Hunter x Hunter

A couple of weeks ago I started, and finished the anime Hunter x Hunter. I haven’t watched a lot of anime shows, this is only the 3rd that I’ve seen in its entirety, but Hunter x Hunter was the one that got the most praise so I was curious to see how good it really was. It was absolutely as good as advertised. 

First things first, Gon and Killua are the perfect pair. Gon is fire, the light of the show. Killua is ice, cold and calculating. They play off of each other well and we see them grow together throughout the show. Also, Hisoka is a great foil for Gon and Killua. He’s charismatic and captivating, Elegant and debonair, but violent and dangerous nonetheless. He grooms the 2 young protagonists to be worthy adversaries for him to kill. His presence on the show was necessary, but unsettling at times due to the character’s unpredictable nature, bloodlust, and the fact that his relationship with them closely resembles pedophilia. He seems  almost turned on by their progress and displays of power throughout the show. Gon reminds me a lot of Aang from Avatar, they’re both airy, lighthearted characters who are positioned in the center of the show and meant to grow to be the most powerful characters in their respective universes. At first glance you would think this is a child’s tale illustrating Gon’s rise to greatness, but characters like Hisoka give the show a darker edge. The show navigates the different tones experpetly, as the tone can change drastically from arc to arc, episode to episode, even scene to scene at times. Greed Island and the Hunter exam arcs were both pretty light, while the York New City and Chimera Ant arcs were extremely dark and deep. While these tonal changes are extreme, they flow together perfectly and never become problematic for the show. 

Another thing that stuck out to me was the gender ambiguity of some of the characters. There are certain characters in the show who are referred to with both “he/him” and “she/her” pronouns in the show and at first I thought it was a translation issue but then I realized what was really going on. This is seen with characters such as Kurapika and Pitou who both have somewhat femine features but are referred to as both he and she throughout the show. Kurapika goes so far as to say “my gender doesn’t matter” the one time he was questioned about it. Another example of this is the dynamic within the Zoldyck family. There are 5 siblings in the Zoldyck family and all of them are biologically male however Alluka identifies as a girl and the youngest child, Kalluto is a boy but is forced to dress like a girl. Alluka possesses a power that leads to her being feared and estranged from the rest of the family. As I mentioned earlier, Alluka is transgender, and the way this manifests within the context of the story is that everyone in the family refers to her with “he/him” pronouns, except for Killua who refers to her with “she/her” pronouns. This detail is very subtle, but it’s also extremely clever, as it gets across the idea that the family doesn’t respect her enough to take her wants into account, and Killua in contrast does respect that aspect of her and values her as something other than an object to be used or someone to fear. The way Togashi (the story creator) handles gender is interesting to me, and unique. I’ve never seen something like that in any show or movie that I’ve seen. The progressiveness is especially impressive considering the manga was created in the 90s. 

The actions and motivations for characters that aren’t even in the main picture of the show were impressively managed. Gon and Killua are the 2 main protagonists of the show, but there are long stretches of time where they are kind of used as side characters, and other characters are thrown in the center of the story for a while (like Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe in the York New City arc). This highlights how the show is able to create a world where the characters feel organic and real rather than creating side characters that exist just to revolve around a certain character. The Zoldyck family is a good example for how the show fleshes out its characters and the dynamics between characters.  The relationship dynamics between the characters are all complex. The siblings all have unique relationships with each other and with the elders of the family. The dynamic between the family members also helps explain why Killua is the way he is and why he’s drawn to someone like Gon. This type of complex relationship is also seen within the Phantom Troupe. Hunter x Hunter excels at giving their antagonists and characters who are in the periphery of the main story layers and compelling narratives. Literally you could have a whole season dedicated to the Zoldyck family or the Phantom Troupe and I know it’d be great. 

Speaking of complex/layered antagonists, I can’t leave out the stroke of genius that was the Chimera Ant arc. Now at first seeing ants gain super powers and take over the world was a little….ridiculous to me. And we didn’t even get the satisfaction of seeing the protagonists beat the ants which I didn’t understand at first. After further examination, I realized the point of the arc was to see the protagonists, specifically Gon and Killua, grow in the face of adversity that was impossible for them to overcome. They both matured a lot over that arc and grew stronger physically and mentally. Who would’ve thought that a story about ants going through an existential crisis would be so interesting. 

I’m someone who tends to be critical about stories and I dislike when I feel like there are a lot of logic gaps in something I’m watching. Hunter x Hunter had very few of those kinds of problems. The stories told were all extremely thorough, intricate and meticulous. I think this was definitely one of the strengths of the show. The way they described Nen (the show’s power system) was so in-depth and descriptive. It allowed us to really understand what it took to be a strong nen user and allowed us to be more invested in the characters becoming stronger nen users. This also comes into play with the pacing of the show. At times it felt a little too slow like in the Chimera ant arc, but overall it was a positive.  There were like 10 episodes dedicated just to the Zoldyck family estate, several episodes literally made up about 10 minutes of real time in the Chimera ant arc, but the slow build aspect really highlights the fine details of the show, it allows you to know what each character is thinking in any given moment. There was very little wasted screen time in the show, everything happened for a reason, which is something I really appreciated watching. 

It seems like Hunter x Hunter has a lot more of their story to tell, and I hope they get the chance to. This show reminds me of a mix between Avatar and Game of Thrones. Avatar because of the protagonist’s journey, and Game of Thrones because of the world building and character development done in the show. Overall I really really enjoyed it (9/10).