Anime Hunter X Hunter New Anime Discussion

[mrsticky005]

Actually I'm pretty sure Harry Potter was meant for pre-teens to teenagers. Especially with latter books and movies.

 

[Kamen Rider Dragon]

I think skipping Kite at the beginning was just a way to get to the action faster. You can actually see Kite in the intro during the Hunter exam. Along with Biscuit and other ant arc characters.

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[TheAmericandream]

Really? While I think 1999 anime's first 5 episodes are awful (poorly paced) and is the hardest thing to get past. If you looked at the pilot HxH got in 1998, it handled the first chapter in about 9-10 minutes, and I think it did a great job of it. It had Kite and everything. The first episode is just missing something for me with out it, but that's a past issue now. I just very much look forward to getting Kite whenever we do.

 

[SHINOBI-03]

What other chances do they have to show us Kite?

- The first chapter
- Gon talking to Satotz after the exam
- During the one month rehabilation
- Gon and Killua's return to Whale Island
- After Greed Island

Any other chances they could have it?

 

[Divinenega]

^

I;m guessing one possibllity could be that they literally wait all the way up till he shows up in the Ant arc to do it, but that would be a bit much and I hope they don't wait that long

 

[Netero]

I honestly hope the anime just shows us Kite during the return to whale Island.

 

[futurefrog]

The return to whale island was confirmed by the director I believe.

 

[Popo]

There is the possibility that much of the material in the first chapter will be moved to Gon's Whale Island visit. The manga never shows him depart from Mito, but as readers of the manga know, Gon doesn't ever go back home after it. I think there's a decent chance that a lot of the goodbyes and flashbacks will happen during this period. The goodbye to Kon, Mito's pain, Kite, etc.

 

[futurefrog]

I think that showing these occurrences after Heaven's Arena will show how far Gon has truly come.
I also think the Kite flashback will retrospectively have a greater impact due the audience knowing that Gon deeply desires strength, but why?

Because of a strong man that saved him as a child. Gon wanted to be that man. He wants to be strong enough to be able to fight on his own. By the end of Heaven's Arena, HE IS.

Showing Kite afterwards would really show viewers that Gon is a boy who admires strength and the day that he met Kite changed him forever. It would give so much more gravitas to the flashback and really highlight Gon's development.

The leaving home stuff would also be great to show as well since it shows that Gon was willing to say goodbye to the people and things he loves in order to become stronger.

I always found it particularly interesting that finding Ging always seemed more of a surface goal for Gon compared to his true goal, of becoming a strong hunter. Meeting Ging for Gon is like meeting someone strong, not like meeting his father. Gon has shown time and time again he admires strength, he sees in Ging what he can become.

 

[chei]

Killua's portrayal was what made me not watch the 1999 adaptation, because it was so different from the manga. I nearly stopped watching after the first phase of the exam because Killua turned into some broody, emo kid who happens to have bombs with him. Why would he have bombs with him? I don't get this, because (as far as I have watched, which isn't much) this is the only episode where we see him carrying bombs.

Bombs eh? I must have blocked it out of my memory because I didn't remember at all…you mean it's actually more cringeworthy than how I remembered? lol The schizophrenic episode was so "I'm embodiment of pain, i'm hellbent on earthhhhh."

The problem with the 1999 series, for me, is that it really ruined the characterizations, and this isn't just about how you interpret the characters anymore. They are presenting wholly different characters, really. At least the 2011 series is more faithful. It's not 100% faithful, but it's a better adaptation overall because Madhouse knows what it's working with. I don't think you really get that feeling when you watch the 1999 series.

Completely agree. You worded it better than I do.

The good thing is that this episode is largely severable from the rest of the series. Most of Killua's character development occurs after the Zoldyck arc anyway, in the form of his interaction with Gon. They don't run with the schizo theme afterwards so that's good.

The problem is that most of these fillers are so ingrained into the canon materials that they're in-severable. In other shows, the fillers are usually in its own contained episodes. The 1999's fillers were so intrusive that you can't just skip an episode or two to avoid it. My major disappointment was the ruined characterization of Gon and Killua, the ball game with Netero, the skipping of Kastro fight, and the Whale Island. The writing is cheesy and redundant at times too (stuff like over-dramatic Gon screaming 'KILLLUUAA~~~" )

A friend of mine watched the 1999 series without reading the manga (she found it embarrassing to buy manga at the store). She was a fan of YYH, and when she saw the HxH anime on TV she was disappointed. She said she didn't know what happened but it seems like Togashi had sell out, because the HxH anime she saw didn't have the stroke of genius from the YYH. It felt like any other generic anime shows. She got bored and stopped watching somewhere during Heaven's Arena. So for the longest time she thought Togashi has lost it. it's only years later that she gave the manga a chance and realized how different the manga is with the 1999 anime. Now she's a big fan of the series.

