The first half of this episode, I think it actually worked better than in the first series. It was simple and more to the point, just like Gon really. It had a nice build-up of “oh, this is going to take forever”, only to solve things in minutes afterwards. Although, Gon’s voice actress was trying a bit too hard again in this episode. It’s mostly her range. She’s very easy in just yelling all of her lines.
The second half however… it was a bit of a mess. And it’s not the pacing really. When you just look at pacing, then the new series is actually better than the first. It’s just that the voice acting is so much, much worse. The voice actors are trying too hard and especially the blue guy (why is he suddenly bright blue?) was hamming it up. Compare that to the first season, which had fantastic voice acting and which had voice actors who knew exactly when they should be subtle, and when to raise their voices.
What’s even worse is that we suddenly got to see entire inner monologues of that blue guy, which killed off all of the tension that was there already. It added some nonsensical stuff, while it cut out the stuff that made him quite charming (like the way in which he broke his fist, for example). Also, I’m surprised here: the way in which he refused to wake up, was actually a filler of the first season? I really would not have guessed. That really was something good they added back there.
And then there was Kurapika, who really managed to save this half when he saw the spider. It again suffers a bit too much from acting too hard when compared to the first series, but the moment where Kurapika got his red eyes: that was just wonderful. It wasn’t just a great scene. It also showed that the creators here know how to deliver the darker scenes.
Overall I’m quite positive of this series so far. The creators might actually nail it. However, there is one character who I’m positive that they’re going to ruin if they keep going on like this: Senritsu. I won’t say why, for the sake of the people who aren’t familiar with Hunter X Hunter, but I really cannot imagine her with the current focus on overacting from this series.
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Hunter X Hunter – 09
Also, I’m surprised here: the way in which he refused to wake up, was actually a filler of the first season?
Nope. It happens in the manga. It should be covered in the next episode as it becomes part of Leorio’s match. I don’t know if this counts as spoilers but the fight was clearly shown to be a draw because the scores never change.
While I didn’t like how the blue guy kept on having monologues, I imagine it’s because the show wants to lengthen the Kurapika match. I really liked how the visuals were done in this episode. And Kurapika’s eyes were done in such a way that they aren’t just bright red, the look awesome– and definitely something you can imagine other people collecting and bidding for at a high price.
Well, with the mention of Genei Ryodan– I have to wonder how they’ll portray these guys as well. Heck, I wonder how Yorkshin is going to be! Especially when it was the very highlight of the original series, I don’t think there’s any way you can outdo what Nippon Animation did with that arc.
Some things were very good here. Yet…. Overall though, even though it’s very true to the original story it really didn’t convey the right feel. In the older anime version I was held breathless by these episodes, the tension was so thick that I almost couldn’t watch.
I remember the it was the first time I felt that Kurapika was more than just a girly face. It was like holy sh*t, he really can be dangerous.
It’s odd…..the matches so far=
that’s 1 to 2 , so why didn’t he readout over the doors change, small point but it really bugged. me. The bridges were extended and that means the official watching agreed the match was over and Kurapika won.
OVERALL-
Is it the acting? the art? It just feels a lot weaker than the manga or the earlier production for me. Hisoka has been a huge disappointment, I was really afraid of that guy when we met him in the first anime.
Well the truth is they all feel a bit ….weaker? I really can’t figure out why it’s not working as well for me. The timing and tension feel off somehow.
@psgels
The part where Majitani doesn’t wake up is in the next episode.
I’m surprised that you thought the Gon part worked better in the old version–especially since this one showcased something the old version didn’t: Gon handles extremely well under pressure. Despite being caught in a difficult situation, he calmly handles his candle, sets it down, and figures out a way to win. In the old series, it isn’t until it gets too hot and he drops his candle that he realizes that the flame will stay lit. And didn’t you think that Sedokan, the serial bomber, overacted in the original version? His delivery is significantly subtler in this version.
Also, I’m not sure what you mean when referring to Majitani’s inner monologues. They’re all in the old series too. He’s supposed to be hamming it up in general–everyone there knows he’s a complete joke except for Leorio. In fact, I found it an improvement to see him overacting–that’s literally what his character is doing in the moment. He was sent to prison for tax fraud: his whole persona was a lie.
Can you delve into how you think Senritsu will be ruined?
@jzar
Even though the bridges extended, the match hadn’t ended yet. You’ll understand next episode. Notice that the scoreboard on Gon’s side hasn’t changed from 1 victory to 2 yet.
