Anime 11061 Hunter X Hunter 2011 Reviews Filter Check 2

After reading the many overwhelmingly positive reviews about this show, I've decided to write a more realistic, honest and unbiased opinion-driven review about this show.
Many people have said how amazing this show is, and that it's incredibly unique and special. Did I? Well yes......and no.
I am probably one of the very few people that didn't consider this series a masterpiece
Story:

Hunters are people who hunt. Whether it is criminals, treasures, rare creatures or even food, they will hunt it.
We have the story of Gon, a young boy living on Whale island, aspiring to become a hunter like his father, Ging, a legendary hunter who abondoned ... him while he was born to chase his dream. Gon also wants to meet his father and find out why he abondoned him while he was a baby.
To become a hunter, he must pass the dastardly difficult hunter exams, which has an extremely low success rate. Along to way to the exams, he meets a few friends, rivals and a creepy paedo clown, hence beginning the first arc. After that, the concept of nen is introduced, which is basically the life force and magical power source of the series. The concept of nen is actually pretty cool, and it's more complicated to use than some other powers like alchemy and chakra, and it's creativity is often shined upon in fights. However, creativity can destory things aswell, and sometimes nen can be used as an over complicated ability with too much time used to explain different powers.
After the exams, there are arcs all varying in tones and stories and this is where problems arise. Some are dark, and some are light. Some arcs are excellent and others are well......terrible dog shit.
None of the arcs are linked well together and are very disjointed and inconsistent.
Instead of focusing on an overall story, the arcs feel like a bunch of mini-stories building up to a main one, and they focus way too much on the individual arcs instead of an overall story, making it seem like a huge mess. One day, you've got a crime thriller, another one a video game, and then a bug apocalypse. One of the most critcally acclaimed arcs in the series, to me felt like a 60 episode filler, and that experience was not enjoyable at all. It baffles me on how people say it is a masterpiece, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The pacing in this arc was unbelievably bad, as was the horrible story and enemy designs (not the main villains though...they were badass).
The best arc by far is the yorkshin city arc, which doesn't come until episode 40- something.
What's more disappointing is that the story of hunter x hunter had huge potential to look into the life of a hunter, but the hunter aspect of the show is not explored much. The final aspect that irked me about the story was over-using narration to the point of unbearable commenting into the smallest of details of the story complicating itself tenfold.
Now, what was good about the story? A decent amount, actually. In the earlier arcs of the series it felt a lot different from other shonen and the individual arc storytelling was actually working very well, as each arc had a purpose to the overall story. Each arc was well written, well paced and had it's fair share of enjoyable and memorable moments. Also the annoying narrator had much less to say. These earlier arcs were much more interesting and intriguing and didn't bore me the way the later arcs did. Really, the quality of the series started degrading by the end of the yorknew city arc.
The early arcs didn't feel like fillers and contributed something, whereas the later arcs were just random and only inflicted minor things to the story, but did more to the development of the characters, which is not a bad thing, but dragging it out for 60 episodes is a crime in it's own right. Overall the story in hunter hunter varied from being amazing to a total dump. However "the total dump" is considered great by everyone, so you should check up the chimera ant arc anyway, you'll probably like it. What the entire story did well were the fights. All of them had wits and brains and didn't take an entire episode just to charge up an attack or talk for hours before the fight. (*cough* Dbz and naruto.)
However, when nen (the series' fighting system) kicks in the story downgrades hugely.
Instead of focusing on the story, we need to sit through pointless training regiments and stupid explanations of the usage of nen. Not to say i hate the series' fighting system, but in my opinion, it is far too complex and uninteresting and it sacrifices decent storytelling and replaces it with boredom. (Yes, it can be boring- if you've got a short attention span don't bother watching the later arcs)
And last thing I want to note is that the chimera ant arc's story was just horrible and boring- mostly due to its snail pacing.
There were many plot holes (why would the hunter association send two under experienced twelve year olds to get rid of the ants? Why didn't netero just bomb the nest to begin with?)
and unnecessary plot points (the whole episode with gyro for example).
But above all, it was boring, and I fell asleep watching it.

Anyway story: 6/10

Art:
Fluid, colourful and bright, the animation is done very well. The large scale battles were animated gorgeously , and they are a joy to watch.
Charcater design wise is a mixed bag. Most of the characters are designed very well, in contrast to the godawful drawings from the manga. However, the chimera ants' design are absolutely horrendous. I know they are chimeras but while I was watching I thought to myself "Wft is this?!"
The design for the chimera ants isn't the animation studio's fault though. The source material is to blame.
9/10

Sound:

The ost is very good, but they do tend to re use the same tracks often so there can be a lack of variety. They also tend to forget earlier songs later in the series.
Voice acting wise, it's done superbly. All the voice actors blend and personalise their characters excellently and they display a lot of emotion and effort as they voice act their roles.
9/10

Characters:
Now this category is a bit difficult to review and I'll explain why later.
The main cast consists of Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio, but I'll focus mainly on Gon and Killua. There are other characters, ususally most important on seperate arcs and i will talk a little about them.

Gon is a 12 year old kid who is, in my opinion, an improved and more realistic version of kid Goku from the original dragon ball, except for the fact that he's not insanely over-powered.
This makes it a good and bad thing. Good is that he's not only a more unique take on your usual happy go lucky young male protagonist, but that he's got layers of emotion to his character and has a rock-lee type moral to keep on getting stronger and improve yourself. Gon is steroeotypical and non stereotypical at the same time, and he's a badass little kid who strives on becoming stronger. The negative is that....he's still got a lot of the same thing. Gon can have a rather predictable personality. One minute he's a clueless little kid for comic relief and the other, he's crying when someone dies. He also doesn't get much development until much later in the show.
All in all he's a decent take on your normal protagonist.

Killua is the white-haired, slanted-eyed guy that's everyone's favourite and rightfully so. He's got a similar, but ultimately different ego compared to his best friend Gon's and he's got layers to his likable personailty and ferocious alter-ego as a darkness-fueled assassin. He's a cool laid back guy that has some serious skill and family relationships. He can seem pretty harmless at first, but piss him off and he'll tear you to shreads. Killua is the one that powers the dynamic and entertaining relationship between him and Gon, and he's a fan favourite character that definitely deserves it.

Now what about the other main characters? THERE ARE NONE. That's right, don't be fooled by the artwork of the anime with gon,killua and the two others (Kurapika the blond cross-dresser and that tall dude with the glasses and suitcase who is Leorio). The other two guys only make appearances in the first arc and the Yorkshin, and then they are forgotten and become irrelevant which is a huge shame and it offends them as characters.
Basically, there's Gon and Killua and then everyone else. Gon and Killua are the only characters prominent throughout the series.
Well, Kurapika and Leorio could be called "important" side characters so I'll talk a bit about them.
Kurapika is a blond-haired badass who is driven by revenge and everything that Sasuke Uchiha should have been. Because a certain organisation wiped out his clan, he desires to hunt that group down and get his revenge. He's also a complex character with layers to him and he's got one of the coolest powers in the show.
however, he only appears in about 40 episodes, which really sucks. We don't know what happens to him when the series ends either.

Leorio is used as a comic relief guy early in the show and portrayed as a bad tempered, money obsessed businessman but he becomes more likable as the series goes on and develops his character with the little screen time he has. Long story short, he is a pretty entertaining and funny character that's certainly not useless.

The side characters and villains are great in their own right but it still irks me that they don't have much screen time until a certain arc, which is a shame.
Killua's family, the Zoldycks are a group of professional Asassins and most of them have a great and powerful presence and each have a set of their own unique personalities. It's a shame that they don't have much screentime.

Netero, the chairman or, boss of the hunter organisation is a pretty complex guy too- you don't know if he's serious or not, you can't just read him like an open book. He's like master roshi or jiraiya with added insanity.
Bisky is a mentor to Gon and Killua and she's a bit of a tsundere with a fearsome alter-ego.

The characters in the chimera ant arc were truly horrible however.
None of the new hunters in that arc were memorable or likable imho. Moving on.

What makes the series truly shine, however, are the villains. Whether it is a perverted clown, an evil brother, an insanely buffed steroid- addicted wild man, a calm, but truly evil mastermind or a bunch of powerful chimeras, all are interesting and wild in their own way.

7/10 (for the lack of screentime for certain characters)

Enjoyment: it kinda depends. Some episodes have you on the edge of your seat and some may bore you with more dialogue. However, sometimes I did not enjoy the show simply because it tried too hard to over complicate things and over using narration. Other episodes could be amazing, however.
Some episodes were foreshadowing and building up to later events, and they range in quality too.
Edit 16/07/15
I am not saying that hunter x hunter is a bad anime- I'm just saying it's not for me. I thought the first third of it was really good and well written but after the yorknew city arc I just felt it became boring and that it wasn't the same as before.
I know im going to get plenty of hate for bashing the chimera ant arc, but remember it's just my opinion.
But whatever, you can just be a fanboy and laugh at me for giving naruto and fairy tail higher ratings than the "masterpiece" that is hunter x hunter.
6/10

Verdict:
A good show, but it gets some praise that it doesn't deserve- it's pretty damn overrated.
It is a pretty well written (for the most part) show with good themes and morals, with good fights and characters. Yes, it can get dreary and over-complicated at times but you can get over it from the entertaining characters and fights.
A major downside was.....the series didn't connect with me. The story and characters, and the world (which is very extravagant and unique) wasn't very relatable and the entire series is nothing but fighting.
Hell, the characters aren't even relatable if I'm being honest. We don't get to see them being real people if you ask me, we only see them fighting.
If gon and killua and the rest were more fleshed out, the series would definitely be better. They are usually in situations where they have to fight people, it wouldve been nice to see them interacting in normal situations.
Another problem for me was the lack of comic relief in the later arcs, and also in the chimera ant arc the show tried WAAAY too hard to be dark and edgy, it didnt feel natural.
Basically what i'm saying is everything I didn't like about the series was in the chimera ant arc.
If you want a series focused on battles, this may be the one for you.
However, the biggest flaw was the ending.
I know it wasn't the studio's fault but my god it is anti-climactic.
What happened to the zoldycks? Leorio? Kurapika? Gon? Gon's adopted mum? The phantom troupe?
We shall never know.
Hunter x hunter is not a masterpiece, or a special shounen which everyone claims it is, but there are a few things that make it special and differenciate it from other battle anime. Now you may think what i said about the negatives of the show are all bs, but remember, it's my honest opinion.
If I only rated the first 58 episodes of the series I'd gladly give it 8 or 9 out of 10. However, since i need to take all of the arcs into account, my final score is 6/10.


Overall: 6/10 (fair)

Arc ratings

Hunter exam 9/10
Zoldyck family 6.5/10
Heavens arena 7/10
Yorknew city 10/10
Greed island 5/10
Chimera ant 3/10
Chairman election 8/10

Please send feedback if you agree or disagree with my opinion on the show!

**This review will contain spoilers**

Hunter x Hunter (2011) is widely considered by many (along with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) as the peak of action shounen anime and as what every action shounen anime should aspire to be, an opinion I can’t agree with since, to my eyes, it’s not really a completely well-functioning neither a fully satisfying show to begin with. Keep in mind that, obviously, this is only a perspective based on my own experience, as I can still see and understand the reasons why this is such a praised and beloved series by its fans.

I need to start this review with some clarification and ... background. You’d be thinking after reading this that I’m no fan of Hunter x Hunter, but that isn’t the case. (I would definitely not be writing this lengthy review of a TV series if it didn’t mean much to me). Back in 2016, after reading somewhere else how this series was “so much better than Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”, a series I had recently finished and liked, I felt naturally interested to know what the craze about this show about a boy with spiky hair, a green outfit and a fishing rod was about. I knew it had two versions, one from 1999 and one from 2011, but as a lover of the 90s cel-animation aesthetics (and because it had a dub in my own language), I felt inclined to start it with the older one. And it was love at first sight. It’s quite hard to describe with words, but never before I had felt with such intensity a true sense of immersion from the very start. Hunter x Hunter made me understand the true meaning of the word “hook”; I was to my surprise immediately and joyfully dragged into its world thanks to its enormously captivating, mysterious yet realistic nature and atmosphere and its irresistible somber feel, that made me want to genuinely follow this orphan kid in his quest venturing into the unknown, uncovering mysteries, facing all sort of obstacles and meeting friends and foes in his way. And by the time I finished the mind tests in Trick Tower, the feeling of amazement had become so intense that I knew this series had already become an instant all-time favorite. The original version of Hunter x Hunter gave me a watching experience of those you don’t find very often.

I didn’t honestly feel much of all this when starting later the 2011 remake version by Madhouse. I don’t want to sound like an annoying broken record here, but I really have to say that when it comes to the execution of the first four arcs, Nippon Animation’s 1999 adaptation is so immensely superior that it’s hard to understand how can anyone who has seen both of them believe otherwise. This is not just because of the grittier, bleaker art style and the more natural, earthier color palette and shading/lighting -both in characters and backgrounds- that mix together to create a delightfully sinister, realistic atmosphere that makes you feel you are not only a mere external TV watcher, but instead another character inside this wondrous yet wicked world joining the adventures of our cast, a feeling present since minute 1 that expresses at its fullest during the York City arc, where the city is not shown just as a mere setting, but instead as another omnipotent character lurking from the shadows enveloping the whole cast and narrative. It’s neither just because of the much more realistic characters' designs, nor the more mood-setting, emotion-stimulating music, that here is crafted with way more personality and is more than just BGM; it actually plays a key role in establishing the atmospheres, creating the moments and sucking the audience into the world. No, it is also -and mainly- because of the overall direction and this very meticulous, careful attention to small details which are the true responsible of fully submerging the viewer, capturing way better its desired sense of adventure and mystery, cleverly composing and joining together each scene, setting way better the desired moods for the right moments, keeping the viewer at the edge of his seat always wanting to know how the story would unfold, and ultimately bringing a vastly more exciting, warmer and memorable experience.

