Hunter x Hunter 2011 – 07 Review

Episode 07 – Showdown x On x The Airship
(This is so not 3 words =P)

We finally get an episode that places more of a focus on Killua and Hisoka – my two favourite characters of the series. \(^-^)/

Although this episode takes a break from the actually exams, it doesn’t mean that we are not going to get anything substantial out of the episode.

Review

The episode covers episode 11 and 12 of the ’99 series and chapters 13 and 14 of the manga storyline.

This episode is once again back to being true to the manga and delivers a short and sweet format whilst taking a break from the exams. I had felt that the pacing of the episode was also just right, not too fast and not too slow. Nothing really major had happened and all it did was to provide some character development which will come in handy in the future.

This is probably the first time where I had felt that the episode was better than the ’99 series’ version. For those of you who have seen the ’99 series, I am sure you would have noticed that the huge chunk of the story about the female examinee and Kilua’s family was extra material. I hadn’t really liked that segment too much in the ’99 series as it had done nothing more than placed a bigger focus on Killua’s family and his background, which I had felt was pretty unnecessary at this point of the series. Without it we are still able to conclude that his family is family is made out of assassins and that he is one of them and that should be enough.

Character Development

The first thing that the episode starts off with was Netero and his assistant Bean (who is literally as green as a bean and has a head that is the shape of a bean) introducing themselves whilst giving everyone a heads-up about the examinees having a break until 8am (which is when they will be arriving at their destination.)

Tompa had decided to spook Kurapica and Leorio by saying that the next exam could occur on the airship. This whole situation had essentially showed us Kurapica’s analytical mind as he analyses the possibility of that being the truth. As for Leorio, well, he fell asleep, so it isn’t really explained if he was merely too tired to stay awake or if he had also realized that the possibility of an exam happening on the airship was low to worry about. I had liked how this 2011 series prevents Tompa from getting the best out of the main characters, as in the ’99 series I couldn’t help but feel frustrated at how they had always gotten hindered by Tompa’s actions.

Then we have the anlaysis of Hisoka’s character done by the Examiners. I really liked the part where they had discussed about which examinees had caught their attention followed by the shift in the topic towards Hisoka. Seeing his character through the Examiners view point really adds to giving us a better understanding of his character.

As for Gon and Killua, well, Gon’s unfazed attitude towards the truth of Killua’s family really shows his mature and open minded attitude. Either that or it shows his animalistic nature and how he simply goes with his gut. =P I love the focus that was placed on Killua in this episode. The small talk with Gon had given us information about his family, the fight with Netero had showed us his upbringing and his slaughtering of the 2 men showed us his true nature and his evil side. (I had never thought of Killua as being evil prior to this episode)

What was definitely done better in this series was the evil look of Killua. He comes across as being more evil and psychotic than cool. The ’99 series had made him seemed somewhat brainwashed by his family whereas this series makes it seem like it is his true nature to be this evil.

The Missing

Like I had said, the extra bits in the ’99 series were mere fillers and I hadn’t really cared too much for it. That being said, in the ’99 series, I did like the internal turmoil that Killua had gone through right after he had ran out of the match against Netero. That had really showed how Killua had wanted to change and also showed us a softer and more sympathetic side of Killua. However, in the 2011 version and in the manga, all we saw was Killua rushing out so as to prevent himself from slaughtering Netero followed by him killing the 2 guys who had annoyed him at the wrong time. No internal turmoil, just cold blooded murder.

Sure, it can be argued that that is what he is meant to be, but this version of Killua makes him appear more psychotic and definitely harder to sympathize with.

With that being said, both of the murder scenes in the ’99 version and the 2011 version were pretty censored compared to the manga’s version. I actually think that the 2011 version was more uncensored than the 1999 version.

It is quite interesting to see that despite all the censorship with the scenes, the fact remains that this series has a very casual approach to killing someone. People drop dead like flies left, right and center and there isn’t any repercussions shown (at least not as of yet). =_=” It is odd since its 10am time slot does appear to be targeted at children, despite the fact that the content is not a story meant for kids. So my question is why even bother to tone down the gruesome nature of the series and have the show appear to be child friendly in the first place?

The Enjoyable Moments

This episode had a few funny moments:

• I loved the moment with Killua dreaming about capturing his family the moment he becomes a Hunter. That was a hilarious scene to watch.
• It was also funny to see Killua attack Netero’s leg but ends up being the injured one instead.
• Another good moment was with Gon’s creative use of his shoes to attack Netero.
• I had also liked the use of the assassin’s technique coupled with the explanation given by Netero.

Overall

It was a good episode of Hunter x Hunter and I had enjoyed it. I can’t wait for the series to get back into the exams. For this episode I would have to say that the 2011 version is definitely more towards my liking as compared to the ’99 version.

-ra

Hunter x Hunter 2011 Question of The Week:

What do you feel about this more “evil” version of Killua? Are you loving it?

Personally, I missed the cool and brainwashed version of Killua that is constantly having an internal struggle with himself.