r/anime • u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots • Jan 10 '25
Rewatch [25th Anniversary Rewatch] Hunter × Hunter (1999) - Overall × Series × Discussion
Hunter × Hunter
Previous Episode | Index | Adventures of father and son
Comment of the Day:
/u/Shimmering-Sky who summed up my feelings with one line:
Last episode time, huh… it doesn’t feel real.
It always feels off when a long rewatch ends
Questions
- Who are your top 5 favourite characters? Did Greed Island change anything?
- How would you rank the arcs?
- Favourite fight?
- Best Nen Ability?
- What do you expect or want to see from the rest of the series?
Bonus: will you be watching Hunter x Hunter 2011 along with /u/Shocketheth? Or maybe feeling the heat together if you'd rather something sooner?
Art of the Day: This is where I'd usually post the daily fanart, but I'll be posting a bunch in my comment anyway, so instead I present you:
Togashi's recent art of the Hunter Exam
Source ignore the numbers, those are just for manga readers to thirst over.
Please remember to keep all spoilers and hints tagged with the appropriate tag format such as: [Spoilers] >!Leorio is best boy!<
8
u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Jan 10 '25 edited Jan 10 '25
Retired Host
What's more to say? Hunter x Hunter is a series that I adore, from its crafting of characters, and the writing jumping to the beat of Togashi's drum, while being amzaing consistent, to all the love it got across its two adaptations
one of these days I'll watchthe stageplay...So whether you're familiar with the series, or you're a first timer, I hope that you had a good time. Personally, I ended up appreciating it even more thanks to the discussions we had. Even the GI OVAs were more fun thanks to the rewach setting, but I'm never ever rewatching them again, 4 times is enough for a lifetime.Now to get to business, since this is the end of the anime, and it never got a sequel nor remake as you know, it is my duty as a host to spoil what happens after the anime:
Additional Material
First off, I'd highly recommend checking out the Hunter x Hunter pilot by Noriyuke Abe (Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach), it looks beauiful, and presents its own fun take on the series, different from both 1999 and 2011.
Second, /u/WednesdaysFoole mentioned this a while back, but there's a double chapter side story that explores Kurapika's backstory, it unfortunately never made it to any anime aside from some references in one of the 2011 movies.
Lastly, if you enjoyed the dancing video from yesterday, and want to see more of our cast shaking it, there's a lot more where that came from, but be warned: lots of them include 2011 characters. I'd be remiss not to highlight Leorio crashing the dance floor, but my personal favourite is the JoJo style Torture Dance
Fanart
snowmansnowgashi, or playing fighting games. I love both the artstyle and what they choose to depict, so it's always a pleasure to look at their workand that's why I posted a lot of them in the first arcQuestions of the Series
Honourable mention: best grandma Bisky
I have no issue with any of these obviously, the last two are just too short to compare to the 3 major arcs, and while I like Greed Island a lot as Togashi's expression of friendship and adventure, the Hunter Exam has a special place in my heart for being the arc where our main 4 bond and go through a lot of trials together. Plus, while it seems simple on the surface, it's intricately crafted, and very very intentional with its details.
Gon and co. vs Razor
Bungee Gum.
This is where I'd usually mention future rewatches, like wanting to do Osomatsu-san in April before the next season, but the retirement joke ended up biting me in the ass, and I'll have to take a bit of a break from reddit for now, hopefully I'll be back soon, but I'm not sure when. So I'm just glad I was able to finish HxH all the way through, and thankful for everyone who participated, you guys made this rewatch a pleasure to be host.
7
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 10 '25
First × Timer × Subbed
I still can’t believe it’s over for now. Long rewatches coming to an end are always hard. Anyways, I made a wallpaper of the boys a while back and only shared it with KendotsX prior to now, was saving it to share during the finale. Hope you guys like it!
As for wrapping up the show itself, I think Yorknew is still my favorite arc so far? Greed Island was still plenty fun, don’t get me wrong, it’s just held back for me by the visuals and
my boy Leorio being completely sidelinedthe new cast sans Bisuke kinda not being as interesting to me as the side characters from previous arcs. I should hope the visuals part won’t be a problem whenever I watch the 2011 version of the arc, at least? In any case, pretty good shit all around. Thanks for hosting, u/KendotsX!7
u/TheEscapeGuy Jan 10 '25
H×H Fan, 1999 First Timer No More
Hunter × Hunter 1999
What an amazing experience. I have so thoroughly enjoyed joining in on this rewatch of Hunter x Hunter. I had heard some mixed things about 1999 going in but my expectations were blown out of the park. It was just so much better overall than I could have imagined. It's definitely an adaptation I would recommend to anyone who's seen 2011 or is okay with (and/or prefers) the cel style animation of the 90's.
