This is one of the reasons the Chimera Ant Arc is so polarizing.
Summary:
Otaku often feel that the narration in Hunter x Hunter makes the Chimera Ant Arc worse.
Some fans feel like the narration is justified, but to many, there’s just too much of it.
The narration shouldn’t have been completely absent, but the arc would probably benefit from reducing its amount.
The Chimera Ant Arc of Hunter x Hunter has always been the most controversial one in the series. While it is praised for character development and excellent exploration of the series’ themes, it’s also often disliked for its slow pacing and an extremely large amount of side stories that take a while to get through.
The arc is also perhaps the best — or worst — example of why some viewers don’t especially like the fight scenes in the series. While some fights have been narrated in HxH before, the narration actually becomes ubiquitous in the arc — and not limited to just action scenes. For many, that made anime harder to watch.
Why some feel the narration is justified
Some argue that the narration in the series is not that bad. After all, it is sometimes needed during the action scenes, especially if they’re complex. And the anime actually improves on the manga, which, in its later arcs, features pages full of text.
The narration also explains the subtleties in the series that viewers might not pick up on. With how deeply philosophical the Chimera Ant Arc is, that’s especially important, because some viewers would not come to any conclusions themselves, and the narration makes it clearer.
The amount of it is completely ridiculous
Despite these arguments, the narration in Hunter x Hunter is still way too hard to get through — especially when the amount of it dramatically increases later. It feels like every step and move of the characters is narrated, and viewers are left wondering: is this really necessary? After all, a lot of these things are shown and don’t need to be explained again.
A lot of the inner thoughts are narrated as well, and fans believe they could have just been given as inner monologues. While it is true that some things characters themselves never put into sentences or thoughts, and the narration might be needed to elaborate on those, these examples are not that common.
Ultimately, otaku just don’t need everything explained step by step — they just want to watch their anime.
Narration should be toned down, not removed entirely
The Chimera Ant Arc does require some narration, at least. It’s very thematically dense, more so than anything the viewers saw in the series before it. Still, that doesn’t excuse the amount of it.
The constant narration interferes with the pacing as well, and is one of the reasons the arc is considered slow and uninteresting by many. As such, while the arc is still great overall, it could’ve been better: there has to have been a more elegant solution to this issue.
This is one of the reasons the Chimera Ant Arc is so polarizing.
Summary:
Otaku often feel that the narration in Hunter x Hunter makes the Chimera Ant Arc worse.
Some fans feel like the narration is justified, but to many, there’s just too much of it.
The narration shouldn’t have been completely absent, but the arc would probably benefit from reducing its amount.
The Chimera Ant Arc of Hunter x Hunter has always been the most controversial one in the series. While it is praised for character development and excellent exploration of the series’ themes, it’s also often disliked for its slow pacing and an extremely large amount of side stories that take a while to get through.
The arc is also perhaps the best — or worst — example of why some viewers don’t especially like the fight scenes in the series. While some fights have been narrated in HxH before, the narration actually becomes ubiquitous in the arc — and not limited to just action scenes. For many, that made anime harder to watch.
Why some feel the narration is justified
Some argue that the narration in the series is not that bad. After all, it is sometimes needed during the action scenes, especially if they’re complex. And the anime actually improves on the manga, which, in its later arcs, features pages full of text.
The narration also explains the subtleties in the series that viewers might not pick up on. With how deeply philosophical the Chimera Ant Arc is, that’s especially important, because some viewers would not come to any conclusions themselves, and the narration makes it clearer.
The amount of it is completely ridiculous
Despite these arguments, the narration in Hunter x Hunter is still way too hard to get through — especially when the amount of it dramatically increases later. It feels like every step and move of the characters is narrated, and viewers are left wondering: is this really necessary? After all, a lot of these things are shown and don’t need to be explained again.
A lot of the inner thoughts are narrated as well, and fans believe they could have just been given as inner monologues. While it is true that some things characters themselves never put into sentences or thoughts, and the narration might be needed to elaborate on those, these examples are not that common.
Ultimately, otaku just don’t need everything explained step by step — they just want to watch their anime.
Narration should be toned down, not removed entirely
The Chimera Ant Arc does require some narration, at least. It’s very thematically dense, more so than anything the viewers saw in the series before it. Still, that doesn’t excuse the amount of it.
The constant narration interferes with the pacing as well, and is one of the reasons the arc is considered slow and uninteresting by many. As such, while the arc is still great overall, it could’ve been better: there has to have been a more elegant solution to this issue.
