HUNTER X HUNTER: Episodes 1-2 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2025-12-09 14:00:06 +0000 UTC*INAUGURAL HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
00:00 Introduction
12:12 Episode 1 Reaction
34:39 Episode 2 Reaction
58:20 Episode 1 & 2 Discussion
It's a journey 5 years in the making on this channel, but I'm finally sitting down and PROPERLY going through Hunter x Hunter! I've seen "parts" of it long ago (more on that in the intro) but it's going to be SO much fun going back through what I "know" and getting to the new content with you all! I'm excited to try new things with these reactions and hope you all are ready for this show with me! Let's do this!
LINK TO PIP REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/tD6NoJjyTfcUCgPTZneNh5
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
Hello! Mod here! I absolutely adore this comment, but it's a bit to heavy on talking about the series as a whole, while romania has still only seen two episodes! But i will certainly point her back to this comment when she's a bit farther along!
Plore
2025-12-14 21:41:27 +0000 UTCOne cute bonus note about Keiko Han who voices Mito. She is the mother of Megumi Han who voices Gon!
Generation Wumbo
2025-12-11 12:07:32 +0000 UTCSince I am sure someone else will mention it eventually, just gonna paraphrase the famous tweet about HxH: Hunter x Hunter is about a boy whose father left one day to buy cigarettes and never came back so the boy is determined to head out on a grand quest. Not necessarily to find his dad, but to find out why cigarettes are so amazing. Legitimately my favorite manga/anime ever! Togashi is a genius and you are in for a long long ride! Not too much to say plotwise about the first couple episodes apart from the fact that early HxH is clearly Togashi's love letter to the classics of the genre. Early HxH does feel quite retro in a lot of mostly good ways now and while there are a handful of things that grate against modern sensitives, it has aged quite well generally. Also, very interesting to watch this after The Summer Hikaru Died. I have many Thoughts about Mokumoku Ren's choice to make Hunter x Hunter the protags favorite series in Hikanatsu, but those will have to wait lol. People often compare it to very early Dragonball (the big fish and Gon's hair are very Goku) which I think is a stated influence but it is a funny one because Togashi is actually from more or less the same generation as people like Akira Toriyama and Rumiko Takahashi although unlike them he didn't get his big break during his 20s. He is only about 10 years younger and by the time he started HxH had already written multiple commercially successful series which is a wildly unusual position to be in for a dude starting a 27+ year run in Jump. That is probably why he seems to be able to do whatever he wants while everyone else has editors breathing down their necks. That was rather infamously not the case with Yu Yu Hakusho which is why Hunter x Hunter is very much Togashi Unbound. I saw a Japanese TV program once where they visited editorial at Jump and there happened to be a new HxH manuscript and you could definitely feel the respect and deference towards Togashi. Many shounen tropes were already old-hat by the time Toriyama and especially Togashi started writing, but I do think Togashi is interesting in that he is both one of the major authors of the 80s to early 90s period that really gave us the "modern shounen manga" as it is now as well as someone who has hung around long enough to really play with the genre in ways that very few get the clout to do. They are by wildly different authors with very different interests, but that commonality is actually what first drew me to Chainsaw Man. Apart from a few quibbles early on, the 2011 adaptation is something of a miracle in my opinion. Hunter x Hunter is very fortunate for being both a remarkably consistent commercial success and also something of a creatives favorite (as in other manga artists, animators, etc.) which is perhaps why it got such a stellar adaptation compared to its less fortunate peers. Despite its inconsistent publication schedule, on a per volume basis it sells comparably to something like My Hero Academia and by all accounts the 2011 adaptation was considered a success despite being basically one of the last new non-seasonal long-running shounen adaptations (Boruto started later if that counts as new, but even that and One Piece have now dropped the format in favor of taking time off.) I work partially in Japan now and have a lot of contact with young people. Obviously, the biggest media is always whatever is currently airing or hyped, but the staying power of HxH is actually somewhat remarkable. Maybe the fact that it has never ended strangely makes it seem more approachable and modern or maybe it is the fact that Madhouse is owned by one of the major TV networks, but I definitely run into way more kids with strong opinions on HxH than Naruto or Bleach these days. It is no One Piece, but it was very striking when I first started chatting about this kind of thing and had to learn what series would get responses versus glassy-eyed stares. The other series that really seem to endure despite becoming "old" are sports series which kids presumably encounter during their club activities at school (basketball kids start Slam Dunk, volleyball kids start Haikyuu, maybe they tell their friends about them, etc.) Lastly, to anyone looking for another in-depth perspective on the series to go with your watch-along. I highly recommend the podcast Media Club Plus that just finished a long running series on HxH with four hosts, one of whom was a total newbie. It has really great lengthy discussions that remind me a lot of what Romania gets up to (intertextuality! queer readings!) It is probably too spoiler-y for Romania because while they avoid spoilers, the hosts will sometimes ask the first-timer questions in a way that is somewhat leading, but I highly recommend people who dig this kind of analysis check it out especially once it hits its stride.
Generation Wumbo
2025-12-11 12:06:22 +0000 UTCLet's gooo, HxH! That shot of them in the thumbnail is so wholesome! I’m grateful that we’re getting two episodes per reaction, that sounds like a good pace to me! Hunter x Hunter was my third ever anime I watched, so this series holds a special place in my heart. I’m looking forward to hearing your honest thoughts about it! Love the reaction and discussion (and shipping)! Yeah, I really like how wacky and non-uniform the HxH character designs and outfits are, like you mentioned. Togashi said “Dress code, who?” Thanks for reminding me that HxH’s mangaka is married to Sailor Moon’s mangaka, the power couple they are! I’m not sure about some of the other mangakas you mentioned, but Togashi is good friends with Kishimoto, the mangaka of Naruto. I think the Pokemon game with the dad you brought up is the Hoenn games, right? Norman? OK, I just realized that Brendan and May in Pokemon Emerald have the same color palette as Gon: green and orange haha. I could totally see Gon with a Treeko! Btw love all the Pokemon comparisons! Leorio’s actually voiced by Keiji Fujiwara, the same VA as Maes Hughes! You were spot on with saying Leorio should be in FMA. Keiji Fujiwara very sadly passed away from cancer in 2020 at age 55. RIP. The screenshots/visuals during the discussion are a really nice addition, especially when Whiteboard-kun isn’t around. Happy to dive into some voice actor info! Gon is voiced by Megumi Han - Momiji (Fruits Basket), Meimei and Young Jinshi (Apothecary Diaries), Makoto Kurume (Skip & Loafer), Miki (Devilman Crybaby). Kurapika is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro - Shion (Psycho-Pass), Daki (Demon Slayer - demon from S2 Entertainment District), Hanako Koyanagi (Wotakoi), Olivia (Pokemon Sun & Moon anime), Beatrice (Over the Garden Wall). Leorio is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara - Maes Hughes (FMA/FMAB), Hannes (AOT), Byakuya Ishigami (Dr. Stone), Sakuya Togane (Psycho-Pass), Shuichi Aizawa (Death Note), Boss (Mob Psycho - biker gang leader ghost in S1 Ep 1), Mewtwo (Smash Bros.). Mito is voiced by Keiko Han - Luna and Queen Beryl (Sailor Moon). The captain is voiced by Kenji Utsumi - Alex Louis Armstrong (FMA/FMAB), Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes).
Whim
2025-12-10 08:24:56 +0000 UTC
