Story - For those uniniciated, Hunter x Hunter is about the adventure of a young boy named Gon Freecs, who wants to be a Hunter - a proffesional bounty hunter of sorts - to find his missing dad. He's accompanied by Leorio Paladiknight, aspiring doctor, Killua Zoldyck, former assasin who run away from his family to find freedom and Kurapika, the last member of a clan who's looking for revenge - overcoming deadly obstacles along the way.
The story takes tons of interesting turns, with a compelling, interesting cast of characters. What this version has above the manga and remake, is the anime original scenes and episodes, which give the characters more depth, greater dynamics and allows you to sympathise with them more. Not to mention, this version properly adapts a plot point that gains importance later in the second anime, which it decided to skip for some reason.
Characters - Like I said, the characters are far more compelling and deep in this version. for example, Leorio meets Gon earlier in this anime and a small part of a later arc is far more clever thanks to this version's original episode, there's also far more emphasis on Killua's "dark side" making his relationship with Gon more complicated and interesting than the manga and 2011 anime.
Art - This is easily the best part of this anime. The beautiful backgrounds make the experience more inmersive, the use of colors and detail makes them seem like pieces of art in their own right worth of hanging in a wall. They make you feel like you're really there, or that you want to be there. Animation itself has a far more muted color scheme, but this only adds to the atmosphere the backgrounds create. This all sadly lost in the 2011 version, with the use of brighter colors and digital backgrounds.
Sound - Another great part about this anime. Background music conveys each scene's feeling perfectly, it's also carried by some of the best OP's and ED's in anime history for me. Every single one is great in their own right, weither it's cheerful like OP1, sentimental like ED1, experimental and grimm like OP2, or just a catchy banger like ED's 2 & 3.
Overall, this is a very recomendable experience, if you haven't watched Hunter x Hunter, I recommend starting with this version, watching the first OVA series, and switching to the 2011 remake at arround episode 59 instead of bothering with the dissapointingly inferior Greed Island OVA's... and that's another story.
