Gotoh

Gotoh (ゴトー) was a good butler in service of the Zoldyck Family. All contact from outsiders first went through him before reaching the main house. He had served the Zoldycks for a couple of years, and the Zoldycks entrusted Killua Zoldyck in his care. Gotoh is reveal to have originated from Meteor City.

Background
Gotoh basically hailed from Meteor City, a junkyard style city inhabited by all outcasts. People who live there do not exist in any official records or reports and the existence of the city itself is known to very few people. At some point in time, Gotoh became a servant in the Zoldyck Family.

Personality
An enigmatic, and intimidating character to an extent Gotoh is courteous as a butler should mostly be. But is also strict regarding the family's security, and secrecy protocol. Despite his cool exterior he can be as hotblooded as Leorio, but typically keeps his temper under control. He is very loyal and protective of his masters. According to Killua, Gotoh hates to use tricks and cover up even during a game. Gotoh was also shown to be sympathetic to the feelings of Kikyo Zoldyck when her husband allows Killua to leave with Gon and his friends. Gotoh cares for Killua as if he was his own son. Killua once expressed to Gon his recurring nightmares of Gotoh chasing him with a knife.

Appearance

 * 1999

Gotoh is a tall man with sharp eyes, and looks to be around early or late thirties; he is well groomed from his black formal suit to his combed back black hair. He has a trimmed large beard and wears eye glasses with pointed frames.
 * 2011

Gotoh is a tall man with sharp eyes and looks to be around early or late thirties; he is well groomed — from his black formal suit to his combed-back black hair. He has a trimmed small beard and wears glasses with pointed frames.

Abilities
Due to Gotoh being born in Meteor City,[2] his existence is not recorded in any database, which makes obtaining information about him nearly impossible.[5] As one of the most trusted butlers of the Zoldyck family, Gotoh has authority over many of the employees at the estate. He is an expert fighter that has shown to be extremely fast both in hand movements and reflexes. He also has a certain degree of superhuman durability, taking no damage when a truck crashed into the car he was in.[8] His weapon of choice are coins that he can throw at the opponent with a flipping motion that makes them faster and more powerful than gun bullets. He managed to put Hisoka in a tight spot, although the latter had revealed his Nen ability and quickly changed the tides of the battle.[9]

Enhanced Strength
Gotoh can toss coins with his thumbs with such strength that Hisoka was impressed with their speed.[9]

Enhanced Speed and Reflexes
Gotoh is able to flick coins as projectile at a remarkable rate, firing off more than ten in an instant. He also has excellent reactions, which allowed him to shoot down his own coins when Hisoka returned them to him with Bungee Gum. However, he was unable to keep track of the latter when he flung himself around with said ability, and of Killua when he ran off with Speed of Lightning.[9]

High Intelligence
According to Killua, Gotoh knows "all kinds of tricks".[6] When Gon phoned the Zoldyck mansion, Gotoh listed a number of possible ways that would allow him or other potential enemies of the family to trick him.[3] When he answered Illumi's call, he uttered his name out loud to allow Killua to observe Amane's reaction,[8] and, after their car was destroyed, Gotoh rapidly came up with an alternative arrangement. He also came up with a counter for Hisoka's Bungee Gum after seeing it in action only once.[9]

Master Thrower
Gotoh has vastly superhuman accuracy, which allowed him to counter the cards thrown at him by Hisoka by hitting them squarely in the center. Even more remarkably, he was capable of shooting down his own coins when Hisoka returned them from multiple directions.[9]

