Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (Anime Review)

And, now, we move onto the third Yu-Gi-Oh! series and the only other one I've seen besides the original and GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. And, unlike every other anime I've seen where I may have heard a lot or a few things about them before I saw them, I knew absolutely nothing about this one, not one thing. I didn't know anything about the story, the setting, the characters, nothing. And so, it was really nice to go into this and not know what to expect. And, the reason I wanted to watch this was, not only because it's another Yu-Gi-Oh! series, but also because I really wanted to watch the Bonds Beyond Time movie which was a crossover between this and the original series and GX. In fact, I really wasn't expecting anything from this. I went in watching it just to watch it and that's it. And, in the end, I think thought about this the same way I did about GX in that I really, really liked it. In fact, when I finished watching it, I just loved it. There was so much about it that I really loved. Yes, there were some things that I didn't like, but my reaction was mostly really positive with this. And when I say it was the same as GX for me, I mean the same as what I said before about not really sure about what people's general thoughts are about it, but I still enjoyed it. Also, another similarity I have for this with GX is the fact that I haven't seen the whole thing since the same thing happened with this as Season 4 of GX in that the final season was never dubbed so I haven't seen it even though I really wish it did finish. Anyway, let's get to the series. Also, like before, this will have all spoilers, so keep that in mind. So, the story is about a guy named Yusei Fudo who lives in this place called the Satellite which is this kinda destroyed junk island and is next to an island with a city called New Domino City and anyone from the Satellite is usually treated poorly by anyone there. And Yusei is usually on the run from security who think he's a criminal. So he spends most of his time working with some friends there trying to make a Runner, which is like a motorbike-like thing that a person can drive and play Duel Monsters on. He's also had a sad history with never knowing his parents and two of his friends betray him, especially Jack Atlas who stole his last Runner and best card just so he could go to New Domino City and become famous. So, after he finally makes a new Runner and heads to New Domino City, he discovers he, alongside Jack and some other characters, are actually Signers, which basically gives them marks on their arms of a creature called the Crimson Dragon, a dragon from a long time ago. And, I'm stopping there as far as telling the story like this. So, as soon as I started, the first few episodes didn't interest me that much. It was kinda interesting to learn about these characters' pasts and what exactly is happening, but the first few episodes did feel kinda like a slug to me and sometimes there some annoying moments. However, I think the series really gets going after the whole facility segment, which is basically this prison and Yusei is thrown into it after being caught by security. As soon as that happens, he's approached by a man named Goodwin, who's pretty much the main villain of the first season and is the one who explains to Yusei about the history of the Crimson Dragon and about how it's a creature that sealed away some evil a long time ago and a part of its power is now inside him, Jack and some others. One of those others being a small girl named Luna who has a twin brother named Leo. And I really like the relationship Yusei builds with the two of them. Kinda being like a big brother to them that they both look up to. Luna also has some power where she can enter something called the Spirit World with the spirits of duel monsters. This part actually reminded me a lot of The Legend Of Korra with a whole Spirit World idea. Anyway, the fourth Signer is another girl Yusei's age named Akiza, who has telekinetic abilities and is part of a group called the Arcadia Movement. And, this part of the series is probably the part I liked the most. Seeing these characters interacting and forming relationships. Every characters builds some relationship with each other and that's the part about it I liked the most, especially since I liked almost all the characters. It was also interesting seeing some of their pasts like Akiza being this girl who had these powers her whole life and couldn't control them which caused everyone around her to shun her and even her own parents being afraid of her and so she decided to join the Acadia Movement so she would belong somewhere. And, again, the duels themselves are pretty cool, but the actual character moments of everyone pushing the plot forward was the part that entertained me the most and seeing how everyone formed relationships with each other. It's also pretty satisfying when some characters turn good in this like when Jack agrees to help Yusei and the others and be a good guy again. Not just him, but also Trudge, who's the main officer who was after Yusei for a while until they agree to team up and it's cool when he becomes a good guy too. And eventually, we learn more about this whole story like how Yusei's father was actually a scientist who created something called the Ener-D Reactor that caused a lot of damage to the city and his death with having to send Yusei to the Satellite for his own safety and it's later revealed that he was sabotaged. And we learn other things like the existence of Dark Signers who feed on fear and doubt to make themselves stronger. It's even later revealed that one of them is a guy that Yusei and Jack knew named Kalin. I haven't mentioned this yet, but there's another guy named Crow who's Yusei's best friend and also knew Kalin. And, again, we get more and more information and more duels with them trying to stop the Dark Signers and even Goodwin's brother who they think is the main bad guy until it's revealed that Goodwin himself is the main villain who has the arm of the fifth and last Signer and challenges Yusei, Jack and Crow to a duel. Eventually, they're able to beat him, but something really weird happens afterwards. He kinda sees Goodwin and his brother kinda make amends with Yusei in what looks like head or something. I dunno, the whole flip between the two of them kinda confused me because they would