[Disclaimer: I don't own any of the screenshots featured in this post - they belong to Studio Madhouse or Yoshihiro Togashi or whoever. Please don't sue me; I'm just a humble Internet anime reviewer person. Thanks.]
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| This anime has the properties of both elastic and rubber. It’ll stretch to fit whatever mad plotline that comes rolling in and it’ll stick to it until it reaches its end point, however long that may take. |
After many, many days of procrastination and contemplation (I began writing this review just after I had finished the anime in January of this year) I present to you an overly long, somewhat unstructured amalgamation of my thoughts and feelings on Hunter x Hunter as a whole. I hope you find some sort of meaning in it.
Oh, and spoilers abound for the entirety of the 2011 anime; this review is intended for those who have already watched the series.
Hunter x Hunter is… a very interesting phenomenon. And I mean that in reference to both the show itself and the discussion surrounding it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen an anime so thoroughly and ubiquitously praised as this one. And I’ll admit that’s not without good reason.
Hunter x Hunter has, I believe, a very unique position within the world of anime. It’s a battle-shounen by name, and in many ways by nature, but makes attempts at every turn to step beyond that label, to go the extra mile. Its narrative flows like the unpredictable intricacy of the world’s ocean currents; often defying expectation, and occasionally defying convention.
It’s easy to see why this series is praised to hell and back, but in spite of all this, I hesitate to call Hunter x Hunter an absolute masterpiece. That doesn’t mean I disliked the show: far from it. But I didn’t outright love it. Even amongst the shounen genre, HxH ranks in third place on my personal list, below Boku no Hero Academia and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. And amongst anime in general, it’s probably not even in my top ten.
I can already hear the unsuppressed rage of the fans leaking through my computer screen, so I guess I’d best explain myself. And I will, but be warned - considering the sheer amount of content I’m dealing with here, this may take a while.
PART x ONE
QUITE x A x CHARACTER
Hunter x Hunter’s cast, as a general rule, ranges from solid to brilliant. The characters and character development are one of the most commonly praised attributes of the show, and there are few that I’d deem wholly unlikeable or uninteresting. That being said, there were certainly a couple of rotten apples in this basket, and I will be scrutinising those in due time.
For now, though, let’s start at the beginning.
Gon Freecs is in many ways a typical shounen protagonist; young, energetic, determined, dreamy-eyed and naive. Oh, and of course he has a legendary estranged father figure that he’s always longed to emulate. There’s nothing particularly original about that, but the appeal of his character arc as opposed to that of, say, Naruto or Deku, is that he is not a Chosen OneTM who feels a sense of moral obligation in fulfilling his hero’s journey, but instead a narrow-minded kid who ventures out into a vast and uncaring world and in doing so becomes a part of that very world himself.
There’s nothing wrong with either type of character from a narrative standpoint (it’s possible to write paragons really well - just look at Boku no Hero Academia), but in terms of genre tropes, yes, Gon’s arc is refreshing and atypical. This is what a lot of proponents point to when indicating the series’ originality and quality, but it’s ultimately just one aspect of a much broader picture.
Moving on, we have Kurapika, whose name nobody can seemingly pronounce correctly (it’s koo-rah-pee-kah, not curry picker, but I digress). He is introduced as brooding, solitary and suspicious, but also as having a strict moral code. He refuses to lie about his motivations to become a Hunter in episode 1 - and that’s in spite of the fact that it would have make his situation easier. And as the story progresses, we see him yo-yoing between cautious moderation and outright vengefulness, suggesting that he has an equal chance of going down either route. This is a fascinating aspect of his character arc that makes it hard to predict where he’ll end up; will he let his revenge consume him entirely, or will he learn to move on from it? That, at least for me, is the main reason why Kurapika is such a compelling character.
Leorio is in my opinion an underrated character, though that’s not so much the fault of the audience as of the narrative for constantly sidelining him. Although I can forgive it, seeing as his only goal after the Hunter Exam was to enrol in medical college, I would’ve preferred it if we saw more of him. Even though he appears in the Yorknew arc, he does almost nothing, wherein he could’ve been made a lot more relevant. And it isn’t until the Election arc (i.e. the last fifteen episodes of the anime) that he at last gets the relevance he deserves.
This might be a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I really like Leorio. I think he has a lot of potential as a character, and I like the fact that he’s not as combat-oriented as the other three, but is still undoubtedly useful given his medical training. I also like his short-temperedness and his fragile ego, which often gives others the wrong impression of him (and despite this being one of the first things we learn about him, it isn’t really explored in a lot of depth). These two aspects really give him a lot of potential for character growth, but he just isn’t given that chance in the anime.
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| Baaaaaka. |
And now we get to Killua; a fan favourite, and with very good reason. I mean, where do I even start? Practically every aspect of Killua is likeable, from his personality to his character design. Plus, he’s a great example of how to write a likeable prodigy character: even though he is undoubtedly a kid genius, he never comes off as arrogant or bratty. He’s confident, sure, but he doesn’t go out of his way to remind people of the fact that he’s a twelve-year-old who could kill you in a million different ways. He also rejects the upbringing that gave him that power; he is determined instead to use his powers to free himself. For this reason, we cheer rather than groan when Killua KOs an enemy that underestimated his baby face. Killua is really just a kid with a ton of power that he never really asked for, and because he’s a kid, he doesn’t really know what to do with that power. This is interesting in itself, and ties in very well to Hunter x Hunter’s general themes of exploration and coming-of-age.
And Killua has a genuine psychological hang-up as well - namely his fear of being unable to protect Gon. This part of Killua’s character arc hits hardest during the midpoint of the Chimera Ant arc, though admittedly I would’ve liked it if it had been explored in a bit more depth instead of being solved in just one battle against an angry rabbit-man. That being said, Killua’s relationship with Gon is indeed a beautiful thing - platonic or romantic.
Speaking of the best characters, there is one whose position as one of the greatest anime characters of all time is virtually undisputed…
...and that character’s name is Hisoka.
This video by Aleczandxr does a better job of explaining Hisoka’s appeal than I probably ever could so I’ll keep this part brief. One of Hisoka’s greatest strengths (as with many of Hunter x Hunter’s best characters) is the fact that he’s so unorthodox. He’s about as textbook Chaotic Evil as it gets, similar in many ways to the Joker from Batman, but also quite different. While the Joker is indisputably a villian, Hisoka can also take the form of a rival (in the Hunter Exam and Heaven’s Arena), a temporary ally (in Greed Island) and a potentially backstabbing sidekick to the main antagonist (in the Election arc). It’s this malleability, this quantum existence between states, that makes Hisoka so fun to watch for me. Hisoka truly is his own thing, and he just doesn’t give a damn so long as he gets what he wants.
Although, as the series’ only confirmed non-heterosexual character, it’s really not great that he happens to be a pink clown with murderous and paedophilic tendencies. I should probably feel more angry about that fact as someone who is LGBTQ… but, at the same time, he’s really enjoyable to watch. He joins an increasingly long list of problematic faves.
So I’m skipping ahead a little, and ignoring some other fan favourites (such as Netero), but, because I don’t have much to say about them, and because this thing really doesn’t need to be longer than it already is, we’re moving onto Zushi.
Zushi is an adorable young man and possibly the most relatable character (for me, at least) in the entire series. He’s also understated, considering he’s the one who first introduces the entire concept of Nen.
Zushi is the true underdog of this series; even though Gon frequently fights people that are much stronger than himself, Zushi contributes a different perspective to this phenomenon. We see through Zushi that Hunter x Hunter’s world contains phenomenal orders of magnitude, and that all strength is relative. From the perspective of a mere mortal, Gon is nothing short of exceptional. It’s just that he’s living in a completely different world; it’s like the difference between a pygmy shrew and a blue whale.
