Story 8/10
Characters 9/10
Hunter x hunter is anime that on first look (especially the first episodes) looks as a typical shounen and even rather childish. We have our main hero, Gon who wants to find his father, is exceptional and gather friends along the way. However as the story progresses and I mean with the end of the first arc we start to notice that all the common shounen tropes get reversed. There is no nakama power, the reason the characters succeed is because of loses, hard work and friendship is not the only the reason for success. The main character, Gon is not anymore a typical shounen MC with great ideals and nature that tells him to save everybody. As the story progresses, it is revealed his hypocrisy and selfishness which makes him more human and relatable. The other two main characters, Leorio and Kurapika, have their own lives and goals, and do not follow Gon wherever he goes. The last main character aka Gon's new bff Killua is as complex as Gon himself. His development as human and the change of his ideals is one of the most exceptionable in the series. Even the villains are not typical. Most of the time they have nothing in common with the supposed MC's Gon and Killua. The goals of the villains, especially in Kurapika's character development arc, are disturbed by the MC solely because they want to help Kurapika not because these villains may kill hundreds of people. The other antagonist, that can be considered MC since they appear in almost every arc, is driven by their personal desires for fighting and often is extremely contrasting with themselves. In this way the border between good and bad gets smudged and even the main characters can't be considered good people especially Gon.
Art 9.5/10
The art is not so outstanding but still amazing. Since the anime was started 2011 we could not expect the animation to be something out of this planet. However till its finish in 2014, the animation gets better and better. The last fights were so greatly animated that I had to watch them at least twice just because it was so flawless. The characters' feelings and thoughts can be tell just by looking at their eyes and body language. In overall in the beginning for me the art is 9/10 just because Madhouse thought that after so many years it wouldn't be so popular and they started with lower budged and 10/10 for the progress in the animation.
Sound 10/10
The OST of hunter x hunter is one of the greatest I have listened to. It is diverse and epic but also sad and evoking memories. Also it was used to provoke emotions according to the scene. It cannot be described by words, it just have to be listened too.
Enjoyment 10/10 or more
Till I watched it I have already abandoned the shounen genre because of the cliches and the overuse of everything. However hunter x hunter made me love every character even if they are "bad" or "good", all the characters had their own stories aside from the main story line and these stories were not abandoned. The shounen tropes got reversed and the story just became more, and more interesting. Also the feelings I felt and the feelings of the characters during the happy and sad moments were build up throughout the course of the story and were never without a reason or out of place. It was one of the few anime that made me cry like a baby and make me sweat with tension.
Overall, without spoiling, hunter x hunter is one fresh anime in the shounen genre. With its complex relatable characters, with bad/good being smudged together, interesting storyline, great ost and mostly outstanding animation, hunter x hunter is one enjoyable emotional rollercoaster which will keep you entertained till the end.
