Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Hunter x Hunter is personally so far my favorite anime. Starting off with the story, it has actual cultivation of the skills of the protagonists, especially in their nen-abilities. The story builds up and takes on more maturity as the story goes on, as well as introducing newer power systems as it goes on that you would never even think of, building the world in such a fluid and comprehensible way. All four of the protagonists have their flaws, their likability, and their own unique personality. Speaking of the characters, I should probably talk about Killua and Gon as a development duo. Killua's never had any friends, especially growing up in the kind of "house" he did, and being raised as a killing machine with near no regard for him as a person. Because of this, shortly after meeting Gon, they end up developing a kind of co-dependent relationship with each other. The way this is solved and the way their personalities are developed throughout the show is honestly some of the best development writing in characters I've ever seen in a show, it's done so well yet so subtle. The main antagonists are extremely compelling with their own ideologies. philosophies, and goals, causing insane story arcs (especially the chimera arc).

The art and animation of the show is fantastic, studio MADHOUSE once again showing what they can do. The show doesn't have any CGI as far as I know, which is probably for the better considering the CGI in other works of MADHOUSE around that time, such as Parasyte, are pretty mediocre. The animation is extremely fluid and outstanding, combined with such extreme emotional impact making genuinely some of my favorite moments in all of anime, especially in scenes like: (spoiler)

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

Transformed Gon vs. Neferpitou

Hunter x hunter 2011's animation and art quality honestly blows the manga out of the water, and even the manga is absolutely great.

HxH's OST rivals some of the best in anime in my opinion, with so many, different feeling, different toned songs that fit, ranging from the most hopeful and optimistic driven music to songs that feel as just pure darkness. Even the opening only has slight lyrical changes throughout the entire 148 episodes, yet I listened to it almost every episode and I still love it. The show has constant bangers like Hyouri Ittai, Nagareboshi Kirari, Departure, The Last Mission, Restriction and Pledge, RASETSU, Requiem Aranea, Kingdom of Predators and many more I can't even count. The acoustic timing in Hunter x Hunter is done outstandingly well, especially in the chimera arc. The voice acting in HxH is phenomenal, with even the narrator adding so much to some scenes. I've never seen a series use narration so well.

Final verdict is that I love Hunter x Hunter, it's easily my favorite show so far, especially with the amount of influence and effect it's had on me. The only two criticisms I can give to it is the pacing in part of the chimera ant arc is relatively slow, as well as Leorio and especially Kurapika really didn't get that much screen time after a certain arc in the anime. Kurapika does get more time in the manga after where the anime ends, from what I've heard.