Do we like Killua Zoldyck?
A character from Hunter x Hunter (1998 (manga), 2011 ()
Our score: 9 out of 10. Yes, we'd back him. He's a prickly, funny kid who is fiercely loyal and who fights hard to leave a violent upbringing behind. He's the friend you want in your corner.
Killua is the middle child of the Zoldycks, a famous family of professional assassins. They raised him on harsh training and taught him to kill. He is bored and tired of that life, so he leaves home and enters the Hunter Exam, partly just for something to do. He starts out cool, sarcastic and mischievous, and he finds it hard to show his feelings.
At the exam he meets Gon Freecss, a cheerful boy who treats him like any other kid. For the first time Killua has a real friend. Most of his arc is about learning what friendship feels like, and about whether someone raised to kill can choose to be a different person.
We score him high because his bad side is a past he is trying to escape, while his good side is what he chooses to do. He is deeply loyal, quick-witted and brave. He can also be sulky, blunt and too ready to give up when he thinks he can't win. Those flaws make him easier to like. He is also one of the series' strongest fighters, and he's a Transmuter who can turn his aura into electricity.
Later in the story, Killua faces a crisis that puts his loyalty to Gon to its hardest test. He then has to go back to the family he fled to protect a sibling. Both moments show he has grown from a reluctant killer into someone who fights for the people he loves.