Reviews Manga / Hunter X Hunter

I disagree with almost every word of this review.

Meh- if you don't like shounen, you're probably not going to like this series.

However, Hisoka is more there for the fanservice than for anything else. Author Appeal and all that.

The thing I like most about this series is that it gets more crapsaccharine as time goes on. Yes, it seems like kid-growing-in-power-to-be-boring-invincible-hero, but the world is much darker and more cynical than a typical shounen world would be.

However, as for general quality, I would have to say that Yu Yu Hakusho is slightly better than this series, even though they're by the same author. I suppose it's because YYH didn't drag on as long as Hx H does.

On the contrary, I think the nen system is one of the most sophisticated, brilliant, parsimonious, coherent, flexible combat systems ever created in a manga, especially shonen manga. I find the explanations and applications fascinating, and I love how the author exploits the system to create all those unique yet completely explainable powers for his characters. I also love how he expands on the four basic uses of nen to create techniques like En. No other shonen manga comes remotely close to the completeness of the nen system. You could use the nen system to explain the abilities of characters from almost every single manga in existence, especially since nen is not restricted to just combat.

Also, Hisoka is ONE of the most interesting characters, but the author keeps the interesting characters coming. The three royal guardians, Komugi, and the King in the Chimera Ant arc have absolutely fascinating characterization.

I think that Yuu Yuu Hakusho is better than Hx H art-wise(YYH had TONEPAPER. Its art never ever looked like it was thrown together a few seconds before going into print). But Hx H is, I think, is far more original (given that the premise of Yu Yu Hakusho was based off existing Japanese folklore and mythology), as well as mature (not gory, mature) in terms of plot. It's a far darker, more materialistic world than conventional, typical shonens like Bleach, Naruto, and Rave. The heros actually worry about money, food, and where they're going to live. Auctions are a HUGE part of the actual storyline in certain arcs. There are some very complex psychological battles going on throughout the entire series. And the Geneiryodan are certainly one of the most complex villain groups I've ever seen, especially given their backstory and their unusual closeness to each other.

Conventional shonen manga? Hahaha. Not in a million lifetimes.

(A conventional shonen manga would not have survived with all those freaking walls of texts, for example.)

Of course, since you're talking about the anime, I can only assume that adaptation decay has occurred in some way or form.

"A conventional shonen manga would not have survived with all those freaking walls of texts, for example." — Yuen.

On the contrary, most Shounen can't get enough of the lengthy exposition. For this reason, a fight scene in Naruto can, on occasion, take up whole episodes, because characters can't merely fight one other; they have to explain how they are going to magically defeat their opponent for a good ten minutes first. And then reiterate it after the fight. And then cut to another character watching, who expresses their understanding of the fight. And then let the characters all discuss the fight in an after fight get together. And in case you forget anything, they'll have lots of flash backs to really hammer the point in.

Yeah, well it's Shounen, and if you don't like the conventions of it, then stay the hell away. I for one think of romance novels as stupid, so I'll probably never read one, if you don't like overpowered idiots beating the ever living crap out each other in increasingly improbable ways, you won't like Shounen, so please, leave and let us enjoy our simple anime without bringing in those standards for 'storytelling' and 'character development', I'll pass.

Complaining About Shows You Dont Like ...enough said. How do you expect us to take your review seriously if you flat out said, I don't like shonens, so even knowing that full well I'm gonna review something I wouldn't like anyway. Which don't get me wrong it's still very possible to give a good review, but you complaing about them doing things...shonens...tend to do? Best example of Complaining About Shows You Dont Like. ps. you got it a little wrong, Komodo manga is "for little kids" (Hamtaro), Seinen "for adult males" (Akira, Gantz, Monster) everything in between is Shonen (unless it's for a female demographic). Shounen demographic starts at 10, going all the way through pre-teens, teens to young adults (Pokemon Special->Death Note), kind of how South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Family Guy are called adult cartoons, Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! as kids cartoons, and everything from [[Ben10 Ben 10]] to Justice League Unlimited being as everything in between.

@Marcell X and Phrederic

No, no and no. The fact that I openly admitted to disliking shonens is exactly why my review can be taken seriously. If I didn't give full disclosure, then I would be doing a disservice, misleading the readers. As it stands, I still gave positive criticisms about Hunterx Hunter as well as negative ones, which proves that in spite of my tastes, I was still willing to let the work stand on its own. It is quite possible for a person who dislikes romances to like specific romance movies, and it is fine for me to hold opinions about specific shonen anime, whilst disliking shonen in general. I don't see how this comes under Complaining About Shows You Dont Like.

