CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

This is a fairly unique shonen manga, with some of the most intelligent fights and most elaborate world mechanics in the genre. For the detail-oriented or anyone who just wants something different, it is an enjoyable series.

All discussion is fair game in this thread, though I'd personally like to discuss the newest chapters in case there is anyone else reading. At least jon_jinn would like to discuss the series, so we may as well not sidetrack another thread.

sweet! UC, you rock!! this series is one of my top 10. i love the creativity of the characters and the events. the fights are, as UC said, pretty creative and not what one might usually find. UC, would it be necessary to use spoilers boxes if we are to discuss certain events within the series?

Let's use them for right now until we establish who is participating in this thread. Given that many of our members are probably following Viz's releases, everything from the Chimera Ant arc should be spoilered. But if it's just the two of us, there's no need.

Feel free to bring up whatever topics you like, but to add a bit of substance to this thread: have a favorite character or characters? I actually don't like the main cast too much, but there are a number of supporting characters that interest me. Killua's father is probably at the top of that list.

Since I'm only on volume 2 I probably can't participate much in this thread, but I'll just say that I have begun reading it and it has indeed become one of my favorites. Don't know how long it's gonna go, but it seems worth following for at least a couple story arcs.

uc pseudonym wrote:Let's use them for right now until we establish who is participating in this thread. Given that many of our members are probably following Viz's releases, everything from the Chimera Ant arc should be spoilered. But if it's just the two of us, there's no need.

Feel free to bring up whatever topics you like, but to add a bit of substance to this thread: have a favorite character or characters? I actually don't like the main cast too much, but there are a number of supporting characters that interest me. Killua's father is probably at the top of that list.

Hisoka has always had my attention. he's the type of character who never seems to try his hardest, he has no limit. his fighting style is quite interesting also.
i also seem to have an odd attachment to Leorio. he hasn't played much of a role for the majority of the series, but it'll be cool to see where his character goes, seeing as he's probably the most "humane" character of the series...

I like Leorio as well, as I tend to root for the non-genius characters. He's also more balanced as far as intelligence and non-combat skills. Sadly, even at the current edge of the series he hasn't gotten a single real fight.

Hisoka... not so much.

SpoonyBard wrote:Since I'm only on volume 2 I probably can't participate much in this thread, but I'll just say that I have begun reading it and it has indeed become one of my favorites. Don't know how long it's gonna go, but it seems worth following for at least a couple story arcs.

HxH is odd because different arcs feel very dissimilar. Your opinion could change significantly once the Hunter Exam ends (in either direction).

well, hopefully the author will do something with Leorio's character. it would be cool to see how Leorio's nen turns out to be. i'm also quite curious to see what happens to the other two characters, Hanzo and Pokkle, from the Hunter exam.

Well, I can participate...but probably not a whole lot right now. So far, I've only read up to like around the beginning of Greed Island or so.

I enjoy the series but chalk me up as one who isn't particularly fond of the protagonists. I sort of like Killua but Gon is kind of bland and I don't remember Leorio ever doing anything. Togashi is really good at world building though.

And speaking of which, I rather hope he doesn't decide to take another year-long break anytime soon. I never really knew what to make of his past one. Led to all sorts of vague rumors about him either being terminally ill or doing Dragon Quest marathons...

MasterDias wrote:And speaking of which, I rather hope he doesn't decide to take another year-long break anytime soon. I never really knew what to make of his past one. Led to all sorts of vague rumors about him either being terminally ill or doing Dragon Quest marathons...

yeah. what's up with Togashi? why did he decide to take that break anyways? is he back on the series yet?

anyways, yeah. gon's character is somewhat flat. however, i find that killua and kurapica lead pretty interesting pasts. as for antagonists, besides Hisoka, some of the other characters from the Phantom Troupe have piqued my interest, mainly due to their looks, and also due to my curiosity as to what kinds of nen skills they might have and use.
feitan and phinks are two such characters...

Agreed on Gon. He's a somewhat popular character, though, which makes me cynical about SJ readers.

MasterDias wrote:And speaking of which, I rather hope he doesn't decide to take another year-long break anytime soon. I never really knew what to make of his past one. Led to all sorts of vague rumors about him either being terminally ill or doing Dragon Quest marathons...

