#1: Hunter X Hunter – 76: Well, finally. It has taken a year and a half, but we’ve finally gotten to the actual new material of Hunter X Hunter with the Chimera Ant arc. I was fully set to start dedicating an entire entry to it again, but as I started typing, I realized something: I’m not really invested in this show. I’m not motivated to dedicate an entire entry to this series. I’m not sure what the main reason was. Perhaps it’s how annoying blogging the first episodes turned out to be, or how annoying it has been to wait so long for this point to come. My guess though, it’s the characters. Overall, the 1999 series at its height was much more engaging than what this series was at its height. This lack of character investment is something that’s quite important to me: oftentimes I was able to enjoy series with really shoddy plots due to really good or interesting characters, though the reverse (good plot with uninteresting characters) are rarer. Instead, I have the kaleidoscope, because I can’t deny that the plot here is really good. Episode 76 tells about the prologue of the series, which was originally meant to be shown at the start of the series. I preferred the latter (I like foreshadowing), but really: this works too as a flashback. Character building yay! Although that ant queen looks rather silly. And Madhouse still couldn’t get any good singers for their EDs?
#2: Majestic Prince – 04: This one surprised me, a lot. With a few exceptions, the characters are starting to move away from their stereotypes, and also: it’s still quite self-aware. Especially episode 4 was actually quite genuine for that blond woman as it showed her role in the story along with her background and her worries. I did not expect that.
#3: Saint Seiya Omega – 54: I’m still not quite sure what to think of the new series, especially the villains are really boring and all look alike. Yet, this episode still grabbed me with Yuna’s doubts about her strengths (also that was surprisingly blunt of Koga to say… “Why aren’t you fighting?!”).
WTFs of the week:
Yahari blahblah – 03: Half the cast of this show is a tsundere!
Valvrave the Liberator – 02: Oh my god, this show is really aiming to be a huge trainwreck. I mean, the plot is exciting and all with the whole personality switching, but dear god, the characters! “L-EEEEELF!!!!!”
Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San! – 03: Moloch is awesome. It’s not just his character. He’s this catalyst that makes every single other character awesome. Now that he’s gone this show has gone to bleeding ass jokes. I wish I were kidding. What the hell did I just watch there?
Danchi Tomou – 03: Even considering he’s young… there is a bit of a screw loose on Tomou. He seriously acted like half his age in this episode!
I hope you’re able to appreciate the new characters set to appear in Hunte x Hunter since they get respectable investment, it’ll probably take a while though, for now, the plot is engrossing enough, and will become even moreso with each shocking development.
Surprise surprise! After whinning about it for 50 eps and then not paying attention to it during G.I. you find yourself unable to be invested with what’s going on. Which is quite a feat considering the unanimous hype and anticipation surrounding the chimera ant arc.
Maybe if you were able put the nostalgia googles aside and stopped being annoyed because you’ve already watched some of the slow exposition parts back then you’d be more invested into it now, just sayin.
You should read Guardian Enzo and Shinmaru’s reviews for Hunter x Hunter. What I notice about psgels is that he doesn’t review but just whines about it not being the 99 anime or just saying it’s the same. Instead of actually watching and seeing that the execution is a lot different and even some story elements. Review the show on it’s own merits. This is not a remake of the 1999 anime.
Let’s it be said he makes legitimate points. Just because I think an anime should be reviewed on its own merits (And believe me I do), doesn’t mean his opinion is wrong. Although in all honesty psgels (Without acting like a jerk about it like some other people), I really don’t think you are giving Madhouse’s version enough credit.
To be honest I can understand being a bit put off re-threading through old material you’ve already seen. I felt that way with full metal alchemist brotherhood.
He didn’t have to watch all the retread stuff, I didn’t.
I could understand feeling a bit apathetic though, since things didn’t start with a bang, but really? something that you’ve felt excited for and everyone’s been hyping for a year and half? That’s gotta be worth it’s own entry.
