Fans of Hunter X Hunter who want another show to binge have plenty of options available.
More and more people have come to realize that anime is a legitimate form of entertainment, and those same people have also realized that not all anime is intended for children. That being said, shonen is the most popular type of anime because it is geared towards young adults, but many of those series cover fairly mature subject matter. Hunter X Hunter debuted as a manga in 1998 and has had two anime adaptations so far, with the 2011 version covering more of the story.
Hunter X Hunter follows a young boy named Gon Freecss, who wishes to become a professional Hunter like his father. Gon makes several friends along the way, including Killua, the series’ secondary protagonist. Hunter X Hunter is surprisingly dark and features great action sequences which usually involve some kind of Nen ability. The series has a pretty sizable fanbase, and there are certainly other anime out there that Hunter X Hunter fans would likely enjoy.
Updated on August 25, 2024, by Mark Sammut: Battle shonen is a staple of the anime industry. Every season produces a couple of shows based on action-driven manga designed with the demographic in mind, and they tend to be enjoyable and entertaining. However, despite some general overlap, most of these anime are not similar to Hunter X Hunter. Consequently, fans might have to look to the past to find something along the same lines. This article has been expanded with two more anime like Hunter X Hunter. 24 Tokyo Ghoul
The ghouls in Tokyo Ghoul are carnivorous humanoids who feed on human flesh, and in this regard, they are similar to the Chimera Ants that appear in Hunter x Hunter. Every ghoul is capable of using a special predatory organ called a Kagune, and their bodies can withstand a great deal of damage.
Tokyo Ghoul is much more violent than HxH, and its story is more complex, but it is still a fun watch. Ken Kaneki was an ordinary human before gaining ghoul abilities, and in this sense, he is similar to Gon because they both had to learn to live in a world with new powers. 23 Blue Exorcist
Blue Exorcist is set in a world with two dimensions. One is home to humans, while the other is a demon dimension ruled by Satan. The demons can enter the human world by possessing someone, and it is up to the Exorcists to get rid of them. The story focuses on Rin and Yukio Okumura, fraternal twins who are both the sons of Satan.
Rin inherited all of their father’s strength, but they were not evil because they were raised by a powerful exorcist. When his real father kills their adopted father, Rin trains to become an exorcist capable of defeating him. Rin and Gon may have very different relationships with their fathers, but they both train to become stronger. 22 Kaiju No. 8
One of 2024’s biggest new adaptations, Kaiju No. 8 has a lot of positives that justify its hype and warrant a wholehearted recommendation, even for people who might be relatively tired of battle shonen. In a refreshing change of pace, the story features an adult protagonist in his early ’30s, although Kafka is still chasing a childhood dream that is a long shot by most reasonable measures. Kaiju No. 8 takes place in a world where humanity is regularly bombarded by massive monsters, who usually appear without warning and can cause widespread destruction. Consequently, Japan relies on a special Defense Force to try and keep these entities at bay, and Kafka wishes to join their ranks. Unfortunately, he has never been able to pass their entrance exam. Fortunately, he accidentally swallows a kaiju and gains access to new abilities, which he has to keep hidden to avoid being marked as a threat to humanity.
Boasting great action, lovable characters, and a fun premise (who doesn’t love big monsters ramping through cities?), Kaiju No. 8 is just a good time, which is all any anime really needs to be. Beyond that, the Defense Force’s role is not that far removed from Hunters, with both of them essentially acting as humanity’s contact point with the unknown and dangerous. While Kafka is certainly very powerful and undeniably the protagonist, the anime emphasizes the importance of teamwork and coordination, which is a fairly staple theme of Hunter X Hunter. 21 Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Every “dark” anime tends to be described as a genre subversion, which is not always accurate. While defying some expectations for battle shonen, Hunter X Hunter contains plenty of the standard elements associated with the genre, even if it might not always present them in the most conventional ways. Puella Magi Madoka Magica mostly does the same for magical girls, telling a story that initially seems to regurgitate the genre’s tropes, before eventually revealing itself to be far more unsettling than the typical mahou shoujo series.
While hardly the first or last “dark” magical girl anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is arguably the best example of this type of show. The story explores the roles of magical girls, their “cute” mascots, and their villains, all the while touching upon mature themes like desperation and obsession.
