A great catch: Hunter X Hunter

Their are many famous shonen titles recognized in the United States for their exciting fast paced adventure such as One Piece, Naruto, Bleach and a few other titles considered to be well known. However is some other manga in the thus style created in a relatively similar way and deserving of attention that are overlooked and seem to slip to the cracks for the most part. Yoshihiro Togashi is a writer that is commonly over looked in this way within the United States, his works like Yu Yu Hakusho and this weeks review Hunter x Hunter both deserve more attention then they get in the states. It is strange that these manga are so overlooked because of their many similarities with other great Shonen titles. Perhaps this may be in part due to delays in book release of Hunter X Hunter due to the many times it has been put on hiatus in Japan by it’s author or the flooding of the market with this sort of material with similar more well know material. Despite these similarities it clear Hunter X Hunter is no derivative titles like Fairy Tale, and definitely on par with other titles and is worth taking a look at.

Art is weakest element in this work and still has plenty of charm despite the shortcuts taken in it’s drawings. The biggest weakness the art is it’s background, which either are non-existent or is long and endlessly sprawling onward and easy to reuse for the most part(though well detailed and many times not easy to draw in the first place). Many times crowds or, groups of people are made into bunch faceless masses, something that doesn’t belong except in a scene of alienation. One shortcut that does work tomanga’s advantage though is it’s occasional switch to humorously exaggerated facial expression, it uses this trick even more then what is typical for shonen manga. It is clear Togashi has studied prospective deeper then the typical artist with the use of unusual close ups on things like people running or on the eye of a character. However, the most impressive feature of this work is it’s character design, where every character including passing characters seen only once and minor characters have a interesting appearance. This sort design characters reminds me of the detail in character design found in all great major shonen manga. However, it may be the most stylish of modern shonen manga and has facial expressions that are definitely very profound. It is clear that this manga has learned a lot from both modern and past shonen titles when creating it’s art. It also takes it’s own path sometimes with great success, however it is hampered occasionally by it’s lack of background and corner cutting practices.

theme of overcoming incredible odds. The series starts with the introduction of Though the story is by no means ground breaking it definitely contains a solid premise fun premise (like One Piece), while having smart writing (like Naruto) and the common shonen. Gon Freecss the son of the famous hunter Gin as he begins his journey to take the hunters exam, in hopes of following in his fathers footsteps. However, because difficulty of being a hunter, as well as the fame and wealth that typically is attached to the title, becoming one requires the passing of extreme test that only the toughest can even enter. After Gon Leaves from his home on whale island on a ship driven by the captain through some of the most stormy sea’s, the storm ends up driving everyone on the ship seeking to take the exam, save the captain and two others who team up with Gon, the vengeance seeking Kurapika and goofy doctor Leorio. After a long and difficult journey they make it the exam, only to find it is so difficult that it make the chunin exams look like a picnic. At the exam they end up meeting Killua Zoldyck a young, but powerful assassin who joins up with them. They also meet up with a cast of various other participants and examiners such as the murderous examinee Hisoka and the energetic old chairman Netero. The exams is filled with variety of creative tests and shows off the great writing of the work, putting characters through many special challenges. Some of these challenges include creating sushi for a finicky hunter specializing in cooking (only one of them even know how to create it and she doesn’t like his cooking), surviving a test involving agreement as a group with a saboteur and miles long running through an underground, and after that through a swamp filled with man eating creatures. The story has much of use of brains of over brawn’s, though their are many exciting action scenes and fights, however the mind games and puzzles are even more thrilling. The one thing I could say bad about the series is that the characters fail to react in a shocked way to extremely violence (however this is common in shonen manga). The story is creative and does what it sets out to do well, it may not be revolutionary but it is definitely different from the typical shonen manga.

The characters within the series are fairly typical of shonen characters, and it is clear that characters jobs are to push the story forward. First off the main character carries a strong will determination to do the difficult and never gives up on his dream, this is common of many shonen manga. Gon overall isn’t the most interesting character, however his carefree gentle determination sets him apart, from many of his more blood thristy friends. Luckily the series is not based so much around him as it is around plot, and the group as a whole they travel through a fantastic world. Killua is perhaps the most interesting character because he is so hard to read emotionally. He is shown to be both a blood thristy killer and, at the same time gentle, kind person at other times. These feelings constantly are waging war within him making it hard to tell what he will do or how react next. Leorio is also an interesting character as well. He impatient, has many pitfalls and the least talented physically of the group but makes up for it in determination and effort. He first claims his goal is to get rich, but later it revealed that he seeks to use the money for a far less selfish reason, he seeks to help others and become a doctor and use the money to help people. Kurapika on the other hand is the typical revengeful character, he is seeking vengeance against a power group of criminals know as the Phantom Troupe and will stop at nothing to destroy them. He is typically though gentle and cunning but doesn’t particularly stand out. The characters are mainly enhance the story and allow for the exploring of the complex world.

