A Great Adventure Awaits! – Hunter x Hunter (2011) – First 50 Episodes Review

I finally started watching Hunter x Hunter (2011) the other day. It’s a series that has been on my radar for awhile but I just had not got around to it.

The story is our protagonist, Gon, wants to become a hunter and find his father, who abandoned him to pursue his hunter career when he was young. Along the way, Gon, is joined by three others – Kurapika,
Killua, and Leorio who each have their own reasons to become a hunter.

Kurapika is seeking revenge for his clan, Killua is from a family of assassin’s and desires friends, and Leorio wants to become a doctor.

The series starts off a little slow with the hunter exams but quickly picks up. The hunter exams are a series of tests that hunters must go through to score their hunters license. The test is extremely challenging and many participants die in the process. Of course, our protagonists, all manage fine with one exception but that was because of circumstances beyond his control.

The next arcs: rescuing Killua, Heavens Arena and York New City fair better and do a lot to develop the world and the characters abilities.

In particular, the Heavens Arena arc is where the characters finally learn to harness this world’s main ability called nen. This is the chakra, ki or reishi of the series, and is all about manipulating ones aura. Aura can be manipulated to create many unique abilities.

The character designs are misleading. they give the impression of a much lighter hearted series than this actually is. It does have its light hearted moments, yes but the series deals with many darker issues such as abandonment, abuse and revenge. You’re not going to be depressed after watching by any means but its not for younger audiences either as the art may imply.

The character designs are all recognisable and iconic, and will not lend themselves to confusion with other series.

Sound-wise, the series is decent. The opening and ending are recognisable and catchy, especially the music that plays at the conclusion of every episode. Character voices wise, I watched the dub and its of a consistent high quality.

Overall, I would recommend this series. I am looking forward to watching the remaining episodes in the next few weeks, and I know I am going to be disappointed when this ends.