Customer Reviews

Hunter x Hunter, Vol. 1

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The `HUNTER X HUNTER' series is one of the most popular and long-running manga series in Japan. Written and designed by Yoshihiro Togashi (creator of `Yu Yu Hakusho'), the manga series began in 1998 and is still ongoing to this day.

As for the animated series, the 62-episode TV series which was shown on FUJI TV began in October 1999 and ended in March 2001.

As the series is celebrating its 10th Year Anniversary, it's fitting that finally one of Japan's beloved anime series makes its way to the US with a 15-episode vol. 1 box set courtesy of Shonen Jump Home Video.

The first volume focuses on a young boy named Gon who is rescued by a hunter, Kite.

Kite is looking for another fellow Hunter named Ging Freecss. A man that Kite served as an apprentice for who has a gift of being able to communicate with animals but also a reputation of being one of the greatest hunters ever.

Kite learns that Gon has the same abilities as Ging and wants to learn more about this young boy and discovering that Gon, may be the son of the well-known hunter.

Gon was told his father died long ago but learns that he is still alive and immediately wants to follow his father's footsteps by becoming a hunter and also hoping he can find and meet his father.

A hunter is a person who is granted special privileges in the world. They can roam in areas that the public is not allowed to visit, they can go to establishments without having to pay for it, they have a license to hunt and do other jobs that are only specific to those who have a hunter's license.

But not everyone can become a hunter. Only a few become hunters and in this case, only one hunter can be chosen. Also, to make it more challenging, only a few make it past certain tests. But for Gon, he is determined to follow his father's footsteps and will do what it takes to become a hunter.

Gon is different from other hunters since he was raised by a loving relative and lived in a village where there has not been much strife or conflict, so he is a bit naive about the world around him. In fact, his motivation in becoming a hunter is so opposite of what other hunters are wanting it for. But Gon's pure and positive attitude seems to have an effect on the people that he meets.

As for Gon, he has the ability to communicate with animals like his father and carries a fishing pole that acts like a weapon and helps him swing to different areas. He is also learning more and more about his abilities as he continues on in his hunter training with his friends.

Along the way, he meets three others who will be taking the hunter exam and the four form a friendship and become a circle of friends helping each other out. Gon befriends:

Leorio - Gon meets Leorio, a man who wears a business suit and sunglasses who has a hot temper but has a good heart. He seems to want to be a hunter because of money but why he wants the money is explained in this first volume. Leorio is a great fighter and if his hunger is full, he exhibits tremendous strength.

Kurapika - Gon meets Kurapika while traveling on ship to another island. Kurapika tends to get at odds with Leorio in the beginning because both have different reasons for wanting a Hunter license. For Kurapika, his motivation to get a hunter's license is for revenge and it is explained during his storyline on volume 1. Kurapika is intelligent, a balanced fighter and also is a conjurer and specialist with the ability to materialize objects with his imagination.

Killua Zoldyck - The fourth member of the team is Killua, a mysterious boy that finds Gon's purity interesting and thus immediately, because of how Gon is, Killua immediately becomes friends with the three. Killua comes from an upbringing of an assassin and is a trained killer. He somewhat has a split personality. He can be seen as a happy, young person intrigued by people but when in battle, he can turn and become a deadly individual who enjoys the thrill of killing. Killua is learning to control himself and his weaknesses as shown in this first volume.

The first volume is literally an introduction to the four friends who want to become hunters and during their adventures of traveling to a variety of islands and areas, are faced with immediate and deadly challenges that they must be prepared for. You learn of their motivations of becoming a hunter but how they learn to help each other in achieving success during their long training.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

The animation of "HUNTER X HUNTER" has similarities to Togashi's other popular work "Yu Yu Hakusho" in terms of character designs. Also, with the series created back in 1999, you expect to see quality of a TV anime series created in the 90s completely different to the digital colorful quality of anime TV series of today. So, you do get noise on the video as would be expected from an older animated TV series.

But for an anime TV series created in the late 90s, you get a lot of shading through the backgrounds and dungeon areas. You get to see the luscious backgrounds painted. The cool aspect of "HUNTER X HUNTER" animation-wise is that the main characters are continually on the move, so you get something different with each episode in terms of scenery and backgrounds.

I watched the series in both Japanese (with English subtitles) and via English dub. Both voice acting tracks are well done and as for the English dub, I've always felt that VIZ media are typically on top of their selections for voice actors with series like "Naruto", "Bleach" and "Death Note". The same can be said for "HUNTER X HUNTER", the voice actors for Gon and friends are well done.

