Board 8 > seabassdebeste watches hunter x hunter 2011 (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

might do some rankingz later if poeple want em
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Oh yeah, do rankings!

Rank the Ant guards. I feel like how a person ranks those three says a lot about the person.
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All the rankings

Arc rankings, endings, whatever
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Royal Guard:

Pitou > Pouf > Youpi

They're not that separate in terms of how much I like them - interesting but unspectacular types.

Pitou has to win because her animations are the coolest and she's involved in defining emotional moments for Gon. Her uber-En is great, her puppetry is great, Dr. Blythe is great, and she's responsible for the only kill the Ants get on a major good guy, making her the most immediately intimidating. I'm also a big fan of the way the power dynamic gets flipped on her once she has to tend toward Komugi.

Pouf can be incredibly annoying, but his obsessiveness over the King is pretty interesting and winds up giving us some hilarious scenes. He gets dropped for being so ineffectual all the time - his inability to kill Komugi reflects really badly on him. That said, he gets points for realizing he has the opportunity to kill Komugi, and for his cunning in doing so (making the phone call to Pitou is a great move). Also he entirely punks Morel.

I love Youpi's ability to shapeshift and that he's more perceptive than his "dumb muscle" role might imply. His development toward the end was interesting and he's adorable in his chibi form.
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ED rankings, including some commentary on the video portion! I'm really passionate about OPs and EDs and will usually watch the entirety of them in shows I enjoy.

Great Tier

6. ED4 (First half of Chimera Ants)

Slow, thoughtful, and not particularly gripping in the first half, as we patiently scroll through images of the cast. (Like in the Chimera Ant OP, Kite plays a very prominent role in the first half and fades away in favor of the latter cast.) The second half is straight-up lamenting lost innocence as G/K stand by the water and watch the night sky and sunrise. I like it a lot as a G/K song.

5. ED6 (Election/Alluka)

Copies one of the best songs, but some of the worse parts of it. ED6 has one of the worst lead-ins prior to the credits scrolling (the ending to ED5). There's also almost zero visually of note here, as our four major characters look off into the changing horizon. It gains a lot of points from familiarty.

4. ED2 (Yorknew/Phantom Troupe)

ED2 is the first to have intro music before you go to credits, and goddamn, that music is DRAMATIC. The entire tone of it is dramatic, even soap-opera-y. There are two distinct phases of it, and both are fun if not my favorite melodies. Unfortunately it lacks a little punch at the ending. Visually, I love everything about it - we start with each hero superimposed upon his greatest goal (Ging, Illumi, Spiders, and academia), move to a slow-roll of the entire Phantom Troupe, and finally end with some fading-in stills of major characters. It's the most theatrically satisfying of the EDs.

3. ED3 (Greed Island)

ED3 is suitably cheery for its arc (especially after the bloody revenge tale preceding it) and makes me think of childhood happiness, with its ED really only featuring stills of Gon/Killua/. The second half of ED3 actually gets better and feels nostalgic. Greed Island never gets too serious. The Chimera Ant arc is great, but even before it HxH gripped me with its ability to depict a frolicking childhood I may or may not have ever had. ED3 tugs at those.

Incredible Tier

2. ED5

ED5 came unexpectedly, as the corresponding OP never changed and the arc hadn't ended (even though we were transitioning into a clearly different second half). It's a mishmash of weird segments, where the first and third parts are decent but unimpressive and mostly we just slow-roll Meruem + Royal Guard versus Netero + Team Humanity.

These comments aren't entirely positive for such a high ranking, because ED5 is by far the ED that's most enhanced by the arc that it supports. It has near GOAT fade-in music, with the piano melody recapping the first segment of the song before we launch into it (the lead-in plus reptition have caused me to love all parts of the song). But the middle bridge, where the frantic pace slows and the accompanying instruments are at at minimum, yearns for you... and has the images of Meruem and Komugi playing Gungi. That storyline became by far the best part of the arc only an episode or two after the ED debuted - every time we finished an episode the bond to it grew stronger.

1. ED1

I love everything about this piece. It's interesting since this one lacks the emotional impact as well as a softer segment, or even an introductory melody. Doesn't matter, it's a really nice, simply illustrated visual treat, from the random screaming, to the flashing lights, to the pounding bass, to Hisoka's fantastic segment all to himself (he probably should have been more heavily involved in the conclusion of the show, were there to be one), to a rapidly escalating ending.

