Hunter × Hunter (2011 TV series)

Gon Freecss, a 12-year old boy, leaves his quiet life on Whale Island to become a professional "Hunter", an elite, licensed adventurer, to find his estranged father, Ging. Along the way, Gon befriends Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio while navigating the deadly Hunter Exam, learning the "Nen" power system, and undertaking dangerous quests.

The second anime television series adaptation of Hunter × Hunter was announced on July 24, 2011.^[1] It is a complete reboot starting from the beginning of the original manga, with no connection to the first anime television series from 1999. Produced by Nippon Television, VAP, Shueisha, and Madhouse, the series is directed by Hiroshi Kōjina, with Atsushi Maekawa and Tsutomu Kamishiro handling series composition, Takahiro Yoshimatsu designing the characters and Yoshihisa Hirano composing the music. Instead of having the old cast reprise their roles for the new adaptation, the series features an entirely new cast to voice the characters. The series began airing Sunday mornings on Nippon TV starting October 2, 2011.^[2] It switched to airing at 1:29 am on Tuesday nights from October 8, 2013, onwards.^[3] The series ended on September 23, 2014, after 148 episodes.^[4]

An hour after each episode aired in Japan, American website Crunchyroll provided English subtitled simulcasts in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.^[5] The series began airing on Animax Asia on April 24, 2012.^[6] On October 9, 2015, Viz Media announced their license to the series at their panel at New York Comic Con.^[7] They eventually released the anime on DVD/Blu-ray with an English dub. On April 1, 2016, it was announced that the series would premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block, which began airing on April 17, 2016.^[8][9] Madman Entertainment acquired the series for distribution in Australia and New Zealand,^[10] and made the series available on AnimeLab.^[11] Funimation began streaming the series in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 17, 2020.^[12]

The anime series' opening theme is alternated between the song "Departure!" and an alternate version titled "Departure! -Second Version-", both sung by Masatoshi Ono. Five pieces of music were used as the ending theme; "Just Awake" by the band Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas in episodes 1 to 26,^{[citation needed]} "Hunting for Your Dream" by Galneryus in episodes 27 to 58,^[13] "Reason" sung by the duo Yuzu in episodes 59 to 75,^[14] "Nagareboshi Kirari" also sung by Yuzu from episode 76 to 98, which was originally from the anime film adaptation, Hunter × Hunter: Phantom Rouge,^[15] and "Hyōri Ittai" by Yuzu featuring Hyadain from episode 99 to 146, which was also used in the film Hunter × Hunter: The Last Mission.^[16] The background music and soundtrack for the series was composed by Yoshihisa Hirano.

The 2011 anime series adaptation was met with near-universal critical acclaim. Adrian Marcano from Inverse considered the 2011 series to be one of the greatest anime series ever. He said that the anime set itself apart with one of the greatest story arcs in anime history, in which the villain, not the hero, takes the anime to instant classic status. He also said that, "It is in the 2011 version where we see probably one of the best story arcs in anime history: the Chimera Ant Arc."^[18] Nick Creamer held similar sentiments, writing "the show's fantastic aesthetics elevate it above almost everything out there – in direction, in sound design, in pacing, in animation, in basically every relevant aesthetic metric, Hunter x Hunter triumphs. That it's been maintaining this level of quality for well over a hundred episodes is nothing short of astonishing."^[19]

In 2019, Polygon named the series as one of the best anime of the 2010s,^[20] and Crunchyroll ranked it as one of the 25 best anime of the 2010s.^[21] IGN also listed the Hunter × Hunter 2011 adaptation among the best anime series of the 2010s.^[22]