Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-25951143-20150101110046/@comment-26871067-20160930161012

Ectomees wrote: Okay so at this point it's basically a matter of interpretation. English is obviously not my mother language, so it's not quite easy for me to articulate myself accurately in a complex discussion like this, but I'm going to try me best. Basically my interpretation is, that Alluka is a boy "possessed" by a Zashiki Warashi and because he feels like that ghost belongs to him, he acts and dresses in her favor. Illumi saying that "Alluka would be trapped as a zashiki warashi" does - in my opinion - not nullify what I said before because Nanika is a dark entity, there is no doubt, so I think when Illumi says what you quoted above, I believe he uses Alluka as an umbrella term for both Alluka and Nanika, since after all it's Allukas body, who will be locked in a room.

I think Allukas character concept is more complex then "just" saying he is transgender (I know transsexuallity is not a simple topic, but I hope one can grasp what I'm trying to say) since the origin of his behavior is not gender dysphoria but rather this entity that settled down inside of him.

At least that's my interpretation and there are many people who see it in a similar way, thus keeping the article gender neutral is the best way to keep everyone moderately happy. (I would even prefer it to use male pronouns for Alluka and female pronouns for Nanika, but that's just how I see it) I'm not sure if you're literally trying to say this, but Nanika is not a ghost (I think you're trying to say she's some sort of spiritual entity, which... I suppose is true?). We know she's an entity from the Dark Continent - material from volume 33 confirms this.

Illumi differentiates between Alluka and Nanika in that scene - I literally posted the images to back this up. He is not using "Alluka" as an umbrella term - in the same breath, he mentions Nanika. He is referring specifically to Alluka as like a zashiki warashi, so if this is an indication of gender, it is one towards Alluka.

I've seen the argument that Nanika is a girl and Alluka is a boy before.

It does not explain Alluka's feminine mannerisms and personal pronoun.

It does not explain Killua referring to Alluka (and he knows to distinguish between Alluka and Nanika) as his sister.

"Killua called Alluka a boy to Morel" - perhaps (we never see him use the word "otouto", but the implication is certainly there because it seems Morel is parroting what Killua told him as an incredulous response). We don't know the reasoning there. I have my own theory as to why, but it's merely speculation. I'll elaborate if asked to, of course.

We do know that Killua refers to Alluka in his own thoughts as a girl, indicating what he truly believes. When he talks to Gon, he calls Alluka specifically his little sister. Given that he introduces Gon to Nanika, we know he truly was referring to Alluka and not Nanika. Again, a plot point of the arc is that Killua is the only one who understands Alluka.

We also know the chapter title substitutes kanji that indicates Alluka is a girl, and I've stated why this is most likely referring to Alluka via the fact that Nanika is not introduced as a separate character yet.

Alluka indicates (and Killua agrees with this, though he is ashamed of it) that Killua is not viewing Nanika as his little sister. This indicates that up until the end of the arc, whenever Killua refers to his "younger sister", he is implicitly talking about Alluka and not Nanika.

Again (I edited one of my previous posts, but I don't want to assume you saw this edit, since you'd already started to respond by the time I made the addition), the character introduced as a "younger sister" in chapter 322 is Alluka alone. In terms of the narrative, the character of Nanika does not yet exist - there is only Alluka and her powers. This indicates that the "younger sister" referred to in the altered kanji for chapter 322 is Alluka alone.

And again, the word "kyodai" with its actual spelling is considered a non-gendered word. The deviation must be considered significant, and why would Togashi deviate a spelling and draw attention to it if he wasn't trying to make a statement?

What is the purpose of introducing Alluka (again, not Nanika, as we do not yet know she exists) as Killua's younger sister, in a chapter that specifically deviates from the spelling of a non-gendered word to insert an overt gender combination (older brother, younger sister), if not to state "despite what the Zoldyck family (minus Killua) believes, Alluka is a girl"?

I would strongly argue that it should be considered to be an answer to the impending question of whether or not Alluka is meant to be a depiction of a transgender girl (again, Togashi has two precedent transgender characters, for what that's worth). I would strongly argue that it indicates support of Killua's perspective on Alluka's gender, adding objective weight to his point of view.

The fact that attention is being called to Alluka's gender, by the narrative of the series (which is the closest thing we have to an official statement by Togashi) via the altered spelling is of extreme importance in this discussion.