Review of Hunter x Hunter

This is going to be My first review on myanimelist, and boy am I going to review a good one. If you don't consider to agree with my opinion, then that's totally fine. This review will try to stay spoiler-free. Also I haven't watched Hunter x Hunter in two years so please consider correcting me on any mistakes I make. Story: The genres of HxH are diverse from action, to adventure, psychological, and politics are also involved. Without spoiling too much, Hunter x Hunter is about a young boy called Gon, he was abandoned by his father, Ging. He left Gon at his Aunt's house,Mito. After Gon found out that his father had left him at a very young age, he decides to find his Father, and question as to why did he leave his son to become a hunter. Gon in the beginning of the show is only 12 I believe. This type of story might seem a little childish or simple however as the story progresses it becomes much more complex and intense. I consider the story to be one of HxH strongest points. Most Arcs of HxH are extremely well written and are probably one of the best in the shonen genre. Hunter x Hunter offers some of the most well developed and written characters, engaging stories, and excellent world building. All of this makes the viewer very engaged from my experiences. Togashi is an absolute genius when it comes to writing and what he has accomplished blows my mind. The first arc of HxH may start of as a classic shonen vibe which is not necessarily bad but nothing new or unique. The story might take a couple of episodes to start but in my eyes it's worth it. The first arc is an Hunter exam where applicants take part in the hunter exam. Which is like a classic for a shonen anime. The series can easily shift the tone from light hearted to dark and scary. For example the yorknew arc where the story of Hunter x Hunter really excels and can be considered to be as good as the chimera ant arc. All of the arcs of HxH are connected and this makes it feel like an adventure. The yorknew arc shows the real dangers of the world in Hunter x Hunter and takes a deeper look into thriller. One of the themes of The yorknew arcs is revenge, Kurapika one of the main characters is the main role of this arc. The chimera ant arc of Hunter x Hunter is definitely seinen for it's extremely dark mood, the tone of the story shifts from light hearted and fun to extremely dark from the arc right before it. This arc shows how brutal and dark Hunter x Hunter can be. Gon experiences despair and emotions in this arc like he has never done before. This arc also shows some of the best narrative storytelling and character development shonen anime has ever seen. Togashi also has foreshadowed many events (which if I explain would be considered spoilers but they are incredible.) Another thing so great about HxH is how togashi observes a typical shonen anime and then takes his own unique formula upon it. . What I mean by this is is take for example the main character of Hunter x Hunter, Gon. If you take a look at many other shonen anime main protagonist, i'm just going to name a few. Goku, Naruto, Luffy, Natsu, Ichigo, they all have some type of powers gifted to them or some sort of special ability. Goku was born as a powerful saiyan, Luffy has the devil fruit powers, Naruto has the nine tails chakra, and his father was extremely talented, also his mother was a jinchuriki. Natsu was the son of a dragon. Ichigo had supernatural powers, the writers wanted these heroes to be able to start winning from episode one. but if you take a look at Gon, he is a somewhat normal 12 year old at least in the shonen genre, he isn't gifted with powers or neither he was given some, but he still excels in strength, speed, and stamina, he's just not given any powers. Normally a shonen protagonist would usually win 90% of the times but in Gon's case he most likely only wins 50% of the time. Gon doesn't have to be the strongest character in Hunter x Hunter and he definitely isn't. Gon isn't trying to change the world for the better or to save the world, he's just a normal boy. Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with that. There are moments when Gon feels sad or scared. He isn't always the bright protagonist and having a right mindset throughout the series. This is especially evident in the Chimera ant arc. But through all of this we see Gon trying to tackle problems in his own unique way. Gon doesn't need to win all the time which 90% of other shonen animes do. The story is trying tell you about friendship and the characters, the journey which gon takes, but also about loss, despair, pain, and how cruel and brutal the world can be. It also goes on to show how not everyone is perfect and people have their breaking points which is shown in Gon in the later part of the show. Because of this it makes you question whether gon is good or bad. Power-Ups which are because of will-power are not existing in the world of Hunter x Hunter. Another deconstruction is the standard you lose, then you train, and then you win, while there is training in Hunter x Hunter, the outcome doesn't always lead to victory, The training is there to further explore into the power system of Hunter x Hunter and improving the skill of the characters which brings me to the next point of Hunter x Hunter, which I included in the story, the power system, Nen. I consider Hunter x Hunter to have the BEST power system in all of anime, because of many reasons. The way togashi formulated the Nen system avoids many problems in shonen anime. I'm going to take chakra as an example. A person who has higher chakra beats someone with lower chakra. the only exception is the eight gates. In Naruto this can only be avoided to a certain extent, if you have a special jutsu. But the problem with this is the author starts contriving 'secret techniques'. But this is basically just a power boost and doesn't make much sense, it's lazy writing. Because of this there is no sensible or reasonable way in order to beat someone with higher chakra. Because of this the hero just ends up becoming overpowered. However the case is different with Nen, With Nen there are restrictions placed. Nen restrictions mean that you can increase your Nen power but there would be constraints. For example if i'm put a restriction, where I'll be able to run twice as fast on a specific day but on the other days I would be twice as slow. So if your condition is stricter then your nen power would increase. The nen system is completely unique to each person even when divided into 6 sub-parts. Having more or less nen power doesn't exactly make you the winner. One part of Nen which is interesting is the user has to consciously concentrate the outputs towards different parts of the body. Nen could be used to strengthen the body, use it as a shield, or use it as some other feature. Even throughout battle you would have to be conscious about controlling your power and switching between offense and defense, misreading the opponent would be fatal even if you have more nen. Nen perfectly demonstrates characterization and progression. If we take a deeper look into the 6 nen types which are Enhancement, transmutation, conjuration, specialization, Manipulation, and emmision. Enhancements for example, Gon is simple and finds thrill in fighting, his move jan-jan-ken which is where he either uses a rock, a paper, or scissors, this reflects gon's personality. This makes fights in hunter x hunter even more enjoyable and unpredictable.This is a summary of Nen but more could be explained, there are many videos on youtube which you can view. Hunter x Hunter also has topnotch world building, Gon and killua visit different countries, each area has a distinct setting, even a country representing the state of North-Korea, the world building may not be as extensive as say one piece, but every place they visit contributes to the plot. One thing about HxH world building which could be explained more is to how gon and killua are able to run really fast and run at supersonic speeds but Normal humans don't seem to be able to even run close to as fast as Gon and killua to. That's just my complaint interms of storybuilding. I guess this is enough for story, let's move to animation/Art.

