Review of Hunter x Hunter

Hunter x Hunter is deceptive. It starts so upbeat, with your super positive shonen protaganist going on a quest to follow in the footsteps of his missing father. Pretty basic premise, progresses as you might expect, gets a little dark here and there but still follows normal anime guidelines. Then the show starts to flex its storytelling abilities, and gives you some of the most nuanced antagonists I have ever seen in any medium. Hisoka is downright terrifying, while being grounded and almost parental at times. The Phantom Troupe, while being evil criminals, show a sense of family and care for each other that isquite moving and shows how complex the members, and especially their leader, actually are as characters. Don't even get me started with the greatest character development possibly of all time in Meruem. Even the heroes showed to be multifaceted and complicated characters, actually more human than you normally get out of shonen characters.

Fundamentally Hunter x Hunter is a story of relationships. Gon's whole motivation is his missing relationship with his father, Killua's broken relationship with his family drives much of the growth in his character, and he and Gon both get stronger as their relationship with the other matures. While the pacing can be slower at times than some would like, I enjoyed how the story delved into the mind of the characters and allowed the world to become real through its sense of careful worldbuilding and interconnected stories.

The music is electric, and honestly grew inspiring to hear as the story progressed. The art while not absolutely groundbreaking definitely had its moments to shine. Honestly this series, while a commitment to be sure, is thoroughly worth watching for anyone who is willing to invest in it