I think a lot of shounen anime and manga fall into this trap of focusing only on the very strongest and discarding all others, while failing to acknowledge that those who are comparatively weak can still have interesting stories to tell. I was glad that Hunter x Hunter did at least acknowledge this, and in a serious way (this was also explored a little with Leorio, though his one throwaway line in the Yorknew arc about not knowing how Nen worked was framed as a joke).
Zushi’s position as the more experienced senpai who gets rapidly overtaken by a couple of newbies also reminds me a lot of myself, to be perfectly honest. I have a younger cousin who is more talented than me in almost every way, and could probably achieve success and fame much more easily than I could, despite being younger. Zushi’s story in particular becomes even more frustrating when you see that he puts at least as much into his Nen training as Gon and Killua, only for them to reach his level after a mere two weeks - and at this point he realises that catching up to them might very well be an impossibility. I really hope that Zushi will return in a later arc as a Hunter in his own right - hopefully Togashi hasn’t completely forgotten about him.
Seeing as I don’t really have much to say about Wing, the next character I’ll be talking about is one introduced in the Yorknew arc, and one of my personal favourites...
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| Can you hear… my heartbeat? (Oops, wrong anime). |
...Melody!
Melody is great for a number of reasons that should probably be obvious. There’s lots of intrigue in her backstory - enough for her to be the main character of her own anime, honestly - her ability is fascinating, and her character design only promotes that intrigue.
She’s also breaks the mould a bit when it comes to female characters in that regard. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, it’s exceedingly rare to find a female anime character who isn’t stereotypically sexy, cute or beautiful. Most characters that don’t fit that mould are likely being possessed by some sort of demon or monster, or otherwise just played for laughs.
Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having attractive women in a show (I do enjoy a bit of fanservice from time to time, after all) but it’s a breath of fresh air to see characters like this. Melody is neither beautiful nor cartoonishly ugly, and while her ultimate goal is to restore her former body, the show doesn’t dwell on that aspect, so I never got the impression that this is tied to her gender or to regaining her lost beauty. It’s essentially the same motivation as the Elric brothers in Fullmetal Alchemist for undertaking their own epic quest.
And so to the Phantom Troupe. I’m going to avoid talking about them in too much detail, as due to their popularity there’s already a wealth of discussion surrounding them. But anyway, here goes.
The Phantom Troupe as an organisation are interesting in that they don’t really have a fixed agenda. They may be thieves, but their primary motivation isn’t money or infamy; they pretty much just do what they do because they can. And while this lack of a justification for their actions does make them seem like irredeemable arseholes, it also suggests that each of them are missing something in their lives. To be honest, I didn’t realise this until I watched another of Aleczandxr's pretty brilliant Hunter x Hunter videos, although it wasn’t as though I hated the Troupe before then.
Added to that, the way they operate as an organisation is also pretty fascinating. There aren’t any requirements for joining the Troupe other than that you have to be strong enough to defeat one of the existing members. They don’t give a damn about motivation or ideology - Chrollo even wanted Kurapika as a member after Uvogin was defeated. Yes - that very same Kurapika who wants to destroy the Troupe entirely. They’re interdependent in an almost familial way, and in the Chimera Ant arc we also see that they’re capable of some level of selflessness, taking it upon themselves to drive Zazan and her disgusting bugs out of Meteor City. The more we learn about the Phantom Troupe the more human they become, it seems.
As for the actual members - most of them are pretty great overall, though I obviously have personal favourites. One such is Nobunaga - that probably stems from my minor obsession with samurai history and culture, though I also enjoyed how much of a bro he was. There’s also Shalnark the baby-faced murderer; Machi, who’s... Machi; Feitan the A-grade Goth Kid… I could go on.
The only member of the Troupe I would call ‘overrated’ would be Shizuku, though I wouldn’t say that she is a bad character. It’s mainly an issue I have with her character design; there’s something about her ditzy, vacant expression and the way her glasses are almost falling off her nose that irks me. To be honest with you, I kind of hate ditz characters. Shizuku fans: Sorry for insulting your waifu.
The one problem I have with the Phantom Troupe is the fact that they call themselves “the Spider”, even though spiders usually have eight legs. Are twelve-legged spiders common in the Hunter x Hunter universe? Perhaps they should’ve called themselves “the Centipede”, although I guess that doesn’t quite have the same ring.
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| You do not want to mess with this moe face. |
Next we have Bisky, short for Biscuit Krueger (and I still have no idea why Togashi chose that particular name of all possible names) an she is… well, she’s many things, and that’s precisely why I find her such an interesting character. Oh, and, uh… feminist analysis incoming. Just thought I’d warn you.
First things first: her character design. The thing about Bisky’s moe appearance is that there is a narrative justification for it. In Hunter x Hunter’s dangerous Nen-saturated world, it’s of course advantageous to conceal one’s true power as much as possible.
But it’s impossible to really know if Togashi came up with the idea of having a sixtysomething woman look like a moe princess first and then thought of the justification later, or whether Bisky’s design is based around this entire concept. Perhaps Togashi was just trying to personify the idea of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ in Bisky. I mean, we all know how fond he is of subverting an audience’s expectations of a character. Or maybe his original design looked more like her ‘true form’ and his editor took one look and said, “Hmm. It’s a good design, but it’s missing something… Oh yeah! Why don’t you make her a loli? The audience will love it!”
I could speculate about this for days, honestly, and none of it would be helpful. I heavily doubt, though, that Bisky is intended as a satire or deconstruction of moe, mainly because she acts like a child as well as looking like one. And while this aspect does make her more relatable to a younger audience, it’s just a little bit irksome. Look, I’m not saying that older people can’t have youthful demeanours or qualities - in a sense, you never really grow up, and habits you developed in childhood will stay with you. But in this context, I can’t help but feel slightly suspicious.
In addition to the youthfulness vs old age thing, there’s another dimension: femininity vs masculinity. Bisky outright states that she hates her true appearance because it’s “too macho”, and that this was an additional reason for her to moe-fy herself. She is very much a feminine woman - having a preoccupation with jewels and other glittery things, as evidenced by her obsession with finding Blue Planet in Greed Island. In the Chimera Ant arc, while Gon and Killua are training, she can be seen sitting around reading a woman’s magazine featuring attractive male models. And she clearly likes pink.
There is nothing wrong with this, of course. In fact, I quite like strong but also feminine characters, though it’s tough to pull that sort of thing off without seeming cynical. To Togashi’s credit, he does it a lot better than most. However, Bisky’s rejection of her true appearance was honestly just depressing. If it had been explored, it could have actually been a really interesting social commentary on how society pressures women to constantly look more youthful and feminine - instead, because Bisky is portrayed as having done this to herself out of necessity, it doesn’t sit all too well with me.
But while Bisky has her moeblob side, she’s also very much a figure of authority when she needs to be. She fills her role as the mentor character very well and is acknowledged as a force to be reckoned with. There are certainly worse things that could have been done with this character, and in a very strange way, this dichotomy serves to make Bisky even more interesting than she would be otherwise. For that reason, I hope that she gets some backstory later down the line.
Seeing as Bisky in all her glory eclipses any other character of more than passing interest on Greed Island, I’ll skip right ahead to the Chimera Ant arc.
