Why You Should Watch Hunter X Hunter

well made but average this is my initial impression after viewing the first three episodes of the 2011 anime hunter x hunter based on a manga the same name written by a Shiro Takashi I enjoyed the high production values and charming characters but beyond that it seemed like the same old cookie-cutter Shonen formula i'd seen a hundred times before so headed my opinion of the show shift from well-made but average to holy [ __ ] this is one of the greatest things I have ever [ __ ] seen well that's what we're here to talk about today so let's begin my video that I like to call why you should watch Hunter x Hunter some minor warnings here for this review I'm going to be specifically referring to the 2011 anime as opposed to the manga or the 1999 anime adaptation I will be avoiding major spoilers but I am going to be discussing the worlds and characters at length so minor spoilers may occur so first off my initial impression of Hunter x Hunter was that of a lot of people it seemed fine but average typical to this kind of Shonen anime the characters are fun but seemed like nothing new or especially interesting Gahan was an anime boy who tries hard kahlúa was a nice Vegeta Leigh REO was Lupin the third for some reason and Korra pica is a non-threatening boy for people who like non-threatening boys on top of that the plot setup felt standard and I felt pretty sure I know where the story was going and that's where I like a lot of people were dead [ __ ] wrong the main thing to keep in mind here is hunter x hunter is not a shounen anime well not strictly at least more accurately it's a deconstruction as shown in anime what do I mean by this well let me explain when a medium rashanna is around for long enough it goes through a period of deconstruction where artists take the establish elements or building blocks of a genre or medium and then actively work backwards essentially restructuring how that genre or medium works typically to make a commentary on said medium or for the purpose of pushing the boundaries of what said medium can achieve once an art has been around for long enough it builds up a particular rule set and after a certain period of stagnation people will actively try and tear that rule set apart as opposed to building on it further and thus deconstruction occurs to bring things back into context let's take a look at two of the most famous examples of deconstructionism an anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and Mahou shoujo Madoka Magica both these shows exist directly as statements formed from what came before them Evangelion exists because Gundam was a thing Madoka exists because shows like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura happens but rather than expanding on the source materials ever so slightly like other shows of the same genre Evangelion and Madoka are direct responses even criticisms to their forebearers in Aven galleons case it made piloting giant robots a dark and traumatic affair and something to be feared as well as making the protagonists selfish and reluctant and had the characters break down over the course of the season rather than becoming stronger and gaining conviction in Madoka's case on the other hand it swaps out practically all the joyous conventions of the magical girl genre and focuses on the sacrifice the girls must make in order to gain their magical powers and unbalances it to an absurd degree trapping its characters in a world of terror and nihilism both these shows were extremely important in revitalizing their respective genres bringing new ideas and perspectives to tired and tested formulas these open their genres up for further deconstruction also and I would argue that a show like tengen toppa gurren lagaan could be seen as a response to Evangelion in the same way Ava was response to Gundam in its ilk shows like these push the medium forward and are important to anime staying interesting and relevance and to keep it from becoming a vehicle with which just to sell merchandise which is definitely a trend I think I would like to see less of so how does hunter x hunter qualifies deconstructionist well let's start by taking a look at one of the most central concepts of any anime that of the protagonist arguably one of the most telling aspects of any anime will be the protagonist what I mean by telling here is the relationship the show tries to create between viewer and protagonist will often reveal the show's true intentions what I mean by true intentions is how is the protagonist trying to make the viewer feel for example is it a character piece like Madoka Magica and exploration in psychology like psycho ass or a pure fantasy like Dragon Ball Z the pair of fantasy is by far the most dominant show within the Shonen anime para fantasies are so prevalent that I would say that 95% of Shonen anime falls under this umbrella and with good reason para fantasies are fun enjoyable escapism and let us feel in control of supernatural situations entirely outside the bounds of our own daily lives but when you look at the protagonists of the big shown and para fantasies you start to see a pattern Goku Luffy Naruto Natsu they all have one thing in common they all have some unique trait that gives them an unfair advantage over their enemies Goku was born a powerful Saiyan Luffy ate the gumgum fruit Naruto has the Fox chakra not so I was raised by a dragon the list goes on the reason for this is obvious the writers want the characters to be kicking ass from episode 1 and so essentially you can see how these characters exist to be vessels of power for the viewer by being the toughest guy in the room they allow us to feel like the toughest guys in the room and again like no judgment this is escapism there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying that however the problem here is when every shown in anime has this kind of Superman and hwaiting protagonist you only have to watch a few shows before characters and plots start to feel tired and redundant and that brings us to gan the energetic and exuberant hero of hunter x hunter but before we dive into what gun is let's take a look at a few things gone isn't he is not a super-powered being from an alien race he is not the possessor of any kind of innate magic he is not the ancestor of any kind of great deity he is not the chosen one nor the subject of any kind of great prophecy what I'm getting at here is that from the outset of hunter x hunter gone is just gone just a regular kid they don't get me wrong he's an extremely resourceful regular kid with strength and speed and stamina that definitely go beyond the average human being but he's practically - warped in power by nearly every character he encounters especially within the first couple of episodes more time this is Gon's win-loss rate over the course of the show normally a shown and protagonist will win around 90 to 95% of their battles you don't make your main character lose very often if you want your viewer to feel powerful but I'd say it best Gon's may be victorious in fifty maybe fifty five percent of his fights so why does this matter well for one thing it frees the character have gone from being any kind of arch typical hero he doesn't need to be and practically never is the most powerful character on screen this in turn just lets gone be gone he's not a super hero to save the world he's not the Boy foretold of and legend he's not going to bring the land to a new era of peace but what he is is just about one of the most likable little [ __ ] you're ever likely to meet he loves making friends he loves adventure he meets all his problems head-on with an upbeat attitude but also he's vulnerable there's moments when he's afraid and downst himself but he never falls into the angst-ridden escapades of narrative or Ichigo he's often forced to deal with the fact that he's nowhere near powerful enough to solve situations with brute force alone but through this we see him developing his own solutions and his own unique style of problem-solving on dealing with conflicts above all else gone is a wellspring of positivity and in a way he's nearly a representation of what's good about people he's trusting and he's kind and he's always wounds gives someone a chance which makes it so hard to watch when things don't go his way which they often don't what I'm getting at here is that gun does not exist as a pair of fantasy for the viewer to inhabit he doesn't need to win every fight because that's not what the show is about it's not trying to make you feel the way 90% of other shown in animes do it is in fact trying to convey to you something entirely different it's a story about characters that friendship and adventure but also about loss and how harsh the world can be and how even the best of us have our breaking points guns great because in a lot of way is he's not the hero and there's moments in the show when he does decidedly unhear Oh like things even to a point where I began to question who I should be rooting for here this is partly due for reasons I've already outlines and partly due to the unique and creative way the show handles its villains which my friends brings us handily to our next section the villains of Hunter x Hunter villains and Shonen anime are an unusual thing well there are many examples of great characters with amazing character arcs there are a lot more of the cartoon supervillain variety with underdeveloped motives lackluster personalities or cliched tragic backstories I've thought a lot about why so many cookie cutter villains exist within shounen anime and I think I might have a reason as far back as Fist of the North Star Shonen anime essentially serves as a para fantasy usually aimed at young boys once a show commits to becoming a para fantasy it usually has to greatly limit the way its villains acts as villains must essentially be a goal for our heroes to overcome and not characters onto themselves it wouldn't make sense if we got a look into friezes day-to-day life he's there essentially to be a horrible [ __ ] and eventually have goku blow the living [ __ ] out of him with a Kamehameha wave he's there is a seemingly insurmountable threat to be overcome by our heroes and then when they do we feel elated as we feel like we have blown the shader of the evil little space Nazi this is the basics of how villains in power fantasies work now in isolation this is fine but when repeated over the course of several dozen different anime [ __ ] gets dull and it gets dull fast Hunter x Hunter on the other hand doesn't need to cast its villains in this role they're not therefore gone to be they're just characters in the world with ulterior and conflicting motives to our hero's and are still fascinating characters in their own right seriously these are some of the most well realised villains in any show I've ever seen they feel like their have their own lives and agendas and none fall into the tired cliché of obsessing over the main characters defeat mostly because they're too busy going about their own [ __ ] to ever care about on the stupid little adventures it's not uncommon for a new villains be introduced into the show have zero interaction with gone over the entire course of their stay and then vanish and when they do they tend to form unique and sometimes disturbing relationships with them typically if villains are on screen in anime then chances are they'll be talking about one of two things the progression of their evil plan or had the next time they meet the hero they're going to defeat him once and for all writing like this not only flattens out villains but turns them from characters into contrived plot devices they only talk about their evil plans or a hero can eventually stop them and they only obsess over a hero to make the hero seem more powerful and cool than the show has already done in essence writing like this is only for the purposes of making our hero's eventual victory all the more impressive which leads right back to yes you guessed it para fantasy territory but because hunter x hunter is essentially not power fantasy the villains are free they can do whatever the hell they want and trust me it's [ __ ] awesome for example check out this scene between two of my favorites Hisoka and machi ahsoka is called machi to his hotel room for the purpose of healing his wounds he sustained during a previous episode at this point about all we know Sokka is that he's insane he loves killing and that he likes to toy with people yet check him out here he playfully flirts with machi who remains entirely disinterested up until now his Sokka has seemed like a maniacal supervillain and the fact that he'd be interested in something as casual as dating is not a subtle team many anime villains are afforded unfortunately much he says no to his date so we never get to see them going on a date likewise Takashi isn't afraid to show the various interpersonal relationships between villains some villains like each other some detest each other summer longtime friends or there just seems to be waiting for the right time to kill each other it creates a complex web of relationships that honestly kept me guessing nearly the entire time throughout the show we know his Sokka and illumi are friends but we also know that his Sokka is part of an enemy faction of thieves who illumi and his family have beef with maybe nothing comes of this and maybe all hell breaks loose my point is the potential is there and it keeps you guessing one of my least favorite tropes is shown in anime is the lack of camaraderie between groups of villains the he died because he was weak trope I like to call it you can see it in this scene from YuYu Hakusho in which the tiger villain be Akio is killed by his allies say Ryu simply for losing the previous fight with her heroes it works in the context of the show itself but it does show an attitude that is common among the anime villains they don't have friends and they don't want any they're loners to be picked off by our heroes one by one show none writers tend to write villains like this cold and frustrated for the pure purpose of setting them apart for my heroes and this is where I'd like to bring up one of the [ __ ] coolest and most badass aspects of hunter x hunter the Phantom troupe like cp9 from one piece the ginyu force from Dragon Ball Z or the enemy gills in fairy tale handsome troupe are the villainous faction of hunter x hunter and holy hell are they fantastic it's obvious from when they first come on screen that something is very different here four starts the fandom troupe are [ __ ] psyched to be members of the Phantom troupe and rightfully so they're an extremely highly skilled group of criminals entry into the Phantom troupe means you've essentially made it as someone who exists outside the law this is important as generally with enemy factions in this type of show the group will sit around sombrely lamenting the existence of our heroes and what the best way to dispose of them is the Phantom troupe on the other hand sit around shotgunning beers and playing cards