[Tsukou]

Originally Posted by Toto y Moi

I think the Leorio scene showed his compassion more than anything else. The fact that he was willing to react so violently indicates both a character flaw and something worthy of admiration. He's so abhorred by the idea of choosing to save one person over another, that he acts incredibly irrationally and tries to attack an old woman. Granted, he would have failed had he chosen not to take the quiz, and we see for the first time just how strong his convictions are--despite claiming last episode that his reason for becoming a Hunter was solely for money.

Episode comparison under the spoiler box. 1999 on left, 2011 in middle, manga on right. Lots of images:

Spoiler for Hunter x Hunter Episode 2 Comparison:

The first thing that I noticed was how different some of the aesthetics are. I think that the person in charge of choosing colors is doing a much better job than before. Leorio's briefcase, a minor detail, is pretty stylish and exactly as how it appears in the manga.

The 1999 anime had no idea that Togashi created his own language for the series at first. There's a ton of nonsense words and symbols the animators drew in simply because they didn't know. Pay attention to the letters at top; also, the map is fixed to reflect how local maps actually look.


This old lady's colors are just on point. Nothing clashes, unlike in the old series.


The character designs are closer to the manga in the new version as well.


Here's a pretty significant difference: Leorio attacks the old woman in the manga and 2011 version, but only threatens her in the 1999 anime.



The characters are really off-model in episode 4, and you can see it pretty easily in the last two comparisons. Kurapika's face looks like that throughout the entire episode in the 1999 show--his expression doesn't change.

Episode 5 of the 1999 version generally adapted certain scenes exactly the same as how they look in the manga. It's also the first episode in the original series in which we get some pretty good animation; the scenes of Gon and Kurapika running through the trees is great. As such, the 2011 version largely changed the blocking for some scenes. The biggest difference was found in character expressions, which tend to match the manga's in the 2011 version but are different in the 1999 one.










One thing I'm glad Madhouse removed was this scene:
Throughout the episode, they make a pretty big deal how dark it is outside and that Gon can see easily through it. But the original show Had Leorio see the bump from a vaccination shot in the same darkness after talking about how impossible it was to see outside.

I disagree with a couple points. While it's true it stays more on point in the questions, but they leave off how they heard Mashu go off and gets attacked, but replace it with Kurapika "figuring it out". I liked the idea of knowing that he got punished for going ahead like that.

And you can't fault the original for having some cells not matching like the faces, because unlike nowadays, I believe HxH was hand drawn, and honestly one of the most amazing animes I've seen produced, and I just don't think it's a fair comparison to say are "off model" when you consider the hard work it took to create. And you're not even discussing the details of backgrounds. The backgrounds in the original, especially when they enter this ghost town are drawn impeccably and fit the atmosphere. In the newer version they just seem so lackluster. It doesn't provide any atmosphere outside from being a background.

And to be fair about the vaccination scene, Gon looked through a dark thicket to spot a moving shadow in the cover of darkness. Leorio's scene is pretty out in the open, plenty of time to adjust his eyes, and is staring at a fixed target. It's not an unbelievable scene.

But I didn't like how bright the scene looks in the new one. In the original and the manga, they both have Gon stand for a moment, scan the area, and instantly react to movements. In the new one they show them immediately sprinting in their direction, not really showing the impressiveness of this feat, didn't like this at all. Felt less impressive.

I agree that the new one stays faithful to the manga, but in all honesty the old one stayed close enough that I wasn't pointing out when it happened. And while the new one looks shiny, the old one just has a certain nostalgic feeling, as well as showing off just how stunning hand-drawn animation can be. It had feeling and depth, that I just feel are slightly missing in the new one. Maybe it's me being overly nostalgic, and maybe I will change my opinion in time.

But maybe it also has to deal with I like old Gon's va.. not new Gon.. I suppose Killua must make the difference!