So I'm finally caught up with Hunter X Hunter - I watched the entire 2011 series (only skipping the two recap episodes), read chapters 340-360, and even watched the two movies. Someday I might watch the 1999 anime, but not now. Probably won't ever read any parts of the manga that have already been adapted into animation.
Overall, it was a fucking fantastic ride, at least most of the way. I love the creative alternatives to combat and the character-driven narrative. As far as arcs go:
Chimera Ant > Yorknew > Hunter Exam > Chairman Election > Greed Island > Zoldyck Family > Heavens Arena
The Hunter Exam arc is still one of my favorite parts of the show. It was just a lot of fun, especially from the third phase onward. I kind of miss the more innocent tone it had. I hope the series can at least make a brief return to that sometime. This was where the game-like alternatives to combat shone the most. Plus it actually had all four protagonists together, which is nice.
I enjoyed what little there was of the Zoldyck Family arc (especially that hot tour bus guide, best rando waifu), and I even liked the weird abrupt end to it, but it definitely needed to be stopped early. It would have been impossible for it to keep going with how immense the power gaps were between the heroes and the family. Hell, even the butlers. Hell, even the apprentice butlers.
Heavens Arena was mostly boring. There wasn't enough to the Nen system at the time for it to really interest me. However, Gon vs. Hisoka was fucking fantastic and one of the highlights of the series. And getting to listen to Hunting For Your Dream at the end of every episode kept me going.
Yorknew was actually really uninteresting for the first ten or eleven episodes. Nothing going on was really compelling, aside from the suggestion of Melody's quest, which is pretty rad but shamefully not explored. However, once Kurapika and Uvogin fought, the arc kicked into high gear and quickly became some of the best the series had to offer. Very tense, high-stakes, and loaded with interesting character moments. Plus this is where Nen got interesting to me, especially with Kurapika's abilities. >tfw somebody sneaks Mozart into your animes
I don't really feel the Greed Island hate, at least not on the level that other people seem to have. It's certainly no Yorknew, with a pretty standard narrative and no particularly interesting new characters (though I do like Bisky and Razor), but I still quite enjoyed it. The Nen training was better than in Heavens Arena, the card system was decent, if underexplored, and both the dodgeball game and the Genthru fight blew me away.
And then we have the Chimera Ant arc. I don't think I can say anything about it that hasn't already been said so many times by so many people. This was the peak of character writing in the series, hell, some of the best I've seen in anime in general. The end of episode 135 had me damn near crying like a bitch. The only problem I had was that it really did not need to be 61 episodes long. We didn't need half an episode of Youpi and Pouf orgasming over healing the King, and not all of the fights felt like they served a real purpose. Most of them, but not all. I like Morel, but he didn't need so much screentime.
(2/3)
Parker Gray
Chairman Election was alright. The stuff with Alluka was compelling, if asspull-y, and I love Killua being such a good brother to her, but the election itself was nothing to write home about. There's nothing interesting about the Zodiacs. Gon should have definitely had to face the emotional fallout of what he did. Feels like he just kind of ignored it. Ending was great though.
As for the Dark Continent arc so far, Hisoka vs. Chrollo was cool, but other than that I'm waiting for things to get interesting. Or, you know, for any chapters to be released. And the movies were bland and generic as I expected them to be. Kind of just watched them for the sake of it. I can see why nobody ever talks about them.
Overall, 9/10. Would like to see other people weigh in on the series.
(3/3)
tl;dr it was really good
Kayden Morgan
I think you summed it all up fairly well. I agree wholeheartedly .
Now for the long wait for Togashi to crawl back to his desk. Any...day...now...
John Hernandez
Fantastic taste OP. Full approval.
Adam Garcia
I agree on pretty much all of it except for me the chairman arc was the worst, I didn't enjoy much of the politics and as you said gon getting his nen back felt asspullish. although leorio was the definite highlight and best part of the arc which i enjoyed.
Ryder Wright
OP again, I forgot to mention, the show always needs more Leorio. I want best boy to be important dammit.
Colton White
Only read the manga (twice). Arcs: Yorknew > Greed Island > Hunter Exam > Heavens Arena > Zoldyck Family > Chimera Ant
Biggest issue with the Ant arc was the pacing and the asspulls, it also moved away from the adventure style of the previous arcs.
Colton Johnson
The ant arc did feel different but idt it was a bad thing, it was a nice change of pace to see things get darker. Although i wasn't crazy about the style of storytelling that arc had.
Noah Bailey
I'm not reading that essay I just want to shit post about rubber nen
Michael Howard
My problem with that wasn't Hisoka coming back to life so much as somehow being able to patch up his injuries.
