Super Official Anime Discussion Thread

[Super_Boom]

LuckyTrouble said:

It started slow, got pretty good, then around episode 100 or so, everything went to hell with super heavy over narration of absolutely anything anybody did. I honestly almost dropped the show at that point because it was just so, so, so god damn bad. I guess they were replicating that part of the manga, but whoever in production thought that was a good idea should be shot in the leg just to make a point. When it takes you ten episodes to get through what should have only taken three, you are officially on my anime shit list.

That said, everything up the Chimera Ant arc was very enjoyable, and even most of the Chimera Ant arc wasn't too bad, although it ended up going on for way too long. Once the narration ended, the arc wrapped up fairly well, and I liked the Killua focused arc after.

You didn't like the Chimera Ant arc? I...I don't...*walks around*

The CA arc absolutely blew me away the first time I watched it. It was such huge shift in tone, and I thought it was so incredibly well written. The narration was everywhere, but it helped me to understand the thoughts of every character involved, and made the slow-down sequence much more impactful. The whole opening sequence in the palace was so absolutely intense, and knowing that any character could die at any point during that sequence...I can only think of a few anime that captured that same sense of tension for me.

I can't really think of how the pacing could have been improved honestly...without removing the narration or the slow-down sequences, both of which were done intentionally to create the sense of tension. When I think of poor pacing, I think of long-running anime like One Piece or Dragonball that intentionally stretch out the source material with relentless stare-downs, flashbacks, or long recaps of the previous episode. Hunter x Hunter really didn't fall into that trap, at least to the point that it really bothered me.

I think the part I loved the most was how the whole arc just flips your perceptions completely around. It starts off as humans fighting against these evil monsters...but as the arc goes on, you slowly start to empathize with the same monsters...to the point where you realize every character you previously hated has a very "real" motivation. And the way the arc spins to show how terrible humanity really is...my gosh. The social commentary during the Rose Bomb sequence had me speechless. I felt like I wasn't even watching an anime anymore.

Shame you didn't like it though...I suppose it's not for everyone.