Review of Hunter x Hunter

I've always love the idea of an anime having a reboot. The reason being is because most if not not all the reboots I've watched so far have managed to surpass their original counterparts. Notable examples have been FMA: Brotherhood, Hellsing Ultimate, and DBZ Kai. In fact there are a couple of series that I wish had reboots like Akame ga Kill! and Soul Eater. Usually its main purpose is to follow its manga more closely and this usually works cuz pacing is better and animation is more improved. Another anime that I felt really needed one as well was Hunter X Hunter. Its firstanime adaptation was released way back in 1999 and it was good for sure but only covered the first 185 chapters of the manga. As most of us know the HxH manga has been notorious for going on hiatuses several times and as of October 2018 it currently has 382 chapters. And while it sucks that this 2011 reboot still doesn't cover the entire story it does however cover the first 339 chapters. So coming into this series I was excited cuz not only do we get more story but this was also done studio powerhouse Madhouse. So is this another reboot that excels, here we go...***contains MINOR spoilers***

Story:9/10
Very deep and surprisingly dark. The story actually kinda tricks you cuz at first it comes across as a light hearted upbeat series and then a few arcs later it slowly becomes very serious and mature. It contains an overarching story structure that's broken down into arcs that expand the genre in the series thanks to a wide range of variety. From a survival battle royale, to a crime thriller, to a arc that took place in a video game(yes really), and to a small scale war arc where humanity's existence is questioned. It shows you how well rounded the writing can be and cuz of its large variety it rarely felt repetitive. Deep themes are explored here like vengeance, greed, desire, humanity, and meaning of existence. It's considered a "shonen" but its matureness gives the viewer a rare and original take that really separates it from its competiton. The world building is also great and gritty impacts the narrative greatly. Arguably the biggest strength of the writing comes within the show's power system. It's called Nen and what makes it so brilliant is that it relies on technique, strategy, and outsmarting your opponent. It really amazed me on how sensible it came to be especially since it had an expansive vary of weird abilities. Thanks to how great the power system was it lead to unpredictable results in its battles and added so much depth to it. All I can say is bravo Yoshihiro Togashi you absolutely nailed it. As for flaws the pacing can be inconsistent. The first half can feel a lil too fast and then the second felt a lil too slow. Since the story is incomplete we are left with unanswered questions but despite this we did receive a somewhat satisfying conclusion.

Art:10/10
Madhouse as always really impressed in this area. As a person that read parts of the manga I was pleased to see how well the art was done here especially since I never found the art quality of the manga to be good. It's use of color is very different compared to the original anime adaptation as it had a nice brightness to it to maintain the show's upbeat tone which was seemingly used to hide the true darkness of the series, and it was very effective. The visuals were overall crisp and vibrate and the animation was great and even got better as the series went along particularly in its fight scenes. What makes this impressive is that usually when you have an anime with 100 plus episodes it has the tendency to be inconsistent at some point down the line, we've seen this happen in Naruto, Bleach, and even Dragon Ball. So watching the animation get even better with a level of consistency was both surprising and satisfying. Character designs were also great and unique that lends itself well with to their role in the story. Characters like Meruem looked so cool and then Gon's transformation looked so DAMN COOL!! Most of all what I really like about the series is how BRUTAL the fight scenes can be...

Sound:9/10
Overall the sound is great from sound effect, to music, to voice acting. The OST isn't exactly the best but it's effective and fitting. One of the odd things here is the series actually uses the same opening song for its entirety and usually that's rare for long shonen anime. However I was perfectly fine with this cuz I really enjoyed the song, is called "Departure!" sang by Masatoshi Ono and it has a catchy upbeat tune that really helps make the series memorable. The ending songs however do vary but again Im not complaining since there were multiple that I liked. My favorites are the first two "Just Awake" and "Hunting For Your Dream." The music overall does have a lot of variety as it uses a mix of sound like drums, to orchestra, to Spanish like guitar(Hisoka's theme.) There are plenty of tracks that deserve recognition like the main theme "World of Adventure" but to me the best ones were the downbeat songs that can really evoke the stronger emotions w/o becoming cloyingly sentimental. What really impressed me even more were the voice acting in both versions. Gon is voiced beautifully by Megumi Han and Erica Mendez respectively. The dub is outstanding arguably the best dub as of now and honestly I can argue and say that in some cases it's actually better. Keith Silverstein as Hisoka was so perfect that it was easily better than his Japanese voice(no disrespect to Daisuke Namikawa ofc.)

Character:9/10
Brilliantly written and given superb development. It consists of a dynamic cast of both heroes and villains that greatly drive the narrative. These characters feel so incredibly real with its uniqueness and complexity and never once did they feel flat. The main protagonist Gon starts off as a generic shonen lead from spikey hair to naive friendly personality(cough cough Goku.) But then goes through a scary but realistic development during the last main arc that I've never seen shonen lead take. It was refreshing, intense, and honestly beautiful. His ever growing bromance with the mischievous assassin KIllua was pure anime gold. Killua is one of the most fascinating complex characters Ive ever seen in anime and watching him struggle to becoming his own individual was incredibly relatable. Kurapika and Leorio were two highly enjoyable characters that each had separate goals. Kurapika was given his own main arc that really gave him a lot of highlights and beautifully shows how a lust for revenge can blind a person's vision. Leorio however was given so much focus which is a shame cuz I thought he was the most realistic of the four. But even so he came across as very likable. The villains were treated with so much care and thought and they were times where we wanted to root for them especially during the Chimera Ant arc. I do however wish they were explored a. bit more. The motives of the diverse and awesome Phantom Troupe were never fully revealed as well as the relationship of Hisoka and Illumi. But then again the story here is incomplete so this was the risk the series had to take.

Final Verdict:9.2/10

Pros

+Well executed story that's very deep and extremely well written
+An amazing cast with superb development and great realism
+Production value is fantastic supported by great voice acting
+The Nen battle system
+Builds a dark and convincing world that's fleshed out and given a lot of thought

Cons

-A few character backstories were left unexplored
-Story is still incomplete and leaves you wanting more
-A bad start that give viewers a wrong impression

Personal Favorites

Characters: Killua, Hisoka, and Meruem

Arc: Chimera Ant

Fight: Gon vs Pitou

Hunter X Hunter was a near perfect series for what is was given. It's a rare anime that excelled in all five fronts; storytelling, animation, use of music, voice acting, and characterization. I don't think Ive ever seen a shonen with such brilliant except maybe one. Studio Madhouse did such a terrific job at adapting the source material. At the end however it does make you feel empty especially since we know that the original source material is still evolving. However what we got was a near masterpiece and it's hard to not appreciate it despite its incompletion. Hunter X Hunter is a franchise that deserves more recognition I feel it's not loved enough which is sad cuz imo it has higher quality than most bigger franchises such as Naruto, Bleach, and Fairy Tail. For recommendations I suggest Fullmetal Alchemist as it's another rare shonen that emphasizes on dark themes and whose writing rivals HxH. Second recommendation goes to Yu Yu Hakusho as it's created by Togashi himself and has a cast of characters that are also treated with a lot of thought. Last recommendation goes to believe it or not Naruto, as it was influenced by this series and follows a very similar power system. Thanks so much for reading everyone and yourselves a favor and watch this series !!

Sub or Dub Recommendation: Dub