Wyatt Anderson
It's a prosthesis, it's in no way a permanent fix
Wyatt Jackson
What are the properties of rubber nen?
Alexander Powell
OH MY RUBBER NEN
Mason Bell
Chimera Ant > Yorknew > Chairman Election > Greed Island = Hunter Exam > Heavens Arena >>>> Zoldyck Family
Not going into a long-winded explanation like you did (it was a great one though) but imo the series was better the less of Gon there was/the more it explored other characters also, hunter exam would be higher than Greed Island, but I don't really care for the first half of it
Christopher Evans
Yeah gon's one of the weakest parts about the series.
Ian Harris
>Yeah gon's one of the weakest parts about the series.
FUCKING THIS
SO FUCKING MUCH
Zachary Brooks
Pitou best girl
Leorio best boy and deserves better, he's been treated more as a side character.
Julian James
I was told 2011 had great animation but that was bullshit. None of the fights stood out and the pellet is the most generic it could be. Also the soundtrack was so lackluster. Everyone said it's up there in those things with FMA, that was a lie. I did like a lot of it though, writing is solid.
Anthony Peterson
Chimera Ant > Yorknew > Hunter exam = Greed Island > Heavens Arena > Zoldyck Family.
For all the flaws Chimera Ant has, the arc by far had some of the best moments in the series. Not going to deny at all, I cried fucking hard at Meruem and Komugi's deaths. That and the arc itself felt so well done it really didn't feel like I was watching a shounen anime.
Dylan Sullivan
I was gonna say great taste but seriously how can you say Leorio
Juan Bennett
>Not liking Leorio Aside from the fact Hisoka and Knuckle are best boys, Leorio was fun as fuck. The moment where he punched Ging's shit in was amazing.
Asher Gutierrez
I would say >girl, but I honestly can only see Pitou as female. I still won't fap to that, but I admit I've fantasized about making out with her a bit.
Lucas Cook
She deserved every bit of the pounding her face got by Gon, fuck it hurt seeing her break him like that. Would rape though.
Robert Scott
>hunter exam >people dying left and right >innocent tone
Gavin Lee
The thing is that most of the deaths were just brushed aside. Plus, a lot of them felt like, "You signed up for this, you weren't good enough, that's what happens."
Zachary Johnson
It's not covered in the anime, but in about 20 chapters after end of Chairman election arc we find out that Gon didn't get his nen back. Just his body was restored
Daniel Brooks
Ging says he's just normal. He's not without nen, but his pores are closed. He could retrain himself, but there would be a great cost of some sort.
Juan Edwards
Anyone has a link for digital volume 33 by Viz? It's not on meguca.
Hudson Morris
Yes, but he has given up his immense potential that allowed him to get so good at nen so fast. He can't do that again. His training now would be like that of a normal person.
Possibly, and Gon's place in the next arc or two is uncertain. He'll likely show up later on with a decent level of power, and a flashback to his training.
Liam Adams
Of all the things people complain about in Hunterxhunter no one ever bring up the biggest wtf: Yupi.
>A demon based Chimera.
Wut!? So the queen somehow found a demon amongst the bats, cats and frogs, ate it and shat a fucking demon ant? Even in the hunter universe it is stupid and unexplained.
Camden Smith
Even his ant abilities are supernatural before even using nen skills.
Xavier Myers
He was a Magical Beast-based chimera whereas the others were animal-based or wtf the term was, not demon.
Anthony Flores
>Magical beast, not a demon
In a world where everything from nen to dark continent creatures are well established as biologically sound, magical beast does stand out and seems unfitting with the rest of the universe
Jonathan Gomez
...
Parker White
>She deserved every bit of the pounding her face got by Gon
She literally did nothing wrong.
Nathan Wright
>Chimera Ant > Yorknew > Greed Island > Heavens Arena >> Hunter Exam >> Zoldyck Family > Chairman Election
Josiah Bailey
Heaven's Arena is on one hand mostly boring and before Nen gets any fun, but on the other hand it has one of the best moments in the show (Gon punching Hisoka)
Lincoln Williams
I unironically gave it a 10/10. I enjoyed every single episode. >mfw 6 episodes for three minutes That was the hypest shit ever. Also, Chimera > Yorknew > Heavens Arena = Chairman Election > Hunter Exam > Greed Island > Zoldyck Family I did enjoy each arc immensely though.
Joseph Sanders
Chimera Ant was boring at times and had problems, but it had some of the best anime scenes I've seen. The directing was phenomenal. Also, Meruem. Best thing about Hunter x Hunter is Meruem.
