Hunter × Hunter
The "Hunter × Hunter" manga has received much praise for its plot and characters. In his 2007 book "", Jason Thompson described its storyline as "an almost random collection of psych-outs, battles, puzzles, and trickery" that works on both a chapter-by-chapter basis and a larger scale. Thompson elaborated that with all the goals and subplots of each of the main characters, the story could seemingly go on forever and is unpredictable enough to hold reader interest. In a different review for Anime News Network in 2012, Thompson wrote that it was hard to summarize the story because it is every "shōnen" manga in one, with training sequences, tournament battles, a crime-mystery story arc, and a virtual-reality, RPG-style story arc. But unlike most "shōnen" manga, he called "Hunter × Hunter" "incredibly dense." Examples being its fictional nen ability, which is explained "so thoroughly that you almost think it could exist," and the little challenges and games the characters face; "Over and over Togashi invents some little closed system or rules just so the heroes can break them; if he ever wants to change careers, I'd suggest game designer." Thompson praised the character art as great, pointing out how instead of alternating between realistic and chibi like other artists, Togashi has cartoony and realistic characters interacting in the same panels. Thompson did note how the artwork during its magazine run is often "sketchy" and missing backgrounds, but that Togashi goes back and fixes it for its collected "tankōbon" release. Mentioning Togashi's love of gore he stated "the whole manga is about the mixture of childish adventure and creepy, adult themes" and noted how some panels later in the manga are apparently censored for gore by being covered with screentone.
List of Hunter × Hunter characters
His flaws lie in his impulsive nature and stubbornness. Gon sometimes fails to think things through and such actions lead to him suffering. Though possessing talent far beyond the norm for his age, anytime his abilities are challenged he feels as if he has to prove his antagonist wrong. He continually strives to obtain greater power, often becoming exceptionally stronger in his anger. But Gon's anger also leads to extremely reckless tendencies. When his emotions are ignited, Gon becomes irrational and completely oblivious to anything else. Gon's Nen type is Enhancement, which gives him his great strength and recuperative abilities. His Hatsu, or specific use of Nen, is called a play on the Japanese word for rock-paper-scissors, "Janken". When Gon throws out "Rock" it is an enhanced punch, "Scissors" transmutes a sword from his index and middle fingers for mid-ranged attacks, and "Paper" emits a ball of aura for long-ranged attacks. During his fight with Neferpitou, it appears that Gon entered into a Nen Contract in order to have "all the power [he]'ll ever have" and grew to an older age. After returning to normal thanks to Alluka Zoldyck's ability, Gon has lost the ability to use Nen. Gon is a popular character with fans, coming in third place in the series' first two popularity polls.