Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Hunters devote themselves to accomplishing hazardous tasks, all from traversing the world's uncharted territories to locating rare items and monsters. Before becoming a Hunter, one must pass the Hunter Examination—a high-risk selection process in which most applicants end up handicapped or worse, deceased.

Ambitious participants who challenge the notorious exam carry their own reason. What drives 12-year-old Gon Freecss is finding Ging, his father and a Hunter himself. Believing that he will meet his father by becoming a Hunter, Gon takes the first step to walk the same path.

During the Hunter Examination, Gon befriends the medical student Leorio Paladiknight, the vindictive Kurapika, and ex-assassin Killua Zoldyck. While their motives vastly differ from each other, they band together for a common goal and begin to venture into a perilous world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Zoldyck, Killua Main

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Kurapika Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Freecss, Gon Main

Han, Megumi Japanese

Paladiknight, Leorio Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Morow, Hisoka Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Meruem Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Lucilfer, Chrollo Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Netero, Isaac Supporting

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Neferpitou Supporting

Fujimura, Ayumi Japanese

Portor, Feitan Supporting

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Tamura, Manabu Producer, Planning

Nakatani, Toshio Producer

Iwasa, Naoki Producer

Reviews

Oct 2, 2014

Cresherhsm

Recommended

The lack of popularity surrounding Hunter x Hunter (2011) has always confused me, especially after catching up to it six months ago. For an anime that seems to do everything right, it isn't talked about a lot at a popular level. Neither has it been successful in garnering a fan base similar to that of SNK or SAO. I decided to write this review to do the show justice. If a show this good is still flying under your radar or if you are discouraged from watching this because of its "childish appearance" then reading this review is a must.

Story:
HxH is about a young boy ... named Gon who embarks on a journey to find his father. After learning that his father left him at a young age to become a Hunter, Gon decides to follow in his footsteps not only to find him, but also to see what was so special about the profession that made his father choose it over him. Although a story of finding one's father is simple, it is the path that is taken towards this end that makes the series truly special. HxH is made up of several arcs that are all extremely well-written, which brings me to the best part of the series, the writing. Hunter x Hunter (2011) boasts one of the finest writing in the world of shonen; the depth and flow of the story, enthralling characterizations, strong dialogue and impressive world-building are all crafted into a fascinating tale that can absorb viewers into lengthy marathons.

The amount of variety that is packed into HxH's story is also very impressive. HxH successfully dabbles in several genres in six story arcs tackling survival, fighting tournaments, crime thriller, virtual realities, war and politics. Not only that, the series is also able to undergo significant tonal shifts with ease (light to dark and vice versa). Sometimes, these shifts in tone occur after an arc ends though other times, it even occurs mid-arc. Another thing about HxH is that its arcs are connected with one another, with each arc naturally following the one before it. This creates a natural transition that highlights what the series really is, a journey. As for pacing and development, they are excellent. For the most part, HxH is very well paced. The series does a fantastic job at keeping its viewers engaged, time will fly by as you watch most episodes and you'll find yourself breezing through the show. Excluding two recap episodes, HxH has no filler episodes. Due to this, story progression is solid with the plot moving forward with each episode.

Although HxH initially gives off a light hearted impression, it gives off a good one. Not the kind of “light heartedness” that makes you say “this is childish and below me” but the kind that appeals to everyone. HxH gives off that classic and charming shonen vibe that has been lost in recent years, and it does so with its head held up high. Eventually though, the series takes a dark turn. Although most HxH story arcs are light hearted, both Yorknew and the Chimera Ant arc are two of the best and darkest arcs shonen has to offer. Yorknew can be described as a dark thriller in a big city. The central theme of the arc is revenge and it is similar to Death Note in terms of thrill and atmosphere. On the other hand, the Chimera Ants arc can be described as an attempt by the Hunters Association to control an outbreak of a dangerous man-eating species. It is the darkest and most thematically powerful arc in the series tackling themes such as identity, human nature and survival of the fittest. The arc has drawn comparisons to Yu Yu Hakusho’s Chapter Black for its seinen-like nature and is similar to Shingeki no Kyojin, where the protagonists experience a strong sense of despair in the face of a vastly superior, hostile species. The series undergoes major tonal shifts in both arcs with the color palette, music, atmosphere and amount of violence changing significantly.

