What They Say:
Gon, a young boy who lives on Whale Island, dreams of becoming a Hunter like his father, who left when Gon was still young.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Giving the boys a chance at heading back to the NGL through going after a pair of assassins has definitely been interesting, though the pairing of Knuckles and Shoot hasn’t been quite as enjoyable as it could be, largely because they’re both such basic caricatures and not altogether that interesting. And it’s also because the subplot arc is basically a bit of a time waster while events on the NGL play out even more, letting them grow more powerful and expsanive with what they’re capable of. We’ve gotten a lot of time with the boys dealing with Knuckles and his punk approach, allowing them all to have a certain respec for each other in the end, but now it’s starting to deal with Shoot more as well, a man with a classic feudal Japanese approach to his design. Unlike the blustery and boisterous Knuckles though, Shoot is essentially a coward as we see him getting his chance to take the boys down but being too afraid to do so.
The boys are showing their progress well when it comes to their training as we see Bisky impressed that they can maintain their Ren for several hours while just having a conversation and that the strides they’ve made have been solid as it’s pushed Knuckles to use his full power on them, which is definitely making them struggle now but is also making clear that they do need the heightened training in order to be able to succeed on the NGL. Bringing that in to it with the contrast of Shoot is certainly interesting, but mostly we just get some decent time with the boys in the first half where they’re able to build on what they’re capable of but also extend and reinforce some friendships along the way.
Events on the NGL is really fascinating and fun to watch though as the Chairman has set things up with the others where they send the Chimera Ants his way to a sealed location and he takes them out, starting to get his groove back. He’s immensely powerful overall and the method they’re using is working well at whittling away at the forces, though it’s starting to be noticed that things aren’t going well for the Chimera Ants. This provides for some good background story material, though overall it left me really wanting to see more of this than what the boys are up to. Luckily, the fight against Knuckles is kept relatively short overall, at least compared to how the series can work such fight scenes, but it’s pretty well done and shows the growth of the two once more.
In Summary:
Hunter x Hunter continues to take the slow approach to getting where it’s going, but that’s been part and parcel of the series since the get go and I can’t complain too much. It’s weaving a few stories well here at this point and the fight against Knuckle is where the main focus is, and going after Shoot next so they can meet the deadline. It’s all been focused towards that and has been on a fairly predictable journey. With the birth of the King coming soon, we get some nods towards events on the NGL with the Chimera Ants and the introduction of a newly birthed Youpi that they’ll fight against soon enough, but we also get some brief but excellent material with the Chairman that just makes me grin and want more of it.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