both say the other one was the villain and they'd act kinda evil and so it was really confusing whenever that aspect was mentioned. And then, by the end, everyone who was absorbed by the Dark Signers, or anyone who was being controlled by them is back to normal and Yusei, Jack and Crow manage to build a bridge connecting New Domino City to the Satellite. So, the first season of this for me was mostly positive even if some things didn't work for me. For one, there was that stuff I mentioned about how it would sometimes get weird with how the bad guy kinda switched between Goodwin and his brother as well as the fact that some characters were a bit annoying like Leo. He was mostly pretty solid, but he did get really annoying sometimes. Something else that was weird was when some characters would disappear form the story all together like Yusei's friends from the Satellite who helped him build his second Runner at the beginning of the first episode. They kinda vanish really quickly, which is weird considering their actions did lead to a lot of events that happened. But, again, like I said, the main thing I liked about this was the relationships that form between the characters. Probably the one I liked the most was Yusei's relationship with Akiza because she kinda becomes a love interest for him and I really liked a lot of their scenes together. Plus, the actual story itself with us learning more about the past and learning about Yusei's upbringing and other different things like that kept me wanting more when I was first watching this. I also found it interested how they made Duel Monsters different this time with adding in different elements. Not just the whole Runner idea with these motorcycles, but also different rules they introduced. As for the second season, I mostly feel about it the same way I did the first, although not as much because I didn't find it as interesting as the first, but there is still a lot I liked. For one, I found it cool how at the beginning, we're introduced to these three kinda alien guys while Yusei and the others are working for the Dueling Tournament coming up. And the stuff here is mostly pretty interesting, although some things weren't as interesting as others. I liked the inclusion of Bruno, this guy who's been mind controlled to be around Yusei and he begins to grow a friendship with him. And I still liked the relationships between everyone else, especially, again, the whole Yusei and Akiza one. But it's still nice to see Yusei being a big brother figure to Leo and Luna. However, unlike the first season where it didn't feel like there was any or much filler and was able to tell its story well, this season did have a few episodes like that. The biggest example I can think of is when Yusei goes to this western like town to find Kalin who's a good guy now and is trying to make amends for all the things he did. There are some interesting things here, but most of it did feel kinda pointless and too long. But this did all lead up to when Yusei and the others enter the tournament and are able to beat them along with some other team they were competing against called Team Ragnarok. And it was cool, though, maybe not as interesting as season 1. Also, another kinda weird thing is that there's some strange storylines that honestly didn't need to be in this season because there's some that could have been removed and not felt much different. But that isn't a detriment to the series as a whole, I still really, really enjoyed it. So, yeah, overall, that's all I saw from the series. So, even though I haven't seen all of it, what I did see, I really liked it. Not knowing anything about the plot or characters definitely helped because it means I could start it and not know what to expect. And, for the most part, I had a really great time with the show. I really enjoyed it and, like what I said for GX, I'm really glad this is part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. And, not only that, I should have said this for GX too, but I'm glad this is also technically a Shonen Jump property. And, again, what kept me intrigued for the most part was the characters and how likeable they were and their interactions and relationships between each other. It was also nice that there weren't any references to the other shows before considering that means it didn't have to rely on it, though I do wish we could have gotten maybe one mention of Yugi in this, I think that would have been cool, especially if it came form Yusei. And I think the cast is also really fantastic, especially Gregory Abbey as Yusei himself and Erica Schroeder as Akiza. A big part of why I liked these characters were the actors and they all did really well. Again, like I've said a couple of times already, I'm not entirely sure if the reception to this is mostly positive, but I think it should get more attention. I really liked it and I am disappointed the dubbing didn't finish considering I was loving it so much. The only other Yu-Gi-Oh! series I might be starting soon is Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexel since it's on DVD here and I am curious to see it. So, yeah, again, if you're a fan of this franchise, I would suggest checking this out if you're interested. And so, everyone, that's my review for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (Anime Review)

All right, so, continuing on with my new anime series reviews is my one for the second Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. This is another Yu-Gi-Oh! series I remember a lot of from when I was younger. I didn't watch the whole thing, but I did watch pieces of it here and there and I remember some scenes I saw when I was younger even if I didn't understand it. The scenes I saw were just cool and so, two years ago, I started collecting the DVDs and I learned there was actually four seasons. I always thought there was just three. And I then learned that it was never dubbed. I mentioned this before about how the fourth season of this and the third season of 5D's were never dubbed for some reason and, as I said, it said it may have been due to some licensing problems. Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but that's the only thing I have to go on. But, as for those first three seasons I've seen, I really like them. Yeah, the Yu-Gi-Oh! series does get kinda weird and silly sometimes and this series does have a lot of those kinda episodes, but the actual plot for these shows always interests me and I usually find them really entertaining. And I'll be doing review for this series as well as 5D's since they're the only other ones I've seen besides the original. And so, this'll be the review for the second Yu-Gi-Oh! series after the original, GX. So, the plot of this series is that it focuses on a boy named Jaden Yuki who's hoping to attend Duel Academy, which is this literal academy that teaches everyone about Duel Monsters and all the workings of it. So, when he's accepted, he meets friends there like Syrus, Chumley, Alexis and Bastion and meets a rival named Chazz. And so, he goes through the year dueling and not doing that great in classes, but still being one of the best duelists in the school while a whole bunch of different situations happens. Also, I did with my Hunter x Hunter review, I'll be going through the story and giving my thoughts as I'm going. So, immediately, I will say, the series doesn't start off that great at the beginning. I mean, the set up with the Duel Academy is cool and I like the idea since it means it'll be different from the original. But, for the most part, a lot of the episodes are filler with just a few episodes giving some hints of what the real plot for Season 1 is. There are different instances that hint at what's gonna happen towards the end. For the most part, a lot of these episodes might be a bit pointless because there's not much to them. Not to mention the fact that a lot of them have really silly stories like the whole dueling monkey episode or the crazy guy who steals lunches. Yeah, it's pretty insane a lot of the time. But I do like the episodes that do have to do with the main plot. And the main plot of Season 1 is cool with having these three cards like the Egyptian Gods called the Sacred Beasts. Yeah, it's kinda weird no one makes that point of how they're exactly like the Egyptian Gods, but it's still a cool idea. And, like I said, some earlier episodes had hinted at some of the events that happen like when Alexis is talking about her brother Atticus being missing and then we find out what happens and then he becomes kinda like a main character. And, then, it's cool as it gets to the end because we see different things happen like Jaden having to duel against Professor Banner and then it's revealed the main villain of the season is the superintendent named Kagemaru. And it's pretty nuts when he duels too with being this old man in a tube and using some machine to play the duel. But, at some point, he's able to sorta regain his youth and use the Three Sacred Beasts. And then, when Jaden is able to beat him, it's really cool. And then, at the end of this season, it's cool when we see Jaden duel with Zane, as in Syrus's older brother, and it make sense that it would end in a draw considering we spent the whole season establishing just how great duelers they both are. But, yeah, that whole part is really nice to see, especially the end when they show their respect for each other. And, as for the rest of the season, I also like when we see different references to the previous series like the mentions of Yugi here and there like Jaden admitting Yugi's his hero. Just different moments like that are cool to see spread out throughout the series. So, yeah, the first season is definitely weird in some cases and has its really weird episodes, but in terms of the plot for what it's all leading towards by the end, I really like it. Then, for the secondseason, this one is also pretty much the same in the sense that I like a lot of stuff involving the main story but still has some weird moments here and there. For one, we learn more about things like Jaden talking to duel spirits which are basically the spirits of the duel monsters they have and there's a lot of cool moments with that. And we're also introduced to a guy named Aster who has a deck similar to Jaden's with his being the Destiny Hero cards. And we see this effect Jaden a little bit when he loses to Aster and sorta goes off by himself to kinda reevaluate himself. I really like this because it shows him maturing a bit and it helps make him more likeable and not like a joke all the time. But, not only that, we're also shown the villain of this season named Satorius who's kinda like Aster's guardian who's trying to corrupt the students of Duel Academy and turn this into slaves for his Society Of Light. And this is the part I meant at the beginning of this about this season having some weird moments because this whole plot about the Society can get kinda weird sometimes, especially after Chazz gets corrupted. But we also gets a lot of cool moments like when Jaden gets new cards called the Neo-Spacians who act as like guides for him with them being Duel Spirits he can talk to. And we also meet some other new characters in this season like Hassleberry who always acts like this soldier kinda person and he's really likeable when he befriends Jaden and the others. And, I suppose this might be a good time to talk about the characters themselves. As I said in my top 10 favourite characters for this series, I really like a lot of them and my favourite is still Jaden. Not just because he's really likeable and fun, but because he does show maturity through the series and the rest are the same as well. Some of them can get a little annoying sometimes, but they're mostly really likeable. And then, we move onto my absolute favourite part of this series and still a really underrated arc in all of anime in my opinion, Season 3, A.K.A, The Other Dimension Arc. I absolutely love this part of the series. Yes, it may have its weird moments as well, but, overall, I really, really love rewatching this. I know I've mentioned things about this arc a ton of times already before, but I want to try to explain things a bit more and talk about things I haven't spoken about before. First, I really like the set up with having new characters like Jesse, Jim, Axel and Adrian being introduced and the set up with Viper is interesting with him being a side villain who's doing the things he's doing to try to bring his adopted son back but is being used by Yubel. And, again, I know I've talked about Yubel a lot, but I still think she's a great villain and I love how she's presented and built up with knowing more about her. First we see her as kinda like a lump of flesh with eye in some tube and then she begins to possess people and then she appears for real after a while. I do kinda wish we saw her more in real body because we don't