Hello everyone, i hope you are well! Today, i decided to write about my favorite anime and coincidentally i realized that there is a contest going on for the exact same thing by the anime realm community. In case you are interested to learn more click here.
Without any further delays, it's time to start writing more and basically reviewing at the same time my favorite anime which is no other than Hunter X Hunter. To tell you the truth i started watching HxH in 2011 as i was completely unaware of its existence. After i completed the 2011-2014 anime run which i will talk in more detail in a bit, i did a bit of research to learn more about this masterpiece.
Turns out it was created by Yoshihiro Togashi and had already been aired between 1999 to 2001. Ofc i watched that part as well. It had around 60-62 episodes if i remember correctly. Aside from that though, Togashi was already well-known for 2 other things. The first is another anime called Yu Yu Hakusho which will get a live-action Netflix adaption in 2 weeks from now, read more here an the second is that he is married to the creator of sailor moon!
When i discovered about Yu Yu Hakusho i decided to watch it as well. Except for the fact that i was pretty good as well, i saw tremendous similarities with Hunter X Hunter. I believe he was inspired by that manga/anime to create and develop some of the existing characters there.
Plot
Let's take the world we live in and put hunters in it, not the traditional hunters though. Hunters in HxH are elite members of humanity who should first pass a strict examination run in order to obtain their official license. Then they get access to more info and benefits than the rest of the world but that also means that they have certain skills that would make them ideal for finding hidden treasures, and rare beasts, tracking down other people, becoming bodyguards for the most influential people.
Now basically the vast majority of them can use a certain power called Nen. Nen is something like the aura we see in many different anime as well. Now depending on each person and how he/she can utilize their Nen, they can be classified under 6 types: *Enhancers * who can strengthen their physical abilities, Emitters who can project the aura out of their bodies, Manipulators who can control other objects or living things with their aura, Transmuters who can change the type of their aura, Conjurers who can create objects with their aura and Specialists who can have totally different abilities than the rest.
Now that we learned about how the world operates let's talk about our protagonist Gon Freecss. Gon is a young boy who lives in a small island and ofc has no clue about the whole Hunter organization and Nen. He also doesn't know about his family as he considers them dead. When he learns that his father is a Hunter he decides to embark on a journey to find him by becoming hunter as well.
During the hunter exam, he meets other people as well, who later become his best friends and part of his team and together with them they become stronger and pass all the trials in order to accomplish their goals and dreams. I won't do any spoilers though, you need to watch it!
Note that the anime has 148 episodes and even though there is some ending, it's not the "actual" ending. In fact, the manga is still ongoing but it's constantly on hiatus due to Togashi's health as he says, something that many fans don't actually believe to be the case. Hopefully, with the live-action coming up Togashi will realize the fanbase that exists out there and get the motivation he needs to focus on HXH!
Why It's My Favorite Anime
I have watched countless anime and read even more manga. Honestly speaking i believe HXH is on a whole other level. Even though at first watching little Gon everyone might be wonder that this is a kid's show or how this thing can be good with a young boy as a protagonist, ohh boy the reality is so much different.
Soon we will not only see some great fight scenes that as we move forward with the story each fight becomes better and better but we all see smart quizzes and trials that show that Togashi has put some real effort behind it. The character development is also unreal both in terms of powers as well as in how each individual's personality is formed and developed by the turn of events.
Something quite amazing in my eyes is the power system. In many anime we get to see the usual things, like someone who can control the elements, fire, ice, earth, and water, others who can control or manipulate time and in general common and overpowered powers. That's not the case in HxH, as we see totally different powers that we might have seen nowhere and the best part is that every power is explained in detail in terms of how it works. Even the power that seems useless can have a certain value in HXH.
Having said that when a lot of battles occur, it doesn't matter like we are used to, the power of friendship and stuff like that. It literally matters who is stronger and smarter which makes the show a bit more real. For example in other anime the protagonist might lose 4-5 times in a row and somehow with the power of friendship he regains his power and becomes even more powerful. On HXH if the enemy is slightly stronger and smarter, then he can literally kill with one hit, and yes i said kill as in this anime a lot of characters die without turning back!
Last but not least, the narrator on the show provides some elegance and something that many anime miss. After HxH i saw a lot of anime having a narrator as well, meaning that it's not only a though of mine, but actually the narrator had a certain added value on the show! And who doesn't love Hisoka!!