2011, on the other hand, is just not the same. There’s nothing technically wrong with its execution, but here I didn’t feel the same level of mind, heart and passion poured into its production that I did feel with 1999. For a lack of a better term, the best way I can describe it is that it just feels “okay-ish”. It lacks touch. It feels somewhat insipid. It just does what it has to do, with minimal effort required. Let’s do what we have to do quick so then we can go to party. The art doesn’t feel anything special, and the colors and lighting decisions don’t suit the overall dark, gloomy and realistic nature of the show (the colors are just excessively bright and the edges too clean to be able to create a more human, natural, relatable environment and the rough, outdoor sense of the show; instead, they make it feel more artificial, plastic-looking and videogame-ish. Nothing inherently wrong with this, but it’s just way less charming, haunting and inspiring!). Some of the characters' designs look too goofy for their own sake, especially Illumi, who in 2011 looks more like a ridiculous clown, whereas in 1999 looks actually like the menacing, merciless creepy murderer he is. Music is nowhere as full of personality, mood-stimulating as the one of the older version is and the tracks are barely memorable, some of them painfully generic (especially the boring drums and guitar riffs one, that doesn’t suit well with the tone of the series), though I have to admit that it improves a lot later during the 6th arc. (Although, when “Legend of the Martial Artist” is played like 2 times per episode, it eventually becomes tiring). But much more important than art and music, is the way the story is told, and especially during the Hunter Exam arc, where the differences are more noticeable. I can’t blame those who say that this arc was “nothing special” or “generic, boring shounen introduction”, because it’s precisely this okay-ish execution that makes it feel like that, as opposed to 1999 where it was a complete different story! The older version put much more attention into the introduction and build-up of both the world, the characters and their backstories, there you can see them interact more with each other and you can see how their relationships grow more smoothly, it does a much better job when it comes to establish a genuine sense of mystery and intrigue about what would happen later on and there are many scenes with nice attention to characters’ facial expressions, showing what are they feeling in regards to everything they are living, an approach that here adds a great sense of naturalism. The 2011 version just paled in comparison regarding this, which decided to speed things up by cutting many relevant moments in order to get to the unadapted content as soon as possible.

I initially wanted and I’d love to delve more into this matter by providing and describing concrete scene-by-scene examples, but considering that would have made this review insanely long, I had to dismiss the idea. Nevertheless, I think my point is clear, and these comparisons can be found with great detail in many other places for anyone interested. All I’m going to add here is that it saddens me the little love and attention Nippon Animation’s adaptation gets in comparison to Madhouse’s one, when it isn’t in any case inferior to it despite the latter going further in the story, much less for shallow reasons such as “because old animation”, “because newer version with higher resolution”, or because “it has fillers” (seriously, this idea that 1999 is “dragged by fillers” I don’t know where does it come from, when the filler count is a mere FIVE episodes and guess what: they are GREAT! Since not only they are actually well-integrated into the story, but also they enhance it: in particular, the additional bonus stage in the exam where the examinees have to cooperate together in order to make an abandoned battleship work to save themselves is very good since not only is highly enjoyable and one of the highlights of the arc, but also because it sets a nice contrast with the following test where they would have to hunt each other). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say here that 2011’s version of the earlier parts isn’t worth the watch, it’s just that the 1999 one is in a whole superior level, it’s something else, is way more enjoyable, is the one that understands that there’s a viewer outside the screen eager to live something memorable and the one I would recommend, even if unfinished.

But of course, putting stylistic and directing differences aside, substantially speaking on paper it’s 90% the same thing. Regarding the first four arcs (Hunter Exam – York City), it’s a competent show featuring a well-constructed, well-thought intriguing storyline that flows well from arc to arc, blending well the dark and lighthearted moments, and there’s hardly anything wrong to say about them apart from a somewhat anti-climactic ending for the York City arc that didn’t live up to its full potential, by leaving some things not concluded and postponed for later on. It also features a likeable and relatable, yet complex set of characters each with their own motivations, backstories and well-defined personalities that feel real and contrast nice with each other, with Killua being the most interesting of the bunch as he’s the most mysterious and layered one and rightfully so the one that “steals the show”. (There’s also this debate on whether Gon qualifies as a “typical shounen protagonist” or not, which I will not address here since, typical or not, he is a good character anyway). With the exception of ¼ of the main cast (Leorio), all of its members receive a fair share of attention and/or development at some point. The set of antagonists is also good with the Genei Ryodan/Phantom Troupe members being the highlight, who are more than just bad guys who want to do bad things because villains and feel real with good motivations, distinctive personalities and backstories as well. Finally, it features a complex power system (nen) that allows creative fighting (though there’s nothing inherently wrong with just power levels and brute strength, by the way). I don’t want to delve further here since all these elements have already been described better in other reviews.

However, by the time the 5th arc of the show -Greed Island- starts, where Gon and Killua would participate in a game Ging had created and would train their nen abilities, the first real problems arise when part of the “magic” is gone; the series starts to feel quite different by the introduction of a straight fantasy and scifi-ish vibe with the whole getting inside a video game phenomenon (even if later it’s explained that it wasn’t really that) which felt out-of-place when remembering the fairly realistic, natural setting and what I like to call a warm “wood and stone” vibe that had characterized the show so far and which caused the audience to feel a little uneasy. The fantasy elements of the show, which so far had been limited to just some special, quirky abilities of the nen users and some weird creatures in the beginning, are taken to an extreme here when nen starts becoming the excuse for all kinds of unimaginable situations to happen, like building up not only an entire island out of nowhere, but also its inhabitants (!), materializing from nowhere any type of object just by spelling its name, getting teleported and summoning an angel that would out of nowhere regenerate a body part. It was in this arc where it became evident that Hunter x Hunter didn’t have the intentions to keep its original concept the viewer had stuck its mind to and had invested its expectations. Nonetheless, these feelings of strangeness still lay within tolerable boundaries and were nowhere as strong as the ones the next arc in the series would give, an arc which in my opinion, consists in Hunter x Hunter’s fatal error, the lethal wound from which it would never recover and the main reason explaining its non-functioning condition.

And here’s where I wanted to get.

The Chimera Ants arc. The famous Chimera Ants arc. Regarded by many as the so-called “best arc in shounen anime”, the 6th and longest arc in the series is without a question the fan-favorite one, the one that explains most of its praise, and the reason why it places so high in anime online rankings. However, to my eyes (and fully aware I’m in the minority here) the story is quite the opposite: it’s actually the main reason why I think Hunter x Hunter (2011) is NOT really a series that works well, why it frustratingly disappoints and why I had to sadly withdraw from this Hunting party after seeing the direction it had taken. And this is not because “it drags on too long” or because of the “heavy, annoying use of narration”, which are the two most common criticisms people make towards it (and that to my eyes, are not problems at all), but rather because this arc…has absolutely nothing to do with anything that had been shown before. It’s a total momentum breaker, a complete deviation from the premise that had been developing so far, that established an annoying sense of discontinuity thanks to a sudden, unannounced change in focus, making the audience ask itself: “what is this? This is not what I was watching!”. This can be better seen and understood by making a recap of all the previous arcs. If we consider each arc of the series as a chapter of a book, this is, in brief, how the Hunter x Hunter story was progressing:

• Chapter 1: A boy, motivated to find his dad that had abandoned him since birth, leaves his home and must complete a famous, dangerous exam as the 1st step, where he would also meet his first real friends. He passes it.
• Chapter 2: After an unfortunate event towards the end of said exam, he goes to rescue from his wicked family one of those recently met friends, since he wants to be with him and wants him to join him in his journey. He succeeds.
• Chapter 3: The two boys, now together, realize that, in order to be able to survive alone in their quest, they need money, so they go to a place where they think they can make a lot of it quickly. They make it, and then they decide to take a break and return to the boy’s home to rest a bit and evaluate what to do next, where, now with Hunter’s license in hand, they discover the next clue to find dad.
• Chapter 4: The two boys travel to the city where they need to be at to find the next clue, and where also one of the other friends they met in the Hunter exam is going to solve his own issues.
• Chapter 5: The two boys participate in a game that, if won, would put them one step closer of dad. They win it, which leads them to meet a close friend of him that could give them valuable information regarding his whereabouts and/or could give them hints regarding what to do next in their journey.
• Chapter 6: The two boys instead, decide to join a mission to confront an invasion of overpowered beasts that threaten the world.

Huh? This “6th chapter” I’ve just described, as it can clearly be noticed, has little to just no relation with the five previous ones, and constitutes a drastic rupture in the flow of the story. In one minute, it is about a boy who was in his quest to find his father and in the next one, about the same boy and his best friend fighting and stopping from dominating the world powerful beasts that -narratively speaking- come out of nowhere. There is no natural continuity here; the arc is entirely a forced detour from the street in which the plot had been driving so far which hadn’t even been previously signaled at all (foreshadowing), inevitably catching the audience off-guard since there was just no way it could see it coming and getting prepared for it. In other words: the Chimera Ants arc simply pops-up in the middle of an unconcluded story, interrupting the natural flow of the show’s overall narrative, changing both its focus and vibe overnight and forcing the audience to now pay attention to something else completely unrelated to what it had invested both its interest and time in. It almost feels like the magical card Gon uses at the end of Greed Island arc teleports us to an entire different show! No offense to anyone here, but it really makes me wonder if all those who didn’t have any problem with this were actually caring about the story they were watching or not.

It doesn’t help the fact that the transition to its development is not even credible (in which case its inclusion would have been at least more acceptable). Gon and Killua, since the ants issue clearly wasn’t something related to their dad-finding quest and wasn’t any type of “next stage” he had prepared for him like the Greed Island game was, never had any believable reasons to join Kite’s biological investigation and to get involved in it from the beginning, even more when considering that it’s not as if anyone had asked or obliged them to do so or they never really had an option. After spending 75 episodes worth of sacrifice, pain and struggle, facing and overcoming all sort of complicated obstacles to find his dad… why would exactly Gon after all this, have any real intentions to embark himself into another different mission that just never had anything to do with him (and dragging Killua in the process, since he just follows him anywhere he goes) and was not going to help him to fulfill his initial real objective? His attitude made no sense, and his curious voluntary decision to join Kite’s team was nothing but an artifice on the part of the author to build the (artificial) bridge among arcs he needed to be able to now develop a story that had nothing to do with anything he had written before. (Of course, it’s not as if Gon’s sudden change of priorities couldn’t be possible, it’s just that, for narrative purposes, and from an audience standpoint, it was not believable). And it is precisely this lack of a believable or justifiable link between the motivations of the protagonists and the recently emerged biological threat which gives the audience few to no reasons to feel genuinely interested in it, much less when it had been already interested in another conflict/thread beforehand that hadn’t even been concluded yet. If there are no reasons why our protagonists should be caring about this biological anomaly, the new characters it introduces and their stories, then why the audience should?

Some people argue that this isn’t really an issue because there was never a “main story” in Hunter x Hunter to begin with, that it was instead always just “Gon and friends exploring the world”; a collection of stories with different purposes and tones with the protagonists as the only constants, and that this arc was just one of the many different quests, a statement I fully disagree with. Hunter x Hunter was never about random adventuring. Here we had a clear, well-defined goal from the start. Moreover (and unlike some other battle shounens), the protagonist was actually and actively doing actions for the achievement of that goal since day 1. It was this goal the common thread that was unifying all the previous arcs. How can it be said then that there was never any overarching story? There was a clear direction here, and the Chimera Ants arc opted to deviate from it. Others say that Gon didn’t dismiss his search for dad, and just decided to follow Kite because he was well-respected by him. This could be true, but we as an audience, we expected him to continue with what he had been doing so far because we were invested in THAT struggle, yet the show, in the form of Gon’s decision, asked us to now be invested in something else and to forget for a (not precisely short) moment of the main reasons we were following the show. The whole arc then for these reasons felt ultimately like a gigantic filler arc, except that it wasn’t! It’s quite funny and curious to notice how the arc that was sold as the “main dish” or the “main attraction” of the series, and the one the fanbase favorites the most, actually was the one with the least amount of relevance and that least had to do with its premise!

But what was really wrong with this? Why is it really bothering? Not only because of the continuity break and sudden focus-change I mentioned earlier, but in reality because the “DNA” of the show is suddenly artificially mutated into something else here. In concrete terms, with the forced inclusion of this arc, Hunter x Hunter is transformed (at least the way I see it) into what it never really was: a straight battle shounen about fighters and fights. Gon and Killua are now these full-time, “badass” super-warriors with cool superpowers that feel the duty to stop evil creatures from doing damage to the world, and Hunter x Hunter, once a series about a boy in his quest to find his dad, is now a series about fighting powerful enemies and saving the Earth.

Like…seriously. Is this the reason why the audience signs up for in the beginning of the show when it knows nothing about it? Does the audience expect to watch another Dragon Ball Z with large-scale battles, powerful enemies that threaten the world and warriors who confront them when it’s watching the first arcs, when it was all about fairly normal people living adventures and trying to accomplish simple, mundane goals? I don’t think so. The C.A. arc makes Hunter x Hunter feel like a completely different series from what it had been and it is both disappointing and unsettling to notice. And while it’s true that the show had featured some (scattered) fights earlier, the show wasn’t really about them, they were never the focus, and all of them were still “down-to-earth” (this is: no “over 9000” stuff) and were actually linked to the motivations and purposes of the main cast; they represented real obstacles the protagonists had to face in order to meet their goals and/or to move to the next stage. And that can’t be said about the nature of the fights in C.A. arc. Hunter x Hunter was not a show about fighting and defeating powerful enemies that appear in the way. It never suggested to be so, despite having a power system, because Gon and Killua were never the cool shounen super-warriors owning powerful enemies after training and getting stronger. Yes, they were special, quicker and stronger than average people, but just that, they were still two normal boys the audience could always relate to since they were never depicted as shounen heroes who were going to take down the enemy in turn with world-domination or destruction purposes, but rather as people that could have been your simple, next door friends. Unfortunately, that sweet sense of relatability was totally lost here, where they were both turned into unrecognizable super-warriors having their badass “super saiyan” shounen moments (I know technically they aren’t that, but it’s still how they feel) and the down-to-earth feel of the series was lost too. It was quite a shame and a displeasure to see how a series that had given the impression of being just about fairly normal boys going in adventures, uncovering mysteries, facing and overcoming challenges in their quest to achieve clear personal goals, betrayed its audience when it suddenly replaced its adventurous nature by a straight battle shounen setting, feel and structure, despite having promised something else in the beginning.

