Hunter X Hunter (Original + Remake)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Now, I could have just created a regular discussion thread for this, but that would be far too boring. Now let me just say that I do enjoy this series and to me it still proves that Togashi is a damn good writer....he's a lousy artist, but that's kind of irrelevant to me at this point since I've gotten used to his sloppy artwork....the bottom line is that his stories are good, so you get the idea.

Anyways, while I do love HXH, I have to admit that just like with the adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho, and currently Level E (so far, though it has only aired 2 episodes up to this point), I do tend to prefer the anime adaptation for Hunter X Hunter for the portions of the anime that the TV series and first OVA series adapted (The Greed Island OVAs are an exception to the rule, and are definitely inferior to the manga).

Now, I know that Desensitized doesn't like HXH, and for understandable reasons, as I should confess that originally I didn't find any appeal in it myself. BUT, I didn't give up on the series if only because it was by Togashi, and when I came to terms with the fact that it was a vast departure from what I expected (which admittedly was kind of more of the same type of formula as Yu Yu Hakusho), I actually did really love the series for what it was.

I really think that in terms of atmosphere its a brilliant take on a traditional type of shonen tale, and it actually purposely contains all of the shonen tropes that you would expect a traditional shonen series to have....only it then gives all of those things the middle finger and shoves a stick up their ass. What I mean is that HXH, despite outwards appearances, most often has a dark twist to everything. Its a fantasy world, but it turns out this fantasy world is fucking cruel as shit, with villains that have no mercy to the point in which Togashi has the balls to even kill off little kids in this series. It has likable characters and strong bonds of friendship....so strong that these so-called likable characters will be just as merciless and cruel to any opposition as they would be to them. In that regard HXH can be fairly gray at times, which is a characteristic that I kind of like in Togashi's manga that we got a fair taste of with Yu Yu Hakusho. Overall, I think the plot is developed well and if one can get past that certain weirdness factor of how the world of HXH is clearly designed to not work anything like our own, then its a really entertaining series. Also, as I said in an earlier post about the series, among other Togashi works, its not a simple heroes and villains story. The world that Togashi has designed is highly organized with its own political system of sorts. It has its own form of mafias and government, and I feel that it adds a very interesting element to the series's overall background.

For the anime in particular, I really must praise the team that handled the animation for the fight-scenes in the TV series and first OVA. The anime is about a decade old by this point but time has been very good to it since the animation has aged splendidly. The fight scenes are so unbelievably fluid for a shonen series and the fights themselves actually look like real fights with constant motion and lots of tactics coming into play, rather than fights coming down to character internally monologue about stuff and then having to endure cheaply animated fodder and uninspired special attacks to pass the time by. it also helps that the fights themselves still retain an element of strategy to them, and that more often than not the heroes are at a complete disadvantage, and the interesting thing about the fights that grab you are that you want to see how the main characters will overcome their challenging situations. Overall, it works out perfectly, and I wish that more series could learn from this one. I mean, compare HXH to a series that came out nearly a decade later like HSDK, and you can see how embarrassing the animation is in most shonen series compared to this one.

Now, the one problem with HXH, though....scratch that, there are various problems with HXH. Let me clarify that none of them are big enough to hamper my enjoyment of this series too much, personally, but at the same time they do drag down this series in quality to the point of holding it back from reaching true greatness, IMO, and I do feel that fans often overlook its problems

Just to name a few, I'll start by saying that the series's initial problem is its horribly slow start. The beginning is flat out boring and don't expect anything interesting to happen until Togashi has had time to introduce all of the main characters and build them up a little bit. Another problem is the series's pacing, but without going into extraneous detail, lets just say that its horribly inconsistent, in that at times it can feel far too slow and kind of drag on, whereas at other times it feels almost too rushed. Another problem that I have which I will admit has been mended but it certainly took a while for Togashi to do so, is that Gon is a boring main character, or at least he was until later in the story. Initially his personality isn't very well-defined and he is a bit too happy-go-lucky for his own good. He certainly wasn't a bad character, but nothing stood out about him. It was all of the other characters that gave HXH its flair. I honestly cared far more about Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio than I ever did for Gon for quite a long while, and I especially found Killua to be a very interesting main character based on how his upbringing was the complete opposite of Gon's, yet out of all the people out there he immediately took a liking to the peace-loving Gon, and vice versa. I think their friendship has an extremely interesting chemistry to it, and IMO it still remains to be the highlight of this series, for me.