Magical beasts are the likes of the monsters you saw in the Hunter Exam or the beasts Gin was riding
Julian Wood
wrong
Komugi and Mereum was the best thing
i may have cried a little bit towards the end
Grayson Clark
Bullshit.
There is nothing magical about any beasts shown in the universe, even the horned lions that make fire or the flying monsters from the exam are all just "animals". None of them is described or shown as supernatural. Even the giant beasts Ging is riding are just big beasts. Nothing magical about them.
James Bennett
And how can you make that assertion from what little you've seen from those beasts he was riding? They are clearly abnormal creatures, I don't know if I would jump to calling them magical but there's not evidence to dismiss that possibility.
Easton Brown
They call them magical beasts because nobody knows where the come from. Only a small amount of people actually know what the dark continent is and what the actual world is like.
Brandon Brown
There are creatures literally called magical beasts in Hunter x Hunter. The concept is introduced very, very early on, I think they're defined as non-human animals that can speak/understand human language. Those shapeshifters that took Gon and co. to the exam were classified as magical beasts for example.
Zachary Perez
Because no one in-universe seems shocked at any point! They are afraid of them alright, but so would I from a grizzly. They don't react in the way you would if you saw a dragon or a mermaid! When they see the Zoldyck dog, it's "just" a scary beast to them. They don't ask "how the fuck does this exist!?"
But Yupi is growing shot from his body through magic
Parker White
fuck off 1999>2011
Luis Ramirez
Magical beast category under the wikia only gives Chimera ants individuals and Kites' hunter group explain that Chimera ants are usually large insects, not human sized.
Also the guides from the exam are indeed "monsters" that can speak to humans, but in that case what about Killua's claws and Gon's inhuman strength and feats shocking every one else?
Blake Taylor
Yes, the animation, while not bad, wasn't at all a strong point.
Jaxson Cox
Pitou >loyal >curious >intelligent >cute/playful >...but also vicious
hnngggg
Cameron Phillips
Best boys need to get on the boat with best dad.
Easton Roberts
I may have cried a lot.
Asher Adams
RUBBER AND GUM
Adam Gray
>I like Morel My nigg.. >but he didn't need so much screentime. NEN AIN'T FREE
Easton Roberts
Yorknew is better than Chimera Ant arc because it was able to tell a good story without a fucking narrator sperging out every two minutes
The Chimera ant arc is overrated desu, Meruem and his guards weren't as interesting as the Phantom Troupe
Nicholas Wilson
>Phantom Troupe >interesting Chrollo, Uvogin, Shalnark and Nobunaga are the only interesting characters in the whole troupe that aren't one-note. Chimera Ant's characters are the most well-written in the whole series, the confrontation between Netero and Mereum's some of the best writing I've seen in a series in general.
Robert Richardson
Pakunoda, Franklin, Machi and Kalluto aren't one-note either.
>the confrontation between Netero and Mereum's some of the best writing I've seen in a series in general It really wasn't all that special.
Besides, it's objective fact that the quality of writing (and art) was better during Yorknew when compared to Chimera Ant.
Brayden Cruz
I would kill for a good Machi doujin.
Pitou doesn't have a lot but relatively to the rest of the girls, she is the queen of HxH hentai - she has 4 solid fucking doujins and 1 total 10/10 kino "I nut every time" doujin (Cat Emperor Time).
Aaron Rogers
Morel is a cool guy, but he doesn't have much going on in terms of personality aside from being a bro.
Ayden Butler
Leorio is a side character.
Hunter Evans
>but he doesn't have much going on in terms of personality aside from being a bro. I don't get how anyone could say that. He cries like a bitch when the Queen dies because he's moved by her story and is willing to protect and live along the peaceful faction of the chimera ants, he mentors Killua and Gon on top of Knuckle and Shoot, he gets mad as fuck when Leol shows he stole his friend's Nen, he's willing to put his life on the line and worries about his comrades and friend, then there's the whole election arc, Morel is far from being one dimensional, I could understand if you said that about Knov, but Morel is extremely well written and one of the key characters in the Chimera Ants arc.
Liam Kelly
No, it really isn't.
I'm gonna say much about Yorknew because it is a damn good arc but it's clear the character writing was very clearly cranked up to eleven in the CA arc.
One of the reasons for the narrator is to convey information that neither the audience or the characters are aware of. Why it was used is probably because one of the mains goals of the Invasion portion of the arc was to put all of the acting players into unprepared and unpredictable situations and to see how they would react to them. Pitou pleading to save Komugi's life, Gon's growing anger and confusion, Youpi's change of heart and Pouf's growing insanity are all examples of this.
