Category: Hunter X Hunter

This episode was another one that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time now: the episode about Nobunaga, and the point where Gon and Killua really manage to stand out. This really was their big moment in the Yorkshin arc, and after so much bloody build-up, it was worth it: the creators also got Nobunaga right!

I’m more and more reminded again of why the Spider Troupe is my favorite evil organization in a shounen series ever. They’re just so diverse, and yet they work incredibly well as a team. And they’re also very professional. They don’t just depend on their powers, but also on their experience, knowledge and each other. The only reason why Gon and Killua managed to escape at the end of this episode was because they weren’t guarded by the troupe itself, but rather by one guy who got ideas out of his own. It’s the same way in which Gon was able to steal Hisoka’s tag: if any other member was with him, that plan would have never worked.

Also, this episode gave depth to a dead guy. Uvogin’s best friend was Nobunaga, and this episode handled Nobunaga’s sentiments really well, and I like how well he explained who Uvogin was to him.

On top of that, in this episode we saw some more of my favorite character of the Spider Troupe, and things really are looking awesome here. I’m not going to say who it is for spoilers’ sake though.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Oh hell yeah. We’re nearly at the best part of Hunter X Hunter, and they look like they can actually pull it off. I’m going to pick this one up again. Whether I’ll keep blogging it for the remainder of the series entirely depends on how they end up handling the Greed Island arc, but the yorkshin arc is so awesome that it deserves to be blogged here.

With this I also want to wrap up the previous arcs a bit. The thing is, that we’re right now one year in. The animation for Hunter X Hunter has improved in the meantime: the animators are taking more and more risks beyond just shading Hisoka a lot, the soundtrack has gotten better as well, and the lesser voice acting is just something that has to be accepted. It’s not that the voice acting in this series was bad, in the 1999 series it was just that good.

However, I still believe that the 2011 series left a lot to be desired in the Hunter Exam arc. Unfortunately, back when I blogged it I kept dancing around the core issue with it. The core issue is something that bothers me with a lot of other shounen series: being boring in your first arc. You see, in the 1999 series, the creators actually added all those fillers, but those fillers were great in adding details to the characters, fleshing them out and making them fun to watch. because of that it was a really enjoyable standalone arc, even if the Yorkshin would not have been made.

The 2011 series on the other hand skipped all of these details, it saved its best tracks of the soundtrack for later, it waited with its really good animation until after the arc was finished, it didn’t bother looking much into the side characters at all. It was all bland, and instead what stood out about it apparently was the hints it provided for the future arcs. Those hints indeed were nice and all, but they don’t add anything to the Hunter Exam arc itself. And that’s for an arc that lasted 30 episodes. I mean, Full Metal Alchemist took half that time, and that just barely worked out. This lack of detail really made me worried for the future arcs of Hunter X Hunter, but thankfully these were ungrounded: they really managed to get the Yorkshin arc right!

This also is a major episode in the way that Gon and Killua finally have stopped being boring. Finally they also are done with all of that build-up (which is quite boring to watch if you already watched that before), but in this episode they really got to put their skills to the test, and it was an incredibly tense test at that. Here, it really shows how dangerous the spider troupe is, and how the two leads are only just children. They were completely hopeless and captured way too early, but I loved how well they avoided not getting killed instantly.

Right now, the spider troupe is also getting fleshed out really well. Seriously, these guys are pretty much my favorite evil organization in any shounen ever, and this is because of how well they combine with each other. There is no clear structure, like “you must beat my subordinate’s subordinate’s subordinate before you can fight me!”, but instead it’s a chaotic group that works really well in unison. Everyone has his or her own role, and even the ones with barely any airtime like Pakunoda and that guy in bandages have this prescence, like they matter. They really showed that at the end of this episode.

Also, that animation! Take those walking scenes and look at how smooth that animation was. That’s quite rare to do, and the sign that effort is being put in where to put the emphasis right.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

I’m probably going to piss off a lot of people with this post, but look: I’m getting tired of this. I’m in the need of some opinions. There are some very vocal Hunter X Hunter fans, but I also want to know what others have to say about this: do you still want me to blog this series? The thing is, that I’m not enjoying this in the slightest. It’s not just this series, but also the discussions that follow it and the people who all tell me that I’m talking about this series in the wrong way. For the past half year, I feel like I have been trying way too much to please everyone, and I reached my limit here.