You’d be thinking after reading all this that I have nothing good to say about the C.A. arc, but that’s not the case. It can’t be denied that the arc has the most ambitious writing of all, is morally complex and features thought-provoking ideas by exploring well the themes of the relationship between human beings, animals and their coexistence, the man vs the beast, the food chain and what does it mean to be a “perfect being” that will rule every species, among others. Also that it features a well-written main antagonist and that it shows interesting character development for both sides (though, it’s a shame how we finally got some great development for Gon during a conflict that had a filler-feel attached to it), all of these elements that certainly add value in a story. However, in line with the aforementioned continuity issue, the only way all of these elements can materialize their value is if they belong to something that feels to the audience relevant to begin with and/or contribute in a significant way to the main story of the series, which isn’t the case here when remembering there was never a natural transition to the arc, so they become -as harsh as it sounds- useless. No matter how dark and deep it wants to be, if it is something unrelated to the core of the series, there’s little reason the audience should care about all those themes. It’s hard to do it when the arc is structurally flawed since it doesn’t fit or can’t be connected in an organic way with all the previous ones. Besides, it doesn’t help that all of these themes have actually more relation to the character of Meruem instead of Gon. In fact, it can be seriously said that the main character of this arc is in reality Meruem than Gon. Why should then said themes matter much when they have little relation to the motivations of the main cast of the series? Themes alone are not enough to carry a narrative if the events surrounding them have little relation to it.

In the end, what I’m trying to say here is that it’s not that the arc is bad on itself, it’s that it reduces the overall value of the whole show when joined with what had been developed before, because it makes it not work in the long run. (It’s the complete opposite to a synergy; making a mathematical analogy here, let’s call the value of the first 75 episodes (A) as V(A) and the value of the chimera ants arc (B) as V(B), what we have here is that the value of the combination, V(A+B), is less than the value of the sum of the parts: V(A+B) < V(A) + V(B)). Despite some issues, the C.A. arc is an interesting arc, but only when thinking of it as a separated, stand-alone entity from the earlier parts of the series. I can’t help but thinking that it would have been much better had it been part of another series where it could have fit more.

Speaking about issues, the arc isn’t exactly free of some of them that, while not (that) severe, they certainly don’t help its cause and make it hard to consider a perfect one like the fanbase claims. For the sake of not making this review longer than what it already is, I’ll just list some of them, without going into much detail (and no, the slow pacing and the narrator aren’t part of them).

• It made 50% of the main cast be nowhere to be found for 50% of the whole show (it’s curious how other shounens are criticized for leaving relevant characters behind, yet Hunter x Hunter for some reason is excused for doing the same!), which is not something irrelevant narratively speaking. Kurapika and Leorio deserved better.
• Some of the “ants” had plain ludicrous, laughable aspects, which made it difficult to take the arc as seriously as it wanted to be taken.
• The Gyro episode was totally useless, since he never becomes a relevant character later on, as well as those dedicated to showcase an uninteresting fight between some minor ants and some Phantom Troupe members, who were by force crammed in the story just so it could be said “hey, see? We haven’t forgotten about them!”.
• Why would the Hunter Association let two inexperienced kids help them to get rid of the ants instead of asking more experienced hunters do the risky, difficult job?
• How did the ant queen get there and why is she larger than the “normal” chimera ants shown in the first episode by the lake? There is little explanation as to how these creatures came to be, which would have been appreciated.
• Also how the ants were able to retain part of the memories of the human beings from which they were created was too unrealistic. What’s inherited were genes, and memories have nothing to do with them.
• The character of Komugi is presented as a plot device to show development for Meruem. She wasn’t ever really important.
• Part of Gon’s development is rather acting out-of-character when he threatened to murder an innocent blind girl he knew had nothing to do with Pitou.
• Some highly dramatic and serious moments were partially ruined with bad comedy in the form of Pouf’s eccentric, effeminate behavior, in particular during the king’s recovery process. That was... just bad.
• I really don’t have a problem with this, but I do have a problem when I see how other shounens are criticized for the inclusion of the so-called “power of friendship”, but Hunter x Hunter is curiously not when it does exactly the same thing when we see how Killua could remove the needle his brother implanted in his head thanks to…remembering his friendship with Gon. So no, it’s not like Hunter x Hunter completely avoids any type of emotion-based solution.
• Some people contend that Gon having an anger burst for Kite leading to his transformation was questionable since they hadn’t spent that much time together to develop enough feelings for him. I don’t agree with this, since Kite had always been an important figure to him, but I do agree that it would have certainly been much better and impactful had the murdered figure been someone more important to him like Killua or even Ging (had the case been he met him after G.I. arc).
• Finally, and the one I consider the worst one, Kite “reviving” into a little girl was plain dumb, and this only served to drastically diminish the emotional impact of Gon’s said transformation scene shown only 5 episodes earlier. Now it turns out that Gon had lost his shit for someone that hadn’t ever really died! (at least, not his soul). Narratively speaking is anti-climactic.

Moving to the last arc of the show, where the Hunter Association has to discuss how to elect its new chairman, Killua once again has to solve some family issues and Gon is magically recovered by a more sophisticated version of the dragon balls (literally), Chairman Election arc is a very disappointing way to conclude the series because not only it deals with the consequences of the Chimera Ants arc; it also suffers from them. Its most obvious unfortunate result is that yes, Gon finally meets his goal of finding dad, but not thanks to his own efforts, but rather thanks to fortune; Ging would not have gone to the celebration of the election at the Association had Netero not died and Netero would not have died if the ants had not shown up. In other words, because of the Chimera Ants arc, the show misses the opportunity of a more intriguing goal-resolution and a well-earned final prize for Gon. He finds him thanks to circumstances that didn’t depend on him. Why announcing the quest of finding Ging as a puzzle if at the end the puzzle never had to be solved? What was the point then? Moreover, it doesn’t help that the way the long-awaited first meeting occurs is not as inspiring as it should have been, considering it was the reason of the audience's investment in the show and all of Gon’s hard work. The crucial moment, instead of being treated dramatically and seriously, is treated very lightly with unfitting comedy, funny faces and funny music for no reason, like it hadn’t ever been serious business. Pretty underwhelming way to show the most important moment of the whole series.

I can’t see Hunter x Hunter (2011) as a fully satisfying show, much less the peak of shounen anime. Not when it fails to deliver what it had promised in the beginning and suffers from severe continuity problems both in vibe (starting in Greed Island arc) and later also in focus (in Chimera Ants arc), that turn it ultimately into a troubled, deformed show where the audience doesn’t know what it’s watching anymore and feels confused regarding what it wants to be or do. I can’t help but thinking it would have been much better had it stuck to what it set out to do from the start and had it kept its initial focus instead of straying from it (with not even a natural, believable transition) with the inclusion of the Chimera Ants arc that made it not work in the long run. Why couldn’t it just follow the path it had clearly established, with a story related to the objectives of any member of the main cast? What was really the need to depart from it? If the answer is adding more maturity, thought-provoking ideas and showing more development to Gon and Killua, there were better ways to do so with a continuation actually linked to the premise, with for example a more complex next stage in their mission to find Ging that would have been much more interesting and rewarding, instead of massively shifting the attention into a story that for the protagonists' purposes was just a side-quest with fillerish-feel and little relation to the driver of the narrative.

As someone who found very good and enjoyed the earlier parts of the series (especially in its first 1999 adaptation), was deeply immersed in its story, characters and world and was obviously very interested to know how it would keep unfolding and end, I badly wanted to like Hunter x Hunter (2011) and join this party, but unfortunately that couldn’t be the case for all the reasons I’ve explained. It’s not a straight bad series at all, but -despite understanding the reasons why it enjoys such a good reputation among the fans- it also isn’t something I would easily recommend to anyone, nor call the “best action shounen of all”, a distinction I’d contend either version of the Fullmetal Alchemist series enjoys (and this even when neither of them is my all-time personal favorite), which, unlike Hunter x Hunter (2011), are both of them fully well-functioning and satisfying in their own ways. 6/10.

I'm about to say something that is going to be taken way more literal than it really means: Hunter x Hunter is the most overrated anime I've watched so far. Now I know what you are thinking: "Wow this dude must think it's absolute garbage let's bombard him with messages telling him how he couldn't process the complexity and masterful writing of Hunter x Hunter." I already see it in my close future. But I want to clear up, no I do not think Hunter x Hunter is bad. Far from it, considering i'm not the biggest fan of shonen I actually decently enjoyed this ... show. But the reason for it being the most overrated is because of the praise it got. The only thing that was in my head when I started Hunter x Hunter was "Top 5 anime of all time" and "Best shonen to date." Unfortunately after my journey and now finishing Hunter x Hunter I can say it is neither of those. That 9.12 it has is in my opinion undeserving and is extremely overrated and overhyped. HOWEVER, I did enjoy the very beginning and end of Hunter x Hunter and it is still a very pleasing anime so do not get me wrong. But please understand, I only think it's very overrated because of the extreme mass approval it got before going into it.

Story: 6.5

This is probably my most controversial opinion on Hunter x Hunter. The story is pretty generic and follows almost every shonen troupe and I don't know why it gets such mass approval. I think people confuse good world building with plot/story. They are not the same thing. Sure if this was for World Building, I would give it an 8.5-9/10. But as far as the story goes, it is really hard for me to see how it isn't cliched at the very least. I'll go ahead and rank all the arcs so you can see what I gave the story fleshed out.

Hunter Exam Arc: 8/10
Zoldyck Family Arc (Idk if this was considered an arc but): 7.5/10
Heaven's Arena: 5/10
York New City Arc: 7/10
Greed Island: 6/10
Chimera Ant Arc: 7.5/10
Election Arc: 7.5/10

The narrator and the over-explanation of nen almost put me to sleep multiple times in Heavens Arena and I thought it was very poorly done. In my opinion the Hunter Exam was my favorite arc and I thought it was very well done. The rest of the arcs were pretty average and that includes the dreaded Chimera Ant Arc. People would not shut up about the Chimera Ant Arc calling it one of the best arcs in all of anime. It's not even the best arc in Hunter x Hunter... I only liked the Chimera Ant Arc when it was post rose meruem, other than that it was ok. I just don't see how the story isn't pretty generic with a lot of shonen troupes. Kid has family issues so he sets out on a journey to solve said family issue and meets a side character and gets random power ups with a main villain group doing villainy stuff. It's good world building, not plot.

Art: 8

Nothing to complain about here as per usual, art was fine.

Sound: 7

I swear they have only 4 songs in total to choose from, I hear that stupid drum set song every damn episode.

Characters: 7.5

Now don't get me wrong, this 7.5 is completely because of the supporting characters. I am not a fan of Gon and Killua. I don't know how people think they are good characters. Gon is as generic as any shonen mc and Killua is just as generic as any shonen side character but add crying and blushing when people say anything to him. The main reason for my lack of enjoyment for the series would have to be Gon and Killua. They just did not sit well for me and their chemistry was almost gay like. I actually thought they would kiss each other in a couple scenes, i'm not joking. Kurapika and Leorio were way more enjoyable than those 2 and i'm glad the manga isn't about them anymore. The Phantom Troupe barely had any screen time for me to make a judgment about them, they were in York New, like 2 episode in Greed Island and 2 episodes in Chimera and thats it. The supporting characters were awesome though, loved them.

Enjoyment: 6

I really only enjoyed the beginning of the show and then pretty much all of the middle was a snooze fest until it got good at the very end. I just fail to recognize this as one of the best cause I personally didn't get that experience most people did. There are some things in this anime that I ponder why it was hyped up to be so good. The Phantom Troupe were all pretty generic and had 0 backstories. Before I watched it people were comparing the Phantom Troupe to the Akatsuki and such. I just needed more of what they stopped showing and less of what they were putting out. I wanted more Leorio and Kurapika and Phantom Troupe not Gon, Killua and the rest.

Overall: 6

I really wanted to be blown away by this anime considering what it was hyped up to be but instead I was saying "Thats it?" by the end. Disappointing.

Okay, I've watched this a while back and I see very positive reviews over this show and I'm not gonna lie, it is suprising. I see this show as a wasted potential. This show makes me really sad for the wrong reasons.

Story: It's fine, not the best. Everything starts off with our main character Gon wanting to be a hunter to find and be like his father (which he never met). He meets with our other main characters at the contest. Gon, never had any trainings for this before but he accomplishes to win like other people that has a backstory of assassination, or like ... very dangerous and strong characters. This is an issue on it's own. Gon and Killua are together the most of the show and we see them getting strong without doing anything. They get training and magically, they get strong like they don't even try. This part pissed me off. (SPOILER) And one of the worst things for me; the villain characters just too powerful, they dont get powerful or they don'T do anything to get powerful. They're just born that way. Villains do crazy tricks and they have many unique abilities but how they know how to do all those tricks if they never tried them. And an the very ends, Gon gets pissed off of Kites death and killes Pitou but... Why he got so mad, he only met him a month ago and he died a week later when you met him. How he became your breaking point. I just don't understand.

Art: There is not much to say about the art, I liked the art, it's ok. It's better than the old version at least. I like Hisoka's and Killua's character design. I hate Kurapika's costume even tho I really liked the chain part. I think they could make his eyes outshine a bit more. And I just hate Gon's costume as well. I'm not forgetting the fact that it's a bit old show but it's not that old too.

Sound: I like the voice actors acting. The voices are mostly unique and I really like Killua's actors performance. Really, there is not much to say for this one too other than "it's good".

Character; Oh boy, did they made me mad? Yes, I was pissed when I finished the show. Characters start of really good with the way show describing them. But they did a really bad job at character growth and they wasted the characters. I'm having a hard time explaining how they wasted the characters but when I compare this to other animes I just feel like how they couldn't or how they didn't even tried to make our characters look hardworking for their appreciated power, they just , can do the things they do. We never get to see how? And they don't look smart too, the show just tells us that they are smart or genius exc. Like Hisoka, very very good villain, interesting and unique but, why and how exactly? My favorite characters are Killua and Hisoka just bc they were good thru all these issues.

