Hunter X Hunter (Original + Remake)

[LumRanmaYasha]

Wow, they animated that fight pretty awesomely! I should really start watching the Chimera Ant arc now that I've got Crunchyroll working decently on my computer.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, like most long-running shonen anime the animation quality is kind of lop-sided and unbalanced in terms of quality in this series, but this episode had some pretty good animation, overall.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well, the animation quality probably will still be better than what I've seen of Naruto Shippuden and Toriko recently. One Piece's animation is also pretty uneven, but they've been doing an alright job with it and the pacing of Punk Hazard so far all things considered, although of course Hunter X Hunter is probably and should be blowing the quality of those episodes out of the water since they can adapt more than one chapter an episode and has the ability to make changes to the source material thanks to foreknowledge of where the arc will lead.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I don't think that the anime will make any drastic changes to the source material other than probably toning down the gore and overall level of violence. That in itself goes a long way for me, though. And yeah, the overall quality of this series is instantly better than most modern shonen anime just for the simple fact that it has no need to resort to filler material or even slow down the pacing in order to avoid catching up to the manga. It already will inevitably catch up to the manga, so this new anime is most likely just going to adapt up to the end of the Chairman Election arc, which itself serves as a good stopping point of the series, even if it would be an ending that doesn't necessarily give off the most closure. At any rate, Togashi could still theoretically end this series in just one more story arc. The only major loose-end that he has to tie up that most fans would even care about is explaining just who the fuck Gyro is and what the hell his purpose of being introduced into the story was in the first place.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This article has been out for about a year already, but I just came across it and had to link to it. I find it to be and EXCELLENT read regarding Hunter X Hunter, and I pretty much agree with it wholeheartedly in pointing out the strengths of Togashi's writing, as well as some of the issues and problems the series presents (though, its mostly a neutral, unbiased look at the series, which I like). The only thing I somewhat disagree with the author on is about the series not being character-driven. I'd say that it depends on the arc, myself. The Hunter Exams arc and Greed Island are not very character driven arcs in their structure, though they do have plenty of moments of characterization, of course. The Zoldyck Family, Heaven's Arena, York New City, and Chimera Ant arc (or at least the 2nd half of it), are VERY character-driven arcs, IMO, in that if you stop to think about it, the plots progress due to the decisions and actions of the characters, rather than the plots being elements that would progress on their own without much influence needed from these characters.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Heh. I was just thinking about starting a thread for Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga in the Manga/Comics section (I'm gonna do that tomorrow, so no one beat me to it, ya hear! ).

I agreed quite a bit with his Hunter X Hunter article myself, with my only complaint being the same as yours. I don't see how York New City was not character driven. The whole thing rests on Kurapika's conflict between his desire for revenge and his desire to protect his friends from harm, contrasting Chrollo and the Phantom Troupe's devotion to each other and their desire to avenge Uvogin's death. And of course I think most of the other arcs are moved by the characters and not the story too, especially Chimera Ant's second half.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, yeah, same idea as what I did in the YYH thread:

Hunter Exams- 8/10
Zoldyck Family- 9/10 (I really like this one, for some reason)
Heaven's Arena- 8/10
York New City- 10/10
Greed Island- 6/10
Chimera Ant- 8/10 (this could have been a solid 10, or at least a 9, if not for the numerous problems plaguing it)
Chairman Election- 8/10

[Spark Of Spirit]

 

Okay, now you'll get to see my HxH opinions for what they are.


Hunter Exams- 8/10

Strong start, but not quite as strong as YYH (but since I'm not going to compare it to that beyond here I'll just say that it does the job), yet better than most modern shonen. The exam is very clever and has the characters we just meet put through some rigorous testing. For a first arc, though, there is a bit of weirdness like Killua's random murdering of two contestants on the blimp (he would never do that, and I'm puzzled as to why the anime left that in) and Hisoka being WAY too obvious (which, again, is something he doesn't come out and do in front of everybody), but those are nitpicks. The arc is a fun start and the ending is really good despite Killua randomly killing the old man which... I dunno, still comes out of nowhere to me. I understand he's frustrated, but he always has a much cooler head than that.

Zoldyck Family- 7/10

Points for having an arc that doesn't end with a free-for-all battle. The family is also an interesting cast of characters.

Heaven's Arena- 6/10

It's okay. There's nothing about I particularly like outside of the Nen stuff, but there's nothing to really dislike. It's kind of just there for me.