Of course my biggest criticism comes into Togashi always taking a hiatus from this series and the fact that I have to wait over a year just to see him churn out another 10-20 chapters until he takes his next hiatus. Its fucking grating, and he might as well drop the series at this point if he plans to keep doing that.

Still, overall, I must say that I do really like this series for what it is. Its certainly not YYH, but its good that its different, and I really do feel that it does deserve its praise if you look at it for what it does right, and it does a lot of things right, IMO.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I'm currently on the last quarter of the TV series as I'm re-watching the anime, and honestly I may have given it a bit too little credit for its slower-paced yet more character-focused episodes. The episode in which Kurapika was training with his master who was trying his best to guide Kurapika in the right direction since he was so obviously hellbent on revenge was handled really well. Unlike some generic vengeance-driven character like Sasuke from Naruto, I found that Kurapika's character was handled much better. He is determined to get revenge, but through his emotions and facial expressions you get the sense that he doesn't really want to become a killer and isn't even getting revenge so much because he wants to but because he feels as though he has to, as if its his obligation or duty as the last member of his clan. It was also just interesting to see how he interacted with someone who could analyze his psyche and state of mind so well (of course it ticked him off, but he also showed signs of understanding his master's concern).

The episodes that I really liked, though, were the ones in which Gon returns to his home village with Killua and visits his aunt Mito. I found those episodes to be quite meaningful in their own way, just in how Killua gets some development for his character in learning Gon's family values compared to his own, and how he was raised. That's why I find their friendship to be so interesting of a relationship, simply because they come from 2 completely different backgrounds, with Gon coming from a peaceful and quiet village whereas Killua's whole family consisted of assassins and he was taught to kill without hesitation and was basically all too accustomed to blood-lust at an early age, yet he himself hated being raised that way. Interestingly enough they each realize that the reason that they took a liking to each other was because of their one commonality, which is their age. Both of them discussed about how they never had any other kids to hang out with since they were born, and Gon is literally Killua's first and sort of his only real friend. Its also really interesting since despite Gon being the main character, unlike most shonen in which the main character is the strongest of the group and his best friend is in the mere side-kick role, Killua is actually far more advanced in his combat skills being trained to kill from an early age, and he actually uses his advanced abilities to protect Gon and sort of guide him along down the right path, sort of like acting like a caring older brother looking out for his younger and more naive little brother.

Character interactions is definitely something that Togashi has become really good at. While I personally find the characters of Yu Yu Hakusho to be much more interesting on the whole, I'd argue that Hunter X Hunter is somewhat superior in the actual character interactions department between the more interesting members of the cast.

At any rate, while I feel that this series is a tad bit underrated in some regards (though its fans horribly overrate it, as well, so it kind of evens out), I do see why it doesn't appeal to everyone. For those who are bigger into the more basic battle shonen crowd, the series doesn't hold their interest because its much more focused on its characters than its battles (though it still has plenty of fights, honestly, but I guess some people are way too spoiled by the other crap out there in the genre that completely panders to their whim), whereas the people who want more realistic stories or just don't like fantasy or battle shonen genre type stories would merely only find this to be a slightly more intelligent battle manga, but something that doesn't suit their fancy nonetheless. And of course some people just can't get used to the degree of weirdness that this series has no thanks in small part to Togashi's weird tendencies as a writer and character designer. I mean, seriously, one character looks like a giant dildo...I'm dead serious....WTF, Togashi!?!

[Angus]

I'll ask my usual question: manga first, anime first, or both at the same time?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'd recommend the anime, personally, but only if you're willing to watch it in Japanese with subtitles or are willing to put up with a sub-par dub that is the embodiment of mediocrity.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Since we started posting up our list, a bunch of other threads got started and revived, so I figured I'd give this already dead thread at least one small chance to get some discussion.

Let me start off by posting one of my favorite villain scenes in the anime:

Requiem Scene

Most other shonen go out of their way to make their villains the most unlikable and generally evil guys ever, to the point of usually making them completely 1-dimensional. I always like how Togashi can actually make villains that you can kind of root for at times, especially when you can clearly see that their is more to their personality than meets the eye. The reason I like this scene is because its them doing a great job of being villains, but its also just a great revenge sort of scene as well. Plus, the mindless action nut in me just loves seeing things explode and people get shot up and killed in other gruesome ways.