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| Seriously, though, WHY did you choose such an annoying power? |
Kite is a cool guy. I didn’t like him nearly as much as Bisky, whose mantle he takes up as Gon and Killua’s new mentor-of-sorts, but he’s an undeniably solid character. His general demeanour kind of reminds me of Jotaro in Diamond is Unbreakable; I’m looking at this picture right now almost expecting him to sigh and say, “Yare yare daze.”
I like the fact that he’s essentially a traveling ecologist, a bit like Darwin with superpowers. He’s the first character we meet who has a scientific outlook, and as a scientist myself I appreciate that. His Nen ability also contributes some moments of hilarity - although I really would genuinely like to know why he chose such an irksome power.
I’m aware of what is known as “the Kite problem” (as illustrated by this video), i.e. the fact that Kite is not really given sufficient build-up and foreshadowing in the 2011 anime - but as someone who has not watched the 1999 anime nor read the manga, it wasn’t something that really bothered me. I could understand Gon’s attachment to Kite enough through the brief flashback shown in the episode in which he was introduced. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have welcomed more of a detailed and layered build-up of Kite’s character. He’s a good character and certainly deserves it.
The next character we’re introduced to is the absolutely terrifying Chimera Ant Queen. Like, oh god. I would not want that living in my backyard. She does get better as she goes along, for sure, but my initial impression stuck, which was: “OH HOLY HELL THAT ANT’S GOT F*CKING HUMAN TEETH. Human f*cking teeth. I can’t deal with this.”
Seriously though, I still have nightmares.
In retrospect, it’s a bit odd I was bothered by this more than some of the later Chimera Ant designs, some of which can truly only be described as abominations. And speaking of which…
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| Oh my god what an annoying character. Somebody, anybody, just kill him, please. |
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| Thanks, Silva. I have a newfound respect for you. |
’m sure most will agree when I say the best thing Cheetu contributed to the arc was his death. He was an important plot point as well, I suppose, in that Morel learned through him about Pouf’s ability to grant additional Nen powers, but otherwise… I couldn’t help but think that he got an awful lot of screentime for a character with basically no redeeming qualities. I suppose this does make his eventual death more satisfying, but… way to keep me waiting, man.
I have the same exact issue with a number of characters in this arc, including Hagya (the tiger/lion guy), Hina (the weird yellow one who served as one of Hagya’s captains), Zazan, Rammot (the evil rabbit), and ESPECIALLY that godawful spider man who served under Zazan (there’s also another reason why I hate him in particular that we’ll get to later). I’m aware that these characters aren’t meant to be likeable - they don't have much going on other than the fact that they’re power-hungry arseholes - but did they really have to be this obnoxious? I suppose the fact that there were so many antagonists (pun intended) this time around played a role, but still.
I also take issue with the entire concept of Chimera Ants, though I’ll get to that later.
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| Just look at this precious boy. |
Anyway. There were some fresh apples in this bunch. I’ll start with Colt, the first truly human Chimera Ant that we’re introduced to.
Colt’s whole thing is loyalty - the unwavering will to protect and serve. As Kurt the human, he was a protective older brother to his younger sister Reina, eventually sacrificing himself in vain. As Colt the Chimera Ant, he can only be described as a white knight, of the pure kind that only exist in fiction, to his queen. So it doesn’t really come as much of a surprise that he is the first Ant to defect to the human side following the death of the object of his loyalty.
In another one of Aleczandxr’s videos (I forget which, but I’d recommend all of his Hunter x Hunter ones because the level of passion that man has for the series is really something else) he states that Colt was “newly sympathetic” following the Queen’s death. I disagree. I think Colt was a sympathetic character, and intended to be so, from the beginning.
True, he is facilitating the genocide of an entire nation at that point, but by considering his perspective and natural instinct as a Chimera Ant it’s hard to fault him for doing that. From the very beginning he was selfless, existing only to serve his Queen, and by extension his species (although it is definitely a matter of taxonomical debate whether you can really call them a species), even if his position was antagonistic.
Colt directly foreshadowed Meruem’s development, in fact, because with his introduction you realise that not all of the Ants are monsters. And he isn’t the only one, either; Peggy, introduced around the same time, has no particular passion for killing. In fact, his passion lies in books. He was also the first to run in and help the Queen, so he’s clearly at least as loyal as Colt.
Meleoron, who defected because of Peggy’s death, is a member of another category of Ants who become sympathetic after their introduction. This also includes Ikalgo (a personal favourite) and Welfin. All three of them have their own stuff going on that ended up being pretty interesting overall, but this is already too long and I can’t really end this review without talking about the Royal Guard.
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| Behold the face of furry rage. |
Neferpitou (who I’m going to refer to using they/them) is the fan favourite of the Royal Guard for a mixture of reasons, though I’ll admit one of those reasons for me was the gender ambiguity surrounding their character. Although outwardly presenting as female, Pitou uses the masculine boku to refer to themselves (outside from addressing Meruem, when they use watashi, which although feminine in casual situations is generally a neutral term in formal situations). As someone who isn’t exactly the most binary person around, I find this interesting - and I’m planning on dedicating an entire post to gender-ambiguous characters in anime at some point in the future. Look forward to it!
Yet again, Pitou is another problematic fave - it’s quite telling that the only canon gender-ambiguous character is an inhuman murder machine - but they are still a great character in their own right. And now that I’ve finished my SJW preamble, we can get into why that is.
What happens with Pitou is interesting because they go from being the most vicious and bloodthirsty of the Royal Guard to being the most sympathetic, and this change happens over the course of about four episodes. When backed into a corner with no way out, determined to preserve Komugi for the sake of their king, Pitou shows their true nature.
To be honest, though, Pitou was an appealing character before that even happened. They were undoubtedly evil, of course, and not to mention terrifying - but the moment they were born, everything was shaken up. Rammot learned his place and stopped rebelling after being exposed for one second to Pitou’s aura. Pokkle (the archer who was first introduced in the Hunter Exam arc), who had been biding his time to escape, is sniffed out immediately - and of course, we all know what happened to Kite.
I actually quite like Pitou’s method of torture. It’s interesting in that it’s actually scientifically possible - by prodding certain parts of the brain with an electrode, you can actually induce the recall of particular memories. It’s of course not as simple as Pitou makes it seem, but it’s an idea with a basis in actual science.
Ultimately, though, I think the reason why Pitou is loved above the other two Royal Guards is because we spend a lot more time with them. We learn the intricacies of their abilities and how they developed them - I particularly liked how the thought of battling Kite again was what motivated Pitou to develop their Nen in the way that they did. And then there’s Pitou’s death, which, in contrast to their newly developed sentimentality, was horribly brutal. If we had not watched Pitou develop, we would’ve seen their confrontation with Gon completely differently - but as it happened, the waters were muddy with the blood from both sides.
Shaiapouf is my second favourite of the Royal Guards. He’s the most hated, and to a certain extent I can understand why. He is, after all, completely batshit (dare I say butterflyshit?), and hell-bent on destroying one of the most beloved plot points within this arc; namely, the growing bond between Komugi and Meruem. This wasn’t without reason though, and from Pouf’s perspective it made sense; if the king showed any weakness at all, then he was betraying his purpose and thus his entire species.
Even though I would never want to associate with Pouf as a person, I did enjoy the conflict that sprung out of his character arc and didn’t hate him for it. Which is interesting, because when I think about it Pouf is actually similar to the yandere archetype - a trope I usually detest - but in this case I just couldn’t hate him.
That might’ve been because of the comedy. I mean, Pouf’s a butterfly bishounen for one thing, and he acts like one too. All his ostentatious gestures and theatrical obsessiveness look like they would belong in something like Ouran High School Host Club - which is arguably this arc’s complete tonal opposite. And yet Pouf has just been plonked there, complete with special glitter powers and rainbow wings. And that juxtaposition was honestly hilarious.