see her that much. But, anyway, I love a lot about this season like in the beginning when Jesse and the others arrive at Duel Academy and there's already something off with Viper having everyone wear some bands that causes their energy to be drained and sent into Yubel and I like how they begin to suspect that something's going on and they they try to stop him. Again, there's just something about the way this story is told that makes it so enjoyable to me. And then, at the end when they catch Viper, Yubel kills him and sends them all to some other dimension. And it just keeps getting better and better with them trying to survive in this new dimension while trying to find a way back and Yubel has taken over a student's body named Marcel. And, we gets more duels between monsters there and everyone turning into monsters called Duel Ghouls. We even see an appearance from Pegasus again. Again, it's cool to see crossovers from the previous series and it's cool to see Pegasus as a good guy. It's just cool to see these different events unfold the way they do and it's great to see these characters doing different things and I like when some of these characters team up like Jesse and Jim becoming part of the main group and Axel slowly doing the same. And, by the end, it's awesome to see Jaden and Jesse team up to fight Yubel in Marcel's body and then she finally reveals herself but then Jesse uses a new card called the Rainbow Dragon to get everyone except himself home. It's also great when we see Yubel's backstory with her being a card that Jaden owned and she thinks he betrayed him by sending her away. I also like how it's Chancellor Sheppard who tells us this. And we then see Jaden try to go back to that dimension to save Jesse because he had to stay behind for all of them to be sent back. And this part with Jaden and his friends in the dimension is mostly really good. I will say, the whole first part with all of them together does kinda go on a bit too long in my opinion, but it does help show that Jaden's changing and not for the best because he's becoming so focused on finding Jesse that he's kinda ignoring everyone else around him. And, not only that, but if you lose a duel in this dimension, you get sent to the stars as everyone says which is basically you die or just get sent to some other dimension, it's kinda confusing. Anyway, Jaden's friends begins to get set to the stars and Jaden is partly to blame for it. And this causes everyone left to lose faith in him and leave him which causes him incredible despair and this leads to him becoming The Supreme King, which is basically this other personality inside him. And, I gotta say, it's interesting seeing Jaden as a villain for a while. It's not actually him, but The Supreme King in control of his body and he just begins to kill a bunch of people until Jim and Axel try to stop him. Jim gets set and Axel does manage to beat him but at the cost of his life as well. And so the last few episodes are Jaden, Syrus, Ojama Yellow and Crowler trying to find Jesse and stop Yubel. And, I especially love watching these last few episodes with Adrian fighting Yubel and losing but then Jaden fights her and frees Jesse from Yubel's control but then they fight again. I will say, while the duels themselves are definitely entertaining, a few times, they're not as interesting as the actual character stuff. I mostly like just watching these characters interacting stuff like that. But they're still fine and the final duel between Jaden and Yubel is really cool, especially when we see Yubel herself transform into Yubel: The Ultimate Nightmare. And then we see a backstory for Jaden and Yubel in that they're both reincarnated version of a prince and guardian from a long time ago. Yeah, it's pretty insane, and kinda weird that it's kinda thrown in at the last second in the last episode, but I still think it's pretty cool. And then Jaden kinda sacrifices himself to fuse his spirit with Yubel's. It's a little confusing as to what happens after this because the two of them then disappear and everyone who was sent to the stars return and everyone except Jaden returns Duel Academy. I know there was a Season 4 that explained it but I haven't seen it and so it's a little odd. But not bad at all. It's still a cool season finale and I love so much about it. So, yeah, this may have come off as kinda confusing but all that is how I view the series and I really like it. I think the series as a whole is really good and it's awesome that this is part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. I really like the characters in this and there's a lot of  really awesome moments in my opinion. I do wish they dubbed Season 4 because I feel like that would have been awesome to see, especially since there's a point where Jaden fights Yugi as part of some exam or something. But, speaking of the dubbed, that's done really well here as well, I especially love Matthew Charles as the voice of Jaden himself. And the animation's also really good. I don't entirely think people's thoughts on this are all positive. I know there are people who enjoy it and some probably don't, but I personally really do. Yeah, there are some things about it that don't work for me, but the positives definitely overshadow the negatives in my opinion. So, yeah, especially if you're a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, I would say check this out. And so, everyone, that's my review for Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings Trailer

So, today, we were show the official trailer for Shang-Chi And The Legends Of The Ten Rings. And we got a whole lot more information here. For one, we're shown more of the plot like how Shang-Chi hates what his father is and doesn't want to be what he wants. We also see more action and more interactions with some other characters. I'm really excited to see these characters because they look likeable and the actors look like they're doing great jobs with them and it'll be cool to see more new characters in the M.C.U. But probably the biggest surprise in this for me came in at the end where we see the Abomination again. Yeah, after all this time, he's back and he looks different this time, but it's great to see him again considering he's been absent since The Incredible Hulk. Overall, this trailer made me more excited to see the film and the fact that it'll be out in three months makes it even better. And so, here it is and I hope you all like this.