Overall, its not something that any other list would feature on their top 65 and to be fair its probably only more fitting for an honorable mention anyways, since its certainly not a show that would appeal to everyone, but for what its worth I'm glad that we got a couple of positive responses about including it on the list from a few other people who actually watched the show and liked it quite a lot (even more than I do, in fact). If anyone wanted to check this show out, I would warn you that it starts out slow and it may not be your cup of tea (I already know a few people who don't like it as well), but to me its great as an acquired taste. Its certainly not as entertaining as Togashi's previous shonen manga Yu Yu Hakusho, but its certainly more ambitious and I can respect it just as much for when it does get things right.

[Avaitor]

Holy shit, that was cool.

I keep on delaying getting into this series, and that needs to change. I think that after I rewatch Higurashi, this will be my next show.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Sounds good. Like always I'll just warn you that the beginning is fairly slow and the initial arc might turn you off as its admittedly the most "generic shonen" part of the show. I feel that it really improves past the first 15 or so episodes, but it does take some time to get used to it. I'll warn you ahead of time that the show is kind of....weird in some respects (even by anime standards). If you don't mind a healthy dose of some weird character designs and overall strange querks to the series, then its quite an enjoyable story with some great characters. After all, its probably one of the most liked series of its kind for a reason (among those who see it, for the most part).

I definitely wouldn't say that its quite up to par with YYH, though, but it is undeniably a series that you would expect from a man such as Togashi. It definitely fits his style in that department (to put things in perspective, YYH is unusually tame and straightforward by Togashi's standards....though I think it turns out to that series's benefit in its case ).

[Spark Of Spirit]

I look forward to your impressions as the show goes, actually. I haven't seen many opinions from people aside from when they've either seen the whole series (that's already available, that is) or have yet to watch it.

I personally really like the first arc, even if it isn't anything original in concept, it introduces characters really well and sets the tone just fine for what's to come.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be honest, though, I just feel that arc where they go to the city feels the most like something I'd expect from Togashi. He mixes weird and supernatural sort of elements in a strange and unique world in with elements of modern society, just like with YYH having spirit detectives, psychics, and demons and the like in a modern city setting. I just like that blend and it feels very uniquely Togashi. And to be honest I think he's probably the best mangaka I've seen who can combine those 2 elements. Most other mangaka usually have their heroes who have crazy supernatural abilities go off to foreign settings that fit their nature, but really that contrast of fantasy and realism in Togashi's work has always been what appealed to me the most about his stuff. Its why I still like the Spirit Detective arc in YYH a whole lot even though its probably when the series is at its most basic and generic in terms of writing and characterization.

[Spark Of Spirit]

When Togashi gives us a world, he gives us a world. There are all sorts of rules, factions, cultures, and things we don't see that are in the background of what we do see. His worlds always feel full of potential because he doesn't explore every facet of them, but leaves us to imagine what they're like while he focuses on the story.

Say what you want about his stuff, but it never fulls like it's eating itself or obnoxiously nodding to the fans for cheap thrills.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I really love the feeling of having such a unique world that the characters live in. It makes things more interesting and while the world has a different set of laws than our own it has its own clear definitive laws that it abides by and never breaks, so you are really sold on the fact that its an entire living, breathing world of its own.

The only other shonen mangaka that I know of who can successfully pull off something so ambitious are Eichiro Oda and Akira Toriyama (and even with Toriyama when he gets into the alien-planets he really loses the futuristic and unique atmosphere of Goku's adventures on that version of Earth as a child).

[Foggle]

New anime season of HxH confirmed!

[Spark Of Spirit]

So I guess this will be the Chimera Ant arc?...... That he's been sitting on for years now? That isn't even over yet? I don't know what else it could be since the manga goes straight from Greed Island into the Chimera Ant arc.

By the way, speaking of Greed Island, what the hell was with all the dodgeball chapters in the manga? That was where I remember ceasing reading. The arc was boring me before then, but that was just unbearable.

[talonmalon333]

New anime season of HxH confirmed!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I can't read Japanese but if that shit is true then there's finally another anime that I can look forward to (besides the new Rurouni Kenshin anime that's coming out really soon).

I'm going to make everyone watch the premiere for that anime seasons' entries.