Review of Hunter x Hunter
Updated: 26th, march, 2016 Fixed grammar errors, and shortened some details. First of all, I have watched/finished this anime pretty long time ago but this is my first time reviewing it completely. [Have started watching again] Story: Arcs are all good and solid, though I felt that the first arc: Hunter Exam Arc was one of the most interesting and exciting. Few episode side stories are good and the best part is that they give depth to some characters like Killua for example. Story proceeds logically, is continuous and pacing is really good. This is one of the few anime I would recommend for beginners because deep insidethe "typical" and shounen adventure anime there are some real aphorisms, like what is true friendship? What keeps you motivated to sth? Ofc it has the most typical confrontation that is basic in anime is right vs wrong. Hunter x Hunter 2011 is very easy to approach because it doesn't have confusing flashbacks, loose stories and it also has understandable entirety. Story core is simple, but the way they proceed feels natural and pleasing. I had little bit mixed feelings at first in Chimera Ant Arc and last arc, but they ended extremely well. Story is unique and not predictable. Now some things about individual elements in the story: action is thrilling (heart just beats and accelerates). Adventure is intriguing and motivating. I was going to give 9/10 because 148 episodes is a lot, but I decided not to because they just simply did/performed very well in overall.
10/10
Art: Is unique, fresh, memorable and the character design is at a first glance a little bit "childish", but you get used to it pretty fast and start to like it. There are some decent details in cities/houses outside [Little bit of texture], but not considerably. Animation overall is good and throughout the episodes solid, they also describe action scenes pretty well for example speed/velocity lines when someone is punched. Action scenes are the point where they have succeeded the most in my opinion. Most of the characters can easily be recognized who is "bad/evil" and who is "good", not much of exceptions there. I didn't really enjoy scenery because they weren't crisp/detailed enough.
9/10
Sound: Well this is one area I have to tell the truth I was a little bit disappointed when I found out that OP:s are all the same, just animation changing. Yes, it is very good, cheerful and compelling, but I was expecting more cool OP:s like in FMA: Brotherhood. Themes/Osts on the other hand were excellent. I get chills when something tense is happened and ost is playing on the background. [The puppeteer and Riot are one of those]. My favorite theme is the Legend of the martial artist. ED:s are excellent besides ED1 isn't really to my liking... I am strict because of the reason that they didn't even have a 2nd OP and that's why I won't give a "great" score.
8/10
Character: This is the best part of all in this anime. You get background info so it gives nicely depth to characters and their motivation/reason of doing things. Characters are "so-so" balanced because of the genre/type it represents, there are not usually "very" realistic characters with flaws. MC is unusually stupid and here I remember likable or not Luffy from One Piece and Naruto. It's good that they won't show "that" much his stupidity, but I don't understand this thing. Character growth/progression is something where Hunter x Hunter shines, [well except for Gon...]. Killua actually "changes" in the series and acts/thinks differently which is extremely good! Gon on the other hand ... stays as a Gon, but he also shows a small progression/becoming a little bit more mature. Leorio and Kurapika have also character progression, in my opinion more than Gon even though they have less screen time... Like I mentioned earlier, Killua is the one who rocks in character growth! Villains motivations weren't deep and they were pretty confusing or too obvious. So we can say Hisoka was the best villain from the rest because his motivations were at least partly concealed which is better than being overly obvious or confusing.
10/10
Enjoyment: Yet another one I watched/currently watching with my sister who is not an anime fan [Has watched FMA in childhood and we watched later on FMA: Brotherhood]. Very easy anime to approach because no fan service at all! Yes, I would probably watch this for the 3rd time and it would still feel almost as good as it was at first. Of course you know what happens next, but the main thing is how they perform it. My heart was literally beating at one scene in Hunter Exam Arc and the ost just made it beating more!
This anime is very memorable because it is close to my heart. I've found some nice quotes and I like to listen to ED Reason by Yuzu over and over again.
10/10
"You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Because that's where you'll find the things more important than what you want. - Ging Freecs Hunter x Hunter (2011)"
Overall: Solid and well-built story with nice side stories. Depth in characters although not much in villains. Character progression a lot when compared to other anime. Exciting and intriguing anime which deals with humane questions/psychological factors like: Why am I, what I am? [Pretty bad one for example..]. Also includes conventional friendship -factor.
Good ED:s and various osts, but only one OP.
Unique and memorable art which is a little bit playful.
Scenery aren't breathtaking or enjoyable to my mind. Last but not least, easy to approach.
10/10