York New City- 9/10

The best part of HxH. He keeps it focused despite having so many characters floating around to where even if you don't like a certain character chances are you're going to get to a character you like sooner or later. Again, the ending is really unexpected and plays well on the characters' motivations from the good to the bad guys. Also some good development for Kurapika.

Greed Island- 4/10

*Yawn* Is it over yet? I wafted through this arc and really didn't care one bit. It's well done, but for someone who likes his plotting and characters above all, I found it severely lacking in both.

Chimera Ant- 1/10, 5/10, 8/10 or 10/10 depending on the moment we're talking about

I... can't rate this one right. I literally LOATHE parts of this so much more than anything he has done since manga Three Kings, other parts I don't like, others I really like, and others I think house his best material since YYH. This arc probably emphasizes everything about Togashi in one arc. Missed potential, stupid decisions, abysmal writing and art, great ideas, intriguing characters, awesome plot ideas, excellent confrontations, and ingenious moves in story. He hits every low and high mark in just this one arc, so if I had to average the whole thing out I don't think it would fairly surmise what a crazy arc this is.

Chairman Election- 7/10

Pariston and Leorio made this arc, and Killua helped add meat to it. Otherwise it's a good transition arc, but I don't know if it will have any bearing later so I'll just leave it at 7 for now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hunter Exams- 8/10

Strong start, but not quite as strong as YYH (but since I'm not going to compare it to that beyond here I'll just say that it does the job), yet better than most modern shonen. The exam is very clever and has the characters we just meet put through some rigorous testing. For a first arc, though, there is a bit of weirdness like Killua's random murdering of two contestants on the blimp (he would never do that, and I'm puzzled as to why the anime left that in) and Hisoka being WAY too obvious (which, again, is something he doesn't come out and do in front of everybody), but those are nitpicks. The arc is a fun start and the ending is really good despite Killua randomly killing the old man which... I dunno, still comes out of nowhere to me. I understand he's frustrated, but he always has a much cooler head than that.

Actually, on the point of Killua that always fit his character for me. You have to keep in mind that Killua was a VERY unstable character during the initial arc. He had just broken away from his family (or so he thought), and wanted to get out of the life he had been raised into. Its not that he was ever against killing in the first place. He was just against having his destiny decided for him by his family (basically, he didn't want to be an assassin, regardless of his moral stance on killing). That said, it was shown that his family's influence was built into his very core, so in the first arc he is purposely written to be a bit too blood-happy. But if you notice for the subtleties, he tries to control his "urges" whenever Gon is around. For instance, he decides to quit the game with Netero after he realizes that he was about to go for a killing blow against the guy (not realizing that he didn't stand of chance of defeating him, anyways), and he obviously didn't want to resort to that in front of Gon. That's why when those guys came up to him right after that when he was alone, he let his urge slip and took it out on them (that's the way that I always interpreted that scene, myself). As for killing the guy at the end of the arc, it was heavily implied that he was both incredibly unstable, and more importantly under Illumi's influence. I think that death was mostly the result of Illumi testing Killua and purposefully trying to have him demonstrate his heartless nature IN FRONT of his friends (in this case Kurapika and Leorio), in order to give him no choice but to retreat back into the sanctuary of his home, where his family could have control of him again. This is just a theory of mine, but it is further backed-up by the fact that Killua ends up finding that needle implant that Illumi had left in him from long ago (since before the Hunter Exams arc), which Killua realized was somehow linked to messing with his behavior. In this case it was mostly in the sense of making him feel fear, but its not too much of a stretch, IMO, that it could also stimulate him to indulge in his killing urges (sort of like a fight or flight response to the extreme, if you will).

Zoldyck Family- 7/10

Points for having an arc that doesn't end with a free-for-all battle. The family is also an interesting cast of characters.

Honestly, I like this arc a lot for how unique it is. In some regards its the cliche rescue arc, but not a thing about it is cliche, and everything about it is more interesting for that reason. Its really just about Killua's family, and his friends discovering what kind of life-style he was raised in and how different he truly is from them. But, more importantly its a character arc for Killua. Its not about his friends partaking in a series of fights to save him, but its about Killua learning to stand up for himself and his own beliefs, hence why at the end of the arc he leaves of his own accord rather than his friends actually rescuing him. I think that's brilliant, and a total slap in the face to the "damsel in distress" arcs that most shonen of this type would typically go for.