Enjoyment: At the end of it, being so pissed off about how they couldn't make the show good while they easily could with small differences, I came to a point to think that it's kind of a show that you should watch but shouldn't get too overcritical over it. Just watch it, don't think too much. It's fun, it's ok. Some episodes and some characters really makes you feel something too.

Overall: I am sad and mad about the show, I said it when I finished it and I'll say it again. Overall, I'd say watch it, but don't expect much like I did before watching it. Don't listen to hardcore fans, they would say it's flawless. Obviously it's not flawless. I think its worth watching.

(6.0/10)

Hunter X Hunter is a flawed show that's trying incredibly hard to break through the endless loop of sameness that plagues its genre.

Shounen-action anime has always been something that's light. Its also something that's made to last. From shows like Bleach to One Piece to FMA to Hunter X Hunter, these shows almost never stop before the sixty episode mark.

This is mainly due to their incessant need to stay on air. Its very blatant that a lot of these shows have a very prolonged production schedule that seems to string the entire show along. This means that these shows are almost flawed ... by nature. When you have an endless stream of consciousness, you tend to babble.

I know this first-hand, too. I tend to talk way too much about a topic I know i can be concise about. I just kind of repeat the same shit in a slightly different way and only after i'm done repeating it do I realize that i've repeated myself. Its an awkward flaw to have, especially since I love talking about things i'm passionate about, positively or negatively. So i tend to talk way too mucha bout a topic i know I can be concise about. I just kind of repeat the same shit in a somewhat different way... Well, you see what I mean.

...


I'm a fan of things that try to be out there. I love shows that make that creative leap into the realm of the unknown... so it should come as no surprise that i'm simply not a fan of Shounen-action shows. They're always so drawn out. They always beat a dead horse until its nothing but mashed meat. They always pretend not to have filler by injecting plot into otherwise filler episodes, and that in itself is annoying. Lastly, they almost always have shit animation.

Even shows like FMA:Brotherhood ended up feeling dragged out to me. I ended up being very disenchanted with a story that just goes too far. The stakes became too high, the entire scenario ended up being really dumb and over-the-top in the worst way possible. That defines Shounen for me.

...


I don't think you'll be surprised to hear that I think HunterXHunter is massively overrated. I think that just about every aspect of it isn't as good as I see people claim it is. However, I do think that it does its best to separate itself from the onslaught of shit-Shounen out there. If anything, its the most entertaining one I've seen.

Much like the show, i'll be splitting my review into six parts, with a short conclusion to wrap things up. So, without further wait, lets get into it.

________________________________________

[PART 1] : The Shounen Exams


When comparing this show to other shounen-action anime I try to think back to every single episode. This is naturally hard since there are a whopping 148 episodes. But nevertheless, I try.

Much like a lot of Shounen, HunterXHunter plays like a stream of conscious. The breathing breaks are the light hearted episodes and the story-driven episodes are the rambling. Which, for the most part, is fairly cohesive.

Occasionally the story gets a bit too muddled with its own rules, as the creator of the manga seems to have a hard-on for them. The amount of information overload through undramatic exposition is pretty incredible in this show.

I felt like every other scene is just a certain character explaining a new rule or a new way to implement a previously established rule. If you think you'll get away with learning the rules from the beginning of the show, I have bad news. Literally every arc has a brand new set of rules.

From an MMO-esq card game to learning how to use your inner force, everything has names and abilities and ways to establish them. I feel like all of them are impressively crafted but in the end it feels as though it's something to study rather than to watch.

They are almost never delivered in an engaging way and these exposition scenes quickly lose you as a viewer.

...

That's the sad thing about most Shounen. A lot of them make their way to the action, but the actual way they end up going is animation-saving dialogue scenes that do little to establish characters. And when they DO establish characters its almost always through wrestler-esq jobbing or blatant exposition.

And that's just part one of these Shounen exams. Since Hunter X Hunter seems to eager to check every single marker off the "Shounen Cliches list". But that doesn't mean it doesn't do them well, for the most part.

These exposition scenes are almost always backed by engaging, if not overused, scores. As well as at least some character banter that makes it seem like you aren't being lectured in a college classroom.

This goes for fights as well. Each one is about strategy, and while that may be engaging for some, I found myself horribly disinterested in a lot of them. Thankfully most fights don't last for more than an episode, but when the fight is dragged out, I found myself zoning out.

The issue the writer has to juggle with is the idea of maintaining tension while still dragging the show through the exposition puddle every half a second. Even in the shows more memorable fight scenes, its Shounen roots show and I find myself relaxed instead of gripping the edges of my seat.

I think its more of a personal taste...But if there was a Shounen-cliche exam, this show would pass with flying colors. Here's your Shounen-card, HxH, use it well.

_______________________________________

[PART 2] : The Shounen Family


Now that the show is settled comfortably in its Shounen roots, lets talk about how it tries to break free. In the middle of this shows teen-boy demographic I constantly see a show that's just one or two steps away from becoming fully engaging.

Through the shows six arcs, it developed solidly. Starting as a mostly innocent fun romp, its slow decent into darker storytelling was something that intrigued me. However, I never felt like they went "whole hog" with it. Apart from very specific scenes every so often, I hardly ever felt surprised with this show.

This is mainly due to it inheriting a lot of negative traits from its Shounen parents. Those traits being Deus Ex Machina, and as I've said before, a mass amount of exposited information... constantly.

The show itself has two goals, develop the relationship between Gon and Killua, the shows protagonists, and make its merry way to the next battle. While the relationship between Gon and Killua never feels forced, I always felt like it was one step away from becoming something special.

For every entertaining piece of character building we got an extremely cheese-filled edgy sequence. Or one of those horrendous panning shots of the characters face as he says something edgy. Its cheese, and its not funny cheese. its the kind of cheese that's kind of moldy that smells bad, not the kind you want to sprinkle over your beef stroganoff.

That being said, their relationship does end up playing as the crux of the show, even if the show does do the smart decision of not making them major players in a lot of these arcs. Apart from one arc in the show, Gon and Killua always felt like helpers, rather than leaders. This was a conscious decision by the creator to make the universe feel constantly more dangerous as their eyes open to new possibilities with their power.

Apart from one scene in particular, the show stays true to that and I appreciated this greatly. It had a certain honesty to it.

__________________________________

[Part 3] : Shounen Arena


So lets talk about how this show stacks up when compared to its partners like FMA. Well, personally, i enjoyed it a decent amount more than FMA. For one, the tone of HxH felt more engaging.

While FMA usually kept its tone serious apart from the very obvious "joke" scenes, where the failed attempt of humor became overbearing. HxH does the smart thing and makes the humor feel slightly (and I mean very slightly) more natural. A lot of the jokes aren't really drawn at the characters expense.

With that, the shows entire tonal shift towards the latter half, with it becoming more violent and heartbreaking, works fairly well. Its always interesting to see something so happy go so wrong.

I had a very "Avatar: The Last Airbender" vibe with the shows first two arcs. This is great news, since Avatar is one of my favorite shows of all time. The light hearted nature combined with the less-lighthearted thematic elements made for a nice little juxtaposition.

While I won't compare it to the likes of Attack on Titan, since that show is hardly finished, I'll say that HxH does Shounen in what is most likely the most engaging possible way. It stays true to the cliches whilst enhancing the parts it can make better.

For example, its willingness to have these characters get separated, or stay off-screen, is a change that I enjoyed. The cast in this show is gargantuan but they never feel forced. This leads me to the best part of the show.

________________________________

[PART 4] : An Auction for Design


This shows best quality is its character design. While the animation itself is fairly lacking due to the constant use of re-used footage as well as still-images to fill time and save budget, the character designs shine.

I can't think of a single character in this show that wasn't memorable to some extent. Even the smaller characters that ended up being killed soon after their introduction had so much creativity put behind them, you couldn't guess that they wouldn't be major players.

In fact, the most entertaining aspect of the show was the unexpected change that certain characters were introduced only to die... and you realizing that, that amazing character design had you completely fooled!

Every character also has a place in the shows extensive rule-book of power. Each character does feel like a player. That's great.

Whether its the creepy, yet bad-ass joker-esq clown, Hisoka, or Killua's entire family, these players are constantly something to look out for. This show does a marvelous job with making these unique characters stand out and I never found myself forgetting who someone was. That's a great feat for show that has seemingly hundreds of characters!

___________________________________

[PART 5] : Greedy Episodes


Every arc feels like it has progression. This keeps building and building until the shows final arc. I'm not counting the very final twelve episodes as a whole arc since I felt as though they were there to create a conclusion rather than a continuation, even if the manga isn't done.

Before I get into the final arc, I want to discuss a shounen anime's ability to drag. Whether its something like Dragonball Z or even a much shorter show like Attack on Titan. Shounen has this genre cliche of dragging out stories to fit time slots.

Hunter X Hunter felt as though it was breaking that mold by making every arc feel as though its breezy and fast. Even the Greed Island arc, which had an entirely new video game rule-set in place felt quicker than I expected. It played with its sillier roots well and the conclusion of the arc, while a bit obvious, served as a nice segway into the next one.

This was the case for most of the shows arcs, too. Each one was backed by catchy toons, especially the Yorknew Auction arc which has my favorite ending theme to any anime i've seen thus far. They're also backed by a lot of characters and a constant feeling of escalating power.

This is where the show struggles. I feel like just like the dragging cliche, a Shounen's incapability to escape rising action is plaguing the entire genre.

By rising action I mean the base idea of any storytelling. To ramp up the story by raising consequences and stakes to create a tenser environment. This show, along with its shounen family, don't understand when too far is too far.

This shows with its character introductions. By introductions I mean two possible ways a character can be introduced.

1.) They walk in and one of our characters talk about how "their aura is the strongest they've ever seen, they are so scary!" And that gets repeated a few hundred times.

2.) They job. By job, I mean when a previously established powerful characters gets his/her ass swiftly beaten by this new character. This happens to establish the fact that this new character is a level above anything they expected!

While number two is a viable way to approach an introduction once or twice... I felt as though this is how the show introduced almost every character. When it wasn't number two, it was number one, which is even worse.

Every character felt like the show was trying hard to ratchet up the stakes and at one point it just became too much. The show hit its diminishing returns and it looped back and all this energy the show has spent making this character seem cool and bad-ass was thrown back in its face. It became a cheesy mess.

FMA:Brotherhood did this with its absolutely hilarious shark-jumping finale that was so "out there" and overblown that I was laughing at it. It was dumb. HxH does this too at one point. It really puts a damper on the whole thing and it makes you realize that you are in fact watching a power fantasy for a kid, rather than a show just focused on being a good show.

Mind you I'm not against kids shows. I believe every piece of entertainment can be amazing. Its just how it breaks free of a lot of cliches that plague it. As well as the amount of effort and time the creators invest into making it engaging and unique for everyone.

_______________________________

[PART 6]: An Ant in a Parade


I promised that i'll talk about this shows final arc. I'll keep it relatively spoiler free, only mentioning character names and one aspect of the story. The Chimera Ant arc is the shows longest arc. It spans upwards of sixty episodes and presents a completely new world for the characters in this show to play with.

New and more powerful players are introduced again, and new rules are established. Thankfully the rules are more simple this time. The characters need to stop an invasion.

With that in mind, I was digging the arcs slower pace as well as its focus on developing the main characters. It felt like a slow burn that I was actually enjoying. The show became darker and the themes became more mature. The political commentary was a little on-the-nose, but the creator of the show really does demonstrate how he has a lot of knowledge on a lot of things.

This enjoyable arc which I, at the time, was called "The show coming into its own", also introduced my favorite character. The King. A sympathetic villain that became the shows diamond in the rough. A seemingly horrible being that goes through a personality crisis.

However, this is where the show stops. On literally the 100th episode of the show. Our protagonists launch an attack on the invaders and here we get thirty five.... THIRTY FIVE episodes of nonstop fighting.

And while that may sound cool to someone, let me reiterate. ELEVEN HOURS of Shounen action. This means we get re-used footage, still images, and incredibly cheesy moments for eleven fucking hours. Apart from a highlight or two, these thirty-five episodes were damn near unbearable.

Everything was dragged out to a point of unbelievably, every character given enough cheese to fill up a... cheese... factory. And worst of all, it was BORING. Every piece of dialogue was perfunctory. Every emotional breakthrough was so long that halfway through you just stop caring and hope that they move on. Every second of action was prefaced with five minutes of exposition regarding a characters power. I can't be the only one who thinks that explaining your power to the villain is fucking stupid.

While this arc has an absolutely remarkable ending. An ending that I think was so good and so heartbreaking that I felt like this show didn't deserve it. But for all the sadness I was feeling, a feeling of anger crept over my anime-fueled mind.

The reason the ending was so good was because of The King and his relationship with another character. This character was given five episodes of screentime. Five. Five. Five fucking episodes. FIVE.

They gave a stupid fucking invasion THIRTY FIVE episodes, yet the best part of the show, the one part of the show that I WANTED to see more of they cut short. This character was the reason The King became such a great character and this character was totally sidelined for the invasion.

This infuriated me. I'm even angry thinking about it. Nothing is more angering than seeing a show wash away its potential due to its dumb focus. This is the pinnacle of that.

But even with this massively squandered potential, even if that character only got five episodes to shine, and even if that characters prolonged presence could've made this ending EVEN BETTER, it was still good.

That just goes to show you how good it could've possibly been... but I digress. The show has to stay within its Shounen family, for better... but mostly for worse.

______________________________

[CONCLUSION] : The Shounen Election


If you can't tell already, this show caused a pretty mixed reaction from me. On one hand we had beautifully done character designs, but on the other, we had mostly stilted and meandering animation. On one hand we had a few standout characters, on the other hand we had them bogged down by fights. On one hand we had Gon and Killua play realistic roles, on the other hand we had dramatic escalation to the extreme.

Its mixed, but even if it is, I will say that I do not regret watching that. Even if I do honestly believe the show's story could've been told better in half its run-time, I still enjoyed it.

For as frustrated as it made me, by the time the final episodes credits rolled I felt like I went on a journey in a world full of journeys. I felt like I saw enough character progression. I felt like there can be infinitely more stories to tell. I even felt a hint of sadness from the knowledge that I may never see these character again.

