Review of Hunter x Hunter

First off, this review has spoilers. HxH was the second shounen I've ever seen. I initially watched it because I got so many recommendations saying this was the "model shounen" and that it was really good, albeit long. After taking about a month to finish this show, I can confirm the statements that it is a very good show. You've probably read many reviews going over its, pros, so in this review I'll try to highlight some cons I felt as well. I'm going to be completely honest and say that the statement: "HxH gets better as it goes" is crap. Also, I really believe the chimera antarc is overhyped. You know that one arc everyone seems to drool over? It's also the longest one in the whole show, stretching about 50 episodes if I'm not mistaken.

If I were to give the ratings across each arc in the story, I would give it as follows:

Hunter Exam 10/10
Zoldyck Family 10/10
Heavens Arena 8/10
Yorknew City 9/10
Greed Island 10/10
Chimera Ant 8/10
Chariman Election 6/10

I think HxH started off with a bang. I was instantly addicted, and for the first two arcs, I couldn't stop watching. You get introduced to the energetic Gon, scheming Leorio, and thoughtful Kurapika, and they just seem to conquer everything in front of them. Then we meet Killua, who seems to mesh really well with the trio. He has his own problems eventually get solved due to the tight friendship they all share. There goes the first two arcs.

However once I reached Heavens Arena arc, I feel like it kinda slowed down. I wasn't as hyped up to watch the next epsiode due to the fact that Kurapika and Leorio had left. Also, it kinda seemed pointless. There was no reason they were there other than to earn money and to train, but there just didn't seem to be the same intensity of an end goal that the first two arcs contained. However, I think the fight scenes in Heavens Arena were very well made and it served as a really good way to demonstrate how Gon and Killua trained for their powers, as well as develop Hisoka as a character.

Then comes Yorknew. Yorknew City was also a good arc in my opinion. The duo of Gon and Killua once against meet Leorio, and in this arc we are introduced to the Spiders, who seem unbeatable at first but slowly, the main characters whittle down the resistance and eventually Kurapika gets his revenge. I thought this was very well made, because Kurapika doesn't kill all of them. He gets his revenge in a very subtle way, which I think is clever on the part of the writers. One thing I didn't like however, was that it seemed a little overhyped for what it delivered. For isntance, Kurapika makes a deal with Hisoka to give information, in exchange for information. However, Hisoka doesn't really do anything during this arc. I was expecting a lot more out of this "deal" but nothing really occurred and it kinda disappointed me.

Now for my favorite arc, Greed Island. I love how its almost a present from Ging to Gon, and the game itself kinda represents that pure hunter spirit, where Gon learns more about why Ging wanted to become a hunter. I loved the action scenes and the whole issue with the Bomber, (and also how Gon defeats him). Also, who doesn't like Bisky? Not much to be said about this one, its just so unique compared to all the other arcs and very well done.

Now comes Chimera Ant. I felt like the buildup was very well done, with the queen slowly creating more and more dangerous creatures until we have these powerful monsters that are masters of Nen. I liked that. However, I don't like how in this arc we are delayed for such a long time. I think the arc could have been 20 episodes shorter had all the scenes in which nothing important happened got removed. For instance, there was a moment I could remember where I was watching 5 episodes in a row and all of them were just Gon's group sitting outside Meruem's castle, waiting for a moment to get in, which obviously was very boring to watch.

In addition, why can't Kurapika and Leorio get in on this arc in some way? They are main characters right? Like I don't hate Knuckle or Palm or Shoot, but I feel like in this arc they introduced way too many new characters instead of developing the ones that we have already spent so much time with. And all these new characters were only developed shallowly, instead of only a few characters being developed very well.

But I do like how the arc ends, and how there isn't just a clear happy ending.

Finally, Chariman Election. Man this was just confusing. I really don't like how they just spat out the existence of Alluka like we as viewers were supposed to notice that the first time. Then all of a sudden, Gon is magically healed for no reason other than that Alluka just happened to exist in the world. I really don't like it when anime does this, when there's just a magical factor that solves everything for no reason. This was my main issue with the last arc, also I felt like the chariman election was a little confusing, with its funky system and the new characters that are introduced for no reason whatsoever. The whole time while watching this arc, I was just wondering when Gon would finally meet Ging, and how Kurapika and Leorio were doing. Honestly I feel like this arc could've just been removed, the show is better without it.

Overall, my main issue with the show is that it develops these 4 main characters so well in the first half, but fails to deliver on that promise by completely neglecting two of them (Kurapika and Leorio) and instead introducing so many irrelevant minor characters that personally as a viewer, I don't care about. Like to put it into perspective, the last time a viewer saw Kurapika, who by the way was my favorite character, was in Yorknew City. Like, the 3rd out of 7 arcs. And you call him a main character? Same with Leorio, if we don't count the few moments we see him in the last arc. It just sucks that two out of the four characters aren't really there for half the show, and are instead replaced with random characters that come out of nowhere. Like, instead of having Knuckle and Shoot fight with Gon and Killua during the Chimera Ant arc, how sick would it be to have those two be Kurapika and Leorio? Like there would just be this feeling of continuity that the show seems to miss when it focuses for so long on only Gon and Killua.

Nevertheless, still would recommend. Like I said, I focused a little bit more on the cons since you've probably heard lots of the pros. HxH is long, but its worth a shot especially if you like this genre.

Thanks for reading!