Hunter x Hunter (2011)
That was pretty good but it pains me to say I don’t really consider it great despite having the potential to be. Over the months I’d seen various claims that the 2011 adaptation was a well paced shounen show with consistent production values and I can’t lie, I had a hard time believing that. 100+ episodes of consistency? We’re lucky to get 13 in a row nowadays. In reality, I was impressed that this claim almost seemed to undersell the show. On top of the qualities mentioned above, I was treated to a show that balanced an ensemble cast exceptionally well, arcs that naturally flowed from one to another, and foreshadowing that worked so well that I didn’t find myself questioning some of the more outlandish moments as the show had built upon itself such that they’d come across as believable in context.
That said, my impressions mostly lay in the realm of plot, characters, and how they were managed. I mean, I could wax poetic about this OP or that ED but in general I think others would do a better job doing so although I’m sorely tempted to .webm the rotating cut of Cheetu running off in episode 95 because holy shit, that was awesome. (
gif here) Music was above average as well, I thought, with the highlights being the various leti motifs such as
Leorio’s or
Hisoka’s.
Chrollo Lucifer’s was used to great effect as well in the ep where it Trombe’d the normal ED music. Still, the show wouldn’t be worth watching if the plot didn’t hold up as it’d just as easily be consumable in youtube MAD clips and music links.
I think the Yorknew City arc might be my favorite throughout. There was something enjoyable in seeing Gon being relegated to supporting character status so Kurapika’s character arc could be concluded here as he took center stage. So much of the freshness of the various arcs is how while the show never loses that battle shounen heart it so fully embraces during the Tower arc, it’s often given a coating of some other genre to make it much more palatable. There’s a degree of political intrigue during the Election arc, the various horror tropes present during the early Chimera Ant arc, the beautiful adventure element during the Hunter Exam arc but the trappings of the crime story made this so great. We had heists, we had kidnappings, we had hostage negotiations, we had interrogations, we had car chases, we had Hisoka effectively in the undercover cop role. So many of these beats were hit well and when it came time for the battle shounen elements to take center stage, they only enhanced the overall product with the catharsis brought by Kurapika taking out Uvogin, finally able to release some of the pent up rage that’d been consuming him over the years. Whether it was playing upon my expectation or simply a great feint, I would have never predicted the arc to end as it did nor the choice Kurapika would be forced to make.
Of all the things the show does, humanizing the various antagonists is my favorite part. Given the nature of this type of show, I expected multiple one-note villains to get some air time and then promptly get offed but in a show where nearly every character has a story to be told, the antagonists are often presented in a near sympathetic light, not necessarily seeking any sort of redemption but possessing a loyalty to comrades or some other sort of admirable traits that serves as a simple yet effective way to round out a character.
The Phantom Troupe might be my favorite example of this. Early on they’re mythologized as this invincible murderous band of thieves and while that’s not entirely untrue, one can easily sympathize with them when Nobunaga eulogizes the fallen Uvogin or later when Chrollo Lucifer is taken hostage and the Troupe refuses to acknowledge the long standing order of abandoning the head so the Spider may live should this situation ever arise. The flashback to their formation and their undying loyalty to Chrollo makes them not so much a band of thieves but more of a family, dysfunctional as it might be. During the Chimera Ant arc, I was glad they were given screentime as it helped further the group dynamic, especially during Feitan’s fight with Zazan. If he fell, well, that’s just how it goes and it’s next man up. Otherwise they’re just a semi-supportive family waiting for their own father to return home.
The ants are another great example of this. They’re pushed as heartless mindless beings that begin to kill for fun after their genetic code is poisoned by humanity, each developing their own personality and embracing a degree of individualism. This is subverted when the King and Royal Guard are born, resetting the humanity of the ants as the current colony is deprecated after the death of the Queen. What surprised me was this wasn’t adhered to after the characterization of the main Ants was reset to heartless killer once again. Instead during the climactic battle between the Hunters and the Royal Guard, their humanity begins to develop at a rate none are capable of handling. Feral animalistic nature gives way as Youpi develops a sense of self and appreciation of life, Pitou (as seen above), learns what it means to be afraid after never needing to know such a feeling, or Pouf’s newfound rebelliousness conflicting with his loyalty to the King. Of course this culminates with the King finally shrugging off his own genetic imperative in his final moments.
