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
is a magician and serial killer. He is deceitful, playful, and narcissistic by nature; acting only in his own self-interest. Hisoka combines his magic tricks with violence, and delights in battling against those he considers strong to the point of sexual arousal. In the manga, his sentences within speech balloons typically end with a suit symbol. Hisoka takes an interest in Gon and his friends after encountering them during the Hunter Exam, letting them live so that they grow into more worthy opponents. Although he initially is posited as an antagonist due to affinity towards murder, he spends much of the series acting as both an adversary and comrade to Gon. He is revealed to be member number four of the Phantom Troupe, although he only joined in order to get a chance to fight their leader, Chrollo Lucilfer. He leaves the group when Chrollo's Nen is sealed by Kurapika and sets out to find a way to break the seal. Having been successful in this task, Hisoka dies after fighting Chrollo, but revives himself, and goes on a killing rampage against the Phantom Troupe.