It may seem strange, but yes, I have been trying to hold myself with my criticisms for Hunter X Hunter. I realized that today. The way I went on nit-picking: that’s something common for people who don’t like a series but can’t actually explain why they don’t like it. For the past half year I just kept on dodging the entire issue in an attempt to try and please everyone, but I’ll just say it here: my opinion of this adaptation of Hunter X Hunter is that it lacks soul. I can’t get into this series. I can’t enjoy this series in the way I did with the 1999 series due to how the story, music and animation don’t come together. I don’t care if there is CG or how the animation is never off-model: the animation doesn’t evoke anything from me, unlike the first series, which did look very crappy, but put emphasis where it needed to. Who cares if the 1999 series dragged; it had a ton more emotion oozing from every part. Who cares if it wasn’t faithful to the manga: it had its own story and it worked incredibly well.

So, now that I got that off my chest, what’s next: do you people want me to continue blogging this series with this mindset, or are there people not interested in reading that? I’m not going to try and be nice to this series anymore unless it really deserves it, because I’ve pretty much been forced to watch a recap (including two recap episodes) for more than half a year now. That is not how I enjoy anime. In the end, this remains a personal blog about my own experiences, and with this series, I’ve gotten tired of trying to be politically correct.

However, if I am going to drop it, it’ll be dropped forever. I’m not going to pick it back up even when we get to the yorkshin arc or the chimera ant arc. This series had its chances to impress me, but it went on for way too long without impressing me. So, what do you say?

Someone. Please fire the guy responsible for choosing the placement of the music in this series. This episode showed me that he has no clue what this show is about.

It’s bad enough already that this was a recap. That’s the second recap in 26 episodes. For a show that already has a really long way to go before it can get to new material. I’d take the fillers of the 1999 series of this anytime. The premise of this episode was Gon writing to his mother, so I guess it was at least justified that the narrative was very jumbled. One detail is that Gon forgot to explain why Hisoka spared him. That makes that picture slightly different. But for a recap’s low standards, that part at least wasn’t bad.

But dear god, the music. For starters, this episode immediately started by making a mockery of my favorite non-Yorkshin episode of the 1999 series by playing the most generic tune the soundtrack has on top of it. That already was annoying, but I couldn’t believe my ears when Gon got to the part where he was quietly laying in wait for the correct opportunity to strike the bird and later Hisoka… and suddenly the ED started playing. Yes, that incredibly hyperactive song with lots of screaming and grunting. that was about the worst song you could have picked and it completely broke the mood. Hisoka in particular looked completely ridiculous with that hyperactive J-pop looping over his supposedly gloomy face especially when he actually started grunting alongside with it. Just… why? I really want to be fair to this new adaptation, but it doesn’t make it easy. Most of my previous comments can be classified as nit-picking, but this was just plain bad.

What’s next? Senritsu’s theme song being squeaky J-Pop?
Rating: — (Bad)

And with this, we enter what I found to be the worst part of the original Hunter X Hunter TV-series. It’s not like it was badly executed there, but it just took so bloody long and there were just too few characters who really went anywhere beyond the dull training arc. It’s here where the new series can finally set itself apart, and I wonder how it’ll be able to do this, beyond being a lot shorter.

As for the actual episodes, I’m going to nit-pick again, because both versions of the series took nearly exactly the same content for this one episode, although there were some differences here and there. The most noticeable was Killua: in the 1999 version he just waited behind the door while he let the butler play with Gon for a bit. Here, he gets impatient to see Gon and goes out on his own (right when the butler finishes his test by the way, so the outcome didn’t really change). What caught my eye in particular was how he lighted up when he was about to see Gon.