I guess I should probably say something about Menthuthuyoupi as well…? To be honest, though, he really wasn’t all that interesting to me as a character, and his development failed to really have much of an effect on me. Not that I’d say Youpi is a bad character in regards to the other two Royal Guards.
In all fairness, he isn’t properly introduced until the very last minute - before he starts fighting Knuckle and Shoot we know basically nothing about him. After a few episodes we learn that he fights like a D&D Barbarian - by rushing in recklessly, getting enraged and literally exploding. He was a dumb brute to start off with, or at least seemed that way, but after exploding for the first time he reveals that, contrary to expectation, he actually does have a brain, and uses it to control his rage in order to trick Knuckle. And he almost won with that too - if it weren’t for that meddling Killua.
I actually quite liked this development, but it was the only thing I found interesting about Youpi. His whole ‘act of chivalry’ later on was nowhere near as impactful as the developments with Pitou and Pouf, and after liquefying himself to feed Meruem he does absolutely nothing of consequence.
So… yeah. I think we have an established hierarchy here. Pitou > Pouf > Youpi. Fight me.
Speaking of Meruem…
I won’t go on about him extensively as other people have already done so. It’s pretty obvious why he’s a great character, and why people love him so. His character arc essentially goes the same way as Pitou’s - he’s initially introduced as a heartless monster, then his sheer power and ability to effortlessly crush all who oppose him starts threatening to bore him to tears. And then, at that point, he finally meets a person that he can never best, no matter how hard he tries - and this person changes him almost beyond recognition.
Enter Komugi.
I’m just going to say this right now: I love Komugi. And not just because of her role in the story as a catalyst for Meruem’s developing humanity. You see, it’s my personal belief that in order to become a genius in one area you have to sacrifice all other areas - it’s impossible to be a master of everything. The more of a genius you are, the more of an idiot you are in situations where that genius is not applicable.
Komugi takes this concept to the extreme by being an absolute unbeatable genius at the tactical board game Gungi, but unable to do virtually anything else: She has almost zero presence of mind, she’s simple in her mannerisms and takes things literally, and has to be saved from being torn up by a tiny bird. She even states that she “can’t do things that even a baby can do”. And that’s because her mental resources are directed entirely towards Gungi. She lives Gungi; she dreams it. And, undoubtedly, meeting Meruem, the one person whose mental prowess could possibly best her own, was in her eyes the best thing that could ever happen to her. All this makes Komugi, in spite of having an entirely passive role in the story, one of the most fascinating characters in this arc for me. Of course, it would’ve been nice if she’d been given more agency; that goes without saying. You know, I don’t ask for much.
Let’s see… who else is there? Morel, Knov, Knuckle and to a lesser extent Shoot, were great. Knuckle is adorable and deserves all the puppies he can find - I don’t think I really need to say that much about him, his appeal should be obvious.
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| *sniffle* Don’t tell anyone you saw this, bastard! I’ll kill you! |
There is one character I still haven’t forgiven though. Palm was, admittedly, a huge disappointment. I had somewhat high hopes for her character given the few, yet satisfyingly brilliant, other women that had come before her in Bisky and Melody. Even Ponzu kind of had her own thing going on in the Hunter Exam, although that was also ruined in this arc (from the moment she tripped over a root while being chased by Chimera Ants in classic damsel-in-distress style, her fate was sealed).
Palm is even worse than that, though. She has a quite severe case of the yandere, and unfortunately, she has none of Pouf's redeeming qualities. Plus, Palm has almost nothing to her character beyond this trope in her introductory episodes - she’s just a crazy obsessive clairvoyant who is openly willing to murder and/or threaten those she perceives as romantic rivals.
Look, I really do hate yandere characters, and can’t for the life of me understand why other people like them so much. They’re - I’ll be blunt here - they deserve to be completely eradicated. I would personally carry out a genocide against all yanderes if I could - that’s how much I detest them.
Wait… did that sound like something a yandere would say?! F*ck.
Anyway; I should probably acknowledge that Palm does actually recieve treatment for her condition, and we have Pouf and Pitou to thank for that. All of her yandere-ness was magically exorcised from her post-transformation, and she even showed the beginnings of a somewhat likeable, competent character. This change in her character wasn’t really explained at all, and it wasn’t enough in my view to forgive what had happened earlier, but it was a definite improvement.
Oh yeah, and Palm was also involved in that one scene that I kind of hate. I’ll get to that later though.
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| So, Kanzai, any thoughts on how to best capture the youth vote? |
In regards to the Zodiacs, I thought that each of their character designs were pretty cool, and even though we weren’t given a lot of information, each of them seemed to have something at least vaguely interesting going on - and from what I hear they’re each more heavily involved in the later Dark Continent arc.
Of course, I can’t really go ahead without mentioning Pariston. Despite being a genuine sleazebag, he appears to have his fans. And I’ll admit that his scheme, while well and truly sleazy, was fascinating in its execution and had a hilarious payoff. I mean, can you imagine how funny it would be if somebody did that? Just call an election, then immediately after the result is called, step down and rescind all responsibility, just for the hell of it?
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| Oh... |
...I probably shouldn’t be proud of that joke.
There’s not too much else I’ve got to say about the characters in this arc - but of course, meeting Ging was well worth the wait.
The last character I’m going to talk about is Alluka. I’m aware that I passed over the other Zoldycks earlier, and I didn’t really mean to, but this is already longer than I want it to be. In case I haven’t already made my opinion on the Zoldycks clear, I think they’re all pretty great, with the possible exception of Kikyo (another yandere, as it happens). As a nerdy type with hikikomori tendencies, however, I find Milluki painfully relatable.
Anyway, Alluka (and the being possessing her body, Nanika) is just a cool concept in and of herself (I’m using she/her as it seems most appropriate, but it’s a bit of an odd situation, as I’ll explain). I won’t go into the intricacies of how her power works, but that alone makes her an interesting topic for discussion.
And of course, there’s the fact that Alluka is heavily implied to be trans - although there’s some uncertainty surrounding that because Alluka never actually openly discusses her gender identity.
Which actually links to another major issue with Alluka, and that’s mainly the fact that she’s really… barely a character at all. She’s more of a plot device; a human MacGuffin, if you will. She has no personality beyond the fact that she loves her brother, and absolutely zero agency. We’re never given the impression that she actually thinks, which is ironic considering that one of the core themes of that arc was Alluka’s supposed personhood. Even though Killua insists that his sister is just like any other human being, we’re not really given much in the narrative to truly back that up.
Anyway, that’s it for characters. And now we move on to...
PART x TWO
WORLD x OF x ADVENTURE
Hunter x Hunter’s world is boundless in every sense of the word. It has no particular defining characteristics - lacking even a name - and it essentially morphs into whatever it needs to be to fit the current narrative.
I’ll admit, I’m personally not very fond of this approach to world-building. My favourite fictional worlds tend to have precise characteristics, aesthetics, and personality, such that they almost feel like a character unto themselves. One of my absolute favourite worlds - the Abyss in Made in Abyss - builds itself spectacularly. The Abyss is awe-inspiring, terrifying, ethereal, impenetrable and seemingly unknowable. It functions almost like a sentient being, interacting directly with the human characters - and everything, including the visuals, soundtrack, dialogue and narrative, is used to establish the Abyss’s profoundness and importance in the narrative. Each layer seems to flow into the next almost seamlessly; we see how each of them are connected as well as what distinguishes them.
