when i first watched it a while back i was always waiting for "the big fights" to start. on rewatch, not worrying about what happens next is letting me pay attention to the important stuff: the moment-to-moment character interactions. And wow i love these guys. gon and killua are freaking adorable i want to pat them on the head
It's a pretty mixed bag imo. It definitely does some things very well, but there are some iffy themes to it and the pacing ranges from "ok" to "dragonball z grade awful." Especially when it gets to the chimera ants arc, where the pacing goes down the drain completely (whether that's dragging things out way too long, including incredibly long and completely gratuitous filler arcs, or glossing over the major, actually important story elements when things finally actually happen) and the setting gets kind of... I don't really know how to describe it? Extremely cynical, with racist/chauvinist elements? Like its presentation of revolutionary periphery countries is way more cynical than its portrayal of Hunters as an atomized warrior class of magical supermen (in fact, it feels less cynical about Hunters, despite showing them as often corrupt, cruel, and self-serving, than MHA does about its "professional heroes").
Yeah its definetly a flawed show, morality in the show is entirely arbitrary and clashes with my own morals constantly. The average Hunter is evil and the system has no intention of helping people, yet its super Capitalist Realism about it. But what can I say, its a fun show most of the time and I love the character designs
I agree, and I will say that I did like the last season better than the chimera ants one, though, despite the chimera ants arc having some of the best individual scenes and subplots (just dragged down by the DBZ level leaps in power creep and pacing problems).