Looking to Dip Your Toes into Japanese Media? “Hunter x Hunter” May Be For You!

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Hunter x Hunter” is one of the most unique and spectacular anime with an amazing story and great characters. This is an anime almost anybody could enjoy.

However, someone may ask, what is anime? Anime is a Japanese cartoon which is usually based off a manga which is just a Japanese comic. When someone reads manga, they immediately notice it’s more stylized than regular comics.  Regular comic artists spend a lot of time coming up with a story and characters, but manga artists spend more time to make everything as detailed as possible and to have an engaging story that will keep readers/viewers interested with what they are making. This is why “Hunter x Hunter” is such a great anime.

The first episode explains what the whole show is about. “Hunter x Hunter” begins with 11 and a half year young Gon Freecss, who lives on whale island and wants to become a hunter so he can find his father, Ging, who left him with his Aunt Mito at a very young age and never returned.  A hunter is someone who searchers for adventure and treasures, but the “true” hunters don’t search for treasures, they search for knowledge, people, and anything to make them learn more. Gon believes his father left him at a young age to follow his footsteps without him and become a hunter, however, his Aunt Mito hates the idea of Gon, a boy she cared for his entire life, walking out to try to get a dangerous job just to find his father. As a result, she tells him that he can leave when he can catch the biggest fish that professional fishermen have never been able to catch. Gon is the embodiment of persistent, so every year, everyday, he goes to a tree in a swamp where the fish passes everyday and finally, after many years, he catches the fish. He tells his Aunt and she goes through with her deal and let’s him go out in the world to find his father.

He packs his bag and gets on a boat to go to another island to begin the Hunter Exam where regular people who wants to become hunters will be tested on their intelligence, strength, and courage. On the boat, he meets Leorio and Kurapika. After a few peaceful hours on the ship, a big storm arrives and Gon helps fix the sails and care for the seasick crewmates. The ship captain reveals they purposely pick up people who want to be hunters on days there will be storms to see how they will handle the intense situation. The captain ask why they want to be hunters and this is where Gon learns about what kind of people he is friends with. Leorio just wants money to get a mansion, a nice car, and beer. Kurapika wants to avenge his people after he was the only survivor of the Kurta Clan after a band of criminals called the Phantom Troupe killed every last member of her clan. The ship captain is also the first examiner of the test and they passed the first test. The first episodes wraps up on them arriving to a new island to begin the exam.

Now if anyone is interested to watch the show, there are plenty of places people can go to give it a watch:

Netflix has the first four seasons subbed and dubbed, which mean English subtitles and audio are available to watch.

Hulu has 79 episodes to watch. They are not listed by season so it may be confusing to figure out which season the viewer is on. Hulu does not have every episode in English so subtitles will most likely be how it is watched on there.

CrunchyRoll has all 148 episodes but only English subtitles are available. Along with that, it is the only streaming service that gives ads throughout the episodes.

For people who only have cable, Cartoon Network plays the episodes in English almost every day.

The series has been dormant for a year and 2020 will definitely not have any new episodes. Although, in the summer of 2021, the series will return for season seven and the possibility of it concluding is very high.