The only real answer is that we don't know. Sometimes he has cited illness (though fans have pointed out games being released around those times) but for the recent two year gap there was no explanation whatsoever. After this gap HxH returned with the promise of ten chapters, which may be all we'll get or just the number the editors were sure they could get out of Togashi. The tenth chapter will be next week, so we'll see.

If it keeps up its overall pace, however, you guys will catch up fairly quickly.

i've heard rumors going around that Togashi's wife might continue with the series. she's the author of Sailor Moon. though these rumors are more than likely to be totally false, i am somewhat concerned...

as for HxH discussion, which arc of the series is your favorite?

My favorite part of the series is probably the Yorkshin arc. It captures the varied feel of the series well, with many characters on different levels with interesting abilities as well as a more global feel. The Chimera Ant arc comes in a close second, however, as it has some great strategy. If the writing was tighter it might be my favorite.

jon_jinn wrote:i've heard rumors going around that Togashi's wife might continue with the series. she's the author of Sailor Moon. though these rumors are more than likely to be totally false, i am somewhat concerned...

Wikipedia says this is an urban legend.

the current Greed Island arc that i'm on right now is quite interesting. the author really used his imagination when he did this arc. as for the Yorkshin city arc, that was probably my favorite part of the series as well. the pacing of the arc was quite fast and very intense. it was intriguing to see how the characters acted and strategized on their feet.

due to the sudden jump in volumes that i've been reading, i found it rather suiting to revive this thread for the sake of some discussion. i just finished volume 24. i'm probably not gonna read anymore for a while, due to the author's condition. but this current chimera ant arc is quite interesting.

i find it quite intriguing to see the development of the "King"'s character as he continues to play Go w/ the blind young girl. though there isn't as much action and suspense as i'd hoped for, the character development of this arc is rather significant. i hope kurapica, leorio, and hisoka enter back into the story to play a more prominent role. though i highly doubt that will be happening anytime soon.

You're correct, it won't. When HxH came back recently, the pacing went berserk (pun intended?) and it has moved slowly. There is quite a bit of action, which is appropriate given how long he's been building to this point, though it suffers from the same pacing issues.

Right now I'm ready for this arc to be over. There's an entire world out there and it would be more interesting to explore it than have this many chapters about the ants. I like their arc, but enough is enough. Also, I want to see some other characters again.

I may get into this as I am still debating it. The art is turning me off. It's probably worth $6.20 a volume though.

theanimeguy (post: 1222992) wrote:I may get into this as I am still debating it. The art is turning me off. It's probably worth $6.20 a volume though.

yes. the artwork in HxH isn't exactly the greatest thing in the world. but it wasn't really much of a disengaging factor for me either.

anonymous wrote:Also all the narration boxes of miscalculations and such are really starting to grate on my nerves... =__=#

Have I mentioned how much I dislike this? Because it's a lot. Narration is one of the worst forms of storytelling, all the more so when it's this overbearing and telling you the obvious.

anonymous wrote:um... was there some kind of arc earlier that just kinda, dropped off the face of the earth unfinished? the one where the Phantom team or w/e (some villain group) was fighting the ants too? I kinda feel like there was one, and I can't remember, and I'm rather too lazy to look it up anytime soon.

This did happen, but it also ended. Basically they went into the local Ant base (near the city where they're all from) and killed all the important officers. Then they went home. Not very notable except for the new abilities we got to see (and being about someone other than Gon and Killua).

uc pseudonym (post: 1223025) wrote:This did happen, but it also ended. Basically they went into the local Ant base (near the city where they're all from) and killed all the important officers. Then they went home. Not very notable except for the new abilities we got to see (and being about someone other than Gon and Killua).

yes. i found this rather brief break, from the main plot of the arc, to be fairly amusing. it was rather interesting to see the various special nen abilities of several of the spider members.

The past set have been on a pattern of 10 weeks of chapters followed by ten weeks of break, so we can hope there will be more HxH in about 1.5 months. I find it odd that he actually has a notification saying he'll return as soon as possible... I imagine there are others frustrated as well.

does anybody happen to know what the author is sick w/?

I'm among the crowd that answers "laziness." Obviously we cannot confirm this and I don't want to judge too harshly, but there are very few chronic illnesses that would prevent you from working for two years or operate sporadically. Combining some of his tendencies with his status as one of the few manga-ka who can talk back to SJ editors, I think this is the most likely scenario.