(the crippled fighters) Censorship, I guess. The Kastro fight disappeared too.

The 'for toddlers' 2011 adaptation didn't censor these disturbing parts, what's "seinen" 1999 series"s excuse?

I didn't care too much for the episode. I didn't think it was bad, or good, but it had some meaning behind it. Whale island is an excellent place to explore the differences between Gon and Killua's world. It's where Gon was born. Mito's there. I'm just gonna leave it at that.

They butchered the Whale Island, simple as that. The 1999 director has very different idea of who Killua and had tried so hard to twisted the character into this generic 'dark, cool, rival' stereotypes. Killua's appearance and demeanor should be a trap - a cheerful cheeky cute boy who's a well trained, nasty killer. Gon said so in the manga "I can't tell that you're an assassin at all', he's NOT supposed to scream "i'm oh so dark!! so dangerous!! I'm hellbent!!" The way Killua was re-written as a bomb-wielding brooding emo took away all the thunders his characters' revelation had later. Worst is that they tried to be 'consistent' with the initial mess up and kept on ruining the character.

helium-happy baby Gon which is pervasive throughout.

Helium Happy baby Gon? Where? I actually found the 2011 Gon more grown up feeling than the 1999's Gon.

The 2011 Gon looks and feels exactly how he's in the manga -- he's cute, but that's a trap…because he can be a vicious beast. He's also subdue, calm and often expressionless. When he's happy and wondrous, he's happy and wondrous. When he's mad he's MAD. When he's thinking he's thinking. But when his friends are in trouble he's…calm. Because he's a trusting fellow and respects the laws of nature. He's gullible but not dumb.

The 1999 series drew Gon with wide sparkly eye, big arched eyebrow (doesn't look like Gon at all) to gave him a naive and dumb look. The worst is how they whitewashed and conventionalized Gon's character. The 1999 Gon would sweat and worry (and recoil when a monkey gets killed). The writers' fillers and changes made him into someone so generic as they tried so hard to portray him a 'good boy.' He acted stupidly curious, and behaved gullible AND dumb. They even changed Gon from stealing to not stealing to keep him pure. The characterization of 1999's Gon felt wrong because he felt YOUNGER, harmless, more generic and goody goody.

So you'll actually hear people who buys into the 1999 series version complain that the 2011 Gon being a jerk, looks evil, not endearing.

Well it's obviously targeted to kids. Just like Harry Potter is targeted to kids. What's the best way to cater something to your target audience? You allow them to relate to it by making the main character similar in some aspects to your audience. This makes the whole aspirational thing easier to do.

Haven't really read Harry Potter right? Because it started out as for kids but each book matured up along with the characters' growth. To generalize the series, I'd say it's for 'all age'.

HxH starts out the same way - the manga started out very kiddy (def. a lot younger feeling than YYH) but that's a trap of course. The first few chapters in the first volume can be a very smartly written children's literature. It's basically Togashi taking a crack in children's literature world: wacky creatures, fun encounters with colorful people, heroes' world get expand and values get questioned, etc. More grown up readers can get his innuendos and references that he slipped in. So to complain the 2011 anime's beginning feeling fun and 'kiddy' is like…huh!? But that's how it was intended even in the manga. The early manga covers are very brightly colors and 'kiddified'. The series got its first shook up by the appearance of Hisoka. The series didn't 'shit get real' until the Yorkshin arc, that's when Togashi first didn't hold back. Other than that, Heaven's Arena, Greed Island are VERY boy's adventure stories (They're training/game arcs). Then the ants arc is on a totally different level.

The 1999 series pre-Yorkshin is the same, except for more soapy vibe with more sappy, overdramatic stuff.

HxH is and ALWAYS will be shounen (that is..for kids and tweens). Tone shifted a lot in the courses of the series. The 2011's adaptation is doing fine for now, it has the appearance of a fun shounen show with most disturbing undercurrent intact. It's your problem that your world is so black and white: that it's either for total toddlers or mature dark/serious.

