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Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Night of the Hunter x Hunter
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justsomeaccount
 Posts: 471 |
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The whole Yu Yu Hakusho deal in the later volumes is fascinating and shows how much of a particular author Togashi was even back then. I recommend this article that explains his burnout that he revealed in a hidden doujinshi he made after the series ended:
https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/the-original-togashi-crack-up/ Oh, and about the villains, my favorites are clearly the Phantom Troupe, every single one of them are already really enjoyable individually, but as a group it's one of the best villain groups I've seen in anime. Sometimes they get in future arcs a little presence for (I guess) fanservice reasons to see them again and I just love it every single time. But Hisoka is also a great villain, and Meruem and the Royal Guards are also very interesting (even though I don't love that arc and many developments, at least the character's fundamentals for the villains are really strong and fascinating). Togashi really has the time of his life making some fun villains, indeed. P.S.: Does the spoiler["love triangle" between Gon, Palm and "Killua"] count as romance? :B |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Hunter X Hunter was a series with a really strong start for me. I decided to get the volumes as Viz published them right from the start. People say it gets better later on, but personally, the Hunter Exam is already pretty strong. I have no idea how much respect it gets on Toonami though. (By that, I mean from viewers, not from Toonami--that Toonami chose it is a sign of great respect already.)
I really like the cerebral nature of the fighting in Hunter X Hunter. Some other shonen series have characters throwing their special moves at each other (especially Bleach), but the characters in Hunter X Hunter will do so only as a last resort or if they're sure they will win. Everyone tries to avoid showing their hands as much as possible because it means their opponents will likely discover their shortcomings and weaknesses. My favorite villain depends. When it comes to fighting, it's definitely Chrollo, as his book allows him to draw out a variety of different powers, keeping any fight with him highly unpredictable and making him arguably the most strategic character in combat. Narratively, it's Illumi, an older brother of Killua whose dedication to his family causes him to frequently stand in Killua's path. Whatever character development Killua gets, Illumi opposes it and tries to remove it and bring Killua back to how he was at the start of the series, and as it goes on and Killua develops further as a character, the more active and desperate Illumi becomes. Illumi also resents getting passed up as the next Zoldyck patriarch in favor of Killua, making him a conflicting character, intensely dedicated to his family's goals while not being taken that seriously by his parents. |
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No Comment
 Posts: 83 |
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I am coincidentally watching Yu Yu Hakusho now. I heard someone mention it was all streaming on Funimation, and since I liked Hunter X Hunter a lot, I checked it out. I'm currently 40 episodes in, and I like it, but it is one of those things where I keep thinking, "well, HxH did this better" at various points. Having seen HxH, Level E, and part of Yu Yu Hakusho, some reoccurring plot elements and character types definitely run through Togashi's work, and Hunter X Hunter seems like a perfection of those concepts. One of the biggest draw-ins of Hunter X Hunter for me was just how imaginative and creative it was, and YYH only has offered occasional glimpses of that. The characters are fun to watch though, you're 100% right about Kuwabara being awesome (Botan being a close 2nd). I also wholeheartedly prefer fighting based around other objectives like most of HxH rather than straight up tournament duels. While the Dark Tournament was a nice change up at first, it has overstayed its welcome for me already and I'm not even halfway through it. That's another one of HxH's strengths; none of the arcs overstay their welcome (Chimera Ant arc is debatable) and all are wildly different from one another.
When it comes to the bad guys of Hunter X Hunter, no one beats Hisoka for me, he's gone on to become one of my favorite anime characters (Leorio too). As for my favorite arc, I prefer Yorknew City. The Chimera Ant arc has higher peaks, but its seconds-per-episode pacing was sometimes too much to handle and overall runs a bit long; Yorknew City is both fun and grim, action packed, fairly paced, and the last time in the series that the main 4 characters get equalish screen time. Great article. It's a shame Netflix never added the last 40 something episodes. I had to switch over to Crunchyroll to watch the rest. |
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RachelBee
Posts: 5 |
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The Chimera Ants are some of the most fascinating villains I've seen in anything, just based on their "alien" mindset and values. In particular, I love how Neferpitou starts out being completely terrifying (calmly and methodically dissecting the brain of a live human Hannibal-style, puppeting Kite's corpse) but by the end of the arc, they've become... almost sympathetic? I love how the whole arc gradually makes ideas about heroes and villains seem irrelevant, especially in the Netero vs. Meruem fight and its fallout.
(And, uh, in terms of a series romance, I would like to speak a word for Leorio/Kurapika, which has been my OTP since I was literally 13 years old. The end of the Yorkshin Arc seals the deal for me. If only Kurapika would ANSWER HIS PHONE) |
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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That's never stopped shippers before. 
I've been keeping up-to-date on HXH now that it's on Toonami, but I find the episodes horribly paced. I hate how they're basically 1=1 adaptations of the manga, no surprise, no changes. It's en eyesore to watch things even go down with the same camera angles. It's a fun story, and I'm sure it'll get fun once I get to the episodes from chapters I didn't read, but man is that stuff a grind. I'd be better off reading the manga in the first place. I sure hope I see Kite again soon, though. Love that guy's design. |
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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If you ask me "whot's" my favorite villain in Hunter x Hunter, I would definetely go for Neferpitou. The Gen'ei Ryodan and Hisoka are charming villains, they are entertaining enough, and somewhat interesting, but unlike the Chimera Ants, they don't exactly fascinate me.
