The big Hunter X Hunter announcement (I think the “shocking” was just a bad ANN translation) turned out to be not much of an announcement at all, though it’s good news – “Chimera Ant” is going to be animated. This can’t be any surprise, though given the supposedly rough content confirmation is still nice to have. Expected or not this is a bit of a watershed moment, as this will be the first time the Madhouse adaptation ventures into entirely new territory for anime.
It seems as if the arc will air in the normal H x H timeslot (which may surprise some), starting April 21. There was some notion that “Greed Island” would end the Winter season with “Chimera” starting immediately after, but it appears as if “Greed Island” will carry over into the Spring for a few weeks, which is good news in itself. The announcement, as you can see, has a few of the character designs for the upcoming arc.
animeviking
February 20, 2013 at 12:22 pmI'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW <3
hybridanime
February 20, 2013 at 1:32 pmStrap yourself in Enzo, you're gonna be in for one hell of a ride. So much character development(protagonists/antagonists), world building, and what makes HxH awesome(vague I know). One of my favorite arcs in the shonen action genre.
The thing I'm looking forward to most is seeing the new characters animated. They're just so different than anything we've seen thus far in HxH aesthetically and personality wise
Kamen Rider Kekkaishi
February 20, 2013 at 6:06 pmThis is a good time
Simone
February 20, 2013 at 7:02 pmHAPPYNESS. WITH A Y.
I have to add… following Enzo's logic we got straight shonen, shonen deconstruction, straight shonen again… what awaits us now in the Chimaera ant arc…?
Yes. That. Definitely THAT. TOTAL AND UNCONDITIONED LOVE FOR TOGASHI'S GENIUS, THIS WILL BE ONE HELL OF A RIDE.
GlassShadow
February 20, 2013 at 7:52 pmThat's certainly something to behold. The Chimera Ant arc is pretty darn bloody, almost to the point of vomit-inducing in some scenes. It's very explicit alright, I'm just wondering how much they'll have to tone down the violence to pass the regulation. Though this is probably right up Madhouse's alley, they can handle gore better than almost any other studio.
Arabesque AS
February 20, 2013 at 7:58 pmLET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!
''This can't be any surprise, though given the supposedly rough content confirmation is still nice to have.''
Well … I won't say much (nor comment on when Greed Island is going to end) but just taking a quick look at the volumes I have … yeah, yeah there are some pretty down right horrible things here in this arc, things that would give grown men nightmares. Some of it of a very depressing nature as well.
Think of it in this way: If Greed Island is the spiritual successor to Heaven's Arena, then Chimera Ant is the sister arc to York Shin.
But anyways, yay, this mean no more comparing with the 99 version! *dances*
Agustín
February 20, 2013 at 8:33 pmIn my opinion Chimera Ant arc is more like the merge of "Heavens Arena/Greed Island style" with "York Shin style".
The first is more introspective. A lot of time, the casual viewer could think that nothing happens, because the strong point it's in characters relationships and their development.
Instead York Shin is a much more straight forward. The focus is in the action and the plot is constantly moving. It's thrilling, but less deep.
And Chimera Ant arc has both things together. It's probably the arc with more character development, but at the same time it has a lot of fights, action, and a solid succesion of events so it almost never feels stagnant.
ishruns
February 20, 2013 at 9:58 pmIt's shounen,not beserk or something. How graphic can it be?
hybridanime
February 20, 2013 at 10:13 pmIt's not just that people die graphically because Madhouse will censor it akin to YorkNew* but the way the arc presents itself. Without spoilers, it's painfully blunt and you see some pretty horrible things that would violate human rights laws that'll happen in real screen time(not exaggerating either). In other shonen when characters talk about how bad the world used to be and it's better; in HxH they're in that crappy world
*Which I have to add I thought they censored pretty darn well for a Sunday morning slot. YorkNew's overall aesthetic and tone was intact if not enhanced by Madhouse
ishruns
February 20, 2013 at 10:35 pmYou'd be surprised how much human rights are, forget violated, ignored in most of the world (not just third world countries either).
But I get your point about it being a very unshounen like arc. Still can't be more graphic than berserk or say elfen lied.
Simone
February 20, 2013 at 11:55 pmI think some scenes were as graphic as that, so much that they were censored even in the manga. A few panels in Chimaera Ant arc feature big white noise patches to cover the most horrifying details.
ishruns
February 21, 2013 at 1:51 amThat sounds funny. Why would you censor manga panels? Wouldn't you just save yourself a few hours and not draw it? Unless the editor did it.
Simone
February 23, 2013 at 12:03 amProbably the editor, yeah. To much dismay of Togashi sensei who had spent those hours of work. I think the censorship may have been removed for tankobon publication, what I saw were Shonen Jump scans.
Thatguy3331
February 20, 2013 at 11:42 pmIt was only a matter of time really, I hadn't any doubt in my mind that this wouldn't get animated, what I'm more worried about is Togashi resuming the manga already because we're running out of source material!!
admin
February 21, 2013 at 1:04 amI think people are overestimating just how "shounen" Hunter is even at the best of times. It's a seinen wearing shounen clothes anyway, just like Adachi is (though in a completely different way). I haven't read "Chimera Ant" so I can't speak to the specifics, but I have faith in Madhouse's team.
admin
February 21, 2013 at 11:48 amSorry, Kaz – I would prefer if no one answers that. Anything you want to know about that arc can easily be answered very various wiki (or reading the manga) if you don't mind spoiling yourself.
Jiggy Pepper
February 21, 2013 at 1:42 pmHm, looking at the spread — seems that the "shocking" news is just the confirmation of the 2nd film project ( a sequel maybe?). I remember reading from here about a teaser at the end of the credits roll in the 1st movie. Anyway, glad to hear about the Chimera Ant arc! (Finally anime HxH fans who didn't read the manga like me 🙁 can watch it.) To add, aside from the Ant character design, they also announce the upcoming debut of Gin and Kaito in the anime. Great! In the end, this spread was just full of good HxH news!
admin
February 21, 2013 at 2:42 pmThanks, Jiggy. I don't really see how the 2nd movie could be the announcement, as it was announced at the end of the first one.
Jiggy Pepper
February 21, 2013 at 4:00 pmYeah, I had to see what was really in that blurb of last issue, the 'big announcement/shougeki happyou' was (specifically) for the anime. Just as you said, case of bad translation. I don't know how it works in Jump, (the main culprit here is the shougeki=impact,shocking,… word used) but maybe in the mag's language 'shougeki happyou' is just 'big announcement'. It was also same wording for another Jump title (I'm following updates of), and I just took it as a big announcement…and then I read your blog about the 'shocking announcement' thing, so I got a bit wary. Haha I also saw news of the 2nd movie there. "Movie 2's lead is Netero?!" They really are elaborate in announcing these things. First they show a teaser at end of 1st movie. Then they report in an issue, 2nd movie is in the works/being planned. Then next issue the formal announcement/confirmation. (Ugh, long reply sorry.)
jaylovette
February 23, 2013 at 5:15 amHAKOWARE!!!!!!!!!!!