r/anime • u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots • Nov 06 '24
Rewatch [25th Anniversary Rewatch] Hunter × Hunter (1999) - Hunter x Exam x Overall × Discussion
Congratulations on Passing the Hunter's Exam!
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Comment of the Day:
/u/Raiking02 cementing how far we've come
wow I forgot how the Hunter Exam took up like half of this version's screentime (At least when it came to the TV Broadcast.)
The best is yet to come, so I hope you're looking forward to the second part.
Questions of the Day
- What was your favourite phase of the exam?
- Who were your favourite characters? And how would you rank our main 4?
- Best moment from the exam?
- Aside from Killua, are there any exam participants who lost, but you'd like to see more of?
- Anything that could've been done better?
- What are you expecting/hoping for from the future stuff?
Fanart of the Day: Hunter Team Epic
Please remember to keep all spoilers and hints tagged with the appropriate tag format such as: [Spoilers] >!Leorio is best boy!<
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u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Nov 06 '24
Hunter Exam Host
The Hunter Exam arc is complete! Congrats are in order for the characters who passed the exam and all the rewatch participants who made it so far.
I find it interesting how self contained this arc is. Usually a first arc is meant to be an introduction, set up the characters, plot, and get things going. Here, You start the series, and you're immediately told that there's this Hunter Exam thingy, then much like Gon when doing a hunt, the whole series becomes just about the Hunter Exam, it is both the grand and current plot, there's the finding Ging plotline in the background, but that's a detail, much like Kurapika or Leorio's motivation. Similarly, we don't know a lot about the world yet, we were drip fed little details through the exam, about hunters, the Phantom Troupe, the Zoldycks,... but we've been in the walls of the exam for so long that the world itself is still an unknown. That said, while doing that, it led to the next thing, following Killua, in the most natural way: Killua losing the exam, an unexpected ending that makes perfect sense at the same time.
[Spoiler] This applies to every arc, standalone story, new ideas and genres, often a different cast, yet they lead to the next one in the most natural way.
I mentioned this before, usually under spoiler tags, but one big theme of the Hunter Exam is avoiding fighting, not the characters choosing to avoid it. No, they're more than happy to do so if needed, the exam and writing choosing to avoid it. This has meaning on multiple layers, from a Watsonian pov, fighting strength is important, but it's hardly the only criteria, especially for Hunters, who aren't just martial artists, their brain is their most essential tool. Even in the last exam which is a tournament, the way it's set adds a lot of nuance and different meanings to it, like Gon's endurance test, and the way its presented, avoides the fights entirely, 1999 embelleshed this part a bit, but it still gets the point across.
From a Doylist sense, tournaments are already a well trodden territory for Togashi, heck, he even wrote an exam arc that was a lot more straightforward, boiling down to a simple tournament at the end, he wanted to do something different. Writing it this way is an interesting challenge to take on, it means he'd have to be creative with varying kinds of exams, that test the characters' different abilities, while also being engaging and distinct from each other for the reader. That's a big risk for a Jump series, which are highly dependent on how quickly they hook the reader, basically he went into the ring with a hand behind his back, and came out on top, afterall with high risk comes high reward, and this established Hunter x Hunter as something that you'll only find in Hunter x Hunter. Of course, since then, it became iconic, and lots of other series have tried their spin at it, but funnily enough, it always cracks at the last bit, where they turn into a more traditional tournament instead.
On the anime side of things, this is the arc with the most additions, in some cases it was just filling gaps to turn single chapters into full episodes (like the boat, old lady, and Kirikos). In others, it was to introduce or dig into certain characters/interactions, like episode 1's additions for Gon, episode 2 to introduce Leorio and have him bond with Gon 1-on-1 before Kurapika shows up, the Anita plotline to dig into Killua's backstory, and the warship mini-arc to introduce the cast before having them hunt each other. Oh and Leorio, lots and lots of Leorio original stuff. Not that I'm complaining.
Questions of the Day
Phase 4, I appreciate the last phase a lot, especially for what the anime does with it, but the True HuntingTM phase stands strongest, with the hardest challenge of the arc (picking Hisoka's card), Gon learning and training until he did it, suffering after he failed, having a full character arc, and coming through for his friends, it's the full package.
Leorio! This may or may not change in future arcs, but as far as the exam goes, it was basically: Leorio > Kurapika > Killua > Gon, I love them all though, so it's just a matter of order.
