Hunter x Hunter HxH is widely regarded as one of the greatest battle shounen manga series of all time. But I find this title to be a misnomer. Rather the more accurate statement would be HxH is among the most influential battle shounen manga series of all time. Truthfully HxH is vastly outclassed by many of its genre contemporaries for a variety of reasons. Img250https://cdn.voxcdn.com/thumbor/aHEz5Ga9vHzFQ7C0JHO6e2pb3EA=/0x0:1600x1036/1200x800/filters:focal672x390:928x646/cdn.voxcdn.com/uploads/chorusimage/image/60665975/1xeIOEOTieWgOOiBUHuvnQ.0.png Story Setting HxHs greatest strength is its story by far. The story evolves extremely organically taking advantage of a myriad of unique settings. As an illustration our introduction to the story is a lighthearted adventure on a small isolated island. Later on the story becomes essentially a crime thriller in a major metropolitan area. Following that our cast are quite literally isekaid into a jrpg video game world. As a whole the story is dyanmic different from arc to arc which keeps you engaged in the narrative. Tone Another strength of HxH is its tone. It is quite dark at times. People actually die commit heinous atrocities and engage in gratuitous acts of violence often throughout the series. In fact our innocent protagonist Gon doesnt even bat an eye as his best friend Killua rips a mans heart out. Img250https://preview.redd.it/4by82z8c0o871.jpg?width=640crop=smartauto=webps=f996ea24e1620cad98a51ec3c0bd01df15ae98ce Beyond that there is an overwhelming presence of moral relativity throughout the story too. Essentially the antagonistic forces are not necessarily pure evil by nature. For example Hisoka takes a peculiar interest in the main cast and often helps them in a variety of arcs. Likewise Illumi is shown to care deeply for his brother Killua when Hisoka threatens his brothers life. Furthermore Mereums relationship with Komugi reveals his underlying gentle nature. Similarly each member of the Phantom Troupe has their own motivations for joining the group and they seemingly care a great deal for one another. As a whole HxHs tone is a bit more mature serious than its contemporaries in the shounen demographic. The Protagonist Problem Dynamic and complex characters compliment a dynamic and complex story. While HxH succeeds on the story front it fails miserably on the character front. Ill focus on Gon especially since he is the protagonist. Basically he is an extremely simple and static character. In spite of all the hardship he encounters throughout the series Gons values opinions personality and the way he acts towards and interacts with other characters in the world remains consistent. Img250https://www.looper.com//gallery/hunterxhunterseason7releasedatecastandplot/intro1621819883.jpg Gon is stubborn to a fault oftentimes reckless always selfish hypocritical narrowminded full of misplaced ideologies overconfident in his abilities and borderline sociopathic. These are all inherently character faults. His childish nave nature his perverted way of viewing the world and his unwavering righteous ideals to protect others actively lead to conflict in the series time and time again. Yet in spite of all this conflict he never changes in the aftermath Therein lies the problem. Gon never learns from his mistakes and he is never punished for his character flaws. In fact he is often actively rewarded. As an illustration his refusal to admit defeat in the Hunter Exams arc actually leads him to pass the exam and acquire a Hunters license. Also Gons careless decision to purposefully let Bomber use his ability on him in order to counter at close range concludes in him losing an arm. Yet his arm gets miraculously healed a few chapters later. And his extremely risky strategy results in him beating a much stronger opponent. Moreover his egocentric insistence of enacting revenge on Neferpitou results in Gon being near death and unable to use his Nen abilities after the fight. In order for Gon to recover Togashi pulls a character named Alluka out of his ass to magically heal our protagonist back to full strength with the most broken ability in the entire verse. Likewise Gon is captured by the Phantom Troupe twice yet no harm comes to him. Similarly Gon lamented his weakness that led to Kites death. Ultimately it is later revealed that Kite inexplicably has some Nen power that led to his rebirth rejuvenating Gons broken pysche. I could go on on but you get the gist. Img250https://i.yt.com/vi/AbhEiPimspw/maxresdefault.jpg To put it simply Gon doesnt grow as a character because he doesnt have to he is merely rewarded for existing. There is no consequence to his actions. Togashi perverts all of his flaws into strengths. His plot armor is an impenetrable force. He is a child prodigy a Nen genius and beloved by everyone including his enemies. There are no stakes. Gon has no character arc because the plot doesnt demand him to change. Gons main goal principally throughout the series is to reunite with his estranged father. In the grand scheme of things he manages to accomplish this goal rather handily. This is a perfect opportunity for Gon to get some actual development Gon could succumb to the realization that he doesnt need his fathers affirmation