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Hunter x Hunter is one of my all-time favorite series. I really enjoy the manga very much. I also enjoyed the 1999 series a lot, but I'm going to try my best not to refer back to that and stick to this version when doing my review. It took me a while, but I finally got through the 2011 series. It's just...so-so to me. I do prefer the 1999 series over it based on the arcs that each series covered and will do my best not to compare too much. I'll give my opinion on the Chimera Ant arc and Chairman arc separately since the ... 1999 version never got to that point.

In this world, you have people called Hunters who can do a lot of different things. You could be a person who travel the earth to discover new species or hunt for treasure, or go after criminals like a Bounty Hunter. Becoming a Hunter is an honor and a difficult task to manage as you have to pass an exam (which is different every year), but when you do, you get many perks and kickbacks since there are so few of them. The pass rate for the exam is usually small and you could even be killed for participating in it.

The story starts off with a naive, slightly selfish, 12-year-old boy named Gon. He lives with his grandmother and cousin, Mito, who took care of him after his father abandoned him when he was a baby, on a very small island. We never find out who his mother was and when he had the chance, he chose not to because he viewed his cousin Mito as his mother. His father is a Hunter, so he wants to take the exam in hopes of finding his father. He leaves on his journey and meets up with the characters of 18-year-old Leorio and 16-year-old Kurapika. Leorio wants to become a Hunter for the fame and fortune, but you find out that his shallow reason was just a cover. His reason is actually more admirable. Kurapika wants to become a Blacklist Hunter to find a crime group (guess you could call them that) that slaughtered his clan while he was away. He wants to hunt the group's members down and retrieve what was stolen from his clan members. The last one to join the group is a 12-year-old boy named Killua. He's from a famous family known for assassinating people. He's also really rich because of the family business. He doesn't have much interest in it and just wants to live more freely to do what he wants. Killua only joined the Hunter exam just for the heck of it and just thought it'd be fun. Gon and Killua become good friends.

The story for Hunter x Hunter is pretty simple, getting down to it. It's easy to follow and the world building of the series is pretty good...but imo, the 2011 series somewhat fails here compared to the 1999 series. My main issue with the 2011 series is that the pacing is too fast. I couldn't get attached to the characters too well. The pacing for the original was slower and maybe that's just me, but I tend to lean more towards that. We could see more of the world based on that because we spent more time in those areas. I do know that the 1999 version took liberties, but it did help with that world building and character development.

The art for this series is...okay? For me, personally, it's just too bright and colorful and cheerful. Hunter x Hunter has a dark tone story wise and seems the art should reflect this. It was too flashy and such for me, given how much death is in this series. The 1999 series, however, I feel did better with this. The colors reflected the tone of the show. Even the way the lighting and direction when comparing some scenes seemed to work better for the 1999 series compared to this. The Gon vs Hanzo fight is a good example of this, as the art showed that hours had gone by (like in the manga) where as for this series, it was that same lighting the entire time. Or like the Yorkshin arc when Kurapika was walking back from the auction in such a state and that mafia leader guy was arguing with him, angry at Kurapika for punching him in the face earlier...the lighting shining on and off his face as he was slowly walking was perfect and more intimidating...not so much, imo, for the 2011 version.

The music for the show was okay to me. I suppose I'm indifferent to it, but I will admit that I didn't care for the intro themes and outro themes too much. Felt generic to me.

The characters are all good in some way, but I still feel that because of that fast pacing, it was difficult to fully care about them or get to know them.

The Chimera Ant arc and the Chairman arc are the only arcs that the 1999 series did not cover as the manga was in a hiatus when it got to that part and neither were completed yet. This arc was good if you like being emotionally drained. Lots of deaths for this one. I feel that they did a halfway decent job, the art was okay for it too even if it was too bright for me at times and I am more of a fan of hand-drawn animation so I suppose that's just my bias showing and why I prefer the 1999 series' art. It adapted the stuff from the manga well here and the feeling I had when reading parts of this arc was fully conveyed in the show...especially Gon's anger at the character Pitou. It was like Gon's aura was oozing out of my screen and it was making me uncomfortable. lol

The Chairman arc was about the same as the manga too. Not much goes on for it, but even in the manga I felt that this dragged on for far too long.