For everything that this show put me through, I appreciate it. Its a show stuck in an infinite loop. A show that tries so very hard to break free of a lot of cliches that plague its genre.

Much like someone drowning in the water, the show tried its best to kick its way to the surface and break through to yell and wave, "Hey, look at me!" In a sea of stilted Shounen-action anime, its there trying to get noticed.

I think it just might have been.

An anime with a lot of potential but destroyed by greed. The animation is solid trough the entire series with the music being good but repetitive. Character design is good as well with no unnecessarily sexualized characters and fan service. First 75 episodes are well paced and with no fillers except the recap episodes. But after that point the lack of source material was obvious with the prolonging every point with repetition and heavy narration even for the most obvious things in the story and having narrator describe everything in heavy detail. This makes it painfully hard to watch so I would recommend for everyone ... to find on the internet a list of episodes you can skip if you want to watch it. This series would probably have an 8/10 grade without that, but since it lasts for so long I can't ignore it and it really ruins the whole experience. I would recommend waiting for the next iteration of the anime.

The hype that is created around this anime is all bark and no bite. I don't think this anime is bad, but it sure is disappointing and I won't be writing the good staff about this anime since you can find it on other reviews, So proceed at your own will, The premises of the anime is a boy on his quest to find his dad, is just not appealing at all. The plot gets even worse in the story arcs because each arc starts with a bang but as it progresses the focus keeps shifting from the main motives to stupid things. The whole ... fighting becomes plotless time and time again. There are some good designs like Hisoka but most of the characters designs are average or below average. The main focus of this anime is character development but it messed this thing up too.

The decisions of various characters are out of order for their developments. Someone who wants to fight strong guys is running after kids to give him a satisfactory fight. Someone who is trying to save his brother is trying to kill his brother. Someone who wants to overtake whole world spends most of his time playing board games with a blind girl. Someone who says that he is a gangster/mafia boss has no strong people in his ranks in a world where they can be easily available. Someone who wants to take revenge for his clan from a terrorist group leaves most of the group members go on their way and terrorize other people without any thoughts. Also, the concept of being a hunter is vaguely described. The last thing is that every arc is unfinished. There is no world building, challenges is introduce with no/vague description So that some just die doing that incorrectly just for the shock factor, there are nen victims every where in the show yet no one is able to know about that, People are constantly been murdered yet no one acknowledge that people are being killed, it's like saiki k is switching the memory for people in the world every time phantom troupe kills bunch of people. There are a bunch of different places but these places has no interconnected histories or present. For example a nation can be destroyed completely but it has no impact on the adjoining countries There are only few epic music and fights, most of them are mostly boring and have no consequences on the future. There's also a period of few episodes where instead of characters, the narrator kept talking which is the most boring piece of media I've ever watched. The final arc is one the the trashist arc in shonen anime history and ends on an really stupid cliffhanger that makes zero sense. Overall, it was a waste of time. Because the best thing about hunter x hunter is its character development and that aspect has so many flaws in it. I don't recommend it to anyone.

Story 3/10
Art 9/10
Sound 8/10
Character 6/10
Enjoyment 5/10
Overall 6/10

Hunter x Hunter is the longest anime I've watched at 148 episodes. That's about 2.5x the length of my second longest show, Avatar the Last Airbender.

I went for it because it was highly recommended by friends and highly rated. The show has a lot of strengths, but its length and pacing are huge problems that ruined it for me.


Characters: 9
Throughout the show, the majority of the characters are very well rounded.

The main characters are very good, but where the show really shines is with the villains. Their motives, their plotting, their interactions with the MCs. Every move they make draws you in. Each of the ... villains is fresh and interesting, a big plus for this show.


Story: 8
This show usually implements a character-driven plot, and it turns out very well.

Character driven writing is widely considered the most realistic and entertaining, albeit difficult, method. This means that the situations the characters find themselves in are not put there because they sound cool, but are the natural falling out of the characters' interactions and motives.

Since the show has strong characters, this makes for a series of very good story arcs.


Length: 2
Well, at least the arcs' synopses would sound great, but in reality it's a hyperextended pile of disappointment.

This is where the Hunter x Hunter's biggest flaw comes into play. The creators seem to have had an episode quota to meet. Rather than tight, action-packed episodes that take you for an immersive ride, you end up slogging through solid episodes of exposition, or realizing that the 20 minute episode you just watched could have been handled in 5 or 10 minutes and been more entertaining. This results in the big impact scenes being too isolated to have the intended impact. You feel excited, or sad, or whatever, but you're left with the impression that it should have been so much more.

Unfortunately, you can't just skip episodes, because each one has some important content and a lot of wasted time. Thinking back over the amount of plot and character that happens in Hunter x Hunter, it's very comparable to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Thus, I think I would have had a much better time with this show if it had been a more appropriate 60 to 70 episodes.


Art and Animation: 9
The animation is great, nothing much to say here.


Sound: 7
The sound was a bit of a weak point in two ways: lack of music variety, and everyone's "intense" voice.

I won't hate on the music too much. The songs themselves were great, especially the themes for the different villains. The songs just get old if you binge the show, which I did for part of it.

The intense voices are a bit worse though. Whenever anyone gets upset they have a super-typical yelling voice that they all do. It gets really old, and they do it in a lot of situations where a normal voice would have been better.


Enjoyment: 5
There were a lot of good moments, but not enough for 148 episodes.

Looking back, there were a lot of really good moments in this show, which makes me question my low score here. However, the incredible number of "normal" episodes where nothing remarkable happens were not very enjoyable. It seems like they thought that the most important ingredient in a good finale is a 12-episode long fight.

(I set Enjoyment at 3 on the rating scale to take my Length critique into account.)

Overall: 6
six is an average score, but this isn't an average show. It is a show that should have been exceptional but decided to drag on forever and kill the excitement. I really loved the good moments in this show. I actually almost cried a couple times. The thing is that I should have been weeping at those scenes but they got the pacing so wrong.

I would not take the time to watch this show again, and I cannot, sadly recommend it for a first time.

English Version

I will talk only about the errors of the series .. Arc by Arc

1)Hunter Exam.
Although the beginning paints well and forms the friendship relations of which the main cast will be everything that consists of the examination itself is badly planned, to start all the characters do not seem to have empathic emotions with respect to everything that is happening in the same exam, nobody is unfazed or feels some fear corresponding to death, if I compare it with the whole cast that was raised and the situations in the Chunnin exam in Naruto this part HxH is too short, I could also talk ... about the end of the exam the hunter is hypocritical in the sense that they had raised this idea "No matter what happens we will continue with the exam until the end" but when they reach the tournament part in the end they complement it with "You can not kill the opponent" here everything goes relatively "Good" but when Killua kills the opponent they send everything to take for ass and approve the others in such a simple way, all the effort of the people who died to love complete the exam they sent him to take for ass for that detail.

2) Tower of Heaven
A whole arc where Killua and Gon go in search of skills, their premise is their problem, because it is basically that, a focused arc only to start making "Complex" the fights and make the show "Deep", the arc entirely dense, not passable or entertaining, simply dense and tedious, the fights of that arc are worth nothing because Gon and Killua are entirely protected by the plot armor of the moment so you know that they will not lose or die, therefore there is NO RISK, that means "boring". The arc is entirely bad

3)York City
Decerebrate action with a protagonist Gary stu to summarize things ... Kurapika skips the rules of the Nen that were established a back arc, you can increase the powers as he wants, He has unlimited access to the whole bar of powers of Nen, does not have any reflection after killing Uvogin because he had previously established that from his point of view everything he does is correct, Togashi fills Kurapika with unlimited weapons and powers after taking all one to create such a complex system of powers ... Shit

4) Greed Island
The tower of heaven made worse; This arc is basically canon filler, you can skip it and it will not change anything, just take care to know that "Gon and Killua train their powers in a world of video games" because from then on the villain is the worst of the series in general , the bomber is forced into this arc only to create "drama and tension" .. All this arc is the worst shit

5) Quimera ants
Very good the arc entirely, the whole series was prepared for this moment and it is excellent, it has its criticable things as the Asspull of the nuclear bomb of Netero or that eliminated all the development of Meruem giving it "Amnesia" only to lengthen the arc still more in a more insufferable way ..

6)The elections
The arc totally shits the consequences of the chimera ants (Revive Gon), the idea of ​​Alukka was not so bad since it had rules but AGAIN togashi loves to fuck his own rules and makes Killua know the only way to get the wishes WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES ... To end the arc with Gon looking for his father in the world tree, Gin tells him the message of the work in general "That what matters is the trip, not the final destination" the message would have meaning if Gon had learned something in his trip through the whole series, but you know what? GON NEVER LEARNS ANYTHING, IS THE SAME START TO THE END ... With this proposed you can imply that everything that happened the series is a nonsense that even in its last moments can unite its history with coherence to the message of the work


In conclusion..
The work is anticlimactic, it breaks all its proposed ideas, the protagonist never learns anything, the work is worth only in a single arch of 6 principals, the direction and the music make the series mediocre even if the script entirely becomes bad ..

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version en Español

Hablare únicamente de los errores de la serie.. Arco por arco

1) Arco del examen del cazador.
Si bien el inicio pinta bien y se forman las relaciones de amistad del que será el cast principal todo lo que consiste al examen mismo está mal planteado, para empezar todos los personajes ni parecen tener emociones empáticas con respecto a todo lo que está pasando en el mismo examen, nadie se inmuta o siente algún miedo correspondiente a la muerte, si lo comparo con el cast entero que se planteó y las situaciones en el examen Chunnin en Naruto se queda muy corto esta parte HxH, tambien podría hablar que el final del examen del cazador es hipócrita en el sentido de que ellos habían planteado esta idea “No importa lo que pase seguiremos con el examen hasta el final” pero cuando llegan a la parte del torneo en el final lo complementan con “No se puede matar al oponente” aquí va todo relativamente “Bien” pero cuando Killua mata al oponente mandan todo a tomar por culo y aprueban a los demás de forma tan sencilla, todo el esfuerzo de la gente que murió para querer a completar el examen lo mandaron a tomar por culo por ese detalle.

2) Torre del Cielo
Todo un arco donde Killua y Gon van en busca de conseguir habilidades, su premisa es su problema, porque es básicamente eso, un arco únicamente enfocado solo para empezar hacer “Complejas” las peleas y hacer que el show sea “Profundo”, el arco enteramente es denso, no es pasable ni entretenido, simplemente denso y tedioso, las peleas de ese arco no valen nada la pena por que Gon y Killua están enteramente protegidos por el plot armor del momento asi que sabes que ni van a perder o morir, por lo tanto NO HAY RIESGO, eso significa que “Aburrido”. El arco enteramente es malo

3) York City
Accion descerebrada con un protagonista Gary stu para resumir las cosas… Kurapika se salta las reglas del Nen que se establecieron un arco atrás, se puede aumentar los poderes como él quiera, Tiene acceso ilimitado a toda la barra de poderes de Nen, no tiene alguna reflexión luego de matar a Uvogin porque desde antes se había establecido que desde su punto de vista todo lo que hace es correcto, Togashi llena a Kurapika de armas y poderes ilimitados luego de tardar todo un para crear un sistema tan complejo de poderes... Mierda

4) Greed Island
La torre del cielo hecho peor; Este arco es básicamente relleno canon, te lo puedes saltar y no va a cambiar nada, solo ocupas saber que “Gon y Killua entrenan sus poderes en un mundo de videojuegos” porque de ahí en mas el villano es lo peor de la serie en general, el bombardero esta metido forzadamente en este arco solo para crear “drama y tension”.. Todo este arco es mierda de la peor

5) Hormigas Quimera
Muy bueno el arco enteramente, toda la serie se preparo para este momento y quedo excelente, tiene sus cosas criticable como el Asspull de la bomba nuclear de Netero o de que eliminaron todo el desarrollo de Meruem dándole “Amnesia” solo para alargar el arco aun mas de forma mas insufrible..

6) Las elecciones
El arco caga totalmente las consecuencias de las hormigas quimera (Revivir a Gon), la idea de Alukka no estaba tan mal ya que tenia reglas pero OTRA VEZ togashi le encanta mandar a la mierda sus propias reglas y hace que Killua conozca la única forma de conseguir los deseos SIN CONSECUENCIAS... Para finalizar el arco con Gon buscando a su padre en el árbol mundial, Gin le comenta el mensaje de la obra en general “Que lo que importa es el viaje, no el destino final” el mensaje tendría sentido si Gon hubiera aprendido algo en su viaje por toda la serie ¿Pero saben que? GON NUNCA APRENDE NADA, ES EL MISMO DE INICIO HASTA EL FINAL…Con esto propuesto puedes dar a entender que todo lo que paso la serie es un sin sentido que ni siquiera en sus últimos momentos puede unir su historia con coherencia para el mensaje de la obra

En conclusión..
La obra es anticlimática, rompe todas sus ideas propuestas, el protagonista jamas aprende nada, la obra solo vale la pena en un único arco de 6 principales, la dirección y la música hacen a la serie mediocre aun cuando el guion enteramente llega a ser mala..

"When it comes to Chimera Ant I feel it's emblematic of the series as a whole. Togashi has a lot of great concepts but can falter heavily in the execution and can be a bit heavy handed at times in order to get his point across or, worse yet, introduces something interesting only to barely use it or blow it off.

Before Chimera Ant arc I thought the series was okay and I didn't find myself questioning too much because they either explained it (at times over explained it) or I figured it'd eventually get fleshed out and, for the most part, that held true. But ... the Chimera Ant arc left me scratching my head so early on that I couldn't enjoy it.

Before I get into all the things I didn't like I'd like to point out the things I did. I really liked that Royals different ideas on what's best for the King. One taking an active role in trying to keep the King as is and one following orders and letting the King dictate what's best for him. I liked the Phantom Troupe getting a chance to showcase their abilities and, for the most part, they all had good fights. I loved Meruem's and Komugi's relationship (despite him stacking the deck sooooo hard to make you like Komugi) and the slow change for the King. Knuckle is AWESOME. Really liked Pitou too.

