Review of Hunter x Hunter

What’s so special about Hunter X Hunter? A glance at any title from MyAnimeList’s Top 7 Highest Rated (excluding Kimi no na Wa) will tell you why it holds a position there. The Gintama franchise combines an array of genres in its wacky, high-octane futuristic tale of wandering samurai. Steins Gate explores the nuances of the idea of time travel with an eccentric, otaku-oriented sense of humor. Legend of the Galactic Heroes presents a years-long struggle for the stars with style, grace, and intellectual brilliance. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood criticizes mankind’s self-centered grasps for power with unflinching honesty. Then, there’s Hunter X Hunter. From the synopsis, HxHis marketed as a superpowered shonen of great length (it’s a whopping 148 episodes long!) that values friendship and following your dreams more than anything else. Compared to the other entries in MAL’s Top Seven (again, excluding Kimi no na Wa), I wouldn’t blame you if you feel indifferent towards HxH’s first impression.

One of the most overused saying is “looks can be deceiving” but it’s nearly-impossible to not be tricked by the show’s Hunter Exam Arc. It begins with Gon Freecss, a happy-go-luck 12 year old island boy, leaving home to follow in the footsteps of his father Ging, who wears the title of “Anime’s Ultimate Deadbeat Dad” like a badge of honor, and become a Hunter, which is basically another word for “adventurous explorer”. Befriending strangers (and enemies), learning new things, and having fun are the Hunter Exam Arc’s raison d’être. Like a true stereotypical shonen, this arc glosses over the harsh realities of the Exam with a passion, choosing to portray it as the premier competitive sport instead of the merciless bloodbath that it really is. It is only when Gon is pushed to the brink of death in a fight against an examinee named Hanzo that the Hunter Exam Arc’s underlying sobriety surges to the forefront.

Despite the Hunter Exam Arc’s shortcomings as a story, the animation is a marvelous spectacle to behold, thanks to HxH being produced by the great Madhouse. Although this series doesn’t offer much in visual creativity, the various tints and shades used in each scene deserves recognition and you can really see Madhouse flexing its muscles with its scenery porn. It’s because of the studio’s spectacular backgrounds that HxH’s diverse settings have a life of their own, from the beautiful yet low-key and withdrawn country of NGL to the mystifying nightlife allure of Yorknew City, and even the angelic homeliness of Whale Island. It doesn’t hurt that mangaka Yoshishiro Togashi has a specialty for world-building; you can tell that he genuinely cares about the environments he creates when he dedicates entire episodes to the traditions and subtle nuances of the setting.

Hunter X Hunter’s theme song “Departure”, considered by even diehard HxH fans as hit or miss, is among the reasons why I trekked through the first arc with disappointment. At first, the only thing I thought Departure was worthy of was the skip button but over time it grew on me. I could say the same for HxH’s soundtrack. Save for a few character themes (Hisoka’s, Leorio’s, and especially the Zoldyck Family’s), most of the songs early on are hardly worth mentioning; they’re grandiose and overpowering but collectively fail to deliver a lasting impact. It is later in the series that a multitude of unforgettable tracks make their dramatic entrance, from the rage-consumed “Chain Bastard” to the stage-setting “Legend of the Martial Artist”, and of course the operatic glory that is “Riot”. What really elevates Hunter X Hunter into the upper echelon of musical experiences is its collection of ending themes. Most people laud the fifth ED, Yuzu’s “Hyouriitai”, as the best of the bunch due to its expertise in pulling heartstrings but my personal favorite is “Hunting for Your Dream”. That ED basically personifies intensity.

More than anything else, Togashi’s greatest skill has to be how he expands a simple shonen premise to include the full range of genres. Hunter X Hunter isn’t just your run-of-the-mill action adventure; it dives into the world of RPGs with gusto, it features a pulse-pounding gangster noir thriller in the Phantom Troupe Arc, its final arc is geared entirely towards politics (Name another shonen that does that), and one episode of the Greed Island Arc deploys practically every cliché of the romantic genre in existence. Oh and then there’s the apocalyptic sci-fi horror epic known as the Chimera Ant Arc.

I consider myself a chill, easygoing guy; it requires a lot of effort to piss me off but for years the one thing that I couldn’t tolerate were ants. They’re commonly viewed in a positive light, as the ideal assembly line workers in an ecosystem thriving on individualism. I, however, have always seen ants as disgusting little monsters that steal whatever they want and attack anyone that’s not one of them. It all started at my daycare during my years as an elementary schooler. My friends and I were tired of being harassed by fire ants every time we played in the sand on our playground. With uncharacteristic fervor, I gathered up my friends and a few other kids that also hated the ants, and we marched up the hill of the playground with sharp sticks in our hands. At the top of the hill, the ants were secured in their headquarters, a misshapen mound as tall as my leg that they built from dirt, and we smashed it to pieces with our sticks, fists, and sneakers. Needless to say, the ants weren’t too pleased with our remodeling and they attacked us without mercy. That incident was the catalyst for my hatred against those tiny insects. Whenever an ant somehow found its way into my house, I’d pursue it like a madman and spray it to death with pesticide. Whenever I saw an ant in public, I’d wildly stomp on it until I was absolutely sure it died. In my family, I was the unofficial ant exterminator.

