D
@Dragomir @Chrono @RayanOO so I just finished kurapika vs uvogin:
There is something missing in HxH for me. I’m really not sure what it is, but...there is something fundamentally missing in this story that is creeping in the back of my mind.
Maybe it’s the complete lack of an ultimate story structure? So far the goal seems to be for Gon to find his dad, but that almost seems like a side plot at this point.
Maybe it’s that the conflicts in the manga don’t feel meaningful? We started at the Hunter Exam where our MCs never really struggle much. Sure the Hunter Exam is hard for 99% of people, but not for the protagonist(s). The only real struggle I feel like we went through in that arc was Hanzo vs Gon, where all Gon really did was just not give up and Hanzo surrendered out of admiration. Leoreo got bodied in Rock Paper Scissors but...not exactly a fun conflict. Other than this, there didn’t feel like there was any real struggle or triumph for the entire arc.
Zoldyck Estate arc...literally there was no conflict. At first I thought they’d have to, somehow, save Killua from his family (Which seemed impossible), but then they just let him go without any struggle.
Heaven’s Tower: Gon and Killua mercilessly and laughably easily shitstomp all competition in a Tower that is supposed to be full of world famous competition, and then get involved in a series of fights where their opponents forfeit before the fights even begin, and then Gon finally fights Hisoka and loses. Gon loses a fight against the top guy then beats him 3 episodes later. They learned Nen which was cool but everything else felt random and hollow.
Then we get to the auction, and it appears like kurapika finally gets a conflict against uvogin and the phantom troupe, but once again kurapika wins without much trouble. The fights between Uvogin and the Blood Shadows weren’t that interesting or well animated either for me.
So the lack of what feels like any real overarching conflict is a real problem for me.
But that aside, back to figuring out what’s missing for me, maybe it’s the lack of a theme? Naruto is a manga about ninjas, and everything in the manga goes to tell a story about ninjas. One Piece is about pirates, and same thing. It feels like an adventure story about pirates, just in a more fantastical way. MHA is about heroes and...you get the point.
These series have deeper themes that match their aesthetics. OP is a series about freedom using a pirate template to explore that idea. Naruto is a story about ending cycles of violence and hatred using a series about shinobis (people raised to commit impartial acts of violence) as its template. MHA is a story about societal mental health, using heroes who want to protect society and villains who want to destroy it as an aesthetic.
HxH feels like it has no theme and it’s tough for me to really get into it for that reason. Gon is a kid who grew up fishing, but he has the power of a demigod for some unknown reason. Sure his dad is supposed to be really strong, but Gon is neg diffing world famous fighters by pushing them really hard with one hand. And he’s not even 15 and has never had any combat training. So I really don’t understand what Gon is, or why he is who he is, or what his character is supposed to stand for.
Killua is better..he’s an assassin raised to kill, and everything about his character and story emphasize that. Kurapika is...some guy with a clan vendetta, and leoreo wants to be a med student. So it’s like...we have a wild hermit running around with a deadly assassin, some guy with red eyes and a clan vendetta, and an aspiring doctor, none of whom’s plotlines or arcs have much to do with one another, running around in a world that feels like its being made up episode by episode with a bunch of random concepts and ideas thrown into a blender, to tell a story about...a kid trying to find his dad while a gang robs a bunch of mafia families?
Like I don’t understand what the story is supposed to be about on a deeper level. Sure it’s a damn children’s anime, but so are OP, Naruto, and MHA that all have deeper themes at work in them.
If these weren’t distracting enough, I still have absolutely no idea who Hisoka is or where he comes from or what his motivations are. He’s the most interesting character in the show, but I’m starting to lose patience with him as I pretty much know exactly as much about him in episode 49 that I knew back in episode 12. And he hasn’t had much screen time anyway.
I think I’ll keep watching because...why not, I do enjoy Nen and seeing all the characters and variety of abilities are fun and all that but..so far I’m really not catching on tbh. It’s not bad, but...I feel like I’ve seen this style of story done much better.