Wing, a teacher of nen and its techniques, explains that forcibly opening nen can be dangerous and if you have even the slightest bit of ill intent you can kill someone doing it. All the ants have theirs opened up in this fashion and none have any repercussions. This could be explained with their bodies being tougher or acting differently but that's just speculation on something that was defined earlier. They also are able to instantly control their nen which means opening and closing their nodes so they don't harm themselves.

The King is evil for the sake of being evil. It's not like the queen was especially cruel. I'd say this is a nature vs. nurture theme if the ants remained static but some ants are born bad, others are born neutral, some are shaped into being better people (the King himself). If this was a theme he was going for it's muddled by the characters action and growth (or lack thereof) so, I have to ask, why is the King evil to begin with?

It hurts the concept behind the nen system. The system is that there's classes you have an affinity for and you can spec into other classes but it won't be as strong as what you're naturally inclined into. It also says that Class A of equal strength could beat Class B of equal strength (there's a whole thing of attack and defense points) while Class A might lose to Class C under the same conditions. It makes it so that you might not really need to have more nen (in comparison to a Dragonball where your bigger number means victory most times). This makes it seem like the class system will be important but The King simply has more nen, the ants abilities aren't ever really counteracted, and the ants are inherently "stronger". It made me realize how little this actually comes into play.


Dark does not equal quality. I see too many times how much people applaud this arc because of how dark it gets. To me it detracted because it felt very try hard with the kid killing and brain eating. It never really hit that height again but I found myself kind of turned off by it. Not because of it being dark but because how hard it tried to establish itself as dark.

Too many awesome powers are barely showcased or dismissed quickly. Knuckle is the key offender here as he has an amazing and unique ability, he uses it in his fight against Gon, attatches it to Cheeto (who gets it removed by another ant somehow), and against one of the Royals. Kite has a 9 slot weapon, we see 3 slots (2 being bad draws) and never get to see the others. The ant that could borrow abilities for an hour showcases 2 (maybe 3) abilities and then dies in his first fight.

Why did the bird attack Komugi? That was so forced. Komugi is an established klutz, she could've banged into something and go bird seed in her hair, she could've opened the window and the birds nest be outside, something, ANYTHING.


That's the stuff I remember off the top of my head. To me this is when HxH started to become "worse One Piece" to me and from what I hear is going on in the manga that's looking to be the case more and more."

On top of that too often HxH gets praise for its subversive nature but subversion in and of itself is not a positive nor negative. Something that does something unexpected can surprise you and leave you entertained in a way you didn't think but there's just as much chance it disappoints as you don't get what you want. Beyond that, HxH is not subversive nor deconstructionist, so I don't know why it's believed to be such.

i will not go into detail a lot because i agree with so many points other reviewers made before me, but the series is a lot of wasted potential as well as having a lot of incosistencies in both the storyline as well as the character "development" (it basically doesnt exist).
theres a bunch of interesting characters that just do not get enough screentime when meanwhile a whole bunch of new characters that arent even remotely important for the plot, get explored on a lot before getting sidelined again.
the story really has so many interesting ideas and characters that they dont expand on for ... whatever reason and while i wouldnt necessarily say that the exam arc was the absolute best, it felt it went really downhill from then (the chimera ant arc is so annoying i have no idea why its so popular. the writing is straight up bad and the pace is so slow i wanted to skip parts which hadnt happened even in the mediocre greed island arc before - not to mention the whole chimera ant thing feels like it just derails the main plot). its certainly not "bad" but i would only call this a "masterpiece" if it was the first time i had ever watched a series in my life. overrated as hell, but not terrible. 6/10

This show gets all the fluff right and not much of the substance. It has consistently great visuals and sound, but outside of that it's just...meh.

The main character, Gon, is fairly inconsistent, going from a fairly decent shounen protagonist, who while he is the "not super smart adventurous type" is a refreshing spin on the archetype because he doesn't solely believe in his own ideals. But then suddenly he meets one guy who knew his dad and spent a couple days with him, and goes utterly insane when this person is attacked. Killua, the other main character, offers an interesting foil and really the ... highlight of the show is the friendship these two form, but even that ends up getting sappy in odd ways. Beyond those two, none of the characters really last. A number of characters get introduced in the first twenty episodes who barely, if at all, appear later. Basically most of them pop in and out of the story fairly regularly, even two of the characters on the shows promo image. Each of them is given varying amounts of depth but few really stand out as interesting characters, much less ones who actually make the show entertaining to watch.

1/3 of the show is spent in arguably the worst arc, the Chimera Ant arc, which utterly ruins my suspension of disbelief in all manner of convoluted ways, even more so than the Greed Island arc. The story writing in this show can just be all over the place sometimes leaving me tilting my head in bewilderment and going "That's not how it works, darn it." or "That's just silly". And the last 14 episodes feature a deus ex machina if I've ever seen one.

But the most egregious offense this show commits is how little the main duo actually have fights or exchanges that really use their abilities. You don't find out what they even are until over 1/3 of the way through the show and the amount they actually use them is staggeringly low. I get that it's not trying to be the most action packed shounen anime out there, but in 148 episodes the main character only has a handful of actual fights, sometimes going entire arcs without any action, and most of the early ones just involve him getting utterly thrashed. The remainder of the show is, by and large, training segments. The entire show titillates you into thinking these characters are going to grow as Nen users but most of the show is training, training, training. I get that the series isn't complete, but there is no excuse for 148 episodes and such little payoff. Their work doesn't amount to much at all, and it leaves me, as a viewer, with a very incomplete feeling. It just doesn't pay off to watch this show.

It's a decent enough show and premise, but it could be so, so very much more, both in entertainment and in actual substance.

It is an anime without consistency, where either it can have a bad bow or a good one, hunter x hunter is particular for being a generic shonen, instead of building a great final battle with a climax and an expensive conclusion, they prefer to end them suddenly, something good about hunter x hunter something that I like is the natural way where the protagonists join, they all have different objectives but it is justified why they are working together, the first arc is the only good thing it has is something remote, the exam is something that does not make sense and is unnecessary, ... it is a survival test without purpose, the protagonists are saved by luck, nobody cares about the deaths, nobody is interested in seeing corpses is not human., the following arc is an arc to know to kiuba and only that, the next one is a tournament, very common to the other shonens, the good thing here is that the tactics are put on and it shows that the fighting is more mental than something else, the next arc is one similar to Sasuke's but much or better written has one of the best battles and is one of the best, the next one is bad, bad villains, without consistency and any sense, hunter x hunter has no constituency once it gives you a good bow and the other a bad one, the 5 Arco is the best of all, the most psychological with the best villain, the 6th arc is forgettable only that, besides that the motivation of the protagonist is ruined, because Gon finds his father and nothing happened anymore, his father did not Gon mind doing that I don't make sense of his motivation, he deserves a 6

So... where to start on justifying what is probably my least popular opinion of any series on this site.

Well, I don't think I'm generally an iconoclast. The anime I most rate are generally ranked fairly highly in the mainstream critical consensus and the shows I hate are usually not exactly well regarded. What I'm saying is, I don't have hugely niche tastes or an insatiable urge to slaughter holy cows of the anime world.

The second point I'll make before getting into the meat of the review is that, my relatively mainstream anime taste not withstanding, I'm not the biggest shounen battle anime fan. It's ... fine, I can watch it and be entertained, but I don't ever remember watching an example of the genre that genuinely blew me away. I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z and I have genuine affection for it to this day, but I've never been under any illusions that it's anything great. Naruto never floated my boat and certainly not enough to get through a combined 700+ episodes between the original series and Shippuden. One Piece... yeah, I've never seen One Piece, and honestly, if it hasn't gotten to any kind of conclusion in what is rapidly closing on 1000 episodes, I'm not sure I ever will. The truth is I find these shows to mostly be formulaic, repetitive and frankly I like concise, tightly written stories, not sprawling open-ended ones.

Well HxH ain't quite like some of these other examples of the genre and the truth is I don't dislike it. I just don't especially like it either. It's comparatively short and there is sufficient variety between its arcs that it isn't nearly as repetitive as most others of the genre. By the standards of its genre, HxH is fairly creative, imaginative story-telling, at least at its best.

No, for me HxH is let down at a more fundamental level before you can even get to its plot-lines and narrative adeptness. I don't like its characters. Not all of them, mind. Hisoka is pretty great, for example, but he is more of an exception than a rule. None of the main foursome hooked me in anyway. Leorio seems wholly superfluous to the story, whilst Killua left me cold. Kurapika is probably the pick of the bunch, but is still not a character that really stuck with me.

And that brings me to Gon. I would say I find Gon to be an unlikable protagonist, but that would require him to have a consistent enough character for me to form any one opinion of him. The biggest issue is that there seems to be no firm idea of what his character is. I think there's a desire by Togashi and the show's writers to make him a subversive protagonist in giving him a far more morally neutral character than your standard shounen MC. The problem that arises is two-fold: one with that idea itself and the other with the execution.

The first issue is that having Gon be less than purely heroic makes him somewhat unlikable. Which is not in and of itself a problem - from Walter White to Lelouch Lamperouge main characters that are thoroughly unlikable as people have often proved to be some of the best. The difference is that Gon is nothing like as extreme as those two examples or, say, Light Yagami. Gon is nowhere near as extreme as those examples, and instead he just kind of falls in a moral middle ground where he's not enough of an anti-hero to stand out, but not enough of a hero for you as the viewer to actually root for him. There's also the fact that Gon just isn't... cool enough. Lelouch may have done pretty terrible things, but he was so damn stylish about them that it's a great deal of fun to watch him do them. Gon's just kinda bland and shounen-y without having the redeeming heroic traits that usually go with that. There's also the issue of his character's visual design which is just... meh. From his wide eyes and little boy shorts and boots there's something vaguely like an off-brand Astro Boy about the whole look.

Still, a show can survive and even prosper with an entirely forgettable protagonist if the world and story it immerses you in is fascinating. On the former HxH succeeds to a greater extent than the latter. Whilst the setting is a little bit too large and sprawling to have the dense, interlocking sophistication in its world-building of the (on paper) similar Made in Abyss' more contained setting*, it certainly has some aspects that are difficult to fault. The Nen system is a much more thought out and well-constructed version of a common trope that certainly elevates the world-building here. There's certainly a lot in this world, but it does at times feel a little disconnected and a few too many world-building elements crop up and are then forgotten, giving the impression they were there just to service the plot of an individual episode or at best a particular arc. In short, the world-building here is strong, but not quite strong enough to achieve proper immersion in this fictional reality.

The plot at its best is surprising and creative and at its worst trope-laden and predictable. I'm certainly intrigued by the flexibility of the show in almost shifting genres from arc to arc. I'm less impressed with its slow, unoriginal earlier episodes, which are really only salvaged by the presence of Hisoka who dominates the screen when he's on it, but isn't quite enough to truly save the whole enterprise from its crippling mediocrity. Things do get better and some of the post-Hunter Exam arcs improve on things. I haven't got to the Chimera Ant Arc, which seems to be the most divisive among fans of the show, judging by my Googling in writing this, but from what I have seen, the huge differences between each arc means that the show is very up and down in terms of excitement and overall narrative quality. This aspect of the show does, however, at the very least, save it from the fate of shows like Dragon Ball or the lamentably bad Fairy Tail where each arc seems to be a beat for beat recreation of that which preceded it, but with re-skinned villains (and possibly last arc's villains now fighting on the side of the good guys**).

In terms of the overall look of the show, well, it's mostly pretty well animated and there are relatively few moments where any visible short-cuts are taken. That said the art style is not particularly inventive and, with only a few exceptions, the character design is more or less what you might expect of a show like this. It certainly doesn't have the kind of inventiveness of something like My Hero Academia or even Dragon Ball in terms of the visuals of its characters. Fights and action sequences look quite good overall and above the industry standard.

Voice acting runs the whole gamut from hammy to engaging whilst the sound design overall is competently, even well done without doing anything particularly novel. The music is pretty good and usually works well with whatever's happening on screen, though none of the in-show music has particularly stuck with me since I watched the show. The original OP on the other hand, is certainly memorable and easily distinguishes itself from the sea of forgettable pop numbers that dominate OP land.

So at the end of the day this show is fine. But for me to dedicate my time to 100+ episodes these days I really need better than fine and this just couldn't hold my attention. If you like the genre, it's probably better than most and you may well love it - judging by its MAL score it's got a big and very devoted fan-base. But, for me at least, it doesn't do anything to make it appeal beyond the limitations of its genre. It's subversive and original in some ways, certainly, but is still mostly pretty faithful to the spirit of the genre. This is certainly not Madoka Magica or Evangelion in terms of throwing out genre norms.

Ultimately if I had to put my finger on why this series didn't fly for me, it's two main factors. The first is the aforementioned main character issue. If I don't care about these characters, I find it difficult to be engaged in their stories. Secondly the show seems to suffer an identity crisis. I made this point recently in comparing Darling in the Franxx and Gurren Lagann - the latter was not particularly original or subversive, but it knew unambiguously what it wanted to be, whereas the former was all over the place. A similar comparison can be made between this and something like My Hero Academia - this is certainly more inventive and original, but MHA knows exactly what it wants to be and is content to do that, whereas HxH isn't sure whether it wants to challenge conventions or try to exceed them. If it had opted to go one way or the other, it would likely have made for more compelling viewing. As it is, it just falls down a gap in the middle.

* Kid has parent who is a renowned member of a legendary organisation of adventurers who, er, hunt for things, who maybe is dead, but actually maybe not, and the kid goes off into the wide dangerous world to look for them. That's where the similarities end, but they're there.
** In fairness to Fairy Tail, world history sometimes follows the same patterns. Look at how WWII Arc villains Japan and Germany joined the side of MC USA for the Cold War Arc.

