Category: Series which were Dropped

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)

Okay. I’m going to be a fanboy now. You see, this episode in the first season was my favorite Hunter X Hunter episode ever, outside of the Yorkshin arc. If I blogged it, it would have gotten a fantastic rating, and quite possibly even higher. There was no way in which this episode of the second season would surpass it. This entry will probably go a lot more in-depth than usual about the differences between the two adaptations. I know that these are two adaptations and should be judged as such. But I still consider this version to be inferior.

There first is of course the matter of the animation budget. That was probably the biggest disappointment of this episode. I rewatched this episode, and there Nippon animation really went all out. The art perhaps wasn’t consistent, but the way in which the characters moved around was incredibly dynamic. Here? We got several still shots of a fountain, and suddenly three hours pass. It’s a shame: apparently the producers seem too focused on making Hisoka look scary in that episode, but here they really passed up a chance. In fact, the animation in this episode looked too much like they just coloured in the manga pages, and had the animators put a bit of movement into them.

On top of that, there was the dialogue: some was the same, but the most disturbing parts were cut. In the first series’ version, Hanzo also disabled Gon’s eyesight and ears. It was completely disturbing to see how Gon was slowly being beaten to a pulp, and also how Hanzo described everything in the slightest details. Here, the dialogue was much more childish. However, I do admit that it was quite intense for a while.

And when, when Gon put up his anti-climax, something felt missing. Animating isn’t just about moving things around, it’s also about bringing things to life. It’s here where the way in which Gon immediately recovering from the poison dart starts to bite back: he’s not the fragile child he used to be in the first series. The first season really made it look like he was in pain. This was much more cartoonish. It didn’t really look like Gon was in pain when he stood up.

What also starts to bite back, is the lack of characterization on Hanzo. What I loved about him was that he wasn’t a major player in this story anyway: he was just a skilled warrior who also wanted to get his hunter’s exam, and completely disappeared from the story afterwards. And yet the first season treated him seriously. In this episode though, the acting of this guy was wooden. He just had two moods: quirky and serious. There was no subtle difference in it. It’s interesting: the dialogue between the two is similar at a lot of points, but this episode felt so barren, compared all of the little details that the first series put into it (everyone laughing at Hanzo’s blood nose, for example, or Hisoka laughing at Gon’s stubbornness, which made him much more than the usual psychotic clown). This is also why I pay so much attention at the people who are going to be adapting source material: the mentality that the creators are in when they depict their characters has a lot of effects on how well the source material is translated. Having good source material of course also is very important (heck, this episode remains very good either way), but it’s not the only thing.

What I also think played a part here was the use of the music. Like, the point where Gon kicked down Hanzo when he used that strange handstand of his: the music immediately started to play this out of place upbeat tune that somehow ruined the mood, rather than building up for it. Scenes that should have progressed slowly to build up an atmosphere suddenly had fast-pacing drums accompany them. It all just… didn’t fit here.

I understand that in this season, this episode could have just been building up to something. I did recognize how Killua was much less supportive of Gon, and I can imagine that this jealousy of Gon is going to play a major theme later. But heck, I’m being a fanboy here. Like I said above: this episode was my absolute favorite outside of the Yorkshin arc, and I am a bit sad to just see it delegated to buildup episode. I’ve got the same fears of the Yorkshin arc: I closely rewatched the original episode this time for some good comparison, and the dialogue was cut at a lot of points. The best thing about the Yorkshin arc was how well the dialogue was written.

And I know that I’ve been one-sidedly praising the first season. Don’t worry. Next arc will be the opposite. It’s there where the first season just dragged on for too much and took way too long to get going. That arc was why I ended up rating the first season of Hunter X Hunter relatively low, and where this new adaptation will really set itself apart. I admit though: I am completely biased. I know that it’s very annoying when people start talking about how differences in adaptations, and I apologize for that. This week though, my inner fanboy just couldn’t hold itself in.
Rating: * (Good)

Okay, I know what I’m going to do this season. The thing is that Ano Natsu, Black Rock Shooter, Inu Boku and Smile Precure are all series that are interesting, yet not interesting enough to be blogged weekly. So instead I’m going to do another Kaleidoscope and blog one of these four shows each week. Hunter X Hunter however has nothing to do with that. This show is great, period. And I’m going to bring it back from hiatus now that Hyouge Mono has finished.

I do want to say though, that it will probably be impossible for me to not blog this as a fan of the ’99 series. I will try to also write some impressions about actual episodes, but blogging this series for the past months, I really realized that I just have to draw comparisons between the two, so I really apologize for being a bit inaccessible to the people who are only now being introduced to the franchise. These comparisons will mostly be in the ’99 series’ favor for the current arc, while the next arc they will be very likely in the 2011-version. And after that, anything can happen.

Gon really impressed me in this episode. For me, the really big difference of the past few episodes between the two adaptations is that Gon immediately recovered from his poison in the new adaptation. Because of that, the moment where he stood out in this arc has shifted. This version doesn’t have the agonizing time that Gon spent, trying to recover from the poison. Instead, he had to wait all alone with his pride hurt and do nothing but wait for his friends. That gave this episode a slightly different meaning here, and instead made this episode really stand out for him. I really loved how he forced himself to help Leorio and the others.

Now, the next episode in the ’99 series was like, my absolute favorite Hunter X Hunter episode outside of the Yorkshin arc. That’s another reason why I really had to pick this show back up, because even though I’ve already seen it again, and the impact probably won’t be near what it was when I first watched it, I really want to see how the creators handle it this time. The ’99 series had a lot more time to devote on fleshing out the side characters. It even treated the characters who were just destined to die or drop off seriously here and this lead to a wonderful side-cast. This new series doesn’t have a lot of that, but I’m still impressed with how they made Ponzu in an interesting character despite only know learning what her personality was.