---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------

What other chances do they have to show us Kite?

- The first chapter
- Gon talking to Satotz after the exam
- During the one month rehabilation
- Gon and Killua's return to Whale Island
- After Greed Island

Any other chances they could have it?

If kite doesn't show up during whale island I will be very disappointed. The lack of Kite's theme in the new ost OT or any casting news have me worried. It'd take away the impact when the boys met him after the game. Though a friend of mine did drew a blank when she saw Kite's reappearance (forgot who he is).

 

[Cinnabar]

Do you remember in which episode killua was carrying bombs?

Episode 7. I had to watch it again just to make sure that I wasn't misremembering the bombs.

~11:00 Killua explains, "There's a way to help the old guy and still catch up with the leading group." Before this part, he also explains about the sap that causes illusions or something. I'll let that slide, because assassins should know about dangerous saps and chemicals and such.
~11:50 Killua shows Gon and Kurapika that he's carrying a bomb. He actually has several ones with him, as we see later on in the episode.
~15:11 Leorio's illusion snaps when he sees the explosion caused by Killua's bomb/s. That's how Gon and Kurapika met up with Leorio.
~16:15 Killua uses three more bombs to blow up the wall and make a shortcut, thereby catching up with the leading group.

Bombs eh? I must have blocked it out of my memory because I didn't remember at all…you mean it's actually more cringeworthy than how I remembered? lol The schizophrenic episode was so "I'm embodiment of pain, i'm hellbent on earthhhhh."

Hm, it's probably only cringeworthy for me for two reasons: a) I haven't watched a lot of episodes in '99 series, so this one stood out to me. If there were more cringeworthy moments out there, I can't compare since I don't know them firsthand. b) Aside from the fact that I find it weird that Killua would have bombs with him, it was also some sort of Deus Ex Machina for me. And I don't like that. They were falling behind because they went back to Leorio, and they can't catch up by going back the way they came, so what do they do? They make a shortcut using the bombs Killua just happens to have with him. And he doesn't carry any more bombs in the later episodes, I presume. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Deus Ex Machina in HxH? Really? The closest Deus Ex Machina I can accept is Gon's powerup and Alluka's absurd powers. And even then, Togashi gives at least some sort of plausible explanation for those. (I'm still hoping there's still a secret rule to Alluka though, 'cause she needs something to balance her powers. Or maybe I forgot some rule to that.)

Just to clarify, from what little I have watched I don't think '99 was an awful trainwreck. It had some weird characterizations, sure. But there were parts that I enjoyed too, like the Sushi Test and the pilot episode. First episode was awesome imo. But pacing was a bit slow afterwards, and that sucks even more if your internet connection is slow too. I read the manga while I was waiting for an episode to buffer, and I only remembered to watch it after I finished an arc. Yeah, the manga hooked me better than the anime mostly because of pacing.

I still think '99 is okay as a standalone. It just didn't hook me, personally.

 

[SHINOBI-03]

Confirmed: Killua used bombs in the old series.

 

[futurefrog]

If kite doesn't show up during whale island I will be very disappointed. The lack of Kite's theme in the new ost OT or any casting news have me worried. It'd take away the impact when the boys met him after the game. Though a friend of mine did drew a blank when she saw Kite's reappearance (forgot who he is).

This was the reason they gave for relocating Kite's appearance. If they kept him in first episode he would reappear for another 2 years in real time. With this relocation to Whale Island that gap is significantly lessened. As I mentioned above, it also adds further gravitas to the Kite Flashback placing it after Heaven's Arena, highlighting Kite's effect on Gon.

 

[Beans]

Episode 7. I had to watch it again just to make sure that I wasn't misremembering the bombs.

~11:00 Killua explains, "There's a way to help the old guy and still catch up with the leading group." Before this part, he also explains about the sap that causes illusions or something. I'll let that slide, because assassins should know about dangerous saps and chemicals and such.
~11:50 Killua shows Gon and Kurapika that he's carrying a bomb. He actually has several ones with him, as we see later on in the episode.
~15:11 Leorio's illusion snaps when he sees the explosion caused by Killua's bomb/s. That's how Gon and Kurapika met up with Leorio.
~16:15 Killua uses three more bombs to blow up the wall and make a shortcut, thereby catching up with the leading group.

I remember that the site of the Hunter exam gets changed every year, how come Killua knows about that shortcut if he knows nothing about the whole place!