A very overrated anime for sure.
If you, like me, watched or want to watch the anime based on what the fans said, you will end up being very disappointed.
It is a difficult work to evaluate, the first arcs have a good rhythm, interesting characters with a medium development, a soundtrack that excites a lot in some moments, but the end of the arcs are so disappointing, all with magic solutions of "Deus ex machina ".
Many episodes are dragged, especially in the last arcs, in some of them I even wondered if I was watching the correct anime! I had to skip many to stay interested ... in the anime and even the episodes I skipped barely made a difference in the development of the plot.
Many good characters are misused, while extras are given an unnecessary focus. Almost the whole plot ends open, it is very frustrating to watch so many episodes and realize that nothing really interesting has happened.
However, it is a good work. Nothing spectacular, some may like it more or less, but in general it is difficult for someone to dislike at least the beginning of the anime. Just keep in mind that the plot decays a lot in some moments.

This review only applies for the first 11 episodes of the series, it does not constitute for the overall experience of the anime itself and it will be comprised of what I liked/disliked about the anime and the reason I have had dropped it for.

One of the aspects that most people agree that Hunter x Hunter does have, is the element of analysis and strategy through the action and confrontations in the series. And it does try to do this at every turn.

However, just because it tries, it doesn't mean it is good at it. I'll give you two examples of how I see ... these attempts as botches, one being from episode 2, and one from around episode 10-11. If you want to avoid spoilers, although I will describe these in manners that merely describe the confrontations themselves, without real plot specifics, skip this paragraph. If you just want to get the Episode 2 example, because you see a spoiler from episode 10 as being too late in the series, then skip after I've delivered that one. So, in episode 2, there's a test the cast of characters come across, where you have to choose to save either a or b, with the choices being a person you're close to. Like mother and lover, brother and sister etc. You have 5 seconds. The test is obviously subjective. There is clearly no correct answer. How do you win the test? Pick no answer. Now my problem isn't the test itself, but the contradicting explanations for the test. The test evaluates whether or not you're capable of making a decision when there are high personal stakes. Then how is not making a choice the right answer, or at the very least, why is picking an answer clearly wrong? If you think about it, merely making an active choice in those 5 seconds, should be correct, regardless of reasoning. It just makes no sense, because a person that makes no choice because they were still thinking passes, and a person that made a choice, is failed because they made a choice. It is a poorly made exam to showcase the impressionable third choice between A and B, at its barebones. Choosing nothing or both, when presented with two options, is one of the simplest techniques of misdirection in strategy and writing, because it plays with your preset expectations. But in this situation there's not even a plausible setup to the situation, as the explanation makes no sense for the given purpose of the test, because stalling a decision, could result in saving neither. Now I will talk about episode 10/11's botch. So there is this fight to the death between two contestants and one of them leaves the other unconcious. However the participant refuses to kill them in order to secure the match. They end up agreeing the match is not over until the enemy becomes concious, so they can surrender. Eventually hours pass and they want to check the body, but the enemy team does not allow them, which is incredibly stupid. They should have no say in the matter if they simply send the participant of the test to simply check the pulse, but instead of that, they now start a betting game, where they bet their remaining time, on whether or not the guy is concious or unconcious. Now I also have a problem with this game. The reason is the following. One of the people first bets on option a, then wagers on option b. Lets say you played poker. You put in like 20 dollars. Then more cards were revealed. And then you changed your bet, and only bet 1 dollar. Does that sound like a rigged game? Yes. Because every betting game and game of chance is designed in a manner through which you commit to your answer. If you had the option to change your bet as you saw fit, you could always back down. The moment you change your bet is the moment you admit you were wrong. This is literally what had happened: You: I bet 20 dollars that this turtle is red. Other guy: Btw I can prove this is the right answer. You: Oh ok, then I'll bet all my income on the opposite answer. This just screams of a lack of understanding of the way bets are supposed to work, which simply does turn me off from the entire thing. It isn't necesarily wrong on the basis of the rules given, but it is an impractical betting game, which the participant should've objected against.

And these two instances aren't merely the only ones where I found problems in the confrontations, but are merely just examples. Hunter x Hunter's attempt at seeming strategic simply doesn't work with me, since it simply has flaws every time in the design of the confrontations themselves. At pretty much every point, when the show's goal isn't to just show character traits, it has flaws in the portrayal of the challenges, or some minor things that I dislike that are merely matters of the design itself, like the monster designs or the subjectivity of the exams, and the fact that some of them don't have clearly defined rules, or not really enforced rules, or are simply left to choice of the examiner, to the point the examiner could fail or let everyone pass on a whim. The focus on explaining how everything was planned out makes the action last only a few minutes at best, with the explanation lasting several more. So in terms of raw action, there isn't nowhere near as much as the explanation of every single move done up to that point. The action of the series is simply too short in length for my liking, and the actual strategizing and analysis of actions in the series is goofy/obvious at best or moronic at the worst.

That for me, breaks the show, since I can't watch an action shounen when every type of confrontation I see is either not particularly impressive, with some guy just making a simple movement and everyone else dying or just a brainfart underwhelming everything they try to do. The story and the characters aren't something particularly stellar at the moment. The protagonist is a generic shounen protag in terms of personality, with him not being really smart, really energetic and looking out for his friends, while also having a lot of determination. The side characters are Killua, who was built to be cool, and as of yet, I've only gotten a glimpse at his backstory. He is meant to be an edgy cool character, who could kill at any time with ease. Another character is Leorio, who is meant to be the goof of the group and an average joe. And the last character is Kurapika who I didn't like the portrayal of. You see, he is the tragic "I want revenge" character but his portrayal was quite ridiculous from the start. Someone threatens to eliminate every last trace of his family at one point, and that is supposed to the introduction to how much this influences him. Kurapika reacts pretty much like this "Please take that, I swear, please take it back. Take it back? I'm gonna allow you to take it once more back. Okay, take it back now. Please???" Which I found really ridiculous, because this is a person that is on a revenge quest, that can't even muster enough rage to shut someone up directly insulting his lineage. The second time the same subject comes to mind he gets angry he knocks a person out, because they wore the same tattoo as the people that killed his family do, after... well... being provoked by him, and taunting him... and the goal of the fight being to beat them... He did absolutely nothing someone in his situation, revenge or no revenge, wouldn't have done. He defeated his opponent. So I'm not sure exactly what type of vengeful character he's supposed to be. Because his actions while angry don't really show that he's angry. At best it shows restraint. In the first interaction he played it so straight with so little anger that I thought he was legit bullshitting everyone about his family being dead. Which isn't particularly good thing for this type of character unless it takes 180 degree turn. And the story's goal so far is simply to present the characters and what hunters are. And the fact that it seems really rushed at times

But the unfortunate thing is, that any direction Hunter x Hunter might take with its story and characters, if the action is still like this, I don't want to continue it. Simply seeing something pass off simple actions as smart, and then not really having enough introspection to explain itself, is not entertaining. I won't claim it is entirely horrible, since I am familiar with Togashi's writing style, and I did think that the character trait establishing was done decently in the show, excepting Kurapika. I am familiar enough with it to understand that this arc is just mere setting establishment. And I know he is capable of writing interesting stuff, as well as interesting fights. But in this series, I notice that the action takes a weird turn, where it tries to be innovative by explaining the course of action, with the course of action not really being well thought out most of the time. The only way I'd be able to enjoy Hunter x Hunter is if I didn't attempt to understand what I am watching and I took everything they said at face value, the one set by the anime, and had like no reference points.

But does this mean that I see no value in Hunter x Hunter? Why would I deem it as mediocre if I simply dislike it so much. It's simply because at least it attempts to present some situations that are meant to be thought provoking. Yes, they are simple and oversold, but the confrontations at least try to be something different and present what they want to mean. The overall animation of the show may not be of a style that I particularly like since it sometimes is cartoonishly colorful, but it is consistent and mostly preserving any key details needed each episode. The anime does often a good job of presenting new character traits and capabilties through the medium of the challenges that are posed each episode. And in some cases, it is self aware that the challenges may be poorly planned, solely on the basis that there are challenges set upon by an examiner where the test is impossible to pass, as they have to say yes to them passing the test. So the tests could occasionally be poorly handled, and that being an onscreen reason. So you could occasionally shift the blame on the examiner and the participants themselves. I wish that it possessed that level of self awareness all the times and called out any possible bullshit, but it doesn't. In other words, I can see that it tries to be something interesting and acknowledge in some ways that it can be flawed. But it simply doesn't interest me, because what it tries to execute needs to be better thought through. I could excuse this if the driving force of the series would've been something different, but the way the action is handled, does not entertain me and only makes me question it. Ultimately I can only recommend Hunter x Hunter as one thing, and that if you're curious about watching an action series that is introspective about its course of action. I didn't particularly find that it excels in what it attempts to do, but it is what it consistently keeps on creating. It won't have constant action scenes, but a lot of the thoughts behind the actions, and a lot of explanations on why the things that are done are actually being done. If you're interested in a series that tries to constantly present why someone in a shounen chooses a specific action in a confrontation, you will be 100% aware in Hunter x Hunter. But don't expect too much depth out of the confrontations themselves. It may be praised for those, but if you spend some time to dwell on them, you can probably find one or two holes yourself. Accept that it is a simple shounen that tries to diversify the formula that showcasing how some characters think about the situations they are in.

This is going to be my first review! I will try to speak in general terms but there are spoilers ranging from small to large. For this review, I'll be discussing my thoughts and ideas for some general criteria and then for each arc.

Story (8/10)
Most of the time when the show introduces a story element (or even a character), it's boring. The arcs dedicated to introducing story elements, Heavens Arena, and the first half of the Chimera Ant arc suffer from this especially. Most of the time, these concepts are introduced to the audience all at once which leaves them confused. Other times, the ... show introduces these concepts with exposition dumps which are, again, boring.

However, what the show does well is the “journey” part of the story. Once concepts are introduced, the show does very well at using the plot elements to weave an interesting story. Thank god the show dedicates most of its run time to this side of the story. I’ve noticed that in a lot of the arcs, the show sets up “rules” or a tiered system of progression that seem very straightforward. The show is linear, but it excels at manipulating its linear paths to create an interesting story.

Art (Art 6/10, Character Design 7/10, Cinematography 5/10) 6/10
The art in the show is pretty standard. There's nothing offensively bad or overwhelmingly beautiful. With this said, during the end of the Chimera Ant arc, the show really seemed to give their animators more creative freedom. This resulted in the art playing a role in telling the story, whereas, in the rest of the show, the art merely was there to look good.

The Character Design in Hunter X Hunter is fairly good. With the sheer amount of characters in the show, it can be hard making each one distinguishable. Fortunately, the show does this well. There is a fair share of bad character designs in my opinion, but all of the main characters have good to great designs.

The cinematography in the show is fine. It’s pretty standard as far as anime goes, but there really isn’t any usage of the cinematography to tell a part of the story on its own. It gets the fundamentals right, but that's all it really needs to do in a show that is mainly plot-driven.

Sound (Music) 5/10
The music of HXH is, on its own, quite good. My biggest issue is when you have a soundtrack that is the size of a standard anime's soundtrack for a show that is the equivalent of nearly 11 standard shows. I often found myself briefly taken out of the story because the music that was playing was so overused. In certain instances, the music choice was downright inappropriate. I feel like this is the result of the soundtrack being so limited. Most of the songs are either very dramatic classical pieces, eerie villain themes, or spunky adventure music, which cannot be used in all scenarios. I would have liked to see a larger variety of songs that would be applicable to a wider array of situations. With that being said, at points, the music really does add a lot to the unfolding events of the show, and at worst briefly takes me out of the plot. 5/10

Characters 6/10
The characters in HxH are fine. Generally, the main characters are inoffensive and archetypal, which makes them rather predictable. My favorite characters, Knuckle, Meruem, and Kurapika, are fantastic characters because they undergo some kind of fundamental change. Their experiences in the show directly influence the characters they become by the series’s end. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about most of the main characters. Gon, in particular, experiences temporary changes in emotion, producing superficial emotions such as anger, sadness, grief, and excitement, but he never really grows from his experiences. Aside from the Nen and combat abilities he gains, he doesn’t really grow as a person. By the end of the show, he is the same selfless, and sometimes foolish kid as he was in episode 1. Again, characters like Knuckle and Meruem really save the show at points which is why I give this section a 6/10.


Hunter Exam Arc- 5/10
It's sort of strange writing this review nearly a year after I finished this arc. I’m sure I don’t remember everything about the arc, and I may even misremember some parts in my review, but I can pretty confidently say that it was alright.

The first few episodes introduce the main characters of the arc, and in typical HXH fashion, does so rather poorly. Leorio is introduced as a hot-headed guy during a very briefly heated fight which seemed rather forced. Kurapika is a bland character at this point, seeming like the level-headed boy scout type, and doesn’t really generate any reactions to anything beyond the words he says. Gon is introduced as a selfless, but foolish kid when he jumps off of a boat to save someone who fell overboard. He loses his footing, which is when Leorio and Kurapika grab his legs to save him. This results in the trio becoming best friends. The whole scene seemed a bit fake as a whole but it wasn’t egregious.

The rest of the arc is fine, with it at points feeling rather monotonous and linear. It eventually succeeds at establishing the main protagonists and villains and gives them compelling motives for the rest of the series. Overall it is between fine and good, and is a 5/10

Zoldyck Family Arc- 2.5/10

Unfortunately, this is the worst arc. Fortunately, this is the shortest arc. This arc primarily focused on introducing the Zoldyck family. Again, the show does not introduce things well. It's boring, and the Zoldyck family characters are, at this point, boiled-down, archetypal versions of what they will become. There is apparently some internal family conflict between Kilua and the rest of his family, as they literally kidnap him and put him into restraints, but the reason for this wasn't really obvious to me. It just seems more like a poor excuse to introduce the Zoldycks. 3/10

Heavens Arena Arc- 3/10
One of the most boring arcs in the show. Its plot is highly linear and the show doesn’t do much to twist its linear path. The main characters Gon and Kilua embark to climb the ranks of Heavens Arena to win money. It's about as boring as it sounds, especially when compared to other arcs. Each battle seems meaningless as they could only result in a temporary demotion to a lower floor. I understand that the monetary reward is very important to Gon and Kilua to purchase a copy of Greed Island, but the show never really makes it seem too important.