With this episode however, I can also see that the 2011 series put a lot of time into fleshing out the nine remaining contestants. The questionnaire from the chief was still really great to watch. I also really liked Hanzo here, even though he only appeared for like… 30 seconds; it took me a while to realize, but that guy actually had three tags worth of one point with him. That actually means that he couldn’t find the tag that Killua threw away, and I can only imagine how he desperately had to try and find two other tag holders in order to get the right points. I managed to track one down to being that one guy with long black hair, but I just can’t find out who the other was.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

I’m now really starting to see the purpose of the fillers of the first series, and especially the boat arc: they gave character to the other contestants. At this point, the difference is really starting to show, even when I’m ignoring the fact that I can see all of the plot twists coming. Back when I watched the first series, I actually cared about the other contestants. This new version though, only gave them a few lines here and there. It’s a shame, because this bonding with everyone was one of the things that made the Hunter Exam arc so great there.

While watching this series, I’ve also gotten a bit of understanding of why why people keep going on about faithfulness in an adaptation. I’m starting to notice myself that because I already know what’s going to happen, I end up focusing much more on the details. Even small flaws stands out now. You have this image of how this series should be, and when it deviates from this, it feels more annoying than anything. Because I’m so focused on this, I’m not really enjoying this series like I used to in the first season. This is really a dilemma, because really: this remains the best shounen plot we’ve had in years. How come there weren’t any more series like this that showed up in Shounen Jump? Did the manga have no influence whatsoever on other authors or something?

This is also why I hate recap movies, and I can only watch these series when they actually try to stand on their own, instead of trying to tell the same story with only slight differences. I think that the bare minimum of changes was the Nanoha Movie: the story might have been the same, but the creators there successfully brought it down to an hour length and made it watchable for the people who didn’t watch the series. These two series however… they’re just way too similar. Right now my advice is just to watch the Hunter Exam arc of the Hunter Exam arc. After that you can just swap back to the new series for the next arc, because that will likely be done better. They’re completely interchangeable right now.

This is also why I fail to understand why people would want to watch the anime version of a manga they’ve read, when it’s just going to be the same anyway, save for some minor details that stand out.

For example, I’m not sure if this was in the first season or not (my memory of it isn’t THAT good), but it really bugged me that that monkey guy did such a terrible job at hiding himself. He went into a completely different direction, and yet they easily caught up with him. I do think however that I would have brushed this aside as a minor detail when watching the story for the first time. And I really fear that I’m going to have the same reactions when we get to my favorite part of this series, the Yorkshin Arc.
Rating: * (Good)

Now, this was actually the point in the first TV-Series that I became a fan of this show. The point where Gon realized who he was going to have to hunt just blew me away with the kind of subtlety that I just did not see in any other shounen series. And ever since I have not seen any other shounen show that could equal this.

This episode had the disadvantage again of having the exact same plot, so the surprise was ruined and it didn’t make the impact it did as when I watched it for the first time. But damn it still was really damn good! The creators still nailed Gon as he realized the kind of task he stood before. I loved how they handled the part where he and Killua show each other their numbers. This still stands as one of the highlights so far.

Also, this episode just pretty much nailed the training arc. Screw overly complicated plans: Gon didn’t even spend half an episode preparing for his task, but this practice was essential. This wasn’t about him learning a new technique for the sake of being stronger. He analyzed his opponent and the situation he was in, and came up with a strategy to take him on. This is done in a way that again very few other shounen series have. Without actually dragging on, this episode accomplished a lot here.

One criticism is that female announcer: if you want to break the mood, go for it all the way. Her acting felt really out of place, and missed the anti-climax that she intended to be. I’m also glad that the creators kept the soundtrack to a minimum this episode. The one good track was used well when Gon observed what the other contestant was doing, and the scene on the boat was completely silent. Apart from that though, this show really needs some more tracks that really stand out. Hirano Yoshihisa usually excels at those kinds of tracks, but yet here he for some reason feels too constrained.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

I’ve said it before, but at the moment I’m currently really busy with moving in real life. I managed to buy my own house and right now, I’m finally moving out of my parents’ house, and I’m going to live on my own now, and I’m pretty overwhelmed by everything that you need to take care of. So with that in mind I kindof appreciate that this was a recap. That definitely helps to ease the workload a bit, especially on a day when two major series also end.

So yeah, recap. Nothing special: Gon writes a letter to his mother telling everything that happened. Yadda yadda yadda, nothing special at all. Next week will be the infamous new year break, so we’re pretty much into a two-week break right now. January 8th things will start again, and then it’s time for things to really get fired off.
Rating: – (Lacking)

The first half of this episode was just amazing. That was just an episode that could never happen in any other shounen out there, even though it’s a genre known for wasting time. Just seeing the characters waste 50 hours was an amazing way to flesh these guys out, and I especially love how the creators took their time to show that for half an episode, before the characters could continue. Between the lines, this show really is a battle of endurance, and this part nailed that.

I also love that the creators remembered that the organizers provided daily meals for the different contestants. These are the fun details.

As for the second half, that probably worked better for the people who didn’t watch the first series.It went all mysterious about the way in which they would make it, but having seen the first series I knew exactly the way they’d do it. This is the big disadvantage of watching a different adaptation of a story you already know: every single surprise is gone, taking away a crucial part of the suspense. In fact, this is something that I’ve kept wondering about people who often watch anime adaptations of mangas or light novels that they already read: is it really fun to watch something, knowing everything that’s going to happen in advance? Especially the ones that rely heavily on suspense.
Rating: ** (Excellent)