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)
I don’t know why but it seems you’re being unfair towards Hunter x hunter just because you know the plot and so you’re watching the show with bad expectation instead of excitement. It’s as if you’re looking for mistakes so you can complain about it rather than enjoying the show.
What you feel is understandable since this is a remake but that kind of view will only worsen your opinion as well as new watchers who enjoy the show. I think you should stop blogging this for awhile and wait till new materials show up (Which is a long way to go unlike FMA). Maybe that way you can concentrate with the story and view things better as a whole. It doesn’t seem like you can enjoy what you watch/write, so what’s the point?
Yeah…I definitely agree with this. Do you remember the old version? It was this thinly veiled commentary on racism that was not only extremely cheesy, but somehow simultaneously offensive to black people. Canary was someone who had to start seeing herself as an actual person…THAT was cheesy.
At the same time, it seems like you’re remembering things wrong anyway. You saw the choirs at the end of the episode as a sort of requiem, but did you listen to the lyrics at all? This is the Zoldyck family theme song. “Zoldyck” is literally the only lyric the singers say. It’s the same song that played when Illumi threatened to kill Gon.
And you’ve missed the point of Canary–she’s not supposed to have this big emotional change. She hits a twelve-year-old boy all day and gets sick of doing it. She starts to believe that other people can care for Killua in the way that she does. So Canary slips a bit–she almost lets Gon and his friends through to see Killua.
Do you even understand that even if that’s the case the old anime managed to flesh it out and make the change in attitude believable?
That by spending time showing her devotion to Killua because of the kindness he showed is a good thing for character development and an appropriate way to help increase the emotions/tension in the scene?
Its a remake and the comparisons are valid, if you can’t handle the fact that the shows can be compared and the older version comes out superior( it does, anyone with any knowledge on cinematography and music knows it handled just about everything better)then maybe instead of telling him not to blog about it, don’t read it?
Both arguments are stupid regardless because both actively attempt to discourage critical discussion.
God this is Brotherhood all over again ” Its like the manga, so that means it automatically better”.
No it is not, Brotherhood fell flat for the exact same reasons that this remake is, poor music choice, bad pacing( Both slow or fast pacing can be detrimental) and a thorough lack of understanding of the source material, instead just mimicking it panel for panel as if that somehow makes up for it
I have no issue with psgels’ writing style–what I DO have an issue with is that most of his posts seem to be overgeneralizing without being specific. For instance, the vague use of the word “cheese.”
Moreover, it seems that psgels is also interpreting certain scenes incorrectly. When factual inaccuracy sways opinion, sometimes it’s best to make that known to other people reading the reviews. My posts are not just for psgels to read and consider, but for other viewers of the series too.
Moreover, this isn’t an issue with psgels’ opinion of the series either. His personal preference is of no issue to me. But his reviews aren’t discussing anything that the episodes are actually DOING. They basically boil down to him discussing how he would have preferred the episode to have been done without directly commenting on the source material.
I don’t really care about how he would have directed the scene–what did MADHOUSE do and how did it work in the context of the series?
Are there really many people who take issue with this? I don’t see anything wrong with ti.
The thing is, I’m very interested in storytelling and cinematography, and how the creators use multimedia to show their story, so obviously I end up commenting a lot on some of the technical aspect. Is that really wrong to do?
What a ridiculous criticism. Nobody ever made anything about Canary’s ethnicity and it certainly wasn’t the intent of the manga author. The only people capable of drawing that link were those who contrived to interpret it that way. Clearly you are looking for something to hate on or you are one of those idiotic lit. majors who “discover” symbolism that isn’t even there.
The 1999 scene was superior in direction and narrative. The 2011 version simply glossed over the entire thing as well as censoring the damage on Gon’s face. I think it’s fairly evident that the director doesn’t know understand that there is a science behind cinematography and is content with adapting the series panel for panel.
Speaking of Gon, what have they done with the characterization? Now he is a blundering buffoon who blankly states the obvious and “fights for his friend”. How is anybody supposed to be convinced that some irrationally exuberant kid who WHOOPS before he runs, who goes cross-eyed with happiness during the slaughter-fest that was the Hunter Exam: how can you convince the audience that this implausible buffoon has what it takes deep inside to rescue his friend? Is he even capable of making such emotional bonds? Coz he seems pretty retarded to me.