there's a real camaraderie between them and so there should be they share a similar philosophy and you can tell this through their actions and dialogue that they've been through a lot together and it wasn't long before I actually started rooting for these guys it's infectious watching them tear through life going up against other criminal organizations and the law like but with real camaraderie and pride in what they do the scene that really takes the cake here for me is when the team learns that one of their own has been taken out by an enemy faction they don't just laugh at all for take it lightly the group is emotionally devastated and falls to pieces each member shows pain and grief due to the loss of what is essentially a member of their family it's beautiful and the kind of scene that's rarely afforded to villains in any medium it further helps highlight that these guys are people and not just evil for the sake of evil they just choose to live a different kind of life they choose to live outside the law and it doesn't invalidate them as characters or mean that they live without emotion and it doesn't stop at the Phantom troupe I'd be remorse if I didn't mention one of my favorite characters in the show that of the chimera ants Ramraj in the grand scheme of things Remora is a very minor villain who appears much later in the show during the camara and arc he's loud brutal and violence at first glance he seems as one-dimensional as possible I mean he's an evil [ __ ] flying rabbit not exactly a character who begs a lot of exposition or developments but after coming in contact with gone his nan is awakened nan is hunter x hunter his version of anime magic but more on that later the idea begins to dawn on him that with this new power he might have a chance to overthrow the Chimera ant monarchy and reign as the new king so let's stop and examine this for a second I can't emphasize enough the point that this character is a bit player a tiny part of a force that makes up a much bigger chimera ant army and yet here he is developing his own motives and place in the world but like every character in hunter x hunter ramrod soon learns that he is a small part of a very large world as we see in this scene which also serves as the introduction of one of the chimera ants Royal Guards in ephra Picchu the moments Rama relays Aizen heard the oceanic difference and their power becomes obvious and Rama is forced to acknowledge that he will never be nor never could have been the king this scene serves two functions one to highlight Peters immense threat level and two as a painful piece of character developments that will most likely resonate pretty heavily with anyone who has ever compared themselves negatively to others ramrod is essentially forced to give up on his dreams and accept his place at nefra PTO's Heels taking a step back again we can see that despite being a very minor part of the show Ron rod has a perfectly developed character arc and let's face it this one character probably has more character development than the entire cast of bleach there's way more to dig into here boo boo jinn and more masses endearing friendship pignolis intense loyalty to her friends the fact that she too is actually a [ __ ] [ __ ] there's nearly an endless examples of little on-screen actions that elevate these minor characters into something more we feel like they are not minor characters they're fully fleshed out it just so happens that the camera only lingers on them for so long giving us a smaller look into their worlds but it never feels like their worlds don't exist Hunter x Hunter is willingness to invest in its films is one of the major aspects that sets it apart from any other shown in series because the villains are allowed to exist in a spectrum that does not involve our heroes they're free to become their own characters and with their own lives and goals this makes hunter x hunter as shown not about heroes and villains but about people lots and lots of different people each struggling to find their own place in the world and to find their own reasons for being there when a death occurs on either side there's a real tangible feeling of loss and oftentimes the line between hero and villain becomes impossible to distinguish and in doing this hunter x hunter manages to offset what is essentially the major core principle of shown and anime the belief that bad guys are bad and good guys exists to punish them no one within the series is a hundred percent evil and certainly no one is a hundred percent good it's just a story about people people who simply view the world very differently and all the chaos and pain that ensues because of that but before I start getting all philosophical and such let's take a look at some of the other ways that hunter x hunter sets itself apart from other Shonen anime and that is through its story structure I promise this is going to be more exciting than it sounds now I'd like to take a minute and bear with me here to talk about how hunter x hunter structures its arcs for those not familiar with the concept an arc is generally how an anime is broken down in terms of major plot events for example if we break down Dragon Ball Z into its four major arcs they would be the Saiyan arc the Frieza arc the cell arc and the majin buu arc now you could take any of these and break them down further into three sub arcs the peaceful beginning the midcard battle and the final showdown the peaceful beginning is just that it's a peaceful beginning where we see our character is relaxing and usually may be discussing prior events in the show and then somewhere within the world of the show a new danger begins to show itself the midcard is usually the longest sub arc taking up approximately the second and third quarter of the overall arc and involves our heroes discovering the new threat sometimes engaging in a period of training and finally we see the lower tier characters of the show battle in order to clear the way for the final so bark the main event showdown this is where our protagonists overcome impossible odds and defeat whatever threat has emerged in the first place if you want to see this formula boil down into a sweet science then I'd highly recommend checking out Hajime no Ippo in which this structure is honed down into three or four episode arcs and masterfully rinsed and repeated in a way that always stays fresh and unpredictable but perhaps that's a video for another day back to hunter x hunter hunter x hunter is general approach is keep the peaceful beginning and midcard mostly intact then has a tendency to go completely batshit insane for the main event showdown I can't tell you how many times I was left completely dumbfounded by Takashi's masterful subversion of my own expectations to the point that I really felt like I was being toyed with being led down one road only to find myself ending up on an entirely different planet story lines end abruptly the landscape of arc suddenly and dramatically shifts characters fall in and out of Erichs alliances change and even the roles of heroes and villains become so blurred you will genuinely be questioning who is the one doing the right thing unfortunately I think this is also the main reason the first couple of episodes could come across as so pedestrian to a lot of people as at that point - gosh she is still trying to lull the viewer into a false sense of security and familiarity and it's a shame because I feel like this undoubtedly causes a certain portion of the audience to drop off before things ever