 

[Demonspeed]

apparition appeared brigade soon! Than 30 minutes when 17 tomorrow in that, do the press conference the voice of brigade members. In this Twitter, and tweet in real time. I serve as the moderator of the role of Shinya Mari Let me grace and Killua Gon Ban ... role. Our attention is also her "first try"! Please check it.

I used google translation on the NTV site.

 

[Beans]

Madhouse pays so much attention to some of the details in the Manga.

 

[mousiehamster]

Hm, I thought that was the point? I don't understand what 'gap' needs to be filled when you're not supposed to understand Killua until later. Limited interaction was intended just for that. Also, Killua wasn't interested in interacting with others except Gon anyway, so there's also that. At least, that was how I saw it. But since you said that several episodes were severable from the series, including this one, I guess that doesn't matter then? But having several severable episodes is a bit off-putting in my opinion, especially when said episodes are placed in the beginning of the series.

For me at least, it's kind of strange to have some mass murdering kid act interact normally with other people and then all of a sudden at the last phase suddenly scream about wanting to live a normal life as a kid. By strange I mean the dichotomy isn't internally explainable and seems more like bad writing - but this is my personal opinion. I think there are other ways to make the audience wary of Killua but it would require a balance to be struck without making the character difficult to believe in.

Music can be jarring sometimes, yes. But only because of placement, perhaps? I think the OST itself is okay, but how the music is used sometimes isn't. But when it's used well, it has a lot of impact for me.

The placement is everything. The music is used to set the tone, characterize a scene and characterize a character as well. Think back for example of the scene where Gon goes through Bourbon's body among a pit of snakes. What are you trying to portray? The difference between playing Gon's parade theme versus playing nothing at all is already quite significant.

As for the OST itself, i think music is a really subjective thing so my opinion on that isn't that meaningful.

But helium-happy baby Gon? What?

It's the damn music that distorts the character to the extent that not only can you not take the character itself seriously, you can't take the show seriously either. Thing with Gon is that he can be an inch away from certain death, figure something out, and then leap into the air almost kind of cross eyed in joy. It's (unintentionally) creepy. Then there's the way Gon and Killua are drawn and so on.

It's either I don't understand what you're saying or... okay, I really just don't understand what you're saying with the bolded part. How did the 2011 adaptation "make the main character similar in some aspects to the audience"? That they made Gon kiddy? But isn't he already a kid since the beginning? Er... could you elaborate this please? I want to understand where this is coming from.

Gon is supposed to be - what - 11 years old? But there's no way in hell a typical 11 year old on planet Earth in real life is like him AT ALL. Considering the target audience is children Gon was presumably adjusted so that he would be easier to relate to. In the manga Gon isn't as mature as he is portrayed in the 1999 series but he isn't as childlike as portrayed in the 2011 series either.

And it has been said that HxH is misleading. You would think it's a story that you can let kids read. It's not. The same should go for the anime.

Huh? Yes. There's no way HxH is for kids so it would make more sense to target it to a more mature demographic. But currently the show really is targeted to children.

I haven't watched even half of the 1999 adaptation, but here's what I think, based on what others have said.

So, as an adaptation, it's not as good as 2011. But as a standalone or as its own interpretation of the manga, it's good. There will be people who don't like that interpretation though, perhaps because they have their own, or because it is not how Togashi intended the manga to be interpreted as. The latter is probably the reason for your so what? question because 1999 is supposed to be an adaptation. So if the spirit contradicts the manga, well, then it's not that good of an adaptation now is it?

Yeah. It doesn't matter to me whether it's an adaptation or not. I wouldn't say the it contradicts the manga too heavily either. I'd say it's more of a case of the anime adding extra elements to it that aren't there.

And that means a mature show. Kiddy 2011 still made them cripples.

I guess censorship is a bit more lax nowadays. Perhaps they were banking on the kids not noticing? Kastro did lose his arm though.

You mean you don't like OST or the sound direction itself? I think both were great and perfectly fitting for Exam arc.

Well here's where we disagree.

The thing is that we love HunterxHunter and want to see it. Not some Furuhashi's fanfiction.

It's still very much HxH.

The most love 1999's anime for Yorkshin arc. Hunter Exam is said to be absolutely boring (not that I disagree when talking about 1999).
And yeah, some actually prefer FMA over Brotherhood. I wouldn't be surprised if you do as well.

