6/10 for the final product
8/10 for the first act
7/10 for the second act
4/10 for the third act
I'll keep this short, I think this anime overstayed its welcome, but most of you know that by now. Introduction of one of the worst lead female characters didn't help the second act. Introduction of 2 knockoff L wannabes didn't help the third act. I know some of you out there love the third act and Misa, but well, good for you. I don't think this is a bad anime, just one that should've ended before the third act.
Everything aside, I do recommend it to everyone, as it is
...
Jul 17, 2015
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
(Anime)
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Recommended
I started watching this anime after the encouragement of two of my friends. I took my time and finished it under 2 weeks. That happened a month ago and I developed ideas about anime, the good ones and the bad ones, then decided to write a review about it. Lemme say it right away, it is a good anime. Why not great? It kind of feels like a wavy sea, with ups and downs. HxH is filled with lots of anime clichés, like holy sh*t!
PS. This is not a spoiler-free review. If you are a fan of the series, it won’t be a problem ... for you. Also, if you are a fan and want to hate me, you are welcome to read the review. Because I’ll do an arc-by-arc review and it’ll be quite critical about it. It starts introducing the main characters and the setting and defining the word “hunter”. My biggest problem with the anime is the first three arcs. You see, when I watch something, I’m willing see something new. I’m dying for it! And with the first arcs nothing new was brought on the table. It’s all about training and competing with people… then training again. Hear me, the ones who watched know that they are going to train in almost every arc. Why put 30 episodes of training? You could’ve ended it with 10 episodes or something. It’s not like training is something ground-breaking new thing in anime. We’ve seen it in lots of other animes. It’s already a used technique and something that became a cliché long time ago. Why return to it? Taking the idea of training and raping our minds with it did not please me much. We want to see something new! Show us something like Hisoka vs Gon duel in Heavens Arena arc. That fight was the turning point for me. I’m not into mindless action but that scene was so intense and well made. However, sadly we don’t get this kind of action really much in HxH. Mostly are slow fights that blended with fighters’ thoughts and plans. Again something that we have seen before. It is an action scene right? So act, don’t talk. I almost gave it up somewhere between episodes 15-20, because it was slow, but… well my patience paid it off. First arc 6/10. Second arc 7/10. Third arc… 7.5/10 Yes, as you see it got better for me and the fourth arc was the pest part of the whole anime. I realised that those 30 something episodes were a build-up (an alright one) to this. This arc was badass, mysterious overall awesome. Introduction of new characters and the relation of the characters we already knew with them was excellent. Kurapika was awesome. At first Kurapika’s story was kind of bland just like the character itself, but when Kurapika acted, I realised that he was not kidding. His technique was also really interesting. I did not care much about any other character that was doing unrelated things meanwhile Kurapika and her team was clashing with Phantom Troupe. Whatever Gon and Killua did prior the reunion with Kurapika was not that interesting. The arc had a set of awesome characters, lots of new some returned, great story of double-sided revenge, PT song (hack yeah!), good action scenes and twists and turns. I’ll go high, Fourth act 9.5/10 Greed Island arc had lots of… TRAININGS! Nice exactly what I was looking for. It also had a mindless (and intelligent), motiveless villain. The twist about the Greed Island’s existence was quite nice. They could’ve added something to villain’s personality about that twist. But no, we like villains with no motives, right? Gon’s motive was to find his father, Killua’s motive was to help gon. Even the old guy who sent other hunter team into the game had his own motives. Let me give you an example. Digimon season 2, first villain we meet, a kid who loved clashing digital monsters with each other and keeping them in prison cells. A total douche. When he realised that Digital world is not a computer game he went almost mad and redeemed himself becoming a good guy. Yes, Greed Island was actually a real landscape, with real human players. I was expecting a twist in villain’s personality, but no, did not happen. Other than that I did not really have any problems with this arc. Troupe’s return was good, the ball throwing game was good. Lots of good stuff, however villain was a total let-down. 7.5/10 Probably the most talked arc in the whole anime, Chimera Ant Arc. Interesting new characters, great build up, excellent motives to both sides, heroes and villains, and a… a narrator that almost ruined everything. Nice, we have a superb first and second act with interesting characters like Kite, Knuckles, the pipe dude (he was badass), smoking guy and the other side, King, Pouf, Yupi and that b*tch Pito. Hey look they even added some cool characters like Ikalgo and the chameleon guy. Now that’s a real build up. How’s gonna be our pay off? How? Good? Kind of… If narrator was not narrating another 20 episodes. If those 20 episodes could’ve