However, what sets the series apart from other battle anime is its unorthodoxy and unpredictability. Shonen tropes and storytelling methods are undermined throughout the series. The main character for example, Gon, fails more than he succeeds. Power-ups based on emotion or willpower are non-existent and fighting in the series is radically different from other battle anime. The main protagonist is not the main focus of every arc either. At certain points in the series, you could even say that Gon has taken a supporting role, especially during the later portions of the CA arc where he isn't given as much focus due to the grand scope of the story. The standard battle anime formula of “lose-train-win” is also undermined. Although there is training, it does not always translate to a victory, nor does it propel the protagonists over or to the same level as their main adversaries in terms of strength. For the most part, the protagonists assume the underdog role. Although they have incredible potential, they are still kids who have a lot to learn. In terms of storytelling, unpredictable developments are commonplace. One thing that continues to amaze me with this show is how it leads viewers into thinking that the story will progress in this direction, only to change course and arrive at a completely different outcome. A good example of this would be the series' arcs which often end in an anti-climatic manner. Basically, there are a lot of scenes and story developments that you won’t see coming because they defy conventional shonen storytelling or are unpredictable in their own right.

The series' unorthodoxy can also be seen in its fights which are primarily cerebral. In addition to being well-executed, HxH fights are smart and involve a lot of strategy. Raw power is a factor but it is not the factor that decides battle outcomes, actual power (nen abilities), experience and strategy are all taken into account. If a main character is outclassed by an opponent in all or most categories, he is likely to lose. Moreover, main characters are not given any special treatment in combat. This smart approach to fighting is further enhanced by nen, a unique and complex power system held by defined rules. The concept of nen, its principles, aura types and many applications on the battlefield reveal the huge amount of thought that was put into it. I still remember having to pause episodes, even research a bit during its introduction, just to digest it in its entirety.

The appearance and writing of the series also create an effect of cognitive dissonance, the simplistic look of the show mentally conflicts with the brilliance and unorthodoxy of its writing. As new viewers delve deeper into HxH, they realize that there is much more to the show than its cover art and synopsis suggest. Expectations of the series being immature, simple or generic are progressively overturned as the show reveals its surprising underbelly.

Sound:
As for sound, HxH has a line of great soundtracks that started off decent but got better as the series progressed. With the exception of a few minor characters, the voice acting in this series is excellent. As a person who has never seen the old series it’s hard to believe that these aren't the original voices because they fit extremely well, especially those of Gon, Killua and Hisoka whose voice actors do a perfect job of capturing their characters.

Art:
HxH also has great art and animation. It amazes me how a long-running series like HxH delivers consistent quality animation episode after episode, especially during the fights. The series does a great job of capturing facial expressions and everything from the lighting, shading and colors adjust perfectly depending on the mood of the scene or the tone of the arc. As one reviewer (nagaiyume) said, the bright colors of the show might need some getting used to, though it is usually fans of the old series who have this problem. Personally, I think it fits the show perfectly. It adds to the charm of the series by complementing its sense of adventure, uplifting atmosphere and unique appeal as a shonen that looks simple but is actually remarkably deep.

Characters:
Although HxH’s primary strength lies in its writing, its characters come pretty damn close. HxH has a huge cast of characters. They have quirks, dreams, inner demons, world views and overall, really likable personalities. To top it off, most of them don’t follow generic character archetypes. Although some may initially come across as “generic”, these assumptions are gradually undermined as the series progresses.

If there's one thing I want to emphasize in the character department it would be the series main villains. When it comes to characters, this is where the show shines the brightest. HxH villains are extremely well-written (with the exception of the Bomber who won't apply to most of what I'll say below). Not only are their characterizations independently impressive, they are also distinct from one another; no two villains are the same. This distinctness does not only apply within the series but outside of it. You won't find another Hisoka, Chrollo or Ant King in any other anime. This is what makes HxH villains so compelling, in addition to having really impressive characterizations, they are also original. Although I excluded one out of the four main villains from most of what I wrote above, all HxH villains do have one thing in common. Each villain strikes fear into audience, the series does a good job of establishing the level of danger these characters bring to the story and our protagonists.

Negatives:
However, while HxH is a great series it isn't perfect. The series doesn't have a strong start, it takes three episodes for show to get going. I've seen a lot of people drop HxH early and it sucks because the first two episodes don't capture the series at all. Things start to get mildly interesting in the third episode, after that, the series just gets better and better. HxH also suffers from occasional BGM misuse. There are odd sound choices for some scenes. Sometimes they don’t really fit, other times they don’t fit it all. Lastly, the Chimera Ant arc also has minor issues with both Togashi and Madhouse to blame. Togashi’s fault lies in his writing during the middle of the CA arc which I think, pales in comparison to the rest of the series. HxH has made a name for itself for holding a consistent high level throughout its run; it’s a series that’s just so engaging and easy to marathon. However, I believe this consistency took a hit mid-CA arc (due to handling of the story and pacing) specifically, episodes 89-98. Don’t get me wrong though, I think there are a fair number of good episodes within that 9-episode stretch but unfortunately, they are surrounded by mediocre episodes that break the consistency of an otherwise exceptional arc. Madhouse’s fault lies in its adaption of the manga chapters comprising episodes 113 and 115, which were dragged out in order to have episode 116 handled by their best animation team. Episode 113 was actually well paced except for one atrocious sequence while episode 115 as a whole was generally poorly paced.