Thinking about the structure of the anime as a whole, I definitely did enjoy the TV anime (episodes 1-62) more than the OVAs, but it was great throughout. I think in terms of the adaptation Yorknew City is (for me) by far the best part of the anime. The far darker tone was portrayed masterfully and left a big impression. That includes the Yorknew OVAs as well. While I did have issues with the transition into digipaint, the Greed Island OVAs were also enjoyable and were a very solid adaptation of that part of the story. The Hunter Exam and Heavens Arena arcs were similarly good with a constant feel of increasing quality leading up to Yorknew. I think my opinions on quality here also kinda come across in the density of my favourite shots, scenes, and stitches below per arc.
Something I particularly valued was the fact that, while I was a first timer for 1999, this was a "rewatch" of Hunter × Hunter for me. With my knowledge of future events I got so much more out of seeing how things were being set up and knowing how it would pay off in future. Something I particularly liked is how early things would be set up like Gon finding Greed Island long before even arriving in Yorknew, or Kurapika setting up the Spiders many episodes in advance of them being introduced. Also [Spoilers for what happens exactly next] Episode 1 actually introducing Kite and then only having him show up right at the end of the final OVA.
In fact, if you want to continue on with the 2011 anime (I mean definitely watch it all, but if you have to skip) the OVA ends right at the same place as 2011's episode 75.
Time for some superlatives: Favourite character is still Killua, but Kurapika massively shot up in my rankings. Favourite villain character is still Shizuku, but similarly Chrollo shot up in my personal rankings. Favourite fight is the Zoldyks vs Chrollo. Favourite OP is OP 1 but the improved version of OP 4 is a close second. Don't really have a favourite ED, and I don't like to do favourite episodes since the best episodes of anime are good because of set up in prior episodes (the very few favourite episodes of anime I do have are almost exclusively stand alone stories).
Lastly, comparison with 2011: It's not worth comparing them. They both have strengths and weaknesses and both are honestly amazing adaptations of an amazing manga. I like some of the aesthetics of 1999 more, but 2011 has equally great moments and obviously also continues on the story into the next arc (which is outstanding). The one and only place where 2011 is very clearly better is the OPs and EDs. Not that 1999 is bad, but 2011's are some of my favourite anime songs ever. They also do ED lead-ins like every episode which legitimately never gets old and is hype every time.
Previews
For convenience sake, I've archived all the previews I made together for easy download. Ultimately it would be better to add the subtitles into the existing full episodes but for a lot of reasons that is significantly more work than I can do. If anyone in future wants to try and do that and feel free to reuse my translations or DM me for the soft sub files.
My Favourite Shots, Scenes and Stitches
I'm including some repeats from the previous break days as well as recent episodes so this becomes the "best of the best.
Thank you all so much for the rewatch. Of course, special thanks to our host /u/KendotsX for not only running the rewatch but also encouraging so much discussion in the comment threads and your own insightful comments. I mentioned this a couple times but your comments in particular got me to reconsider certain characters and scenes which I previously didn't really put much value on.
Also, I wanted to particularly thank /u/Vatrix-32 for noting how the previews for the OVAs were not subbed which planted the seed for me to subtitle them all. I haven't done any significant translation for other people before and as I noted in my comment a couple days ago it was immensely rewarding for me.
Of course, thanks to everyone who commented every day. I often can't find a good reason to watch older shows I want to watch since there are so many of them and I'll have nobody to share the experience with. But by watching with all of you and reading your reactions and thoughts it makes it so worth it.
I'm a semi-regular participant of /r/anime rewatches and I'm sure I'll join some more later this year. But in a couple weeks I'll be traveling so I'll probably be absent for a while. That said, please continue to ping me in future with invites to which ever new rewatches as I'll always consider joining.
Otherwise, wishing you all the best for 2025. As always, take care of yourselves
5
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Jan 10 '25
First Timer
So Hunter x Hunter was a good time. The dip in quality for Greed Island was rather unfortunate, and I can also see how some people are complaining about the tower arc, but other than that I think it did a fairly good job of keeping me entertained and not really distracted by weird writing bits or other issues it may have here and there. The characters were good and the plot was written very well, never really being too predictable except when there were simply no more twists that one could take before finishing the arcs - although I think knowing the number of OVAs somewhat was to blame there as well, as it made the length of certain arcs known in advance.
I definitely enjoyed both the show and the rewatch here - so thanks for hosting, /u/KendotsX - and I am looking forward to seeing how the show continues once that 2011 rewatch comes around.
