Are any battle shounen anime worthy of the title 'masterpiece'?

SetsukoHara said:


I really fail to see how Gon is that different from the rest of the bunch. He is still your regular happy go lucky, reckless, rather dumb and naive shonen protagonist. Obviously he would have 2 or 3 traits that differ from the rest, but when you look at it, Naruto and Yusuke aren't exactly the same character either, and people still call them generic because thay have the traits I mentionned earlier.

ToG25thBaam said:

In a bad way, I guess. I mean, if you prefer One Piece over something, then that says a lot.

arikatoki said:
I cant believe that One Piece and Naruto are ranked 2nd and 3rd in this voting...Im a fan of Naruto,but this anime is nowhere a masterpiece (50% of all episodes are pointless fillers and the Great War arc sucks ass)...neither is One Piece,not with these gazillion episodes and repetitive arcs...none of these anime on that list is a masterpiece

arikatoki said:
I cant believe that One Piece and Naruto are ranked 2nd and 3rd in this voting...Im a fan of Naruto,but this anime is nowhere a masterpiece (50% of all episodes are pointless fillers and the Great War arc sucks ass)...neither is One Piece,not with these gazillion episodes and repetitive arcs...none of these anime on that list is a masterpiece

wanderingplayboy said:

Pretty much this. Maybe they tend to share some resemblance to each other but they are all have some different traits therefore they are all (at least most of them) unique.

I don't really like him, though. Maybe CA arc will change my opinion...

SetsukoHara said:

I really fail to see how Gon is that different from the rest of the bunch. He is still your regular happy go lucky, reckless, rather dumb and naive shonen protagonist. Obviously he would have 2 or 3 traits that differ from the rest, but when you look at it, Naruto and Yusuke aren't exactly the same character either, and people still call them generic because thay have the traits I mentionned earlier.
And about that CA thing, I don't know how it's that different from say Luffy in the ID arc who decided it wasn't a problem to let dozens of criminals out of prison because he had to save his brother? Seriously, what was so different? Gon's pissed off face? LOL.

I really like Gon, because I really like regular shonen protagonist (not as much as badass Grandpa, but still...), but don't make him what he is not.

daintybiscuit said:
briefly: Gon is not looking so happy go lucky lately. In fact he is fucking scaring me.

MadaraUchiha69 said:
One Piece is a masterpiece

Yu Yu Hakusho is the ideal shonen with no filler

Korrvo said:
He's significantly less annoying that the retard that is Naruto at least.

I'm more surprised at the thing he's getting scary over instead of him just being scary.

ToG25thBaam said:

Enjoyed it while it lasted :)


Main characters don't get to win/fight against the final villains. People die when they are killed.

tsudecimo said:

Gon
The Narration in the invasion
Darker(?)

I can't think of anything else.

IntroverTurtle said:
Actually I believe the YYH anime was a little different from the manga. I've heard one of the first arcs was changed a bit and the ending was different.

riqueterremoto said:


The ending was changed for better,as for the first arcs i don't know.

Radioskpup said:
Hunter X Hunter, while I do enjoy One Piece immensly I appreciate HxH's comparatively realistic perspective on the whole genre. Realistic meaning ALL characters are most certainly mortal, MCs are talented but still ultimately small fry for most of the story, etc.

mehtoc said:
Talking about long-running shows. Usually there is no "soul" in these shows to call them masterpiece, it disappears at a certain point of popularity, then the show keeps going for pure commercial reasons.
The only "masterpice" thing I've seen with over a hundred episodes is Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but it's not a battle shounen)
Also Gintama was a masterpiece for me for a long time. I mean many episodes were really bad, but I had that feeling that the author was having fun while making it and it was great.

RedRoseFring said:
There's no "soul" in shonen, but there's soul in Clannad? Ha!

mehtoc said:

Why ever mention it here? Clannad has got high quality animation and a good story without fillers, at least until the supernatural begins. I loved watching it, yes, and its commercial of course but there is a great difference between short high quality commercial show and a show of fillers, flashbacks and badly animated scenes playing on watcher's desire to know what's going to happen with the character he fell in love with some years ago. I did not give a 10 to Clannad for a reason. Anyway, I think the comparison is somewhat unrelated to the topic :)

mehtoc said:
Talking about long-running shows. Usually there is no "soul" in these shows to call them masterpiece, it disappears at a certain point of popularity, then the show keeps going for pure commercial reasons.
The only "masterpice" thing I've seen with over a hundred episodes is Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but it's not a battle shounen)
Also Gintama was a masterpiece for me for a long time. I mean many episodes were really bad, but I had that feeling that the author was having fun while making it and it was great.

TheGrandSage23 said:


Realism=/=better

dratlam said:
Why are people putting Clannad's name into Shounen discussion when it is Seinen? Do people not realize their demographics yet? Do they still think they're genres?

OT: Naruto.

lupadim said:

OP is a masterpiece anyway

tsudecimo said:
According to statistics?

DrGeroCreation said:
Rurouni Kenshin and Saint Seiya need to be added to the poll.

IntroverTurtle said:
Remember that convo we had about DBZ Kai? It's the same with Rurouni.

lupadim said:
They are the only available source in that situation

lupadim said:
Peopel that voted at HxH2011 definitely didn't catch with the anime yet. It is so damn slow, full of fillers and such. Like One Piece, yes, but One Piece's fillers and stretches have a charm.

tsudecimo said:

It doesn't have fillers. It's a remake.

judals said:


Realism =/= worse

I think his point is that HxH takes itself seriously so the action department is more believable and makes it more intense, which is a crucial part for an action-adventure series. And ultimately the story. Additionally, aiming to approach events and themes reflective of real-life perspectives in a more realistic way is actually better

Kuro-chin said:
So few votes to Hitman Reborn? I'm surprised.

lupadim said:
Peopel that voted at HxH2011 definitely didn't catch with the anime yet. It is so damn slow, full of fillers and such. Like One Piece, yes, but One Piece's fillers and stretches have a charm.

judals said:
The bigger the scale, the wider the audience, the less creative it gets.
With few exceptions.

That's what hxh does better, while fights are scarce, they surpass the other shonens in most aspects save for scale and the explosive looks of it.

lupadim said:
Peopel that voted at HxH2011 definitely didn't catch with the anime yet.

SaSa-Zoldyck said:
All I can say is that I'm pleasant suprised that HxH is leading this poll, these polls are usually a popularity contest. All series have their flaws, HxH is no exception but it's in my opinion the closest thing to 'a masterpiece'.

Naruto gets way to much hate, arcs like Land of Waves, Chunin exam, Sasuke retrieval, Hidan and Kakuzu, Itachi pursuit and Invasion of pain were all awesome. Personally I enjoy Naruto way more then One Piece.

judals said:


Itachi pursuit is one of the most overrated arcs, the character favortism plays an obvious part, but the arc itself was weak.
Hidan and Kakuzu is the series' swan song.
Chuunin exam was enjoyable but felt like a chinese knockoff of another exam arc imo. More fights, less tension.

Pain's invasion, I can agree on that, but the ending of the arc is where the series completely crumbled for me. It's betrayal.