Compare this to the world of Hunter x Hunter. Although there are many fun little places with their own thing going on, like Meteor City, Heaven’s Arena and Greed Island, we’re not really given that much of a sense of how these things connect together to form the world as a whole. In fact, the only information we get about this in the anime is through this ubiquitous world map:
Hunter x Hunter’s world is clearly meant to reflect ours to some degree; for instance, the existence of an archipelago named “Jappon”, the bustling city of Yorknew in the United States of Saherta, and landmasses that precisely mirror the shapes of the real-world continents. And of course, we all know which nation East Gorteau is not so subtly based on.
In spite of this, the world never really feels much like our own in how it is presented - and by that I mean it doesn’t feel complete. It just feels like a bunch of different places floating in a vacuum. Attention is only given to the connections between these places when it serves the plot; for example, in NGL and East Gorteau, it’s essential that the isolationist culture of these countries is brought up to avoid plotholes further down the line. Otherwise, though, we just don’t have a clue.
Yorknew City is famous (or perhaps infamous) for its underground auction… and apparently nothing else at all. It’s mentioned that the city lies next to a desert, but there’s nothing else given to its overall design that would even suggest that. In fact, its design is completely generic - there isn’t any oddball architecture going on that’s specifically designed to help prevent the effects of a drought, for example.
Heaven’s Arena is an interesting place in terms of how it’s structured (and, it seems, later went on to inspire the Battle Tower in subsequent Pokemon games), but there’s no information about how it came to be. I’m a real sucker for lore and history in fictional worlds - I always want to know everything about how this and that thing came to exist. So while I was watching this arc these questions were pinging around in the back of my mind: who built Heaven’s Arena, and why? Why was it built in this precise location? How did the Floor Masters come to be? etc.
I’m aware that the world was never really the focus of Hunter x Hunter, and I’m also aware that this sort of thing bothers me probably more than most. The lack of world-building doesn’t really hurt the narrative, and does perhaps open up more space for a heavier focus on characters.
I will say that this is particularly odd for an adventure series, though. In most adventure stories, the audience is supposed to be engaged fully in the world. It’s supposed to evoke a sense of wonder and intrigue. The audience are supposed to want to explore that world for themselves. And I just… didn’t get that feeling from Hunter x Hunter’s world. I mean, I don’t really ask for much. Just a couple of extra lines of dialogue, or a quirky little design, could go a long way in establishing that feeling. It’s not as though this would come at the expense of the plot, either; in fact, you could even work it into Gon’s character arc, perhaps by having him broaden his worldview by learning more about these places.
Anyway, let’s talk about Nen.
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| Please not an Emitter... Please not an Emitter... |
Other than that weird sense of spatial abstraction, the one key way in which this world differs from ours is the existence of aura, or Nen power, which is described as the manifestation of one’s life energy. In that sense, Nen is a lot like the Stands from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which it appears to be based on. There’s a few interesting differences between Nen and Stands, though.
Stands are essentially pre-packaged abilities. You can be born with a Stand, or have your latent Stand ability activated later - but once you’ve got it, that’s kind of it. You can keep developing your Stand power by discovering new abilities as your mental state grows and matures, like Koichi does with Echoes in Diamond is Unbreakable, and of course you can apply those abilities in all sorts of creative ways, but it’s never stated that you can consciously choose those abilities. In that sense, it’s a process of passive self-discovery rather than active creativity.
Nen is more or less the opposite of that. Everybody starts from more or less the same place, and then develops their Hatsu according to their own motivations and interests. The Nen hexagram does act as a limitation, restricting the types of Nen power that any one person is able to use, and forcing them to structure themselves accordingly. However, there’s still a lot of breathing room within these categories. No two Enhancer techniques will be the same, as will no two Transmuter techniques, and so on.
And then of course there are the loopholes. We first see the concept of Nen covenants with Kurapika, and then later with Gon. This is the ability to exponentially (heh) enhance one’s Nen power to the point that ordinarily impossible techniques can be used. However, this can only be done by placing certain heavy restrictions on one’s usage of Nen - in Kurapika’s example, his unbreakable Chain Jail can only ever be used against members of the Phantom Troupe. In Gon’s example, after enhancing his body by about ten years’ worth of growth and fighting experience instantaneously, he was prepared to spend the rest of his life in a self-induced Nen coma following his battle with Pitou. This is not only a really interesting way of using Nen but indicates that this power does not come without a cost, and thus any pursuit of Nen is going to come with additional stakes.
Generally I think Nen itself is a great power system; it’s fairly intricate, but still simple enough to easily grasp. It’s application is almost infinite, and we do indeed see it being used outside of combat (such as with Pitou’s Doctor Blythe).
The Specialist class, though, I would have to say is a bit ill-defined. I have a feeling that Togashi only introduced it as a way of foreshadowing the unnaturally powerful Nen of Meruem and the Royal Guard - so I do feel it is a bit of a nebulous category.
Other than that, though, Nen itself is a pretty fine thing. The way Nen is incorporated into the world, though - that’s where I found a few problems.
For example: Nen is stated to be a tool that is used by Hunters, but it’s also implied that it’s meant to be used only by Hunters. If that isn’t the case, then feel free to explain to me why the “secret Hunter Exam” occurs after and not before the official exam. You would’ve thought that alongside this system, the Hunter Association would also try to restrict the amount of information about Nen entering the public sphere, although that doesn’t really appear to be the case.
If it was, wouldn’t Hisoka be considered a rogue Nen user before he passed the Exam? Would there be Nen police who hunted down such culprits and forced them into a state of Zetsu? Wouldn’t battlers on the 200th floor of Heaven’s Arena be required to show their Hunter Licence? And wouldn’t Wing’s mentoring of Zushi (who is not a Hunter) in Nen technically be illegal? In the Chimera Ant arc, it’s revealed that books about Nen exist - in NGL of all places. If Nen really is meant to be a secret power whose usage amongst the general populace is controlled, then wouldn’t such books be kept in a secure library accessible only by Hunters?
I’m probably otherthinking this, and I’m aware that there are narrative justifications you can make for these things being absent - for example, the Hunter Association is implied to be a somewhat anarchic system in that it values freedom of its members above all else. I can’t help but feel, though, that if any of those above concepts had been included it would’ve made the story even more interesting. The presence of those things would’ve cemented Nen really well as being a part of the world, rather than being just a means with which to have impressive tactics-based battles.
Either way, though, it doesn’t explain what I consider to be one of the biggest plotholes in the series: namely, the fact that Killua was unaware of Nen up until Wing told him about it. The elder Zoldycks - Zeno, Silva, and Illumi - are later revealed to all be Nen masters, and yet they didn’t pass this knowledge onto Killua for some reason, in spite of him being the family favourite. You could argue that they were waiting until he came of age to pass this knowledge on, but if that’s the case, why is Kalluto (who is younger than Killua by two years) already as well-versed in Nen as their older brother?
I’ve thought about this and can’t think of any reason why this would be the case, so if anyone out there has any justification for this, do tell me. I seriously would love to hear it.
PART x THREE
ARC x BY x ARC
I’ve already given my impressions of the characters arc by arc, but there are still a few things I’d like to say about the plot itself and some of the core themes and concepts explored.
So, in chronological order....
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| Might I remind you that as your examiner, I hold all the cards. |
The Hunter Exam arc is one of the more underrated arcs in my opinion. While I wouldn’t call it the absolute best, I did think it was pretty great from start to finish.
Firstly, I love the whole idea it’s based on - this absolutely mad exam that, by merely undertaking it, involves you risk your life. I’m sure this arc struck a chord with many a Japanese schoolkid, considering how the exam culture over there is, I hear, pretty damn mental - and even here in the ‘West’ it isn’t really much better. We’ve all taken at least one exam wherein we felt like we might die before we could even finish it. So already, there’s plenty of relatability here.