Of the above examples, I think Hisoka’s is the most interesting though. Unlike nearly everyone else in the show, his backstory is never touched upon, not that it needs to be, but it’s beyond amusing that a simple shower scene can serve to remind the viewer that despite the ruthlessness and clown costume, he’s still just some guy albeit a rather twisted one.
Hisoka’s the quintessential example of the disruptive character introduced to shake things up. Think Sailor Uranus in this regard but present from the beginning. Befitting of his costume motif, he’s a wild card that turns any situation into an unpredictable one as he’s a self-interested character, ever placing his choices (which are often a product of amusement) above those of anyone else. What made him truly provocative as a character were two things.
First, he’s one of the surrogate father roles in the show, often acting as a guardian for Gon given Ging is perpetually absent. His motivation is, of course, self-interested as he wants to see one of his self-described toys reach maturation so he can fight him then but to arrive at that point he must challenge Gon, motivating him to grow and survive to adulthood. In a show that places so much emphasis on the role of the bad father (Gyro’s father, Welfin’s father, Ging, Neon’s father, etc.) he looks like a saint by comparison.
The second point is how he’s used to facilitate story progression early on. During the Tower arc, I initially had a hard time reconciling the role Nen was going to play from there on as it seemed a cheap way to give everyone bizarre power when everyone that had entered the exam seemed to be a specialist in some field that was in reason. However, I gave it some thought and realized I’d seen Nen in play since the beginning. I recalled Netero playing wth Gon & Killua then thought back further until I realized it was introduced with Hisoka at the beginning when he took the arms from the man who bumped into him. It all began to make sense then as the Hunters are presented early on as a level above everyone else, that is, everyone except Hisoka and Illumi. His proficiency in Nen would be the equalizing factor here and reason he was able to hold his own against a Hunter in the previous exam and to finish him off in the current one. It also heavily implied that when the man-ape showed up and claimed Satotz was an impostor, Hisoka knew who was real and who was fake yet attacked both for his own amusement rather than divining which was which via combat acumen as he insisted.
This also carried over into the Yorknew arc which he directly starts off when he tells Kurapika the Phantom Troupe will arrive on September 1st, knowing this due to his own role within the Troupe at the time, This led to the group vow to assemble in Yorknew City on September 1st by Gon and his friends. With the pieces in place and his own role as Kurapika’s inside man, he goes about and subverts audience expectation by merely acting as a manipulator and not engaging in any meaningful combat throughout the arc, his eye forever on the prize of a fight with Chrollo Lucifer, doing whatever he can to reach that encounter.
Of note is how his role is divided in the Chimera Ant arc with Kite taking on surrogate father duties and Neferpitou the eternal rival with each side opposing the other.
Gon episode 1 eyecatch but an accurate representation, Gon episode 89
Another strength of the show is the palpable sense of progression throughout the show. It’s not just in physical appearance as seen above but lingering questions are often brought back to light and answered, sometimes dozens of episodes later. I mean, it’s no surprise when Killua and Gon have to square off against Shoot and Knuckle that they’re wearing the same type of clothing they were wore during the Hunter exam even though the end result of the fights mostly remains the same complete with Gon unable to beat his opponent and Killua facing Illumi once again.
This is especially apparent with Killua’s character progression. The disaffected child learns what it means to be a true friend even if it makes him a pariah in his own family. I think it’s nearly 60 or 70 episodes that he finally finds resolution to his encounter with Illumi during the Exam arc. After Biscuit tells him he’s going to eventually leave Gon to die, this has a terrible effect on him he’s never able to fully reconcile until 60sh episodes later during the Election arc. Killua leaves home in the late 20s with his father certain he’d return an assassin yet subverts that nearly 115-120 episodes later when he returns home as his own person and under his own terms.
I suppose I should get back to my earlier comment about the show being good rather than great after gushing over it this much. It’s frustrating to think about mismanaged potential as the Chimera Ant arc had such great shock moments early on (Ponzu, Pitou & Kite in the pond, the first human victims) but everything people had said about the pacing of the arc? It’s true. You get a taste of it early on when Gon & Killua are given a month to complete a task before they can join the hunt. Then there’s another month where Gon recovers and before they can begin the mission proper against the King. Thankfully 29 days of that is handwoven away as part of the storytelling conceit used to give the King time to re-establish himself elsewhere.