The 1999 Gon was a quietly determined, solemn, slightly insecure kid who had ability, not too much in the way of brains, but excellent intuition and wisdom. He was also a kid with very strong principles. This is a character you can respect. Not the 2011 Gon who is loud and brash and stupid. There is a distinction between the good kind of stubbornness (let’s call it tenacity) which you can respect and idiotic stubborness. This is the biggest issue i have with the 2011 edition.
And the BGM, ffs. STOP it, stop it, stop it! What on earth compelled the audio director to loop that dumbass beat when literally nothing is happening? A rhythmic beat like that one is used to elicit a feeling of inertia, of momentum. You do it when someone is on the verge of doing something momentous, before a high-tension scene. Don’t just stick it in.
Madhouse is still building Gon up. When I say this, trust me. I’m not a lit major looking for symbolism–this is an element to the series that doesn’t get fully revealed for a while. It’s one of the reasons why Hunter x Hunter is so acclaimed in Japan and why Togashi has been praised for his characterization.
This is the kind of series that you need to pay close attention to–even if it doesn’t SEEM like it at first. You’re being thrown off and it’s good that you are.
But my gripe is that the reviews often lead to psgels vaguely stating which version he deems better. He doesn’t usually go back to the episodes in the old series to get concrete examples–he allows his memory to fill in the blanks and often gets these details wrong.
I personally didn’t care for the episode either, but some of the complaints he had literally made no sense to me with the information that he provided. Reviewing media for the public requires the critic to examine and discuss the material he’s seen. But psgels seems to miss the “analysis” part. This is one of the most important qualities to film review.
I wouldn’t have an issue if psgels typically wrote his reviews of other shows like this, but that’s the thing–he doesn’t. So the reviews mostly consist of vague comparison instead of being up to the quality most of his other reviews are on this site.
But the thing is, it just doesn’t make sense to characterize him as a simple shounen-hero-power-of-friendship type and then add bits and pieces as you go along. He was never characterized that way in the manga either (reading from the beginning to the “end” of the Hunter Exam). In fact I would say the characterization of both Gon and particularly Killua is rather sparse in the manga. This prompted the 1999 director to elaborate on Killua (whether this was done well or not is another question though) as well as envision Gon in a particular slant. The bubbly exuberant Gon that we see now in the 2011 edition is another interpretation, but I feel that the 1999 version is somewhat truer. Gon was a good deal more serious in the manga, though perhaps not to the solemn extent as seen in the old anime.
As for the lit major comment, that was directed at your interpretation of the 1999 Canary scene which is, under any reasonable measure of objective analysis, utterly untenable.
I may as just well say it. I’ve been trying to keep this under wraps because it might have been more fun to watch, but it’s clear that a lot of people don’t really see what Togashi is attempting to achieve through Gon.
After this arc, Togashi starts to slowly reveal that his protagonist has literal psychological issues. Like…Gon is actually crazy (his last name is “Freecss” for a reason; combine that with the freakshow motif). In fact, most characters in this show ARE insane and are given real-life psychological disorders. But Togashi reveals this quietly and subtly until he makes it overt. And you can see the change in our protagonist happen, which pretty much kickstarted as soon as he left the world.
Gon’s first fight with Hisoka rouses the idea in him that life-risking situations are more “fun” than scary. Moreover, every situation that Gon gets into affects him. He spends the Hunter Exam and the Zoldyck family arcs having his confidence shattered. He cries because he thinks that he’s weak to Kurapika (and it’s also the reason why he chooses to help his friends out in episode 17). Becoming a Hunter to Gon is the same thing as becoming an adult.
So when all of these adults so ruthlessly show him that he’s not even close to that goal, his impatience leads to him doing reckless and inconsiderate things. For example, the way in which he tried to climb up the Testing Gate to see Killua. His trial in the newest episode isn’t just showcasing that he’s stubborn–Gon doesn’t ever submit under pressure because he feels like he also needs to prove to himself that he’s powerful.
Of course, power corrupts. After Gon learns Nen, he doesn’t fully grasp just how dangerous the power is. He sees the technique as something that will level the playing field with everyone else. Togashi giving Gon this ability was like giving a loaded gun to a child and telling him to be careful with it.
