Hunter x Hunter's Infinitely Complex Magic

When one writes a story where the primary means of combat is magic, it pays to have a solid foundation and uniqueness, while avoiding issues of balance and being too generic. Hunter x Hunter has found the perfect system of magic for both an engaging story, and infinite potential. This is the magic system of Nen.

The basis of the Nen system is the presence of an aura. Most people in Hunter x Hunter are capable of producing aura, but aren't trained to use it. Nen is basically an invisible material that can move through matter freely, while also giving it a wide range of properties. Ten gives a person slightly boosted energy and strength, Ren boosts strength dramatically, Gyo sharpens senses or provides extra defense, among many others. All these changes are slight, and only really help in hand to hand fights. However, Nen has a deeper aspect that makes it one of the best magic systems in all of anime.

The most important part of the Nen system is its applications, collectively called Hatsu. This allows Nen to be used for purposes other than plainly strengthening or weakening things. The basis of Hatsu is the idea that aura is divided into 6 categories. Whether these categories really exist as physical limits, or whether they are simply patterns generalized by the world's science is not made clear, but I would not be surprised if it were the latter. Anyway, the six categories are as follows:

• Manipulator - uses Nen to control objects from a distance
• Emitter - uses Nen to create objects and launch them
• Enhancer - uses Nen to boost the strength of other objects, and change their properties
• Transmuter - changes the property of Nen itself, usually to mimic some other material
• Conjurer - creates objects out of Nen, that can have special properties
• Specialist - catch all for everything else

This categorization does wonders to allow the story to be consistent in the capabilities and limits of Nen, while allowing enough wiggle room for massive variation in possible uses. It is also made clear that what category a person is best in is determined by their personality, with enhancers being simple, and transmuters being tricky. Hisoka says as much during one of his fights in the third arc. The idea of basing the power of a person on their personality rather than their pure strength allows the show to be extremely varied when it comes to fight scenes. The number of possible power match ups is the number of characters squared, and that number increases when more than two people join in.

As the series progresses, each new character shows off new and unique uses of Nen. Hisoka, a transmuter, turns his Nen into a material called "bungee gum," allowing him to deflect, bounce, or pull in anything that it touches. Killua, also a transmuter, is able to turn his Nen into electricity, allowing him to use lightning-style attacks as well as rewiring his body to move quicker than normal. Kurapika turns his Nen into chains which he uses to fight. Fittingly, the leader of the thief group called the phantom troupe has the ability to steal other people's unique powers for himself.

The final point necessary to prove Nen is among the best magic systems is the condition. No Nen power in the series comes without an equally important restriction. The fact that these restrictions are baked into the mechanics forces them to become significant in the story. This means that the results of fights between two people, even of extremely different power levels, are never set in stone. For example, later in the series, a humanoid ant has a Nen power to run very fast and force someone to play tag. He fights one of the hunters who can control smoke. At first, it looks like the ant will win by always running away, but the hunter uses smoke to create a body double and sneak up on the ant. The reason this strategy was able to work was the condition the ant put on his own ability. To create the closed-off game of tag, he needed a condition that would balance it, so the game lasted 8 hours to give opponents plenty of time to catch him. What the ant didn't expect was that strategy, rather than speed, could be used against him during that time.

It is for these reasons I believe that Hunter x Hunter has one of the best magic systems in anime. The Nen system perfectly complements the personalities of each character, Nen powers are unlimited in scope, and the built-in need for restrictions to make powers stronger all make Nen my favorite magic system. It helps that it is used in just the right ways to tell an engaging story on top of that.