The Worst Villain In Hunter X Hunter, According To Reddit Users
Like fellow mega-hits "Naruto" and "One Piece," anime series "Hunter x Hunter" is based on an ongoing comic first published in Japan in the Weekly Shonen Jump manga anthology (via Anime News Network). While "Hunter x Hunter" may not garner quite the same degree of name recognition as the likes of "Naruto," the series is held in high regard by many fans as a standout example of a shonen anime series. On the anime site MyAnimeList, for example, the series is rated the fifth-best anime of all time based on aggregated user scores.
A young but powerful boy named Gon is the initial protagonist of "Hunter x Hunter." When Gon is introduced, he's living on an island in the care of his aunt Mito. Soon, he departs on a journey inspired by his absentee father to obtain a hunter license, which is a government certification of sorts that allows skilled individuals to legally partake in dangerous activities. On the way to obtaining his license, Gon meets and befriends the vengeful Kurapika, the bumbling Leorio, and the deadly Killua. This central quartet becomes the series' focus moving forward, with some story arcs leaving out Gon entirely and foregrounding another one of these characters.
Combat is central to "Hunter x Hunter" like in most other shonen series, but whereas combat in, say, "Dragon Ball Z" is based on power level, fights in "Hunter x Hunter" are largely tactical. As a result, the series' most iconic villains are remembered not for their immense power but for their cunning. That said, not every villain in "Hunter X Hunter" is held in the same regard among the show's fanbase, as proven in a Reddit thread specifically declaring the big bad of its fourth season to be the series' worst.
No respect for Genthru
The fourth season of "Hunter x Hunter" is titled "Greed Island," which is the name of a real-life video game where Gon and Killua compete for the duration of the season. The villains of "Greed Island" are mentioned anonymously early on as "The Bombers," due to their victims' exploded remains. The leader of The Bombers turns out to be a player named Genthru who fights with magical explosive powers. In the story arc's climax, Gon battles Genthru and ekes out a win after purposefully succumbing to an explosion that takes out his own arm (which is healed later on).
Reddit user ButItWasMeDio asked members of the official "Hunter x Hunter" subreddit why they think Genthru is held in disregard compared to other villains from the series' history despite a satisfyingly climactic final fight. By their own estimation, Genthru stands out because he functions closer to a conventional shonen anime villain than, for example, "Chimera Ant" arc villain Meruem, whose powers are near-godlike. The most-upvoted comment in the thread — by a user whose account is now deleted — suggested that "he's great, just like every HxH villain. He's just sandwiched in between the Phantom Troupe and the Chimera Ants so people forget about him."
User flaminghito similarly proposed that "talking about Genthru is really more talking about the whole Greed Island arc; he couldn't really exist independent of it," which isn't really a character flaw — it's more of a trait that makes him less prominent than other series villains with more defined personalities. In that regard, then, Genthru isn't a series low point as much as he is a villain who fails to earn the regard of the series' fanbase simply when compared to his substantial competition.