Heaven's Arena- 6/10

It's okay. There's nothing about I particularly like outside of the Nen stuff, but there's nothing to really dislike. It's kind of just there for me.

Its a generic arc for sure, but I like it because....it's honestly done pretty well. The concept of Nen is interesting, and the fights are all strategic and entertaining. Its just good old-school shonen fun, IMO.

York New City- 9/10

The best part of HxH. He keeps it focused despite having so many characters floating around to where even if you don't like a certain character chances are you're going to get to a character you like sooner or later. Again, the ending is really unexpected and plays well on the characters' motivations from the good to the bad guys. Also some good development for Kurapika.

Yeah, this is basically the one arc where Togashi was on his A-game the ENTIRE way through. As far as I'm concerned, there were no hiccups, here. The arc was paced perfectly the entire way through, the good guys were interesting, the villains were even more interesting, the fights were exceptional, and the ending was superb in how unexpected it was, but also in how much sense it made from a character stand-point. Its some of Togashi's most brilliant writing ever.

Greed Island- 4/10

*Yawn* Is it over yet? I wafted through this arc and really didn't care one bit. It's well done, but for someone who likes his plotting and characters above all, I found it severely lacking in both.

I honestly don't think this arc was bad by any means, hence why I gave it a 6 rather than a 4, but it just didn't feel as interesting as it should have felt, to me. I do find that it has some strong points to it, but on the whole it was probably the weakest full arc in the entire series.

Chimera Ant- 1/10, 5/10, 8/10 or 10/10 depending on the moment we're talking about

While I don't think that I'd ever necessarily go as low as a 1 for any point in this arc (I'd probably go as low as a 3 for its worst moments, though), I do believe that as lop-sided as it is, I can judge it as a whole piece and find that I like a lot more about this arc than what I don't like. On that end, if I were to divide it up in thirds, it would go like this:

First Third- 6/10 (There is a lot of good set-up, here, and I love the concept, but I LOATHE the needless violence so much)
Middle Third- 10/10 (Honestly, this is the strongest point of the arc, and where Togashi really has the ball rolling)
Final Third- 8/10 (it has some pacing problems, and that thing with Gon....ugh; but other than that its great, especially Knuckle)

I... can't rate this one right. I literally LOATHE parts of this so much more than anything he has done since manga Three Kings, other parts I don't like, others I really like, and others I think house his best material since YYH. This arc probably emphasizes everything about Togashi in one arc. Missed potential, stupid decisions, abysmal writing and art, great ideas, intriguing characters, awesome plot ideas, excellent confrontations, and ingenious moves in story. He hits every low and high mark in just this one arc, so if I had to average the whole thing out I don't think it would fairly surmise what a crazy arc this is.

On that note, I have to say: If nothing else, this arc is a marvelous way to study the strengths and weaknesses of Togashi's writing-style, and is basically the best way to summarize every aspect of him as a writer.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Hunter Exams- 8/10

Strong start, but not quite as strong as YYH (but since I'm not going to compare it to that beyond here I'll just say that it does the job), yet better than most modern shonen. The exam is very clever and has the characters we just meet put through some rigorous testing. For a first arc, though, there is a bit of weirdness like Killua's random murdering of two contestants on the blimp (he would never do that, and I'm puzzled as to why the anime left that in) and Hisoka being WAY too obvious (which, again, is something he doesn't come out and do in front of everybody), but those are nitpicks. The arc is a fun start and the ending is really good despite Killua randomly killing the old man which... I dunno, still comes out of nowhere to me. I understand he's frustrated, but he always has a much cooler head than that.

