Friday Hunt – Hunter X Hunter challenge week 1

 

After seeing a number of people doing various 30 day challenges, I got interested in trying it for myself. I really need a bit of time to just watch some more shows anyways so I decided to do not one but 2 of these!

I’ve been wanting to take on Hunter x Hunter for some time but wasn’t sure how to go about it. It’s a big show for me so the idea of squeezing all my feels into a single post was somewhat daunting. So I figured why not combine the two and do a 30 day Hunter x Hunter challenge! However, in hopes of not overwhelming you all, and myself, I’ve decided to modify it a bit and do a 30 week HxH challenge instead (that’s one post a week – I’ll do a post a day for 30 weeks, next time!)

I was very relieved to find that someone had already created the challenge but I may switch some of these questions out. So yeah – I’m doing the answer 30 questions in 30 days except I’m not going to take 30 days and I might not answer the questions… I was the kid that ate paste in school.

1. How did you find HxH?
2. Favorite main character
3. Favorite supporting character
4. Favorite Chimera ant
5. Least favorite character
6. Favorite Zoldyck Member
7. Favorite Villain
8. Favorite Nen type
9. Favorite Nen ability
10. Favorite episode
11. Favorite scene
12. Favorite opening animation
13. Do you ship anyone
14. Saddest scene
15. Favorite non-nen ability
16. Favorite ark
17. Least favorite ark
18. Favorite type of Hunter
19. Favorite character outfit
20. Funniest scene
21. Who would you cosplay as
22. Friendliest character
23. Least friendly character
24. Best main character family member
25. Favorite character backstory
26. Worse main character family member
27. Manga or Anime
28. Most relatable character
29. What got you hooked on the show
30. Why do you love HxH

How did you find HxH?

I read somewhere that it was a deconstructions of the shonen genre and I thought – I love deconstructions and shonen anime! For the record I don’t think it is but I ended up enjoying the show a whole lot.

Whelp that’s it. Fascinating right? A bit on the short side though. 

 

How about I tell you my initial experience on discovering this series and watching the first few episodes.

I sat down to watch the first episode and got to know Gon on his little island. I liked him alright. Super optimistic, determinator type. Pretty much the picture perfect shonen protagonist. Like I said – I like shonen so I was like – yay another, Naruto, Luffy, Goku, Natsu.. well you know. I was fine with it and happy to start another grand adventure with my new young hero friend.

Then we were on a boat. Still fine with it. The entire becoming a “hunter” premise was a bit thin but hey if KHR had taught me anything it’s that sometimes you gotta roll with the punches when it comes to plot. Besides, it seemed as worthy a goal as any:

In walk our comic relief – Leorio (I thought he was a bit annoying) and our dramatic straight man fodder and possibly eye candy? – Kurapika (I thought he was blonde…and possibly a she – great voice actor) still generally unremarkable but pleasant enough. 

The tests start and I’m getting into it. I really like those type of small task episodes all leading up to a larger quest. It’s like the training episodes of sports animes which are usually my favorite part. The tests in question were a bit odd, no fighting but the animation was decent. The show continued to establish Leorio as a thin skinned, short tempered joke guy but let us know that he’s also the healer which was a bit unusual. The calm, cool headed Kurapika was naturally the strategist and ball of energy Gon was the brawn AND the heart. Leorio was a bit atypical, I would have pegged him as a hapless rogue type – in it for riches and women (which he kind of is albeit with a very honorable goal), but the other two were familiar archetypes. I was still fine with it.

I liked the weird creatures and puzzles the hunter exam put into place and had hoped for a few more before they seemingly got to the main event with all the other contestants. We get a glimpse of our first actual bad guy, some psycho clown with straight up magical powers. Kind of a stupid Big Bad but hey – clowns are scary so that tracks too. 

We also get a second young boy protagonist, this time channeling Bart Simpson all sarcastic comebacks and skateboard tricks. White hair kid is intriguing. He seems just as overpowered as Gon and he has an immunity to poisons somehow. Then the first challenge – a simple foot race. I thought that was in fact a great test, simple but effective. It was pretty funny to watch Leorio completely out of breath loosening his tie and trying not to lose his briefcase.

Those who survived the race got a quick explanation about the rest of the test. Clown guy continues to be evil. We get our first actual fights and the animation is pretty good. We also get some blood in the water as candidates  start eliminating each other. Our guys survive and then we get a food challenge which was pretty cheesy (cause it’s food….sorry) but still really fun.

I figured you know what, I’ll leave it at this for tonight and pick up at episode 3 or 4 or whatever, the next day. As I stopped streaming I was honestly a little shocked to see I was at episode 7. I honestly thought I had watched 3 episodes at most….

Ok, I said to the now closed tv, I guess you’re not exactly your most basic shonen fair. I still firmly believed at the point that I was dealing with a classic shonen, mostly faithful to the trope and stereotypes of the genre but masterfully paced. Without any extravagance it had managed to keep my attention so squarely on the screen that I had completely lost track of time. 7 episodes in, the story was still a murky outline and the character sort of 2 dimensional but the execution, the actual storytelling was faultless.

In time, all those characters would grow (or reveal themselves) to be a lot less straightforward and unexpected. My pretentious assumption would get blown out of the water. I mean how could I even begin to suspect that in a few short weeks – creepy clown would become my type…thanks a lot show!

Suggested drink: Hunter Cocktail

• Every time Gon is blindly optimistic – take a drink
• Every time Kurapika resigns himself – take a drink
• Every time a candidate loses his badge – take a drink
• Every time Hisoka is menacing – take a drink
• Every time Killua and Leorio argue – take a drink