really get moving anyway let's examine the first time the Takashi hits us with a major story swerve it takes place in the final stage of the hunter exam and serves as the third sub arc in what you could consider the hunter exam arc the main event showdown as I called it it comes as a last step before heroes will be granted the much coveted hunter's license they're gathered a small Hall untold they will compete in a small one-on-one fighting tournament tournament arcs are pretty commonplace in animes they offer a simple layout that takes care of the mid card battle and steadily builds heat for the main event showdown it also gives a lot of the supporting characters some screen time which in turn allows the writer to explore new relationships the show it's worth noting that while some people absolutely loathe tournaments arcs they're actually one of my favorite kind of arcs in anime I think a weld zone one can show off a great range of diverse characters while establishing significant heat for the main event showdown for two great examples of tournament arcs don't write check at the dark tournament saga from you hakusho or any of the world martial arts tournaments from the original Dragon Ball manga so how does one directs interchange of a tournament arc all signs of boots on arrow have led us to believe that this will be a fairly standard six to eight episodes sir bark with gone facing off against ahsoka or maybe out of stretch Kahlua in the final round and my spoiler alert this does not happen at all what does happen is on directs hunter takes the tournament arc and completely turns it on its head literally oh god that was bad sorry what I mean by this is rather than the standard winner stays on type of tournaments where the winner travels up the brackets and two winners Duke it out in the finals the winner of a fight is actually removed from the tournaments and awarded their hunter's license and by doing so passing the hunter exam this leaves them loser to move up the brackets and so on and so forth until there is one ultimate loser this person then fails the hunter exam and is the only member of the tournament not awarded the hunter license and has no choice but to wait and try again in a year's time now there's no way in hell I'm spoiling what occurs here but suffice to say the outcome of the tournament as well as the manner in which it was revealed completely knocked me on my ass this was actually the moment that forced me to acknowledge that the show I was experiencing was indeed very very special and that my initial impression of it had actually been incredibly misguided and the fact is this is the first of many times - gosh she does this throughout your experience with Hunter x Hunter you'll be bombarded with all manner of twists and turns as sagashi makes us feel comfortable in a situation before completely decimating our expectations leaving us gasping for breath as we barrel towards the next major plot twist trust me this happens a lot a conflict will be heavily foreshadowed only to go in a complete opposite direction or in some cases not happen at all and often these major shifts are completely outside the power of Ghana's friends and yet it never feels like deus ex machina thanks to how well - gasps she has established the characters underworld to go into further specifics of this aspect of the show would honestly be to rob you of some of the greatest moments in contemporary anime but just trust me when I say these are moments that any fan of good fiction deserves to experience [Music] so and again I'm gonna have to ask you to bear with me here but let's talk about one of one direct Sandra's most unique aspects the nen system nen is essentially hunter x hunter is version of kee you know like para levels soul pressure chakra you know anime magic that explains how the characters are able to do so much crazy [ __ ] but of course the hunter x hunter nen system differentiates itself in some subtle but critical ways namely that nen is not a direct gorge of a character's power in other words a Hainan level doesn't mean that a character is instantly going to win in battle much like they wouldn't say Dragon Ball Z if someone has a high power level in Dragon Ball Z chances are they're going to completely obliterate someone with even a slightly lower power level Naruto Bleach Fairy Tail these all operate under the same principle to some degree and that principle is that each character is assigned a number and the higher that number the more likely that character is succeed in a fight this approach to combat and anime is highly problematic especially in terms of long term pacing as the only real way for it to proceed is for the villains to have increasingly higher power levels until the show eventually reaches a point where all logic in the fight becomes mu and the writer runs out of way to express new levels of power causing things just kind of plateau and stop making sense I would point to the enjoyable but flawed majin buu arc in DBZ for this what's worse about this is that the small-scale creativity and cleverness of earlier fights are often just replaced with repetitive and overly drawn-out battles where two characters essentially stand opposite each other and launch increasingly large-scale attacks another author who cracked this problem back in 1989 was hirohiko Araki of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Fame his solution was rather than focusing on obvious psychic or superhuman powers such as flies or super-strength ariake came up with the idea of Stan's ghost-like figures of psychic energy that watch over their users and all possess unique abilities what's interesting here is that the actual human characters of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure don't really have superhuman abilities it's their stands that do the yes of this is that even the most powerful stand user is still just a regular human and while there Stan may be the most unholy invincible killing machine on earth the stand user is still vulnerable to all the danger a regular human would be usually only takes one or two major attacks to put a stand user out of commission the only exception being our Lord and Savior Dio Brando this keeps characters from ever becoming invincible and thus each fight becomes a lot more about the mind games going on between stand users as opposed to who can punch the hardest this let's fight stay interesting over the course of a long term series we don't need every fight to escalate in scope because essentially we're looking at entirely different approaches to combat for example a battle involving Jojo and his high power close-range dance star Platinum is always going to play out totally differently than one involving kakuhen and his long-range Hierophant green the influence of Ariake on sagashi has always been pretty obvious and it certainly feels like - gosh e has taken several cues from JoJo's here and in doing so avoids a lot of the problems that come with long term power level escalation that arguably kept the later conflicts of YuYu Hakusho from being as engaging as the earlier encounters rather than stance however Takashi a solution here is the nen system and suffice to say it works out pretty fantastically the point of a lot of anime magic systems is to give the rider some structure when it comes to writing fight scenes it helps them convey to the viewer a rule set to bring structure to the super-powered chaos the best ones allow riders to tell us more about the characters and their actions while the worst can