Sorry for the triple post! I just realized I misread your sentence about Gon’s fight–my mistake. Disregard the first half of my first post.
Dude, Majitani is Kazuki Yao! What do you expect from that kind of voice cast; he’s known for his exceptional ability to ham it up! XD
I really enjoyed Kurapika this fight though. The animation on his eyes was gorgeous and I felt the VA finally got him perfect. I do see why you’re mentioning Senritsu already since I’m a little worried, but I think part of how that goes will also rely on the casting. Just hope for the best for now!
By Senritsu, I presume you are referring to Melody the music-based nen user in the Yorknew City arc. I will tell you this now and believe me when I say this; this series of Hunter x Hunter is going to follow the manga perfectly. Mood changes and all.
The Hunter Exam arc is relatively light-hearted and hopeful in spirit despite the death count, but by the time we reach Yorknew City I am certain this series will be full throttle darkness. It has already shown how dark it can truly be, with the Killua scene on the airship which might I add featured blood.
As for character portrayals I have to say, every character has been absolutely spot on to the manga. Whereas the older anime series altered almost every characters personality for the worse. Gon no longer was childlike in the older series, Killua was too “evil” in the Hunter exam in the older series, Hisoka was not serious enough and instead of being a calculating and intelligent psychopath he was made into a killer clown.
All in all the older series slaughtered the original manga for the most part, with only the Yorknew City arc being somewhat close to the manga, however still managing to get the characterisation completely wrong on most of the Phantom Troupe.
@Kevin: I seriously have to wonder if we read and watched the same manga and anime of Hunter X Hunter. I’ve re-read the manga 2 times and the anime re-watched 3 times (local anime station broadcasted it) and in comparison at the very least of handling the characters I would hardly call it butchered.
By butchered or slaughtered one would mean completely missing the point of the character or adding some unnecessary qualities. However, what exactly has changed about the characters pray tell? I do not see of that actually happening. What is clear is that both NA and Madhouse have different interpretations of what they see the characters but neither animation studios miss out on any aspect (can’t say much for Madhouse since its still ongoing) or add anything unnecessarily out of character. The characters are still very much the same without any real deviations to radically alter them. Hisoka may have gotten a short stick but I’ll explain that later though still remained largely in tact, since it was a creative decision on their part.
You may want to clarify what you said with a scene-manga example because that is a pretty big statement without much backing. Especially when you begin to consider chapter titles trying to emphasize a certain aspect and Killua being ‘evil’ during the exam fits as he’s supposed to be a foil to Gon, and you even have chapter titles emphasizing this at that point with the very first ‘The Light and the Shadow’ chapter which Togashi has used twice and probably has a pretty big significance for him to use.
Atmosphere wise NA managed to capture the different moods well, atmosphere is one thing NA clearly focused on. Indeed, NA removed a lot of the lines from the unseen narrator explaining things but this was to keep the focus on the atmosphere so you could really tell what they aimed for. Animation wise I’m glad NA deviated from the manga and actually improved on it since Yorkshin arc was the start of the decline of Togashi’s art, this is were hiatus started to begin =/. Moreover, Yorkshin arc was actually far more sparse than the animation would like you to believe – remember chapters would generally hover between 14-16 pages and that is WITHOUT a double spread. Just compare the negotiations of Pakunoda in the anime VS the manga to see the clear cut difference that I think the anime did a great job at adding much needed content for better continuity or mood setting that still remained faithful to the original. Even the Mito filler episode still worked well with highlighting the difference between Gon and Killua – which as noted earlier is of emphasis just by looking at the titles of the chapters so I would hardly call NA’s focus on Killua’s ‘evil’ or rather assassin upbringing unwaranted when they did consider the relevance of chapter titles (which should be clear to you why this is important at the latest manga arc with regard to the growth of Gon & Killua) that basically did the same thing (heck even looking at the panels Killua was always in black panels more than Gon so things being in color they’d have to find a different way to stress this).
Hisoka is a more complicated case since he was a killer clown in the first place – especially at the hunter exam. We do not see his cunning at all in the hunter exam since everybody was just fodder for him, and he breezes through it. Its only at the Battle Tower that we really see this occur which NA’s choice to remove narration really hurt as we didn’t get to understand the mind games he played using Bungee Gum against his opponents at the Battle Tower which the manga goes at lengths to explain. While we didn’t get to see his prowess as a battle genius we still did get to see his cunning manipulative side just fine with the Yorkshin arc, but that was because it didn’t require the same dissecting that was done in the battle tower since this was more evident by itself with monologues. Still over all the point still stands that Hisoka is a freakishly strong and playful fighter that you just can’t figure out easily and uses his brains to get what he wants (namely more ‘toys’ to play with) – which is the point of it all.
