I never really felt this way. I found the pacing overall was decent but there was not a lot of action after a certain point and I think that is what got people more than anything else. Though there were huge pay offs there was a lot of other stuff going on between them. I think the biggest issues that some people didn't care about the other plot lines going on such as the one with the Sniper Octopus and others and I can't blame them, those were my least favorite episodes but I felt the pacing of most things moved along nicely, its just there were so many different plot threads all weaving in and out of one another that you were often given only bits and pieces of each storyline per episode. This really only got problematic after the King was born and the strategy into beating him was getting underway.
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New Hunter x Hunter Anime |OT| of Hunters and adventure and NO MANGA SPOILERS
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I never really felt this way. I found the pacing overall was decent but there was not a lot of action after a certain point and I think that is what got people more than anything else. Though there were huge pay offs there was a lot of other stuff going on between them. I think the biggest issues that some people didn't care about the other plot lines going on such as the one with the Sniper Octopus and others and I can't blame them, those were my least favorite episodes but I felt the pacing of most things moved along nicely, its just there were so many different plot threads all weaving in and out of one another that you were often given only bits and pieces of each storyline per episode. This really only got problematic after the King was born and the strategy into beating him was getting underway.
Dedication Through Light
Member
Thats [C] and not HxH though. No hotlinking image.
I honestly don't know what you just said.
Dedication Through Light
Member
The image that you have linked, does not allow hotlinking, so it displayed an image from [C] instead.
PeterVenkman
Member
Maybe for most others, but what got me was the narrator. It was a classic case of telling not showing, but over the course of way too many episodes. I actually burst out laughing at one point at the end of the episode
Probs after Killua's gramps and Netero showed up where the narrator said something to the effect of "It had been 5 minutes since the invasion began"
I liked the themes, characters and conflict resolution to the whole arc, but watching each episodes, for me, actively became a chore.
Boiled down to a point - the dissonance between the narrator telling me how much stuff was happening in such a small amount of time, while not very much stuff actually happened on screen, was too much to bear.
Well this is kind of what I was talking about. There were so many different individual plot threads going on at once that are all important means that each episode had barely any time to cover anything but snippets here or there. You had Shoot and Knuckle trying to take down Youpi, Gon with Neferpitou and Komugi, Netero and the King, Morel facing off with Pouf and all of Pouf's machinations. Then there are all the other chimera ants and there storylines and so on. I had to go back and rewatch large chunks of it at times because of all the things I was trying to keep track of.
PeterVenkman
Member
I can see parts of this, but again it was less the overwhelming amount of characters and their respective plot points as it was this narrator / on screen dissonance.
"look at all this amazing stuff! Think about all these things these characters were thinking! Their characters are developing!" - paired with nothing happening on screen. It didn't grab me, but I wish it did considering how much people love the arc.
I'm trying to remember now but I found the narrator was mainly used as a way convey what was going on in the fights. A lot of the non battle stuff was usually the characters themselves talking with each other and dealing with things not that the narrator didn't pop up but for example he was much more prevalent in the battle with Youpi Shoot and Knuckle than he was during Gon Vs Pitou because that was relatively straight forward compared to Shoot basically mastering his Nen ability in that couple of minutes against Youpi.
Prophet Steve
Member
Actually I do believe the King felt fear from Netero when he thought he had him beaten after removing his arm and leg but still had him acting defiant and of course the evil old man laugh even after he has used Zero Hand definitely made the King pause and I believe the narrator even states it was the first time he'd been truly afraid.
Yup, the narrator stated as such.
PixelatedBookake
Junior Member
Would you have preferred each character having an inter monologue instead of what the narrator was saying? Or would you have preferred they didn't tell you what the characters were thinking at all? I agree with you that the narrator shouldn't have told us everything, but we might have had to sit through inner monologues from each character instead.
PeterVenkman
Member
Unfortunately I don't know what I would have preferred - and since I've heard the heavy narrator style is pretty much how it was written in the manga, I've just come to the conclusion that I don't like the style the author took with the ant arc. I think I just wish he would have approached the whole segment differently.
There are certain books to movies that usually just take a "fuck it" approach and just lose most of the narration / inner monologue, which I don't think is good either. It's a difficult issue.
FlashbladeGAF
Member
Nothing to really ad, just that watching the episodes week to week, It felt like the episodes were 10 minutes long. I was on the edge of my seat processing the information the show was giving me, wondering what would happen next, and the next thing I know, the credits roll.
The arc may have been long, but it was entertaining as hell to me.
NHarmonic.
Member
You nailed it.
The use of the narrator was obnoxious. We had a lot of inner monologues and that + the narrator explaining shit was too much. It gets completely ridiculous on the episode where they are in slow motion for most of the 22+ minutes (first encounter with youpi).
Too much tell, when it wasn't needed. The strong characters, dialogue and actions were more than enough.
