Completion of the Iconic Anime: Hunter x Hunter

Calling all Hunter X Hunter fans! After over a year of watching I am proud to announce that I have completed Hunter x Hunter (2011 Version) After only hearing positive things and it being one of the highest-rated anime, I was excited to see if it lived up to the expectations. If you have read any of my past blogs you should know I struggle watching long anime. I stick with anime between the 12–26 range because I have a short attention span and enjoy the fast-paced storylines of short anime. Hunter X Hunter is only 148 episodes which might not be long for One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, or Naruto fans, but for me taking on Hunter X Hunter has been a challenge and it is the first long anime I have completed. 

To my surprise I finished on the same day the manga came back from a 90-week hiatus with chapter 401. I am sure Hunter X Hunter fans are thrilled to have a new chapter.

Since this is a long anime that I have a lot of thoughts on I will be breaking up this review into 7 parts with this blog being the first. I know it's a lot but I don't want to write a novel so make sure to subscribe to not miss a part.

If you want to watch Hunter X Hunter here is a complete episode guide 

Episodes 1–26: Hunter Exam arc

Episodes 27–38: Heavens Arena arc

Episodes 39–58: Phantom Troupe arc

Hunter X Hunter: Phantom Rouge (Movie 1)

Episodes 58–75: Greed Island arc

Hunter X Hunter: The Last Mission (Movie 2)

Episodes 76–136: Chimera Ant arc

Episodes 136–148: The Election arc

The movies are standalone and can be watched after the end of the anime. I have not watched the movies yet, but I plan on it soon.

1999 Vs 2011

I was ready to start watching Hunter X Hunter but I was quickly confused by the two versions. I didn't know if it was like Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, where one followed the manga and the other branched out into a completely different storyline. After a bit of research, I watched the 2011 version. From my knowledge here are the key differences between the original 1999 version and the remake 2011 version.

Artstyle

One of the largest differences is the art style. Art style isn't always a make or break for someone, for me however it factors a lot into what I think of the overall anime. The 1999 original version is in that classic 90s art style, while the 2011 remake has a more modern anime style. Both are great in their ways, however, I prefer the 2011 style. As someone who didn't grow up with anime and started watching in the 2010s, that style is nostalgic to me. I do appreciate the 80s and 90s anime style but it doesn't hold my attention or bring me that sense of nostalgia as it does for others. 

Filler and pacing 

The largest reason I struggle to watch long anime is the amount of filler and its pacing. With 12–26 episode anime you never get filler episodes simply for the fact there isn't time. As I started watching Hunter x Hunter I already knew there would be some filler but I had to decide how much filler I wanted. In the original 1999 version, there was a total of 92 episodes 5 of those episodes were completely filler with another 10 being partial filler episodes. The 2011 remake had a total of 148 episodes only had 2 filler episodes and 6 partial filler episodes. From my understanding, the 2011 remake was much more faithful to the manga. I understand for filler in anime both versions have an extremely low filler rate vs other anime. However, If I was going to watch Hunter X Hunter I wanted to watch one closer to the manga and that had as little filler as possible. 

Lack of content

This was the largest reason I decided to watch the 2011 remake over the original 1999 version. The Hunter X Hunter manga series is written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi, who has severe medical issues. This causes the anime to be on hiatus a lot. The 1999 version caught up to the manga quickly and caused the anime to be completed in 2001 which was 185 chapters of the manga. The 2011 version had a lot more content to work with and ran to chapter 339 of the manga. If the art style and different voice actors don't bother you, I have heard you can watch the 1999 version until it ends then pick up to the 2011 version. I however couldn't do that.

After discovering these differences I decided to go ahead and watch the 2011 remake.

I want to review each arc individually and give you my thoughts. For now here are my overall thoughts on Hunter X Hunter. I thought this was an incredible show until the Chimera Ant arc. I am not the only one who thought this arc was strange, but as a whole, this arc is one of Hunter X Hunter fan's favorites. For this anime to have such a high rating and loyal fans it didn't meet that high expectation for me. It was entertaining but it was also just a basic shonen. I got a lot of hate for not being a fan of Jujustiu Keisan but to me, Hunter X Hunter had the same feel. I am not a fan of powers that are so complex you need a narrator to explain every move to follow along. It is safe to say I was confused about a lot of the fights, Maybe someone can explain nen better to me in the comments. I did enjoy Hunter X Hunter's story way more than Jujustiu Keisan and overall I thought it was a good show. 

When a show is hyped I have a harder time enjoying it because the bar in my head is way higher than any anime could meet. 

I wouldn't say I am now a fan of Hunter X Hunter but I am glad that I watched the show and I would recommend it to any Shonen fans.

What are your thoughts on Hunter X Hunter? 

Thanks for reading!! 

Like and Subscribe if you like Hunter X Hunter

Newest from AnimeTipz

The Great Anime Debate - Subbed vs Dubbed

There are two ways to watch anime, and it has been debated for as long as I can remember which way is best. I have seen anime both subbed and dubbed, So I am going to give my thoughts on both and then which I prefer.

Exciting Detective Anime That Will Keep You Guessing

I have recently been getting into mystery anime. If well written it can get my heart pounding and brain racing to figure out how the story is going to play out. Although not all of the anime I am about to list are detective anime, a large majority will be. If you are a thrill seeker who loves a plot twist read on, I hope you will find your next mystery from this list.

Ninja Kamui: Did It Live Up to the Expectations?

I was beyond excited when I saw the trailer for Ninja Kamui. It looked action-packed and some of the craziest animation I had seen. However, it let me down big time. Let's talk about it.

See you for Part 2!!