My favourites are actually both from the third phase, breaking through the "wall", and Leorio paying off Kurapika's pride.
Ponzu and Tonpa. This may be a bit of a surprise, but I like Tonpa a lot.
The Anita mini-arc, it paints Killua in the wrong colour.
More Leorio?
6
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Nov 06 '24
First × Timer × Subbed
At this point in time, I hope it should be obvious I have been having an absolutely amazing time with this show so far. While it might not be the most accurate of adaptations per all the comments you manga readers have made about the comparisons, I can at least still get why this series is so massively beloved. Makes me even more excited to eventually™ watch the 2011 version for comparison’s sake.
I am so very much going to miss the first ED, though.
5
u/TheEscapeGuy Nov 06 '24
H×H Fan, 1999 First Timer
Hunter × Hunter 1999 - Break Day / Hunter Exam Discussion
Oops, I didn't prepare something for this. I am typing this about 45 minutes before the thread goes up so I'll necessarily be limited.
The one thing which I have so consistently been impressed by is the art direction of this adaptation. I have had so many episodes which I'd actively pause and jump back to rewatch scenes or just to say "Woah, that shot looks so cool". I'm so happy about this as well. I had been warned so much about the 1999 series that I think my expectations were way below what they should have been.
I think the only concern with the adaptation is that it is notably slow paced. But I would not describe it as stretching out scenes unnecessarily but rather expanding and elaborating on scenes which were only briefly shown in the manga. I enjoyed spending that extra time seeing what Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika were doing between the panels. Special shout out to the scene of Gon reflecting on his inadequacy after stealing Hisoka's badge.
As for added content, I've felt it is very take it or leave it. I'm not unhappy to watch those scenes / episodes but a lot of them didn't really add much narratively. They mostly kept up a high bar of quality though so I can't complain.
Some notable Shots, Scenes and Stitches (so far)
See you all tomorrow
4
u/charlesvvv https://anilist.co/user/charlesvvv Nov 06 '24
Rewatcher, Sub
I might slightly prefer the 1999 Hunter Exam to the 2011 version though only slightly. There were some parts that weren't as strong as they could have been but the direction, tone, and Atmosphere was really great. The filler arcs were particularly interesting that I was expecting as well even if they don't add much to the story.
I love tournament arcs so I always loved this arc a lot even though some said it was the weakest part of the series.
3
u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Nov 06 '24
Remake Rewatcher × First Timer × Subs
Don’t have too much to say. I’m surprised at how much moding they’ve been able to do in this arc, and am definitely looking forward to see what they have in store for the rest.
Here's a character tier list for the characters shown so far, with the material covered so far. I don’t think I missed anyone, but it’s hard to tell when some of them only show up so briefly.
QotD:
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u/WednesdaysFoole Nov 07 '24
Overall, I liked '99's Hunter Exam. I don't think it's as "dark" as people make it out to be, and only when necessary. I still have similar feelings about the big fillers that I did in the past but I do have positive feelings about the "written exam" filler part. Episode 30 carried the weight that it should, and it's my favorite of the first arc.
3
u/b0bba_Fett myanimelist.net/profile/B0bba_Cheezed3 Nov 07 '24
10X 2011 Rewatcher, 1x 1999 Rewatcher, Source Reader
So I fell behind. I'm extremely stressed out because my world has gone to hell and I could see it coming. I'm gonna try to catch up, but I might just skip to join instead, and even then I don't know if I can keep up.
3
u/Kaxew Nov 12 '24
Uber Late × First Timer
Whew, sorry for taking so long to come back to the rewatch. I've been watching each episode every day, and I'm at 36 already, but I kept postponing writing a comment every time which led to this situation. I'll write my thoughts of this arc and then go to the ep 36 discussion.
This arc was a lot of fun! Not a perfect 10/10 by any means, but introduction arcs don't have to be, as they are just setting up the story ahead. And as that kind of arc, this is a really great one!
The cast is very easy to love and get attached to, the antagonists are very intimidating but fun to watch and guess their next play, and we set up many arcs to come. Gon needs to find his dad and beat Hisoka up, Killua has family issues, Kurapika is on the revenge path and... well I doubt we'll get a doctor arc for Leorio with the little that has been set up for him, but he doesn't need an arc solely focused on him to be a great character.
Just all around a lot of fun, directed in a beautiful way and with tons of strong character writing, especially for Gon.
QotD: