REVIEW: Hunter X Hunter (1999 Vs 2011) - Pompeii For Elephants

REVIEW: Hunter x Hunter (1999 vs 2011)

Story Premise: In an extremely short summary, a young 12 year boy old name Gon pursues the career of a ‘Hunter’ in an attempt to find connections to his estranged father (who also happens to be one of the greatest Hunters in the world). Gon goes on many adventures with his friends Killua, Kurapica, and Leorio (& others) in order to gain strength and to find leads to his father.

There are some drawbacks: 1) Restyling of Characters: I still have yet to get used to the changed character designs (1999 above, 2011 below)

…. see what I mean?

Though I have to admit, Gon & Killua at least look their age in the 2011 version (12 years old) as opposed to 15-16.

2) Background Music: Whoever was in charge of the background music in the 2011 version of the 1st & 2nd arc needs to CALM THE F*** DOWN. I don’t think I’ve heard so many classical dramatic sonatas in an action anime!

3) Recoloring: Some of the recoloring is REALLY throwing me off. I get you have to make things different, but this different? (1999 vs 2011)

I mean, come on! At least the originals looked vaguely human! (Menchi, Pokkle, what happened?!)

4) Cutting Out Important Scenes: They’ve trimmed up a lot of excess video that wasn’t necessary, but left out an important part of the hunter exam that was supposed to force camaraderie amongst the candidates who previously saw each other as only enemies. (hint to those who’ve seen the 1999 version: the battleship escape). It was really important as well as interesting & they left it out!!! UGH

There are other examples, but that was the one that REALLY stuck out to me.

5) Yu Yu Hakusho vs Hunter x Hunter: I’ll address the elephant in the room… the 4 main characters DO show similar personalities, appearances & behaviors of the main characters of Yu Yu Hakusho (my all-time favorite anime). ***Both written by Yoshihiro Togashi*** HOWEVER, they give enough differential qualities to each character that the repetitiveness isn’t TOO bad, but yeah, it’s noticeable.

Hiei vs KilluaKillua is a lot more free-spirited & resents his murderous personality, trying to repress it whenever he can. He embraces friends, especially Gon. Killua wants nothing more than to escape from his family, while Hiei wishes more than anything that he was part of one.

Kurama vs KurapicaKurama has a much more analytical mind while Kurapica allows emotion to rule him from time to time, especially in the pursuit of revenge. Kurapica’s temper is far shorter than Kurama’s & will frequently get in fights over pride.

Yusuke vs GonGon is almost completely pure, totally naive. He has no notion of being better than anyone. He’s far from being a hotheaded like Yusuke.

Kuwabara vs LeorioWhile they both aspire the medical arts, Leorio is far more intelligent and can reign in his temper better than Kuwabara.

So while there are similarities, there are severe differences.

6) WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!: I’m watching this anime (which has the genre softness of Pokemon or maybe early Naruto), a bit of blood, a bit of hints at darker psychology, but then the Chimera Arc happened. JESUS CHRIST!!! IT WENT FROM POKEMON TO F***ING MIRAI NIKKI/BTOOOM!

(ABOVE: anyone who’s seen this part even ONCE knows exactly what’s happening & dear God were we unprepared for it! Yeah, don’t even pretend this part didn’t f*** you up!!!)

I still love the show, but I was so caught off guard! If you’re going to have a dark anime, that’s fine! But when you masquerade it behind arcs full of friendship, camaraderie, and happy-go-lucky characters, it REALLY throws everyone!

Arc 1: Meeting Friends, working together! (A few creepy characters)Arc 2: I’ll do anything for my friends (only a bit of dark ideas)Arc 3: Let’s go help another friend! (this time there’s more blood, murder, and cut-throat characters, but it’s pretty glazed over)Arc 4: Yu-Gi-Oh/Pokemon card-game kind of setting which came out of nowhere (again, some murder but mainly glazed over except for 1 scene)Arc 5: WHAT THE FUCK?!?! THESE GUYS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN MAIN CHARACTERS, BUT WHY THE HELL ARE THEY NOW THROWN INTO THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS?!?!Arc 6: Ok, going back to doing anything to save my friend and a bit of politics!

7) The Randomness of the Arcs: So if you read the previous point, I think it’s the main problem with this anime. While the arcs are well-established individually, shifting from arc to arc is like switching animes. Each arch seemed to cater to different age groups and, unfortunately, it’s a HUGE flaw.

8) Gon’s Fishing Rod: The fishing rod was an extremely unique weapon that was used with many purposes. It was a defining factor for Gon’s character & it just kind of disappeared from the series. It belonged to his father, why wouldn’t he be using it in Gon’s quest to follow in his father’s footsteps? It was really disappointed; it made Gon into a more innocent kind of generic main character of any combat anime.

9) WHERE THE HELL IS KURAPIKA?!?!: First off, don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to let a character have time off. Then it makes their time when their present or when they come back all the more important. But Kurapika is missing for a whopping 3 ARCS. 3 ARCS. That is a HUGE problem! They advertised and ran this show as a 4 man team, but then it’s… Gon & Killua finding new friends (which is okay) but then Leorio comes back all the time and it seems like there’s a gaping hole where Kurapika should be.

