Forum - View topicREVIEW: Hunter × Hunter Blu-Ray 1
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ParkerALx
 Posts: 194 |
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As a big fan of Hunter x Hunter, who got into it with the 2011 anime, I will say that the early episodes are a little weaker than I remember. Character designs are charming and consistent, but the animation itself is fairly basic, and you tend to notice plentiful shortcuts, like freeze frames. You can also tell the production was going for a decidedly lighter tone early on, compared to the more brutal manga. But they're a fun romp, through and through, and I'm glad to finally, finally own them on Blu-ray.
Concerning the Best Buy Blu-ray, I find it a little odd that they didn't use the actually Vol. 1 Japanese cover for this, instead going with the Killua-centric Vol. 2 cover. It might have been better to spotlight all the main characters on the first volume, but whatever. |
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levonr
 Posts: 821 |
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Re-watching the show with the dub on Adult Swim. Cristina Vee as Killua wasn't mentioned in the review but she wasn't all that great in this volume, however she drastically improves later. It just took a while to adjust I guess. I'm glad to actually watch HxH dubbed, because I could not watch the low quality 1999 dub.
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tintor2
 Posts: 2202 |
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The pacing was really overtheplace in the first episodes to introduce the other main characters to the point not even Kite appear (similar to the OVA of the 90s) but latter episodes get easier to understand. Also, I'm surprised how incredibly violent they become (Hisoka's arms, the chimeras, etc.)
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NJ_
 Posts: 3132 Location: Wallington, NJ |
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It's most likely because that cover is exclusive to the regular edition & DVD. It'll be interesting to see what they'll use for later sets because Japan went straight to box sets starting from Heaven's Arena to the end (other covers (including movies)).
Agreed, I wasn't a fan of the 99 series, the main reason was because of that dub. Blue Water dropped the ball and that's saying something because I like most of their work. |
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ryoukosan245
Posts: 81 |
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So far I've only watched the first 13 episodes, they're good ,but nothing amazing ,but with shows like this they almost never hit it's stride in the first arc, heck it took One Piece until the Arlong park arc until it hit it's stride so I'll keep watching.
I wonder if Viz will get that series and redub it if this series does well enough. |
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russ869
Posts: 435 |
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You can see in this unboxing video how the covers for the editions are different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsa6m2Fy2QM The DVD and standard BD actually do use the Vol. 1 Japanese cover under the slipcase. Only the steelbook BD uses the Vol. 2 cover. The dub for the 1999 series had a few standout performances that made it watchable (Tonpa, Killua, Hisoka) but other than that it was somewhat substandard. I pretty much stopped watching the dub when it got into the York New City arc. As much as I love the 1999 series, I'd only be excited about somebody re-licensing it if it meant we'd get the OVAs that cover the end of York New City and all of Greed Island. I'd put the chances of getting a redub now at just shy of zero. |
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1dbad
 Posts: 726 Location: Texas |
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The 2011 version really grows into its own later on, but I honestly find its start kind of weak. It's alright when you've only seen it, but it's not as good as the 1999 version. (I find the Hunter Exam arc in general stronger in that version) It does pick up beginning with the running phase of the exam, but I don't think the 2011 series comes into its own until the Zoldyck Family arc.
But complaints aside, I'm already loving the dub cast of the 2011 series. I've been enjoying rewatching the series dubbed on Toonami, and it's a big improvement on the '99 dub cast. (I could only watch it subbed) I'm looking forward to seeing how the dub of future arcs go. I'd love to see the '99 series redubbed with the '11 cast, but yeah, chances of that are slim to none, I'm afraid. Only way I could see them doing it is if they wanted to build up to the release of the original series OVAs. |
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SaneSavantElla
 Posts: 257 Location: Philippines |
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I totally agree with this. It's the 1999 version that got me hooked to the series, and the Hunter Exam arc of the 2011 version was a disappointment. To me it only gets back on its feet starting the heaven's arena arc, which I did not find very endearing in the original. |
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1dbad
Posts: 726 Location: Texas |
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Same here! Though I liked Heaven's Arena in the '99 version, censorship aside. The only arc I didn't enjoy in the '99 version was Greed Island. The 2011 version is so much better. (though I'm honestly not big on it in either version) |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11637 |
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Yikes, they're really going to release it 13 episodes at a time? That's 11-12 volumes (~$450) taking up shelf space they could whittle down to half that. I guess it's better than the 15 episode brick they released for Monster, but it sounds like another misstep to me. I hope it does well for them anyway, so it doesn't get dropped again.
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4835 |
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I have to agree with those who prefer the 1999 series' treatment of the earlier material. I had a very similar reaction to it as I did to FMA: Brotherhood versus its 2003 adaptation: the later version rushes through the early material too quickly, and in doing so omits a good deal of the fleshing-out that endeared you to the characters in the first place. Case in point: the 1999 version had that short arc with all of the Hunter Exam candidates running into trouble while traveling by ship, and while it was technically filler I felt like it was well-placed and did a lot for most of the minor characters in the arc. There were also some definite tonal issues; in particular, I remember the final phase of the Hunter Exam having this great foreboding visual style in the earlier series that was completely gone in the 2011 adaptation.
All of that being said, I think this version definitely finds its legs as it goes on. I've been really enjoying the Heaven's Arena arc on Toonami, which is a part of the series I didn't find particularly memorable from the earlier adaptation, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it handles Yorknew City. It'll be especially fun to finally see beyond that (I skipped the earlier Greed Island OVAs since I'd had multiple friends say they weren't particularly well done). |
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Animechic420
 Posts: 1733 Location: A Cave Filled With Riches |
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Out of curiosity, I began watching the 1999 version.
And just like that, I was back in the 90's. 
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1dbad
Posts: 726 Location: Texas |
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Yeah, I wish they would have opted for 26 episode sets. It would have ended on a better stopping point (the end of the second story arc), and I wouldn't have minded paying more for it. $40-50 for 13 episodes is pretty steep. I ended up waiting for Rightstuf's Thanksgiving sale before ordering my copy. (for a much more reasonable $26) |
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belvadeer
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I don't really hear Mercer being "light and squeaky" in his performance as Leorio. Last edited by belvadeer on Thu Dec 15, 2016 6:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11637 |
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There were really only two places where I thought the 2011 version totally missed the mark (there's also a case to be made regarding Kite's late intro, but I could live with that). The first is the scene where spoiler[Gon is holed up in the forest near death. The 1999 version showed very clearly what a horrific ordeal this was for him, while in 2011 it seemed like he just crawled into his hole and slept it off for a few days, emerging right as rain.] The second is spoiler[Kurapika's coming to grips with killing Uvo. In 1999 the haunting music backing his haggard appearance and nearly inaudible chanting were absolutely devastating. In 2011 I think they omitted it altogether, and it seemed like he was almost completely unaffected by what he'd done.] Other than those two scenes, I really didn't mind the places where they toned down the violence a bit or rearranged the story. It still all made sense if you only saw the 2011 version. I was just sad to lose the impact of those scenes. |
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