And with this, we enter what I found to be the worst part of the original Hunter X Hunter TV-series. It’s not like it was badly executed there, but it just took so bloody long and there were just too few characters who really went anywhere beyond the dull training arc. It’s here where the new series can finally set itself apart, and I wonder how it’ll be able to do this, beyond being a lot shorter.
As for the actual episodes, I’m going to nit-pick again, because both versions of the series took nearly exactly the same content for this one episode, although there were some differences here and there. The most noticeable was Killua: in the 1999 version he just waited behind the door while he let the butler play with Gon for a bit. Here, he gets impatient to see Gon and goes out on his own (right when the butler finishes his test by the way, so the outcome didn’t really change). What caught my eye in particular was how he lighted up when he was about to see Gon.
What this version did better was how they handled Canary. In the 1999 version, this was done with a bit too much cheese (with cheese by the way, I mean heavy acting that fails to engage me and instead ends up a bit silly or detracting). The part where this series is inferior is where Gon cuts his eye to let out some bleeding. It again has to do with this series’ bizarre concept of pain, because Gon slices himself in the same way he’d slice a piece of meat for cooking. The 1999 version however, did it much more subtly.
Rating: * (Good)
All these reviews are is nit-picking.
I am a longtime reader and fan of your reviews, psgels, and have been coming to this site for years, usually with nothing but praise. This is your labor of love, but I have to admit to being disappointed by your Hunter X Hunter reviews. As a fan of the manga AND the old anime, I am as interested in the differences between the two as most, but I’m just as eager to see what this reboot does with the material.
Many JUMP manga are nearing their endings and several series have finished airing; this Hunter X Hunter reboot coincides with the renewal of the manga’s serialization after years of hiatuses, and is likely part of a bid to reestablish Hunter X Hunter as a major JUMP property. Certainly a new series and movie for a ten year old anime wasn’t done on a whim.
There are many things to love about the old series, but as it was, it took liberties with the characterization that would make Gon incompatible with the character the future chapters and episodes intends to portray. I respect your opinion that an adaptation shouldn’t just copy the manga page for page, but I think it’s unfair to have so little respect for the author’s work that you don’t care to hear his story as HE would tell it. Rather than an oppressively dark and bleak atmosphere, this series will represent the manga’s tone, an *ambivalent* world where wondrous AND dark things *happen* – as much within the characters as they do within the places. This world of no judgments, grey morality and a thin line between good and evil is – in my opinion – supposed to be exemplified in Gon. You will see. This version will ultimately do new and exciting things for you with the characters you have come to know – Gon and Killua especially. All I can ask is that you keep an open mind.
I hate to be one more voice added to the multitudes, but I felt strongly enough about it that I felt I ought to say something.
A more true story or not, there’s surely nothing wrong with “nit-picking” with a series from an artistic platform. Truth be told, one can only appraise a series based on one’s own sentiments anent the conducting of events–and psgels has been very fair in appreciating what Madhouse is doing with the series, and I agree with the vast majority of those sentiments. No matter what this new series stands for or what it endeavours to accomplish in broad terms with the story, that does not disqualify the ability to criticise or condemn just how confidently the package is directly. This new series does lay on the overacting a bit–it does, surely, with its exaggerated lines and delivery; and the music doesn’t altogether marry convincingly with what occurs on screen, seldom having the nuance to spotlight the pensive and cognitive element of the manga, instead pursuing a more blasé approach that spotlights an enhanced pace and focus on action elements which can feel boring on occasion. Shading IS sometimes done carelessly or superfluously, and it is occasionally confusing as to what Koshina intends to say with that shading, if anything. These are all valid criticisms of this new show that can sully the enjoyment of some when compared to the 1999 series or even simply the manga. There’s little here to dispute that the 1999 series may–and I don’t really believe that it has–warped the original intention of the manga; but the direction of this new series has, as far as I’m concerned, lost a lot of the spirit of the original work–namely the reserve and quiet confidence of Togashi’s story-telling. And even if you discount my feelings for how well this new work marries with the manga, there are still those elements of the writing and direction that feel almost juvenile in execution–to wit the music placement. Those are all things I feel that are worth criticism; I really do not believe that keeping an open mind has been a problem here. There are deficiencies with this new show that psgels has very adeptly brought to light. So, too, have their been those elements that this show has done so well that psgels has just as adeptly praised. I think that every criticism here is warranted–for every criticism may just inspire something to be done about them; and if the show changes for the better in light of those criticisms, we’ll all have something to be very thankful for, no matter how unlikely it may be.