Maybe it’s the complete lack of an ultimate story structure? So far the goal seems to be for Gon to find his dad, but that almost seems like a side plot at this point.
Maybe it’s that the conflicts in the manga don’t feel meaningful? We started at the Hunter Exam where our MCs never really struggle much. Sure the Hunter Exam is hard for 99% of people, but not for the protagonist(s). The only real struggle I feel like we went through in that arc was Hanzo vs Gon, where all Gon really did was just not give up and Hanzo surrendered out of admiration. Leoreo got bodied in Rock Paper Scissors but...not exactly a fun conflict. Other than this, there didn’t feel like there was any real struggle or triumph for the entire arc.
Zoldyck Estate arc...literally there was no conflict. At first I thought they’d have to, somehow, save Killua from his family (Which seemed impossible), but then they just let him go without any struggle.
Heaven’s Tower: Gon and Killua mercilessly and laughably easily shitstomp all competition in a Tower that is supposed to be full of world famous competition, and then get involved in a series of fights where their opponents forfeit before the fights even begin, and then Gon finally fights Hisoka and loses. Gon loses a fight against the top guy then beats him 3 episodes later. They learned Nen which was cool but everything else felt random and hollow.
Then we get to the auction, and it appears like kurapika finally gets a conflict against uvogin and the phantom troupe, but once again kurapika wins without much trouble. The fights between Uvogin and the Blood Shadows weren’t that interesting or well animated either for me.
So the lack of what feels like any real overarching conflict is a real problem for me.
But that aside, back to figuring out what’s missing for me, maybe it’s the lack of a theme? Naruto is a manga about ninjas, and everything in the manga goes to tell a story about ninjas. One Piece is about pirates, and same thing. It feels like an adventure story about pirates, just in a more fantastical way. MHA is about heroes and...you get the point.
These series have deeper themes that match their aesthetics. OP is a series about freedom using a pirate template to explore that idea. Naruto is a story about ending cycles of violence and hatred using a series about shinobis (people raised to commit impartial acts of violence) as its template. MHA is a story about societal mental health, using heroes who want to protect society and villains who want to destroy it as an aesthetic.
HxH feels like it has no theme and it’s tough for me to really get into it for that reason. Gon is a kid who grew up fishing, but he has the power of a demigod for some unknown reason. Sure his dad is supposed to be really strong, but Gon is neg diffing world famous fighters by pushing them really hard with one hand. And he’s not even 15 and has never had any combat training. So I really don’t understand what Gon is, or why he is who he is, or what his character is supposed to stand for.
Killua is better..he’s an assassin raised to kill, and everything about his character and story emphasize that. Kurapika is...some guy with a clan vendetta, and leoreo wants to be a med student. So it’s like...we have a wild hermit running around with a deadly assassin, some guy with red eyes and a clan vendetta, and an aspiring doctor, none of whom’s plotlines or arcs have much to do with one another, running around in a world that feels like its being made up episode by episode with a bunch of random concepts and ideas thrown into a blender, to tell a story about...a kid trying to find his dad while a gang robs a bunch of mafia families?
Like I don’t understand what the story is supposed to be about on a deeper level. Sure it’s a damn children’s anime, but so are OP, Naruto, and MHA that all have deeper themes at work in them.
If these weren’t distracting enough, I still have absolutely no idea who Hisoka is or where he comes from or what his motivations are. He’s the most interesting character in the show, but I’m starting to lose patience with him as I pretty much know exactly as much about him in episode 49 that I knew back in episode 12. And he hasn’t had much screen time anyway.
I think I’ll keep watching because...why not, I do enjoy Nen and seeing all the characters and variety of abilities are fun and all that but..so far I’m really not catching on tbh. It’s not bad, but...I feel like I’ve seen this style of story done much better.
I understand what you're saying. The deeper stuff with conflict and a meaningful story doesn't come until much later in the show. All that appears in the Chimera Ant arc and this is where HxH takes a dark turn. It completely stops being a kids' show.
How do you like the Troupe so far?
How do you like the Troupe so far?