Review of Hunter x Hunter

I'm not a big shonen follower. I dislike long anime. Yet Hunter x Hunter, from the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho, managed to sneak its way into my top 5 anime of all time. Imagine a shonen series where the main character, a young boy, does NOT start out as a complete idiot who knows nothing trying to be the best trainer/ ninja/ fighter in the whole wide world. Our hero, Gon, from the first episode is already skilled, patient and persistant. He is young, boyish and naive but never annoyingly so. And his aim, reflecting his character, is pure and simple; he wants tomeet his father, who he's never met.

Rather than beginning with long boring training scenes, Hunter x Hunter gets straight to the point and starts with the action filled Hunter's Exam. Well, it does take a few episodes to really get there, but as other reviewers have suggested, please give this series a chance through the first few, at least five episodes. Yes, the artwork is a bit dated and it's a bit cheesy and Gon makes animal friends. Skip the first few eps if you must. The real treat is coming.

The Hunter exam is not like anything you've ever taken at school before. And it certainly doesn't rely overmuch on simple muscle or physical strength. So you're not going to see boys beating each other up, moving on to the next bad guy, lather rinse repeat, oh no.

The Hunter Exam is about testing it's contestants, psychologically and physically. It forces them to form friendships to complete certain tasks, then pits everyone against each other, about giving choices where each choice is more deadly than the last and choosing not to choose is a gamble. Some episodes have a lot, and I mean a lot of clever dialogue and talking, while others are more action based. It's overall quite a smart series, and rather dark; people die (and stay dead) and good doesn't always triumph. In fact, some of the most morally ambiguous people and situations you may ever encounter take place in this series.

One of Hunter x Hunter's strong points is it's cast of characters. Not only do our main 4 boys have strong, three-dimensional personalities but so does every other character on the show, from old family friends who appear for a few episodes or recurring characters that appear ever so often.

We have Killua, the fan favorite, a white haired, sometimes angsty teenaged boy who is actually an assassin from a big, famed, filthy rich family of assassins. (Just wait till you meet his family). Killua is blunt and sarcastic, basically Gon's foil.

Kurapica, my favorite character, is another story. Aloof, proud, collected, highly intelligent and harboring plenty of dark secrets, Kurapica is the brains of the operation, getting them out of plenty of tight spots where muscle just doesn't cut it. But as you soon find out, it's not that he lacks muscle or fighting skill.

And then we have...Leorio. At first glance you may wonder why he's really even there. He spends most of the series lagging a bit behind his younger friends.He's really just an average guy and provides a lot of the series humor. Though some people consider him to be an extra addition that doesn't make sense, I think the series just wouldn't be the same without him. Somewhere in the midst of all the insanity this average guy barely keeping up with them just works.

Really it's the characters that pull this series together, from the ever talkative ninja, to the Hunter Examiner without a mouth (who nevertheless talks a plenty), to the evil Hisoka who delights in finding those challenging enough to kill to the deranged family of assassins. Everywhere you turn is a new, interesting character, some of them more unique and original than many main characters in other series.

So overall, if you're looking for a solid anime that isn't regularly interrupted by filler, features great battles, great characters, dark, gritty artwork and smooth animation then Hunter x Hunter is for you.