Something that did bother me a lot these arcs was the narrator. It really took you out of the action and it was so darn unnecessary! I mean the Chimera Ant arc is already convoluted and nuts, but we didn't need a narrator. There are some parts where a narrator is necessary as that's how it was in the manga sometimes, like explaining the story of the guy who became a drug or weapons lord (whatever) in that area where the Chimera Ants were. His character had to be explained to the audience so a sequence and a narrator made sense for that. The narrator summing up the whole Gon and Palm situation made sense to narrate for. Everything else, no. Not during battles and this was the most frustrating part to me. It's almost like hand-holding. It's a visual medium, we can *see* what's happening. If they want to talk about how a characters is feeling, then they should be able to show that through their actions, dialogue, inner monologue, or facial expressions. Really brought it down for me.

Not sure if this review will be helpful, but overall the 2011 series is just mediocre for me. It is good in some ways, like being able to adapt the Chimera Ant arc, but that just makes me wish that we could've gotten this in the 1999 style with the studio from back then with all the hand-drawn backgrounds and animation. Also curious of what the music would've been like.

If one doesn't mind slower paced series, I'd recommend watching the 1999 version and then picking up the 2011 version for the Greed Island arc and up or either start from the Chimera Ant arc. The 1999 series ended in the Yorkshin arc and continued in an OVA. The art wasn't all that great for either of the OVAs. Greed Island's two OVAs was really noticeable. So if you are big on art, I'd skip those and just watch the 2011 adaptation.

This series is still airing and I'm still only 30-something episodes in and it's just not that good, imo. I was expecting it to be just a retelling of the same story, but I was wrong, not that that is a bad thing, though. I do like that they brought back some of the older seiyuu for some of the supporting characters, like how they had Neemon voiced by Kikuchi Masami (why couldn't they have him back to voice Jou? :-P).

I will give credit for them trying something different as far as story and such goes. It's interesting showing how these Digimon partners are for ... this version, and them having to somewhat revive old memories. This is about the only thing I can fully praise this series on. Oh, it is also cool that there are alternate evolutions, so I'll give them credit for that as well. Art is okay (although there are times where you can tell that they didn't have the budget), I suppose and the music is okay too. Now, on to what I have an issue with and why I prefer stuff that's in the 1999 series.

The pacing of this series is a big let down. It's too fast-paced. Time the characters finish up with one thing, they're off to doing something else without time to reflect on the events. This is an issue with most modern shows, movies, and media in general. It's a go go go attitude and things just happen. Like the situation with Takeru and how he just showed up in the Digital World and all the junk surrounding that. It also feels like there is no real story....stuff just happens. No real build up. Thirty-something episodes in, and I still feel as if I don't know what the real story is so far. As mentioned, we know that the partner-Digimon have pasts and memories need to be returned to them to recall that stuff, but that's about it.

The defying of physics and how these kids should've been killed by now. I hate the fact that the kids ride on their partners while they are using attacks that should harm or kill them too. For instance, Taichi was riding on MetalGreymon and a fire attack was used against MetalGreymon, but no...he wasn't burnt to a crisp from being on something partially metal that should've heated up like a magnifying glass harnessing light from the sun and burning the ground. Sora riding on Birdramon while she's using Meteor Wing...nope, she didn't die from that. It's ridiculous! I know this is a fictional show, but it seems that for the old show, the Digimon prioritized the safety of their partners. They would never use such attacks or fight with their partners right there. It just really bugs me that this is what they do now.

I hate the fact that these kids *never* have issues with hunger or energy. The same goes for their partners. I know this is a fictional show, but despite it being about monsters and such, the original version was partially grounded in reality. The Digimon constantly being able to evolve all easily to higher forms and then devolve and still be ready to fight again...no way! What happened to having stakes? These kids never feel like they're in danger or have any real issues being in the Digital World. So yeah...this is bothersome that they never focus on that or even have an inkling of it. It's go go go! No time to worry about a meal or our Digimon partners needing food to replenish their strength! We have another fight to get to! Stakes? What are those? -_-

