Hunter x Hunter is one of the most popular shounen anime out there, with fans still following the series after more than 24 years. The story follows Gon Freecss as he pursues the lifestyle of a professional hunter alongside alongside the assassin Killua, the budding doctor Leorio, and Kurapika of the Kurta Clan. The quartet tackle the hunter exam together and eventually help one another pursue the goals that led them to the hunter culture.
The anime is consistently considered by fans to have subverted the structure of shounen anime; however, this may not necessarily be the case. While it does sway from the classic tropes seen within the genre, it also played a part in creating the very same clichés. Alongside other popular anime at the time, Hunter x Hunter helped start what fans now consider shounen — so can it really be considered subversive?
Hunter x Hunter Started in 1998 – While Shounen Was Still Pretty New
The Hunter x Hunter manga was first released in March 1998, when the landscape of shounen barely existed compared to what it is today. Its counterparts were also released around the same time, including Naruto in 1999 and Bleach in 2001. Generally, these three anime — alongside One Piece — are considered by the animanga community to be ‘average shounen’ and the archetypes of the genre.
One Piece released in 1997, and while it is older than Hunter x Hunter, this timeline still doesn’t provide enough grounds to suggest the anime was already shaking up the landscape of such a fresh genre. At the time of release, the concept of shounen was still being discovered and built and was considered very new to the industry. HxH, One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto essentially helped construct the genre’s foundations.
Hunter x Hunter Was an Archetype for Shounen Manga and Anime
When the history of Hunter x Hunter’s anime and manga is put into perspective, it’s difficult to suggest the franchise actually revolutionized what other generic anime do habitually. It’s strange to suggest the series is subverting archetypes that, at the time, didn’t even exist yet. It could be argued that the concept of HxH stemmed from Dragon Ball, which started in the 80s, but even then the argument doesn’t carry much weight.
Dragon Ball is an exception to the shounen genre as, when it started, it was really the only series of its kind. One Piece was essentially considered the sequel regarding modern shounen, so while it could have inspired Hunter x Hunter, the genre was not yet solidified. As an anime historically considered an archetype for shounen animanga, it can’t necessarily be considered to be as revolutionary as it is.
The tropes that HxH is said to subvert are the same ones it played a part in creating, alongside other influential anime of the time. While it occasionally strays from the path of generic shounen, it is considered to be one of the series that helped create the entire landscape of the modern category — so the supposedly subversive nature of Hunter x Hunter actually contradicts its very history.