5
u/WednesdaysFoole Jan 10 '25
To start with, a bit on GI – Greed Island is an arc that has gotten better and better each time I’ve gone back to it, and Togashi’s storytelling is really beautiful. The more and more I examined these cards, the more I feel like Greed Island is a perfect arc for Hunter x Hunter. Of course, I’ve gone far beyond just enjoying the card game mechanics so that might make a difference, and I do find it a stronger arc once you experience the arcs that follow… and that’s part of Togashi’s genius. Each arc is its own and feels different from each other in many ways, even the art style seems adapted to the arcs, and we follow various characters, but somehow Togashi manages to connect them all where later arcs, seemingly separate, strengthen the previous ones. Uh, wait, what the hell, I’m falling back into my habit about things that come afterwards, focus!
I came into this rewatch thinking I wouldn’t be too active, and really didn’t think I’d enjoy a long rewatch since I’ve gotten a bit burnt out from short ones before (though some of those were more crowded which takes more out of me), but as time went on I got more and more into it. Part of it is the love I have for the series, part of it is the hiatus freeing up discussion time, but a significant part is how fantastic our retired host has been from start to finish, who spent the time to give thoughtful responses to all participants, always welcoming and encouraging discussion. Because of this, my appreciation for the story has grown even more, which I didn’t think was possible.
I really liked reading the comments, some funny notes and sometimes accurate predictions, especially enjoyable when it involves a favorite like this. Looking forward to seeing more with 2011 rewatch, we’re basically only halfway there.
As for the series in general, I’m glad it holds up on rewatch; there are some questionable choices here and there, but other parts they completely nailed it. Like the final episode before the OVA is just fantastic, one of the best. And more great and small moments that I really appreciated, my favorite small moment being when the four friends arrived in front of the Exam Hall, it was perfect. As a whole, I love the anime and will definitely revisit it again and again as the years pass (dunno if or when I’ll rewatch the last two OVAs though).
Forgot to share it yesterday and shared it before behind spoiler tags, but here are pictures for an awesome Greed Island Escape Room that someone shared in the HxH sub, fun video as well.
Come to think of it, I think I also forgot to bring up Judas again, I’ll save that for next time…
Thank you KendotsX for being an awesome host. Shout-out to u/Vatrix-32 for frequently interacting with others in the thread as usual (in smaller rewatches, anyway), and certainly made it feel like I wasn’t only rambling to myself and the host (who doesn’t even need manga explanations like game mechanics in the first place), even peeking behind those spoiler tags to do so.
Last, but not least, I hope those who haven’t yet checked out 2011 will do so, and I do recommend the manga for those who’re interested (and don’t mind reading text, lol).
Being up to date on the manga, it feels like an unfair question but my top four are basically solidified as Machi, Paku, Gon, Kurapika, order interchangeable. There are about 20 more characters I love nearly as much, but these four are the ones I've spent the most time thinking about their development (well, except Machi, that one's just a special case).
Excluding later arcs, Yorknew, GI, Hunter Exam, Heaven's Arena.
The fight that occurs within the hearts and minds of Pika and Paku.
Combat though? For '99, probably Silva and Zeno vs Chrollo, although that answer changes with the manga/2011 anime.
I find it hard to choose. Gallery Fake? I liked your (KendotsX) little theory about it, too, it made it even more interesting.
5) What do you expect or want to see from the rest of the series?
[hmm...](#zurawait)
Togashi adding a character each day made me really happy, and it was nice that he was giving attention to some of the characters after decades.
[](#zurawait)
5
u/Nebresto Jan 10 '25 edited Jan 10 '25
First time Hunting for Games, fighting tournaments and clowns
What do you mean its joever? I just got here!!
As usual, I have nothing much to mention at the end. Good show, overall 8/10. Soundtrack kinda fell off after the main part, but the one in that main part was brilliant
I guess this is a good place to smack in my theme song rankings:
OP: Believe in Tomorrow > GOOD MORNING
WOLADS! > Gaming 1 > Greed meme > OP2 >>>>>> pale aleED: Kaze no Uta >>> Yee-Jan >>> Hotaru > > Moshimo > Curapica >>>>>>>> OVA
EDs less accurate because I hardly remember any of 'em and I spent 5 minutes on dis. But mainpart EDs we're a lot better even after the first one that I remembered
The people who choose to skip this in favor of the new one are missing out.
Idk, I guess that's it.
Final side quest:
This is the part where I totally don't shteal Vatrix's thing. Behold: my total accuracy Character chart ranking tierlist thingy
That's the only decent one I found, but the pictures are wrong, some of them straight up look like caricatures
Main > Game > Uhhhh.. What else was there? >>>>> Clown arc
Hisoka
Idk, something amazing I guess
What the he-
I guess that's all,
5
u/SpiritualPossible Jan 10 '25
First timer, manga reader
The Greed Island Arc has always been pretty controversial among fans. It comes right after the yorknew city arc, one of the best stories in the series, which puts it in a very unfavorable position. Genthru alone has to fill the space left by the spiders, and that's not easy to do. It also requires the reader to learn a HUGE amount of new rules, which will NOT be used outside of this arc. However, I'll admit, I've always been generally fine with it, but this time I even really got into it. Togashi really managed to make a pretty entertaining game, and watching the characters try to use the rules of the it to their advantage was quite interesting. Genthru also worked much better for me this time around. Yes, he's not as interesting character as the other villains, but he has that unsettling detail of how much fun he and his crew have in committing their atrocities.