I never watched Brotherhood or read the manga but I did find the original rather enjoyable, yes.

And now you're biassed towards 2011. Great.
Not only you don't care for canon, you take 1999 as the ideal.

Only because I find it good. I mean i was excited as hell for the 2011 reboot. Just what they did really annoyed me. Not to mention the fact that the direction is a little poor here and there.

The problem is that most of these fillers are so ingrained into the canon materials that they're in-severable. In other shows, the fillers are usually in its own contained episodes. The 1999's fillers were so intrusive that you can't just skip an episode or two to avoid it. My major disappointment was the ruined characterization of Gon and Killua, the ball game with Netero, the skipping of Kastro fight, and the Whale Island. The writing is cheesy and redundant at times too (stuff like over-dramatic Gon screaming 'KILLLUUAA~~~" )

And Gon goes 'MMMMM!!!' whenever Killua says something and Hisoka is some boring-cool villain now. The more diabolically whimsical 1999 Hisoka is actually more consistent with the manga's anyway. Ah well, I don't think Killua's character was damaged beyond repair because of that one episode.

They butchered the Whale Island, simple as that. The 1999 director has very different idea of who Killua and had tried so hard to twisted the character into this generic 'dark, cool, rival' stereotypes.

I don't think he was stereotyped save for that one episode.

Killua's appearance and demeanor should be a trap... Worst is that they tried to be 'consistent' with the initial mess up and kept on ruining the character.

No they didn't.

Helium Happy baby Gon? Where? I actually found the 2011 Gon more grown up feeling than the 1999's Gon.

The 2011 Gon looks and feels exactly how he's in the manga -- he's cute, but that's a trap…because he can be a vicious beast. He's also subdue, calm and often expressionless. When he's happy and wondrous, he's happy and wondrous. When he's mad he's MAD. When he's thinking he's thinking. But when his friends are in trouble he's…calm. Because he's a trusting fellow and respects the laws of nature. He's gullible but not dumb.

How in god's name did you get that from the 2011 anime?

So you'll actually hear people who buys into the 1999 series version complain that the 2011 Gon being a jerk, looks evil, not endearing.

When exactly has he acted the jerk, look evil or act evil in the 2011 anime so far? I can't think of a single thing. Maybe in the manga when he starts losing it in the CA arc or bits of Yorknew (actually I don't remember much about Yorknew).

Haven't really read Harry Potter right? Because it started out as for kids but each book matured up along with the characters' growth. To generalize the series, I'd say it's for 'all age'.

Yes i was referring to the first book.

HxH starts out the same way - the manga started out very kiddy (def. a lot younger feeling than YYH) but that's a trap of course. The first few chapters in the first volume can be a very smartly written children's literature. It's basically Togashi taking a crack in children's literature world: wacky creatures, fun encounters with colorful people, heroes' world get expand and values get questioned, etc. More grown up readers can get his innuendos and references that he slipped in. So to complain the 2011 anime's beginning feeling fun and 'kiddy' is like…huh!? But that's how it was intended even in the manga. The early manga covers are very brightly colors and 'kiddified'. The series got its first shook up by the appearance of Hisoka. The series didn't 'shit get real' until the Yorkshin arc, that's when Togashi first didn't hold back. Other than that, Heaven's Arena, Greed Island are VERY boy's adventure stories (They're training/game arcs). Then the ants arc is on a totally different level.

The manga covers are deceptive and should be ignored and i don't agree that it was designed to be a children's book.

HxH is and ALWAYS will be shounen (that is..for kids and tweens).

That's a very wide classification. Shit like Bleach and Naruto are "shounen". But HxH is nothing like it - I mean nothing like it AT ALL and the target audience is vastly different. Let's not talk about age here. Just think in terms of who the show is shooting for.

 

[mrsticky005]

Episode 7. I had to watch it again just to make sure that I wasn't misremembering the bombs.

~11:00 Killua explains, "There's a way to help the old guy and still catch up with the leading group." Before this part, he also explains about the sap that causes illusions or something. I'll let that slide, because assassins should know about dangerous saps and chemicals and such.
~11:50 Killua shows Gon and Kurapika that he's carrying a bomb. He actually has several ones with him, as we see later on in the episode.
~15:11 Leorio's illusion snaps when he sees the explosion caused by Killua's bomb/s. That's how Gon and Kurapika met up with Leorio.
~16:15 Killua uses three more bombs to blow up the wall and make a shortcut, thereby catching up with the leading group.