be confusing and consistent or just make no goddamn sense at all I'm looking at you bleach and sword art online to Gashi introduces man about 30 episodes into the series and does so right at the point when things are better to get especially combat heavy I'm guessing he probably wanted to layer some more depth into the fights which don't get me wrong up until now have still been pretty fantastic but quite simple nen is a complicated enough system that I think it's best I only give you the bullet points here but nan is the base level anime magic currency within hunter x hunter but where it deviates from other shows is that the mere possession of men doesn't mean anything by itself it's just potential having a whole lot of nen won't make you a badass it's how you use it that matters to get any results from then you need to harness it by training in one of six different areas and through these areas you learn to control the men in several possible different ways such as either manifesting it into weapons using it to enhance physical abilities or even create separate sentient entities to fight for you what I really love about the nen system is rather than making every character feel like they have to operate under the same set of rules it makes everyone feel completely different there's a small amount of overlap but for the most part all the powers and abilities of various characters are rooted in the character's personality Gon's a fun playful little guy and this means his nan manifests itself in various kind of game related ways the main one being guns rock-paper-scissors style attack in which he forces his opponent to defend against either rock paper or scissors and if the opponent guess is wrong they suffer a massive amount of damage it doesn't get a lot of screen time but it's a fun and unique little attack and is rooted deep within guns character are they're good examples of this include ovo Jin who loves nothing better than fight and raise all hell you can tell by his design and dialogue that he values physical strength above all things so of course he's going to use his men to enhance his physical abilities to the point that he's a near unstoppable juggernaut on the other end of the spectrum we have a character like melody who is absolutely not cut out for direct confrontation and her design lets you know that and so she chooses to put her nan into controlling the emotions of those around her Cora pica is obsessed with capturing and punishing at criminal organizations so his/her nan is to manifest chains neder o after years of training develops an invincible karate god style Jojo stand there's no end of interesting and weird ways the characters and their abilities tie together this helps characters feel grounded there's a certain logic to why they can do the things they do and turns fights from a rather standard affair to a clash between two major personalities the outcome of which is always extremely difficult to predict in some ways it doesn't even matter how powerful you are if someone has an ability that directly counters yours you're most likely gonna be [ __ ] which also brings us to our major section the fights what's shown in anime for any length of time and it becomes obvious that the fight sequences serve as the centerpiece to the series they are the cause of and solution to all of life's problems and any shown in series wishing to be taken seriously had better have some goddamn amazing fight sequences luckily enough then the Hunter x Hunter has some of the most exciting unpredictable and well animated combat sequences that exist within contemporary animation this is due in part to the nen system and in part two just some really solid writing each fighters personality and will is undisplaced may not sound significant trust me it is you see a lot of the time and shown in anime the fight starts the fight pauses the characters engage in melodramatic conversation the fight continues more melodrama until finally the fight concludes usually with more melodrama the reason for this is that it's actually quite difficult and costly to insert characters personalities into a fight scene in other words budgetary constraints as I'm sure many of you aware animation in particular action scenes tend to cost Studios a lot of time and money because of this anime has built up a virtual money saving playbook of various cheap tricks to save on production time you know like the fist flurry the moving so fast I can't see them the giant laser blasts and my personal favorite these straight up plagiarism and look I get it I've worked in animation for a couple of years now and animations [ __ ] hard these studios have to produce an insane volume of work and I can't really blame them for taking the easy way out from time to time except in the case of plagiarism come on dudes don't plagiarize Hunter x Hunter overcomes this in two ways the first is the budget or more accurately had the budget of Hunter x Hunter doesn't make any logistical sense at all at least not to an outsider like myself every single one of Hunter x Hunter is 148 episodes looks beautiful the animations consistently tight the backgrounds are lavishly detailed decorated and the show is composited in a way that the separate elements always fit together seamlessly generally with a lot of anime the first three episodes be where the money goes the fact that hunter x hunter budget seems to be spread relatively evenly over the course of its 148 episodes genuinely blows my mind never is the budget more parents than in many of the shows beautifully animated and lavishly detailed fight scenes I mean look at these things this is practically feature quality animation how madhouse got the budgets put so much money into what in the grand scheme of things is a relatively niche property is completely beyond my understanding of the anime industry but holy hell am i glad they did the second reason the fight stand out might require a little more explanation but in short it's Takashi's commitment to the nen system as well as the personalities of his characters each fight by nature has to be different as a lot of the characters in hunter x hunter cons fall back on the tropes of super strength they have to operate within their own spectrum of abilities and use those abilities creatively in order to get results this results in some highly personality-driven fighting styles like let's compare over Jin with ahsoka Ruvo Jin has turned his body into a rampaging killing machine and because of this he has no need for tactics his own behemoth like strength is all he relies on to take him through fights his Sokka on the other hand takes the complete opposite approach usually opting to crush his opponent mentally long before he ever inflicts any serious physical damage couple this with the fact that hunter x hunter has some extremely well-written fight scenes each fight has a narrative and a progression the relationships of the characters are always on display - we don't need the characters to stop and tell each other how they are feeling because it's obvious from the way they're fighting let's take a look at one of my personal favorite fight scenes from the show gone vs. ahsoka this fight comes thirty three episodes in and takes about episode and a half to conclude up until this point in the show the power difference between GaN and ahsoka has been made abundantly clear GaN stands no real chance against ahsoka Hisoka class is gone in virtually every category imaginable the only thing gone has going for him here is his own determination