And if you the usage of the narrator is a problem, then you probably haven't read many comics because the way it used here is more or less the same.
Brandon Foster
I wouldn't call Knov one note either, going insane did wonders for his attitude.
Angel Kelly
Knov's problem is that he doesn't really start showing much of his character until the actual invasion, but yeah, he's not one dimensional either, and he does change a lot by the end of the arc and the few times he appears in the election arc. Metal Gear Knov will always be the best Knov though, unless the upcoming boat arc manages to make him better.
Samuel Jenkins
I wish we had seen him kill more shit though. Like dropping an Ant into a portal and closing the portal while they're only halfway through, or dropping them into a room where the floor is a giant meat grinder.
Wyatt Perez
>Metal Gear Knov Oh man, the tension in that scene.
Luis Watson
She would of made a perfect housewife that would also keep you safe
Ethan Gutierrez
Fuck you Leorio is now the MC and your faggot little Gon and Killus have been benched from the story!
Kevin Sanders
Well, I sorta agree. My Nen is more powerful than her, but she can keep our cute little catgirl children safe from just about anyone while I'm not around. Of course, killing Gon would be my first priority so that he can never hurt my wife.
Anthony Rodriguez
>Like dropping an Ant into a portal and closing the portal while they're only halfway through That's literally what Scream does, open a portal and then close it. Scream is actually amazing because the portal shape is defined by Knov's hands movements, it's more or less like using The Hand, and you can't defend against it at all if you get caught in its range. >dropping them into a room where the floor is a giant meat grinder. He did drop them into a room with Netero, which was a human meat grinder.
The problem with Knov is that his power is more abstract and indirect than the average, so while it is potentially broken it's limited by being hard to use it properly, Knov himself isn't even that great with Nen compared to other hunters, he's not a fighter after all. I'd really like to see Knov fight against some other Nen user like one member of the Ryodan or someone from the Kakin family. It's one of my favorite parts of the invasion, great stuff.
Cooper Wilson
>Girl
Tyler Green
>Killua needs to be sadder, gayer, and have access to a wish machine
Owen Harris
>Besides, it's objective fact that the quality of writing (and art) was better during Yorknew when compared to Chimera Ant. Completly agree.
The Ant arc is overhyped by a bunch of newfags who never read the manga.
Mason Rivera
CA had Togashi's best paneling in his entire career.
Jackson Williams
This is Killuafag tier cancer
Nicholas Flores
Dumbest thing I've ever read because the CA arc was done far better in the manga, in both narration and pacing(disregarding the hiatuses).And also because it mishandled one of the biggest emotional cruxes in the arc.
Logan Jackson
There's nothing wrong with Killuafags and what are you complaining about?
Adam Campbell
...
Josiah Foster
>Dumbest thing I've ever read because the CA arc was done far better in the manga Not been on Sup Forums while the CA arc was running in the manga? People called it the worst thing Togashi ever wrote and it wasn't rare to see comments Naruto > CA. The entire CA hype started with the 2011 anime.
Eli Watson
Biutifel.
Benjamin Cooper
>The Ant arc is overhyped by a bunch of newfags who never read the manga. t.illiterate speed "reader"
also op it is easily my favorite series of all time. I'm on my i think 6th read through of the manga and there are still things that i learn each time. It's just so fun. I only watched the anime once and i strongly prefer the manga. I think the pacing is done much better especially in the first half of the chimera ant arc.
Leo Baker
>also op it is easily my favorite series of all time. Same here.
Unless you count non-animated TV series.
Isaiah Collins
t.newfag
Brody Brown
>you will never have a litter of human/CA hybrids with Pitou
Gabriel Price
i'm curious whats in your top 3 manga? i havent been reading anything outside of hxh for a long time and i have a massive backlog.
Levi Thompson
That doesn't matter to me. Most of it was sour grapes from frequent hiatuses and the poor art which is understandable.
But when read in one go with the redrawn volumes, it's a thousand times better.
Levi Foster
O
Aiden Anderson
MY
David Perez
PENIS
Colton Campbell
The York Shin arc is the greatest arc in any shounen manga ever.
YorkShin > all.
Chimera Ant arc is a masterpiece as well. It comes pretty close but not quite there.
Josiah Peterson
any day now
Nathaniel Barnes
Gon didn't get off scott-free.
People forget that his actions and choices hurt Killua had a lot, and created a huge weft in their friendship.
John Hughes
Why is he so perfect?
Alexander Kelly
...
Caleb Adams
You can't go wrong with either one.
Bentley Martinez
Need more more chapters of this man.
That face he made when he casually tossed audience members to their deaths demands it.