Hm, it's probably only cringeworthy for me for two reasons: a) I haven't watched a lot of episodes in '99 series, so this one stood out to me. If there were more cringeworthy moments out there, I can't compare since I don't know them firsthand. b) Aside from the fact that I find it weird that Killua would have bombs with him, it was also some sort of Deus Ex Machina for me. And I don't like that. They were falling behind because they went back to Leorio, and they can't catch up by going back the way they came, so what do they do? They make a shortcut using the bombs Killua just happens to have with him. And he doesn't carry any more bombs in the later episodes, I presume. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Deus Ex Machina in HxH? Really? The closest Deus Ex Machina I can accept is Gon's powerup and Alluka's absurd powers. And even then, Togashi gives at least some sort of plausible explanation for those. (I'm still hoping there's still a secret rule to Alluka though, 'cause she needs something to balance her powers. Or maybe I forgot some rule to that.)

Just to clarify, from what little I have watched I don't think '99 was an awful trainwreck. It had some weird characterizations, sure. But there were parts that I enjoyed too, like the Sushi Test and the pilot episode. First episode was awesome imo. But pacing was a bit slow afterwards, and that sucks even more if your internet connection is slow too. I read the manga while I was waiting for an episode to buffer, and I only remembered to watch it after I finished an arc. Yeah, the manga hooked me better than the anime mostly because of pacing.

I still think '99 is okay as a standalone. It just didn't hook me, personally.

To be fair Killua could have got the bombs from Milluki (though I don't see Milluki giving them away for free. Unless Killua just stole them.)
But still it's just like "How do we get past this trap? Don't worry I have mini bombs." O.o. Really? They don't even explain how or why
he even has bombs. Siper having a sniper rifle makes sense as she obviously uses it all the time. Or Geretta having a blow dart gun/club.
But Killua practically NEVER uses bombs. It's not his style. I dunno maybe he was trying to be prepared but it feels really out of place.
Plus if Killua could think to blow up the wall then then why didn't he think of that during trick tower? Gon had to figure it out by
watching Leorio and Tonpa fight (whereas in the manga Gon realized it from the taskmasters fighting.)

Plus what I REALLY don't like about it all.

So you thought all three opening the gate in the 2011 was bad? How about Leorio (and Kurapika) needing to be RESCUED and only passing
because Killua had bombs that otherwise he really never uses? There's none of the baloney in the manga or 2011 adaptation. Leorio simply
gets tired. Gon watches to see what he'll do. Leorio gets pumped up and runs like mad. Leorio used sheer will power to finish the first exam.

I remember that the site of the Hunter exam gets changed every year, how come Killua knows about that shortcut if he knows nothing about the whole place!

apparition appeared brigade soon! Than 30 minutes when 17 tomorrow in that, do the press conference the voice of brigade members. In this Twitter, and tweet in real time. I serve as the moderator of the role of Shinya Mari Let me grace and Killua Gon Ban ... role. Our attention is also her "first try"! Please check it.

I used google translation on the NTV site.

I'm utterly confused.

Madhouse pays so much attention to some of the details in the Manga.

Good catch!

 

[SHINOBI-03]

When exactly has he acted the jerk, look evil or act evil in the 2011 anime so far? I can't think of a single thing. Maybe in the manga when he starts losing it in the CA arc or bits of Yorknew (actually I don't remember much about Yorknew).

Best example I could think of right now: In the manga and the new anime, Gon stole Ponzo's badge while she was asleep. Doeasn't that make him a jerk compared to the old anime when he left her and Leoreo had to do it himself?

---------- Post added at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

Here's another example: In the old anime, when Gon realized that Hisoka was going after Kurapika and Leoreo, he first thought about sticking to his plan of stealing Hisoka's badge. He decided to stick to his plan over saving his friends. But because he's not a total jerk, he rethought about it and decided to step in if they're going to fight. In the old anime he was willing to help them from the start.

 

[Cinnabar]

For me at least, it's kind of strange to have some mass murdering kid act interact normally with other people and then all of a sudden at the last phase suddenly scream about wanting to live a normal life as a kid. By strange I mean the dichotomy isn't internally explainable and seems more like bad writing - but this is my personal opinion. I think there are other ways to make the audience wary of Killua but it would require a balance to be struck without making the character difficult to believe in.