The ants also had less than half the appeal of the ryodan as enemies. They feel bland, uninteresting and just defy all logic in terms of design. I know it's a magical world with magical creatures, but this were straight up aliens. Meruem being the biggest offender with the cell ripoff look. Pouf was annoying as hell, and youpi forgettable. (I mean, i'm watching HxH not one piece).
I don't know, as the arc usually named in this forum as the best in shonen manga i wasn't impressed. Yorknew and battle tower were quite perfect, the ant arc was too much shock value, both from the ants actions (like killing ponzu, children, messing with that hunter's brain, etc), to gon's transformation, and just lacked substance. Though it's strong on defying shonen standards in terms of character motivations, breakdowns, behaviour, etc.
Yeah, one of the best shonen antagonists for sure. I also really started to dig the narration style a lot, so those complaints escape me as well. I liked getting in all the character's heads. Made feel far more invested in what was going on.
Can't wait to buy these Blu-Rays later this year. It's about damn time.
I didn't mind the narrator as a character for the Chimera Ant arc but I did think they went overboard at times, I think it would have been better to balance out with more showing and not telling while keeping the narrator for the really big moments. For example I loved the use of the Narrator for the fights with Netero and the King as they did show you the battle in great detail but I loved when they broke down what the King was feeling and reacting to finally encountering a truly worthy opponent.
Chimera ant arc is one the best written arcs of all time it pretty much gets hate by some for the same reason One piece skypiea arc gets hate, for being too well written for the medium and being a story much more grand then our main protagonists.
Chimera ant arc is largley about the ant's character story of self discovery as a new species and dealing with the conflict within there DNA made up of dark continent ant, Animals and human, Some are moved by there animal instinct while others have taken more human traits and are trying to make sense out of there human memories passed on by the human who was devoured in order to create them.
But unfortunately animu viewers minds have been damaged by cookie cutter high school coming of age story number 1million & 1 to enjoy anything that's far outside the established template.
Chimera ant arc is largley about the ant's character story of self discovery as a new species and dealing with the conflict within there DNA made up of dark continent ant, Animals and human, Some are moved by there animal instinct while others have taken more human traits and are trying to make sense out of there human memories passed on by the human who was devoured in order to create them.
But unfortunately animu viewers minds have been damaged by cookie cutter high school coming of age story number 1million & 1 to enjoy anything that's far outside the established template.
Wait, skypiea gets hate? Wow...
Glad I wasn't into One piece when that arc was happening, I probably would've wasted way too much time arguing with people. LOL
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
The Chimera Ant arc was dull as ditchwater. There's potential in there, but it moves unbelievably slowly. Feels like the latter Game of Thrones or Harry Potter books where the author has got to the point they can do whatever they want and the editors don't really have the balls to say "less can sometimes be more". I just couldn't make it to the end, couldn't bear to have the narrator narrate any more stuff that I can actually see happening in front of me right now and work out for myself like a normal human being.
Wolf Akela
Member
Chimera Ant arc is such a flagrant violation of "show, don't tell". The premise and the story are great but the execution ranges from great to freaking awful. It made me wish Mad House took more liberty and just cut the narrator's lines by at least half.
Lovingly detailed writing ala Tolkien is one thing. Rambling that can go in circles is another. Shoot's fight with Youpi was such a bore. It's like... 3 minutes worth of details stretched into a whole episode.
Lovingly detailed writing ala Tolkien is one thing. Rambling that can go in circles is another. Shoot's fight with Youpi was such a bore. It's like... 3 minutes worth of details stretched into a whole episode.
RubberLuffy
Banned
Chimera Ant is perfect in every way.
bryanee
Member
It really isn't. As said before the constant narration and the slow as fuck pace nearly bored me to death. I nearly gave upon it during the Ant arc.
RubberLuffy
Banned
The narration is great and the pace is totally fine. Something is always happening.
Best shonen arc of all time.
The verbose as fuck narration and monologue of every character going each and every action was really annoying. Otherwise I thought the arc was quite good.
I was never bored with the CA arc. I was pretty much captivated the entire time, and I watched the whole thing weekly. I always see people complaining about stuff like focusing on characters like Ikalgo, Meleoron, Welfin, and so on. While they would just be throwaway characters in a lesser show, they actually developed as characters and contributed to the overall development of the arc. I think the pay off was one of the best I've ever seen in any anime, and I believe it wouldn't be anywhere near as good if the build wasn't as thorough as it was.
Even characters like Bloster got proper pay off. I fucking love that arc.
Even characters like Bloster got proper pay off. I fucking love that arc.
I have to admit this now but the CA arc was so tedious I never finished the series because of it. I believe I stopped on around episode 129 and though I do intend to finish the series one day the narrative quality took quite a downturn in this arc. Like others have said, more show, and much less tell. News to me though that the narration is taken verbatim from the manga, they should have cut much of it out.
Yeah Madhouse really started sticking incredible close to the manga for the Chimera Ant Arc. There are some gifs rolling around comparing the manga to the anime and its pretty insane at what a good job they did of it. Of course not everyone liked that but the amount of time and effort put into that arc was impressive.
