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)
Sharp intake of breath at the ending! The hunter exam is not over?!!
I think Gon’s voice is okay. He sounds adorable when he was all ‘Ja ne!’ to everyone. But the discrepancy between his cute kid act, with the fact that he put enough pressure to break Killua’s brother’s arm makes this show a bit creepy?! And how no one else seems to bat an eyelid at it!
I agree that pain/tension was shown better in the old version, like psgels says, the scene where Hanzo did the finger stand, you could see it took effort. I wonder if in this one, they just couldn’t be bothered to put the extra effort into it.
I don’t know how the brother reacted in the first scene, so I don’t know if his ‘oh he broke my arm’ is how it appears in the manga.
I still don’t like half of the sound track, I think it’s the drum one that I dislike the most, it’s so generic. The rest of it is okay.. though a bit too bright and loud.
I think psgels is forgetting all of Zevil Island…
Um, not one bats an eyelid? Both Hisoka and Gittarackur commented on his immense potential. They discussed the arm-breaking for a good minute or more.
I meant that no one thinks it’s something he *shouldn’t* do.
As you say both Hisoka and Gittarackur just discuss his potential. Gitt didn’t even try to stop him or resist?
I don’t know i it’s just me, but at least for those two examples I’m fine with how they portray Hanzo and Illumi in terms of pain and tension. With Hanzo, the handstand is a show of his power, and the fact that it didn’t look like it took him any effort to do so only furthered that. As far as Illumi is concerned, he’s from a family of assassin’s and as such has most definitely been trained to deal with pain. Regardless of the injury, it’s unlikely that he would show much of a response to it.
I’m not saying it’s better or worse than the old series necessarily, I just don’t think it should lose any points for it.
Great episode. Kite back story is moved to being told via flashback after heavens arena.
I agree that the Zoldick arc was unnecessarily dragged-out and overall boring compared to the rest of the show. The Celestial Tower arc, however, was great. Even though it was also pretty slow, it gave a very nice description of the Nen system – which is one of the best concepts in HxH. It’s such a well thought-out, imaginative and consistent system that one rarely sees in other shounen anime in which they gloss-over their “superpower systems” and conveniently come up with new powers out of their ass. No such thing happens in HxH where any new power that comes out falls genuinely in place and doesn’t come out as unnatural. Just for introducing Nen and providing a really good explanation for noobs of its basics, I have to give respect for the Celestial tower Arc.
Gon’s VA has been pretty good throughout so far IMO, don’t really recall anything off. Then again I’m more concerned Hisoka’s VA is far worse than Gon’s, but at the end of the day I think they are all fine really.
Hopefully rescuing Killua only takes like 5 episodes max so we can get onto the tower of awesomeness.
Rescue of Killua will be done be episode 25.
The narrator has being irritating me for quite a while now
I dont see what is so irritating about the narrator. He says one brief line per episode, its no different than any other shonen narrator…
There’s no need for a narrator, particularly a narrator that states the obvious. Show not tell.