Nen
Gotoh's Nen type is unknown. He primarily uses his aura to turn coins into weapons, flipping and rapidly firing barrages from both of his hands at the same time and with more power than real guns. When needed, Gotoh can also add a rifling effect to each of the coins to cause more damage to his opponent(s) at the expense of losing the coins' traveling speed. The rifling is to such a degree that the coins would continue to spin and penetrate the target even if they're momentarily stopped by potent elastic and adhesive materials such as Hisoka's Bungee Gum.[9] In the manga, the coins and his hands can be seen glowing with aura when he fires them,[9] which may imply he is proficient at Shu, Emission, and/or Enhancement, whereas in the anime, the coins do not appear to be infused with Nen,[13] possibly suggesting he reinforces his fingers with the latter Nen type. Still in the anime, Gotoh displayed the ability to use Gyo.[13]

Coins
Gotoh carries a great number of coins in his pockets, firing them with his bare hands with more power than bullets.[9] He also used them to test Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika when they came to the mansion.[4]

Zoldyck Family Arc
When Zebro contacts the Zoldyck Estate to inform Killua his friends have arrived, on the other-line, Gotoh disregards the fact Killua has any friends and warns Zebro not to continue wasting his time and hangs up. Gon then contacts the Estate himself and after trying to reason and argue with Gotoh to have Killua come out and meet with Gon and friends ultimately his request is denied due to the risk factor of Killua's safety. Less than a month later after Gon and company enter through the Testing Gate and manage to get past Canary, who leads them to the Employee Residence, the group is greeted by Gotoh and his associates outside the residence.

Within the residence Gotoh apologizes for his previous actions and proposes the group play a coin game, to pass the time. The group agree to play and after winning a few times Gotoh becomes serious and expresses his true feelings about the group taking away his Master Killua, going as far to say he loathes them for it. He also confesses that he was contacted earlier by the Madame with a somber voice and he easily perceived that she was heartbroken and cannot accept the fact that Killua truly wishes to leave. Confessing this the other butlers take Canary hostage and Gotoh threatens to kill her if they all lose his game, she'll be killed on the spot. As the game progresses, Kurapika and Leorio are each eliminated leaving only Gon left. But Gon manages to win the game after slicing open his bruised left eye to make it less swollen and figures out the coin had been held by the man behind him. Gotoh and his associates all clap and praise Gon for his deduction.[4]

Killua enters the room and reunites with Gon and the others. He also orders Gotoh to ignore any orders from his mother, to which he understands. Before he leaves Gon approaches Gotoh and asks if he'll miss Killua and confesses he won't since the Zoldyck employees don't have any feelings towards their masters. Gon calls Gotoh a liar and before he leaves, Gotoh plays one last game with Gon and when asked which hand the coin is in, it's revealed that it wasn't in either hand. Gon baffled by this trick, Gotoh warns Gon that not everything in the world is what they appear to be, and wishes he takes good care of Killua.[4]

Heaven's Arena arc
Someplace outside far from the Zoldyck Estate, Kurapika shows and explains how Gotoh pulled off his final coin trick. Just as Kurapika predicted, Gon disliked how he performed the trick.[6]

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc
As Killua talks with Morel Mackernasey on the phone from Zebro's booth. He insinuates something about his younger sibling Alluka, making Gotoh intervene the call. It's revealed from Gotoh that level 4 restrictions have been placed upon Killua for taking a classified item out of the estate, to which Killua refutes the notion that Alluka is an item. Gotoh then reviews the restrictions with Killua and when he convenes with Killua outside he questions why Canary is with them. Scolding Gotoh for his remark, Killua proclaims it's because Alluka is a girl and old guys like him wouldn't be able to give her any delicate care. Senior butler Tsubone accompanied with her granddaughter Amane appear, making Gotoh sweat from anxiety. While also noting Tsubone is the only person in the estate that calls Killua, "Killua-chan". Alluka, after defending her brother from Tsubone's intimidation, requests that she give her pinky nail, shocking everyone, but she complies and doing so disappears from sight to avoid having to comply to any other requests made by Alluka.[7]