Other issue, characterization and character development! IMO, Mimi is the most interesting of the group. It's also interesting to see that for this iteration her character is rich. Anyway, the character development is non-existent practically. All of the characters come across as flat. They all were taken to the Digital World in some way, but no one seems to actually react to it. Older series, the kids acted more human. "What are we going to do? How will we get back? Should we look around?" Stuff like that, which is a realistic reaction if forced to a place you've never been before. Since this series has that go go go attitude, the character development is suffering too. For the most part, none of these evolutions feel earned...'minus Mimi, imo. The evolution from Togemon to Lilymon actually felt like a genuine earned evolution. All the others just feel like, "OH, we need them to evolve...do it!" We aren't getting to know the characters that well, I feel and because of this, it's difficult to get attached to any of them. There hasn't been any reflection or internal struggles for them because the plot is moving so fast, they don't have time to show that.

I give this series as a whole a 4.5 out of 10. The main issues that needs the improving is the story and the human characters.

I tried, I really really did. This is my first time leaving a review for anything and going back through my list, decided to give this one a whirl since at the time, I was truly looking forward to it.

When finding out that they were going to do another adaptation of the series, I was very hopeful. I was looking forward to certain aspects that the original series left out, like the Shittenou and the Asteroid Senshi, for instance. Maybe we could get a better adaptation of SuperS or maybe Saturn will be utilized more properly in this version. Unfortunately, I couldn't get ... through the series far enough to fully see how these storylines were handled.

As for why I could not get through this series...mainly the characters themselves. They come across as terribly bland in comparison to the original anime. I do know that this is a manga adaptation and how it is closer to the manga, which I did like, but this is a situation where Sailor Moon benefits from having filler. The characters could be fleshed out more, which in part, helped the audience to become attached to the characters. It really *does* feel like Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, and the rest. In the original, it was nice seeing the characters doing activities that normal kids their age would be doing anyway, showing they had lives away from Sailor Business...and I think that was the main problem with Crystal...it was mostly Sailor Business. It made the senshi boring and like their only purpose in life was to just be soldiers.

The more boring aspects of the manga had to be used in the newer series and I get it, but for a person like me who never particularly cared for it, it was draining. I liked the original for focusing on the friendship aspect between our main characters as opposed to the romance angle. It gives me Miaka and Tamahome vibes from Fushigi Yuugi's anime. It's like everyone else didn't matter to Miaka, including Yui, and it was always Tamahome, Tamahome, Tamahome to her. I also know that they adapted the Beryll/Metallia battle closer...and there's something from that situation that I hated when reading the manga. I liked the change the original used...but that's just me being nitpicky.

The story pacing wasn't very good with this. Too fast-paced, which I do understand since it's adapting the manga more closely since the manga is already completed. Since they're only focusing on the Sailor Business stuff, like the manga mostly would (minus the extra stuff that I actually would've liked to have seen adapted), that's no surprise, but I like character building and world building. As mentioned above, because of this approach, none of the characters come across as interesting.

I didn't like the animation style, but I will admit that from the bit I've seen with later episodes (clips), the animation seems a bit better. The animation, though, still comes across as too glamorous and flashy to me...like they are trying to make the characters perfect. Also, to me, the manga style just doesn't work in an anime style. The animation was also a bit stiff and the characters didn't emote hardly at all. This is another plus for the original series. The characters were very expressive and they didn't look disproportioned. The only things I will admit to liking animation wise, is the background for their henshin sequences showing their planets and the designs of their sailor fuku. They actually got the designs right and this was probably because they could use CG as opposed to the hand-drawn animation of the original where it would be more of a hassle to have to keep redrawing every character's outfit differently for each episode.

As for music...it wasn't very memorable for me. The intro and ending was...so-so and the bgm didn't stick with me like the original series. This may just be bias on my part, but Moonlight Densetsu will always be Sailor Moon to me.

Maybe someday I will go back to this series and hopefully the issues I had with it, which turned me off from it, will have been resolved. I really really really wanted to like this. I went to the Sailor Moon Cafe in Ikebukuro when Crystal was being promoted. I went to Sky Tree when all that Sailor Moon stuff was being promo'd along with other works that were originally in the magazine Sailor Moon ran in. It's been about four years now for me since I gave up on Crystal and it's really sad.