Actually, on the point of Killua that always fit his character for me. You have to keep in mind that Killua was a VERY unstable character during the initial arc. He had just broken away from his family (or so he thought), and wanted to get out of the life he had been raised into. Its not that he was ever against killing in the first place. He was just against having his destiny decided for him by his family (basically, he didn't want to be an assassin, regardless of his moral stance on killing). That said, it was shown that his family's influence was built into his very core, so in the first arc he is purposely written to be a bit too blood-happy. But if you notice for the subtleties, he tries to control his "urges" whenever Gon is around. For instance, he decides to quit the game with Netero after he realizes that he was about to go for a killing blow against the guy (not realizing that he didn't stand of chance of defeating him, anyways), and he obviously didn't want to resort to that in front of Gon. That's why when those guys came up to him right after that when he was alone, he let his urge slip and took it out on them (that's the way that I always interpreted that scene, myself). As for killing the guy at the end of the arc, it was heavily implied that he was both incredibly unstable, and more importantly under Illumi's influence. I think that death was mostly the result of Illumi testing Killua and purposefully trying to have him demonstrate his heartless nature IN FRONT of his friends (in this case Kurapika and Leorio), in order to give him no choice but to retreat back into the sanctuary of his home, where his family could have control of him again. This is just a theory of mine, but it is further backed-up by the fact that Killua ends up finding that needle implant that Illumi had left in him from long ago (since before the Hunter Exams arc), which Killua realized was somehow linked to messing with his behavior. In this case it was mostly in the sense of making him feel fear, but its not too much of a stretch, IMO, that it could also stimulate him to indulge in his killing urges (sort of like a fight or flight response to the extreme, if you will).

Oh wow, you're right. I completely forgot about the needle and the discussion about his urges which explains a lot. It probably says a lot that after he takes the needle out he's a lot more reserved and thoughtful compared to Gon (who is a LOT more bloodthirsty) and always tries to find the best way through any situation. The part where he didn't kill the chimera who tried to kill him was a perfect 10/10 moment to me and showed just how far he came since the beginning where he valued little of anything. If you want to be honest, I consider Killua the real hero of HxH.

Thanks for mentioning that, I honestly never put the two together like that before, but it makes perfect sense.

Zoldyck Family- 7/10

Points for having an arc that doesn't end with a free-for-all battle. The family is also an interesting cast of characters.

Honestly, I like this arc a lot for how unique it is. In some regards its the cliche rescue arc, but not a thing about it is cliche, and everything about it is more interesting for that reason. Its really just about Killua's family, and his friends discovering what kind of life-style he was raised in and how different he truly is from them. But, more importantly its a character arc for Killua. Its not about his friends partaking in a series of fights to save him, but its about Killua learning to stand up for himself and his own beliefs, hence why at the end of the arc he leaves of his own accord rather than his friends actually rescuing him. I think that's brilliant, and a total slap in the face to the "damsel in distress" arcs that most shonen of this type would typically go for.

It's more of a world-building arc and is good for what it is, so I do like it for that. I really don't like what he did to a certain character later on... but that has nothing to do with this arc.

Heaven's Arena- 6/10

It's okay. There's nothing about I particularly like outside of the Nen stuff, but there's nothing to really dislike. It's kind of just there for me.

Its a generic arc for sure, but I like it because....it's honestly done pretty well. The concept of Nen is interesting, and the fights are all strategic and entertaining. Its just good old-school shonen fun, IMO.

Yep, it's just a fun arc. Not Rescue Yukina fun, but fun nonetheless.

York New City- 9/10

The best part of HxH. He keeps it focused despite having so many characters floating around to where even if you don't like a certain character chances are you're going to get to a character you like sooner or later. Again, the ending is really unexpected and plays well on the characters' motivations from the good to the bad guys. Also some good development for Kurapika.

Yeah, this is basically the one arc where Togashi was on his A-game the ENTIRE way through. As far as I'm concerned, there were no hiccups, here. The arc was paced perfectly the entire way through, the good guys were interesting, the villains were even more interesting, the fights were exceptional, and the ending was superb in how unexpected it was, but also in how much sense it made from a character stand-point. Its some of Togashi's most brilliant writing ever.

My only issue is that I wish he would do something with them beyond cameos. They haven't had much chance to do anything since that arc.

Greed Island- 4/10

*Yawn* Is it over yet? I wafted through this arc and really didn't care one bit. It's well done, but for someone who likes his plotting and characters above all, I found it severely lacking in both.

I honestly don't think this arc was bad by any means, hence why I gave it a 6 rather than a 4, but it just didn't feel as interesting as it should have felt, to me. I do find that it has some strong points to it, but on the whole it was probably the weakest full arc in the entire series.

It is the weakest, but I think I gave it a 4 because I just expected more than what he gave us. As a whole it's probably just average, but I can't escape the fact that we could have gotten something to do with someone like Leorio instead.

