25 Years Later: "Disband ✕ Party ✕ Unpleasant Ties"
Finally, after thirty-one (now thirty-two) blogposts, the end of the first arc has arrived.
This episode is certainly the least ‘significant’ episode. Both in its adapted contents and in its original contents, it is connective tissue mixed with some lightly bittersweet fluff. Farewells to characters who will never be seen again, who will never have roles nearly as significant as the ones they held in this arc, and a promise of reunion that may or may not ever come during our time with this series.
It’s hardly as bittersweet as it could be. I’m incredibly fond of departure episodes, and ultimately this doesn’t register as much to me since really we’re only saying goodbye to two characters, Hanzo and Pokkle. Hisoka and Illumi are the weirdos that nobody likes talking to, and the exam committee are characters destined to depart the main stage (until they come back, though not here). Is this a slight against the episode? No, not really.
The episode works well integrating its fluff with its narrative, pairing up the actual start of the next arc with scenes of the characters partying, being trapped in odd situations that only arise due to the conclusion of the exam, having to consider their futures and gain knowledge of a larger world outside what they know. Quite literally in some instances, as in a very odd set of anime original inclusions, Leorio not only surfs the web (for no real reason) but we also see a map of the world, and it’s looking a bit… bigger than it’s typically shown in literally all other instances. Seriously, what’s that at the top of the map?
If that other thing we’ll see in the third arc is the best kept secret in the world, maybe that other thing in the current arc of the manga is just the worst kept secret.
Ultimately not much is needed to be said on this episode. So we’ll talk about the arc as a whole instead.
This is the most interesting adaptation of Hunter x Hunter, and I’m including a lot there. We have the Pilot OVA from 1998, the three OVA runs from 2002 to 2004, and the newest adaptation that ran from 2011-2014. It’s not really what I would call a typical battle manga anime, mainly because it doesn’t really have any fights. It has scenarios certainly, but most of them seem very episodic and lesson focused, not like the grand tournaments of the Chuunin Exams in Naruto, or the succession of increasing threads that made up the Red Ribbon Army arc of Dragon Ball, and a large part of that is how Togashi generally presents his work, but that’s the thing.
In the one instance where I will meaningfully bring up the 2011 anime, when I watch that and stew in my disdain and anger (as you do), what I know I am watching is a battle anime. It feels like a Naruto, or like a Gash Bell, or even like a Dai no Daibouken, but when I watch these first 31 episodes of Hunter x Hunter, especially the first ten or so, I don’t feel that. I’ve seen a lot of battle anime, even from the 1990s and the 2000s (which is when this anime released) and it feels alien to them too. It’s not like Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball Z, Yaiba, Gash Bell (okay maybe a little), or the original Dai no Daibouken. Really, to me, it feels kind of like Nobody’s Boy Remi from 1977. Like Akage no Anne from 1979, or Takarajima from 1979.
It feels kind of like a World Masterpiece Theatre anime (or at least, how I infer a lot of those to feel based on my limited experience with the ‘genre’ of lengthy adaptations of foreign children’s novels that one-time permeated Japanese media). This makes a bit of sense in an odd way, since Nippon Animation, the ‘studio’ behind the 1999 Hunter x Hunter anime, are one of the driving forces behind World Masterpiece Theatre, they even worked on Akage no Anne, an adaptation of the Canadian novel, Anne of Green Gables.
(Meta: for the unaware, World Masterpiece Theatre is a series of anime works that ran sequentially from 1975 to 1997, typically adapting children’s literature from other countries and they would often run for 39-50 episodes (or 3-4 cour))
It’s a very odd comparison to make though, because this is still a silly, fantastical anime, and I’m comparing it to Nobody’s Boy, a novel about a French child who is sold to a traveling performer and has to cope with constant tragedy. But that echoes Gon, doesn’t it? At least a little?
The lush background work of Anne alongside its very detailed characterwork, expressed often through animation intricacies, it’s head and shoulders above the work on display in this anime, but I still feel its DNA somehow seeping into the core of the work, just adjusted for the sensibilities of a popular Weekly Shounen Jump adaptation. Though I might just be uneducated on the matter, as I didn’t see much crossover between the staff of those works and the staff on 1999 (though the director of it was on Rurouni Kenshin, a series I have yet to watch, as well as Spy X Family, a series I also have yet to watch). I do notice a fair number of the staff, when they have worked on anime I’m familiar with, I can see a distinct flavor seeping in.
Sakamoto Nobuto is credited as the art director for the work, who I know would be among the many staff to not return for the later Nippon Animation OVAs (we might talk about that… next year). They worked on the main Rurouni Kenshin (Art Director) series for the first 66 episodes, but I also see they had their hands in anime like Macross Dynamite 7, the original 1994 Dai no Daibouken (Art Design), and they acted as Assistant Art Director for the absolutely gorgeous and visually standout Patalliro! Stardust Keikaku (if you have the opportunity, get the film scan from Kineko Video, it will change your life and how you view anime as a medium (or you’ll just think it’s cool)).
The man credited for the music of the work is Sahashi Toshihiko, and I could talk about good the music is in Akazukin Chacha, another show he worked on, but sticking out here is the fact that he did music on every Gundam SEED anime, a series that has been personally memed to death for me, but also does actually have standout music. In the earlier episodes of this blog, I would often take the time to highlight how well the music is used, just two episodes ago I raised how impactful the Zoldyck Family Theme was, and I do believe this is a great soundtrack. Maybe not among my favourites, but it has flavour and feels rich, it feels like it has a continuous throughline even when it completely shifts tones (contrast the main Hunter Theme to Hisoka’s Theme for example).
