Hunter x Hunter Episode One

Remember, dads. If you abandon your kid, he'll end up with hair like this.

I've been looking for a long-running show to watch daily and write about as I catch up. It's a project that would do two things. One, I'd get to watch a show whose episode count is way too high for me to ever hope to catch up. Two, I'd get in the habit of writing and posting every day, something that after my three week hiatus is sorely needed. These won't be long recaps, a couple hundred words at most. But, it'll be something for my ten readers to enjoy. As for which show I'm watching, well after the entirity of Anitwitter exploded over episode 131, it looks like I'm going with Hunter x Hunter, as this post's title would suggest. I originally failed this show three years ago. Apparently, that was a mistake.

As for the first episode itself, it does a perfectly passable job introducing us to three of the main characters. The protagonist, Gon, is trying to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Hunter. Because his father abandoned him while being a Hunter, it's that important. As for what a Hunter is, it is some type of an adventurer crossed with crystallized badass. At least, that's what I gleaned from the way other characters talk about them. On board a ship to a testing site, we meet Leorio and Kurapika, who give out the most basic of character information before teaming up with Gon to save a sailor in a squall reminiscent of the climatic scene of The Perfect Storm. It's a good first episode, it shows enough information to ground me in the world while giving me a chance to meet the characters. And Gon seems to be an easy kid to root for, which he'll have to be, because in a show as long as Hunter x Hunter, I don't want to spend it hating the people I'm supposed to be rooting for.