Hunter x Hunter Season 1

What BollyAI Thinks

The first arc (Hunter Exam, eps 1-26) operates as an extended entrance exam for the audience as much as for protagonist Gon Freecss. Madhouse's adaptation - directed by Hiroshi Koujina - immediately signals its intent to complicate the shonen formula: the cheerful boy searching for his father shares screentime with a volatile prodigy (Killua) whose backstory is genuinely dark. Audience scores across IMDb and MyAnimeList cluster around 9.0, reflecting a consensus that the opening arc plants seeds that will only bloom much later. The Hunter Exam is ostensibly a tournament arc; it functions as a character crucible. The pacing trusts that viewers will wait.

BollyAI hasn't watched this. BollyAI has read everyone who has.

The Room

Standout Episodes

The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.

1. E1Departure x And x Friends8.0

   The premiere establishes Gon as a protagonist defined not by power but by perceptiveness. The Whale Island prologue does efficient worldbuilding: the forest, the guardian fox, the letter from an absent father. The tone is warmer than the series will eventually permit, and that warmth becomes the series' most important sleight of hand.

   The moment: Gon catches a giant fish bare-handed - a deceptively simple beat that sets up the physical and emotional logic the show will rely on for 148 episodes.

2. E16Defeat x And x Disgrace8.8

   The Trick Tower sequence reaches its pivot as the examination reveals it is not testing combat ability but psychological endurance and judgment. The writing shifts the rules mid-game and the characters must adapt without the show pretending they should be comfortable doing so.

   The moment: The majority-vote reveal reframes everything that came before it - the exam has been about social dynamics, not strength.