Hunter X Hunter

 

This weeks anime is an adventure fantasy show.

This 2011, extremely popular anime follows the story of 12 year old Gon Freecss who leaves his small town to become like his father by taking the Hunter Examination. There he meets his now best friends who also take the exam with him. Kurapika who takes the exam because he wants to avenge his dead clan from the Phantom Troupe. Leorio, who takes the exam to pay for medical school and receive all the benefits that being a Hunter gives you. Lastly, 12 year old Killua Zoldyck who takes the exam because he's tired of following his family's assassin life.

Because this is a long running show--148 episodes--the story is split into various arcs, sections of the story that focus on a subplot that ultimately affect the entirety of the plot. So yes, these four characters are extremely important, but there are also many more that play a huge roll into shaping the story. We slowly get introduced to more characters throughout the arcs.

The first arc is obviously the Hunter Examination Arc where they are tested through different trials of stamina and combat--participants can lose their life too but that was a given from the start.

A list of arc order is as followed:

• Zoldyck Family Arc (this one is actually unofficial but fans consider it one because of all the episodes). This arc focuses on Killua and his family of assassins.
• The Heavens Arena Arc, where the spotlight is on Gon and Killua learning how to become stronger while fighting various opponents in a tournament style arena. 
• Yorknew City Arc focuses on Kurapika versus the powerful Phantom Troupe. 
• Greed Island Arc follows Gon and Killua entering a video game in hopes to find Gon's father since he was the one who created it.
• Chimera Ant Arc, the arc that is said what makes Hunter X Hunter so good (my personal favorite too), focuses on a powerful species of ants that want to take over the world.
• 13th Hunter Chairman Election Arc, the last arc of the show that centers on the next "president" of all Hunters.

A lot more happens in each arc than just this tiny description I gave you. Trust me. The show has its moments of fun and playfulness, but can also get extremely dark, extremely fast.

The show also focuses a lot on the whole world building on how each character has a unique power or how this show calls it "nen". This also means that each character fights differently, and there's a ton of fighting in general.

With the amount of characters and the different styles of fighting they each bring to the table, if you don't like the main three characters, I'm sure there will be at least someone else you might take a liking to.

This show is typically targeted towards young boys, but similar to super hero movies/shows, anyone can enjoy this anime if they like badass fights, with badass characters, in a badass world.

Here is a quick trailer of the start of the Chimera Ant Arc:

These are a few places to watch this show, some offer all the episodes and some offer one language over the other:

• Crunchyroll
  
• Netflix (only offers the first 75 episodes)
• Hulu (only offers the first 79 episodes)

This is one of the most popular anime for a reason. The only thing is that it's a pretty long show for non-anime watchers. Another downside is that the anime doesn't finish the story, and we don't know when it ever will be finished. It's adapted from books--manga--and the author has health problems that puts it in hiatus for months, sometimes even years long. It has been given the name "Hiatus X Hiatus" because of it. This anime is still worth the watch though, it holds up to its popular name. So be ready for an action packed adventure.

If you already watched this anime or plan on it, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!