People commonly praise Hunter x Hunter as the best shounen ever created. I can't really say much about this because i've not watched many of the big shounen's. However, I can say that Hunter x Hunter is a solid shounen with a lot of good stuff to offer. It does remarkably well on it's characters and managed to create an interesting and engaging story, but not without flaws.
When I think of Hunter x Hunter the first thing that comes to mind is how masterfully it develops it's side characters. While the main characters get significant amounts of character development the show truly shines at creating side characters and making you feel sympathetic with them, villainous or not. While not every single character is being used throughout the entire show, when they are relevant the show makes sure to tell us everything there is about them and makes sure not to leave them in the dust or use them for plot convenience... except for a few.
One of the things Hunter x Hunter suffers from is using characters for plot convenience. Multiple times throughout the show are we introduced to characters who are solely there to make our protagonists, named Gon and Killua, stronger. There is extensive amounts of training done by our protagonists during the show, which is a good thing. It shows us that power is reached by continuous training and not through the ''power of friendship''. The problem however, stems from the fact that we are introduced to characters who only exist to tell Gon and Killua how to get stronger. We barely get to know anything about their motives except for ''I can't bear seeing people with so much untapped potential so I will train you''. I would be fine with this if these characters were actually relevant to the plot outside of making our protagonists stronger but it feels more like an excuse to have these characters train Gon and Killua. After they're done training them we barely ever see these characters again.
Another instance of using characters for plot convenience has to do with foreshadowing. There is no power of friendship. There are however multiple instances of so called ''asspulls'' within the show. Characters who are gravely injured and bordering death who survive because the show randomly introduces plot points without any foreshadowing towards it's supposed existance. We are told at the last second about a special power a character has that makes said person survive. We have no clue's or indication towards these powers which means they were only brought up because the show needed a ''logical'' reason for our characters to survive. In another instance are we introduced to a character from a certain family that even had an arc about themselves who has the power to grant other people's wishes, but under certain conditions! Naturally this is right after one of our major characters is severely wounded. We've had no evidence of this character's existance untill she was necessary. Sure, she wasn't relevant to the plot before but when we were told who the members of the family were they should've mentioned her or anything regarding her existance. Instead she was pulled out of thin air when the show needed her the most. Talk about convenient.
Speaking about being severely wounded. The show is really good at making sure to remind us our protagonists are, in fact, not invincible. Multiple times will we see them lose fights against the same opponent over and over and be severely outclassed. As I mentioned earlier there is no such thing as power of friendship within Hunter x Hunter and every victory by our protagonists is gained either by strategy or just being better. Yes, that's all there is to it. The people who have the most strength, within all it's forms win and that is certainly true for Hunter x Hunter. I should mention that actual fights are scarce except for a couple of arcs/episodes. Hunter x Hunter spends a lot of time on it's characters and the fights we get are varying in quality. I wouldn't say any of them are bad ( except for a certain arc when our characters just learned about new powers and steamroll through every opponent unaware about these powers ) but with the exception of a few they aren't anything to write home about either.
Throughout the show we are introduced to several villainous groups and the way the show develops them to make you accept them morally is incredibly well done. Multiple times have I felt true regret and sympathy towards the villains. This is especially evident in one of the later arcs where the protagonists basically fight for human survival. The show makes us spend a lot of time with the villains and show us what they're like, what they're thinking, what they struggle with and why they do what they do. It shows us that villains can change aswell and as a result we get incredibly good development for most of them. Never before have I truly sympathized with the supposed villains in any show, but the way Hunter x Hunter makes us learn about the villains is truly worthy of praise.
From a technical standpoint the show certainly doesn't fail to deliver.
The art style used works fine for Hunter x Hunter. Backgrounds aren't always exactly the most detailed but at times when the show focusses on world building the show tries hard and succeeds in showing us what we need to know. The show is certainly capable of good backgrounds and we are shown that plenty of times. Character designs fit the art really well. The backgrounds and character designs show enough similarities that the show looks very natural. Animation is above average throughout the entire show. I haven't witnessed any severe drops in quality and everything was overall very pleasing to look at.
Soundtracks were really good and well done. I added a couple of them to my playlist because they're just that good. The show has fitting soundtracks for most of the situations, however I must say sometimes tracks were used at the wrong times. It didn't take away from the immersion but there were moments I thought to myself ''they should've used this track instead''.
Think about a lighthearted track during a serious moment or the other way round ( this is slightly exaggerated to get the point across ).
I don't pay much attention to sound effects but I will notice when a sound effect is really out of place. Gladly I didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
Hunter x Hunter is certainly an incredibly good show worth watching for anyone. It's commonly said to power through the first arc and I agree on this. While I consider the first arc to be fine and actually a load of fun it is a little generic. Consider it the introduction of the characters and plot. The true Hunter x Hunter starts after this. I promise you will not be disappointed.
