It’s been about a year since I finished Hunter X Hunter and I realized I never wrote a proper review for the show. It’s been in my top 1-2 shows ever since last year and after reflecting upon it for a long time and finishing a shit ton of other works, it’s finally time to express how I feel about it since I have completely let the recency bias ware off of me and I’ve actually kind of forgotten about it until I recently finished Gintama as it took the place for my #1 show. Well I’m going to go back on that a bit because Hunter X Hunter will ALWAYS be my number 1. I’ve been talking with some mutuals about the show and it made me remember how fucking perfect it is. Hunter X Hunter means so much to me as a human and everything that this story stands for perfectly connects with me. I love absolutely everything about it (excluding Greed Island arc to an extent) and I love every single character, I love the character designs, I love the creativity, I love the universe, I love the dialogue, I love the atmosphere, OST, voice acting, animation.. you get the point. Everything here is a 10/10 for me and an absolute MASTERPIECE. What seprerates this show beyond others for me is how it takes its time. I’ll use AOT for example. AOT is perfect and executes its story flawlessly which is great but I can never relax with the show it’s just so hell bent on driving its story. Hxh on the other hand never feels like it’s rushing to the finish line and the world of Hxh is the most intrigued I’ve ever been in a world and every single little detail feels so monumental to learn about especially if u read Voyage to the Dark Continent arc in the manga so I just love it because it feels like true escapism and I can get lost in the world. I literally feel like an actual scientist watching this show at times. I’ve never been so immersed into a world before. I’ve had some of my best TV watching experiences with this show (chimera ant arc binge) and I’d give an arm and a leg to be able to experience it again. I think what makes this show stand out to me and a ton of other people is the creativity that the author has in his writing. It’s borederline Tolkien level potential, and the fact that it’s not finished yet is even more intriguing to me. There’s SOOOO much left to the story and lots of people view that as a bad thing but to me it is what is my driving intrigue to the show. Another thing Hunter X Hunter masterfully does is possibly the best example of the subversion of expectations. If you’ve watched any shonen anime before you would know that Hunter X Hunter is known as the “anti shonen” by how it takes every basic plot trope that 99% of stories contain, and completely flip you over its head with how it’s told. You think it’s going one way and it goes another, which keeps you consistently intrigued. This show isn’t just my favourite because it subjectively works for me. I think it has some factors that are undeniably peak fiction. My favourite part is how Togashi (the author) writes his fight scenes. They aren’t written to be epic and awesome. He puts the writing first. This is why 1x126 is tied for my favourite TV episode of all time and it will never be dethroned. If you want to know why check out my review for that because it has a shit ton of depth that i can’t be asked to write here. Nen (the power system of HxH) is basically like if you were to take The Force from Star Wars and put it on crack. There are so many creative powers with an infinite possibility to make even cooler ones at the Authors expense. The best power system of all time. Also I gotta give a shoutout to the Chimera Ant arc because this arc is by far the best fictional arc I’ve ever watched and it’s so well fleshed out and distant to the main show of HxH to the point where the arc is alone is better than almost every TV show especially considering it’s whopping 61 episode count for the arc. It is what makes the show for me. This will never be a debate for me. Will always be my #1 arc forever it’s just too perfect. And you are lying if you say the first half is “poorly paced”. The Phantom Troupe might be the greatest villain group in fiction too Top 5 Episodes 1. Zero x And x Rose | 1x126 (top 1-2 oat) 2. Anger x And x Light | 1x131 (top 5 oat) 3. Past x And x Future | 1x148 (top 11 ep oat) (top 2-3 “ending” oat) 4. This Person x And x This Moment | 1x135 (top 15 oat) 5. Revenge x And x Recovery (best voice acting in an episode) Top 5 Characters 1. Netero (best side character in fiction) 2. Meruem (one of the best antags oat) 3. Hisoka 4. Gon (not a great protag but an amazing character) 5. Chrollo Arcs Ranked 1. Chimera Ant (#1 arc in all of fiction) 2. Yorknew City 3. Chairman Election 4. Hunter Exam 5. Voyage to Dark Continent (Manga) 6. Succession War (has potential to be the best arc oat)(unfinished arc) 7. Heavens Arena 8. Zoldyck Family 9. Greed Island Greed Island is far and away the worst arc from the show. It’s not bad, it’s actually quite fun and the last few episodes are pretty damn good. But it just feels like it overstays its welcome for far too long and doesn’t have much impact on the show. (Razor is the MVP) And yes I updated my 5 star Gintama review since I let the recency bias ware off and my opinion has altered slightly. #1-2 Fiction (tied with Star Wars) #1 TV show #1 Story #1 World Building #2 TV ending #1-2 Episode Easily a 10/10 for me. Watch Hunter X Hunter.