I typically dislike children or teenagers who sound too much older than they are in anime series but I'm happy that the voice acting was well done for Gon and the others.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There really isn't much in terms of extras. You get a trailer for Shonen Jump Manga, Shonen Jump Home Video but fortunately you can find the production storyboards (a total of 15).

I suppose that the theme of a young boy and his friends trying to get a license can be compared to a series like "Pokemon" but with "HUNTER X HUNTER", there are no monsters being caught and although Gon is a young guy, pure-at-heart, his friends are trying to overcome their own personal issues from their past.

But what makes "HUNTER X HUNTER" a fun series is the fact that you have four individuals who are so different from each other, they learn about themselves and about others through their friendship. Having to work as a team during their training and their adventures and knowing that not many people make it far in their training.

The first volume focuses more on the character development on each character and their team dynamics. But with so many episodes still left in the series, you can only expect that the adventures will become more difficult, challenging and that the storyline will continue to get even more wilder and interesting as it progresses.

With the odds against them, instead of working as individuals, the four work as a team despite their differences and with a storyline that features a good balance of humor, action but also some seriousness, "HUNTER X HUNTER" is an enjoyable adventure-based anime series thus far.

I can't believe Hunter x Hunter the anime has finally crossed over to the US waters. This is my top most favorite anime of all time, and the gateway anime that lead me to the anime addiction I now bare.

As mentioned by one of the other reviewers, if you are looking for a story with great character development, enough action and a great story, the first anime I will always recommend is hunter x hunter.

This all time favorite anime series of mine is finally making its debut in this 15 episode 3 disc set. And myself as well as many others can finally let out a cheer for it's release. This series follows the adventures of 4 main characters(Gon, Killua, Kurapica, and Leorio) and their quest of passing the Hunter Exams and becoming Hunters themselves. I can not recommend this series enough. If you do not want to blind buy go rent this. I am sure you will not regret it!!!

Hunters: skilled, capable individuals who seek out certain items and people. Sometimes for themselves, for money, or just for the thrill.

It's a pretty promising idea. And the first volume of "Hunter X Hunter" does a pretty good job using that potential, turning Yoshihiro Togashi's second major action manga into a crisp, well-written little anime. The first couple episodes are start the series off rather slowly, but fortunately the action and plot escalate after that.

Determined to find his missing father -- a legendary Hunter -- Gon Freecss convinces his aunt to let him take the Hunter exam (by catching a monstrous fish). With his new traveling buddies -- the solemn, mysterious Kurapika and the kindly but not-too-bright Leorio -- Gon sets out on a sea voyage to the island where the exam is held, only to find that the journey is the first part of the Hunter exam. And it's the easiest.

Things get no easier when they arrive at their destination, and end up dealing with kidnapper beasts, a creepy old lady and a bus that doesn't go to its destination. And after they join their fellow prospective Hunters, everyone starts on an hours-long endurance run. Though Gon makes a new friend on the run -- Killua, scion of an assassin clan -- other prospective Hunters are determined to put their rivals out of the race.

And Gon soon realizes that the most dangerous part of the test is the other potential Hunters -- particularly the murderous clown Hisoka, who's take a liking to him. And there are still many traps and challenges ahead of the little gang -- including a vast tower filled with some very dangerous new opponents...

The storyline of "Hunter X Hunter: Volume 1" is actually rather simple. But much like its hero, the series takes a little while to actually get anywhere -- the first few episodes are VERY slow. One of them is entirely devoted to Gon wandering around a sea port and getting in trouble with local businessmen.

Fortunately, the plot speeds up and grows a bit darker, once our heroes get off the board and join the other wannabe Hunters -- we get some blood, some fight scenes (a foggy duel between Hisoka and Leorio) and some mild comic relief (Killua skateboards through one challenge). And the stories are lightly peppered with glimpses of the characters' darker pasts, such as Leorio and Kurapika's nightmarish hallucinations of their pasts.

The animation is another plus for "Hunter X Hunter" -- it's crisp, clean and colourful, as well as refreshingly simple. And Togashi's invented world is a vaguely tropical one that resembles ours in most ways, although there's plenty of weird flora and fauna around (human-faced monkeys? Exploding mushrooms? Wild!).

