Story: 8/10
Animation/Art: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Characters: 10/10
Acting(subbed): 10/10
Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Overall: 8/10
Story:
TLDR: heavily carried by the Chimera Ant Arc
The story is for the most part in this show, good. It's just not great. However, the second to last arc of Hunter x Hunter (HxH) is the greatest arc I have ever seen, in all of fiction.
The Hunter Exam Arc is good at placing the audience in a sense of suspense, but, because of the length of the series the audience never truly feels that any main characters are in true danger since they have to appear later.
The Zoldyck Family Arc reveals information about Killuas family and provides a darker vibe than the previous one due to the knowledge that Killua is, not in physical danger, but could become mentally and emotionally damaged should his family force him to continue his past work. Seeing their overwhelming power also creates a sense of imminent danger.
The Heavens Arena Arc is an introduction to Nen and has little to no stakes at all. It is the time when the main characters Gon and Killua are in the least amount of danger and is in my opinion the worst arc in the series.
Yorknew City Arc seemingly has quite a bit of filler of Gon and Killua trying to rack up the money to pay for the Greed Island game so many of the episodes end up being boring. But, in between those episodes are Kurapika's journey into becoming a bounty hunter and fighting the Phantom Troupe. The battle between Kurapika and Phantom Troupe members are some of the most suspenseful moments in the entire series with Kurapika and his friends many times entering moments of actual danger where they could die. The troupe's mentality and view of the world make them some of the most interesting characters in the series. The fight between Unogovin and Kurapika is well-choreographed and one of my favorites in the whole series.
Greed Island Arc is in large part a training arc for Gon and Killua. A large portion of the arc is the training to fight The Bomber so they can complete the game Greed Island. While in most cases I dislike large portions of a series being entirely training the one's here are made more fun by the presence of Biscuit/Bisky who adds considerable humor and enjoyment to the story. The fight between the heroic trio and the Bomber group is good although it felt disjointed due to them splitting up.
Chimera Ant Arc. YEAH BABY LETS GO. By far the best arc in the series and maybe all of fiction, it is the reason HxH is as well known as it is. This arc was absolute perfection. Seeing the Chimera Ants evolve into actual threats because of human traits but also fall apart because of humanity's individualism was a clear reflection of current society. The framing of ants as villains was equally countered by the humans during the arc often showing the most ruthless and inhuman tendencies while the ants could be seen as a natural order. The suspense after seeing Kite, who seemed to be a new main character for the arc, dying so early in leads to the realization that not one of the characters is safe from death. There is one criticism though. The arc lasts for a very long time, longer than it reasonably has to. Many factors to the length could have been removed entirely while only increasing quality.
The 13th Chairman Arc is a large departure from the previous arc. It's much more lighthearted and focuses more on Killua than Gon while the previous arc was much more Gon centered. It feels similar to the Zoldyck Family Arc in tone. But it has some emotional moments such as Gon and Killuas goodbye and Gon and Ging finally speaking to each other on the world tree. The best part is when Leorio throws his teleporting punch though.
Animation/Art:
Many of the fight scenes are very well animated. Other than that though it feels smooth and well made. I do have to criticize them for the running upstairs animation though, that was hurting my eyes in the Hunter exam arc.
Sound:
Some of the best music in anime. Kingdom of Predators is amazing, Hegemony of the Food Chain is amazing, Kage and Rasetsu is amazing. There are just a lot of good songs and they are used beautifully. The emotion in each song individually can make you feel fear or sadness with ease. Just listen to them, it’s better than me explaining.
Characters:
Evolution. That is the word to describe these characters. I’ll only discuss my favorites.
Gon: Starting off as a carefree lively boy he stays that way for most of the series until the Chimera ant Arc. At first, we only get glimpses of what he is to become when he ends up nearly killing one of his allies when he pictures them as his enemy. But once the invasion of the palace begins Gon truly shows his ruthlessness. He becomes emotionless and consumed by emotion and rage, unwilling to listen to Killua, and is even dismissive of many of his friends when they try to provide him assistance. His outbursts when talking to Pitou are some of the most emotional moments in the entire series if not the most emotional. The smooth transition from a Gon about to explode to one quietly calculating and biding his time is not shocking and yet the most surprising part of the arc. His rage and denial when Pitou doesn’t heal Kite and instead prepares to kill him is both terrifying and heartbreaking as he needlessly gives his life for vengeance against Pitou. He becomes a thousand times more terrifying than any other character in the series.
Meruem: Starting out as a ruthless killer bent on ruling the world, he soon becomes one of the most human characters in the show. He meets Komugi and slowly begins to change by being defeated repeatedly until he begins to genuinely enjoy the game for what it is. As it goes on he gets to know Komugi and begins to love her as a parent loves their child. This love begins to influence him and causes him to reframe his view on humanity to the point where he is willing to allow humanity a permanent place to live after his takeover. This contrast between his new and former self is most exemplified when he loses his memory and his previous heartlessness is displayed. When he regains his memory though he becomes more merciful than ever and shows himself as more humane than any of the other characters. In the end, he didn’t need power, he just wanted an actual companion. Not a royal guard that followed him blindly, not soldiers to betray him, not a rival to challenge him. All he wanted was someone to care for. A god was taught to see the world through new eyes, the eyes of a young blind girl.
Acting(subbed):
This has some of the best acting in all of anime. The best part is of course in the chimera ant during Gon’s outburst. His crying, the pain and sheer rage in his voice smoothly moving into a quiet, murderous intent is nothing less than perfect and brought me to tears. Meruem and Komugi’s final moments together are acted so simply and yet have such rich underlying emotion to make it one of the best moments in the entire series. Anytime Killua interacts with his family in a negative way is likely some of the best acting one can ever see, with complete disregard and a lack of sympathy displayed childishly. All the other characters have good acting but these easily rise above them all.
Enjoyment/Overall:
Unfortunately, while I thought the Chimera ant arc was one of if not the greatest arc in all of fiction the rest of the show doesn’t reach the same level. None of the show is bad but the majority of the show is more mediocre rather than the godlike perfection that is the Chimera Ant Arc. However, the quality of the Chimera Ant Arc is enough for my objective rating to be higher than my subjective rating, being that it is worth going through the entire series just to get to it.