It’s when the assault begins it all falls apart. I mean, holy shit, it runs from episodes 111 to 136. Something on the order of 181 days of real life passes as the actual fight takes something like a few hours. Hell, it might not even be that long but I’m not feeling inclined to scrub through eps to check times for an exact length as I can only imagine that would just infuriate me.
On paper, it sounds like a great idea. A short assault that goes awry, plans abandoned, plans made on the fly, quick fights between combatants, games of cat & mouse, etc. The show abuses the arc of compressing time under duress like no other to drag shit out though. I mean, I’m aware there’ll be some repetition to illustrate events are happening concurrently rather than sequentially but I was irritated after the second of third time someone exclaimed just how little time had passed. Again, this was to serve the viewer so they’d be aware of the current chronological location but it felt like mockery at times. I can’t imagine how aggravating it was for people who watched this week to week. I went through it over the course of a few days and that tested my limits as is.
Unsurprisingly, the best episodes in this arc are the ones that run at real time, giving both characters and the action time to breathe without excessive narration or monologuing. I liked what they were going for but for a show that excels on executing the simple things, failing at something so complex and ambitious was catastrophic. For all the complaints I have though, I thought it ended well enough given the outcome was so firmly established a dozen episodes prior.
The Election arc wasn’t all that much better with the election itself feeling contrived simply to keep Ging in one place. Previous arcs would flow easily from one to another such as the auction serving as the bridge between Yorknew and Greed Island as an example. Electing a new chairman seems somewhat obvious but the unrest in the Hunter Association is given the barest of lip service and the viewer is meant to accept the election is now some overly complex machine to be overcome. The secondary plot of Alluka was handled so much better as the photo Killua remembered during the Chimera Ant arc showed an extra Zoldyck child for anyone quick enough to catch it so when that mystery was explored, it was simply expected as a course of action. Like the Chimera Ant arc, at least it ended well enough with some good character moments throughout.
I guess I can certainly see why some fans have grown frustrated with Togashi and his various hiatuses as there’s still a wealth of story that could be told here. Lingering questions such as the five thousand Ant eggs, Gyro’s identity, the handful of Ants heading to Meteor City to look for him, Kite’s new role, the revelation of the Dark Continent (which I see is where the manga is headed), the fate of Chrollo Lucifer, the new direction of the Hunter’s Association, whatever Hisoka is up to now, and others I’ve no doubt failed to mention all remain. Maybe they don’t need explored though, at least in the auspices of this anime given the recurring theme of the broken family being mended, Gon’s acceptance by his father, and Killua’s acceptance by his mother as they were the main impetus behind the events of the show.
In lieu of any episode impressions throughout, I thought I’d highlight some of my favorites in the show;
16 - "Defeat × And × Disgrace"
This is my favorite of the Exam arc as it firmly establishes the rivalry between Gon and Hisoka. This early on there’s no real assurance Gon’s plan is going to work and the aftermath is as frustrating for the viewer as it is for Gon as the gulf between the two in terms of strength is greater than imagined.
32 - "A × Surprising × Win”
Possibly the only Hisoka focused episode as I can’t actively recall any others, it suffers some from the overlong exposition of his powers. However, the demented finish to his fight, the fact he’ll be in Yorknew coming clear, and the ridiculous swerve thrown at the viewer at the end made this one memorable.
47 - "Condition × And × Condition"
The big throwdown where we get to see what Kurapika's truly capable of in his quest for revenge. Had some great buildup to it and delivered.
125 - ""Great Power × And × Ultimate Power" / 126 - “"Zero × And × Rose"
Cheating by listing two but hey they might as well be one long ep. It’s the heavyweight fight everyone had been waiting for. It also doubled as a father smacking down a naive child before that went awry. Nuclear stuff was awfully heavy handed but at the same time illustrated how each head of cattle could posses more power than the King by virtue of human evolution and the science that’s a result of it.
74 - "Victor × And × Loser"
Ridiculous example of the lengths Gon will go to for victory. I remember cringing hard at this fight for how disgusting it was. I threw this one in out of order here though because it sets up...
131 - "Anger × And × Light"
Catharsis on the levels of the last episode of
Death Note. We’d seen what Gon did to win against the bomber in Greed Island but this was on another level. It was difficult to watch all that work for naught followed by the sacrifice made. It’s interesting as when Gon and Neferpitou met again, their roles were reversed from their first encounter with Gon being the one with murderous intent and Pitou being defenseless but this last encounter was on equal terms.
And just for kicks, i adore this screengrab: