[FEATURED] Hunter x Hunter

What a terrible "review". Maybe you should retake 5th grade English first. HxH is not a manga aimed at 12 year olds. There is death, complexity, logical fight systems, genocide, etc. It skirts the edge between Shonen and Seinen while making itself palatable to those looking for the former. In a sea of shonen series with protaganists winning fights by sheer willpower, bad guys changing sides because they were "forgiven" once by the good guys, and incredibly predictable story arcs, HxH is a breath of fresh, Cynical air.

what's with this crap score you're giving hunterxhunter. HunterX is easily one of the top 5 mangas of all time. The only problem with it it's the consistency of the author.

First off, because this is your review, and thus your opinion, I can make no comment regarding your opinions, as to whether you are right or not. However, even though it is not my place to put a review up, I would like to put my two cents in.

Hunter X Hunter was one of the first longer series I got into, and was one which I read on the tails of Flame of Recca and Rurouni Kenshin. Now, generally speaking, I was a bit apprehensive about starting Hunter X Hunter, but I gave it my usual 2 volumes to decide whether I would continue reading or not, and I have not been disappointed since.

This is one of my old favorite mangas. As you mentioned, the series does vary from point to point in artistic quality, and with a little knowledge of the mangaka and his illness, it is easy to understand why. However, what I think is interesting about this series is development of the characters, and I think that is a testament to the overall story of this manga.

When it originally went on hiatus, I was heartbroken, but understanding. I had become deeply attached to the characters and Gon's various interactions with them, and more than anything, I was hoping to see Gon find some peace with what was happening in his life.

For that reason, among others, I was overjoyed when I first heard that the series would be coming back, even for a short amount of time. As with any story, when you become attached to the characters, you begin to lament with them when bad things happen, and rejoice when good things come about. And I think that is a necessary point of this manga that you may have missed.

Even after all the time it was gone, I was still wanting to know what happened next.

So yes, even if the art does suffer at times, and perhaps the arcs are not always as entertaining as the original ones, but Yoshihiro Togashi continues to develop the characters, making them more unique, and at the same time, easier for the readers to relate to.

While many mangas do this, it is perhaps that reason why HxH went back to the top of the page of mangahelpers, and why people were willing to take the project up again after such a long wait.

Again, while I must respect your review, I think if the review is to be representative, it is well worth mentioning the emotional impact this series has in its development, and is something which I think you were lacking in your review.

--Tath

While I can understand where you're coming from, wanting to "respect" his review, that idea is completely unnecessary and a byproduct of the Politically Correct age. Just because someone is being civil doesn't mean you have to respect them, anymore than you'd respect an extremely polite salesman at your door attempting to sell you the cure to lung cancer in the form of magnets on bracelets. Some things simply deserve derision.

No, as a matter of opinion I am respecting his opinion of the series. How is it I can tell him what he thinks is wrong? His opinion on this piece of work, as it is, is still his. The same principle would apply in judging a piece of art. One person may like it, while another may not.

What you are suggesting with your example is also a completely different scenario, with a different set of qualifiers. I think comparing someones opinion against your own is far different from someone trying to shill a blatantly false product at you.

To outright say that his opinion is wrong is both rude and unnecessary. I stated my case as to why I think differently. Approaching it in any other manner would be, as I said, rude to both myself and to them. If I can politely say what I needed to say without resorting to some banal forum bashing, I would much rather do that.

The anonymity of the forum is hardly an excuse for being rude.

wow, Tathagata is a stand up guy.

I hardly find much use in these "reviews" and believe mangaupdates serves better since it has polls for the manga. Though I won't dismiss this opinion, HxH is not everyone tea. It is a polarizing manga in that it gets strong responses.

http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/art.jpg
Art : 5

Reading Hxh scans is really bad for your eyesight. i know that scans aren't the final work but still ... it's horrible. The design is not bad though. The final work is way better but it's still not a masterpiece.

http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/plot.jpg
Plot : 7

It's just a classical shounen (new enemy, become stronger, new enemy). The plot is classic but HxH's background is one of the best.

http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/characters.jpg
Characters : 9.5

For me, Characters are the real strength of this manga. Gon and Killua have nothing in common. In common shounens, gon and killua were destined to become rivals but not in Hxh. These two are friends no matter the odds. There is a real evolution in killua's character and Gon's character doesn't need any evolution. Gon isn't a powerhouse (even if his potential is the best in the world ... it's still a shounen :D) but his superhuman obstination and his simplicity are what's make gon a perfect hero. Gon is not original by himself but because killua is with him, we have an original duo.

If it was only for the good characters, the note should be only 7/10. But the bad characters are just the best you can find in the shounen world: hisoka and genei ryodan. I'm not going to talk about hisoka because it would take too much time. Let's analyse genei ryodan instead. In all adventure shounens, when there is a bad organisation, it's almost always the same thing: mysterious unbeatable strong men who want to conquer/destroy the world ... who are beaten as soon as we know more about them (one piece, naruto, black cat, dbz, bleach, fairy tail, ...). Genei ryodan is different:

Spoiler:  Possible spoiler show

- no mask, no hidden identity, ... when genei ryodan is shown, everyone from genei ryodan is shown
- what's ryodan's final goal ? We still don't know
- the leader is the second one trapped after ubougin (just find me another shounen with that fact).
- even if genei ryodan is defeated by the chain-user, they still seems very strong and deadly. Even if the leader was trapped by kurapica, everyone knows that the leader is a monster.

In Hxh, even a monster can be defeated in one second, everything isn't about raw power or experience. Almost every battle in Hxh is a "Shikamaru battle" : use your brain if you want to win. And more than the brain, use psychology

And that's possible because of one notion: NEN.

http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/originality.jpg
Originality : 8

Spoiler:  again, possible spoiler show

- Almost every battle is won with brain or psychology
- there is a tournament BUT it's a reverse tournament with only one loser ... and the loser is one of the two hero.
- NEN
- sexual allusions
- ...

http://mangahelpers.com/images/reviews/overall.jpg
Overall : 8

If only these ants weren't there, it would be a 9.

Again, the major drop of the quality of the is a direct result to the long time illness of the mangaka. He has indeed been doing a major effort on writing this manga despite his conditions. I agree they're far from pleasant and hopefully they'll be fixed later.

And a small piece of advice for Zabuck and Drakrami and others as well. Nothing gives you the right to bash and trash the review or the reviewer just because you don't like his/her review. All reviews no matter what will be influenced by the personal tastes of the reviewer and remember it's his/her opinion. It doesn't nescessarily mean the reviewers opinion is the absolute right one but neither is yours. If you can't discuss a review without bashing, don't discuss at all because the only thing your bashing will cause is that MH-staff will no longer allow people to comment on the reviews. I think most people here, including me would want keep the right to discuss the reviews in a civil manner...

The first review...well it's kinda a mess. Personally I love Hunter X Hunter, though the art does get sketchy, Yoshihiro Togashi is reported very ill during this time. He's an old man and things like that happen. His wife, creator of Sailor Moon, is trying to help him finish it.

I don't think it'll turn out that bad with her doing it...they've been married for a long time. I'm pretty sure that the Bishies in YYH and Hunter X Hunter were part of her doing in the first place lol.

Sometimes it's hard to picture Manga Artists as people too, but try.:notrust

Like Tathagata and Dantrag I think its not right to insult someone just because he gave his peronal opinion. A simple I dont agree with you is enough. That is what the principle of freedom of opinion and democracy is all about.

The thing I love most about hunter x hunter is the way the main caracters grow stronger. There is no sudden level up which apears just in the nick of time to rescue our heroes. Gon and Killua are still no match against the older Nen users like the genei ryodan, morau or even Shoot and Knuckles. I really appreciate the fact that you can only belong to the very best after countless years of training and experience even if you are a natural talent. This is an unique feat that nearly no other manga has ( for example Sasuke suddenly finishing Orochimaru or other Akatsuki members or one piece characters developing new skills whenever some unbeatable characters come around).
It just makes me wonder how they should be able to defeat the royal guards.....

