Reviews

i really like this show. i think that it has an interesting world that's thought out really well, interesting characters and villains, and strong themes. i was always excited to watch this show, after i heard that people kept talking about the chimera ant arc being the best arc ever in any anime. and though at first it looked like it wasn't going to be as good as everyone said i was excited to see the direction that things would take and was interested in how everything would unravel. the beginning of the story did a good job with establishing the characters, their motives and goals, as well as what they value and the types of characteristics they have. early in the show, you can already see some of the shounen tropes that are commonly in anime being denied and rejected in this one. gon and killua were characters that had to work hard, even though possessing some natural gifts such as gon being able to be very observant, there are tactics and strategies to everything, even simple games like rock paper and scissors, and there is no power of friendship trope being used as a way to solve issues or win a fighting tournament. nen, is such a deep power system with many layers but still makes sense and is interesting. being able to manipulate life energy called aura, and the different types of nen users like conjurers, enhancers, transmuters is a really cool concept that allows for alot of interesting fights. the villains were interesting too, all of them were good villains, but my favorite were in the chimera ant arc. the fact that they had humanity within them despite being so evil as an interesting combination, and it allowed for the villains to be sympathetic in some way. the main villain of the arc was the chimera ant king, meruem, and despite wanting to use humans like livestock and as tools to conquer the world, he had character development, which is shown in playing a game with a human girl named komugi. i was really interested and fascinated to see the progression and change in his character, and even some of the other chimera ants and how they weren't evil but really wanted to actually help the humans, because at one point, they were human too before being reborn. i think that all the arcs had an incredible amount of detail and nothing felt like it was not progressing the story in some way. even episodes not progressing the plot served to act as progressions of the characters, themes, and world. the main theme of the show seemed to be friendship but it also handled other themes in more of the darker arcs like revenge and humanity and identity. the only thing i could say was that the beginning was a little bit slow and i felt like it could've been 10 episodes instead of 20, even though it does do a good job of developing the characters and gives us an idea of how they solve problems and how they make decisions. something i found interesting about this show was that each arc felt completely different than the last, and even the genres sometimes felt like they would change. it's action and adventure, and shounen, but also had some science fiction elements too, and it mixed well. another thing i noticed was that it was a non linear type of story, which allowed it to be more unpredictable. the characters decisions and desires, and values drove the direction of the story, instead of the characters just going into situations and having no reaction to the things that happen to them. all of gon and killua's decisions throughout this story are relatable, and are understandable, and it takes the story in an interesting direction full of suspense, uncertainity, and curiosity. it had so many layers to each arc that i was so impressed.i thought the chimera ant arc was the best, but i also really enjoyed yorknew city with the auction and kurapika wanting to avenge the kurta clan by taking down the leader and by retrieving the scarlet eyes. i also like greed island and all the detail that went into collecting the cards to complete the game, and i was interested in seeing how they obtain each one. the chairman election arc was interesting too, i liked seeing the process of electing the next chairman and how the hunter organization would operate. killua seemed to get even more development in this part of the story when we see how much gon means to him and the importance of friendship. it also seems to show more of how killua's family operate and their abilities, as well as the setbacks of these abilities. every arc felt very interesting with the way they handled the situations and challenges in their way. it was never boring to me, and there was no part that i hated. the art was nice and bright,but it could change in a dark scene, each character looked unique and different. the music could've been better, but there were some soundtracks that were really good and stood out of the rest. this music seemed to fit the moment it was in, and the epic music in the middle of a battle made it feel even more epic. overall, i really liked this series and think it should be an example to follow for other shounen writers. it is definitely a top tier shounen and deserved it's high score.