Of course, other shounen series have arcs structured around exams - most notably Naruto - but this one is unique in that the exam arc is also its introductory arc. Hunter x Hunter, like many other shounen, is all about going the extra mile and advancing in the face of near-insurmountable odds. From the fact that the protagonists are being put through the ringer almost immediately, we can tell that they are certainly going to be tested further down the line.
Although I thought it took a while for this arc to get truly interesting, it was never boring (with the exception of that one episode they spent most of dicking around in a sealed room until they were allowed to go free again). We were introduced to just how crazy this world was, and it was absolutely astonishing to see these characters just take it all in their stride; particularly, the juxtaposition of Gon’s innocence and enthusiasm with the sheer depravity of the world around him was bizarre and fascinating.
One of my favourite shounen rivalries also begins in this arc with the confrontation between Gon and Hisoka. The reason their later showdown in the Heaven’s Arena arc is so satisfying is due to everything that happens before it. I love the scene in episode 16 wherein Gon, after all his hours spent training, and after successfully capturing Hisoka’s tag in an absolutely breathtaking sequence, is incapacitated easily. Instead of killing him, Hisoka nonchalantly gives Gon back his tag, along with his own, insisting that he keep it until he is able to punch Hisoka in the face.
This scene was probably also one of the first which established Hisoka as a truly interesting character to me - not that he wasn’t interesting beforehand. So, all in all, perhaps one of the best scenes in the anime as a whole.
The Zoldyck family arc is more or less an epilogue following on from the Hunter Exam, and its main purpose is to serve as a character arc for Killua, although it also introduced a few of the characters who would play a role in later arcs, such as Zeno and Silva.
I don’t really have anything to say against this arc. The Zoldyck family as a whole were very interesting, and this arc, in spite of its length, was almost as dense with ideas as the Hunter Exam that preceded it. I’ve already ragged on the lack of world-building in the series as a whole, but this arc actually did it better than most - the inclusion of the bus tour and how Kukuroo Mountain is exploited as a tourist attraction was not only hilarious as an idea but also something that I could definitely see happening in context. Anyway, that was a little touch that I appreciated.
And so to Heaven’s Arena.
This was probably my least favourite arc overall, though that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I even enjoyed it more than some parts of the Chimera Ant arc - but I’ll burn that bridge once I get there.
The best part of this arc was, however - and I’m sure many would agree - its climax.
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| Its...uhm, literal climax, some might say. |
Gon vs Hisoka is a truly thrilling match. Now, I’m not really all that qualified to talk about fight choreography and all that, as I’m the opposite of an expert in that field, but the movement on screen was enough to take my breath away for the second time (the first being the aforementioned scene in the Hunter Exam). Damn, was that punch satisfying! This may be a somewhat controversial statement, but I preferred this fight to Netero vs Meruem. Not gonna lie.
I’m going to say something about the value of predictability here, as well. People often praise Hunter x Hunter for its unpredictability, but while too much predictability is bad, having a little bit can actually improve things - and I think the dramatic buildup to Gon and Hisoka’s fight is a good example of that. Take it or leave it, but that’s what I think.
Anyway, that’s it for the good stuff. I didn’t really mind that the stakes were lowered in this arc, but there was a lot less going on than in the previous two arcs and as a result the pace started to lag a little. The absence of Kurapika and Leorio - two characters I had gotten attached to over the course of the previous arc - was not something I considered a positive. The fact that we remained in just one location also didn’t help. And then there were the world-building issues mentioned previously, which were already present, but it was in this arc that I really started to notice them.
That being said, there were a few instances of worldbuilding I found interesting - like the 200th floor ‘greeting’ and the trio of Gido, Sadaso and Riehlvelt, who were obviously perpetuating this vicious circle of Nen-assisted dismemberment by enacting their revenge on newbies, just as they had been attacked themselves. They weren’t portrayed sympathetically at all, but I found myself feeling weirdly sorry for them, being victims of their circumstances. Anyway, that’s just an aside.
Yorknew is one of the more popular arcs, and, I mean, I can understand why. Its praise is not undeserved, and I don’t consider it either overrated or underrated. I still wouldn’t consider it a personal favourite, though.
Obviously, it goes without saying that the main draw of this arc for most people was the Phantom Troupe, although I think there’s also something to be owed to the previous arcs for building them up in the background before we’re introduced to them. And while they were great villains, I almost think that they might’ve been too big for their own good. With fewer members they’d have been easier to properly flesh out over the course of this arc. As a result we don’t really get too much of an idea of what each character is really about, with a few exceptions in Chrollo, Uvogin, Nobunaga and Pakunoda. It’s true that we learn more about the other members in later arcs, but I personally feel they would’ve been even more effective if we’d got to know each of them just a bit better. That being said, I suppose it’s a testament to Togashi’s skill that he’s able to move so many characters around at once, which is something I personally struggle with as a writer.
The return of Kurapika was also welcome and his subsequent emotional degradation was both interesting and somewhat horrifying to watch. However, as previously mentioned, I would’ve preferred Leorio to take a more active role in the plot.
The setting, again, wasn’t all that interesting but there was enough going on this time to prevent me from thinking about it too much (or at least, while I was watching the show itself). And of course, there was the introduction of best girl Melody.
So, all in all, this was a pretty great arc.
Greed Island, like the Hunter Exam arc, gets a lot of unfair hate. I think it’s possible that, following on from the Yorknew arc, people began to have certain expectations of the anime as a whole. I think it’s reasonable to say that they were expecting something like Yorknew, only to be disappointed when they saw that this arc was almost its complete antithesis.
I can understand this feeling, though - just as I said earlier that the Phantom Troupe was likely the reason the Yorknew arc became so popular, this arc’s villain, Genthru, can probably be blamed for much of its unpopularity.
Still, I think it’s supremely unfair to judge an arc purely on the basis of its villain. While Genthru was a somewhat one-dimensional character (and his two henchmen even moreso), and his motivations were never really fully explored, I wouldn’t consider him a “bad” villain in that sense. The mechanics of his Nen ability are interesting, and he even gets a moment of sympathy near the end of the arc, whereupon being defeated he pleads with Gon to use Breath of Archangel on his injured ally. An analysis of Genthru that goes more in-depth than I’m willing to do so can be found here (it’s a two-part series, so I’ve linked to the first part. The first video doesn’t specifically talk about Genthru, but contextualises the whole thing and, I think, is just an interesting way of looking at Hunter x Hunter’s arc structure).
Regardless of Genthru, though, I thought this arc was pretty good. For the first time since the Hunter Exam, I felt like I was watching an adventure series. More emphasis was put on the world’s mechanics this time around, which I was happy about, and I liked the idea of a card game/adventure RPG that had been created solely through the use of Nen. And I’ve already talked about Bisky.
On a related note, the training scenes in this arc were some of my favourites within it; I do love me a good training montage. Let’s not forget that this arc was also important in that Gon and Killua finally developed their Hatsu - Killua with his lightning (to be later developed into Godspeed) and Gon with his Jajanken. Gon’s face-off against Genthru was the culmination of all this training and, while nowhere near as brilliant as his earlier match with Hisoka, was still a compelling watch.
Then there’s the dodgeball game with Razor, which is probably an undisputed highlight of the series. If anything, it was great to see Hisoka in a supporting role after three arcs of being almost solely antagonistic.