A clarification about the "slowed down pacing" of Chimera Ant arc:
If you’ve been reading up about HxH, you’ve probably seen some people complain about the “poor pacing” during the “narration heavy episodes” of the CA arc. Well if you’re wondering how much truth is there to this statement and were going to ask me about it, my answer would be it depends.

At episode 111, the palace invasion (climax of the CA arc) begins and narration begins to play a huge role in episodes in order to (1) pack a whole level of depth into the story and (2) increase dramatic tension. Rather than a high octane "action fest" people would expect from a shonen arc climax, the palace invasion takes a psychological heavy route wherein a character’s thoughts and mental state are given more focus than the actual action. This psychological focus together with the narration slows down the pace considerably in the sense that episodes begin to cover a lot less in narrative time. However, despite this “slowed down pace”, the pacing of these episodes remain solid with good amount of manga chapters being covered during each of these episodes and the duration of scenes being on point (except for episodes 113 and 115 which I mentioned earlier in this review).

In the end, it depends if the narration works on you or not. If you like the psychological approach and experience an increase in suspense then you’ll have no problems with the pacing and are in for one helluvah of a ride. However, if you don’t like the psychological approach and feel that the narrator’s heavy presence breaks your immersion then you’re in for a grueling experience. Of course, there are other combinations such as liking the psychological route but not feeling the immersion or maybe the narration just didn't work on you completely. Well, if this happens to be the case then you’ll end up with mixed feelings. On the bright side, most people who end up watching the invasion end up enjoying the narration. However, if you happen to be one of the good number of people who end up not liking the narration don’t worry, only episodes 111-118 of the palace invasion have heavy narration. After episode 118, the narration begins to decrease and episodes eventually reach a point where they are “back to normal”.

Heads up to people looking for action:
Although I love the fighting aspect of the series and consider it to be a strong plus, I’ll leave this out there for the sake of subjectivity. HxH does not cater to everyone. Although fights in the series are well-executed, they are also short (1-10 minutes) and happen less in comparison to other battle anime. Moreover, the focus on strategy in battles might be off putting to people who prefer fights with more brawn and less brain. If you're expecting an action heavy series like Yu Yu Hakusho then you will be disappointed. This is because HxH is a series that relies on its story to reel in viewers. Personally, I think this is how fighting in shonen should be done. Fighting should be able to entertain and also make you think. It shouldn't drag on for too long at the expense of the story without leaving you underwhelmed.

Conclusion:
Hunter x Hunter (2011) is an intelligent battle anime with a fantastic story, excellent characters and fights that involve a lot of strategy. Separating it from most of its genre, the series subverts shonen tropes and boasts unpredictable plot progressions that make it truly unique.

Overall scores:
Story: 10/10 (Outstanding)
Characters: 10/10 (Outstanding)
Art: 9/10 (Great)
Sound: 8/10 (Great but occasionally misused)
Enjoyment: 10/10 (Extremely high)
Overall: 10/10 (Masterpiece)

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 2, 2022

SoldierDream

Mixed Feelings

**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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 24, 2024

Lockensocke

Not Recommended

HxH is one of the many overrated shounen anime out there and I can summarize my review with one sentence: „If you became kinda interested in HxH, because you have heard it’s so much more than just a shounen, don’t believe it, because it is exactly that, just another shounen." Now I’m not a fan of shounen, and if you read this review you will find out why, so this anime is not made for me, but just for more diversity in views I will analyze this anime a bit closer.

HxH is one of those anime where you can literally see the quality dropping, with ... the earlier episodes being made nicely and at the end it has one of the longest pacings I have ever seen. Since the artstlye isn’t in any form detailed and costly they can’t tell me they ran out of money. I assume they just wanted to milk the cashcow to the end and stretched it out as much as possible.
Like I said before the start of the show was quite nice. It had a few things which didn’t really make any sense, especially the riddles, but it had a nice build up and a good pacing. It seemed to me as if the start also really wanted to surprise the viewers with something unexpected, regardless of how illogical it was. It also didn’t do much good in terms of atmosphere, in some cases it even destroys the atmosphere it built up just for surprise reasons. The main characters are also unexplained overpowered, sure there are a few stronger but that alone doesn’t justify a little kid being physically stronger than a well-trained grown up man, just because he “grew up in the woods”, which is btw contradicted later on. But besides a few negative things to say, the start (first 17-20 episodes maybe) was ok. It had a goal and set motivation from the character side, the main story kinda made sense (more than the rest of the show) and they had some kind of, what the fans claim as “tactics in fighting”.