and the fact that his Sokka will most likely underestimate him the fight opens with gon unleashing a barrage of fists and feet on ahsoka each one in turn being easily countered but get the drawings in the scene we can see the anger and energy in guns face and his movements he so badly wants to be Hisoka and prove himself due mainly to the wounded pride gone suffered from her sokka's actions in the hunter exam Hisoka on the other hand moves nonchalantly from one movement to the next putting no more effort into a movement than is precisely necessary so straight away without any dialogue the fight instantly sets up where these two characters stand gone is the one with everything to prove his excessive movements show his determination but also his inexperience we can tell from his facial expression not only his extreme dislike of Hisoka at this point but also his frustration in his inability to London attack his sokka's animation on the other hand reads entirely differently he's not troubled by this fight at all he has no fear that a loss could occur and in fact is a little amused bygones efforts when gone doors finally munched lands are clean here the fight moves in a very different direction Hisoka is now forced to recognize gone as a serious fighter which triggers a previously established bloodlust within ahsoka while gone name was deal with the fact that his Sokka is taking him seriously as an opponents and he is in some very real danger now let's take that narrative and compare it to one of the fan favorite fights from Bleach it she go vs old Kira this fight comes 266 episodes into Bleach and takes about 6 episodes to conclude despite some decent animation and some impressive visual effects there's actually surprisingly little going on here sure the plot is progressing oh Kiara has a second final form Ichigo is able to reach a new and unheard of para level and both characters go above the canopy of lost mundos but we don't really learn anything new about the characters save perhaps a little bleach lore which honestly just feels like tite kubo makes up as he goes along neither ichigo or akira displays any real emotion outside the battle standards of anger and surprise and likewise their fighting styles don't really tell us much about them either aside from the fact that they a have a sword b can fly and c can shoot giant lasers the emotions of the characters are suggested by some choice close-ups but other than that the viewer is left out in the cold about how these characters feel about the situation what their relationship is or even what's at stake aside from the usual of the hero trying to stop the villains doing something really bad what I'm saying is that fights like this lack personality its House plot significance sure and it does have some cool shots but essentially it just boils down to it should go beating this bad guy which means he can in turn go fight a bigger bad guy later on I get that but if that's all an encounter between two characters is merely a prelude to a larger encounter then it's hard not to feel like an opportunity was lost here even the narrative and pacing conveyed by the fights is entirely different gone versus ahsoka gradually ramps up the tension leading us down one alley before ruthlessly dragging us down another we feel gongs desperation and struggle as he quickly realizes how great the power difference is between him and ahsoka by the end of the encounter I felt like I knew these characters better not through flashbacks or exposition but through how each character acted and fought we learned that Gahan has more pride than it initially seems and that has soaked his mercy during the hunter exam was taken as a huge insult when we learned that ahsoka on the other hand has even less compassion than we originally thought and though he does care for gone it's an insidious fashion and he has little actual concern for God's physical well-being and this I feel is the kind of thing that hunter x hunter does better than 90% of other anime we know new things about the characters by the end of the fight the story doesn't stop or take a break as it does with okie reverses it should go each fight tends to be an explosive clash of two characters who have both come to where they are by following their own path barely any fight feels contrived and I never found myself questioning the motives behind the battle there's some really amazing examples of this later in the show but I couldn't really get into them without encroaching on some serious spoiler territory for a far better fight scene within the Bleach universe you should check out Ichigo vs. Ariake kampachi which does write just about everything Ichigo vs. old hero does wrong it's ago runs the emotional gambit from fear and doubt to believing in his own abilities and Kenpachi is a charismatic and terrifying opponents whose relentless battle style comes through in every single frame okay I think I've been talking about fights way too long so let's move on so before we get to the final section here I feel it would be HIPAA critical of me not to mention what I would consider some of hunter x hunter faults art as a concept is imperfect and I feel we can't truly appreciate something without coming to terms with its flaws the wild twists I mentioned earlier do on occasion cause us to lose out on experiencing a major conflict or situation we would have liked to see and play out it's still a highly unique and interesting way of storytelling but it can leave us feeling a little disappointed from time to time there's also moments when things drag on longer than they should in particularly the first two-thirds of the greed islands arc particular aspects of the world feel unnecessarily over explains with a lot of the show being spent on world building and while I feel this is necessary to make hunter x hunter what it is it's hard not to feel like certain aspects of the show or over explains there's a definite points in the camara and Eric where things slow to an absolute [ __ ] crawl and while I actually really enjoyed this section I could totally see it putting other people off the villains as mentioned previously are mostly excellent with the exception of gained through from the greed islands arc despite having an absolutely mind-blowing final showdown with gone his design and personality are disappointingly substandard for the show and don't leave any kind of lasting impact and honestly while I adore many of the female characters within Hans ranks wonder I would have liked to see some more openly female characters among the central casts especially in the earlier episodes and that's about it seriously in the 148 episodes of hunter x hunter these are my only legitimate gripes and though it may not seem like it from this video i'm a man who enjoys his gripes so before we call it a day here there's one more topic I'd like to discuss this one tends to catch most people by surprise and is the least obvious from the outset and that is how dark this show gets now making shows dark or edgy isn't a difficult thing to do any fourteen year old with a pirated copy of Microsoft Word can write something dark that's why it doesn't really carry any water with critics it's the way it's done that matters what's the points the writer is trying to make by giving something a darker tone so does hunter x hunter do a good job of introducing darker themes to the world well but this or in the video you can probably guess my answer but you can bet your ass it does as mentioned before initially hunter x hunter seems