What this version did better was how they handled Canary. In the 1999 version, this was done with a bit too much cheese (with cheese by the way, I mean heavy acting that fails to engage me and instead ends up a bit silly or detracting). The part where this series is inferior is where Gon cuts his eye to let out some bleeding. It again has to do with this series’ bizarre concept of pain, because Gon slices himself in the same way he’d slice a piece of meat for cooking. The 1999 version however, did it much more subtly.
Rating: * (Good)

Okay, so I was wrong. I mean, I still think that the previous episode left things to be desired in the cinematography department, but for some reason I actually thought that Canary was killed and wasn’t meant to appear after this. And then this episode starts out by fleshing her out. Either my memory deceived me, or these are two different yet both interesting ways to show her, but I don’t have the time right now to watch the corresponding episode of the 1999 series to be sure.

Also, I really liked Killua in this episode. I do have to wonder how these chains work he was hanging from, because they defy various laws of physics at first sight, but this episode added a ton of details to his character, and finally expanded a bit on his need for friends. His father at first seemed really out of character with this fatherly talk, but I like how the creators made use of how we’ve never seen him before.

One scene I did feel that didn’t work out as well was near the end of the episode, where Killua ran into his mother. Something seemed off, and the way these scenes cut into each other was a bit sloppy. I’m not sure what it is, but when that Zoldyck theme starts playing right from out of nowhere it also tends to break the mood, rather than add to it. It’s a bit too abrupt and unlike most tracks doesn’t feature any lead-ins whatsoever. It’s just silence…. CHOIRS!!!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Okay, so the good thing about the fast pacing here is that we’ll get through the building up parts more easily. The bad thing is that with this, the scenes don’t have time to play themselves out. And because of that this episode didn’t really work. Good lord, the cheese!

I am glad that the training arc was very short. Gon, Killua and Leorio had to train to get stronger, and a training montage later which shows the three of them building up their strength later, and they’re strong enough to pass through the door. It was quick and concise and didn’t drag out like the 1999 series did. I liked that. Then however, they got to the black servant, and that’s where they really blew my suspense of disbelief. The same fast pacing now made the following scene really cheesy.

It’s the same syndrome where this show just refuses to spend any effort into anyone who isn’t a main character. It spends so much time with shading Gon, Killua and Leorio, and yet it puts in no effort whatsoever at the portrayal of this servant, making he big change moment look silly more than anything else.

With the shading, I also think that madhouse is putting the emphasis on the wrong things. Either shade, or don’t shade at all. Right now, it just looks weird and really forced whenever these shaded scenes appear. It’s like the producers scream “this scene is important! Pay attention to it!”, while all it does is limit the actual animation because it makes actually animating these shaded shots so much harder. It’s a shame, because the director actually used this technique well when he was dealing with adapting Rainbow. There the shaded scenes were at the end of each schene, rather than in the middle. In these scenes it’s much more effective to focus on some extra detail here and there.

On top of that, he also really doesn’t seem to know how to use Hirano Yoshihisa’s soundtrack. That guy’s soundtracks aren’t just something that you can randomly play everywhere. What really baffles me is how at the end, when the black servant gets shot, he immediately decided to play out the choirs. In a show with so many nonchalant deaths, that one deaths suddenly brings in the really cheesy choirs from out of nowhere without any account in timing whatsoever.

The thing with Hirano Yoshihisa’s soundtracks is that you need to use them to build up an atmosphere. Here though, the creators use them to enhance the dramatic scenes. That difference is subtle, but if you blindly use the over the top scenes at the most dramatic scenes you miss the entire point of build-up. Compare that to Himitsu: the best track there was that clapping tune (and what a great track it was!), and instead of waiting until the last possible moment each episode, the creators used it when the characters were investigating each murder. And after that, they could complement the actual climaxes with a wide variety of other tracks, instead of being way too limited by the obvious choice.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Another part of what makes Hunter X Hunter so good is that every part is different. Unfortunately, this does mean that we’ve just entered one of the two most boring arcs of the series. It will very likely take much faster to go through than the 1999 series, but this episode remained a bit boring.

The biggest reason for that is having already seen this episode. Again. During the previous episode I wasn’t bothered by this too much, but now that the pacing has slowed down again it gets a bit tedious again to watch the same thing twice. Next week will probably be the same. The only part which really caught my attention her was the point where the hunting dog Mike was revealed, and where the butler started talking.