In a limousine car heading to Gon's location, Gotoh handles a phone call on Killua's phone and becomes increasing aggravated by the pestering by the person on the other-line and hangs up on them claiming they should identify themselves first before requesting to talk with Killua, then apologizes and hangs up. Moments later Killua's phone rings again and when Gotoh answers it Leorio screams his name and demands to speak with Killua. Although set back by Leorio's outburst, Gotoh at first calmly talks with Leorio and tries to reason with him, about the risks Killua is making. This however turns futile as he becomes livid by Leorio's questioning and attitude. To avoid further conflict Killua takes the phone over briefly to talk with Leorio. When Gotoh is handed back the phone he lists a set of requirements needed to be accomplished before their arrival, to which Leorio can't complete them, so Morel takes over and listens to the requirements and assures Gotoh that they can be accomplished. Pleased by this, Gotoh requests further communications be with Morel.[1]

As soon as the nominees for the Fourth Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman are revealed, Gotoh answers a phone call by Illumi. Immediately he announces Illumi's name raising tension and anxiety within the car. Briefly talking with Illumi, he then hands over the phone to Killua. It's revealed on a relationship pattern involving Killua's family and their workers; Gotoh and Canary are vigilant towards Amane and Tsubone who in turn are to them as well, Zeno Zoldyck supervises them, and they both trust Killua. After Killua challenges his brother the car is ambushed by a couple of cars whose drivers were being manipulated by Illumi causing them to be sent off a cliff. Down at the bottom of the cliff, everyone is unscathed by the crash and Gotoh contacts someone to inform them of the current situation. The group then run through the surrounding thick forest, but when Amane tries to reason with Killua that she, her grandmother, his father, and his grandfather all want the best for him. Hearing this enrages Killua as she didn't mention Alluka's name and activates his Godspeed Nen ability and escapes.[8]

Immediately Gotoh uses his cellphone to informing someone the situation at hand, while making some requests. As soon as Gotoh, Canary and Amane try to chase after Killua, they encounter Hisoka who confronts them. When asked who he is, Hisoka answers he's a magician who wishes to remain anonymous. Hisoka then attacks the group with his card, but Gotoh shoots down all of the cards with his coins. He then orders Canary and Amane to go on ahead and that he'll deal with the magician. The two of them skirmish both utilizing their Nen capabilities to the fullest extent, but in the end Hisoka gains the upper hand and kills Gotoh, by tricking him in a decoy attack.[9] While piloting an airship from the Pallister airport, Canary tries to get in contact with Gotoh, but to no avail. Morel also mentions not being able to get in contact with Gotoh, when he contacts Killua. Killua promises Morel he'll get in touch with Gotoh,[10] but afterwards he contacts Canary and to inform her that he too can't get in touch with Gotoh.[11]

After the incidents regarding the Election and Gon's recovery, Canary and Amane visit Gotoh's grave. It's revealed that the Kiriko's son is seen posing as Gotoh. It is implied that the Zoldycks recruited the Kiriko to keep Gotoh's death a secret from Killua and Alluka.[12]

Quotes

 * The world is full of tricks and tricksters of all types. Be careful
 * Go I will hold him off

Knownable Relatives

 * Unnamed Mother
 * Unnamed Father

Trivia

 * The character guidebook for the 1999 anime adaptation (published in 2001) reveals that Gotoh originated from Meteor City.
 * When it comes to his coin toss game, Gotoh seems to favor having the coin in his left hand than his right for the outcome. During the game he played with Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio, the coin ended up in his left hand for all of the rounds played apart from two.
 * Killua once expressed to Gon his recurring nightmares of Gotoh chasing him with a knife.
 * Even though rapid-firing coins from both hands as bullets is Gotoh's signature ability, due to its brief appearance and lack of unique and/or personal elements (such as a name for the ability) to identify it, this page currently considers it an application of Nen rather than a Nen ability.
 * Gotoh shares the same voice actor as Ikalgo and Koala in the 2011 anime.

Voice Actors

 * Japanese : Takashi Matsuyama (1999 series), Kenyu Horiuchi (2011 series)
 * English : John Knight (1999 series), David Mallow (2011 series)