All in all, while this arc still isn’t my favourite, I firmly believe that it was much, much better than bad and certainly above average. If anything, it somewhat satisfied my desire for a good video game-based anime (I still haven’t watched Log Horizon yet, though it’s been on the list for some time now).
And now we get to the part that people will probably irrationally hate me for. Ah, well - here goes nothing.
Let me make one thing clear. I didn’t dislike the Chimera Ant arc overall. There were some legendary moments and some fascinating concepts in this arc, true enough. But there were also some moments that honestly pissed me off - and it’s these moments that prevented me from outright loving this arc.
I’m actually unsure of where to start - some things I’ve already covered, like the issue of obnoxious characters taking up too much screentime, causing my insides boil with rage. So instead I’ll talk about a more global issue - about Chimera Ants as a concept themselves, and their role in the arc as a whole (let me just say that have both positive and negative things to say about this).
From the outset, I was really intrigued by these ants that, through some bizarre genetic mechanism, are able to absorb the DNA of the animals they eat into their own genomes. The scientific part of me was instantly engaged by this idea. I’ve studied genetics enough to know that all sorts of weird f*ckery is possible when you mess with DNA - like modifying flies so that they grow eyes in the wrong places. I’m not even kidding - this stuff is real!
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| [Top] Here’s an actual example of the sort of f*ckery that goes on in genetic laboratories; this is a photo of a fruit fly with an eye growing out of its leg. [Bottom] If we took this technology to the extreme, we might even be able to create something that looks a bit like Youpi. I hope you’ll still be able to sleep tonight knowing that. |
The Chimera Ants, however, become progressively more esoteric as the arc goes on. To be honest, I usually have no issues with esoteric stuff, provided it was part of the story - or at least implied or foreshadowed - from the beginning. To me, the sudden switch from science-based discussion in the earlier episodes to all the talk of souls and past lives later on felt more than a bit jarring.
I mean, I can appreciate that probably not many watchers even cared, and that’s fine, but all the soul-related stuff ended up going somewhat over my head, when it might not necessarily have done had it been part of the world from the very beginning. If it had then I might’ve had less trouble accepting the fact that these Ants were retaining their human memories, despite their physical bodies (including their brains, the thing that stores your memories in the form of very fragile neuronal connections) having been mashed up into meatballs and then digested by the Queen. This seems to suggest that DNA is one’s very identity. Which is… so very, very wrong.
Alright, I’ll admit this is a bit of a nitpick, and that it doesn’t really break any established in-universe rules or anything like that. But the best fictional metaphors can be applied directly to reality - they succeed in having both an internal logic and an external basis. And on that note, we should probably talk about the Chimera Ants as a commentary on humanity.
The battle of Netero vs Meruem, while being an exciting feat of animation in and of itself, showcases a “shades of grey” approach to this question. Meruem was still a ruthless King bent on world domination at this point, but his intention afterward was to use his power to help the weak and needy, and even suggested creating a utopian world without borders. Meanwhile, Netero’s suicide bombing was absolutely nightmarish, although he believed it was in humanity’s best interest. You can’t really objectively call either of these players ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It was great, and served as a very refreshing take on the age-old humans vs monsters trope, as you could argue that both sides were human, and both monsters, in certain contexts.
Discounting this and other isolated great moments (like Meruem’s scenes with Komugi and Gon vs Pitou), the entire arc is honestly a bit… messy in terms of how it communicates its point. Allow me to explain.
There’s a certain irony to the Chimera Ants in their initial presentation. Ants are generally considered to be these tiny, impotent creatures that can die very easily. These tiny creatures then evolved by relentlessly consuming other animals, becoming monsters that, while individually powerful, are at their most terrifying when they act as a swarm. The Ants at this point embody the collective might of nature itself.
As the story progresses, however, the Ants cease to truly be ants. The Queen, having ingested a vast quantity of humans, henceforth produces soldiers that are purely self-interested, hedonistic and greedy, and these attributes are primarily expressed in the form of murderous violence and general twattish behaviour. This behaviour is solely attributed to their human DNA - not to any other animal that the Ant Queen may have eaten.
We later learn that some of these Ants (like Meleoron, Ikalgo, Colt etc.) do have morals, but the stark majority of them are seemingly just arseholes that get off on murdering people. (I’d understand this if they, for example, had a grudge against humans for mistreating them in their animal past lives and thus their killing sprees were motivated by vengeance, but that’s never shown.) This makes no sense for one, because these Ants were presumably all born from humans residing in NGL, a peaceful nation whose peoples live alongside nature. You’d have thought that these people would result in Ants that are the polar opposite of the ones we see. I suppose you could argue that these Ants were influenced by the members of Gyro’s drug gang (i.e. NGL’s secret corrupt dictatorship), but purely selfish Ants existed before Gyro’s quarters were stormed. Plus, Welfin and Ikalgo (two of the more morally developed Ants) were both confirmed to have associated with Gyro as humans. So, what gives?!
Do you see what I mean when I say this arc is messy? The commentary on humanity falls apart when some Ants are depicted as being completely irredeemable for no obvious reason. So the idea that “there’s a potential great person and a potential monster in all of us” falls apart when you consider this.
And then there’s the whole issue of the narration, which I’m going to keep brief. I’m personally of the opinion that there was more narration than was necessary and that it didn’t really add much, all things considered, to the narrative, although I can appreciate that it helped in the transition between scenes within the palace siege and connecting all these disparate events together.
The main issue for me, really, was pacing. Things were going at such an astoundingly low pace (the first 4 episodes of the siege constitute about 20 seconds in-anime time), and I fail to see how they couldn’t have sped it up a little. There was a lot of dwelling on certain scenes and reiterating things we already knew - I mean, there’s slow-paced, and then there’s slow-paced.
The narration is also somewhat of a series-wide phenomenon. However, there were also some pockets of great show-not-tell storytelling; to give you one example, consider this scene from the Hunter Exam which I’m sure you all remember - the first proper interaction between Gon and Hisoka in episode 5. In this scene, Hisoka lets Gon go after almost strangling him, and we’re left with a scene that lasts approximately 12 seconds during which Gon does nothing except sit paralysed in fear, sweating and breathing deeply. We know from this scene alone that Gon is dealing with the severe emotional trauma following his first close brush with death - it’s simple, but it’s brilliant.
There are only two scenes in this entire arc that I would actually say that I hated. The first I’m going to talk about is this scene from Episode 124.
There’s a brisk fight after Killua reunites with Palm and then he collapses to the ground, crying, before something suddenly clicks into position in Palm’s mind and she magically starts to feel emotions again. After Pitou performed brain surgery on her no less. Not only is this scene a total cliche, and I failed to emotionally connect with it for that reason, but everything is solved with almost no conflict and, dare I say it, bullshit. It’s a shame really, because otherwise Hunter x Hunter as a story is blissfully free of arsepulls.
There is a worse scene than that, however. In episode 80, the following occurs:
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| [Plothole intensifies] |
Do you remember, way back in the Hunter Exam and early Heaven’s Arena, in which Gon and Killua could intuitively sense the malevolent aura of Nen masters such as Illumi and Hisoka, but could not see it directly until Wing awakened the power within them? Well, that information alone explains why the scene pictured can be considered a major plothole, bearing in mind that none of the Chimera Ants - including Rammot, who was the first - have been directly exposed to Nen at this point.
I guess you could argue that because the Chimera Ants are magical otherworldly beings, they’re not bound by the same physical laws as humans are. I mean, that’s a convenient explanation, but not one I’m at all satisfied with. Furthermore, although Meruem and the Royal Guards are born with inherent Nen, all the other Ants have to have it awoken within them, just like humans, and thus I see no reason why they should not be exempt from the other Nen rules. Plus, didn’t Pokkle kill a bunch of other Ants via the same method without any of them intercepting or giving any inclination that they were able to see his arrows?
