Hunter x Hunter -- best aspect

[ahill1]

Okay, so Pocket-God did a thread a while ago incentivating people to talk abou the aspect of HxH that disappointed them the most. I'd like for you guys to share the aspect that you like the most about this fantastic manga.

To be honest with you, the 1999 anime was the one which triggered my attention in HxH, and I don't think I'd be that attached to the series were I exposed to the 2011 anime first. I just like the way the 1999 handled things, with its obscure atmosphere, amazing soundtrack (see the main Kurapika's one) all fitting in (imo) very well into each situation, and I think such aspects gave the already so good series a special weight, a special value. There was some creepy soundtracks like Hisoka's one that also gave the series a sickening, creepy but yet a good feeling.

Regarding the series as a whole, I just like the way the fights are handled, with the author placing a good emphasis in strategies, smart thinking and working with the psyochological of each character as a essencial way to win a combat. I really like its world building as well, and would like to see the relationship between some characters that weren't exploited.

 

[SSJ2]

The character interactions are probably my favourite aspect of the manga. I am finding it hard to further explain what I mean, but I simply enjoy how many of the characters interact with one another. Every character is unique, and they all seem to maintain their personality consistently throughout the manga. For example when I read DBZ, the likes of the humans all seem to be the same character mid-way through the manga. They become useless scrubs who provide the reader information. Pretty much every character in HxH has a role and specific personality, and they stick to it well.

 

[Warmmedown]

The fight mechanics. They are godlike and the best I've seen, bar none - even better than Dragon Ball and pre-skip Naruto. Every technique has its own drawbacks and vulnerabilities and you can't be a master of everything, just like in real life combat. Meruem vs the Chairman was orgasmic. Fucking pattern recognition fuck yeh. Did Togashi ever do combat sports? Because holy shit, he knows what's up.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Hard to choose a single aspect, so I'll list off a few quick ones.

* Nen system - Despite it resulting in a few cheap things such as contracts and Alluka's wishes, it still provides far more of a reliance on strategy than most other Shonen superpower systems.
* Character Development - The interesting characters and the development many go through such as Meruem, Killua, Shoot, etc. make for some of the best character writing in anime/manga.
* Good subversion - Whilst it's a cheap excuse to defend many anticlimactic parts such as Chrollo's downfall as "subversion", there are many cases in the series where I believe the term is appropriate and the breaking of the narrative's flow works well. For instance, the final stage of the Hunter Exam not being a typical tournament sets up the series as not being a generic Shonen, or the revelations about Netero's personality and the humanity within the Chimera Ants set up a major theme of that arc. Speaking of which...
* Themes of humanity - One of the key aspects that made the Chimera Ant Arc for me the best arc in the series by far and one of the best in Shonen. The utilisation of presenting humanity's dark side through it's characters was pulled off wonderfully from beginning to end.
* Religious themes - Whilst many series will have religious iconography as little more than aesthetics for the fans to get pretentious about, many of the religious aspects of this series are woven well into the themes of the plot and characters. For instance, Netero's character being rooted in Buddhist philosophy or Kite's having many Catholic themes associated with it.

If I had to pick a single of these aspects, I'd probably go with either the character writing or themes of humanity.