like a bright and funs kids show about his boy his fishing rod and the adventures they have gone himself seems like such a wellspring of positivity and enthusiasm from the first couple of episodes it's nearly impossible to predict that the show is going to engage with the topics it does such as war genocide abusive relationships North Korea I'm dead [ __ ] serious here the later arc takes place in a fictitious version of North Korea the series gets [ __ ] heavy and I love it for that it's hard to say if - gosh she planned this shift from the beginning or not but the slide is so gradual that one moment you're watching gon and killua be little gay guys forever and the next you're saying - gosh she make the point that humanity will always survive because we are the most ruthless and [ __ ] species in existence he's right by the way what's interesting here is the Takashi's previous work the fantastic YuYu Hakusho follows a very similar arc and I think this consistency among his work paints a very interesting picture of the guy Takashi to me he seems like someone who always trying to write for a very general audience at least from the outset but it's like he can't help the darker sides of his personality and cynicism bleed into his work I'm possibly over analyzing here but when you look at the rate at which Takashi produces his work he's obviously not in love with the process and it can feel like it the problems he has with anime and manga as a whole are being voiced through his medium which if nothing else makes for some goddamn compelling writing never are these feelings of cynicism more apparent than what I would consider shows crowning achievements the infamous chimera ant Sark I can remember being on message boards and not long after hunter x hunter started airing and hearing fans of the manga talk at length about their there was no way they were going to be able to do the Chimera ant arc in the anime that it was simply too dark to violence and the content was too disturbing I've always been a fan of shows with the darker tinge and so it was great curiosity that I approached the Chimera ant arc but I also wondered could the show really get that bleak suffice to say I was excited to find out not to get too hyperbolic here but the arc did not so much meet my expectations as it did surpass them entirely now I could go on various different elements within this arc that I feel elevated above nearly all others shown in arcs such as the Chairman's battle with Miriam absolutely everything about kimochi the Kings character are but to me the defining moment for the Chimera ant arc and honestly hunter x hunter as a whole is something that i've dubbed the reverse super saiyan incidence so what do i mean by this well as most people watching this video will be aware the idea of the super saiyan is a convention born from Dragonball Z and can be generalized as a moment within this series when seemingly all hope is lost and our protagonist finds within themselves surprising and new powers that they use to vanquish whatever big bad happens to be around that season when a regular Super Saiyan trope occurs it's usually a glorious and celebrated thing it happens in plain view of everyone drawing the arc to a glorious close with our heroes celebrating with tears of joy it's the ultimate proof of good triumphing over evil of all the tropes with into the shown in genre this is probably the one that is most consistently used while never really evolving only slight variations on the specifics of the characters increase in power and the motives they have for its activation change and it's usually something to do with wanting to protect one's friends yawn now I'm not putting myself above this trope I like when a sua cheves the dragon flame against gajeel I like when a PO masters the dempsey role hell I love when Rockley drops the weights these moments are outrageous and weird and fun what I don't like is how some variation of this trope appears in literally 90 million percent of Shonen anime to the point where it's more a plot device than a piece of actual writing which is why it's so surprising that a hundred episodes into the show this hasn't happened gone hasn't received any inspirational bursts in power shuri's pulled off some pretty crazy things but this is only ever through training and planning about halfway through the arc we can tell that something is very wrong with gone he shows a level of emotion that's not present for the rest of the show for the first time it maybe seems like things are becoming too much for little guy the pressure of the situation has begun to affect him in a big way he encounters entities that are entirely different to him and ones that he can't relate to or be friends this eventually culminates in Gaughan being put in a position of unimaginable tension and pressure things build to the point where there is no right thing for gon to do anymore and when that happens he just [ __ ] breaks he becomes consumed by his anger and hatred towards the situation that he simply cannot cope with and this negative emotion pushes him to transform into something entirely different which has a devastating effect not only on the arc but also on gone and those he cares for the most the scene is heartbreaking don't with the kind of emotion that's genuinely hard to watch and I know it's going to stay with me for a long long time I would genuinely love to go into more detail than that but I feel to do so would be to rob you of one of the greatest moments of contemporary anime the scene deconstructs every aspect of the Super Saiyan trope as well as the innocence shown in protagonist trope it shows that everyone has their breaking points and even the best among us can fall and how even good people will sacrifice everything for the wrong reason and this really is the beauty of Hunter x Hunter I feel is to show that people at their absolute best and absolute worst no one ever really sets it to destroy other people for the reasons people just kind of collide into each other and leave deep everlasting marks Dawn's overall character arc is unlike anything I'd seen before and something that's impossible to appreciate for the first 10 or even 20 episodes I'd say the same about the show itself it's subtle and unique and in a way that's not apparent until you're deep into the plot and characters this show takes investments but that said it's completely and utterly worth it in casting off the conventions of the shown and genre hunter x hunter manages to rise above it and become something entirely its own it's my hope that it inspires a new generation to re-examine what the show ninja honor is capable of and give the genre a much-needed reason to explore a new territory this my friends is why you should watch Hunter x Hunter and so guys that's about it I really hope you enjoyed the video and if you're still watching holy [ __ ] thank you so much for watching till the ends there was actually a ton more I wanted to say but I think I could probably talk forever about the show and this video has already gotten insanely insanely long I've never really done one of these before but if you'd like to see me do more or would like me to cover a particular topic please just let me know and if in the meantime you'd like to hear more from me then you can catch me over at let's fight a boss a podcast I do with two friends where we cover all manner of anime video games movies and other weird stuff it's genuinely pretty cool so check it out link in the description down below guys thanks for watching

