Review of Hunter x Hunter

I thought I was missing something. So I watched HxH through the end. That time is gone now. It reminds me of a restaurant that has amazing reviews online, smells good when you first walk in, and you're excited to order. The waiter describes their offerings in agonizing details: the farm the vegetables come from, the back story of the butcher that prepared the meat, the history of the ocean where the seafood was sourced, the style of food prep, - while your stomach growls for something/anything to eat. You're curious about certain menu items and you get told that they are all out ofthem. Rather than let you order after the monologue about the food, the waiter tells you what you'll be eating and walks away quickly. There are several courses which take way too long to arrive and the meager portions of food are concealed amidst inedible decoratives on the plate. Some courses aren't so bad but lack enough seasoning/flavor to justify the wait. Some courses are a completely different flavor profile from the previous. Other courses are much larger than the rest for reasons that don't make much sense while you're attempting to eat it, finding mostly gristle, fat, and filler (looking at you Chimera Ant). One course appears burnt on the outside yet raw on the inside in a misguided attempt at creating something a fine dining experience. At the end of the meal, you're still hungry. You wish you had instead gone with your gut and left much earlier. You start to question if you came to the restaurant on a bad day, if the service was off causing your expectations to be off as well, or if you're just in the lone minority that does not think it lives up to the hype.

That is me when it comes to HxH. I stuck with it because I assumed (by the reviews) it would get better. It did not. In fact, for me it progressively got worse, mired down by its own attempts at creating a vast universe full of banal stories and predictable characters that survive more than they should (or whose appearance makes you question their purpose entirely). I cannot for the life of me understand why so many review it SO highly, continuously. It is both overdeveloped and underdeveloped at the same time. It has action but not enough. It's silly but not silly enough. It's dark but not dark enough.

For me, I should have managed my expectations. There were a lot of parallels to other shounens. The start of the series/Hunter Exam arc is probably the reason I stuck around. Gon gives Naruto/Luffy "I want to be #1!", vibes. I liked a handful of characters introductions and it had an old school anime feel with more darkness to it. However when I think about many old school anime that I've rewatched in the past few years, I don't enjoy them now nearly as my expectations for story, art, and action have changed. The art is fine. The action is super "OK". Once the chi elements began to come into play, the story shifts into more supernatural/spiritual elements. While not inherently bad, it changes the flavor of the story and it starts to feel forced.

HxH goes into extensive details and storylines in a way that is continually anticlimactic for me. There is so much exposition at the cost of action and story development. I am meant to care or be interested in storylines, characters, and plots that are underutilized, under/overpowered, and under-developed. What's worse is that some of what could be its best material takes place off-screen (oh Kurapika....).

Many an amine have inspired me to pick up the manga to keep the story going. HxH is the first one that I can say with confidence that will not happen. Although I am curious about the fate of a handful of characters and the resolution of several threads of story, I am not curious enough to subject myself to additional washouts.

If you're looking to kill A LOT of time, are new to anime, need cosplay ideas, and aren't picky about good storytelling, this may be your thing. Best wishes on that adventure.

**say something nice: There's no romance that I can recall- not my thing. There are gender fluid characters - that's always cool to see. In this, Killua, Leorio, and Canary exist - they deserve(d) better though.