It’s surprising this manga hasn’t caught on as much as others of it’s kind. It’s art is unique and interesting, the plot well crafted and thought out and, it’s characters extensions of the brilliant story. I’m definitely glad I picked this manga up, and am surprised that I never heard of it until a short while ago. Hunter x Hunter is definitely better then most shonen manga out their and is just as good as other popular manga in the U.S. like One Piece and, Naruto are. If your big Shonen fan you have to pick this one up it is definitely one of the greatest modern (or of all time for that matter) shonen manga’s ever. If not then I would check it out any ways though most likely you won’t find it any more likable then any other major shonen title.

Moving Pictures: Herald of the 80’s

I have to admit much of the music of the 1980’s (especially within the mainstream) doesn’t appeal to me. Despite having these feelings I tried my best to push them aside when reviewing Rush’s album, Moving Pictures.  This I found this was hard to do in some cases, because the album helped to create so many trade marks of the 80’s rock music. I can say this album is certainly very different from many I listen to as well as interesting. I definitely have some things to say about this album that are very much opinionated, so forgive me if you disagree with my feeling, but I feel they are worth mentioning.

This album is a prime example of 1980’s Progressive rock, a unique style of rock with a sound so very different from what people typically think of as rock. This style of rock is not big and loud as much as it is rich, though it is many times loud, but not in the way rock like metal. It is the type of loud that isn’t aggressive or powerful instead full and complete of sound. This genera tries to express complex messages to the listener, many times with political messages. This is the sort of music that can either be looked at as insightful and poetic or overly cryptic and needless complex of theme. This genera music set the standard for many of the music of the 1980’s in style, many bands taking various elements of it’s style and incorporating it into their music.

This band has a very unusual sound due to not only it’s instrumentation, but it’s use of those instruments in a way that is 0different from the typically rock band.  The band uses the typical electric guitar, bass, voice, however the most important addition to the sound is the heavy use of synthesizer and the use of a variety of percussive instruments instead of the typically drum set. This instrumentation allows for the size and depth of the albums sound to be huge and rich. This set up gives the band a very electric and artificial sound, which depending on your preference is a good or bad thing (I personally prefer a more natural sound). The synthesizer at times feels really out of place within the songs texture, and I feel is not effective as another acoustic or wind instrument might be. The singer Geddy Lee has very distinct voice and again can be either be seen as a asset or as grating no the nerves, though in either case it is definitely befitting of the rich electric sound of the band. I feel this album has a very distinct and interesting pallet sound even if it is at times out place, however it is far to synthetic sounding many times for my taste.

This albums large sound has a strong effect on the style presented in Moving Pictures. Whether by design or out of necessity songs usually have simple structure, which is a nice contrast to the complex pallet of sounds. This simple structure also helps to avoid covering up the meaning of the words and in some cases supports the words. At times though the album can become overblown with it’s large sounds and deep lyrics, making the work seems to pompous and overblown. The solos especially suffer from this overly pompous feeling, especially within the song, “Limelight.” Another big problem is that I feel the quality of the songs aren’t not consistent in the album. “Tom Sawyer,” (the best on the album by far) “YYZ,” and, “Witch hunt,” were far superior to “Red Barchetta,” “The Camera Eye,” and, “Limelight”.  Their are many things that I liked stylistically in this album and just as many I could have done without.

This was an interesting album that experimented many new concepts some of which were worthwhile, others not so good. It’s style, messages and instrumentation sets it apart from other rock albums and definitely have had a deep impact on music. Whether that impact is a good one or not is largely up to the listener and a matter of opinion. This album is definitely the type of album you’ll either love or feel has some merits but, overall doesn’t appeal to you. I enjoyed listening to album despite it’s problems, however I doubt I’d buy this album if I didn’t already have a copy on hand. My advice with this one is maybe download a few of the tracks after listening to them, but not to buy the album as a whole.