Anyway, I’ll take a break from defecating over the Chimera Ant arc now. If you have anything to add to anything I’ve said, feel free to do so. I eagerly anticipate your incendiary comments.
That being said, there were definitely things I liked about the Chimera Ant arc. Some of the characters (as previously discussed) were great. There were some wonderful moments - I loved all the scenes with Meruem and Komugi, for instance. The fights themselves were pretty good once they got going. The ending was truly emotional. And, in true Hunter x Hunter fashion, the story never stopped being unpredictable.
In any case - moving on.
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| Time now folks, for a true showdown… in the red corner, we have the Sparkling Rat, Pariston Hill... and in the blue corner… it’s only everyone’s favourite shitty dad, Ging Freecs! |
This is probably yet another unpopular opinion, but my favourite arc of all was the Hunter Election arc. Though - I should probably admit here and now - part of the reason I enjoyed it as much as I did was because of everything that preceded it, including - admittedly - the Chimera Ants.
For that and many other reasons, this arc was just so wholeheartedly refreshing. It felt like I was finally able to breathe after having my face held down in cold water for the duration of the Chimera Ant arc.
Hisoka was back, and even more hilarious and despicable than I remembered. The Zoldycks were back with two new butlers in tow. Leorio was back and finally got the chance to punch somebody. Ging and Gon’s eventual reunion was both unexpected and as expected - nevertheless, it was brilliant.
Another reason I enjoyed this arc was probably a personal fondness I have for political satire. The entire election subplot is basically one big joke, with the punchline being Pariston’s resignation and Cheadle’s subsequent frustration. Although it’s not quite on the same level as I’m used to, I still didn’t expect this anime to foray in this direction at all. Hunter x Hunter doesn't purport itself to be a political story by any stretch, but this one little arc accomplishes something that I haven’t really seen many anime do. And with a political drama happening in the context of a world as colourful as Hunter x Hunter’s - that just made it all the more intriguing and hilarious.
The other subplot - namely Alluka’s subplot - was engaging, exciting, and blissfully fast-paced - running quite literally at lightning-speed. I’ve already mentioned my misgivings about Alluka, but other than that I really don’t have much to fault this arc. Finishing the anime felt like an accomplishment - not just because I had to sit through 148 episodes (which I know is not a lot by One Piece standards, but I generally don’t watch long anime and I actually dropped One Piece around the 150 mark) - but because Gon had also achieved what he had set out to do; namely, to find his dad and ask him why he left home.
I wasn’t expecting this to happen by the end of the anime because I figured it would be the endgame, and I was already aware that the manga was ongoing. So it was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I also think it’s testament to Gon’s character that even though he has now achieved his original goal, the ending makes it plain that he doesn’t consider it to be the end. We know from the moment Ging mentions the Dark Continent that Gon, much like his dad, will forever seek to broaden his horizons. And with Ging’s message to his son, about enjoying all the little detours and unexpected moments... that’s just a lovely message and a great note to leave on. And it’s one I can relate to as well, because - as you may have noticed - I have a fondness for tangents.
PART x FOUR
ADVENTURES x IN x MISCELLANY
Okay, so this is where I’m going to talk briefly about all the things that don’t really fit into the other categories. Such things include the soundtrack, OPs/EDs, background design, and voice acting. Now, before I start - bear in mind that I am an expert on precisely none of the things I’ve just mentioned. This is just me offering up my humble opinion.
First off, the OST. While I wouldn’t say it was necessarily amazing, it was certainly functional, and some of the tracks were distinctive enough that I know I could recognise them anywhere - “Zoldyck Family Theme”, “Koukai”, “Legend of the Martial Artist”, “Hisoka’s Theme”, and “Kujira Shima Yori” in particular. But they’re all pretty good. That being said, I have yet to find an anime OST that surpasses the majesty of either Hiroyuki Sawano (Kill la Kill, Re:Creators) or Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss). I’ll let you know if I ever do.
The anime’s one single OP, “Departure!”, which it rather amazingly retains for the entirety of its run, is also pretty good, though it was getting a bit stale towards the end, and I wouldn’t ever count it among my favourite OPs. It fit the Hunter Exam arc very well, but I wasn’t sure why they didn’t opt to change the OP as the themes and tone changed following the Heaven’s Arena arc. I wouldn’t say the OP ever felt truly out of place (even in the middle of the Chimera Ant arc), but I would’ve preferred something different for each arc. They each had a lot going on in terms of plot and themes, so it makes sense that they’d each have a distinct OP to communicate that. I can just imagine sharp guitar riffs and dramatic vocals fitting really well with the imagery of the Chimera Ant OP.
The EDs, which did change, were a bit hit and miss for me. My favourites were “Reason”, the Greed Island ED, and “Hyori Ittai”, the 2nd Chimera Ant/Hunter Election ED. The others ranged from good to meh. “Just Awake” (Hunter Exam) was alright for a few episodes but soon began to get on my nerves. Perhaps it was the screamo Engrish? “Hunting for Your Dream” (Heaven’s Arena and Yorknew) was pretty good and certainly very fitting to both the arc and the anime as a whole (the visuals were also perhaps the best of any ED), though it wasn’t quite as evocative as “Hyori Ittai” or as rhythmically pleasing as “Reason”. “Nagareboshi Kirari” (1st Chimera Ant) was by no means a bad song, but I personally found it a tad boring.
This next point is related to my earlier point about Hunter x Hunter’s world, because background design and world are intrinsically linked. The background designs certainly aren’t displeasing to look at, but they are - I’ll be honest here - a bit generic. The landscapes of NGL, for example, are virtually indistinguishable from any other forest I’ve seen in any other anime, and the skyscrapers of Yorknew City could easily represent the Tokyo skyline in another anime.
So, finally, voice acting. And - this is where you really shouldn’t take my word for it, as I’m actually a complete VA noob; I can name like, maybe, three voice actors off the top of my head. Anyway, overall, the voice-acting was again, not amazing, but certainly good; Hisoka and Killua had my favourite voices overall, though generally the quality was pretty consistent.
Anyway, that’s… basically it.
ONE x LAST x WORD
All things considered, Hunter x Hunter is a pretty damn good series. The highlight is certainly its characters and the way they develop, as well as the concepts and ideas that spew forth from Togashi’s mind like a tsunami of creation. The world is a bit lacklustre though, and some of its themes aren’t communicated as effectively as they could be.
Is it a masterpiece? Is it “true art”? Many people would say so, and it clearly occupies a special place in many people’s temporal cortices. I can understand why they like it and what they see in it, but I personally hesitate to go that far.
Certainly among its genre, Hunter x Hunter rises above its contemporaries in several ways, but not all ways. Though I don’t think the praise is necessarily undeserved, there are some things that Hunter x Hunter will always lack. It ultimately just depends on whether the lack of those things bothers you or not.
So, do I recommend this anime? Yes, if you don’t mind sitting through all 148 episodes. I personally found the ending alone to be worth the journey that, although somewhat arduous in places, was overall a fun and interesting ride.
All that’s left to say now is: thank you very much for reading all the way through this ridiculous shambling excuse of a review. I’m hoping my later reviews will be a bit more refined (and probably not as long, either).
Well, then.
See you in the next one, I suppose.
-cyber_husky
RATING
CHARACTERS: 8/10
WORLD: 6/10
STORY: 7.5/10
VISUALS: 7/10
SOUND: 7.5/10
OVERALL: 7.4/10