Most argue that Meruem would be your favorite villain if the Chimera Ants is your favorite villain group, but I find Pitou more intriguing, especially when compared to the other two Royal Guards. Their development might be a little on the fast-paced side, but I'd daresay it's surprisingly honest, and the one that gives me the most questions about them. I'm still wondering whether they actually felt sorry or not. When I manage to, I try to watch some dubbed episodes just for fun, and I'm honestly surprised how well-pronounced names are, plus voices fit everyone pretty well, but it doesn't stand out as of yet; we'll know about that in later arcs.
Well, yeah, the first 25 episodes were more of a "pilot" by Madhouse (hence why there was no Kite at the start), so they took literally no risks in their adaptation; I'd say that starting the Heaven's Arena is when you start seing things bing slightly different from the manga (not in content, it's literally the same but taking artistic liberties). The best example of that would be the Chimera Ant arc, which we are like 60 episodes away from, so be patient. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 1928 |
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Yeah, and then it becomes even more violent than the 1999 version such as spoiler[Hisoka losing his arms. Still, I read in forums that Madhouse had to censor some bits from the Chimera arc.] |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Hmmm, my favorite HxH villain would probably be Meruem, which is strange since I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Genei Ryodan. Still, Meruem interested me because even though his entire purpose for being born was to rule over everything, he still understood that there was more in life than just fighting. For someone who basically looks like an updated Cell, seeing him bond with Komugi and even lash out as his underlings and put himself in danger when she was in harm, it really showed that even with all his power, talents, and abilities, he was still able to respect someone who could beat him, and he acknowledged the importance of Gung-gi and similar strategic games as well and wasn't just looking to beat up the strongest person around, a very stark contrast to Cell.
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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I never saw those interviews and letters from Togashi, it gives a lot of insight on what he did with YYH and is now doing with HxH, and mostly supports what I think of him as one of my favorite authors.
They were pretty clever about some things. spoiler[ When Gon's right hand is blew up by Genthru, it looks as if it was burn to a crisp, so it doesn't seem severed. In the Chimera Ant, they played with camera angles to not completely show Meruem's own severed arm, this was one episode before or later before they changed the airtime to a later slot. They also sorta toned down Kite's severed arm, Killua slicing off a Chimera's head and some small other changes, like when Morel gives everyone the finger when escaping with Novu around the end of the fight. But my favourite one was when we see Palm leaving Bizeff asleep after he abused her, in the manga Togashi cleverly put a small, almost unnoticieable vibrator by his side, it opens up to imagination as to what exactly happened there, Madhouse of course did not include it. ] |
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gedata
 Posts: 615 |
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[quote="tintor2"]
spoiler[The manga was a bit more gratuitous, to the point where western releases has some nasty bits scribbled out] |
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Dayblack
Posts: 148 |
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Hunter x Hunter undervalued? hahaha good joke
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Covnam
 Posts: 3746 |
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One of my co-workers kept going on about HxH, so I decided to check it out when it came to toonami. Ok so far.
Disappointed to hear that there's no potential romantic interests in the future, though that's usually unfortunately light in most action oriented SJ series. With the 2011 series, is there any reason to watch the previous? I'd guess no, but figured I'd ask. |
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Ultimatum
 Posts: 162 |
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I think the best thing about Hunter X Hunter is that it never gets bogged down. I remember reading some of the Yu Yu Hakusho tournament arcs you mentioned and getting really bored even with some of my favorite charactes fighting, because it just went on for so long with no end in sight. When you start thinking "What's the point?" it's usually time to stop reading.
HXH, on the other hand, moves briskly. The fights are all wrapped up fairly quickly, for a shonen and breaking them up with large segments of world-building, character bonding, and political machinations (something Fullmetal Alchemist also did really well). It never feels like the author's run out of ideas, and something is always going on in the world he's created and with the characters he's made. This might be why my favorite arc is the spoiler[Alluka, Nanika and Killua revive Gon arc], and my least favorite is the Chimera Ant arc. The former somehow made an election into an incredible watch from the strength of the characters and the juggled subplots, while I kind of felt that the latter had a lot of good moments spoiler[(Everything about the King and Komugi, Gon's spiral into chaos, Mr. Octopus, various changing partnerships)], but got bogged down with the sheer length of the storyline. Though, I watched the 2011 anime for that part, so it might have been better in print. |
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Mr. Toto
 Posts: 139 |
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My favorite villain is probably Uvogin because of his simplicity. He's very pure-hearted, yet malicious at the same time. He really reminds me of a wild animal.
Meruem is great because his logic makes a ton of sense--Togashi really did a great job of portraying animal ideology through his King of Predators. Chrollo is so mysterious and intelligent. His charisma is there and I'm very curious about his upbringing, which is something I think we'll eventually discover (alongside the foundation of the Troupe). Tserriednich seems interesting simply because he's a sociopathic and intelligent man with the power to do whatever he wants. I want to see the depths of his depravity. I've gotta say that while I think Hisoka is a great villain, I find him more despicable than most of the other villains because of his perversions. He's very similar to other protagonists in his desire to dominate, but it feels gross because of his intent. |
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Hidders
 Posts: 61 |
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My favorite villain is without a doubt Hisoka, 'specially after his character gets fleshed out a bit.
A close second would be Feitan, though that might be my bias to YYH's Hiei. |
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