Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #298617 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

Customer Reviews

Hunter and hunted
The first chapters of any manga are always the toughest. The characters have to be introduced, the world has to be set up, and the author has to snag the readers' interest.

Such is the trouble for the first several chapters of Yoshihiro Togashi's "Hunter X Hunter" in its first volume -- it moves rather slowly and seems a bit too childish in its worldbuilding. But the introduction of a brutal villain and some solid backstory -- as well as the promising idea of the Hunters -- gains steam in the last half, and leaves you anticipating more.

Gon has wanted to be a Hunter ever since Kite, a protege of his long-lost father Ging's, told him about him.

And a few years later Gon successfully gains permission from his reluctant aunt to go take the Hunter exam. But he soon finds that the Hunters rapidly weed out most candidates -- he ends up on a storm-tossed ship filled with seasick wannabes. The only other ones who make the first cut are the seemingly mercenary Leorio, and the mysterious, vengence-filled Kurapika.

And upon arriving at their port, the trio finds themselves dealing with increasingly bizarre tests involving unanswerable questions and vicious magical beasts. But these are only the preliminaries to the REALLY dangerous stuff, and the three aspiring Hunters -- as well as the deadly young boy Killua -- find themselves in a literal race to their dreams. Unfortunately, there are some nasty people along the way....

It's pretty clear from the start of "Hunter X Hunter" that Yoshihiro Togashi intended for this to be a more fantastical, childlike kind of manga, rather than an outright fightfest. Gigantic fishes carried by a tiny kid, talking bipedal foxes, and the general feeling that we've stepped into a children's fantasy book. Nice, but rather lightweight.

Fortunately things start settling into a more comfortable groove later on -- Togashi's work starts shining when the various aspiring Hunters start openly competing with each other, and we're introduced to some of Gon's rivals. We've even got a villain in the works -- a homicidal clown who slices people apart with playing cards. Once somebody gets dismembered alive, you know Togashi has hit his stride.

Those who have read Togashi's previous series "Yu Yu Hakusho" will recognize the basic cast. Aside from the inhumanly perky protagonist, we have the big lug with a heart of gold, a tiny spiky-haired killer, and a beautiful, smart young man with an unpleasant past. Fortunately Togashi provides enough background to solidify them -- Leorio's dead friend, Kurapika's vengeance. Killua is particularly intriguing -- you can tell this lethal preteen is going to be an amazing character.

The first volume of "Hunter X Hunter" is unsteady, fluffy and a bit slow at first, but Yoshihiro Togashi hits his stride in the second half of the manga. And the characters promise to get more interesting with time.

The best shonen jump title

WARNING: Do not form your opinion of this series based on the 1st (and 2nd) books. The start can be rather boring.

This is one of my favorite manga series. It is nothing like the typical fighting series the Shonen Jump magazine is famed for. Intelligent, humorous, fast paced, brutal and filled with likeable characters. This series also lacks the black and white division between good and evil - it simply has a range of different characters all working to advance their own motives. And on that note, the "bad" guys in this show should receive special acclaim.
The series never bogs down, it moves from one intersting event to another at a good pace. Fights occur seldom and they usually last from half a chapter to 1 chapter. Also, this is maybe one of the most unpredictable series I've come accross. You never know what kind of a turn the series is going to take, and exactly how important a certain event might be.
The artwork is pretty simplistic, but at the same time somehow stylish, and believe me, you'll be so absorbed in the story that you won't pay much attention to the art.

A must read for any manga fan, whether you like shonen mangas or not.

Hunter x Hunter is funny, well written and well drawn.
I originally watched the tv series on a DVD from Hong Kong which I borrowed from a friend, and the subtitling was bad. Very bad. It is nice, now, to be able to read the original manga books in English, allowing us to fully enjoy the story to the full.
The outline of the story is thus:
Gon is a 12 year old boy who wants to follow in his father's footsteps of becoming a Hunter, which is an international honour, bringing with it many priveleges, and as such is extremely difficult to obtain. To become a Hunter, Gon must pass the Hunter exam, an annual event partaken by thousands of entrants each year. It may be that none of the entrants make it, as it is so incredibly difficult to pass. Always the optimist, Gon sets out to follow his dream, despite the challenges he knows he is to face. Along the way he becomes friends with Kurapika, Leorio, and his soon to be greatest friend, Killua. Together they set out to pass through the first stages of the Hunter exam in this the first episode, encountering one rival in particular, the calmly psychotic magician Hisoka, who will be ever present in the story until far after the Hunter exam.
This is the beginning of an extremely good series. Read it.