Disliking shonen does not invalidate my reviews on shonen anime, but it does inform the reader on how to value my reviews. If you like shonen, then you can safely disregard my criticisms. If you don't, you might pay heed to what I have to say. The only useless reviewer, is the one whose opinions cannot be constrasted with the reader's.

Besides the error about being for 10 year olds that I pointed out, you mentioned the reasons you don't like the genre in general then said this one is no different. Of course it doesn't invalidate your review but you can't expect many people outside the same demographic (people who don't like shounen) as you to take you seriously.

and yet you don't see how it's Complaining About Shows You Dont Like. So basically the review is for people who already don't like shounen to reassure their dislike.

"Besides the error about being for 10 year olds that I pointed out, you mentioned the reasons you don't like the genre in general then said this one is no different."

Even if you aren't phased by my criticisms of shonen conventions, I have more to say about the show then that. I go beyond those specific issues, and discuss things like story arcs, pacing, and character/series progression. Also, whilst I admit I made a mistake about the specific age range, my argument still stands that Shonen are essentially children's cartoons (ages 10-15 = children) and many of the more zealous, obnoxious fans seem to not realise that.

"So basically the review is for people who already don't like shounen to reassure their dislike."

Or people who haven't formed a general opinion on shonen, which is a lot. As for shonen fans, I don't mind if they decide to dismiss my review. By establishing my perspective, I've made it easy for them to make that decision. That's a good thing.

and I never said anything about those issues, again, I complained how it's hard to take your criticism of something for doing something that make it fall in its respective genre (and basing some of your opinion on the people who like it) as I said, like complaining about a Family Guy for exaggeration and or having a dumb protagonist.

I am talking about anyone who doesn't dislike it (disliking doesn't mean you like it) having a hard time taking the review seriously, not because of the Confirmation Bias, but again because half of it it's more a complaining about the genre than the series.

That's still wrong. Shounen has a wider demographic than that (as seen in the troupe page), similar to western comic books (who's also largely viewed a people beyond it's demographic) this can be seen even on this series, with one of the protagonist being an assassin, who was not shy to kill in cold blood several times on screen, the heavy use of blood, and more mature themes like drugs, rape, thinly veiled remarks at north Korea, etc. etc. but again, not that the people who like the show affect the quality of it to begin with, as many hype backlashers do.

"...again because half of it's more a complaining about the genre than the series."

What am I supposed to do exactly? Should I have not expressed an opinion on this sort of show in the first place? Should only fans of shonen review shonen? Because logically, their views shouldn't be taken seriously either; after all, the things they like about Hunter X Hunter may be things they like about the genre in general. Logically, that should make their views just as irrelevant as mine.

And another thing about the "you just don't like that sort of thing" argument: "So what?"

^ I try to be civil but that was just a bunch of mumbling stupidity. What's with the exaggerated False Dichotomy fallacy? what can you do, simple, complain about the "work" not the genre, your second paragraph is a good example. As I said one could complain about the treatment of Meg on Family Guy or it's atheist preachyness, but complaining about it's exaggeration and having a dumb protagonist is a complain on the genre not the show, and people already know what kind of genre they're getting into.

didn't understood what you were trying to convey on this one.

I'll rephrase my point: Why does a person's opinion of the genre make the slightest difference to the validity of their review? And would it have made my review any more valid if I had said: "I like Shonen, with their boisterous male protagonists, hundreds of episodes to sit through, and a great community spirit around them. Hunter X Hunter has all of those things too!" I've done the exact same thing as in my review, but made positive remarks instead of negative. Is that just as bad?

To take your Family Guy example - suppose I said I was tired of shows about stupid dads with beautiful wives, and then criticized Family Guy for having those things, why would that be a problem exactly? As far as I'm concerned, It's in the show, so I can complain about it. But your argument seems to be "if it is typical of the genre, don't make that criticism. Even if it affects your opinion of the show."

First of all, again, what does the community have anything to do with the quality of the work. And it's not the same thing as your review, it's close to the opposite, as I said, you already know what your getting into, Expendables is an action movie, phrases like it has a lot of action, guns and explosions were used to promote the movie. Lisa Lampanelli gimmick is her racy and controversial humor, an HBO special with the premise "more politically incorrect than ever" is promoting said show. It's like Carrot Top getting upset on his roast, it's a roast, it's suppose to be be mean jokes at the person of the hour's expense.

because then your review would only apply to people who already don't like the theme of the show, not even the middle ground demographic applies because if they decide to view Family Guy they must be aware of the type of show it is, how like The Simpsons, Futurama, American Dad, etc. are about a dumb protagonist/cast on an exaggerated world with mature themes.

I give up. I can't think of a simpler way of explaining why it is okay to review a show from a genre you dislike, or why the "that's the way they are, so don't complain about them" argument doesn't work. I'll leave it.

