Hunter x Hunter (pronounced as Hunter Hunter only), a japanese manga by Yoshihiro Togashi. (Little tidbit, he’s the husband of Naoko Takeuchi, author of Sailor Moon!).

The story revolves around a boy named Gon Freaks who’s natural honesty can turn or influence his immensely powerful foes. First to be befriended was Killua Zoldyck, from the Zoldyck Family of assassins. Hunter x Hunter also has a lot of interesting characters such as Kurapika from the Kurata Tribe.

The storyline was powerful in the beggining. Gon wanted to become a Hunter like his father which sets of a series of events. Just to remove the spoilers, powers used in the manga is called Nen. There are a lot of types of Nen.

• Houshuu – emission
• Kyouka – Reinforcement
• Sousa – Manipulation
• Tokushitsu – Specialization
• Gugenka – Materialization
• Henka – Transformation

I just love how Togashi made the Nen abilities. Say for example you have an ability super strength. It belongs to Kyouka. If you can control real objects or another person, that’s Sousa. Conjuring stuff from thin air using only Nen is Gugenka. Thus forms the basis of power in Hunter X Hunter. Specialization though can be deadly or lame. When Kurapika enters red eyes mode, he uses Specialization to be able to use ALL NEN ABILITIES at 100%!

As I said, the story was strong in the beginning, however in the middle it faltered. The author lost contact to sense after Gon gets his license. Gon doesn’t meet his father and even up to now with the end of the loooong hiatus of hunter x hunter, Gon still hasn’t met his father. After the hiatus, HxH mangas were poorly drawn, dialogues were now in thought boxes which might appeal to emo but annoy those who want action.

When I read the whole manga, I thought the Phantom Troupe arc was the bloodiest of all arcs in HxH. It turns out the Chimeara Arc (currently on going) is the bloodiest with a LOT of gore. Still, the story is gaining a bit more ground compared to its comeback. Lately the story is getting a bit more sense. I wonder though, will Togashi be able to reunite his original story line. And how can he return the characters he killed during the Chimeara arc.