A Great Revamp

Written by RickXeros on February 22, 2012 at 4:30 AM

Now, I've read a lot of reviews that refer to this version as being poor quality and childish when compared to the original anime. I always found this to be an unfair description since I found myself really enjoying this anime's take on the manga. Now I hadn't ever watched the original anime before I started this one but I had read the entirety of the manga series, having been a fan of the manga for a very long time. Now before I wrote I review of this one I thought it would be fair to give the old anime first so I would have both sides on my mind to way to pros and cons of each version.

Now for starters the accusation that the 2011 series is aimed to be more child friendly. I believe this to be an unfair comparison, when I watched the original I actually noted that they both avoided some of the gorier scenes of HxH with camera tricks and the like. However, there was considerably more blood and direct violence in the 2011 version. Then there is manga accuracy, both series try to be fairly true to the manga but both have inaccuracies, some as small as character designs, some as big as entire situations and plot points. Most of what I've seen of the 2011 version, parts that were left out were mostly attempts to speed things along, I take some issue with this but comparatively I somewhat prefer this to the original as they didn't tend to make a few attempts to extend certain stories to far with bits of filler material thrown in that make inaccuracies to the manga all the more glaring. Still neither rendition is truly superior to the other in this regard because both do a good job but both have their flaws.

Now as for the more aesthetic details such as score, theme songs and animation quality, the 2011 Version comes out on top. This is for a number of reasons, while its true that animation quality is obviously going to be vastly improved over a decade later even for that time the quality of the original left a lot to be desired. Mainly what bothers me with the original is the accuracy of the colors and character designs, although its fair that at the time they may not have been able to be as accurate at the time the drab choice of colors still made the environment feel rather drab and hard to enjoy. The 2011 version on the other hand is so bright and colorful that it really gives a feeling of excitement! The character designs are also much more accurate making it feel more like the manga has come to life on the screen. The musical score in the original is forgettable at best, while in the 2011 version the score builds the feeling of adventure that should always be present in HxH! The theme song of the original (I've so far watched up to the point that the 2011 reached at episode 20 so I can only say so much for the original on this...) felt very out of place and weren't worth me sitting through between episodes. In contrast the opening and ending themes of 2011 first get me excited to watch another episode with the opening theme, and then after the episode is done the ending theme makes me drool crave another exciting episode!

Now saying all this I do plan to watch the original all the way through and i think any HxH fan should but to me the 2011 version is much better. I don't think either should truly be judged against the other as you'll either have rose colored glasses on because of nostalgia for the original or you'll find the original completely awful by comparison to the new version. I think both deserve a chance and you should try to keep an open mind about them. I'm a fan of the manga more then anything and to me Hunter X Hunter deserves as much love as possible so give it a chance!