What Is It?
The 1999 Japanese anime (animated) television show Hunter x Hunter.
What Is It About?
This is how Wikipedia describes this anime (animated) television show:
Hunter × Hunter is an anime television series that aired from 1999 to 2001 based on Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter × Hunter manga.
The story focuses on a young boy named Gon Freecss, who one day discovers that the father he had always been told was dead is in fact alive and well.
He learns that his father, Ging, is a famous “Hunter”: an individual who has proven themselves an elite member of humanity.
Despite the fact that Ging left his son with his relatives in order to pursue his own dreams, Gon becomes determined to follow in his father’s footsteps, pass the rigorous “Hunter Examination”, and eventually find his father to become a Hunter in his own right.
Hunter × Hunter was produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi.
A total of 62 episodes were broadcast on Fuji Television from October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001.[1]
The series has additionally aired on the satellite television station Animax.[2]
Marvelous Entertainment released all episodes of the series in Japan on DVD in 13 separate volumes between September 20, 2000, and September 19, 2001.[3]
Viz Media licensed the Hunter × Hunter anime for distribution in the Region 1 market, where it was released across four DVD box-sets.[4]
The first set was released on December 9, 2008, and the final was released on December 1, 2009.[5][6]
Starting with the second volume, Viz partnered with Warner Home Video in distributing the DVDs.[7]
Hunter × Hunter began airing in the United States on the Funimation Channel in the spring of 2009.[8]
The background music for the Hunter × Hunter anime and the three OVA series was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi.
The anime series features two opening themes, “Ohayō.” (おはよう。, lit. “Good Morning.”) [01–48] by Keno and “Taiyō Wa Yoru mo Kagayaku” (太陽は夜も輝く, lit. “The Sun Shines at Night”) [49–62] by Wino, and three closing themes: “Kaze no Uta” (風のうた, lit. “Wind Song”) [01–31] by Minako Honda, and “EJan-Do You Feel Like I Feel?” (Eじゃん-Do You Feel Like I Feel?), [32–50] and “Hotaru” (蛍, lit. “Firefly”), [51–62] both by Nagai Masato.
My Thoughts
When my brother GC and I started watching this, the animation looked a bit rough, the music seemed a bit dated, except for the ending theme, and the voice of Gon just was not the same.
So we were not expecting this to have aged well, and we were not expecting to like it much.
But to our surprise the voice acting was funny and fun at times, the voice acting made us laugh more than most show’s attempts at actual comedy, and this was a good thing.
We adjusted to the voices and the animation got better, to our surprise we liked this better than we had expected, and it aged better than we had expected.
The fights were better than we expected, but there were clear limitations.
So they skipped more fights and shortened more fights than the 2011 version of Hunter x Hunter, and this one ended better than the 2011 version.
While the 2011 version is still better overall, this version had funnier voice acting, some things were explained better & done better than the 2011 version, but most of the animation & music & narration & action was better in the 2011 version.
I also liked the ending credits & song better than the 2011 version:
This original 1999 version is still worth watching even if you have seen the 2011 version.
So I recommend watching this one first, then watch the 2011 version.
The end,
- John Jr
John Jr's Blog 