Luca

And so, everyone, we've arrived at the latest Pixar movie that was added to Disney+ the other day, Luca. This was one that I honestly wasn't excited for all that much despite being a huge Pixar and Disney fan. The trailers looked fine but didn't impress me all that much, but I was at least still curious to check it out. And, I didn't watch any reviews for it before watching because I didn't want to know anything about people's general thoughts. And, in the end, I thought this movie was very... okay. That's really the best I can say about this but this film didn't really impress me in any way. It wasn't bad at all and there were more good than bad, but, overall, I didn't like this that much. Also, I'm not gonna do a spoiler section for this because I'm just gonna have all my thoughts out immediately, but I still won't spoil anything about any big plot points. So, what's the story? It's about a sea monster named Luca who's a small boy. When he gets curious about wanting to explore the land but his family forbids it thinking it's dangerous on land. That is until he meets another sea monster like him named Alberto who goes on land all the time and whenever they do, they turn into humans. So, Luca and Alberto decide to explore a town called Portorosso and meet a girl there named Giulia and then she begins to teach them about the land while they're trying to hide the fact that they're sea monsters. So, obviously, right off the bat, easily the best part of this is definitely the animation. You expect a film from Pixar to look top tier these days and that's still true here. It's a gorgeous movie and the acting is of course fantastic. It's certainly not a bad movie and it does have some good things in it, but, that's about it for the positives. Now, let's get into my problems. First, there's nothing in this that feels original. As a Pixar movie, you expect there to be tons of originality and have a lot of memorable moments. But, for the most part, this film is mostly really generic. It follows a similar story to other things and I didn't find there was anything in this that was investing at all. So, unlike a film like Raya And The Last Dragon earlier this year, this didn't hold my interest that much. And, since the film didn't hold my interest that much, it felt like a bit of a drag to get through this and it's never a good thing when you feel like you're just getting through a movie and not watching it because you're enjoying it. I also found the goal of the movie to be weird. I won't spoil it, but there's a point where Luca and Alberto decide they want to do a specific thing and I was kinda under the impression that was just gonna be something small for the film and something bigger was gonna happen, but there wasn't. That really was what the big goal of the film was and that was weird to me. Also, while I didn't dislike any of the characters, they also didn't have anything that new to them and they felt really clichéd a lot of the time. There wasn't anything new to them and they just kept falling under a bunch of clichés. Especially the villain of the film named Ercole who's just some random bully in the town who's just a clichéd bully. There's also a lot of plotholes in the film that didn't make any sense whatsoever and the film gets into it's main story really, really quickly. Like I said in some other review before. You expect a Pixar film, or just any film, to be set up in the beginning where we know who these characters are and what they do, but they skip a lot of that in the beginning and just get into Luca going up to the surface really, really quickly. There's also some plot points that go nowhere. Like there's a set up with Luca towards the beginning and it never goes anywhere afterwards and the ending doesn't feel that satisfying and it has a pretty generic ending too. I know I'm probably being too harsh on this film because it's not a bad movie at all, but when a studio like Pixar has high stands of expectations with their films and they make something average like this, that's a big disappointment in my opinion. And, really, I don't see this as a film I want to watch again after the first viewing. Which is sad because, like you all know, I a gigantic Pixar fanboy and I usually love their films, but I just didn't find this to be anything exceptional. It really didn't hit me in the same way as their other films, and especially not in the way Raya did in March. So, yeah, that's really it. I know this review wasn't super long, but I didn't have that much to say about it because there really wasn't much to this in my opinion. So, really, overall, if you're interested, I would say watch it, it's not a complete waste of time, but it's also not one of the best Pixar movies ever and I don't think I'd watch it again. So, yeah, that's my review of Luca. Thank you all for watching and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Hunter x Hunter (Anime Review)

All right, so, I'm getting back into doing anime series review on here. I've done two series before, one of them was done last year, but now, I'm making a third series on here doing review for more anime I've watched. I've actually started watching a lot more anime ever since I finished the last series and I'm hoping to talk about, maybe not all of them, but a good amount. And, starting us off is the second manga series created by Yoshihiro Togahsi, Hunter x Hunter. I've wanted to talk about this series for a while because I love this series. I'm obviously gonna be reviewing the 2011 anime and I'm gonna be talking about the series arc by arc and giving my thoughts as I'm talking about it. So, this isn't the first time I've spoken about Hunter x Hunter on here. I've done different things talking about it like talking about my favourite characters and doing paintings of some of the characters as well as recently doing a review of a collectible of a character from it, and there's a good reason. This show is absolutely incredible and this is easily one of my favourite anime series of all time. This was actually voted as the greatest anime of the 2010's and I completely agree. What got me into it originally was that I was hearing about it a few times on YouTube and I had seen some clips, so, in 2019, I started watching the first 10 or so episodes but I stopped until December that year where I watched more episodes but then I stopped