Chimera Ant- 1/10, 5/10, 8/10 or 10/10 depending on the moment we're talking about

While I don't think that I'd ever necessarily go as low as a 1 for any point in this arc (I'd probably go as low as a 3 for its worst moments, though), I do believe that as lop-sided as it is, I can judge it as a whole piece and find that I like a lot more about this arc than what I don't like. On that end, if I were to divide it up in thirds, it would go like this:

First Third- 6/10 (There is a lot of good set-up, here, and I love the concept, but I LOATHE the needless violence so much)
Middle Third- 10/10 (Honestly, this is the strongest point of the arc, and where Togashi really has the ball rolling)
Final Third- 8/10 (it has some pacing problems, and that thing with Gon....ugh; but other than that its great, especially Knuckle)

I... can't rate this one right. I literally LOATHE parts of this so much more than anything he has done since manga Three Kings, other parts I don't like, others I really like, and others I think house his best material since YYH. This arc probably emphasizes everything about Togashi in one arc. Missed potential, stupid decisions, abysmal writing and art, great ideas, intriguing characters, awesome plot ideas, excellent confrontations, and ingenious moves in story. He hits every low and high mark in just this one arc, so if I had to average the whole thing out I don't think it would fairly surmise what a crazy arc this is.

On that note, I have to say: If nothing else, this arc is a marvelous way to study the strengths and weaknesses of Togashi's writing-style, and is basically the best way to summarize every aspect of him as a writer.

It's a mess of an arc, but that's what I mean by describing him to a tee. Great ideas, bad ideas, excellent execution, horrendous execution. I'm a big fan of adventure and HxH succeeds when it delivers on that front, but Chimera Ant is the one arc that showed that he might have finally understood his own strengths and weaknesses, and it happened as he was writing it.

When he comes back, I hope he re-read the arc and took some notes.

By the way, no Leorio is an instant loss of points. How Togashi keeps avoiding him I have no idea. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh wow, you're right. I completely forgot about the needle and the discussion about his urges which explains a lot. It probably says a lot that after he takes the needle out he's a lot more reserved and thoughtful compared to Gon (who is a LOT more bloodthirsty) and always tries to find the best way through any situation. The part where he didn't kill the chimera who tried to kill him was a perfect 10/10 moment to me and showed just how far he came since the beginning where he valued little of anything. If you want to be honest, I consider Killua the real hero of HxH.

Thanks for mentioning that, I honestly never put the two together like that before, but it makes perfect sense.

Yeah, I agree about Killua being the real hero of the series. Honestly, he's tied with Kurama as my favorite Togashi character, and he's easily the most psychologically deep character that Togashi has ever written (even more so than Sensui). His character development from a heartless killer into a truly great and protective friend for Gon is one of the strongest points of HXH as a series, on the whole. This is how you do a "dark" character the right way. Most shonen series would make the mistake of making a character like this edgy and grim for the sake of being cool. Togashi wisely has Killua quickly grow out of this archetype and instead has him learn the most through his experiences. The scene that you referred to in which he saves Ikarugo's life despite being his enemy is actually my favorite Killua moment in the entire series. In that one moment, you see how much he has changed for the better as a character. Not only did he save a character who was trying to kill him, but that whole segment where he's in the forest and basically taking on an entire freaking army of Chimera Ant soldiers is also where I realized that he wasn't doing any of this for himself. He was doing it for Gon, keeping in mind the entire time that his goal was to help Gon save Kite (who they still believed could be saved by this point).

Also, the best thing about Killua's character is that there are so many different ways in which you ca interpret him, and honestly you probably wouldn't be wrong. What I described to you is basically my theory on how Killua functions and operates as a character and what his various states of mind were throughout the series, and I was simply using some evidence to back up my claims. But in the end, that's basically only how I interpret the character, and the best way for me to make sense of him and all of his actions throughout the series, and that's honestly a great thing that you don't get from too many other shonen characters, in general.

Now, all of this talk about what a great character Killua is really begs the question: Why the fuck did Togashi write him off at the end of the Chairman Election arc? Seriously, Togashi, I know you've made some stupid decisions before, but why the hell would you get rid of your BEST and most INTERESTING character like that? Whenever HXH finally continues, Killua better be written back in, and on that note I better see Leorio and Kurapika back in the plot as well. I mean, come on, reuniting the main 4 characters after OVER A DECADE is a surefire way to skyrocket HXH to being the most popular shonen manga in WSJ again. Seriously, its that obvious of a decision. Why has Togashi not done it yet?

