do NOT fall for the propaganda that hunter x hunter 1999 is a bad adaptation. the art of adaptation is often not to create a 1:1 copy but to transform the source material for it to have the best impact for the new medium.
i would honestly argue that hxh 1999 understands hxh’s themes better than 2011 does and the filler only enhances the story. 1999’s filler is primarily focused on character & trauma study. we get a much clearer look at leorio and kurapika’s trauma responses and how kurapika works through his first kill. killua’s character arc surrounding his breaking from being an assassin gets the elaboration it always deserved but that togashi did not have time for. there is an absolutely heartwrenching scene after hisoka punches gon in the exam that establishes gon’s suicidal ideation extremely early. it establishes relationships like pokkle and ponzu’s, pakunoda’s and chrollo’s, and kurapika and hanzo’s which would not exist for many more years in the manga. it touches on killua and gon’s class distinctions much more. 1999 literally gave us kurapika vs hisoka!
not to mention it’s just a gorgeous artistic endeavor that really enhances the dark fantasy aspect of hxh, with one of the finest anime soundtracks ever produced. the yorknew music is insane. kanako mitsuhashi is a fantastic killua. yes, it’s a bleaker adaptation, but that is not bad, and it was developed specifically as the yorknew arc was being produced so the tone is matched to yorknew. hxh is about the exploitation and abuse of children first and foremost. it’s not bad that the 2011 version takes a longer time to get into this explicitly and introduces a much more romanticized world in the beginning but you can’t fault 1999 for leaning into this theme and it does so because it understands the purpose of hxh as a character study. ironically, despite coming out as yorknew was still ongoing, the characterization 1999 provides for gon and killua would’ve made for an even better version of chimera ants.
honestly, i feel like hxh was always bleak, and people only argue otherwise because the 2011 anime is generally people’s introduction to the material. but the 2011 anime cuts almost the entirety of the first chapter which sets up gon’s emotional complications in a pretty bleak way! hxh begins itself by talking about abandonment, genocide, poverty, assassination, and the climax of the first arc involves a child being brainwashed and tortured. the discordant tone of 2011 can be fun but it’s not necessarily better.
1999 handles yorknew much better, full stop. its coloring, its music, its stylization, is genuinely untouchable. it takes kurapika and leorio as characters much more seriously whereas 2011 cuts a lot of their content/doesn’t emphasize them very much, probably because at the point 2011 began development kurapika and leorio had been gone from the manga for about a decade. but that doesn’t make them any less worthwhile to the canon. 1999 understands so thoroughly the importance of the relationship of the core four and their emotional reliance on one another.
i love a lot of the 2011 creative decisions and in particular the water color but i do think it often gets caught up in aura farming rather than engaging with hxh as a character study. that’s why it’s so comfortable cutting small moments like leorio getting involved in the arm wrestling in yorknew, or kurapika being there to defend killua when he first interacted with leorio and gon, or has major cuts like removing kite from the first episode which is still one of the wildest adaptational decisions of all time. 2011 does take some creative liberties i appreciate (like gon chasing after ging in his dream and the pathway crumbling) but overall it seems to take away from the material whereas 1999 adds to it.
1999’s lore isn’t completely accurate (like changing around the freecss’ family tree, which i’m not a fan of tbf) but we need to remember it came out literally a year into hxh’s publication and was attempting to fill in gaps. people also forget togashi was heavily involved in 1999–having multiple voice cameos and approving/rejecting filler based on how it fit into his larger vision. 2011 had the benefit of hindsight and still made major mistakes. 1999’s biggest problem is literally that it’s an older piece of art so its sound design and animation isn’t as good as an anime that came out a decade later but you can really, really feel the adoration and respect the crew had for the source material.
it comes down to preference at the end of the day (i’m a manga superiority truther anyway because who can get togashi more than togashi) and i think preferring 2011 makes sense, especially if you primarily like hxh for the adventure aspect, but 1999 was by no means a misunderstanding of the material.
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