From the start, you can imagine how I felt towards the Chimera Ants, the most dangerous species in the HxH universe. “Kill them all!” I shouted as the series ventured into new territory, with an arc centered on my greatest nemesis. The Chimera Ant Arc, more than any other arc, appealed to me on a personal level; the Hunters’ quest to destroy the Ants was something I could relate to. It’s also an intriguing arc due to it defining everything the series has been about up to this point; the Chimera Ant Arc ponders over the sacrifices a Hunter must take and ultimately what it means to be human. This arc does this while infusing a level of disturbing darkness that’s unprecedented for a shonen. Some are most likely arguing that Hunter x Hunter has always been dark, especially with the massacre scene in the Phantom Troupe Arc, but nothing in this series even comes close to an Ant gruesomely murdering a beloved background character before devouring the dead body. Nothing comes close to another Ant gleefully watching an elderly man, naked and chained, begging for his life before the Ant squashes the poor guy beneath his hoof (When did HxH become Requiem from the Darkness?). The insert track “New Mutation” is the perfect theme song for the Chimera Ant Arc; it’s a somber, stage-setting melody that emphasizes the mysterious bleakness of it all. What I appreciate most about the Chimera Ant Arc is its brilliance as a character study.

When it comes to characterization in a shonen, the most effort that’s normally applied is the main character dealing with dead parents and the supporting cast aiding the protagonist in his (it’s always a guy) adventure. What originality! What complexity! What realism! Unlike your run-of-the-mill shonen mangakas, Togashi treats the characters he creates as real people. He doesn’t murder them at random nor does he escort them to the background, unless it’s Kurapika after he stole the show in the Phantom Troupe Arc or if it’s one of the show’s few female characters (The lack of respect for women in HxH is astonishing. I’m surprised that this show passed the Bechdel Test). The best part about this show’s cast isn’t how truly dynamic the protagonists are (The changes that Gon and Killua undergo throughout the series are a blessing to behold) nor is it how memorable the antagonists are, save for Chrollo, from Meruem (the thinking man’s villain) to Ilumi (a true master of manipulation) and of course Hisoka (the Joker of anime, he puts the “C” in crazy). No, the greatest thing about this show’s characterization is how the transforms the guys that have no right to warrant speaking roles into complex, realistic figures. Tonpa is the self-proclaimed “Rookie Crusher” of the Hunter Exam; on the surface, every action this man takes in the first arc is one of spineless self-preservation. However, we’re shown through his internal monologues that he strategizes through his every more and that these actions are ones that Tonpa knows will benefit him on his quest to destroy the hopes and dreams of other Examinees. Binolt is a wanted criminal that sparred with Gon and Killua for one episode in the Greed Island Arc, his only appearance in the entire series. Through a memorably poignant backstory we witness the murderer’s reason for becoming a criminal and what he thinks of his life up to this point. We see his shortcomings, both morally and as a fighter, and in the end we see how Binolt is inspired by Gon to become a better person. The best of the background characters, however, has to be Welfin. He’s a Squadron Leader of the Chimera Ant army, a wolf-like being notorious for his constant paranoia. Welfin wishes to become the “Shadow King” of the Ants, which is basically what Dick Cheney was during George W Bush’s presidency, and his every action is designed to help him reach that goal. Later on, he establishes a friendship with Ikalgo, a traitorous Ant, and he starts to abandon his paranoia. Whether or not Welfin has ceased dreaming of being the “Shadow King” is yet to be determined.

The majority of the Chimera Ant Arc has been focused on what demonic menaces the Ants are but in one scene during the arc’s last episodes, the show reveals an even greater evil: us. The opening scene of episode 134 exposes the sinister, corrupt sides of ourselves for the whole world to witness in disgust. Through an old film reel effect, our blatant bigotry, our superiority complex, our sickening sadism and our overwhelming greed bleeds profusely from each heartbreaking frame. “Kingdom of Predators”, one of HxH’s finest insert tracks, plays throughout the scene, increasing in crescendo while patiently unveiling why its song title is fitting. When this scene ran its course, I finally discovered the darkness within myself. I realized that my grudge against ants was established an irrational hatred that began years and years ago. Thanks to Hunter X Hunter’s Kingdom of Predators scene, my interactions with ants have changed. Whereas I used to murder them on sight, I now either ignore them or, if they’re crawling around in my house, I place them in a napkin and escort them out of the house.

Emotional appeal isn’t something that’s mentioned too often when it involves the shonen genre but in HxH, it’s impossible for some events in the story to not pull your heartstrings. In my years watching anime, I admit there have been occasions where my eyes watered but no anime series had caused me to sob uncontrollably. Along came HxH’s episode 124. When Killua confesses to Palm about how worthless he feels in helping Gon in his internal struggle, I sensed tears rolling down the sides of my face. To force a grown man that hadn’t cried in years to break down in tears is simply incredible. To have that same man cry a second time 12 episodes later in the same show is nothing short of a miracle. It’s in episode 136, when a village girl named Reina is reunited with her mom, and they’re both sobbing over how weak and fragile they are. The 2011 adaptation of Hunter X Hunter isn’t the “perfect” series per se but trust me when I say that there will be thousands of Dragon Ball Z rip-offs before we witness another show like this one. HxH is primarily a thinking man’s anime but is more than able to pull off amazing battle sequences when necessary. It expands its horizons to include many genres and ideas but is equally brilliant at priotizing one. Above all else, what other series could be a better fighting game than this one? 148 phenomenal episodes and Hunter X Hunter is still radiating with potential to this day. Now, that’s something special if you ask me.