Zepile will say something in the Yorknew City arc about Gon that will make you understand that Togashi has known the flaws in his protagonist the entire time. The author knows that Gon can be foolish and annoying. Togashi knows that Gon will say extremely earnest, hopeful things and not necessarily have the capacity to fulfill the goals he sets for himself. The reason why Gon is tolerable in the first place is because of how sweet he can be–he has good intentions and he is extremely pure. But the world will twist him. This is what HxH is about.
In other words, Hunter x Hunter isn’t just a coming-of-age story about a boy trying to find his father. It’s a Shonen series written like a war narrative.
One of Togashi’s greatest tricks in this series is that he realizes that his fanbase might think him self-unaware. He does his best to make certain aspects of the HxH world seem as childish as possible until it comes crashing down later.
I don’t disagree that Gon is stubborn to the point of recklessness. This is true in the manga, the 1999 edition as well as (eventually, I suppose) in the 2011 anime. But this has nothing to do with the way Gon has been portrayed in the new anime. Here he is a boiler-plate shounen hero more in the Naruto mould (which is not in itself a criticism, considering Naruto’s target audience) rather than a character that can realistically exist in the real world. This is independent from the further narrative development that illustrates, potentially, qualities readers once admired of Gon may actually cross the line into something dangerous and constitute a character flaw.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Gon is utterly crazy though. And surely one is craziER if one fully appreciates the risk he is exposed to but still proceeds, rather than the idiotic Gon of 2011 who is seemingly utterly impervious to harm so long as a light bulb switches on over the top of his head and he figures out a situation while some parade song plays in the background.
Indeed now the Hunter Exam has been trivialized, the subsequent change in tone will be very, very dissonant. This is why the 1999 anime elected to use a more serious tone FROM THE OUTSET. Besides, death is death: the Hunter Exam is serious business. How can you expect the audience to immerse themselves in the show if the first arc is a playground?
Um, if you want us to enjoy the upcoming arcs more, then I don’t think it really works to keep spoiling things. If the entire point of the first arc is to get the audience to become annoyed at Gon, then let us.
Also, ironically I tend to spend more time on my Hunter X Hunter entries than with my usual entries. In fact, I do look up episodes of the 1999 series, only I can’t rewatch the entire episodes because it’d just take up too much time.
Basically, psgels. As someone who often uses your blog to learn what’s actually “good” in anime, I’ve been disappointed with your Hunter x Hunter reviews due to the way you write them.
Instead of blogging the show for new viewers whom may not have seen the series before (which you normally do and I greatly appreciate), your reviews are seemingly being aimed at fans of the old version instead.
And because of that, you’re using it as a sort of benchmark. If Madhouse adapts a scene in the series differently than the 1999 series, you often perceive them to have either “passed” or “failed” depending on how said scene was depicted (and write your reviews to.
You compare without getting into the nitty-gritty. Instead of comparing both animated versions to the original source material (the manga), you’re comparing them to each other and looking for the “big scenes.” It’s causing you to miss some of the crucial differences in the series that other bloggers are picking up.
*(and write your reviews in a way that indicates such is the case).
The reason I’m doing that is actually very simple: I’m not that good a writer that I can write these impressions from the perspective of someone who is new to the franchise.
When I picked this series back up after having dropped it for a few weeks, this was indeed something I apologized for, but this remains a blog about my personal experiences when watching anime.
Also, these “crucial differences”, are these huge changes that I’m somehow overlooking, or small details like characters behaving slightly different that you can only pick up with knowledge from the manga?
Also; psgels. How do you even think that it’s politically correct to call refer to a character as the “black servant”? You’ve seen this show before. You can look up her name.
That really didn’t occur to me in the slightest. Really, when blogging I come across a lot of characters whose name I forget, and it gets really tedious to have to look up the names of all of them so I often tend to describe them with their most defining physical features. I activeyl support the use of different kinds of races, but at the same time I’m not going to give special treatment to them.
This is strange, I actually felt like there was much less fluff here than there was in the 1999 series. It was the first time I realized that this sort of arc was better being played straight and ruthless which I thought the Madhouse version is doing so much better. As much as I’d hate to admit it, after rewatching this part of the series, there’s a large amount of sentimental fluff and cheesiness to be found in 1999’s version of this scene as well. However I’ve seen people with the same opinion as yours, seems the execution leaves a polarizing effect especially to those who have already seen the 1999 anime.