I'd love to hear what you think about Skypiea. This is the wrong thread for it, though, so maybe the One Piece OT? Or just PM.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
I do think HxH has one of the best heights in the shonen genre - it's just in the York Shin City arc, not the Chimera Ant arc. The pace in that was phenomenal, the characters consistently interesting, it followed a number of strands without any of them feeling unimportant - just really good quality though-out.
The current arc in the manga, if it ever gets completed, could easily be the best.
CoffeeJanitor
Member
Yeah. The narrator is always talking, so there's that. /s
Agreed.
The Chimera Arc is really good as well and hits some ridiculous highs, but I find it overall much too depressing.
Have to agree for the most part, the show really elevated itself for me during that arc. The stakes & dread built up during the arc were incredible to me. The show gets so incredibly dark in content that I was really glad I had no knowledge of Hunter x Hunter prior to me watching the 2011 series. No way I would've predicted the plot would go that far from its initial premise. Hunter x Hunter became appointment television for me throughout the Chimera Ant arc & is one of my favorite Shonen storylines ever.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
If we count Kingdom as shonen, Chimera Ant is second best. Coalition army is the best of all time.
Never read Kingdom, so no frame of reference for that. Always heard it was really great though, and it's on my list of series that I need to eventually check out.
Amongst all the shonen I've personally read, (of which there are a ton IMO, I really tend to gravitate towards battle shonen), the Chimera Ant arc stands heads and shoulders above eveything else. It's been stated before, but that arc elevated Hunter x Hunter significantly, and is why I hold the series in such high regard.
NHarmonic.
Member
That forced development though. Their tedious and eternal monologues were most of the time useless, when the focus could've been on the characters that were actually relevant. I find difficult to believe anyone could really care about welfin, bizzeff and the yellow ca going to find gyro and live as runaways on meteor city.
This arc was bloated and filled with lot of annoying moments, we had to deal with 30+ episodes of pouf and youpi, for them to finally die not even at the hands of any of the party, and if their arousal moments where supposed to be funny i'm in awe because they were usually so anti-climatic and weird, none of them could pull them off.
The best was the last scene of the king, the mother- daughter reunion (so sweet), Killua (as always) and gon's breakdown. The rest was a shore.
Besides the GOAT Hisoka vs Chrollo fight, I feel like the dark continent arc is one of the most boring from the series.
The pace is really slow, and the story is very confusing (I don't know if blaming the translators on this though)
And unlike the chimaera ant arc where the pace was slow too, I feel that here that the payoff will not be as big to justify the story, plus the sucession sidestory is not that interesting for me, and at the moment doesn't feel that will add something spectacular to the overall arc
The pace is really slow, and the story is very confusing (I don't know if blaming the translators on this though)
And unlike the chimaera ant arc where the pace was slow too, I feel that here that the payoff will not be as big to justify the story, plus the sucession sidestory is not that interesting for me, and at the moment doesn't feel that will add something spectacular to the overall arc
Well there's the major disconnect. I and many others did care about what was going with those characters. I honestly felt invested in what was going on with the entire extended cast in that arc. Nothing about the development of those characters felt forced to me, and I liked having things fleshed out. If you didn't care about them, it makes it much easier to see why you didn't enjoy the arc. The internal monologues and narration drew me in to the different character's plights and emotions, and made me care about them. I like that the Chimera Ant arc focuses on so many characters and tries to give them all some decent time in the spot light.
Heh. I think The Dark Continent arc has the potential for real greatness. If it's ever finished, it could be the best arc in the series. The setup is just so damn good, there is so much tension, intrigue, and dread.
I loved the development of all the minor characters in the chimaera arc, it made a great job on reminding the reader that those beasts were actually human beings. And dedicating some pages to welfin or reina helped on giving them a happy ending, where even though they suffered the big tragedy of becoming monsters, they still had something to live and move on.
Reina going back home = What is this salty discharge?!??!
Can't believe people actually like Chimera Ant arc. That was utter shit and garbage and made me stop watching the show. If it wasn't for my friend affirming it gets better, I would've dropped Hunter x Hunter then and there.
The pacing isn't the worst of it, it's that godawful narration. The fucking bullshit Gon pulls at the end too LMAO. Oh my God. Everything, everything I hated about it.
The pacing isn't the worst of it, it's that godawful narration. The fucking bullshit Gon pulls at the end too LMAO. Oh my God. Everything, everything I hated about it.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Yeah, so far the arc had way too much chatter, like I mean I can appreciate that they're setting up the backstory and all but it gets a little tiring and convoluted at times. Even the much anticipated Hisoka vs Chrollo fight was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. It was an entertaining read, but not on the level of say Kurapika vs Uvogin or Netero vs Mereum. I do like that the focus is shifted to Kurapika and Leorio, after many arcs about Gon and Killua.