Manga
The manga that were hits in Japan in the 1990s.
1990S HITS
About
Gon might be a country boy, but he has high aspirations. Despite his Aunt Mito's protests, Gon decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a legendary Hunter. The Hunter hopefuls begin their journey by storm-tossed ship, where Gon meets Leorio and Kurapika, the only other applicants who aren't devastated by bouts of seasickness. Having survived the terrors of the high seas, Gon and his companions now have to prove their worth in a variety of tests in order to find the elusive Exam Hall. And once they get there, will they ever leave alive...?
Character analysis
Gon sets out to become a Hunter purely to find his own father, who left him to pursue the same career, and his bright, trusting optimism is genuine rather than naive, the story repeatedly shows it's a deliberate choice he makes even when he understands exactly how dangerous his world is.
Killua was raised from birth by a family of professional assassins to be a perfect killing tool, and his friendship with Gon is the first relationship in his life not built around his family's expectations. The story treats his struggle to separate his own desires from his conditioning as a genuinely difficult, ongoing process.
Kurapika's entire clan was murdered for their rare, valuable scarlet eyes, and his calm, disciplined exterior barely contains a focused, single-minded drive for revenge that the story treats with real moral complexity rather than simple heroism.
Leorio is openly motivated by the wealth and status a Hunter license provides, a contrast to his more idealistic companions, though the story reveals his actual goal is affording medical school so he can help people who, like a friend he lost, couldn't afford treatment.
Hisoka's interest in powerful fighters, Gon included, is framed as something closer to hunger than rivalry, he deliberately lets promising opponents grow stronger purely so defeating them later will be more satisfying, which makes him one of the story's most unpredictable, unsettling presences.
Status evaluation
Inventive creature and power-system designs combine with sharp, distinct character art.
The series is widely acclaimed for subverting typical shonen power fantasy expectations with genuinely strategic, consequence-driven storytelling.
Gon and Killua's friendship provides warm, lighter moments between the story's more intense arcs.
Killua's struggle against his upbringing and Kurapika's grief give the series real, sustained emotional depth.
Hisoka and several other antagonists are genuinely unsettling, and some arcs lean into real horror.
Violence is shown fairly directly in major arcs, though it varies significantly by storyline.
The Nen power system and the story's strategic, rule-heavy battles demand real, close attention to follow.
This figure has not been verified against a current source and should be treated as approximate.
“A kid chasing the father who abandoned him, teaming up with an assassin's son running from his own family, gives this story two different kinds of absence to work through at once.”