One thing I was most interested in following the last episode though was specific staff. The man on storyboarding was Kobayashi Takashi, though unfortunately his works elude me (I am quite fond of his episodes of Ace wo Nerae! 2), and the episode director for it was Matsushita Yukihiro, who ties the 1999 anime to Madhouse apparently. He will go on to Episode Direct a fair number of episodes from here on, in addition to the ones he already storyboarded, such as Episode 12 (the conclusion to the Anita filler arc which features similar Killua drama to Episode 30) and Episode 16 (the episode where Killua rips out a man’s heart). He would go on to direct the first Greed Island OVA as well and… we’ll get to that… in 2028.
The animation director of Episode 30 is a factor that makes complete sense once I got the full context of it though, that being Kannan Masaaki, who was the animation director on several standout episodes, including the first one, as well as Episode 24 (or, the episode where Gon suffers, as I called it).
Though gushing about who did what on the show isn’t really what this is about. I can’t even talk about how good Episode 30 looks without mentioning that yeah, Episode 31 looks pretty weird. Kurapika’s hair is big clumps again (banana hair), and this isn’t exclusive here, it’s something that happens. The show, like many anime of this time and before, isn’t consistent. A lot of different people and different teams worked on this, and you can see their DNA throughout. Animation Director Imaizumi Ken’ichi was responsible for Episode 31, and he also worked on Episode 25, one that looks kind of off. I wouldn’t call any episode bad outright, some are certainly lacking in the animation department, but that’s what anime is all about. It’s supposed to be about covering up stilted and awkward animation with style, and that is attempted. I will say that when it comes to ‘jank’ episodes, I prefer when Kannan is steering the wheel to Imaizumi, but nothing here is bad.
I love all of this arc. Even episodes where I completely phoned in the blogpost and just had a dozen pictures of Leorio making Hokuto no Ken faces, I was still loving the show, both because of the very much innate qualities to Hunter x Hunter that allow me to overlook certain issues (if I so choose), but also because this is just a good anime. It’s earnest, it feels greater than the standard Jump adaptation that I described earlier. When it opens with Ohayou and closes with Kaze no Uta, I feel a sense of greater meaning here, if I want to be a pseud about it, I could say that I feel art here. I feel the art in anime in ways that I really don’t feel with some other works I won’t say the names of to keep this blog focused.
This whole journey from Gon’s departure, to his joining the exams, him meeting all these characters, his failures, affirmations, and eventual triumph is something that feels unique to this adaptation despite it being an adaptation. The majority of the plot beats and character beats are there in the manga, but what it adds gives them a different texture. Gon and Killua go from fairly simplistic kids with their depth being something for the reader to view, to them being openly just as complicated as Kurapika and Leorio. Gon suffers to prove himself and earn the right to find his dad, while Killua suffers constant self-doubt and a belief that he cannot change.
Kurapika is someone who can never be shaken in his beliefs. When he sees Gon facing down self-doubt, he doesn’t just see that as Gon’s issue, but as an issue that could reflect on himself and his goals, and so he needs Gon to believe in himself and in his ability. He viewed himself as greater than Leorio, but both succumb to the same trap and only Leorio is able to overcome it through his own ability (see: Episode 7). Leorio’s deeper personal issues are covered up with arrogance and self-assuredness, that he will do anything to achieve his goals, but his belief in Gon overpowers even his, admittedly, very noble desires (for a time at least).
This culminates in a moment that feels out of place but fits the ending of this arc, here in this episode. Kurapika and Leorio plan to leave as well, to let Gon journey on his own to find Killua, but they both feel that pull towards him. Gon is very much a Goku in the 1999 anime’s framing, he is someone that the cast revolves around and who continually inspires them, reaffirms them, and someone to strive towards. Had Gon been there to witness Killua’s fight, Killua just might have fought against his brother with how the anime ends up treating Gon’s connections, but we never see that. We don’t yet know how Gon’s pull will affect Killua, if at all.
There’s a lot going on in this arc, as there should be. 31 episodes in the second major adaptation of Hunter x Hunter gets you far beyond this point, but I feel it lacks a texture to it when it does so. It presents many aspects faithfully, but what is faithfulness worth if I’m given something lesser than the manga?
Is that to say this arc is greater here than in the manga? Well, that’s not what this blog is about again, but as a singular work, as a pure anime divorced from any comparisons, this is a great series (thus far). It gives such a depth to its cast that they can carry a rather milquetoast core narrative of completing sequential ‘examinations’, just new tasks nearly every episode. The tasks can be interesting, but they wouldn’t be as fun without the cast, their internal conflicts, their trauma and doubts, and their core identities unique to this version.
I guess you could say I love this? Maybe I love it. Maybe I’ll have an answer by Episode 62.
Post-Scrip: So, I didn’t quite have a place to fit this in, but I want to defend that moment, the silly scene where Gon kicks Illumi and Illumi just rolls over in a very over dramatic way. I’ve seen this raised to dig at 1999, and there are so many better things to pull from this episode to do that, because this is actually great character animation. Illumi moves like a puppet (again, his song in the musical is ‘Passionless Puppet of Darkness’), often his motions and quirks have both a fluidity and a stiffness to them that makes him seem alien, so when he gets kicked over here, that’s it. He’s just falling over, like a puppet with its strings cut. Call him overdramatic, I call him in character.
Next Time: The Zoldyck Family Arc