again until around July last year where I watched a lot more episodes and I made it up to about episode 111 and the website I was using didn't have anymore dubbed episodes after that. But, shortly after that, they revealed they were gonna be releasing the series here on Blu-Ray. So, ever since November last year, I've been collecting the Blu-Rays as they've been released. And I'm so glad I did because I've had an amazing time with this series. So, the story is set in a fantasied version of Earth where there are these people called Hunters who are basically people capable of doing various dangerous things like exploring mystical places and finding dangerous treasures, among other things. And, on an island called Whale Island, there lives a twelve year old boy named Gon Freecss who is curious about his dad named Ging who apparently left him there when he was a baby in the care of his aunt named Mito. And, after encountering a man named Kite, Gon decides he wants to become a Hunter to try to find his dad. The only way to become one is by taking the Hunter Exam. He then takes part and meets new friends and foes along the way. The friends he meets are Leorio, Kurapika and especially, Killua. And the main enemy he meets there is a magician like character named Hisoka. After completing the exam, he sets out with Killua trying to find Ging. So, in the beginning, I will admit, the first arc of this series, that being the Hunter Exam, is, in my opinion, the most Shonen-like arc of the series. Meaning it acts like a lot of other Shonen properties and follows some familiar beats. But that doesn't make it bad, not one little bit. It's still paced well for the most part. Yeah, there are some things that go on for too long in my opinion, but this arc does still have a lot of great moments. First, I like how the series is set up with how it introduces all these characters. Gon is pretty cool protagonist and he gets some great moments in this. And the others are great too, like I said before, Killua is by far my favourite character in the series and, while his best moments aren't here in my opinion, there are some cool moments with him here, in particular one moment where he kills a guy by literally ripping his heart out. And Leorio and Kurapika are great too. Leorio is really funny and acts as like a brother figure to all of them and Kurapika is pretty cool too and the backstory with him is pretty tragic with being the sole survivor of his family and now he wants revenge on a group called the Phantom Troupe and to recover the eyes of his family. And some of the other character's pasts are tragic too like Leorio who lost his friend to a disease and now wants to become a doctor to help anyone else like that. Plus, not only them, but the villains are great too. Like I said, I also really love Hisoka and he's so much fun to watch despite technically being a terrible murderer. But, as for this arc on its own with its contents, it's mostly pretty good. I really enjoy how the Hunter exam is mostly like a bunch of games. I really enjoy that kinda thing in an anime and manga series, and it's really fun to watch here. Like I said though, there are some times where it can feel a little bit like a drag like when Gon and the others have to spend some time in a room alone for a few hours and we spend some time with them in there and that can be pretty boring sometimes. The main thing I enjoyed while watching it was the friendships develop, especially Gon and Killua's. Like I said before, Gon and Killua's friendship is my favourite friendship in all of anime and the two of them together made those scenes really fun. And then at the end when we see them have a tournament like thing where Gon is fighting Hanzo and Hanzo is just destroying him is pretty tough to watch but it does have a pretty funny ending. But the end of the arc is kinda tragic when we see Killua's brother make him quit the Exam and fail it. But it was nice with Gon, Leorio and Kurapika went to Killua's house to help him and get him back. After that, Gon and Killua say goodbye to Leorio and Kurapika and go to Heaven's Arena to train. Now Heaven's Arena is where I think the series really gets going. Yes, the Hunter Exam is a great start to the series, but I don't think it really gets going until this arc. And it's a really fascinating arc. First off, I love the introduction to Wing and Zushi. They're both extremely likeable characters and they're so much fun. And then we introduced to the concept of Nen, which is this series power system like Ki or Chakra or Spirit Energy. And the idea of it is genius. Nen is often hailed as the best power system in all of anime and , while I'm not absolutely sure if I'd agree to that, I can at least say I understand and it's close to being my favourite at least. And I like how there's different types and people can be different types like how Gon is an Enhancer and Killua is a Transmuter. And this greatly helps with the future fights of the series because it helps make the fights more unique since all the characters are different types of Nen user. And I love how there are more and different types of properties of Nen, it helps make the concept more unique. And everything else that happens in Heaven's Arena is cool too like all the fights that happen there. That's something I haven't mentioned yet, the fights in this series are incredible. Maybe my favourite fights in all of anime. This series was done by Madhouse Studio and the way they animate fight scenes are mind blowing. I love in a show where you can feel the impacts of attacks and the tremors and every fight in this series has that, I love it. And the fight in Heaven's Arena that my favourite is Gon vs. Hisoka, which I've even mentioned before as one of my favourite anime tournament fights ever, even if Gon does lose, plus it does also have some funny moments. And I like how Gon and Killua leave Zushi and Wing after this because it makes it nice when they reappear later on. Anyway, after that, there's a small part where Gon and Killua go back to Whale Island and Killua meets Gon's aunt Mito. I like this because it gives them more character when they're talking about what to do next and it's a cool set up for the next part of the series. And I'm talking about how it sets up the next arc which is YorkNew City arc. And, I'm not gonna lie, this might be my least favourite