Part of what makes this so great is that it is tonally dissonant. The arc is very childish and nature-focused, yet here's this heavy metal piece with decked out disco lighting and screaming. I'd see Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in person.
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I think the screamo stuff is all in English too lmao it's so good
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I really prefer the ED soundtracks of the original anime besides this first, you should totes check it out now that there's no fear of spoilers.

Go for the OPs too!
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haha, I can't understand a word of the screaming. I usually hate that type of thing, but it works so damn well here.

may be inaccurate, but after listening to all five 1999 OPs (without watching them), I actually prefer the 2011 one! of course it's also had 148 times to get ingrained in my mind...

1999's 4th ED seems most likely to become a favorite of mine.

kinda sad I'll never watch through 1999. Feel like maybe I shortchanged myself by starting with 2011 instead of watching the 1999 anime first and then either cutting over or re-watching from the beginning. my rewatch of FMA 2003, which is stuck at around ep 40, has definitely revealed some flaws - but I would never trade away my first experience watching it and falling in love with (yeah, I'll admit it) the second OP and ED. FMA:B's musix couldn't grip me the same way!
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It's a give and take. I like the way the 1999 one handled the yorknew arc a lot more (mostly aesthetically, the 99 version just looks DARK), but the hunter exam and subsequent small arcs take like ten episodes longer, with a three or four episode filler phase in there.
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I kinda liked the slower pace of the Hunter Exam arc in '99. I also liked the filler though, so... \_()_/
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nothing wrong with some filler appreciation!

part of why I've never watched DBZ Kai is knowing I'll miss the filler, though a bigger reason is the Faulconer music (which is the reason I haven't watched Super).
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Arc rankings!

Bad

11. Zoldyck Family

There's pretty much nothing redeeming about this colossal waste of time. The only positive it has - Gotoh playing the coin-flipping game. I guess you can add getting to meet Killua's pops, but it's still whatever. I'm sad that these concompassed the last episodes of the incredible ED 1.

Good

10. Election/Ging

Meeting Ging is a big anticlimax and the election is unsurprisingly a waste of time, with Leorio coming back diminished. It's got kind of a nice light tone to it, though, which is needed for a breather arc.

Very Good

9. Alluka

Hisoka vs Gotoh is a highlight and generally having Hisoka/Illumi back is very welcome. Killua is very sweet to Alluka here. In the end it's kind of spacy and, like the first Zoldyck arc, doesn't really have an ending.

8. Hunter Exam

Really like the whimsical way in which the series started, though some of the story action was so simplistic and the bad character designs are at their absolute maximum here. Sadly, probably Leorio and Kurapika's best arc.

7. Heaven's Arena

Hisoka's back! And the introduction of Nen, which is fantastic. Wing and Zushi wind up being kind of throwaway characters, but Hisoka gets a showoff fight and Gon punching Hisoka in the face is one of the great moments of the series.

6. Hunter Exam Tournament

The first hint of the anticlimactic nature of the series, and the best example, with the ultimate loser scenario and Gon's insanely difficult-to-watch showing against Hanzo. The comedy is still there and this is obviously Netero at his best, coming up with something so twisted.

5. Spiders

In the end I settled here. The Phantom Troupe is a really fun assortment of characters, but Kurapika being randomly godmode was too much, and the grimdark tone gets weary after a while (especially when the mafia just turns out to be total trash). Chrollo vs Silva/Grandpa Zoldyck felt weightless storyline-wise and it again ended on anticlimax. I'm very bitter in particular that Chrollo goes down like such a chump. Points for the interactions between the Spiders themselves - notably their weird-ass creed and surprising dedication to their leader even after he's fallen - and for Neon, who's actually pretty delightful. Minus points for most of Kurapika's coworker subplots and for Kurapika's epic resting bitch face.
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Great Arcs

4. Palace Invasion

The climax of the series really pissed me off at first, and sadly the pacing takes a hit due to how spread out everything becomes. Not a big fan of the nuke, or of Youpi walking away from that massive battle unscathed and feeling like it's been a gigantic waste of time, or of Ikalgo having worms in his scalp (FFFFF). But it hits so many emotional highs - Killua crying to Palm, Gon vs Pitou, and that final Meruem/Komugi episode - that it overcomes its flaws.

