter rock and incapacitate skilled warriors by sending them flying with just a push of his hand. It is unknown how much he can press after learning Nen. However, he managed to defeat Nobunaga in arm wrestling. When he transformed, he was able to throw Neferpitou so high in the air that he was almost invisible from the ground.

Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Gon has shown to possess great speed on par with Killua's (when not using Nen) and has shown great reflexes reacting to the slightest amount of danger swiftly. With his speed and agility he can create multiple afterimages of himself and disappear out of sight.

Enhanced Agility: Gon is very agile, as he can attack from every position. His swiftness is mainly employed to dodge the enemy's attacks and react immediately after being hit.

Enhanced Stamina: Gon is indefatigable. He can withstand wearing battles, training sessions and runs.

High pain resistance: Gon has shown to be somewhat impervious to pain. This is mostly due to his obstinacy and determination more than to a physical predisposition. He could take having his arms being blown off by the Bomber and severed by Neferpitou, continuing to fight and winning nonetheless.

Skilled Fisherman: At the start of the series, Gon managed to catch the Swamp King, a fish that nobody had been able to hook for years.

Excellent Strategist: Gon can often tell what an opponent is thinking and how he will react at his moves. He can plan whole battles beforehand and prepare strategies right after the get-go and create alternative solutions. Incredible instinct and phenomenal intuitions help him.

Expert Tracker: He managed to follow Hisoka for several days without being detected. Furthermore, he chased Nobunaga and Machi around a town with the two of them failing to spot him (although they clearly sensed his presence).

Proficient in hand-to-hand combat: With his exact degree of skill in martial artistry being unknown, Gon is adept at close quarter combat, as shown in his fights against Hisoka. He fights using mainly his fists, but can deliver powerful kicks as well. He is at a disadvantage at more proficient combatants.

Nen
Gon is an Enhancer, which gives him his great strength and recuperative abilities. His Hatsu is called Jajanken a play on the Japanese word for Rock-paper-scissors, "Janken," the word "Jajan" (a Japanese interjection akin to the word "Ta-dah"), and "Jaken (邪拳 Evil Fist)." Gon first gets the idea after learning the dangerous roots of the game within martial arts.

Jajanken consists of three parts. Gon's main attack is "Rock", a simple but devastating Enhanced attack concentrating all his aura into his fist using Ko. His long-ranged attack is "Paper," an emitted attack that fires a ball of aura from his palm; at the moment, this is his weakest attack, the ball being somewhat slow, not that powerful and easy to block or change course. His mid-ranged attack is "Scissors", a transmuted blade of aura attached to his index and middle fingers, capable of slicing through a Chimera Ant. Gon prefaces each attack with the chant '''"First comes Rock!" '''