Art/Animation: Hunter x Hunter has spectacular art, for a long running shonen series, while it isn't ufotable quality animation or kyoto animation. madhouse studios produces consistent animation for the entirety of hunter x hunter the animation/art does not suffer and does not downgrade. The fight scenes in Hunter x Hunter are a joy to watch and the choreography works well, the camera movement is good, and shots are framed well. Key frames are extremely accurate and overall it's definitely 9/10. Thankfully madhouse studios has been in the business for years and they had talented staff members working for Hunter x Hunter. I don't really have much to say in terms of animation and art other then really good, but the animation was good when it really needed to be, which was during fights and other important scenes. Animation during parts with heavy dialogue were still good but wouldn't say it to be as impressive as the fights.

Sound/ost: Hunter x Hunter for the sound effects was spot-on for the entirety of the show. Hunter x Hunter's ost started of decent, but as the story progressed it became much better especially during the chimera ant arc. The ost's for the most part perfectly fit to the scene shown. Fight scenes would usually have ost's which match the scene as well as emotional scenes, there really isn't much to complain in terms of sound and soundtracks for Hunter x Hunter. Voice actors for the most part were impressive with exceptions for a few characters. I would prefer the sub over the dub, the sub feels much better than the dub and the sub has some impressive scenes. Overall it definitely deserves a 9/10 for me.