Then I guess this boils down to which balanced way of writing Killua each of us would prefer, then? I was personally alright with how Killua was originally portrayed because I can tell there's a lot more going on with him than meets the eye, so I was willing to wait for further developments (and boy did Killua develop a lot in the manga).

Here's what I think about 1999 Killua based on first impressions: '99 Killua has problems with the morals of killing. Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling '99 Killua wants to stop killing 'cause it's wrong. Or because Gon doesn't like that. Or something. I don't know. But it's kind of odd to see him restrain himself, but go all out with Jones. But again, this is all just first impressions, so it's not a very concrete opinion.

The placement is everything. The music is used to set the tone, characterize a scene and characterize a character as well. Think back for example of the scene where Gon goes through Bourbon's body among a pit of snakes. What are you trying to portray? The difference between playing Gon's parade theme versus playing nothing at all is already quite significant.

Music is powerful, and when not used right, the scenes can be off-putting for some. I agree with you here, though I guess I'm less iffy about it than you are simply because I don't really care much about the music. There were times that I thought the music was jarring too, though.

It's the damn music that distorts the character to the extent that not only can you not take the character itself seriously, you can't take the show seriously either. Thing with Gon is that he can be an inch away from certain death, figure something out, and then leap into the air almost kind of cross eyed in joy. It's (unintentionally) creepy. Then there's the way Gon and Killua are drawn and so on.

Gon is supposed to be - what - 11 years old? But there's no way in hell a typical 11 year old on planet Earth in real life is like him AT ALL. Considering the target audience is children Gon was presumably adjusted so that he would be easier to relate to. In the manga Gon isn't as mature as he is portrayed in the 1999 series but he isn't as childlike as portrayed in the 2011 series either.

I always thought the bolded part was intentionally creepy. Younger and less perceptive might miss it though. But anyway, I thought that was canon of Gon. Killua even says during Heaven's Arena that Gon loves the thrill of fighting. Wing is astonished that Gon is willing to put his life on the line for exercise training (Gido Round 1). Gon himself tells Kurapika that he felt excitement when Hisoka was grabbing him by the throat during the Second Phase. It's this part of Gon that intrigued me while reading the manga. I took notice of these scenes right as I read them, and I thought they were odd. But these scenes are kind of subtle ways of showing Gon's nature.

And childlike? Gon is a kid. What else did you expect? I'm actually glad Gon is presented as a bit childlike, because that's what he is. A child. Even I get that impression during the first arc in the manga (though a bit less so than the 2011 anime). I guess I'm just tired of seeing the precocious kid in animes. Usually, when I see a kid in manga or anime, half the time they don't act like kids. So it's kind of refreshing seeing Gon, and even Killua, as childlike sometimes. Because despite being portrayed as such, if you watch closely you'll see that there's still more to them than just being kids. But, first and foremost, they are kids.

Huh? Yes. There's no way HxH is for kids so it would make more sense to target it to a more mature demographic. But currently the show really is targeted to children.

I think what they are targeting is new fans. New fans include younger audiences (because it's shounen after all), but younger audiences =/= kids. Their timeslot is in the morning, so it just so happens that kids will also watch it.

When exactly has he acted the jerk, look evil or act evil in the 2011 anime so far? I can't think of a single thing. Maybe in the manga when he starts losing it in the CA arc or bits of Yorknew (actually I don't remember much about Yorknew).

Gon stealing taking Ponzu's tag while she was asleep (cheekily, might I add, and with no remorse whatsoever). Letting someone die to get Hisoka's tag (also without remorse). Beating up crippled people (though it was understandably censored in '99; again, no remorse). And, though he doesn't act like a jerk, it's also uncharacteristic of a kid to not care about people being dead (and a lot of people died in the Hunter Exam). Plus, look at how he doesn't flinch when Killua pulls the stunt on Jones.

EDIT: Whoops, SHINOBI-03 beat me to it. With pictures!

To be fair Killua could have got the bombs from Milluki (though I don't see Milluki giving them away for free. Unless Killua just stole them.)

Okay, I can give him that. Still, CrazyPrepared Killua? Really?

Leorio simply gets tired. Gon watches to see what he'll do. Leorio gets pumped up and runs like mad. Leorio used sheer will power to finish the first exam.

YES. THIS. I LOVE THIS SCENE. (Just need to put it out there. Leorio is awesome.)