I didn’t, neither with HxH nor with FMA. This was mostly due to the fact that in both cases, the second execution was WAY better than the first one, if only because of technical advancements. For FMA, the first series had already a few episodes in the seeds for the horrible trainwreck of an anime ending that it had – which kinda ruined it for me and made me appreciate FMA: Brotherhood much more (though Brotherhood really kicked in only from episode 19 afterwards). For HxH, the first series’ execution wasn’t bad, but this one had some of the best animation ever. Hisoka vs. Gon in the Celestial Tower was breathtaking. And the Greed Island arc was executed flawlessly, at a faster pace, and without the absolutely derpy art of the old OVAs. Surely, I love HxH, and that helps, but watching the remake was like re-reading the entire manga – sometimes you’re bound to do it anyway, and it’s not like I recalled every tiny detail.
Is the three shows at the top still “Top 3” or are they just random episode that neither impressed or annoyed you?
I thought the Ant Queen looked pretty frightening though.
Yup, they’re still my favorite episodes of the week.
I thought that the ant queen looked a bit silly though…
the Ant Queen is kawaii
The Ant Queen reminded me of the aliens from the movie Alien.
When Valvrave’s moving at a decent clip, it’s decent braindead fun. It doesn’t hold up to anything remotely resembling scrutiny, but at least it has the courtesy to know that and just keep doing things. When they slow down it’s a bit of a chore, because you realize they’re taking this shlock way too seriously.
Episodes 3 and 4 of Azazel were a huge disappointment to me. When you’re being THIS juvenile at least mix things up a bit. I mean, you’re not aiming this at kids, so at least treat the people watching it a bit like adults.
Yahari couldn’t hold my attention after the boring third episode. It’s basically Haganai, just without the pandering to a demographic that likes that pandering. For all the quirky dialogue in the first episode, it’s quickly settled into a pretty brainless character anime with no characters I’d really call likable or interesting (the slapstick Chuuni character really doesn’t help).
I’m not gonna risk saying anything overly negative about HxH anymore because the fans are way too touchy to take any criticism. Suffice to say that I’m hoping this arc will return to the heights of the Yorkshin one, and I suspect it should. I still feel that HxH 201x is no better or worse overall than the 1999 version at this point, but I will say that Greed Island wasn’t as badly presented as the old version. Now, it has the chance to be better.
Oregairu probably doesn’t get good until you get past all the character intros. The best part of the series is always when Hikigiya self-sabatoges to solve problems.
@Hogart:
“…because you realize they’re taking this shlock way too seriously.”
That’s not what I got from episode 3 of Valvrave at all.
Going from the random hug pillow at the beginning to the Twitter scene, to the whole L-Elf as “Super James Bond plus Batman with 15 min. of preptime” sequence.
Just because the characters are taking this insanity seriously and because there is some down time (why shouldn’t there be?) doesn’t mean the creators are particularly serious, nor that the viewers should think of it as a serious show.
Sure, and I agree. Still, the story can be too serious even if the creators don’t really intend it to be. It’s just my two cents of course, but there’s a weird two-tone effect going on that I’d like to see gel a bit better, that’s all.
About Saint Seiya, I´m happy that Paradox is not dead. The first female Gold saint deserved more than an off screen death.
HxH; the characters are exactly the same, the exposition is completely different. Just watch this as if it’s the next ova of the old one or something.
About Hunter x Hunter,
psgels:”This lack of character investment is something that’s quite important to me.”
It will be amusing to read psgels’s opinion after watching episode 77! And that is just the start.
I watched both versions of HxH and I can’t really say that it was the same as re-watching the same thing over again. The show was different in almost every way, I think you did a disservice to skip over it. I do kind of agree that there is something missing with the characters carrying their weight in this show, but I’m still watching it out of interest in the plot.
did someone say ERU ERUFU?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P2fWUXm8X0
“And Madhouse still couldn’t get any good singers for their EDs?
Trust me. You’ll probably need this ending for later.
Majestic Prince 4 was indeed the best episode of the show thus far, but I don’t really see a whole lot of solid progress on the character front yet.
The inherent silliness of Valvrave is self-evident, so yeah.