Animisery – A Blog About Living Miserably with Anime (Among Other Things)

I recently started Hunter x Hunter for technically the fourth time since I’ve been on this Earth. The first occurrence was shortly after it was airing due to having a friendly recommendation, the second instance was starting the old 90s series in an insufferable attempt to be different, the third time was starting the manga during a particularly dull queue at Anime Weekend Atlanta 2023, and the fourth and most recent time is now! I’ve not tried more times to get into a franchise than with Hunter x Hunter and it isn’t even because I have a really solid or meaningful gripes with it. I like what I see but I just always fizzle out and you want to know what reasoning I have for it? I’m assuming you want to because you’re still reading so I’m going to pause for dramatic effect.

[please wait for about twenty seconds before reading the next paragraph so this dramatic pause works. thank you 🙂 ]

The beginning is just too good.

I know. You’re shocked and appalled. That distant sound of car alarms going off that you’re no doubt hearing? It’s from the shockwave of this proclamation. I apologize.

Except I don’t!

The Hunter Exam Arc for me is just an excellent example of an anime pacing its story beats and thrills so right in almost every single way so I can’t just put it down and walk away. The very first episode with the boat ride to the start of the exam isn’t exactly thrilling but getting familiar with our cast of Gon, Kurapika, and my beloved sweet boy who can do no wrong Leorio sets us up for the future escapades and delivers us message that we are going to see some real friendships form amongst this lot. It also allows us to grasp at a world that has a myriad of designs and interesting character choices as one such character, Kurapika, looks like an eastern warrior trained in mystical martial arts while another character, the aforementioned angel sent from above Leorio, is just a guy in a business suit. From the word go, Hunter x Hunter is showing the audience that this is a world of multiple sides for us to explore and it puts me in such a trance at these possibilities.

We see what being a Hunter actually entails as we familiarize ourselves with a variety of Hunters like the gourmet Hunters who preside over one portion of the exam and the elderly and mysterious (well he’s mysterious to me at least) chairman Netero and the world builds itself up even more.

That’s not to say that the worldbuilding is the only thing worth anything here. The story cascades into new trials with our gang (including a new member in the group in the form of the assassin Killua) and failure to pass the exam always seems to be on the cusp of our heroes hands. It’s what makes the beginning of Hunter x Hunter so difficult to put down as each trial seemingly threatens to be the one that will undo everything! Our heroes are very fallible and argue amongst themselves as they become unsure of their decisions in each adversity. For lack of a better term to use here, it’s peak fucking television. I’d rather not pour over every plot point to save the very few who haven’t been exposed to the Hunter Exam but it’s a shot to the system of anime that pulses your heart into full on ignition. Mostly.

After a ride like that, you get kind of burned out or hey I do at least. I’ve never ever made it past Yorknew City. It isn’t even because my anime king among anime kings Leorio takes a backseat to go to Hunter x Hunter Grad School. It’s just the ride has changed to a slightly slower pace and I want to take a break. I love Gon as a character and find his blossoming friendship with Killua to be delightful as they climb Heaven’s Arena especially as they confront the foreboding presence of Hisoka and grasping at their Nen education. It just feels like the highway chase known as Hunter x Hunter starts finding itself hitting more speed bumps than at the beginning. Granted, there is like a recap episode in the Hunters Exam Arc but I’m not acknowledging it because once I realized I had a sloppy pile of recap on my plate, I shoved it away.

I’m also just not crazy about what I’ve seen of the Phantom Troupe and that’s also a detriment to my interest. It’s nothing about the characters and their personalities that alienate me; the designs just weirdly all miss for me.

It’s definitely a subjective take for sure. I stare at them and not a single synapse in my brain fires off in excitement. The girl with the vacuum is kind of cute and I feel nothing more.

Yorknew’s stuff isn’t even bad. It’s pretty good in all fairness! I just can’t clear the hurdle. I hear so much about viewers getting exhausted with Chimera Ant and I can’t even sink into start Greed Island. I’m a disappointment, I know.

However, I think it’s legitimately because of the Hunter Exam that I find myself winding down on Hunter x Hunter early on. The Hunter Exam could almost be self contained if you and a friend spent enough time throwing bricks at each other’s skulls to give yourself enough brain damage to forget some plot points! It’s just a magnificent arc that encapsulates what a beginning should be for any piece of media.

It just sucks that I can’t get over it. I’m like Gon. I just want to find my dad and I don’t know anything else.

I’m going to finish the seires this time though.

Probably.

(Thanks for reading my blog and hanging out! I hardly typed up anything for November due to several factors but it is what it is. I love updating this blog and I want to do it frequently but we’ll see how it goes. Thank you to everyone who reads this and gives it likes. It really does mean a lot. Check out my podcast, the Anime Brothers Podcast, wherever you get your shows if you want to hear more from me. Thank you and remember: bungee gum has the properties of rubber and gum.)