Channel: Super Eyepatch Wolf

Views: 1,909,196

Rating: 4.9060097 out of 5

Keywords: Hunter x Hunter, hxh, Why you should watch hunter x hunter, Gon, Killua, Hisoka, Phantom Troupe, Super Eyepatch Wolf, Super Eye Patch Wolf, Anime, Review, analysis, why you should watch

Id: EY3deSWuO58

Length: 49min 16sec (2956 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

A really nice video. Sure, I don't fully agree with the "protagonist", "villains" and "fauluts" categories, but what of it.

I also really like how the video gives a lot of credit to the animation, because I feel like a lot of fans forget how good of a job Madhouse did because of things like the way they handled Kite and the lack of gore in the first arcs.

Also, I agree, screw Genthru.

[u/Pariston_Rape_Face]

Good review, though I must say I was a tad disappointed that you didn't touch on Alluka and how he was basically a deus ex machina to heal Gon, albeit an intricate one.

[u/Mitchekers]

I'm glad I watched this before it was taken down

[u/Naghtsieger]

it was taken down.

[u/FarSight00]

R.I.P :(

[u/crazyoldmanwalsh]

Hey guys, really really sorry about the video getting taken down, im new to the youtube thing and copyright stuff is tricky. Im going to repost it in the new year but in the mean time heres a Drop Box link you can download the SD version:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9d68vdr9c2ojwp/Why%20You%20Should%20Watch%20Hunter%20X%20Hunter%20SD.mp4?dl=0

If you download it and liked it, it would be really super cool if you could head over to he youtube page and subscribe, and for more info on the vids you can follow my twitter @wolfmanwalsh

[u/MoonMan75]

I'm liking all the videos recently that are about HxH. Will definitely watch this when I get the time.

EDIT: Watched the entire thing. A bit spoiler-y but I pretty much agree with everything you said. I cringed a bit when you first mentioned "shounen deconstruction" (because that tends to be thrown around by HxH elitists) but the way you explained it and backed it up with examples from both HxH and other shows was great. Hopefully this reels in more fans!

[u/[deleted]]

can't see the video... was blocked by Nippon television...