ended with 5 episodes instead. It was a lazy decision to add some stupid narrator. I’m not against narrating the story, but explaining things that are clear as a flash light and trying to extend almost finishing story… nah, not my taste. Characters motives was already flushed out in a build-up part. There were some good action and lots of talks in first two acts. Instead of getting some more action scenes and a few talks, we get totally opposite of it. Lots of talk, less action. I liked the way it ended, mostly because that narrator shut up. That son of a b*tch! It was exactly like chitchatting people in a cinema saloon. Whatever. I get extra angry at these issues, because I am a writer too, and when you do a payoff you gotta do it correctly. I loved how FMAB’s payoff went and I was expecting something similar. Liked the whole arc, despite it had huge problem at the end. 8.5/10 The last arc. Finally we get to meet the guy we were searching for and he is a F*CKING ASSHOLE! I told you that I’ll be quite critical about the anime. So Gon was searching for his father and we finally meet him. His son is in a f*cked up situation, no one can find the cure. What do you do? Nothing, you don’t even visit him. I remember the voice letter from Gon’s father, about hunters being reckless creatures. But this is not how to be reckless, this is how to be a total f*cking douche. I did not like Gon’s enthusiasm towards his father either. Ed (FMAB) f*cking kicked his father, hated him. But what Gon does? “Yaaay I finally met my father!!!” Nope, that’s not how you develop your characters. The other thing that also bugged me was the usage of various characters from previous arcs. They did not have any dialogs, they were just there for the sake of being there. Probably for fan service. Being said that, I loved Leorio’s part (note that I did not like Leorio at first arcs). Killua’s part was damn good too. Overall it was an above average arc. 8/10 There are still some things to be said before conclusion. Never ending stories like this one and like One Piece are not for my stomach. You could say that I despise them. Why? You see the word art is defined as a finished and brief product. You look at them and you pass by in search of something similar. Cowboy Bebop is an art, hell it is a masterpiece. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a piece of art too. I don’t and I can’t see this as a piece of art. This anime is not finished (just like its manga) and from what I know it was not going to anytime soon. The only reason why I did not like Berserk anime as much as I liked Samurai Champloo. Go on and hate me, It’s free, but that’s just my honest opinion on this subject. It also affects my overall experience with this anime. I can’t fully like it. Even if the inconsistencies I counted were not there and even if the anime did not have any clichés, I would not still go with 10/10. Yeah, about those clichés, the best female character in anime was Kite. Yeah, F*CKING KITE. I can’t accept that. I think we needed more Olivier Mira Armstrongs and Riza Hawkeyes (YES! FMAB AGAIN). I’m not a feminist or something, I’m just another writer who f*cking loves well written characters. The anime is full of kawaii bullsh*t young looking girls that are actually 20-40 year old and are plain dumb. However, I liked the girl who transformed into a big masculine woman, despite being cute, because she was not quite one dimensional. By far the most interesting character was Hisoka. Why? Have you ever seen a pedophile-like nasty villain who almost sexually enjoyed good fights? I bet your answer is no. Killua was damn good too. He started off too over powered then showed his weak, humanly spots especially for his younger sister. Now let’s talk about Gon. Or let’s don’t. Again, he was kind of a character that we all have seen in animes tens of times. Extremely enthusiastic, happy, reckless, straightforward guy. “I’m gonna do it!!!” kind of a guy. Not that different from Ash from Pokémon, or that main guy from Beyblade. He had his moments, like that final fight with Pito, but overall he was a little bit disappointing for a lead role. They could’ve as well focused story on Killua or even Kurapika. I’m a weird person but, this anime was really weird. By weird I mean, lots of weird things left being weird and did not get an explanation. How and why Killua’s sister became “Kay” guy? How in the world Gon transformed himself to older version of him? However, the biggest how goes to one particular dialog between Gon and Killua. The dialog about Gon’s dates with older women and… things that those OLDER WOMEN taught to Gon. Killua is like “He is already a grown man!”… What? Dude that’s not right. Nope… nope… I don’t even want the answer. Let it be unexplained. Huge plus comes from soundtrack. Don’t really remember exact names of the songs, but almost every single song that played during, before and after episodes were excellent. Did I like the anime? Yeah I did, it was good and I had a lot of fun time with it. It might be a great anime, but not a masterpiece. HxH is filled with too much clichés to be called a masterpiece. HxH’s best parts are SOME of its story arcs, SOME damn good characters, SOME action scenes. The only thing that can be used without “some” were soundtracks. They were awesome. HxH is an unfinished story and a good one even at that. 7.5 out of 10 FMAB (Yes I F*CKING LOVE FMAB)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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