Review of Hunter x Hunter

Hunter x Hunter (2011) boasts of a high mean rating to grab one of the top spots of the rankings of MAL, and while I can most definitely say that the mean rating does not necessarily reflect the quality of the show, having that good impression kinda reflects how a lot of people actually loved the series, for reasons we may or may not know. And I gotta say that HxH did well in proving how it deserves such a good score, and why people would actually become attached to what it can offer. While it followed certain stereotypical "shounen formulas" (and it did wellin that matter), HxH was able to present intelligent and hard-worked storytelling which when combined with unforgettable characters, amazing story arcs and settings, and great fluidity and logic, was able to form a masterpiece people would probably take a lifetime to forget.

Dividing the entire series into arcs, the dominant style of plot building in HxH is more or less typical of a shounen (and yep, I'm talking here despite having watched only a little of shounen) - it progressively creates its plot from recency, and in a linear manner, builds the story along with the plot events occurring. It does not build its story from puzzle pieces of the past, and rarely hints about some unknown big event in the future to happen. For every story arc, it shows you what it wants, and how the story would progress depends on how the characters in that arc make decisions and take actions, and similarly gives out the facts and information when the plot needs to bring them up. Simple and straightforward - the standard way of storytelling for shounen, I believe. While this is commendable as it makes the story very comprehensible and understandable, I feel that this way of storytelling is challenging because of two things. First is that it risks having an underdevelopment of the plot, like some crucial pieces of events may be disregarded and unexploited, and some details may be trivialized. Moreover, since this kind of storytelling needs to be divided into arcs, the flow of story transition must be coherent and logical; two adjacent yet separate story arcs need to make sense and should not feel forced because the straightforward way of presenting the story makes it hard to proceed to another story arc without compromising the fluidity and without changing the style of storytelling. These two problems are visible in most shounen anime with the same formula as HxH, which is why I really do not enjoy these kinds of shows really much - not to mention my preference to anime plot with a lot of foreshadowing and hinting (screw SAO, I love it for so many unknown reasons).

Guess what? HxH had me interested and hooked the entire time I was dealing with the "straightforward" plot building. The plot, which I mentioned to be risked of getting underdeveloped, was totally developed to the best it can - the key is to make each story arc count and conceptualize it like it was the last thing the story writer would make in his entire life. Each story arc had a lot of shit going on; the arcs definitely aren't boring, they were literally amazing. Each arc was well-thought of, and completely concluded with a blast. The adventure element was definitely there, the plot for each arc forces the characters to involve themselves with the story; it wasn't stagnant. The characters were absolutely memorable and realistic, I almost wanted to become a pro Hunter myself. In addition, what complements well with the straightforward way of storytelling is the vivid and detailed narration of what is currently going on, which started and was emphasized in the later arcs. It was new to me, but it was able to exhaustively provide logical and intelligent explanations to so many stuff, like battle strategies and techniques (the battles are so EPIC), reflective thinking of the characters and the like. What I also liked about it is that it gave the viewer an insight as to what is going on in the head of the other seemingly unimportant characters, making me relate more to them and expanding character development a whole lot better. It is also worth mentioning how HxH discussed heavily different real-life themes like friendship, politics, religion, philosophical issues and the like. It proves how HxH desires to expand its world and covered a lot of different themes imaginable. Moreover, while I said that there is a possible difficulty of making the story logical and coherent and fluid as possible, I felt that the story transition from one arc to another was absolutely amazing, it didn't feel like it was forced for the heck of it. The thing with HxH is that the conclusion of each preceding story arc introduces a problem which of course is related with the preceding story arc, but at the same time becomes a great introduction for the succeeding story arc, without giving the impression of forcing the story and while sticking to the original way of storytelling.

Another interesting thing I want to point out is that aside from the absolute extremes in the world of HxH, the series also discussed "gray areas" in certain matters. Protagonists are not entirely for the "justice of humanity and saving the world crap", instead they present real personal motivations and intentions they need to achieve, and I'm not talking about just fulfilling their long-held dreams; they also include stuff as revenge and other gray areas of real life. In the same manner, antagonists have their own intentions of doing evil actions, and it is literally amazing for HxH to discuss how these villains reflect on their own doings; it gives the viewer more avenues of knowing more of their true character, thus creating more attachment to these villains. Most of these are so badass I almost felt sympathy for them or I almost felt that their actions are justified. Then there are those of pure evil, it annoys me so damn much. Of course these things are present in so many other anime, typical from those with serious and seinen themes, but I feel that it is astounding coming from a shounen, because even if it seemed like it deviates from the typical shounen formula, it surprisingly complemented by making the storytelling more effective and more realistic, without compromising what lies best in a shounen.

The animation is also literally amazing in my opinion, each important character had outstanding designs and outfits, especially the villains in my opinion. The fight scenes were some of the best I've ever seen. What also amazed me more is the fact that HxH didn't stick with the typical "when I shout or I reflect about my struggles I get stronger" of many other shounen. Because as much as I wanted to appreciate the feels, I think it's still bullshit to some extent. The battles of HxH weren't anything like that, everything was based on careful planning and judgment of those involved, and they were a blast. The soundtracks were also a masterpiece in my opinion, I kept finishing them for every episode; they were damn memorable.

Why was HxH a 9 instead of a 10? It was a matter of preference, I'd say. The kind of story building HxH offered wasn't really my thing, but they did it pretty well. There were also some arcs that were kinda slowly paced to me, although how those parts ended were satisfying as fuck. There were also some parts left hanging, and I expected so much from the conclusion of those details. Exceeding expectations of an average viewer and falling short on minor details, it definitely deserves a good well-earned 9.

*insert some memorable HxH quote here because it apparently sounds appealing as a conclusion*
FUCK IT. I LOVE HUNTER X HUNTER.