Characters: Hunter x Hunter's characters rival it's story writing and it has an exceptional cast. Togashi knows how to develop and write a character, the villains of Hunter x Hunter are exceptional and some of the best as well, which I would explain later. Hunter x Hunter starts with four main characters, Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio. These characters are interesting and they are well written, Gon, killua, and Kurapika all have excellent character development. Killua has an interesting backstory and so does Kurapika, however nothing much is revealed about Leorio and he gets the least screen time amongst these four. Throughout the series you are introduced to a wide range of characters who all are diverse and have different personalities, no two characters feel the same. Gon may seem like a typical shonen protagonist but as the story progresses he starts to do things which may seem not so hero like, and Gon isn't there to always save someone, he does help someone if it interests or benefits him, Killua develops as a character from being a cold-killing assassin to finding his self-worth. Kurapika is ought to seek revenge from the phantoum troupe because of the murder of his clan. Now onto the villians, the villians in HxH are some of the greatest villians in anime, no two villains would feel like the same and are distinct from one another. and one of the greatest villian groups, the Phantoum Troupe. These villains are highly skilled and they feel like a team, what I mean by that is they care for one another, unlike other shows where if you're weak i'm going to kill you. It goes on to show you how human the phantoum troupe is, they share similar philosophies. This shows that the phantoum troupe are people, and are not evil just because they are, it's how they're living their life. In HxH no person is 100% bad and certainly no person is 100 percent good either, this creates a grey line between good and bad, it's not about a hero saving the day rather a journey for Gon. The Chimera ant arc also features some excellent characters such as Meruem, Meruem is a rather complex character, since he was born he was known as the ant king. But his character develops in a sense of not as a king but as an individual with his own purpose, something beyond world dominance. His character development was slow and gradual. This made it convincing. There's more to him to explain but that would be considered as spoilers. Komugi is also introduced as a character who interacts with meruem, It also takes a deeper look into Netero, the hunter chairman. And explains his character. Many other cast of characters are also there with interesting personalities.Overall the characters of Hunter x Hunter definitely deserve 10/10

There are some thing in which the 2011 anime adaptation from Madhouse failed to do and could be improved upon, the first couple of episodes are definitely hard to get into, the tone seems extremely light and childish, but it improves over the course of many episodes, If you're going to watch Hunter x Hunter for intense fights and amazing action then you're kind of in the wrong place, while Hunter x Hunter does have some intense fights and many of them actually, it's more of the thinking and strategic fights over the only physical strength. You would be left disappointed if you consider Hunter x Hunter to have fights like Dragon ball Z. That's not how fights are done in Hunter x Hunter. The chimera ant arc also has some flaws, generally the pacing from episode 89-98 is somewhat poor, and episode 115 also has poor pacing, overall the pacing of the chimera ant arc is relatively slow but it pays off in the end. Togashi's writing during the middle of the Chimera ant arc is poorly paced, other than that the arc is one of the best anime has to offer. Some people may not like the chimera ant arc due to the pacing and how the episodes are narrative heavy but in the end it's what suits your taste. In episode 111 where the Climax of the chimera ant arc happens, you would think for it to be action heavy but it's more of a psychological path. That doesn't mean it's bad, spectacular fights still happen but not as much as you would think. But after episode 118 narration slowly decreases and episodes return to 'normal'. If you're not into the narrative method. Hunter x Hunter may not be for everyone and every show should be judged on your opinion, I would consider Hunter x Hunter to be one of the greatest shows of all time.

Overall I would consider this to be one of the greatest shows and togashi is an absolute genius for creating this masterpiece of a show.

Story: 10
Art:9 (Great for the most part but nothing on ufotable level)
Sound: 9 (average and mediocre during the start but progressively gets better)
character:10
enjoyment:10
Overall:10 (Definitely a must watch for me if you really like the shonen genre)