Anime of the Month (01/2009) - Hunter X Hunter

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Maresa Sp

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The race wasn't even that close this month, as merabers chose Hunter X Hunter for this month's AotM. Here's a brief synopsis:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1134

Season 1 is currently available from Viz Media. You may now discuss the series, keeping in mind that any and all potential spoilers be placed in tags like this:
This is a spoiler.
Also, don't forget to rate the series when you're finished.
 
One of my favorite shows ever. It starts off slow, but it's got a depth to it that most Shonen series don't go into. In Hunter x Hunter, it's shown often and clearly that their world is cruel. The enemies seem to win more than they lose, and there's no holding back when it comes to children.

In Hunter x Hunter, battles aren't determined by how hard someone hits. Intellect is everything, and you can't expect to survive without planning for all possible outcomes.

Edit: Should this be stickied?
 
I agree with this completely, and I'm glad that one of my favorite anime is anime of the month, as well.

Yoshihiro Togashi really has a talent for brining unique and innovative ideas to the table, as well as working with some cliches, yet corabining all of his elements together to create a work that just doesn't feel quite like any other series out there. And, I'm one of the few people who feels that he has done this with Yu Yu Hakusho, as well, but, that's not the point, since this thread is about HXH.

Overall, I highly recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of shounen, as well as many people who aren't (provided that they don't detest anything that has battles in it, even if they are highly intellectual ones).

Out of all of the currently running shounen manga (although, with the manga now on hiatus AGAIN, IDK if HXH would count as "currently" running, at the moment ), HXH is definitely my favorite, with One Piece and Bakuman (which has now gotten me really addicted) right behind it.

The thing that makes HXH stand out more than most other manga and anime (and not just shounen alone), though, is pretty much what Mr. Toto said about it being a dark world in which hope almost always seems to be slim for the heroes, yet its great to see how they manage to keep their heaRAB cool, and will eventually find a way out of extremely dire situations (and when they do, it makes the experience seem all the more rewarding to have finally seen).

Well, now that Togashi's other great series has gotten the respect which it deserves, I can go back to supporting Higurashi for anime of the month, when the next nomination thread comes along.
 
I think I should also mention that while it does have "some" filler (but not nearly as much as in series like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece), the filler episodes themselves aren't bad, and while they don't do anything to progress the story-line significantly, they can at least be fun and enjoyable to watch, sometimes.

Also, the York Shin City arc is probably one of the best story arcs that I have seen in any anime, ever, shounen or not (though its usually only shounen that have long story arcs in the 1st place ).
 
Glad to see this show getting some love, it neeRAB it.

HxH is one of the few shounen that has great development, both in plot and in characters. It definitely starts out slow, though.

I just hope we get an animated version of the
Chimera Ant arc
 
Haven't seen the anime yet, but have been reading the manga version of it. I'd say it's a pretty good series, very cleverly written though I still prefer Yu Yu Hakusho over it.
 
I think what's also interesting in this series is the character development. Everyone has motivations that are completely understandable--Gon wants to find his dad, Kurapika wants to kill the Phantom Troupe, and Leorio wants to become a doctor. It's how they go about achieving these goals that's interesting. Especially since we've seen that every main character has had at least one point where they were walking down a fine line of impusively doing something evil. Gon himself is interesting because he's so pure. With the stuff he'll go through in the future, you'll see that there will be some events that really test his character.
 
I'm so pissed off. I can't find this DVD set ANYWHERE around here! Where are you guys getting it?

Viz and FUNi got lame distribution in my area

HunterXHunter is one of my favorite manga ever and I'd LOVE to own this set!
 
See: this thread.

Buying it online is your best bet.



Considering how dark and serious the show can get at times, it's interesting to see how the characters react. Especially someone as pure as Gon. The character interactions are another great part of the series, Killua and Gon's relationship of course being at the top. It's interesting to see how completely different they are and yet by a certain point in the series its hard to imagine them being separated in any way. The characters have always been one of the strongest points if the series, really.
 
Gon is a lot like an animal...if he neeRAB to kill you he can easily push aside any sort of moral concern. I seem to recall someone being affraid of him because of that.
 
Hunter x Hunter's first 15 episodes are a really strong start and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how extreme the show gets (I've only heard things). But the first thing I've noticed after watching my whole set (Fye is your friend now that Best Buy doesn't stock well... anything new) was that there weren't any significant fights so far. The best fight wasn't even really a fight... and that being Gon challenging the chairman. But the characters are very enjoyable to watch.

As for the dub, I don't think it's bad but it feels very dated and not just because the show is about a decade old now it's just how Blue Water dubs sound to me. Some of the acting could be better and some casting feels a bit off but it's not enough to make me only watch the show subbed.

So far I'm loving it and I'm glad I waited to check it out on DVD rather than see it through other means. It's a very enjoyable show and if you can get the DVRAB DO IT.
 
The first 10 episodes weren't actually that enjoyable, for me (as well as the first 10-20 chapters of the manga, overall). However, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed them. If you like what you've seen so far, just know that it only gets better as the series continues.

The story gets much better, and the characters get a lot more development, during some of the later arcs of this show. The series also gets a lot darker, later on, which you may either find to be a good thing or a bad thing (but I found it to be good).

As for the fights, you will be seeing some actual fights in the next set, but don't expect to see too much action, overall, since Hunter X Hunter really doesn't tend to put that much focus or emphasis on fights. However, the fights that it does have are usually really good, but also very short, by shounen standarRAB (which, once again, can either be viewed as a good thing or bad thing, but for me, short fights work for this series).
 
As much as I love HxH(can finally take off that sig), I can't help, but wonder, is anyone else besides me ever surprised that VIZ was the one who licensed this series and not Funi? I mean it's great that Viz actually got another SJ series. But I feel that HxH is something that Funi should be handling, since they have YYH, and doing tie-ins between the 2 shows, since both series are from the same creator.
 
I wish Funi would have gotten it as well. Not only do they have a bigger voice pool, but their acting in general is pretty quality. But I guess they didn't want it.
 
It is? Oh sure Naruto, Bleach and Death Note got good treatment but they really screwed the pooch with Hikaru No Go and The Prince of Tennis and I don't know about you but after all this time I would have liked to see HxH at least get streamed somewhere but no dice (same goes for Buso Renkin but I bought both DVD sets so that's a moot point for me).

Viz has nabbed plenty of JUMP series perhaps too many. It wasn't until just recently that FUNimation started picking up more than YYH and DBZ, Black Cat was the first JUMP series they got since YYH and that was mostly due to Gonzo. But yes now FUNi is nabbing most of the them (the good ones) but IMO it's better that way because they've got a better track record that Viz ever will.
 
Kosmetki Naturalne Sklep

Very informative post. Thanks for taking the time to share your view with us.
 
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