So Movie Musings for the Anime Movie Invasion continues with Hunter X Hunter: The Phantom Rogue. The Movie premiere was held last night at SM North Edsa, the Block and was made possible through Pioneer Films (Movie Punch), SM Cinemas and their official media sponsor Animax.
While Naruto and One Piece each have over 10 movie titles under their belt, this is the first ever movie for Hunter X Hunter. The movie is based on a manuscript which author Yoshihiro Togashi wrote ten years ago and was never used. This has been a great source of intrigue, interest and anticipation among the fans.
While many fans of the series may be frustrated with the long hiatuses to which the manga has been known to take, the movie is definitely a must see and would definitely quench any thirst brought about the long pauses in between arcs and chapters of the manga.
Warning- Spoilers ahead.
The story line of Hunter X Hunter movie: The Phantom Rogue revolves around Kurapika as we get a glimpse into his past and life within the Kurta clan and we are also introduced to his childhood friend Pairo and of course Kurapika is always followed and/or connected one way or another with the infamous Phantom Troupe A.K.A the Spiders, I would say that they are probably the most bad-ass bad guys comparable even to the notorious Akatsuki of Naruto Shippuuden fame. Speaking of the Phantom Troupe we would definitely be seeing a lot of them during the movie in that antagonist
/protagonist/middle/grey area sort of way.
A big chunk of the movie also highlights the Phantom Troupe as the mysterious 'Number 4' spider is featured - remember that Hisoka replaced the original number 4 member. So we meet original member number 4- Omokage who creates life like puppets but he needs human eyes to completely make his puppets alive. Wait? Eyes? So yup! Enter Kurapika's sought after crimson eyes.- the circle then becomes complete with Omokage stealing Kurapika's eyes as the movie's initial conflict.
The gang (Gon, Killua and Leorio) then come in to help regain Kurapika's eyes not knowing that this is going to be more than just an eye retrieval mission since they too will be facing a few of their own demons. (Killua it's time for some family healing - seriously).
With Omokage being able to revive the dead by creating life like puppets the guys have to deal with former enemies who would should have just been resting in peace.
For me, one thing that makes Hunter X Hunter unique from other anime are the characters and the dynamic of the group. Their group is not composed of the strongest (there is no Super Saiyan or Jinchuriki among them) and as Hisoka pointed it - they are still 'unripened fruit' and don't even get me started on Leorio's contribution when it comes to a big fight. So without the strong lead character the group has to rely on other measures to beat the bad guys.
Speaking of 'a big fight' the movie has lots of fight scenes making it worthy to catch in the cinema. The animation and the graphics are woven together in perfect unison making for a great feast for the eyes - something that you probably won't see in the series, it is a movie after all so a bigger budget is provided to come up with the great scenes.
The story is also laden with haunting scenes - I would say a toned down Asian Horror movie type of haunting and creepy scenes, a unique trait from among the previous 2 anime movies I saw recently. Something about puppets, eyes, eyeballs, empty eye sockets can really give you the creeps.
It also deals with (more than one) complicated sibling relationship and of course the themes of friendship and loyalty.
While most people cheered (and encouraged?) the sometimes over the top friendship of Gon and Killua I for one would shake my head from side to side. I can't seem to grasp the 'I will always be forever-by your side' lines but then that got me thinking - does this make me cold-hearted? I guess that real life teaches you that people won't be there always but our favorite anime titles and stories in general teaches us that you can be loyal and you can stay friends forever. You may not be facing and battling monsters and demons but with your true friends you face life together and sometimes in life there are monsters and demons, not the scary ones but the ones that make us stronger in the end. I guess that would be my own personal take away from the movie.
While Omokage plays the main antagonist in the movie, a new character Rentz voiced by Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya) causes own sparks to fly (should I say) 'confusion' between Gon and Killua.
Hopefully at this point you already want to watch Hunter X Hunter: The Phantom Rogue but make sure to catch it in SM Cinemas. Not only will the graphics and the fight scenes be enough reason to watch it but you will also be supporting the industry and making way for other anime movies to be shown locally - we all want that right?
Make sure to also catch ALL NEW EPISODES of Hunter X Hunter on Animax- which premieres on May 22, 2013, Monday-Friday.
Hunter X Hunter: The Phantom Rogue is made brought to you by Pioneer Films (Movie Punch) and can be seen exclusively in SM Cinemas.
Check out the movie schedules here.
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