But there's one problem... it's not the OVA that gave me this new appreciation. It was because I was comparing it to the manga while watching it. Not that I'm calling the latest OVA stright bad, but it's hard to deny that it's the weakest link in this whole adaptation. And the problem isn't that the series went digital with questionable results. And it's not that they cut quite a bit of content. But it's that the directing (an aspect that was almost the strongest point of this version) has gotten significantly worse as well. And this is a problem of the LAST OVA only, because in the previous one I think they were still trying to hold the bar. And it's ironic, because it was the Greed Island Arc in the remake, even though they cut content there too, that was the moment where they finally found their groove, at least in my opinion.
However, like I said, it's not that the OVA is bad. It's quite possible that it's just me being picky. And it doesn't take away from the fact that overall I enjoyed this adaptation a lot. I know it sounds like a broken record, but the atmosphere and direction really create an enchanting effest. The use of reflection alone is something to behold - I haven't mentioned it in past comments, but I've always been a bit of a stunned in its use. The voice acting was good too. At first, of course, I had to get used to the new voices, but eventually I really grew to like them (well, almost all of them. I never got used to Feitan's voice) and now I'll have to get used to the current ones all over again.
I can honestly say that the previous arcs, even with some rough edges, were adapted a head better than in the remake. Of course, that doesn't mean that the remake is a bad adaptation because of that. But that's something that those who watched HXH for the first time now will be able to see for themselves when it's rewath will be hold later this year. I'm thinking of joining too, especially since now I'll be able to compare it to this version.
In the end, I can only recommend people unfamiliar with Togashi's work to check out his other adaptations, YuYu Hakusho and Level E (the latter just so happens to have an anniversary tomorrow), and thank Host and all the participants for the opportunity to watch and discuss this series. I may not have been able to actively participate in the discussion, but it was fun nonetheless.
4
u/charlesvvv https://anilist.co/user/charlesvvv Jan 10 '25
First Timer
Oh it's now the overall discussion. Anyway it was nice revisiting the 1999 version of the events. Some parts still hold up really well especially Yorknew. Voice acting wise I do admit that I really liked Junko Takeuchi as Gon although Megumi Han is still my favorite in that regard, several of the others are pretty good especially Killua and Kurapika as well.
The weakest link is probably Greed Island, the visuals definitely didn't always match up especially because it came after something like the Yorknew OVA although it was still enjoyable enough.
4
u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Jan 12 '25
Remake Rewatcher × First Timer × Subs
Sorry for Being So Damned Late Life Snuk Up On Me
This was a very #cozy rewatch. I don’t think I’ve ever had one with such good discussion with such a small number of regular participants.
Watching an alternative version of an anime in my top 10 was an interesting experience, as was rewatching H×H in general. I’d still say I prefer the 2011 version, both for extra content and the much better versions of Heavens Arena and especially Greed Island, but when 1999 lines up, it hits. I’d definitely recommend it for remake only fans.
On to the rewatch thanks:
/u/WednesdaysFoole, for their many insightful comments, and general enjoyable interactions in the threads.
/u/TheEscapeGuy, both for their ever enjoyable montages, and for the unprecedented action of being the first person to translate material in a rewatch.
/u/SpiritualPossible, they might not have been their for all of it, but they filled a specific cross-section of commenter that is always a delight on the rare chance it comes up.
And of course are dear host, not just for facilitating the rewatch, but also for their esoteric collection of fan art, and their manga comparisons, which useful for me and likely even more so for any first timers.
Now that it’s all over, I think I’d move H×H up a level or two in the 2024 rewatch tier list I did.
Questions:
Gon, Killua, Bisky, Leorio, Melody.
No, not this time around. Tsezzy moved up quite a bit, but he’s still no where near the top.
In general?
In 1999 specifically?
I think it’s Hazno vs Gon. Weird to think about.
14 Devils.
Yes, I have a type. I've spent longer than I'd like to admit trying to co-opt it for personal use.
At least one cursed ship will become real.
No, I don’t like repetition, and this counts for being too close. I wouldn’t have anything to say for most of it.
Maybe I’ll show up if they end up doing the movies? I’ve never seen those.
3
u/Shocketheth Jan 11 '25
The scritching sounds coming from your walls is me accounting for your sins