HunterxHunter is a manga written by the same author as Yuyu Hakusho, Yoshihiro Togashi. The story and some of the characters are very similar, but they are much more fleshed out. HxH is a piece of art that, in my opinion, can be described as: whatever Togashi has in his mind mixed with some Dragon Quest ideas. The Dragon Ball/Dragon Quest inspiration is noticeable, specially Dragon Ball which was fundamental to the Yuyu Hakushos writing. With that said Togashi creates a basically perfect piece of art, a journey throught his quirky and unique mind with some of the best characters ever across every piece of media. Lets talk a bit about its strenghts and some little problems:
The story doesnt have a plot, a traditional linear plot. You meet the characters and the inmense world but there isnt a destination. The story starts with Gon Freecs, a talented but immature kid that wants to find his father. Here we know what a hunter is: elite humans (sort of, very difficult to describe. Whatever Togashi has in his mind). Gon wants to be a hunter to find his hunter father; a very famous one. Gon enters a exam and meets some people like the wholesome (best character) Leorio, the assassin kid Killua, the extremely powerful being Tonpa...Most of the hunters are unusual people. Each character is very well written in a development aspect. Kurapika is probably the best of the main cast; he wants to avenge his clan but, at the same time, this revenge is gonna slowly kill himself.
After a while the power system is introduced: the (overly complicated but stupidly well made) NEN. The power system is crucial to understand some points of the story like Kurapikas or Gons characters. The story uses the Nen system a lot and buids around it extremely well. After introducing the world we have some big arcs.
The Kurapika arc introduces new antagonists to the story, which are very interesting. They are trash people but at the same time is impossible to hate them, Togashi achieves to create a bunch of criminals that you can somewhat love and understand. An arc very connected to the spectacular worldbuilding that the series offer, making you want to explore the vast HxH world and all of the secrets that it can offer. Another big arc is the well known Chimera ant arc. Im not going to talk a lot about it because i dont want to spoiler nothing but i can say that its by far the best power-system action arc ever created, by far. With an excellent antagonist, even more worldbuilding and well written drama (yes, you can also cry reading Hxh. Whatever Togashi has in his mind i suposse) the Chimera Ant arc can be considered without any problem one of the best piece of art ever.
But HxH is not perfect. The first problem is that Togashi maybe never finishes the manga. I honestly value more his health, but its true that a lot of plotlines are very open like the Kite one. The pacing can be a little slow at times: the Greed Island arc is just a training arc but Togashi adds whatever has in his mind and now we have haikyuu and yugioh in my try to find my father manga. Also sometimes is a little slow, or the narrator talks a lot but to be fair thats subjetive criticism, beacuse most of the time is relevant information.
Probably the biggest mistake is SPOILER SPOILER the something character: Nanika. She appears of basically nowhere and can heal Gon totally. Also a lot of Killuas development changes thanks to this silly creature. She was somewhat talked about at the beggining but its by far the biggest Togashis error. There are some little problems more i suposse but the highs are extremely stupidly high.
HxH is a very fun story with an unique premise. Everything about it is interesting and praiseworthy, specially for a manga that long. I hope Togashi can continue with this masterpiece one day, but if he cant I am happy anyways, HxH is a beautiful piece of art that anyone needs to see.
Honestly im very tough with ratings and more with the pieces that I love but im going to give this awesome manga a 100 anyways because i cant recommend it enough! Whatever Togashi has in his mind i suposse...
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