What also sets Hunter X Hunter apart from all other shounen series: the slow pacing means something. One of the big problems with shounen is the “I’m about to kill you… but first let me explain in the fullest detail how I’m going to it, and then explain some more about it in case you didn’t get it the first time”. Hunter X Hunter meanwhile is meant to be an endurance test. Battles in this series aren’t a matter of whacking each other until one side goes down. Furthermore, this exam is all meant to draw time. Finally there are some explanations about why things have to take a long time. And that makes up for a lot here.
Last episode I was confused because the bit about the disfigured guy pretending to be unconscious, because it was introduced by someone else. In the first series, it was the bald guy who did all the talking for the prisoners here. It’s a matter of characterization, really. In the first series, this turned the bald guy into a leader figure, while he was an idiot in this episode. Instead it made the female prisoner much more ominous, which is why I’m really looking forward to next week, knowing what she has in store for Leorio and instead she was a bit of a one trick pony in the first series.
Bizarrely enough this show does include more explanation than the first. That was my one complaint about this episode: the explanations feel a bit out of place in tone with the cartoonish distorted faces, and how the explanations feel too much like a lecture for a young audience. It’s again about the delivery and the voice acting here. And really, if the voice acting of the first series wasn’t so damn good I probably would never whined about it. To try and explain it, the voice acting there had more depth to it, if that makes any sense.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I absolutely loved the use of shadows in this episode. It proves that there is a way to be gory without actually showing said gore.
I loved Hisoka’s fight. The moment when he catches the blades but the camera is looking at his shadow, giving the impression that the blades went right into his gut, was a great fake out. Then we have the decapitation. The shadow shot is not only a great way to retain the brutality of the series but it is also rather artistic in it’s execution. I can definitely see this fight appearing in some AMV’s one day.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the continued push for the darkness of Hunter x Hunter. I have 100% faith that Yorknew City will be every bit as awesome as it was in the original series, if not better. This series has not avoided the brutality, instead making the violence into an artform. I just absolutely adore the aestheticization of violence in this series.
just one word to say why I’m going to like this anime: DECAPITATION. the 1st anime didn’t show that man being beheaded by Hisoka…since it’s what REALLY happens in the Manga [as the woman is the one who makes the BETTING in the manga as well]
that makes you see that they’re not going to get ANY SOFT in this one… I liked it. HxH is quite a violent and graphic manga for a Shonen, and the anime needs to show that as much or even more that the older one
Why couldn’t Kurapika have checked if he was dead or not? I mean it was his match, he could still have gone on the field, right? I don’t understand too much. And also she went on the field and they couldn’t? It’s hard to enjoy the episode when there are so many things that don’t add up to me.
@manlyflower Kurapika was so enraged about Majitani pretending to be one of the Spiders. He did not want to kill Majitani and if he had returned to the field there is no guarantees that his Kurta eyes wont kick and and take control.
He was doing it not only because he pities Majitani for his weakness and pathetic tactics, but also because he does not want the blood of an innocent on his hands. The only people who he wants to kill is the Phantom Troupe. To kill anyone other than the Troupe would not only be disrespectful to his massacred clan, but also to his own goals of avenging his clan by killing the Spiders.
Hunter x Hunter is a complex tale, but a truly powerful and moving one.
@kevin I just meant to check if he was alive or not, not kill him. But I guess you make a good point about the whole, “Arg Spider, must… kill… him…” thingie.
@manlyflower Yep, after all he barely restrained himself from killing Majitaini in their fight. I think it’s in character for him to reject.
By the way guys, the Hisoka fight was spot on here. Decapitation and all. The hall in which they fought in looked absolutely amazing and was beautifully atmospheric. Compare it to that scene in the first series and this one wins by miles.
In the old series, you see him, full body in tact, just looking dead. Also the hall becomes a corridor, that looks as drab as the rest of the trick tower in the old series.
I can’t express enough how amazing this episode was. Hisoka’s characterization is perfect this time around. Simply amazing.
Also: the guy Hisoka got into a fight with in this episode, if you missed it, was the examiner he attacked and nearly killed in the previous year’s exam. Hisoka finishes the job this time. For some reason, the old series changes him into an applicant instead of a proctor.
@Glossa Bingo, Yeah, it makes so much more sense this time around and provides a little bit of a resolution to the whole “attacked an examiner at the last exam” plot line that the last series didn’t touch on again after mentioning it.
Was it just me or the animation was much better then in the last few episodes? It was nicely animated in this one 😀 Especially the Hisoka fight. I liked Hisoka in this episode, he wasn’t too much and the decapitation, I’m surprised and happy they went there. I’m loving this show more and more.
The animation was breathtaking in this one, especially Hisoka’s fight. This is a perfect example of how to create a cool and somewhat dark battle without having to resort to over-the-top moves or gore. They didn’t need to use any odd color schemes, blood, and twisted faces and screams of death to convey the intensity of the fight. Hisoka embodied it all. And honestly, the way the camera panned out to show a silhouette of the opponent’s head getting decapitated was perfect. This is one scene where I can actually say this series actually built-on and made even better the original material.