Hunter X Hunter has one more basic technique: Zetsu. In the manga, Zetsu is the ability to stop the flow of Nen aura altogether, usually to hide your presence from an enemy, or to increase your sensitivity to nearby Nen auras. In improv, Zetsu is when you avoid taking focus.
The most obvious place this technique is useful is when youâre not in the scene. When youâre on the sidelines, you can see the scene the most clearly. You donât have to constantly use Ren or Hatsu, so you can focus all your energy on watching the scene, looking for opportunities. Zetsu is a state of stealthy readiness. The audience doesnât even know youâre there, then you step forward and itâs like you were there all along.
Zetsu is an essential technique for side-support. The goal of side-support is to heighten and clarify. The scene doesnât have a location? You slide in, put a basket of bread on the table, and slide out. Sometimes a scene needs a helping hand to stay on the rails, and the less focus that helping hand has to take from the scene, the better.
And with that, weâve learned the four basic Yen techniques! Hopefully now you can see how switching between them lets you do a kickass show. The lights come up, your team takes the stage. One of you engages Ten, then steps forward to get the suggestion, then engages Zetsu and fades into the background as two more engage Ten, step forward, and start using Ren. The stage starts filling with Yen. Thenâ Hatsu! And the laughs come. And so everyone dances on and off the stage, using Ten, Ren, Hatsu, and Zetsu, until a final explosion of Yen washes over the audience, and as the lights go out, they erupt in applause.
But weâre not Yen masters yet! These are just the basics. There are a host of advanced techniques that will take us from doing improv that looks competent to doing improv that looks impossible. And even beyond that, Yen has much to teach us about our individuality as performers, how to identify our strengths, and how to shore up our weaknesses.
SÄ, iki-mashĆ! (Come on, letâs go!)