I’m particularly amazed at the amount of information Togashi must have given the Madhouse staff. Two very important members of the Zoldyck family were hinted at and one of them hasn’t even appeared in the manga itself! I suggest you give the opening scene a second look because that silhouette alone speaks volumes about the Zoldycks. Another nice addition is how it’s now clear what Kikyou’s (Killua’s mother) ability is.
People who question or doubt this remake obviously don’t see the advantages of one, there’s so much foreshadowing on future events and the characters are being given a more consistent feel. It’s episode 23 and yet they’re already hinting on characters that appear around chapters 315-340.
I thought the black servant was a girl. And from the next episode preview it looks like it’ll flashback to why she had a change in heart.
Also, the silhouettes of the Zoldyk family WAS really cool =D
I’ve been following you for well over a year and I still have no idea what you mean by “cheese”.
Man, so much hate for this series… And it is muuuuuuuuuuch better than the 1999 version. I think you should stop blogging this serie, too. You’re not watching it; you’re just comparing it to what you think it’s good and criticizing it. It’s hate and hate.
As much as I hated your complaining about this new series, I always somehow let it go since I know you can’t help but compare the two anyway. But while I was watching this episode, I actually thought “wow, this episode was executed brilliantly. And I like how they used the soundtrack. Psgels must love this too” only to find out that you gave this episode a “-” rating. I really don’t understand, seriously.
I seconded everything the people above me said.
And yeah, for the first time in the whole franchise, we FINALLY get to see Kikyou in action 😮
I thought it was actually good.
Don’t give in to the darkside psgels.
Maybe you should read/reread the original manga to see how nice this new adaptation really is.
I have read (and recently re-read) the manga and I still prefer the old HxH anime. 🙂
Me too. The new series has the better pacing but it lacks the heart and the good instrumental tracks.
Seriously? I never watched the 1999 version (only the firts episodes) because I couldnt accept it was so bad in comparison to the manga. But this new version is actually pretty good! Way better!
This arc has always been my least favorite arc of the entire series. I read it in the manga, and skipped it in the first anime. there’s to much cheese. I don’t like From gon’s fight with ninja till killua is freed, and i blame it on Gon’s attitude. Once killua is around to keep, Gon in check then the series really takes off.
I’ve not watched the original series, but I didn’t particularly enjoy this episode.
But i may have suffered in comparison to Giant Killing which I’ve just finished watching. The characterization is wonderful in GK, even with the minor characters, whereas the servant girl here, just wasn’t interesting as a character, her getting shot was a shock, but I don’t really care for her at all.
The training scenes were standard, and the scene where gon just keeps getting hit didn’t build up any tension for me.
Everything felt rather flat.
I hope it picks up soon.
This new series isn’t really having any sort of emotional connection like the first one. I blame this on the terrible placement of the music, lack of emotion expressed in the artwork, and lack of really giving any characters any sort of development/depth. 23 episodes in and if I was to describe this show with a single word it’d be: generic
I mean, so far there hasn’t been anything that really stood out. If I hadn’t seen the original anime which drew me into it with it’s emotional, deep, and dark story… I’d probably have already dropped this new one because so far there has been nothing to keep me interested (and no it’s not for the fact of seeing the original already either <.< ).
I agree with psgels and I'm sick of people telling him on a weekly basis for the last 23 weeks how to blog this show. It's his blog and his choice and if you don't like his opinion or him comparing it then simply don't read it. HxH blogging was how I found this blog and it's also about the only posts I read here.
I agree that the music was terribly used in this episode. Well, it’s been consistently terrible in this series. Sometimes I wonder how much better this would be simply by improving the use of the music.
On the subject of Gon’s attitude, I’ve always thought it was pretty obvious that he’s supposed to be completely amoral. He doesn’t usually judge people, and when he does it’s through his own weird criteria. He takes an exam where a bunch of people die around him, including direct murder, and he doesn’t care at all because he doesn’t think that’s wrong. He’s motivated by curiosity more than anything else and thinks of death and pain as perfectly natural. He’s a wild animal, “pure” in the sense that a tiger is pure. That’s how he befriends Killua, how he earns Hanzo’s respect, etc. The 1999 anime kind of screwed up his characterization by trying to make him more relatable when he’s not supposed to be relatable.
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