Hunter x Hunter is a popular anime that has lasted for six seasons so far. It has had seven main arcs: the Hunter Exam, Zoldyck Family, Heavens Arena, Yorknew City, Greed Island, Chimera Ant, and the Election arc. The most common separation of seasons puts the first two arcs in the first season and the rest spread out across the others. Viewers of the anime can agree that by the end of the final arc the show bears very little similarity to the show they started watching, although not everyone can agree if that is for the better or the worse.
Hunter x Hunter follows Gon Freecss on his quest to find his father, first by passing the hunter exam. In this effort, he makes friends with Kurapika, Killua, and Leorio. He makes other allies but those four form the main cast of the anime. Each of the other arcs after the first, excepting Heavens Arena, loosely, and Greed Island, are more or less side quests for Gon.
The First Season of Optimism
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In the first season, Gon declares his desire for a hunter's badge, and explains that it is because his father is a famous hunter that he wants to seek out. The first 21 episodes are spent within the realm of the hunter's exam exclusively; taking trials, engaging in combat, and bonding with the other hopefuls. Despite the gruesome deaths, lecherous enemies, and violent battles, the first season carries with it a certain levity and naivety. This is largely due to Gon and his charismatic optimism that carries the gang through their trials and tribulations.
Even the second arc, which Netflix still counts as the first season due to lasting only five episodes, has a certain amount of lightheartedness. At its core, it is about Gon trying to rescue Killua from the confines of his family home. Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika go on a hilariously ridiculous training montage involving lifting heavy teacups and struggling to even stand in weighted clothing just to enter the house. Even the darker aspects of the Zoldycks’ assassin nature don’t detract from the hope and joy that Gon portrays throughout this portion.
Where Things Change
However, in the third arc, Heaven’s Arena, which lasts ten episodes, the anime takes a turn. Not only does the main cast split up and begin to go on adventures alone, except for Killua and Gon who stay together, but also the show is no longer about a dedicated boy who overcomes obstacles through the power of his will alone. Instead, they introduce magic of sorts, in the form of nen. Not only was this an unheard-of concept, both to the boys and to the audience but this is, unfortunately, the beginning of the end of the joyous, hopeful nature of the show. It is, however, not lost altogether until the Chimera ant arc. This arc also almost immediately shows Gon selling his newly acquired Hunter’s license. While he does eventually get it back, it was a moment that left many viewers upset with the show as he instantly turned his back on his entire original goal.
Skipping ahead to the Chimera Ant arc the viewers would notice a dramatic shift in the show. Gon is more angry than happy and hopeful. While this is justified by the horrors he has seen and the kidnap/torture of a newly found friend of his father’s, it still feels like a completely different tone than what the show started with. This arc also deals with a power creep that is one of the worst in anime. Gon must immediately go from knocking a man out in dodgeball with a rock paper scissors punching technique, using magic of course, to fighting with quasi-cannibalistic humanoid bugs that are dead set on the extermination of the human race.
Where This Leaves the Show
By this point in the story, Gon is no longer shown with his fishing pole, and Killua is no longer seen with his skateboard. While probably not the intent, this feels like symbolism for the lost optimism and joy that the boys had previously shown. The final battle between the ant king and the chairman of the hunter committee is so ridiculously different from Gon needing to run 80 km and chatting it up with friends along the way.
While the second and following seasons of Hunter x Hunter are good, interesting, and unique to this anime, they do not feel like the same show that was started by a young boy on an innocent quest to find his father. The show gained a steep power creep, a darker tone, and more serious cast members but somehow did not lose many fans. Perhaps if the concept of nen wasn’t entirely new in the second season, or if the boys still hadn’t lost all of their naivety then the final episodes would have more congruousness with the initial, but perhaps if it had attempted to maintain that level of congruity it wouldn’t have had the staying power that it has.