This series is compulsively watchable and addicting, even at its length of 148 episodes, and it’s all in the characters: the idealistic but practical Gon, the wryly playful Killua, the scholarly and thoughtful Kurapika, and the impetuous Leorio. Side characters are given similar consideration and depth, like Hisoka the creepy “Joker” character and a ton of other “enemy” characters (like the Phantom Troupe, other Hunters, and even the Chimera Ants). Just finding out about characters’ specialized fighting abilities (through a power called “Nen”) is totally fascinating.
At first, you think this is a really happy series, full of fun and silly things where fights are easily won without any sacrifice on the protagonist’s part. And then little by little, some really seriously dark material starts to creep in, and you see how messed up this anime can get, with torture, murder, hypnotism, child abuse, insanity, imprisonment, genocide, and gladiatorial fights to the death. The art lulls you into a false sense of security that hides the dark themes to come.
However, the dark events are a double-edge sword for this anime, and my main complaint is that the anime does not treat the often devastating collateral damage to civilians or bystanders with as much gravitas and angst as it treats damage to the heroes and their loved ones. I never thought I’d be requesting characters to feel more overwhelming angst or guilt in my entertainment, but parts of this anime feel so strangely unreal without it. As I said before, the anime is chock-full of random acts of shocking violence, but they are only occasionally treated as such by any of the main characters.
Minor unnamed characters are constantly dying or being tortured in horrific ways. In one scene, an extra suddenly and without warning becomes a double-amputee for a minor infraction (he bumped against someone without apologizing), and not only is he never seen from again, none of the other characters present do anything more than basically shrug blithely and go back to their conversation. I found myself wondering, “Did that just happen?!”
I would compare this anime’s world-building to Fullmetal Alchemist, but I find it impossible to imagine FMA’s characters dealing with something like that in such a bland way—if Ed Elric saw an event like that, he’d be shocked to the core and angsting about it for months! So while Hunter x Hunter has the potential to really explore the depths of the human psyche, it too often squanders great opportunities in favor of simply moving the plot along.
That said, even with the darkness, the anime does have plenty of heart, with its main theme being the power of friendship and determination. Beware: the first few episodes are not great, so definitely give this one time to get going. Because it will. By the end of the last arc, I was stunned at the incredible journey I had just taken with these characters.