Then we have soundtrack which is a whole other layer to atmosphere which I think shows even more the strong attention that NA was giving atmosphere. The soundtrack and OP & ED songs are all quite good. Can’t say much yet about Madhouse but can’t say any of theirs stick to mind yet (but again realize I watched the first animation a lot so that would help in my memory).
I would still say despite NA’s slight alterations and removal of narration in favor of atmosphere its still overall quite a faithful adaptation. Story doesn’t change, surprisingly fillers while extra were very much well placed and thought off (Mito filler keeps coming back to mind, characters are still who they are without any new characteristics placed on them (interpretation is something subjective that I wouldn’t try to fault at as long as there is nothing missed out crucially or added unnecessarily its all good), they also didn’t re-order chapters or anything, and more importantly added detail where it was needed (animation and continuity wise).
@Machi
I will sum up my previous post for you as clearly as possible, as you seem to have missed the entire point of it.
– Killua is never once in Togashi’s original manga considered ‘Evil’ instead he is considered dark. The characterisation NA missed that Madhouse understand is that while he is still an assassin, he is also a 12 year old kid. Togashi captured the bond of children to perfection and the friendship of Gon and Killua in my opinion signifies the relationship of Light and Darkness within us all. Light and Darkness need each other to balance one another out. That is the core facet of Gon and Killua, something that was not present in NA.
– As for Hisoka, he was never a killer clown. He was always an incredibly strong, graceful, eccentric and mysterious killer. He is an enigma through and through. Is he a bad guy or is a he a good guy? It’s hard to say, he killed to quench his bloodlust and considers people to be his toys. He is an absolutely disturbed character, which begs the audience the question: what made him this way? It’s a question that Togashi has still not answered to this day and that sense of mystery and disturbance is the central focus of Hisoka. Once again NA instead made him into a killer clown who lacked even a hint of mystery surrounding him. You never thought “Why is he this way?” the question was never pondered upon. However that is the central focus of his character in the Madhouse adaptation. A prime example is the scene in which he stacks up a house of cards only to knock it over – a form of destruction that gives him sexual pleasure. That right there tells us something about him as a character. That destruction is something that has consumed this character to the point that simply destroying weak things is no longer fun to him, instead he wants to challenge the strong, to get the pleasure of destroying something powerful. Once again “Why is he this way?” That is the question Togashi raises.
– To conclude I honestly believe that this adaptation has perfectly translated Togashi’s characterisation from the manga into animated form, whereas the NA version never understood these characters.
@Kevin: Let me sum up some points too~.
– Killua: Notice how I worded ‘evil’ I’m using your words. I never considered Killua evil its clear that he is dark and very much troubled because of his upbringing. The original never actually tried to emphasize he was evil as much as killing is his nature. A natural reaction as we would see in the Mito filler. That natural reaction or rather his assassin mentality is something that is shown quite well to be both good and bad in its own rights. I don’t need to elaborate why its good, since its basically allowed Killua to think things through for both him and Gon. While bad because again this should be obvious with how little he cared for life early on, but noticeably he doesn’t opt for this option as much anyways. In the end he is very much dark not evil, I do not see why you considered him evil from the NA when its pretty much always emphasized that it is his upbringing and of course Illumi that forces him to act in an assassin manner. I do think he is still a 12 year old kid with a good relationship with Gon (Talks on the ship after the retrieve the number exam, Mito Filler as a day in the life of Gon, Battle Tower the two goofing around, Yorkshin hotel scene with Killua even suggesting to Gon to watch lewd things). Heck the filler I just mentioned is a pretty good example that they did emphasize the two are friends.