part of the series. I know some people say this is their favourite arc in the series and it definitely has some fantastic moments that I love, but there are some things in this I don't like like there are some things in this that can be kinda boring and go on for too long and don't really go anywhere. I know for some of these, that's kinda intentional, but I don't think that really helps. However, like I said, there are some great moments in this like the introduction to the Phantom Troupe, who are generally regarded as one of the best villain groups in anime and there's good reason for that. Unlike other villain groups in anime, these guys are completely unique and it's cool that you actually grow to like these guys despite the terrible things they do. It's great to see a villain group in this that isn't super generic like other ones. It was also cool to see Kurapika be a focus for this because we see him join a group to protect someone to help find and kill the troupe. And he does get a lot of great moments in this like when he fights Uvogin from the troupe and kills him. Also this show is so brutal. Like, honestly, there are some really brutal things in this series that I'm surprised some of this was allowed in a Shonen Jump manga. I know Shonen mangas can get brutal, but it's hard to imagine some of the gruesome things in this was allowed at all. But it's still cool. However, again, I do feel like some things in this arc go on for too long, like these a large portion of this dedicated to talking about auctions because Gon and Killua are trying to get a copy of a game called Greed Island because Ging left a memory card for Gon to find and play it. And Gon is doing this as a way to help him find him. Anyway, yeah, some of that auction stuff I feel goes on for too long and it all doesn't amount to much since they kinda abandon it to get the game another way and so it felt like a waste of time in my opinion. But, again, the arc did have a lot of great things in it, especially just seeing Gon, Killua, Leorio and Kurapika back together again. But then they go their separate ways again once Gon and Killua are able to play Greed Island and the way it work is that they use their Nen to teleport themselves inside the game itself. And then we start the Greed Island arc, which, like I said before, is honestly a pretty underrated anime arc in my opinion. I love this part of the story. For one, I really like when we meet Bisky. I really, really like Bisky. She's really like able and really funny. And the whole idea of Greed Island is extremely fun with it being a game you literally interact with because for the game you have to collect 100 specific cards and Gon and Killua do this while also learning more about Nen from Bisky. So, most of this arc feels like it's a training session for the two of them. And since the Nen system is so well thought, it's mostly really interesting stuff. Some things are more interesting than others, but it's still great to watch. And the main thing I love about this arc is the dodgeball segment where Gon, Killua and Bisky team up with Hisoka and some other people like Goreinu to go up against Razor. That whole dodgeball segment is incredible and one of the absolute best parts of the whole series. It also makes Hisoka even more likeable. He was already a likeable character but this made him even better. And everything to do with that was so much fun. However, this arc does have some problems. For one, again, some things do go on for bit too long like some of the training can maybe go on too long and there's the whole thing of trying to explain how the card system works. And the biggest problem is with the main villain of this arc, Genthru. In a series with really fantastic villains who aren't generic at all, Genthru comes off as the one exception because he's just a guy who kills people just... because. And he's just kinda boring. But, the rest of the arc is still really fun and I do think it's an underrated anime story arc. But then, after that we reach the pinnacle of the entire series, the Chimera Ant Arc. This story is as close to perfect that an anime story arc can get. Yoshihiro Togashi put this story together fantastically. I like how it starts with Gon and Killua meeting Kite again and we learn more about him as a character. And we learn that he's investigating a spices called Chimera Ants, who can kinda evolve in a way. We then see Gon and Killua going with Kite to try to help him investigate it. And, along the way, the Chimera Ants ae trying to help their queen eat people to eventually give birth to the king. And this is another part that's pretty gruesome because we see innocent people, including children, get eaten by this thing and it's pretty unsettling. Anyway, the queen also gives birth to the royal guards, Pitou, Youpi and Pouf. And Pitou even manages to kill Kite which triggers an anger in Gon so he and Killua go back to try to train to fight them. And I really like when we see them training with Knuckle and Shoot while Netero goes with Morel and Knov to try to kill the ants. Though, again, some of those scenes can feel like they go on a bit too long. But, eventually, the queen gives birth to the king himself, Meruem. I've already mentioned Meruem a lot on here and everything I've said about him before is still true. Like how he's my favourite villain of the series and one of my favourite characters in the series as well. I also still believe he's Yoshihiro Togashi's best villain ever too. He's just so interesting and so well written. And, it's kinda weird with him too because he's a character who does so many terrible things and kills so many innocent people and kids but he never comes across as unlikeable and he's completely sympathetic. But, anyway, back onto the series, I like a lot of what happens after this with Morel and Knov interacting and trying to fight some of the ants and Gon and Killua still training with Bisky again. However, again, like some of these other arcs, there are some problems I have with this like there's a big portion dedicated to Gon and Killua being separated and they have to fight some ants themselves and, while there are some cool moments, I feel like it goes on for too long and some of the fights seem kinda pointless. But the time dedicated to that does also go to Meruem as well and it's great to see more of him because of how