First Impression – Hunter x Hunter

 

Well, heeeeere we go agaaaaaiiiin

Hmm, an old favourite and so much like first season of FMA in terms of being half-finished but I don’t like making comparisons until I’m quite sure so I’ll be joining this reboot series and knowing Madhouse I’ll be rest assured that it’s in pretty good hands.

My precious Hunter x Hunter got a remake! I am literally just waiting for the first few episodes to be over and done with so I can get to the juicy bits. But for now, might as well get used to seeing Gon and the gang actually MOVE AROUND! Oh, the magic of animation~

You have now entered the world of Hunter x Hunter. It has everything you’d expect of a typical video games: vicious monsters, insane environments, treasure and crazy strong people who explore the world and call themselves Hunters. Gon is a 12 year old boy who wants to join these select few Hunters by taking the Hunter’s exam. The only way Gon’s mom will let him do it though is if he can catch the Lord of the Lake. Long story short: HE DOES!

You can imagine how hesitant a mom would be to let their son go off alone to compete with burly men to be an adventurer. There’s also the fact that Gon’s father also left home to be a hunter, completely abandoning his son to do so. Mito is may not think being a hunter is worth the risk of death, but she abides by her promise and lets her son go.

Gon is now stuck on a ship with a bunch of grizzled looking men until they make it to the exam site. As a plucky porcupine-headed protagonist should, he makes his first impression on his ship mates by being nice to a sailor who was being bullied. He also informs the captain of the ship that a huge storm is coming, because it smells like storm. In case you couldn’t tell, the kid is very in tune with nature.

Once the storm does hit, the boozehound captain doesn’t seem to be particularly fazed by building-sized tidal waves and hurricane winds. He somehow rides it out without having the ship take any damage. The same can’t be said for the crew and wannabe hunters though. The whole lot of them are collapsed on the floor from the whole ordeal, either seasick or hurt or both. The only hunter wannabes who are okay aside from the captain are the Gon, an androgynous male named Kurapika and a man named Leorio who has level 2 spiky hair syndrome (Gon has level 4).

Meh, no biggie.

It turns out surviving the storm is a pre-requisite to be eligible for the Hunter’s exam. With so many prospective hunters, there has to be some method to weed out the weaklings so the examiners aren’t flooded with applicants. The second pre-requisite is for them to state their reason for being a Hunter. Gon explains his situation right away, but Kurapika and Leorio are quite hesitant. Out of necessity, they spill the beans. Kurapika wants revenge on the Phantom Troupe for the massacre of his entire clan while Leorio wants money.

That awkward moment where NO ONE in the show likes the main character

Leorio and Kurapika start bickering over each other’s reasons, both of them accusing the other of having shallow desires. Things get ugly pretty fast, and the they challenge each other to a duel. As the two of them face off on deck, the rest of the ship is worrying about what actually matters – A CRAZY SEA HURRICANE /flawless terminology. As they stare at each other solemnly, Gon and the entire crew try to take down the sails to avoid getting sucked into the funnel on the horizon. Priorities.

Katsuo, the surprisingly hardy ship hand, is blown away by the fierce winds. Why is no one else blown away? No one one knows for sure. But at least it’s enough to snap Leorio and Kurapika out of their fighting mode long enough to try and grab Katsuo before he flies into the ocean. They fail. Before you can say “R.I.P.” Gon leaps into action and the three of them form a human chain to reel in Katsuo. Everyone becomes friends, the captain decides that the 3 of them have passed his inspection, so the power of teamwork prevails and they sail off towards the Hunter’s examination.

Can’t resist. Rod puns.:

GON! Stop polishing your rod and listen to me this instant!

Hobo powers ACTIVATE!

Yo dawg, dis is the good shit. You gon be alright after yo smoke it.

As you can see, Gon will spend the next 50 or so episodes with two EXCELLENT role models

End Thoughts:

This is so shounen and I still loved it; I guess I haven’t really grown out of that feeling just yet. This reminded me of my childhood and how things are so simple and you want to just revel in the moment, because everything looks clear and you can do almost anything. Gon is such a likable character and I feared with the old designs that I might not like it that much but those thoughts just went out of my mind as I was slowly pulled into the storyline.

Not bad, not bad. I’m a big fan of the manga if you didn’t already know, so I’m going to tend to make a lot of comparisons to that instead of the old Hunter x Hunter anime. The biggest draw to watching the HxH anime for me is the prospect of having all the awesome fights in animated form. They range from being intense intellectual showdowns to getting downright grisly. Right now, the animation seems to be on the good side (it’s Madhouse) so I’m already getting pumped for the entrance exam to get started. It’s not incredibly detailed animation, but it’s fluid and remains faithful to the original art style of both the manga and the original anime.

Let’s be honest – no one cares about the starting episodes for a shounen shows. This episode mostly just introduced us to the majority of the main characters in the show and got the wheels rolling for the Hunter’s exam. Thing’s don’t get crazy until about midway through the Hunter’s exam. That being said, I think they definitely have this in mind seeing as how they downplayed Gon’s relationship with his father so much. I remember a lot more backstory in the manga. They at least showed his face for longer and explained what he was like. If you’re not familiar with the series, there are going to be a few gaps that won’t be explained. Gon is simply able to smell storms and you are just supposed to shut up and understand Gon’s feelings towards his father. I get the feeling this remake might favour glossing over details like that in order to show more action and drama. This is fine in my books, but I think newcomers are going to have a hard time getting into this series.

I’m not loving it yet, but I’m pretty optimistic. I already know that the story, characters and fights are the epitome of badass – I just have to wait and see how the anime handles it. Sounds like a good gamble, no? (Let’s hope so, I’m blogging this baby) If anything, I’m just worried about the music and some of the directing. The pacing is a bit jerky and rushed, but I’ll give them some leeway since it’s the first episode. Also, the music is incredibly corny. It’s far too happy-go-lucky, which goes great with Gon’s personality…not so much with every other character in the show. Hopefully it changes when things get more serious. Let’s also not forget the ED song, which is a messy patchwork of electronica and heavy metal paired with equally bipolar images of bright, colourful lights or Killua CRYING BLOOOODDD. That is even more sad than crying normally because it is blood instead of tears, do you get it? He is sad. HE IS SAD AND PEOPLE ARE SCREAMING IN THIS SONG, DO YOU GET IT YET? Watch it in action to see what I mean. The band is even called Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which explains just about everything. (P.S. I secretly like the song, and hate myself for it)

Preview: The trio travel towards the examination centre from where the boat leaves them, only to end up going through even MORE trials before round 1 even starts.

See you next week in Meta Jump!