Granted, I haven’t read the manga, and it’s possible the author is writing in a great new arc about Kurapika probably losing his mind with revenge, causing him to forget his friends. If that’s the case, it’s okay, but it had better be a pretty damned good arc!

11) 13th Chairman Election Arc: The election was a great way to get a lot of elements together: Killua saving Gon, Gon seeing his father, addressing the lack of a leader in the hunter society, etc. But that’s the problem: it should have stayed that way. It should have stayed as a kind of background event to get those aspects together. They dove sooooo deeply into the politics and the decisions and it was so hard to follow that I just found myself skipping ahead! Granted, a lot of interesting characters & great results, but watching it keep me on the fast-forward.

12) The Possible Hints Given By The Ending: I loved how they ended it, I did! My point here is that Ging said that certain things weren’t from their world (The World Tree, the Chimera Ant queen) and therefore there’s more to explore. That’s a great thing! That’s awesome, if there’s another side to the coin of their world, great!

Here’s what I dread: I do not want this to turn into a space/dimension exploring anime.

If they do that, this anime will go on forever and the places to keep track of will be innumerable. They’ve kept this to their own world and they can continue to explore, but please don’t go that far. Don’t turn this into a DBZ thing please (no offense)!

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• HOWEVER, MY FAVORITE THINGS:

1) This version has a lot more focus: Wheras the original 1999 version went all over the place inside the arcs, at least with the 2011 version seems to have planned out precisely where it’s going & exactly how fast it needs to go (at least within each arc).

2) Gon & Killua in this series ARE FREAKING GOD D*MN PRECIOUS. It’s a friendship done perfectly, not taken too far or underplayed in any way. I literally CANNOT get enough of them. While they’re wise and serious when they need to be, they still act like kids when they have free time. I appreciate the time taken to do that with these characters because, let’s face it, they are children!

3) The 1st Ending: ’Just Awake’ by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, is ridiculously hardcore but amazing. It’s really grown on me!To listen, CLICK HERE!

4) Smoother Animation: The fights are animated SO much better! The characters’ actions are a lot more fluid & the angles are incredibly drastic! It makes for some ridiculously exciting combat scenes.

(the use of free-flying weapons [chain, yoyo, fishing rod] is INCREDIBLE)

5) The music-action sequence timing: I know I complained about the strange classical intensity, but when the action sequences are on, the characters’ movements are lined up perfectly.

(though I must say that the line Killua sings in the 1st ending [see link above] at the very end is my favorite)

6) The explanation of Nen: In the 1999 version, they skip through it VERY quickly; any examples of the different aspects of Nen are glossed over which leaves everyone confused. It’s a huge problem since Nen becomes a key element! In the 2011 version, they actually explain it! I can get on board with the concepts that they’re trying to convey. It’s easier to understand the struggles the characters go through during a battle involving Nen.

For those of you who don’t quite understand Nen, here’s a summary:

Nen - (Mind Force), a technique that allows a living being to use & manipulate their own life energy; also known as aura

The 4 exercises to achieve Nen are as follows (in order):Ten - (Point) focus the mind, and determine your goal within your mindZetsu - (Tongue) put your goal into wordsRen - (Tempter) Intensify your will*****Ren itself can be so powerful that some will back down at its intensityHatsu - (Release) Put the goal & will into action

(this is an example of Zetsu, in this case he’s using it to brainwash)

(this is an example of Ren, threatening an opponent with only malicious intent)

7) The Rare Appearances of Ging: In the 1999 version, Ging (Gon’s father) is rarely shown. When he was, I would think “Um… I guess that could be his dad…” (1999 version just below)

With the 2011 Ging, I can DEFINITELY see Gon growing up to look & dress just like him. (Looking at the 1999 vs 2011 versions below, you’ll think I’m picky, but it’s the little details like hair color, facial design, hair, that make the difference)(2011 below)

I mean, come on, that last gif looks EXACTLY like Gon (but older)

9) Killua & Alluka: Once again, another relationship done perfectly. He accepts both personalities in her and goes above and beyond to take care of them both. Also, it should be noted that Alluka IS male! Killua calls him ‘sister’ because he recognizes that either her or ‘Something’ is female (as shown by her shrine-maiden dress, speech, etc). It doesn’t take away from Gon and Killua’s relationship, and I loved the entire premise of their relationship.

10) Gon & Killua Parting Ways: As much as it made me want to cry & super-glue them together forever, I thought this was a great time for them to part the way they did. There’s nothing that says they won’t meet up again. It’ll make their friendship more powerful if they have times apart anyway.

Though, to be honest, I saw this series as one that had 2 main characters. I know that Gon was supposed to be the only main character, but come on, Killua honestly was the other main. I feel like their splitting up 2 halves of 1 identity and it breaks my heart.

I’ll just hope when (& it had better be ‘when’) the continuation comes out, that they’ll have another adventure together.

11) The Ending: The 2011 series finished on a wonderful note, with plenty of directions to go. They didn’t change Ging’s character, he’s still going to go off and do his own thing, but there was closure about Gon’s whole journey. It makes you wonder about what Gon will do next, who will join him, and where he’ll go since the whole ‘other world’ theory has been presented.

So that’s it, everyone, that’s my comparison review of Hunter x Hunter! Hopefully, there will be another series to continue the story that will be as good if not better than HxH 2011!!!

“You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Because that’s where you’ll find the things more important than what you want.”