fantastic of a character he is. But, even if some of those fight scene were kinda pointless, it was all made up for during the palace invasion where Gon, Killua, Knuckle, Shoot, Morel, Ikalgo and Meleron all team up to try to invade the palace that Meruem and the guards have taken over to try to kill them. And this entire part of the series is by far my favourite because there's so many amazing moments. We see the majority of them fighting Youpi and Pouf while Gon and Killua are trying to find Pitou because Gon wants him to heal Kite thinking he's still alive and that Pitou can heal him. And this is where we see more of what Gon really is. He may appear as a happy young boy for most of the series, but there's a lot of instances where he does something pretty dark or selfish throughout, and this is the pinnacle of that. There's so many instances in this arc where he acts like a monster and does something that a villain would do like he threatens to kill Komugi, who's this little girl that Meruem has been trying to beat at a game of Gungi, which is this board game Togashi created for the series. And Komugi has helped Meruem grow and change but in the palace invasion, she gets injured and Meruem has Pitou try to heal her and so he does but Gon, because he's so angry and full of it, he threatens to kill her just to make Pitou do what he wants. And it's pretty surprising to see a Shonen protagonist do something like this. And so, throughout the palace invasion, there's just so many standout moments, but one of the biggest is the Netero vs. Meruem fight. That entire sequence is so incredibly animated and insane. But another great moment is the Gon vs. Pitou fight when Pitou eventually reveals that Kite is dead and there's nothing he can do. So, in this moment, Gon becomes consumed with so much sadness and despair that he makes a vow with his Nen to transform him into an adult version of himself with all the power he would ever have just to kill him.

And that whole segment is also disturbing. Just seeing a person throw their lives away just to kill some other living creature like that. And, at this point, Netero poisoned Meruem which means he's going to die. And so, we see Youpi and Pouf both get killed from the poison too and then Meruem decides he wants to spends his last few hours playing Gungi with Komugi. And, yeah, I mentioned this before, but this entire sequence is heart-breaking. Just seeing the two of them playing and then just dying after Meruem had been through so much development and then to see him die is honestly gut-wrenching. I've watched other people's reactions to this on YouTube and they all get devastated during this scene too. And, it's not just Meruem, but because of how likeable Komugi was, it's tragic to see her die too because she also gets a bit of that poison too from being near Meruem. But the last part of the anime is great too with Gon in hospital almost dead with Killua trying to save him deciding to use the power of his sister named Alluka to save Gon. Alluka has another personality inside her named Nanika who can grant wishes after you do different requests for her and Killua uses that to save Gon. But, during this segment, we finding meet Gon's dad, Ging, properly and he's dismissive of visiting Gon and so Leorio is angry at him for that and we get this awesome scene where he confronts him.

But then, after Gon is saved, he goes to see Ging and it's really sad when we see him and Killua part ways. They don't know when they'll ever see each other again, and so it's sad to see them say goodbye to each other like this. But this leads to Gon finally meeting Ging and having a nice conversation and Ging mostly telling telling Gon about the bigger world out there and the last few minutes of the last episode are spent seeing a lot of characters where they're left off and mostly being in a good spot. And, it's kinda different in the manga. And I say that because the Hunter x Hunter manga is a lot like Berserk in the sense that it's constantly on hiatus and the anime only finished at that point even though the manga is still going. And that's pretty disappointing because I love this series so much that and I would love to see more material for it. But, as for the anime itself, it's fantastic. I love this series and the plotting for it is incredible. The animation is, in my opinion, feature film levels and is gorgeous. Both this and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are both animes with the best anime animation I've ever seen. The dubbing is also fantastic. I already mentioned before that I think Erica Mendez and Christina Vee are both fantastic as Gon and Killua, but the rest are great too like Erika Harlacher as Kurapika and Matt Mercer as Leorio and especially Keith Silverstein as Hisoka. And the rest if the characters are great too. There's so many likeable ones throughout the entire story, especially during the Chimera Ant arc. And, like I said, the action scenes are just amazing. These are honestly the best anime fights I've ever seen next to the fights from Naruto. I could watch these fights forever because they're just that good. And the thing I said before about the villains is true. The villains in this are so brilliantly written for the most part that it helps make every character that much more likeable. The show's also really funny. There's a lot of funny moments and I like the journey that a lot of these characters take. Especially Killua. We follow him and Gon through most of this series and he's the character I like the most and there's so many incredible moments with him. I especially love how he's mostly being manipulated by his brother Illumi to be scared of anyone who would be stronger than him by a needle in his brain but during the Chimera Ant arc, he's able to rip it out and act on his own completely. I just love Killua so much in this series and I believe the series would not be what it is or be as good as it is without him. So, really, yeah, this series is fantastic and I absolutely love it. I would love in the future if we ever got more volumes and if Togashi is able to finish the story that they continued with the anime as well. So, yeah, if you've never seen it before, I would highly recommend you do because it's so good. And, so, everyone, that's my review of Hunter x Hunter. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.