Manga 26 Hunter X Hunter

Ah, Hunter x Hunter. Simply the best battle shounen ever created!

I will divide this review into five sections: Story, Art, Characters, enjoyment and personal taste.

Story: 10/10. Whether it's world building, battles or foreshadows, all of this is perfect in hunter x hunter, managing to move me in some parts.

Art: 8/10. The illustrations are good, but sometimes inconsistent (chapter 337 says so). However, we have to take into account that Yoshihiro Togashi has a chronic back problem.

Characters: 9.9/10. Togashi managed to strike a beautiful balance with his characters, especially between the protagonists. There are few that I don't like, but they were enough to take a ... tenth off the grade.

Enjoyment: 10/10. This manga is so good that I marathoned it in thirteen days, my experience was incredible and I have nothing to complain about.

Personal taste: 10/10.

Overall: 10/10.

I'm sorry if this review contains several spelling errors, English is not my first language and I used the translator to do it, but I hope you enjoyed it, as it took some work!

HunterxHunter is what got me back into reading manga as an adult. I remember loving the anime the first time I watched it and in a bout of nostalgia I decided to read the manga. Past the emotional bond I have for the story and the characters, it's time to face it: it's overall mid.

The art clearly is not why people love the manga. Togashi *can* draw, but he just can't seem to be thaaaat bothered to put in that extra effort to polish up spreads most of the time. However, from the storytelling point, there are some beautiful dramatic build-ups and climaxes that ... kept me up at night reading until my eyes fell off the bone. I loved how the York New Arc built tension and unfurled itself. The Chimera Ants Arc was grandiose and its climax brought me to tears. But following such an ambitious arc, the manga goes downhill and all I can think is "How did you think that would EVER be a good idea?!". Attempts at gearing the plot towards being some sort of political thriller are complete failures due to bad storytelling and pacing. What could have been fun 'race for the prize' type plots reminiscent of the Hunter Exam and York New arcs end up being so weirdly drawn out, convoluted, and over-explained that they're just painful to read.

All up until the Chimera Ant, you have moments of brilliance interspersed with fine entertaining moments. Following that, I wouldn't bother to read unless you like to make it a point to complete the mangas you start.

It's clear that Togashi would have benefitted from a creative partnership with a good editor who's not afraid to say 'no' when he clearly decided to go on a tangent and advise on how to redirect the plot. However, I have a feeling that Togashi just did not and still does not have it in him to go through rounds of story developments given his ill health and he's trying to deliver what he can and personally enjoys. As a fan of the manga, I'll follow the man into his convoluted antics, but I won't preach at you to do the same.

It's an 8/10 in my heart but really, it's a 6/10 only thanks to some compelling characters and the few brilliant moments that in real terms maybe represent only 40% of the manga.

Before beginning this review, I will like to point out that the intention of this review is not to trigger Hunter X Hunter (HxH for short)fans or let them feel like I'm attacking them or their intelligence since that is basically the trend in most reviews these days. Most reviews are made with the intention to 'trigger' a reaction out of fans by criticizing a series to the point that you are telling fans that they are basically dumb for liking a particular series.

This review is simply showing you guys another perspective since HxH fans aren't used to seeing much criticism when it comes to ... this series. Now, shall we begin?

Hxh is a series that I once loved, the anime that is, now after finishing the anime I went into the manga and quickly realise a problem this series has had in the anime, but now, it was more apparent in the manga. The problem is the absurd amount of dialogue and monologue within it that makes it ridiculous, the author of HxH decided that every single character is going to have long monologue and dialogue, but it's even worse when the characters are just redshirts.

The latest arc is especially guilty of this, basically, we as the reader are forced to see the point of view of literally every single character in this arc; the guards of the Prince's, the Prince's, guards of a Prince stalking another Prince, people associated to a Prince, people keeping an eye on another Prince, the Mafia Bosses, Hunters, the guards of the Mafia Bosses, the people from branch families, all of the underlings of the people from branch families as well, and we can go on and on — I wouldn't be surprised if we start getting the point of view from the trees, cats, dogs and basically everything else. You get the point. This is not interesting at all and it's just a chore to read. Sure you can say that he is amazing for giving redshirts their moments and making them feel important, but, truth be told, redshirts will always be redshirts! You can give them a few dialogues or give them a purpose later on without watering down the series quality by having them talk about stuff, we as the readers, are already aware of. I also saw the Viz translation, and it's a bit better, but still, its too dialogue heavy and unnecessary — just pointing that out before someone says it is Mangastream's fault, btw this is wall x text the manga.

Togashi is like a student that is writing an essay that should be 800 words in length and thinks that writing a 2000 word essay instead will impress the teacher. That is basically how a lot of the fans are behaving as well, I've seen HxH fans praising the series because it has so many dialogues and saying how long it took them to read a single chapter, like it was some type of accomplishment, while other HxH fans are saying they feel dumb because they are not understanding the plot. The truth is, the reason why some people are having difficulty in understanding the plot is because Togashi, as a writer, is failing to express his work to his readers properly, because all he is doing is throwing dialogue and monologue at his fans and telling them that they should figure out his mess, I'm not sure how the editor even approve these chapters. If this was a monthly manga then that could be an excuse to why some fans are forgetting vital points, but it's a weekly series which means it should be easier to follow and remember. Togashi is also lacking in the "show but not tell" type of storytelling, he would rather lazily tell the audience every tiny detail, even the irrelevant ones.

I'm sure Togashi has planned out everything in this arc and that he knows what he is doing, but he is not executing it properly if half of his fans feel like it is a chore to read his manga, it just means he is not writing this arc in a creative way. At the end of the day, its the author's story, but he is writing his story to his fans, and if his fans are not liking it, something is clearly wrong. Togashi may have a brilliant idea, but if he is not executing it properly then it is all a waste.

This manga overall is a chore to read and it is boring for me personally, the characters for HxH has always been decent for me, I never had a problem with the characters, I don't think they are anything special but at the same time, I don't think they are bad. I don't like the art style because it is drawn in a generic style that I, personally don't like, but its even worst when it is not drawn properly by Togashi. In saying that, the art really doesn't affect my enjoyment that much, since there isn't much art, to begin with.

Overall, this manga is a 4/10, and I don't feel like Togashi is taking advantage of his imagination. I know he can do way better than this, and perhaps this series will be a bit more bearable to watch when it's animated, whenever that is.

To people that are still enjoying this series, more power to you, but at least try to understand why some peoples are not enjoying it, without talking down on them or challenging their intelligence, because I've seen that a lot.

As a university student, reading HxH feels like reading a school textbook, the only purpose is for you to temporarily memorize information just to pass a test. HxH is at the borderline of a school textbook than a fictional book, which basically sums up how I currently feel for this series, and I'm having a lot of doubt that my opinion will ever change.

Thanks for reading if you were able to reach this far.