Review of Hunter x Hunter

In my opinion, this anime started out good, became great midway through and then slowly fell off the wagon. The reason for that is that the aspects that interested me the most were slowly left behind after the Phantom Troupe arc and totally forgotten during the Chimera Ant Arc (which I know many people love, but drove me into madness with boredom). I admit that I am a sucker for origin stories. I am the kind of person that almost always enjoys the first season over the others. Maybe it's because by the time follow up seasons show up I have built up my expectations basedon the first one or maybe I simply like the portion of the story where I get to meet the characters, but I always find myself being more harsh on follow up seasons than the first one. Therefore, I was super surprised when I didn't truly fell in love with HXH until the Phantom Troupe Arc.

I liked the first couple of arcs but I wasn't obsessively binging like I do with most of my anime. It wasn't until the Phantom Troupe Arc that I became obsessed. And, sadly, nothing afterwards managed to capture the same magic for me. Honestly, if it wasn't for that arc and my hope of getting that feeling once again, I would have probably DNFd this series. Don't get me wrong, Greed Island was good and Chimera Ant's had some amazing episodes between all the slugfest, but it all just paled in comparison with the Phantom Troupe Arc for me.

Overall, I think this anime has some of the BEST potential out there. The world is incredibly interesting and it has some amazing characters. However, I din't like most of the execution. Especially in the last few arcs, there's way too much time spent narrating & over-explaining what's happening, instead of just showing the viewer. I think it would benefit a lot from trusting more in the viewers ability to understand what's happening. This will improve the pacing of the show and allow the viewer a sense of accomplishment at figuring out the world for themselves.

Overall, for me, most of this anime was just simply a lot of good episodes with a few great ones in between with the exception of the Phantom Troupe Arc.

I would still recommend it because it's NOT bad by any means. It is a good watching experience, just not a mind blowing one.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the Chimera Ant arc, I would have rated it higher.