to be a strong Hunter paralleling Killuas relationship with his father in many aspects. Perhaps Gon could confront his father for being a POS absentee. Perhaps Gon could inquire about his mothers origins. Perhaps Gon could throw away his desire to be a Hunter entirely or reveal what type of Hunter he wants to be. Img250https://i.yt.com/vi/Fcbgn5weVk4/mqdefault.jpg There are a near infinite amount of solid options that could help develop Gon as a character or the plot as a whole during this fated encounter. Instead Togashi completely blows this golden opportunity by having nothing happen at all. What else is there for Gon to do? He accomplished his goals. What now? I contend that Togashi found himself asking the same questions. Consequently Gon has been completely forced out of the mainline plot beyond this moment notably being absent throughout the entirety of the Succession War arc. And the story still works just fine albeit without its star. I contend that Killua or Kurapika would have been a better choice for protagonist to begin with. Gon is just fundamentally an uninteresting character. Manga As A Visual Medium Lets be real the manga art sucks. In fact it is amateurish at best. I understand that Togashi has health issues but some of this shit is genuinely unacceptable. Most panels have very little background detail if any. Aside from that some chapters will literally just be storyboards rather than refined panels. Img250https://preview.redd.it/99yurfj8qcf71.png?width=640crop=smartauto=webps=aa843482c18b2629e34130c6bd0eb34b456c3e4c Img250https://i.stack.ur.com/Iax6U.jpg Img250http://1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire3/16d2c503e647f40bae7e961b17e170201413738323full.png Sure there are some good panels on occasion. But we are talking welldrawn panels. Not entire chapters. Likewise consider the following: Togashi literally has months or even years to draw particular standout panels given his history of hiatuses whereas other authors in the same shounen demographic have better or the same level of artwork on a strict weekly schedule. Img250https://pbs.tw.com/media/EBtcXJsXkAIfvtp.jpg Show Dont Tell Even worse than the panels that look like they were drawn by a grade schooler are panels like these: Img250https://pbs.tw.com/media/DsMCFEVV4AAlAuP.jpg Img250https://forums.tapas.io/uploads/default/original/3X/5/a/5a727087295a1cfce4cfd2d3d58f19222c206e09.jpg Togashi uses dialogue as a crutch. Togashi seems to think that laying out every meticulous detail for every little thing that happens to every little character will somehow make up for his lackluster drawing skills. Fundamentally you are blurring the lines of what is a manga versus what is a light novel when you publish entire walls of text for pages. The fundamental tenet for any story is show dont tell. A manga like Innocent or Blood on the Tracks will have entire chapters with zero dialogue yet these chapters still have a lot to say. Conversely Togashis patented unyielding walls of text for chapters have nothing of substance to say at all. At a certain point it literally becomes a chore to read. Debunking The Deconstruction Myth There is a small minority of smoothbrained aschtually types of HxH stans that will try to convince you that HxH is a deconstruction of the battle shounen genre. But this is just a fundamental misunderstanding on what deconstruction means. While it a notoriously vague term a true deconstruction provides commentary about various genre norms before breaking down the tropes rebuilding them. As an illustration Madoka Magica takes the happygolucky nature of magical girl stories flips it on its head perverting it into a tragic death battle. Neon Genesis Evangelion will take the mecha genre tropes of having teenage boys piloting massive war machines to its logical conclusion. Indeed HxH does often betray the readers expectations but it never subverts the expectations of the genre. We still have an overpowered chosen oneesque protagonist with daddy issues pretty much a staple in battle shounen. Its not that I dont get HxH its just that there is nothing to get. A certain group of readers just read far too deeply into things. Img250https://encryptedtbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSqMtsDWtEJzPq1eXjmFglw3BpKUdRtVHKkRoei3oOzABrZEZ3LFZnkncOzko3RJpmnNkusqp=CAU Concluding Remarks Hunter x Hunter is a series of highs and lows. I genuinely think everything up to the end of Yorknew arc is fantastic but cracks in the foundation start to show after that turning point. Greed Island could be removed from the story entirely and the fundamental plot of the series would remain the same. Chimera Ant arc while very solid over stays its welcome by about 2030 chapters. The fat should have been trimmed to make it truly great. Beyond the conclusion of the Chimera Ant arc the quality of the series becomes wildly inconsistent. Altogether HxH is pretty solid. The story is great the characters are mid and the art is ... well you know. Its a mixed bag. Modern battle shounen authors have learned from Togashis mistakes and adopted his morefavorable qualities. Ultimately HxHs legacy lives on in weekly shounen jump magazines to this day. But just not in the way most HxH fans would want.