The Nen training scenes in this arc try to explain the aspects of Nen, Ren… I honestly lost track of all the terms. There are too many terms thrown at the audience at once, and even if I pause the show to digest each individual aspect of Nen, it really doesn’t matter. Sure the show frequently mentions the terms in the succeeding arcs. However, visual cues such as aura surrounding different parts of the main character's bodies are more than enough to convey the purpose of each move. There are boring, drawn-out scenes where the main characters do nothing but repetitive training for minutes at a time.

It's a very boring arc with some offensively bad parts, but some redeemable scenes. 3/10 overall.

Yorknew City Arc- 8/10

Yay! Finally a good arc. What I really appreciated about this arc is that it didn’t spend too much time introducing anything new. Nearly all of the characters at this point are already established, and even the Phantom Troupe has already been mentioned several times. The action in this arc is really great, and it does a good job at manipulating the “rules'' of Nen that were established in the Heavens Arena Arc.

Characters like Kurapika and Lucifer really shine through in this arc. Lucifer was an especially compelling character for me, despite his sparing presence.

I don’t really have much to say about this arc other than it is an 8.5/10

Greed Island Arc- 5/10

I don’t necessarily dislike this arc, it's just kinda pointless. From what I gathered (it's not really explicitly stated from what I remember) the game Greed Island is designed to train Gon into becoming a powerful Nen user. However, the game itself never really does much to teach Gon. Instead, Biscuit coincidentally happens to be in the game who offers to train Gon and Kilua. These scenes are by far the most boring in the entire arc, with long, drawn-out scenes of repetitive training.

The rest of the arc is fine, with most of it seeming like a rebranded Hunter Exam Arc with its tones, themes, and conflict. There aren’t necessarily stages per se but the plot is highly linear. The main villain in the arc, Genthru, really doesn’t seem all too powerful and it's kind of baffling as to how he wasn’t defeated earlier. He lacks any real personality, really no compelling motives, and he really isn’t too compelling.

At points, this arc was dull and boring but is mostly mediocre. 5.5/10

Chimera Ant Arc

For the sake of this review, I will be splitting this arc into two halves. It is a massive arc with 61 episodes, and has one discernable tone change around episode 93 when the Queen Ant dies.

Chimera Ant Arc pt. 1- 6/10

There are just so many new characters in this arc. Unfortunately, they need to be introduced. Aside from Kite, and most of the important Chimera Ants, most of the character intros seem borderline offensive to the character they are introducing. Knuckle in particular is introduced as an opponent to Gon and Kilua, and appears to be hot-headed and blunt. However, his status as an opponent is soon lifted as the audience learns of his true compassionate nature. I do not know why they decided to introduce him as a villain at first as it really doesn’t serve any purpose.

I don’t get this show’s affinity for including romance between underage characters and older ones. For whatever reason, they dedicate nearly an entire episode just so Gon (12) and Palm (22) can go on a date. It's just as pointless as it is gross as it serves no purpose later on in the series.

The action is fine. There are minor action sequences between low-tier ants and the main characters, but the battles don’t really seem all too special.

Overall, this half of the arc is fine in lots of ways and boring in others. 6/10

Chimera Ant Arc pt. 2- 9/10

The action in this section really shines through, with nearly every battle sequence carrying some weight, purpose, and meaning. The action is animated really well, and artistic moments are allowed to shine through especially in the battle between Youpie and Knuckle, which ended up being my favorite battle sequence of the entire show. The battle between Meruem and Niero was also phenomenal and it deserves all the praise it receives.

All of the characters that were previously established have important roles which I really appreciate. Additionally, this is the first time where we see our main characters, Gon and Killua, finally endure some kind of maturing change. Gon develops a more serious disposition, which physically manifests itself in some phenomenal tension building and action. Kilua also becomes more compassionate and selfless as he starts to act as Gon's protector. Their dynamic has always worked well throughout the show, and it really starts to shine in their moments together in this arc.

Of course, I can’t leave out my two favorite characters in the show, Knuckle, and Meruem. Knuckle has grown a lot since when he was first introduced, and this culminates in his battle sequence with Youpi. The hand-to-hand combat sequences are really great, but their battle is also a psychological one, which makes it even greater in my opinion. The moments before their battle ends, when Knuckle realizes he is about to die, are probably some of the best moments in the show. It's beautifully animated and captivating, giving a terrifying look into the mind of someone who is about to die. It’s fantastic.

Meruem is another character who endures tremendous growth. After being established as the merciless evil villain in the first part of the arc, he begins to display glimmers of humanity after playing Gungi with Komugi. (Quick interjection, but even the most mundane scenes between Meruem and Komugi while they are talking over a game of Gungi are fantastic and really help to develop Meruem's struggle between his humanity and his mercilessness.) These glimmers eventually manifest into affection for Komugi which gives him compassion and humanity and ultimately turns him from villain to just another character. By the end of the arc, there are no villains, which is a risky move that the show pulled off flawlessly.

I’ve noticed some people complaining about how his death was “anticlimactic” since he died from the poisonous gas released by a bomb, but I can’t help but disagree. His knowledge of his impending doom forces him to live out his last moments doing what he truly loves- playing Gungi with Komugi. In Romeo and Juliet fashion, Komugi commits suicide to be with Meruem in his final moments. The second to last episode of this arc nearly had me in tears with its closing dialogue,

“Komugi, I wanted...to spend my final moments playing against you. But this poison is contagious. If you stay near me too long, you will also...

Meruem-sama… Right now, I am very happy. I may not be worthy, but please allow me to join you.

I see… I… I believe that I was born to be here today. ...was born for this moment.

Komugi, are you still there? Yes, I sure am. I'm not going anywhere.

Komugi, are you still here?

Yes, yes... Right here.

Komugi, are you still here?

Yes, of course.

I need to take a short nap. Will you hold my hand? Komugi? Komugi, are you there?

I can hear you. I understand. Like this?

I'll wake up shortly. Will you stay by my side until I wake?

I've never left your side. I'll always be here. Komugi...

Yes, yes? What is it?

Thank you.”

Absolutely phenomenal writing.

That's about all I have to say about the arc. 9/10

13th Chairman Election Arc- 6/10

Kind of a mixed bag for me. There are two distinct plots to this arc. The first being the election of the 13th chairman, and the second being the revival of Gon.

The 13th Chairman election half of this arc was pretty bad. It was mostly the introduction of characters (presumably for future episodes), and the time it spends fleshing out the characters isn’t too great. I like nearly none of the characters who are participating in the election, nor do I care about any of them. Also, it seems so… pointless? I mean, electing the 13th chairman should be a huge deal, especially for such a massive organization as the Hunter Organization. However, it's never really established that the chairman possesses any important roles, powers, or responsibilities, so to the audience, it really seems like a meaningless title.

The Gon revival half of the arc is quite enjoyable. It has some compelling conflict and characters. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Kilua and Alluka with their unconditional sibling affection for each other. (Small nitpick but for whatever reason Illumi refers to Alluka as “he/him” whereas Kilua refers to Alluka as “she/her.” It's likely a small translation error but I figured I’d mention it.) Again, this arc does a good job of establishing rules and manipulating those rules to weave a compelling story.

13th Chairman election half- 4/10
Gon revival half 7/10
Overall- 6/10

-----

Taking the weighted average of each arc by episode count gives me an average score of 6.5/10 which I feel is a very fair score for the show. Arcs like the Chimera Ant and YorkNew City arc are phenomenal, while other parts are downright bad. I definitely recommend the show for these arcs specifically. The show has a lot, meaning nearly everyone can find some kind of enjoyment out of at least one section of the show. It will be interesting to see if the last manga arcs ever get adapted.

I want to give the unbiased rating here.

==============================================
SYNOPSIS
==============================================
Hunter x Hunter is a story about a boy named "Gon Freecs" who wants to be a hunter like his father, "Ging Freecs". He then start the journey to pass the hunter exam. In his journey, he met many friends: Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio, the the story flows around them and about finding his father.

The story might be separate into arcs and they are independent:
- Hunter Exam arc - 21 eps
- Zoldyck Family arc - 5 eps
... - Heavens Arena - 10 eps
- Yorknew City arc - 22 eps
- Greed Island - 17 eps
- Chimera Ants - 61 eps
- Hunter Chairman Election - 12 eps

==============================================
WHY I DO LIKE IT?
==============================================
Because Yorknew City Arc (episode 40 -58) is great. The arcs is good because it consists of many twists and unpredictable moments. After seeing an episode, I just want to see another episode of Yorknew City Arcs. The villain are not just an ordinary villain, but also smart. Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio are joined together to hunt the enemies together and this make the arcs so interesting.

==============================================
WHY I DO NOT LIKE IT?
==============================================
Because the other arcs are really terrible and that make the whole anime not so good. In details are below:
1. At first I thought this is an anime about hunting, and focus on hunting. However it turns out to be more focus about "super power" thing like dragon ball anime at the later episodes.
So, a super villain appears -> main characters train -> main characters beat villain -> another super villain appears -> main characters train -> main characters beat villain -> loop forever.

2.
Why do Gon want to be a hunter??
Why Killua want to be a hunter??
Why Kurapika and Leorio want to be a hunter?
I find the the reason to be a hunter is not realistic.
They actually can achieve the same result WITHOUT being a hunter.
(Don't misinterpret my sentence here. Gon want to find about his father by becoming hunter.. I know it seems logical for other viewers but not me. To find about his father, there are always another alternative!! The same goes to Kurapika, and Leorio. Money can always be got from somewhere else while being a hunter do not guarantee easy money. To get access to information, you always have a way, like borrowing license.)
The Hunter association itself is not really clear. What is the hunter job? May the bad people can be a hunter and misuse the hunter license? It is really a plot hole here.
And why Gon only want to find his father, not his mother also? Because he think because his mother is a female it might replace mito san?? So, It is because of gender reason??? that reason without a doubt make Gon an TRULY REALLY SELFISH RACIST character and I hate it.

3. Many episodes in this anime are too DRAGGING and BORING. Sometimes, I just watch 15 minutes of narrator explaining about super power thing. Sometimes, the narrator is too annoying, he explains too much detail and ruins the story.
For example, when a person is walking from A to B, the narrator said "A is walking from A to B quietly" which is not needed because the watcher can see it by ourselves.
Sometimes, the animation is replaced by a static picture with a narrator explaining. This ruins the arts.
The episodes about Gon and Killua training are also too long.
The super power is also unrealistic and too complicated.. Complicated one just make the story boringggg...
The conversation about super power is the one I avoid most, and it is almost 50% of the anime.. I don't need an explanation about A can have an aura 15 meters or the aura A can beat aura B and aura C can beat aura D with prerequisite and exception F, G, H...

==============================================
SUMMARY 6/10
==============================================
If the shows only consists Yorknew City alone, perhaps I will give rating 9. The other arcs is terrible and without Yorknew City arcs, I will give it 5 at best. So, I put an average here: 6.
If you like superpower anime like dragonball, or the law of ueki, you might like this one also. But, for me those animes are I avoid the most.

I will go through every single aspect of rating part.

Story: is great! BUT! One big but is way they have represented it in anime. Every single event is over-extended. I'm pretty sure the main story would fit in 64 episodes. Its terrible when you have something interesting going on, but it gets boring super-fast because it takes like 20 episodes to get to the point and then, after 5 minutes, main event ends.

Art: I will take it as animation. Disgusting. Same as story, every single fight last for 45min, while real fight lasts for maybe 15-20 seconds. Its frustrating to have every single fighting move ... followed up by 10 minutes of backstory, thinking and whatever.

Sound: While OST in general was decent, listening to 2-3 same songs over 148 episodes gets annoying so fast.

Characters: Maybe best part of the anime are characters. I can't recall a single character being "out of the character", having unreal develpoment or being annoying in general. Every major character have its own flaws and positive sides, and by the end of the anime, I still had sympathy for most of them.

Enjoyment: Narrator is most annoying thing I've ever heard in my life. He is explaining every single detail that is on screen. Like, hello, I have eyes too! Other things, as said in Story and animation part, it is EXTREMELY OVER-EXTENDED! If they've cut-off all unimportant things, flashbacks, delaying events, it would be probably best anime ever. But like this, its extremely boring. One example: Probably best event in the anime was about to happen. End of that episode, everyone is prepared to go on, clash is about to happen! THIRTY-FIVE EPISODES LATER: IT STILL HASN'T EVEN STARTED. Enough...

Overall: 5. Praise for characters, story was meant to be good, but marketing did the thing with delaying everything. In my opinion, this is most OVERRATED anime of all times, and if you, dear reader come across this review, for the love of God, skip watching Hunter x Hunter!

I normally am not very negative and find it very easy to enjoy shows, but this show was a rare exception. To start off, I want to acknowledge that it is a unique show and the praise that it gets is justified, but I still feel that my experience differed vastly and it felt like a waste of time overall. For me, the show starts off strong with introducing a clear story and cool characters, but it loses me around the third arc. I felt that it lacked any sort of excitement or action and kept leading to anticlimactic moments for the sake of suspense ... that didn't really lead anywhere. I'm trying not to spoil anything, but there's an episode around the 90's that relates to this arc and essentially contains everything that I thought this arc should've been: filled with action and character background/development. Beyond that, the following arc is irrelevant and serves mostly as a transition to the next arc which I felt could've been executed more appropriately instead of adding some throwaway story. The next arc after that drags on for way too long which is sort of excusable since the later half is quite honestly incredible. The biggest downsides that ruin it for me though are the bad character decisions, the random narration that's added which kills the mood, and plot armor in a sense (can't specify without spoiling). Ironically enough, the characters that were the most interesting and I connected with were 2 weak side characters who were introduced in the later half of that arc and don't show up after this arc which is slightly annoying. All these lead to a very disappointing feeling for me. The final arc, however, did restore some hope for me as it was brilliantly done. As I said, I don't really care for perfection or anything, but those three arcs in the middle of the series that spans a good near 75 episodes were very off putting and makes me not even want to continue onto the manga to know what happens next. A good majority of people seem to love this show, but I just think there are a lot of flaws that made it not enjoyable and made me regret pouring time into it.

Pros: Great characters, interesting settings, and plot-lines with a lot of potential
Cons: Poor story direction and decision making at points, retconned/irrelevant details in the story, bad pacing, soundtrack wasn't really memorable, and questionable power differences