Viz continues to give anime fans what they want. Collections of great anime at a nice price. Hunter x Hunter DVD box set 2 continues this trend with 15 episodes of an excellent anime that does feel a bit dated with its voice work and animation, hey the industry has gotten much better. The story rocks even with the dated animation, but hey, good price, great collection, let’s take a peek.
The hunter exam continues in trick tower and only a team working together will escape and advance. Having done this Gon and the group move onto the next stage which consist of being assigned a number, a badge, and then assigned a number to capture. This assigned number along with other badges result in points, six points need to advance. So it’s hunter candidate vs. hunter candidate and then some. The most impressive encounter is Gon and his attempt to get a badge from Hisoka. It’s here that we see an encounter with a certain spider tattooed hunter applicant. Next the group is put on an interesting island where they must gather treasure to gain a room at a unique inn only to find themselves stranded and needing to work as a team yet again to survive. After surviving the tower, badge hunt, ship expedition each remaining applicant must pass an exam with the Chairman, which does not so much require studying as being ones self. The final phase is a tournament where each fighter must either kill or cause their opponent to quit, something Gon cannot do, thus he’s knocked out and needs a recap of what transpired as Killua’s brother makes his presence known. Killua, for reasons all his own, is disqualified and the exam is complete. Did Gon pass?
Wow, quite a busy few episodes. So I spoke about dated animation, and it is. The same can be said of Dragon Ball and DBZ, but it does not take away from the quality of Hunter x Hunter. Any older movie, animation, etc, heck even books, they just look a bit rougher from those newer shows created with today’s technology. The character designs are still fresh, Gon, Killua are unique and the world the live in is timeless. This is quite a feat as many anime copy each other. The story is full of action and explanation. Each stage of the exam has hidden meaning, but the introduction of Killua’s brother, his expulsion, this is where the show begins to get interesting.
Overall this is one of those shows where I’m going to say if you are a fan of the manga, get the anime. I will also go a step further and say if you subscribe to, or have picked up and liked Shonen Jump you need to go buy this series. It’s got everything one is to expect from a great and timeless anime and I’m willing to put it on the same level as Yu-Yu Hakusho (same creator) if not a notch higher, it’s that good minus the marketing.