Gon is a nice earnest kid with amazing powers, but he doesn't really do anything to capture the imagination here. Killua is way more intriguing -- a preteen assassin who initially acts chilly and jaded, but starts to warm up as he befriends Gon. Kurapika and Leorio initially seem merely like the Smart Pretty Guy and the Awkward Dim Foil, they are fleshed out nicely throughout the first volumes. And we've already got a wonderfully creepy villain in Hisoka, a lanky clown-faced killer with a pack of razor-edged cards.

The first volume of "Hunter X Hunter" starts VERY slowly, but the succeeding stories about the Hunter exams make up for the beginning. A different, unique kind of action anime.

I bought the entire DVD series from Amazon and the product looked good. It was used, so the packaging was slightly damaged but the DVDs looked fine. They were gifts, and since I gave them away without testing them, I can only hope they work. If they don't, you will hear from me in a revised review.

first of all.. this IS really one of the best but the next generation anime viewers forgot this one.. they all scream out loud BLEACH BLEACH!! the story first is really good.. no i'd rather not say good but one of the best.. but on the greed island part it seems kinda corny.. i am kinda disappointed on the ending because it really didn't end the continuation is in the manga.. you have to read the manga for the continuation of kurapika's journey on the spiders gang, gon's journey to find his father killua is accompanying gon too.. and leoryo's journey to become a doctor.. over all this anime is excellent.. 5/5

So I first saw this fansubbed in 2001 & took an instant liking to it. I was thrilled when the manga came out & still love this anime; one of my four favorites to be exact; alongside the Slayers, Gensoumaden Saiyuki, & GatBackers.

The anime actually adds some cool events that didn;t happen in the manga, but don;t get too attached to Leorio or Kurapica; they're only in 1 & 2 seasons respectively, not appering at all in Greed Island or the manga-only Chimaera Ant arch. My favorite characters are Killua & Hisoka.

So this is one of those shounen seires with an enourmous fanbase. In fact, there's almost no women at all & the ones who do show up are insane, violent, & expendable. The closest thing this sereis has to romance is gay overtones & Killua's inability to think about anything but Gon. & they ladies just love pedoclown Hisoka & Killua's creepy older brother Illumi.

Okey, so when you run out of anime & manga for this series & still want more, head over to YouTube & watch the fansubbed Hunter h Hunter musicals; there's 2 of them. Starring the anime voice actors in good cosplay. It's awesome!

& lastly, avoid the english language version like the plague. The quality is like that of a fandub & the voices don;t go with the characters at all. I'm pretty sure 3 of the 4 main boys are all blatantly voiced by girls. If you've seen the dub for DNAngel, Daisuke's school friend would have had the perfect voice for Killua ::sigh::

& when you're done with this & want something similar, maybe more violent with an older cast, try GetBackers. If you want that & lots of ecchi, read the GatBackers manga instead.

This is one of the best Anime I have ever watched. I first saw it while it was still in Japan. when I received this I was delighted to find that when you switch it over to watch it in Japanese they kept the original character voices. I love the plot and the character development. I love the idea of slowly gaining experience of the world around them.
This is a must watch Anime and I am waiting anxiously for the next volumes to be released.

I was very excited when the Hunter x Hunter anime series was going to be on sale in the U.S. I am a huge fan of the manga series and I expected great things from the anime, but I was disappointed. The series is filled with nothing but filler episodes and small sections in the manga's story chapters get turned into entire episodes and the episode feels 'dragged out.' An example of this is in episode 1 when Gon needs to catch the master of the swamp so he can apply to the hunter exam. In the manga, this is easily covered in five pages, but in the anime its dragged out into an entire episode that makes the ordeal very emotional and places huge emphasis on Gon's fishing rod, which is non-existent in the manga. Filler episodes are frequent between the episodes. In the second episode, instead of having Gon go directly to the ship for the hunter exam, a filler episode is given in which Gon and Leorio team up to save some animals and barely make it to the ship on time. I believe that an anime is not entitled to follow the manga series by the book and that the director is allowed to interpret the manga as they see fit (an example of this being done well is in the 'Bleach' anime) but I don't think that's the case here. The plus side of the anime is hearing the correct pronunciation of the characters names which I practically have been saying wrong since I became a fan of the series. Aunt Mito's role is increased a bit, I always felt that as Gon's foster mother she could have had a bigger role and she was kind of ignored in the manga. If your an absolute fan of the series then there is no stopping you and this anime is a must have. But if you are strictly an anime person, I suggest you skip this purchase and buy something else.