Alright so I'll start this off by saying I am a huge hxh fan, probably my favorite shonen series i've watched. And I was hooked by hxh pretty early on, i mean i didn't care for the first 2-3 episodes with the weird tree fox thing, but pretty much the first episode into the hunter exam I was hooked for real. Basically, it did not take me long to fall in love with hxh, loved it from the beginning, and it just got better.
Anyways I decided to check out Togashi's other work, as YYH had been on my watchlist for awhile now. But man I am struggling to get into it. I enjoy the characters, and the banter is fun, but these first few arcs are boring me to death. To be honest, I actually have enjoyed the slice of life stuff from the first few episodes more than the other arcs I have seen (21 epsidoes in btw), which is weird because I'm a big shonen guy and I don't watch much slice of life. But the fights are just boring to me.
Yusuke and Kurama with the mirror had some cool character stuff, but I thought the Yusuke Hiei fight was boring. For the Genkai tournament arc, my favorite part was the first episode of that arc, episode 9, where they do several tests like the lottery, punching game, karaoke, and stuff. It just felt a lot like HxH, so I was a fan of the tests and stuff, and so far that's probably my favorite episode of the 21 that I have watched. But the fights after that did not grab me much at all, I found the Rando stuff to be boring. And now I just finished the Saints Beasts arc, I thought the Kuwabara and Byakko fight was fine, but it was only fine I wasn't overly interested, and the rest of the arc just dragged for me (I did like the very end of the Suzaku fight tho, just the end). Overall, saints beasts is my least favorite arc so far. And I've heard the rescue yukina arc is another tough one to get through.
Anyways, I just want to know if the Dark Tournament is really worth the slog. Based on what I have said that I have enjoyed, do you guys think I should keep pushing through? Is the dark tournament that much of a step up? or just a little bit better? If it's that good I will keep pushing through for sure. I read Bleach awhile ago, and that first arc was a chore, thought I was going to drop it, but then I got to Soul Society and Arrancar arc and now I love Bleach and i'm super glad I kept going. So will Dark Tournament be like that? Like the transition from Bleach's beginning arc to Soul Society? I do like the yyh characters, it's just the fights are boring and it doesn't feel like there's any stakes, feels like villain of the week and that there's not a consistent plot thread to follow (which doesn't bother me entirely, I enjoy some episodic stuff like cowboy bebop, etc. but just not what I am looking for in a battle shonen series). So I'm wondering if dark tournament levels up the fights, specifically do the fights become smarter? Something like nen, or some kind of power system, or is it just punch-kick punch-kick kinda stuff. But even then I'd still watch it if the plot was worth it. Just let me know if it's worth it to keep going.
UPDATE:
Alright I will keep going. I love the chimera ant arc so if it’s that level of quality I will stick with it. Also, I watched the rescue Yukina arc. HEAT. I loved this arc, was far far more invested than the previous arcs.
I loved Toguro, I know he’s not dead cause I’ve seen him in the dark tournament, so I can’t wait to see more of him. Really enjoyed his fight. I loved the betting going on during the episodes that was great stuff. The fight with the woman yokai was funny, and the shonen jump move cracked me up.
Having interesting villains, the betting, and then the stuff with hiei added a lot for me. It wasn’t just fight rock guy, now fight tiger guy, then fight blue ice guy, and then fight lightning guy. Like as soon as Toguro showed up I knew he was the real deal. So far this arc is BY FAR the best I’ve seen. Major step up from the previous arc imo, a lot more excited to keep going to see what’s gonna happen with dark tournament. |