“There are many things to love about the old series, but as it was, it took liberties with the characterization that would make Gon incompatible with the character the future chapters and episodes intends to portray.”
What are you referring to? The old series was a hundred times truer to manga-Gon than the new one, which has been warped into some kind of idiotic rainbow and sunshine kid that implausibly survives mortal danger over and over again. 1999 Gon was quietly confident; solemn at times, largely nonjudgmental, sweet, capable but still plausibly child-like. I don’t think the old series has misrepresented Gon as much as you accuse it does, and certainly not to the extent the new one has utterly maligned manga-Gon.
It is also evident that the director doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. He doesn’t understand the effect of particular scenes and the consequence is the peculiar choice of BGM and visual representation. Take the scene where Gon “turns the table” on Hanzo during the final phase. When he does, the parade BGM starts playing. The problem isn’t that the BGM didn’t fit the scene – the problem is that the turning point moment was not a consequence of Gon’s intellect but his naivety. In other words, it was NOT a light bulb AHA moment at all. Gon’s parade-theme was chosen at that moment not because the director has a perspective of that situation that we disagree with, but because he blatantly doesn’t get it.
I urge you to rewatch the 2011 series again. I guarantee you will spot a number of catastrophic moments where the director has done something, either through the visuals, narrative or audio to utterly botch up (i.e. run contrary to) the dramatic mechanics of a particular scene.
And this is what makes me v. pessimistic about the new series. Not the lighter tone relative to the old series and to a lesser extent, the manga (although this has certainly gotten my underwear in a bunch) but the incompetence of execution EVEN THOUGH the show is almost exclusively panels from the manga in animated form.
Being able to criticize Gon as a lead (namely, his overly optimistic/naive nature) is a GOOD thing. Keep watching for more. It’ll become clearer soon enough.
Sorry but this isn’t what the show is shooting for. The characterization is this way to appease the target demographic, nothing more, and definitely not as a narrative mechanic. Incidentally, it’s done so poorly as to be manifestly absurd. Furthermore, this was never the Gon portrayed in the manga. The kid is reckless not retarded.
Chapter 88.
Also; chapter 199.
hey,psgels
you should check out Hisoka vs kastro because it wasn’t animated in the old one,to see how crazy Hisoka is .
Man Psgels I wonder if you don’t get tired hearing the same arguments after every single HxH review, about why you shouldn’t be comparing the old with the new.
I’d personally be more interested in hearing what everyone actually thought of the episode (this is speaking as a person who hasn’t seen the old and haven’t read the manga). The weird thing is some of the people who don’t like the comparisons to the old anime, seem to like comparing it to the manga, or making references to the manga??
1. I thought the bit with the coin dragged, I’m not even sure what the purpose of that was.
2. I loved that slow down bit where Killua just walks past Canary without even looking her, she smiled in the end (I think) but I couldn’t help thinking how sad that was.
3. Lol at Gon wanting to return the favour to Hisoka.. he really is fearless (and I think the bleeding his own eye bit emphasized that too).
4. Killua and Gon were adorable together at the end of the episode, I like their friendship a lot, and I liked how far Killua drew the line.
Overall… HxH doesn’t generate the kind of excitement and energy that I’ve got from other anime.. I’m going to give it a bit longer and see if I will engage with the characters more over time.