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Originally Posted by shibigoku

you do know that the mangaka is terribly sick and is making an inhuman effort to finish the manga? otherwise his girlfriend (sailor moon's mangaka) will take over the series which would mean ULTIMATE SUPERBEAUTIFUL MOON LIGHT death for this manga. So make an effort to appreciate the arcs even though they're falling in quality.

I personnally think this manga has/had the potential to be one of the best mangas out there. It's pure shounen with martial art, clans, upgrades, techniques, insane enemies, etc...

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well, togashi is married to the sailormoon mangaka u know. but yeah, cant imagine the character being beautified like sailormoon. :) nevertheless, i like the storyline

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Originally Posted by Dantrag

Again, the major drop of the quality of the is a direct result to the long time illness of the mangaka. He has indeed been doing a major effort on writing this manga despite his conditions. I agree they're far from pleasant and hopefully they'll be fixed later.

And a small piece of advice for Zabuck and Drakrami and others as well. Nothing gives you the right to bash and trash the review or the reviewer just because you don't like his/her review. All reviews no matter what will be influenced by the personal tastes of the reviewer and remember it's his/her opinion. It doesn't nescessarily mean the reviewers opinion is the absolute right one but neither is yours. If you can't discuss a review without bashing, don't discuss at all because the only thing your bashing will cause is that MH-staff will no longer allow people to comment on the reviews. I think most people here, including me would want keep the right to discuss the reviews in a civil manner...

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A review, or more so a, "Critique," shouldn't include the writers own personal impressions from the piece. A Critique by all literary standards is an unbiased laying down of the facts either positive or negative.

To tell you the truth, opinions aside, that was a bad review. Lots of repetition and the author swam in and out of, "txt tlk." There were whole run on paragraphs basically making one simple point. Much of what he was saying was hard to understand; except that "Something bit donkey balls." (Which is a ridiculous statement in ANY review)

To the Author:
Make that review half as long and in complete English and It'd be decent. Tone down your opinions, keep the facts, rephrase single ideas so they don't take a paragraph to say.

To the potential Readers:
Read a different review. (Anime News Network) Though this one does address many truths it hardly does this Manga justice and it's worth your time to read a much more objective review, or just go ahead and read the manga yourself.

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To the Author:
Make that review half as long and in complete English and It'd be decent. Tone down your opinions, keep the facts, rephrase single ideas so they don't take a paragraph to say.

To the potential Readers:
Read a different review. (Anime News Network) Though this one does address many truths it hardly does this Manga justice and it's worth your time to read a much more objective review, or just go ahead and read the manga yourself.

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Nice comment :).

Thanks everyone for taking the time to write your different opinions as well :).

Also could I get 4 images from the manga? Keep them in spoiler tags, and at a width and height no greater than 500 x 500. Thanks :ossu

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What a terrible "review". Maybe you should retake 5th grade English first. HxH is not a manga aimed at 12 year olds. There is death, complexity, logical fight systems, genocide, etc. It skirts the edge between Shonen and Seinen while making itself palatable to those looking for the former. In a sea of shonen series with protaganists winning fights by sheer willpower, bad guys changing sides because they were "forgiven" once by the good guys, and incredibly predictable story arcs, HxH is a breath of fresh, Cynical air.

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qft

hunter x hunter even in this arc is more then just a seinen, gon and killua are complex, even the enemies like pufa are given complex traits, the whole ryodan is great. the enemies arent bland but intelligent wits who think before acting.

great manga through and through. only time i got bored was the mid part of the GI arc and the mid part of the Ryodan arc.

zellogan's comments on the characters and originality (especially sexual allusions) are a good read.

If anything, I find that the Ant arc dives even deeper into the psychology of not only the protagonists, but also the antagonists. I don't see how the Ant Arc is "bad" at all. I'm glad this manga isn't turning into a "charge up and use superior power level + willpower to overwhelm the opponent" type of series.