The beauty of Hunter X Hunter: most other shounen heroes would probably have died by now if they also would have taken the exam. The start of this episode deliberately took its time, to show how stupid it is to just rush in without any idea of what you’re up against. Also, it’s interesting to see that the pacing has slowed down tremendously here: in this episode they only got to wrap up the fight with Tonpa. I think that in two weeks, we’ll get to the point in which the original series really caught my eye. That will be the point to see whether this series did a good job in building up.
As for the Tonpa-fight though, that is unfortunately something that the first series did better. This is because Tonpa already revealed himself to be a total bastard during the running exam. Everyone knew that he shouldn’t be trusted, and that made for a very awkward episode when they learned they had to work together with him. In this episode though, we had Leorio yell at him for no possible reason. At this point they had no reason to really distrust Tonpa, as the only one who realized the nature of the laxative was Killua. And perhaps Gon, if he put 2 and 2 together in his head about the laxative and the frog.
Still the crowning moment of this episode still did work. The point where Killua revealed the big prisoner’s strategy was just wonderfully done. It was hilarious, but at the same time it just showed how easily you can screw up in this series. And that’s also the beauty of the fights in this tower: they’re not just “spam powers and punches until the other side goes down”. No, the characters really have to use their heads here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Hunter X Hunter – 08
“At this point they had no reason to really distrust Tonpa”
What about the “the test could be on this ship” lie?
Leorio yelling at others is kind of what he does – he likely yelled at Tonpa for having taken so long to come down to them, and because someone who’s not passed the exam 35 times doesn’t have the best track record to be working with. The other characters (kind of sans Gon) were not happy with him either, but they’re not so given to yelling.
Personally, I found this episode horrible. They stalled out way too much, which is a first for HxH 2011.
Well, as long as they don’t censor Killua’s match next episode I won’t care… unless they take another episode to get to his fight.
I’m pretty sure that Kurapica and Leorio would’ve realised back when Tonpa gave them the dodgy juice that he wasn’t to be trusted ^^; Their facial expressions (especially Kurapica’s) told it all. Only Gon would’ve believed what Gon himself said about the juice being “off”.
I think they’ll get through two matches next episode, this one was split roughly into getting into the tower + inside the tower/first match.
I must say I really like the voice actors/actresses for this anime. Although I get the feeling I might be in the minority regarding that?
This episode was actually faithful to the manga, so the fact that Leorio was going hysterical didn’t really bother me because in my mind he should be acting that way.The pacing was wonderful this time around, hope they keep this up!
@ hikaru: well, I guess that while they thought Tonpa was a nuisance and a troublemaker, they didn’t think he’d actually sabotage his own chances of becoming a hunter. In the ‘rule of majority’ scenes, it seemed like Tonpa was trying to create animosity and disparity within the group,hoping to mess with
their minds a little. Yet they were still able to move forward, so it wasn’t obvious yet whether he was just trying to brew some hostility between the characters for his own amusement without hindering their advancement as a whole, or trying to stop their progress altogether, taking himself down as well.
The “battle” was the conclusive scene. By giving up the fight, Tonpa showed that he had also given up his aspirations of becoming a hunter. He only cared about seeing others fail and the satisfaction he drew from it, nothing more, nothing less.
I also happen to enjoy the voice actors from this version as well as it’s predecessor. It’s just that the voice actors are still trying to establish their own unique identities so to speak- after all, they have big shoes to fill.
the voice acting has gotten SO MUCH BETTER!!!
I have to agree with pg here, it wasn’t exactly well done the way they handled Tompa. I mean the only one knew about the poison was Killua and despite the “hint” he gave Leorio and Kurapica, they didn’t seem to be mad and fell asleep anyway.
I think it would’ve been more effective if they only found out about his nature when he actually surrendered (which was actually done better this time around, that build up was actually hilarious).
I do like how they are not rushing this test at all too, which is my favorite. And Lippo’s seiyuu is love 🙂
I think the buildup to Tonpa’s fight was hilarious. It wasn’t present in the first anime, so this is a welcome change. I also think that we’ll see two more episode before Killua’s fight. I hope they won’t censor it.
Don’t worry hikaru, you’re not the only who thinks the voice acting is good, I really felt that it was better than the voice acting. Daisuke Namikawa, Mariya Ise and Miyuki Sawashiro are all doing a stellar job. Kudos to newcomer Megumi Han as well 🙂
@ljf Who’s voicing Lippo?
@AKI I am also impressed with the voice actors/actresses, and this coming from someone who’s a big fan of the originals. (especially the kids – counting Kurapica as well; Kaida Yuki is LOVE) Megumi Han keeps impressing me, be it here or in Digimon Hunters. I hope to hear a lot more from her in the future. (And well, landing a role as Gon might help her a lot in that regard.)