3. Queen Chimera Ants

Massive point deductions for Kite's crew (who fortunately don't wind up playing a major role) and for that unforgivable interlude about Gyro. Massive points for developing a fascinating set of powers, some ridiculous (but not scrubby) character designs, the pink koala, Colt's character, and the horrific way in which Kite dies.

2. Greed Island

Weird stakes as we're just out in this completely isolated world, but fun training/level-up, the development of Gon's (admittedly shitty) signature strike, and the only satisfying, arc-ending battles of the series in the dodgeball and Genthru fight. Points for video game tactics like trading cards and camping the spawn points. Not sure whether to award positive or negative points for the epic Ging-trolling.

I'm also attributing Ging's tape and G/K's pathetic attempts to raise money to this arc, and this arc wouldn't rank this highly without that stuff. The money-raising happens during the Yorknew arc but it's absolutely hilarious, and this is the best of the G/K-bonding. And perhaps my favorite part of it all is the episode which instigates everything, G/K on Whale Island, which made me almost tearily nostalgic.

1. Chimera Ants - post-NGL

The preparation for the invasion winds up giving us some really unexpected joys. Knuckle and Shoot are never better than when they're randomly developed strongly and turned into good guys. Then you've got Ikalgo and Melereon, who are amazing to be around. You've got that randomly heart-rending scene where the Queen dies. And of course, you've got Meruem's tabletop romance with Komugi. Really good material here with a disparate cast.
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quick characterz ranking

gon
killua
meruem
hisoka
colt
kite
ikalgo
melereon
illumi
pitou
knuckle
palm
morel
pouf
menthuthuyoupi
leorio
kurapika
netero
shoot
genthru
queen chimera ant
knov
ging
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Gon over killua huh, cool!
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It's definitely between the two! Gon's morality is so unique and I love his character - but he could be bland to watch during the second half of the Chimera Ant arc once he was no longer the focus.

Killua is in general more consistently entertaining, and my favorite part about him is that despite what you'd expect to be a colder persona, he's usually happy to go with Gon's more hotheaded whims.
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lol I like how the ED tiers are "great" and "incredible"
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the OP/ED is the best part of many anime! some american tv shows too - i always got epic-hyped for the intro of buffy, or friends, or game of thrones. EDs seem to be more of an anime thing though!
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GoT has a few great ending themes! They're more one-off powerful things most of the time though. I think a few shows have done that.
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Oh yeah, not gonna disagree on OP/EDs. When they're hype as hell, I can really get into them. Very rarely do I care about EDs, but HxH had some good ones. Check out the '99 anime's OPs and EDs if you haven't as it has some good ones too.
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Part of what I love about OP/ED is that you get familiar with them over the course of time. Watching the 1999 OP/EDs didn't do it for me so much because I only saw them just once. So GOT has some nice ending songs (Stark theme, remixes of Rains of Castamere, etc) but I prefer the consistency!
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Ah, that's not the same for me, then. I can watch an OP or ED once and if I like it, I like it. I've enjoyed OPs and EDs to shows I've never seen. On the other hand, sometimes I get worn out watching the same one if I'm marathoning a series.
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I don't need familiarity to judge an OP/ED as good or bad either, but familiarity can inevitably change it too as you notice more details, etc.
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That said the audio part sometimes makes you a fan of a song you might have been indifferent to otherwise if you listen to it a lot.
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Seeing Pouf ranked firmly in the middle instead of near the bottom is weird.
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Well it's like pop songs. I can like them on the first go but still appreciate the repetition more!

Is it common to have Pouf on the bottom? lol
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SeabassDebeste posted...

Well it's like pop songs. I can like them on the first go but still appreciate the repetition more!

That's a bit unique! Most people I know don't mind pop songs at first, and then come to hate them because they get overplayed so much.
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Id still recommend giving yyh another shot.

It gets more interesting
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First arc is the most interesting one in YYH.
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What's the first arc?
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the first few episodes involve yusuke coming back to life and then thr next twenty or so lead up to a fight with rando
given that i know there is a "dark tournament" it seems like something i could definitely enjoy
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You only have to watch like 26 episodes for that!
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First arc is the one where he's a spirit detective or whatever. It'd be fair to say the later stuff is better, but it's certainly not as interesting!
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You should read the manga then! Almost all of the spirit detective stuff got cut in the anime.
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is yyh still on crunchyroll?
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Looks like!
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Sometimes old series can look pretty shit on crunchyroll though
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bump so i can archive and decide on next series!
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YYH, Young Justice, or Overwatch shorts gooooo
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