Hunters are a special breed, dedicated to tracking down treasures, magical beasts, and even other people. But such pursuits require a license, and less than one in a hundred thousand can pass the grueling qualification exam. Those who do pass gain access to restricted areas, amazing stores of information, and the right to call themselves Hunters.
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.
Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words or grammar points.
Spoiler Courtesy
Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.
Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) need to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as such.
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I didn’t know the Beginner Book Club was doing Hunter x Hunter as well! ^>^ We’re doing the original TV anime from 1999 in the anime rerun club. (though, we’re starting on August 1st, if anyone wonders).
For those who want to read and then maybe check out the anime, I can only say that the thread will be up and running long after we finish. The anime is simply faster than reading the manga. But, that being said, you can always give the show a try after reading in this book club for a different view on the story. Everyone are welcome to join the fun and make their comments and posts!
Thank you so, so much @Gorbit99 for nominating and running this. Hunter X Hunter is currently my favourite shounen anime and I’m so beyond excited to be able to read it (for those who want to tell me One Piece is better - I have not yet seen/read One Piece and have told several friends that I will be reading it only in Japanese when I’m ready).
One thing that I was wondering, right now Hunter X Hunter is ranked at level 29 on learnnatively but it also only has a very low number of reviews. Should this be a concern?
(Sorry for the double post, I didn’t mean to reply to ekg originally and deleted it because I didn’t see how to remove the “reply to” option after posting)
It was a measure of concern for me when I initially saw the Natively listing, but the chapter preview doesn’t seem to match that rating. Somebody who has read further in the manga might be able to judge a little more effectively, but especially when looking at what it’s being compared to in order to achieve that rating, I think it’s a case of the level getting artificially inflated a bit. (I also confess to being confused by the one rating which places it as harder than 五等分の花嫁, because nothing in the preview gave me that vibe ).
My overall thoughts:
I think both Hunter × Hunter and Cells At Work!! are going to be on the “upper end” of difficulty for this club, but I don’t think either are going to be too much for the club. Reading through the preview, I had an easier time getting through the preview than my first encounter with 三ツ星カラーズ, for example. Some of that could be more reading experience, but I also think that some of it is just the writing style. This manga feels more immediately accessible, whereas 三ツ星カラーズ required some time to get used to.
Though, again, this is all based on the first chapter preview on Bookwalker, so maybe there’s something later on that warrants the higher rating that is given by Natively.
Tl;dr: Given that many of the higher leveled “easier than” books that it is being compared to trend towards being light novels which are in the mid-30s, I think it’s just bad comparisons inflating the score. This may end up being on the upper end of the difficulty scale for the ABBC, but I don’t think it will go outside the bounds of being doable.
Per forum rules, we are also supposed to avoid linking to and discussing anything that could be considered content, so it’s probably best if you remove that link, please!
It will definitely be harder than for example ハピネス was, I can tell you that much. And the difficulty lies mainly in the later chapters. But I’m confident, that most people will be able to handle it just fine, after getting used to the writing style and stuff. And if someone is struggling even after that, I’m willing to put in some extra effort to make it an enjoyable read.
I did say a few days ago, that it’s probably a more viable option, to make harder manga easier to read, and I intend on proving my point.
There was some talk about maybe having a grammar sheet for abbc, so it’s probably worth maybe doing a test run of that.
Edit:
Btw, I do feel like that, for a lot of content that’s being read on wk, the fact that it is in abbc makes the rating go lower because of expectation bias. So I expect the natively rating to go down by a bit, like 25ish is my guess
The manga costs a whopping 3.5 bucks, and the first chapter is free, so you could read alongside the abbc for 2 weeks and then decide if this is for you, and even then it will be quite cheap. Buying Japanese books is inherently cheaper
I was planning on reading this soon, so count me in!
I’ve also been a bit concerned about the ABBC picking this manga (it seems like more of a BBC pick), but I’m sure at this pace and with everyone’s help it’ll go smoothly. From what I know about the story, my guess is that HxH is L29 as a whole, but based on what’s covered in the beginning of the story I’m guessing Volume 1 is easier than the rest.
Btw, I might need to add a slight trigger warning to the club. HxH is notoriously graphic in its fights, and while this mainly doesn’t apply for the first one, there are 3 or 4 pages in the end, where there is some kinda graphic violence.
I’ve just bought a digital copy through bookwalker which I’ve never used before and the resolution isn’t good enough to easily read the furigana. I can make it out if I try but it’s going to make reading more hard going. I’m reading it in a browser on a big computer screen with 3840x2160 resolution so it’s not because I’m trying to look at it on a tiny phone screen.
I’m thinking a paper copy would be better but when I click on the amazon link above it doesn’t recognise my account when I try to log in. Is that because it’s the Japanese version of Amazon and mine is a UK account? What am I doing wrong?
We’ll see how it goes when we’re actually reading it. I think it’s about the same, with the difference that you can zoom in a bit, but in turn it gets more pixelated. Sticking with paper for now.
CDJapan is the easier route for ordering from physically, but if you ever decide to get Ebooks through Amazon, you’ll have to go through this as well. Amazon JP is separate, and requires a separate account than your UK account. The steps to setting up an account with Amazon JP so that you can purchase both digital and physical books are as follows:
If you purchase physically from Amazon, you can have multiple addresses on the account, so you’ll just keep your real address as well as the Japanese address (whether you use a fake one or a service like in that post) on the account.
The benefit to Amazon is that it collects import taxes for you, while I believe CDJapan does not, so keep that in mind if you choose to go that route. Others who order from CDJapan would be better equipped to walk you through their process than I am, though, and I could be mistaken re: the import tax.
(though, we’re starting on August 1st, if anyone wonders).
). 
content, so it’s probably best if you remove that link, please!