I never told you to not complain about it, but of course that's no different than all the similar things you have done in here, you're free to do whatever you want, I simply said to not expect people to take you seriously when you do. Now go and criticize fighting games for their violence.

Although it is certainly true that Hunter x Hunter has its weak spots (the early chapters in particular) it definitely improved over time. So while I can understand how someone might not be able to get into it I cannot allow anyone to renounce the series as a whole. The Chimera Ant arc in particular is just beyond supreme. It’s one of the finest moments in manga history in virtually every regard and whoever denies that is fucking cancer.

That’s like saying Bach’s works are bad. You don’t like certain pieces? Sure, fine. You call all his music crap? Go kill yourself for the betterment of mankind, you degenerate waste of life.

Oh and keep in mind that this is not directed towards the OP (since he doesn’t seem to have kept up with Hunter x Hunter past the Greed Island arc) but rather towards all of the adamantly negative reviews of the series as a whole.

So if you hate Shonen, why did you watch a Shonen?

People are really dull. Just because something is childish, which to most people basically all cartoons are, doesn't mean that a story is bad or more cliche than stories directed to those who are older. Let's just get that straight. A childish story can have better pacing and transition than a story directed at an older audience (my experience of watching Shonen, Shoujo, Seinen, Josei, Psych, psych horror, sci-fi, horror, thriller, hentai, etc). I've watched animes that just absolutely sucked, even the ones geared towards an adult audience. One of them being Tokko. It was severely cliche at the adult level. The story was predictable and was not engaging in the least bit. The characters weren't well-developed or memorable and the villain truly was a waste of time. Even the soundtrack music was disappointing. I watched the rest for laughs and it was meant to be a horror. It had a lot of killing in it and was bloody, but it was a bit over-done long before Attack on Titan emerged on the scene. You think girls with big breasts in anime is a cliche? Try Tokko, with just outright naked girls fighting in the streets for no reason.

Hunter x Hunter, on the other hand, exceeded shonen expectations. It was relatively engaging and I did want to know what would happen next. I'd left the shonen genre, but returned with this one. Generally, what is great about anime is the vast amount of variety. Hx H is part of the good portion of shonen.

From reading your review, you never clarified how far you've even gotten in the anime, whether you watched the 1999 or 2011 version, or your preferred genre of "cartoon"/anime.

From your review, it sounds like you didn't even make it to Yorknew City and stopped at Heavens Arena. If you did, you should know that the series takes a different tone after Heavens Arena arc.

Or you could just be desperately trying to be original because everyone else seems to praise, even worship, the anime so much.

Even I didn't want to take this anime as seriously at first. But after awhile, you may.

You want to see my list of adult horror genres?

Mononoke, Mushishi (also has a pretty decent live action), Tokko, Le chevalier D'Eon, Psycho Pass, Ghost in the Shell (obviously), Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue, Vampire Hunter D, Aoi Bungaku, Mouryou No Hako, Memories (Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb, and Cannon Fodder), School of Darkness, Accelerando, Tokko, Requiem from the Darkness, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Paranoia Agent, Pet Shop of Horrors, and much much more.

Does that still make Hunter x Hunter more cliche because it's for kids? Watch enough adult horror animes, and they get cliche as well. Let's just face it. Watch too much of anything, and it all becomes predictable because humanity doesn't evolve or change that frequently.

But every once in a while you will find someone who switches something around or makes the cliches more enjoyable. Those things are sprinkled with originality and that's what we call "genius". Hx H does that for the shonen genre.

Of course, for you, you wouldn't take shonen seriously anyway since you've resolved to break away from the genre due to its own demographic and cliches. Still, I believe H x H is a rare exception, especially by the York New City and Chimera Ant arc. They are quite reminiscent of what I've seen in Seinen and Josei anime, though psych horror is on a different level, and only a certain breed of people can appreciate it. Attack on Titan is unusual for its demographic, as well as Ghost Hunt and Ghost Hound, which take even more psychological and horrific turns for Shonen and Shoujo.

Liking something outside of shonen doesn't make you an elitist or superior. It just means your mind is more narrow than others. It also means you prefer to color your world with reality rather than imagination and fun every once in a while. That's all.

You want to know a REALLY different shonen? Princess Tutu. I'm not lying, it's a shonen. It isn't likable by most males, but it's still original for a shonen. Cliches are not present of shonen, rather shoujo.

Want to see an unusual Seinen? Magical Lyrical Nanoha. XD For adult males...and yet...a cute kid is transforming...I guess it's because the content later on is harder for children to grasp...but still...

So you should brush things off because of "demographic". That's for adult males and yet feels more designed for children.