-Hisoka: I think this is largely your interpretation already. I agree he is in your words ‘incredibly strong, graceful, eccentric and mysterious killer’ but I’d emphasize more on eccentric to the point of creepy. Need I remind you the ‘boner’ reaction he acquired at the thought of fighting Kuroro or his teasing of Gon and Killua? On the part of graceful this I disagree with and would replace with cunning and sly that is after all what the Bungee Gum tactic is. Mysterious killer is something I feel you’re off as much as battle hungry, he kills yes but its battles that he wants more again him having a boner at the thought of fighting pretty much proves that. However, I think you simplified what it means to be a killer clown. Clown should be pretty clear its not just his appearance but his entire attitude, though its pretty clear part of the literal thing is that he does dress up like a jester. Clown sums up well for me about him is that Hisoka is very playful. Course we already know what a game or playing with him means. Its not that he’s malicious so much so that he just derives fun from battle. That I think was emphasized just fine, and the VA did a pretty damn good job at that. I do not see this as disappearing from NA. I’m not sure how you define ‘killer’ on your vocabulary but from NA I would see Hisoka as a killer in the sense that a) he won’t hesitate to kill once his blood starts boiling and b) that he’s kick ass strong.
Mysterious is something I’d easily contend with because I don’t see him as a mystery as things unfolded. He’s pretty much a guy who’s seeking strong people to battle and the lengths he’d go through pretty much show this. I’m not interested in Hisoka’s background or even bothered wondering that instead I wonder ‘who will he be fighting next?’. His actions make sense when you consider that it is all for him searching for an opponent.
Additional note: I’d like to add its still much to early to claim ‘- To conclude I honestly believe that this adaptation has perfectly translated Togashi’s characterisation from the manga into animated form, whereas the NA version never understood these characters.’ Anime isn’t finished we’ve not seen how they handle everything, etc. My real gripe with your comment really is that you pronounce this version too definitive when its not even finished ^^”. That is why I do not comment on how this series has handled X so far in relation to Y I can’t make a definitive statement of my opinions. Its not formed yet much like the anime isn’t finished.
Noitamina’s adaptation was good, but it didn’t capture the intentions of the manga that well at all. It was extremely dark and moments of lighthartedness were sparse. To be concise, it was too serious. I’m not saying the manga wasn’t serious – it just didn’t take ITSELF too seriously. I mean, the author even put pictures of himself as a dog in between panels and talked about his marriage and children in spaces between chapters. He did not see his work as the “political thriller of the decade” that the adapters did. This show is a lot more fun in general than the original. The original was amazing in it’s darker atmosphere, however. I am disappointed that this show has toned down the violence though. In the manga dismemberment and entrails were abundant and I haven’t seen any of those yet…
Also guys I think you should realize that Hisoka’s intense aura of fear was a product of the original anime adaptation. In the manga Hisoka wasn’t designed to be as “horrifying and intense” as he was in the anime. The characterization of Hisoka in the anime was harsher due to the fact that they had to rush it due to their limit of episodes and they couldn’t develop his character over a longer period of time.
I’m more worried about what will happen AFTER the Yorkshin Arc, though. I mean, Kurapica and Leorio are pretty much MIA for both the Greed Island arc AND the Chimera Ant Arc. Both of those arcs are awesome, but I’m just afraid that giving Leorio and Kurapica too much emphasis as main characters might backfire in the long run. In the true HunterxHunter that this adaptation is trying to make a reality, “main character” is a subjective term lol.
Hum…I didn’t read the manga or watch the first anime so I enjoy this XD I can’t really join your debates!
@ljf: ‘I mean, the author even put pictures of himself as a dog in between panels and talked about his marriage and children in spaces between chapters.’ You do realize those are more of extras that you would see in any volume release of any manga right? They are absent from magazine releases, it is pretty much value added incentive by any manga. Including serious ones. Also to be exact they tend to place this information at the sleeves of the manga, such as the information of his life or near the very end. As for side pannel ones those are usually thanks or just a vignette of how the volume came about or such. This isn’t exclusive to HXH manga nor is it a style of the work.
As for him drawing himself as a dog again you do know a lot of mangakas draw weird avatars for themselves… This doesn’t really speak out about ‘humor’
“and especially the blue guy (why is he suddenly bright blue?)”
Yeah, I loved this episode, but the guy being blue really put me off… In the manga, he was like Frankenstein’s monster – sewn together from a bunch of other people’s body parts, and it really bugged me that he was pure blue…
@Machi:
HunterxHunter is the only manga I’ve ever read XD
@ljf: It’s actually pretty much a common thing, and if you’re reading scanlations there is a good chance you’ll miss them as most groups do not bother translating or even remove these pages – then again not all groups bother re-scanlating volume releases. If you do buy manga though or read RAWs they should be there.
Another common practice other than the ones you mentioned, though not done in HXH, are joke pages and sidestories. Those along with cleaned up or improved art are the biggest pull to buying/reading volume releases. Shame you don’t read manga there are so much good recommendations which aren’t animated.