Review of Hunter x Hunter

Hunter x Hunter is a series that will you probably see a lot of acclaim for on the internet, and it has a tendency to be warmly received by a lot of people unsatisfied with the writing in most shounen manga. When it comes to battle shounen that reach the highest of highs and transcend being adolescent power fantasies with mediocre writing and simplistic morals, the two series you will see frequently being praised are HunterxHunter and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. While I get the impression that it's become more common for people to be critical of HunterxHunter due to a variety of reasons (ithappens to anything that becomes super popular, people tend to scrutinize it harder since they come in with bigger expectations), I feel that HxH does so much good that it largely deserves its acclaim.

A lot of people unaware of HxH's reputation might mistake the series for a saccharine and light-hearted adventure romp, and they might have good reason to suspect that, given the presence of its main character who appears to be just another idiot shounen hero, not one but two "mysterious cool guy characters with a secret past", and another big abrasive dumb guy with an enormously kind heart. The boy wants to find his long-lost father and follow in his footsteps by becoming a "Hunter", which is basically a catch-all professional who can perform a wide variety of tasks, but who are usually superpowered in some way. The beginning of the story follows Gon and his band's quest to qualify as Hunters, each with their own personal reasons for doing so. The series' OP is very cheerful, and the soundtrack is a whole is bright and optimistic.

However, upon watching the series it becomes more and more obvious that the series' creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, was not interested in producing a run-of-the-mill battle shounen.

To begin with, the series isn't just about fighting. Even in just the first arc it's emphasized that Hunters do a lot more than just fight, and the main characters participate in a lot of different competitions that seemingly have nothing to do with one another, like a race, a cooking contest, survival in a jungle, etc. When there IS combat, it's governed by a set of specific rules and conditions pertaining to the intricate "Nen" system, which adds a lot of variety in terms of the powers the characters have. In that sense, it's comparable to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure where the characters can have very off-the-wall or seemingly useless abilities that can prove horrifyingly useful.

Other than that, and what I would consider HunterxHunter's biggest strength, is its unpredictability. It not only fails to conform to a lot of expectations in battle shounen, but seems to delight in openly defying or criticizing them. And in doing so, it is nearly always compelling. Its main characters are not the absolute strongest out there and are rarely the central players of any conflict they find themselves in, and what parts they do play often mean they can't brute force their way against the main antagonist of the arc and might not even be able to beat them at all, meaning they have to accomplish their goals through other means.

Its characters are relatively unique compared to other shounen series. Many shounen series have enormous casts of characters who are superficially interesting or likable but just as many who feel superfluous and irrelevant. Hunter x Hunter also has a large cast but not only does it feel smaller, the majority of the supporting cast has SOMETHING that makes them unique or interesting. In fact, it could be said that Hunter x Hunter later on almost feels like an ensemble piece. As Gon and Killua are often not at the center of conflicts and instead have their own goals and parts to play in the broader narrative, a lot of time is spent on other characters, who sometimes get just as much or even more development than the main characters, whose own development is anything but underwhelming.

In particular, I have to praise the nuanced characterization of Killua, my personal favorite character, who can go from adorable to an absolutely horrifying murderer at the drop of a hat. His relationship with Gon, and both their individual character arcs, forms a strong emotional backbone for the narrative. In addition I have to confess that the development of the villains, particularly the soldier ants in the Chimera Ant arc, was a nice surprise and especially compelling. I won’t say much about it, but some of these characters will likely end up surprising you.

Characters can not only die, but do so frequently, and if they don't die, their actions and mistakes often have long-lasting consequences and affect their development in a significant way. This means that there is a significant tension present in the story, because even if you aren't under the impression that Gon and Killua may actually die, they may NOT achieve their goals or have to live with some sort of horrible failure.

Which is another thing worth mentioning about this series; not only does it push the envelope in terms of the tropes and story structure it uses, the content in the series is quite shocking in how non-shounen it gets. The series had a number of subversive elements to begin with, like the character Hisoka being a gay pedophile, but the series gets darker and darker as you find out more about the world culminating in the famous Chimera Ant arc which is honestly the darkest, most horrifying and depressing story I have ever seen in a shounen manga. It honest to god does not feel like something that should have been allowed in a shounen magazine, although I'm glad that the author was given license to go that far since it easily works to the arc's benefit.

The arc seems to have a bit of a controversial reception among the fanbase, likely due to the deteriorating art quality during serialization and several hiatuses, but many, like myself, consider its dark nature a major plus and the arc as a whole to be brilliant even if it is too long for its own good.

The world and scope of the story is completely staggering. The more is revealed about the world the more it seems like we don't know anything at all. It also seems like a haphazard collection of various ideas the author had and wanted to discuss, but it doesn't feel incoherent or distracting, and only makes the world richer. Every single arc of the story has a completely different focus and genre from the previous, from a battle exam arc, a psychological crime thriller, a deadly game, and even unspeakable horror. This is also another significant strength of the show because it offers a lot of variety and it feels like it could potentially deal with any type of story and genre while making it interesting to watch.

And finally, it would be remiss for me not to devote some attention to the exceptional quality of this adaptation of the story in particular. Studio Madhouse deserves some serious props, as this is by far one of the most consistent and well-produced shounen anime adaptations I have ever seen. Not only does it have no "filler" (anime original content), it does not abuse flashbacks to the last episodes like certain other anime (cough Naruto cough) to pad out the episode because they don't want to run out of manga content to adapt. There is a lot of ACTUAL animation in the show with the overall visual quality and polish being very well above average, and when it comes to the really important fights and emotional moments you can be sure that this series will deliver in spades.

The series also possesses a highly memorable soundtrack composed by Yoshihisa Hirano, who also worked on Death Note (you might find some of his work here reminiscent of that, especially Chrollo's theme). While it starts off decent, in the more dark and dramatic arcs like Yorkshin and Chimera Ant the compositions become amazing and easily one of the highlights of the show. While I don't care for the opening too much, the ED's are better. In particular, the incredibly hype "HUNTING FOR YOUR DREAM" by Galneyrus is widely agreed to be central in many people's enjoyment of the Yorkshin arc.

With all that is so good about the series, I feel much of the criticism that is thrown at it is due to the aforementioned subversive elements in the series. While Togashi's ambitions in deconstructing the elements of most battle shounen are frequently praised and celebrated, it also tends to have the effect of making the endings of arcs in the series feel a bit anti-climactic to some, especially since a lot of them don't end in ways you would expect. This can leave you a bit miffed and unsatisfied, especially given Togashi’s habit of leaving small plot points unresolved from one arc to the other, presumably to be followed up on MUCH later…which is not helped by his habit of taking extremely long breaks, making following the series very difficult for many. In particular, I can think of one admittedly pretty significant development in the Chimera Ant arc that felt like it was written for an entirely different series, but to go into too much detail would involve spoilers.

Regardless, I feel that HxH brings so much to the table compared to other shounen manga that it’s one of those works you should watch, even if it’s just to have an opinion on it. If nothing else, it is certainly interesting and unique, which is a lot more than many manga and anime can say. It is one of the most consistently enjoyable shounen I have ever read, and while there arcs that are better or more fun than others, and while I have criticisms I could make about various things, in the end the show was so damn enjoyable from start to finish they don’t seem that important.