Still, this episode is necessary for building up for later. It’s because of this episode that Killua’s family gets fleshed out, but I do think that it could have gone though things a bit faster. Not showing the family is also a good way to flesh them out.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

When I first heard Gon’s voice actress, I felt that she yelled a bit too much at times. I still think that, especially in the second half of this episode, but nevertheless, Gon’s acting was awesome in the first half of this episode. The camera work and the timing of it really hit the right notes there. Hunter X Hunter is a show where, the more important a scene is, the bigger the budget allocated to it, and Gon’s serious scenes, along with Hisoka’s moment were apparently seen as very important here. Most of the eye candy in this episode came from really well drawn and shaded frames, but the part where Gon grabbed Gitarakur’s arm was actually animated really well.

On the other hand, I’d like to talk about the concept of pain in this series: there isn’t any. After 21 episodes, I’m sure now: pain in this show is just a small annoyance. It’s something that a lot of other shounen series suffer from. Again, I’m comparing with the 1999 version: there, the pain the characters felt was actually portrayed; when characters did something straining to their body, it actually looked like they were straining themselves (take for example the part a few episodes ago, where Hanzo balanced on his two fingers: in that episode he just did it like it was nothing, whereas the 1999 series actually animated tension on those fingers).

Gon’s part in this episode was pretty much done better compared to the 1999 series. But in terms of his father, I believe that the 1999 series holds the upper case, due to one big part that was cut here. I’m not going to spoil here which part, but the people who watched the 1999 version know what I’m talking about, and it lead to a different image of Gon’s father here, that to be honest lacks the same impact.

In any case though, after this this show can really start to shine over the 1999 version, because from this point onwards, that version starts to drag horribly. I only rated the main series as 82,5/100, which is relatively low for all of the praise I’ve been giving it. The reason for that is the next arc and the arc after that, so from now on this series can make up for a lot of stuff. And I hope that they are going to cut the obnoxious episode intro that has been appearing each week.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

First of all, I’m a bit puzzled about one thing. I’ve been reading a few reactions to the past arc, and there is one thing that has bugged me: what’s wrong with tournament arcs? It’s not just this series, but whenever a shounen series refers to a tournament arc, I always see some people complain about it. I do wonder why that is, though. It’s not like they appear all the time, and I consider them a great excuse to have a wide variety of different fights and battles. Especially series like Hunter X Hunter, which give a new spin to the whole set-up by having the losers advance. Personally I consider the big battle against the evil that is about to destroy the world worse than the use of a tournament arc.

In any case: this episode surprised me. There were a few parts that it could have done better, but it also had a number of very good parts. As for the disappointing bits: it’s a bit of a shame that they skipped over Kikkua and Hisoka’s fight, even though that was the perfect way to show their characters off. I also didn’t like the narrator at the end of the episode. The 1999 series also had people narrate, but when they did they did get into more depth about what was going on. This episode went “Gon is angry” at the end, and kept repeating that a few times. I mean, there is narration, and just plainly stating the obvious.

Killua’s brother however, was delightful. The creators perfectly captured the relationship between the two brothers, and in particular the parts where he threatened to kill Gon was really well executed. I also really like his voice actor here. My only gripe with this scene was at the point where he claimed that Killua cut his sister and mother and that his mother was crying. Leorio’s reaction to that was just completely weird: instead of being surprised that Killua attacked his mother, he was angry for the brother for telling the last part so nonchalantly. As if violently attacking your family is the most normal thing to do in the world. I mean, I know that the world of Hunter X Hunter is screwed up beyond belief and all, but I don’t think that it’s going THAT far.

Also, gasp! What happened to the soundtrack? In this episode I think we got to hear three new tracks, and all of them were really good. Especially the track that started playing when Killua’s brother started talking down on him and on how he was raised. Now that is much more like the Hirano Yoshihisa that I know. The track just kept changing and swifting moods with all sorts of different instruments. It still misses the catchiness of the 1999 series and Hirano Yoshihisa’s other works, but it’s definitely a step into the right direction. My best guess is that they used his most one-sided tracks for this first arc, in order to save the best for the rest of the series. That’s the only explanation of the random drum solo and the monotone upbeat tunes that sound absolutely nothing like what Hirano Yoshihisa is normally capable of.
Rating: ** (Excellent)