Before I start reading this 300+ chapter manga I want to know, since there isn't a strong/weak main character tag on this, does the main guy get beaten up a lot and rely on his friends too much or can he actually fight and pwn. Since this seems like a typical shounen i can assume some things, but if he's ridiculously weak or too stupid to understand common sense I want to know before i waste my time.

no. Hes physically strong in the start. Then he start learning ren --> which powers him up.

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"you must prove more patient than a caterpillar, more willing to survive than a cockroach, and more stubborn than a leech - or you will definitely fail" - Counselor Rodriguez, the Star of Wisdom

The main character is really independant. All his friends work and help each other but not to the part where they do thier bidding.
He refuses to let others fight for him and will definitely butt into his friends fights =P

Avoid this manga if you're expecting a lot of typical shounen beating from the heroes a`la One Piece/Naruto/Bleach/Fairy Tail/etc. The 1st protagonist of this series is not weak but he's not strong either. He's got talents but after all he's just a kid. Most of the time he lost b/c his opponents are often several levels above him in terms of power and experience, and in the rare cases in which he won his body/mind/whatever was screwed up big time. The world of HxH is a brutal one. Friendship, comradeship, blah blah, i.e. things that allow your typical shounen heroes to overcome insurmountable barriers, usually mean sh!t here. You won't beat a tough opponent by getting all emo over the death of a friend and powering up to over 9,000/Gear 20/Gear 30/whatever in an instant. It's real power, experience, preparation, determination and intelligence that matter. Oh, and I should mention that the fights in HxH are very short compared to those of other shounen manga.

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Like they said, worth the read I think

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Gon, the main character is noted several times through the manga as having incredible potential. And he usually can hold his own against stronger opponents up to a point... So yeah he's strong but as others have already said he's still a kid and has to face elite criminals with much more experience so don't expect him to pawn them all.

Anyway I recommend reading it, it is still one my favourite in the genres. Just be warned that many readers feel disappointed with the last arc (years long hiatus, incredible drop in art/storytelling, etc...). Still you should have hours of fun reading all the arcs before that.

Thanks, I'm on chapter 179 at the moment and it's really worth it. Other than Gon's stubbornness which is getting annoying it's better than I expected.

If you've been reading HxH already, then please be advised that there're 2 versions of HxH on the Internet: the weekly version and the volume version. The weekly version, which is available on most manga websites such as mangareader,... is notorious for having some of the worst art in manga from chapter 184 on. The volume version has MUCH better artwork because Togashi retouched everything for the volume release. So, avoid the weekly version at all costs, so that your impression of HxH won't be destroyed like many other readers', and read the volume scans instead. You can find the high-quality volume scans of most chapters (except for 184, 185, 186 and 187) on tenmanga at the following address:

http://www.tenmanga.com/book/Hunter+X+Hunter.html

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Yea I noticed, after a few bad quality ones I found the better ones.
....And if those insect/human/animal hybrid things start using crazy nen abilities then it's probably going to ruin the rest of the manga for me >>
They're like not even a year old.... it's like the whole DBZ format where every new villain is 100x stronger than the last.

Edit: Yeah this arc ruined the manga for me, the insect things are too far removed from the power scale so far, starting from the cat girl killing Kaito and somehow playing god and reviving him and then that 'king' that reminds me of Cell from DBZ being born... i might drop it if it doesn't get any better.



I read all chapters up to date and decided that the manga was a waste of my time since another tournament arc is starting and the power scale is already completely fked up. I might as well just go watch DBZ.

Last edited by Contently at 1:49 pm, Nov 7 2011

The ant arc truly is the best part of the series. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it.

na it was the worst, it dragged out far to long to be great like the rest but it was decent, and Contently he did get a power up but at the sacrifice of his talent and ability to use nen by going through the method similar to Kurapika's oath but a much more severe one giving him that transformation, most mangas they just powerup by some silly reason or some silly training making then overpowered

You do realize that Gon getting the power-up was a BAD thing, and ultimately lead to him almost killing himself and using up all the nen he gained. He got stronger, yes, but it was temporary and now he's about to die.

And I'm sorry you couldn't enjoy the Chimera Ant arc, because part of why I found it so interesting was that it took the generic "super-powered beings try to invade the world" and made it realistic and believable. The powerlevels aren't fucked up, because Gon and Killua still have a long way to go before being anywhere near Morau, Silva, or Netero's level, and we were just exposed to the work that high-class hunters do and the kind of strength that the best of the best truly have. You're missing out for dropping it now, because the current arc isn't a tournament, old characters are introduced again, and things are starting to get very interesting.

^ Don't waste your time, my friend. HxH is more than a kid manga, esp. the ant arc; aside from fighting it's also about various forms of love, purposes of life, developments in characters' personality, sacrifices, politics, but a reader is required to have a relatively good perception to be able to understand the subtleties and appreciate it. It's no accident that there're more and more new readers, those who don't have to suffer the hiatuses, consider the ant arc their favorite. Lots of old readers, after rereading the volume scans in one go, have come to like the ant arc as well. Oh, as for those few who dropped HxH, just ignore them, it's their loss, because HxH is one of the most critically acclaimed mangas, and the new chairman election arc is increasingly awesome.

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