In the second arc the terror already begins. Motivations from the character were completely forgotten and not even mentioned in order to have a little conflict for the goal of this arc. The reason for the first arc and what they have achieved was completely pointless and even contradictory as explained in the later arcs. The following arcs shine with, not knowing what to call somethings. For the show an assassin is someone who is physically strong and can endure much pain instead of being stealthy and deadly, the so called “mafia” is a bunch of unorganized idiots who apparently have a lot of power (they at least have a lot of money) which is contradictory in every way and let me question the whole world building of this anime and we still don't know what a Hunter is and does. The writers have no idea of how money works, which wouldn’t be a problem if they hadn’t dedicated a whole arc just for money getting purposes, which later on is also completely useless. Not to forget the story is full of convenience, which goes beyond the acceptable amount. Some of the arcs are complete filler since they either are pointless or have nothing to do with the final goal (the motivation of the main protagonist). There is even one arc were the main protagonist is inside a video game and literally the first thing he hears there is that being here is completely pointless, but he doesn’t care and goes on anyway, which makes the whole arc pointless and questions the existence of the build up to it.

This show becomes less endurable from arc to arc, with the mafia arc being an exception but still not good. It’s like comparing a pile of shit with a pile of shit which has a cherry on top of it. Seeing the later arcs lets you remember the earlier ones as if they were in any way good, that’s how horrible this show gets.

HunterxHunter also likes to copy or inlcude everything that was or is popular it seems. That goes from character design (Robocop) even to whole story arcs (the video card game arc which included cardgames like magic the gathering).

A thing that really bothers me as well is the fact that this show has no scale what so ever. The abilities and the strength of every character are so completely random and out of order. It even shifts during the whole anime, making character who should be strong considering their rank utterly weak and character who should be weak unnecessary strong. Its like as if one writer wrote the hierarchy of all the characters and their relationship and then another decided, because how much he liked their appearance how strong they are.

All of the above was pretty much the first half of the show. The show was like I said very bad but had at least some arcs which were watchable and had a decent pacing. From episode 80 onwards the chimera arc takes place. This is basically the main difference between the original version of the HunterxHunter anime and the 2011 version.

The chimera arc is the worst thing I have seen in a long time in terms of writing. You can’t take anything they say and do seriously, since the character design is so freaking retarded. They say they are ants but then a penguin and a pink panda in a suit is sitting there with them. The writers wanted to make this arc dark and mature but only present it in such a childish way.

In this arc HxH really shows how little time they spend with thinking through the whole thing. Where villains came from and what their motivation is was never a thing HunterXHunter spends any time in but in this case it makes absolutely no sense that some ant-people who just came into existence are able to be as strong as one of the strongest person in the whole anime. So again.. no scale existend. And with no time spend with motivation and personification the writers now believe they can put drama in the show when the villains die. Are you freaking kidding me? Yeah the ants just killed hundreds if not thousands of people and now I should feel sorry for them? The drama in this whole anime is the worst sort of melodrama, forced and reliable so much on double standarts.

In the last arc the tactics really shine, in terms of sucking. In the last 50 episodes there is only a handful of fights anyways, so there is not much to talk about, but the tactics there is so utterly idiotic. There is so much bullshit that happened during this arc, there was not 1 episode where I wasn’t facepalming.
But all of the above would have been minor points if it wasn’t for how boring this whole arc was. The reason I criticize their “tactics” is only because they spend so much time with talking and every fan thinks the tactics are so great. 90% of the time they talk about irrelevant stuff and when it comes to real tactics they are utterly bullshit, convenient or deus ex machina.

Characters of this show are not in any terms special. Have you seen either Naruto, One Piece, Bleach you know the personality of the main character. Add a bunch of extra typical side characters and you got them all. It’s just the typical teenager character who is strong enough to change the world stuff. In HunterXHunter they at least didnt go full overpowered with the main character, but considering the age of the protagonist and the enemies he is fighting later on I would say its pretty unrealistic (also there are some moments later on were our MC goes into deus ex machina overpowered mode for some reason). He is a very wish-fulfilling character and not that much of a role model (so instead of giving him realistic trades he is super positive all the time and strong etc.). I think there is nothing really wrong with this wish-fulfilling kind of anime, but they just feel very childish. So saying this is more than a shounen is really wrong.


Music is also pretty bad. All the good songs were copies of famous classical songs, such as Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem, the rest is rather forgettable boring background music. Artstyle is simple and character design in the WHOLE show is the worst I have ever seen, but that’s ofc only my opinion. I found it to be nice to see no cgi, if I remember correctly.


So overall: This show is not more than a shounen and I might add the worst written shonen I have ever seen, but I am not into that genre so I only saw a few of them. If you are a person who likes more mature stuff and think there is something behind this anime, otherwise it wouldn’t be so popular, don’t fall for the trap and stay away from it. At the end you will just regret it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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