[VLordGTZ]

Hunter Exam 8/10
Zoldyck Family 9/10 (short but great)
Heavens Arena 8/10
Yorknew City 10/10
Greed Island 7/10 (I feel that it's not great but not bad either)

Chimera Ant:
First Third 6/10 (Unnecessary violence hurts this part)
Second Third 10/10
Final Third 9/10 (I have some issues with the Gon vs Neferpitou fight
but still really good)

Chairman Election 8/10

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, Pariston, Leorio, and Killua were what kept me reading the Chairman Election arc (though it was good, they were BY FAR the best part) and when I saw him try to pull Killua out of the arc I was disappointed.

I kind of wanted to see him become the protagonist longer. I also really wanted to see Leorio in the main character seat for once since he's barely been around for like a decade and hardly used. Also, keeping Knuckle out of the election arc was kind of lame being he was so awesome.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Mind if I join in? 

Hunter Exam - 8/10. Good start to the series with a lot of interesting twists on "fighting" challenges. A lot of great strategy-based challenges here, and I really love that stuff, so I find the arc entertaining through and through.

Zoldyck Family Mansion - 7/10. I'm glad Togashi didn't do the obvious and boring route and have Gon and company fight their way to Killua (contrast to say, a similar arc in Medaka Box, although to it's credit that did manage to be entertaining overall). It's not particularly memorable overall, though, but it's a fun mini-arc all the same.

Heaven's Arena - 7.5/10. Gon v. Hisoka is easily the best animated fight in the original anime. Overall it's more entertaining than Zoldyck, but still not stand out quality to me outside some bits involving nen training and it's application in the fights.

Yorknew City - 10/10. The best arc in terms of overall quality in the entire series. Love the moral struggle Kurapika goes through here, and love the Phantom Troupe as villains. A tense, gripping arc relying on strategy over power and one of the finest stories in action animation and comics in general.

Greed Island - 6/10. I don't hate this arc, but it gets really, really boring once Gensuru or whatever his name is reveals himself as a villain, and while the training stuff with Bisky and parts of the Gon v. Gensuru fight are enjoyable, overall the arc was kind of a pain to go through, and it's easily my least favorite arc in the series.

Chimera Ant - 9/10. This is actually my favorite arc in the series for what is does right. But what is does wrong, really
wrong...I just can't put it over Yorknew City in terms of quality. But this arc has some great character development for heroes and villains alike, and some excellent moments, and the fights? Brutal. Absolutely brutal. Maybe not Livio/Razlo fights brutal (read Trigun Maximum if you don't know what I'm talking about), but really, really close. Defiantly smarter, though, which I love. Yes, Gon transformation is the single worst moment in the entire series, but still, I really do love this arc. In a subjective list of my favorite arcs in manga it would probably rank higher than Yorknew. It's best parts are just that good to me.

Chairman Election - 8/10. Killua and Leorio steal this arc and make it really enjoyable, and it's got a great wrapup chapter. But it really is more of a transition arc in feel, and outside of some nice moments there's just better arcs in the series.

On a side note, Killua is my favorite character that Togashi has ever written. I agree that he's the true star of Hunter X Hunter, because as a character, he's the one that does the most growing, and whose thoughts we hear the most of. A lot of the series feels like it's coming from his perspective, rather than Gon's, who is honestly the least interesting main character in the series (Seriously, I like Meleoron more than him, and he doesn't do anything compared to the other main characters  ). I really hope Leorio or Knuckle somebody accompanies Gon or Kurapika finally returns and travels with him because an arc without Killua and focused ONLY on Gon? Yeah...Oda made two years of Luffy work, but even he brought back great characters from past arcs that gelled well with him. Gon isn't interesting by himself and the story needs a more interesting character like Killua to move it along. In any case I hope Killua is not gone for good, because I do love the character and would like to see him continue to play a role in the story, not be forgotten or pushed to the side like Leorio or Kurapika.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, Hunter X Hunter is getting another movie. It's called Hunter X Hunter: The Last Mission, and is apparently supposed to be about the shady side of the Hunters Association. I still haven't seen the first movie, which I imagine is you're standard fair "safe" shonen movie that doesn't do anything particularly interesting with the characters, and clearly isn't of the same level of quality as the manga or anime that it's based off of. That said, I'll probably check that out eventually, and look into this new movie next year, whenever it gets subbed.