u/Gre8g

I'm a college instructor and I have some issues regarding our university's new undergraduate thesis policy. I'm withdrawing some information to keep anonymity, but this is basically what happened.

Our college recently introduced a pilot setup where external panelists are assigned to evaluate thesis proposals and final defenses. A situation came up where a student’s proposal, which was focused on evaluating the performance and livability of animals under different environmental conditions, was flagged by both the external panel and college administration as “belonging to another discipline.” Note that the external panelist is here to check the formatting of the study for Scopus publication, which will be polished and submitted by the faculty after the students have graduated, although the administration still says that the students will be credited as a co-author. (Don't know if that's a red flag or not)

However, our program’s official scope (as defined in its Implementing Rules and Regulations) explicitly includes environmental systems and management related to both plant and animal production. From our perspective, the study falls within that scope, even if it overlaps with concepts typically associated with another department.

The issue is that proposals are being rejected (or trimmed down so much that it barely resembles a proper study) not based on the written scope of the program, but on informal boundaries between departments. This isn’t an isolated case—similar concerns have come up for other topics that are technically within our program’s defined coverage.

Has anyone experienced something similar? How did you handle it?

People praise Hunter x Hunter as "the Best Manga ever" but I don't share the sentiment. Sure, I appreciate the myriad of working parts in its story but something about just doesn't put it in the "good" status for me.

A lot of its execution feels... incomplete? Like it consistently gets close, around 75%, to something great but never fully delivers. The setup is often there, the ideas are strong, but then it just jumps to the "reward" and that final delivery falls short - be it scenes or arcs. In the 2011 version for example, Kite is introduced and then killed off. The story tells you he’s important, but the smaller moments aren’t given enough space to make his connection with Gon feel real - and that's an episode on an already painfully long arc. So when the turning point happens, it feels more like a narrative requirement than a natural emotional payoff. I don't even want to get started on the off-screen fight.

The show even has jarring uses of techniques like slow motion, dramatic close-ups, and multiple angle cuts. Boy, do they love the multiple angle cuts! Leorio's punch would've been legendary had they done a proper build up for it. The problem is that the slow motion, multiple angle cuts, and character close-ups are doing most of the work. The scene is essentially telling you “this is a big moment” through presentation tricks, rather than earning it through the smaller details leading up to it. Like it’s forcing significance onto something that hasn’t been fully constructed.

Another issue I've had is that the series can feel like it’s ticking boxes for themes and tropes rather than fully committing to them. It jumps between ideas: coming-of-age, revenge and it's effects on people around you, deconstruction of shonen tropes, psychological and moral conflict. But instead of developing them deeply, it often moves on to the next concept without letting the previous one breathe. This just feels like the story is reacting to trends or expectations rather than building something cohesive. As a result, major arcs feel like they’re juggling multiple directions at once without fully resolving any of them.

The series also frequently tells you that someone is impressive instead of showing you why they are. Characters are often described as terrifying, intelligent, or overwhelmingly strong, but the presentation doesn’t always back it up in a convincing way.

Here's a good way of showing that: Hisoka is repeatedly framed as dangerous, and they do manage to show that. His presence felt like a threat. Everytime he was on the Hunter Exam you are actually scared for the other examiners. The outcome with Shalnark also showed this.

Oddly though, Meruem is introduced as an apex being, but much of his intimidation comes from narration and dialogue rather than purely from visual storytelling and action. Sure, he kills a bunch of people and that was about it. There was no weight to his presence. They even cheaped out by having him kill a child to show that he's really "evil." (that turned somewhat good)

And finally the exposition. The Tell Don't Show. My eyes constantly moved away from the screen everytime this occurs. I skim through manga pages everytime there is one (you know what page I'm taking about). And by God is this HxH's most egregious fault. It's like Togashi can't keep up with the power system that he himself designed so he falls back on lengthy expositions. IMO any visual media that relies on exposition to convey its parts has already failed at its delivery. Characters are shown to be intelligent yet somehow the readers/viewers are treated as mentally stunted children. Tense scenes are interrupted by explanations and commentary. Instead of letting the choreography and reactions speak for themselves, the scene constantly tells you what’s happening and why it matters, which weakens the impact - hell, the stairs scene would've been more impactful with just an internal monologue from Gon. Instead of letting tension build naturally through timing, visuals, and silence, the scene spells everything out. This removes one of the biggest strengths of complex narratives: the satisfaction of understanding something on your own - which is the only reason why I love rewatching a series.

I read somewhere that the Hunter Exam was a litmus test if you'd like the series or not. But I don't think that's right, the problems that showed up later in the series weren't present in the Hunter Exam - it showed up after Nen was fully introduced.

Well, those were my two cents, I don't even know why I brothered to push through with this series.

People praise Hunter x Hunter as "the Best Manga ever" but I don't share the sentiment. Sure, I appreciate the myriad of working parts in its story but something about just doesn't put it in the "good" status for me.

A lot of its execution feels... incomplete? Like it consistently gets close, around 75%, to something great but never fully delivers. The setup is often there, the ideas are strong, but then it just jumps to the "reward" and that final delivery falls short - be it scenes or arcs. In the 2011 version for example, Kite is introduced and then killed off. The story tells you he’s important, but the smaller moments aren’t given enough space to make his connection with Gon feel real - and that's an episode on an already painfully long arc. So when the turning point happens, it feels more like a narrative requirement than a natural emotional payoff. I don't even want to get started on the off-screen fight.

The show even has jarring uses of techniques like slow motion, dramatic close-ups, and multiple angle cuts. Boy, do they love the multiple angle cuts! Leorio's punch would've been legendary had they done a proper build up for it. The problem is that the slow motion, multiple angle cuts, and character close-ups are doing most of the work. The scene is essentially telling you “this is a big moment” through presentation tricks, rather than earning it through the smaller details leading up to it. Like it’s forcing significance onto something that hasn’t been fully constructed.

Another issue I've had is that the series can feel like it’s ticking boxes for themes and tropes rather than fully committing to them. It jumps between ideas: coming-of-age, revenge and it's effects on people around you, deconstruction of shonen tropes, psychological and moral conflict. But instead of developing them deeply, it often moves on to the next concept without letting the previous one breathe. This just feels like the story is reacting to trends or expectations rather than building something cohesive. As a result, major arcs feel like they’re juggling multiple directions at once without fully resolving any of them.

The series also frequently tells you that someone is impressive instead of showing you why they are. Characters are often described as terrifying, intelligent, or overwhelmingly strong, but the presentation doesn’t always back it up in a convincing way.

Here's a good way of showing that: Hisoka is repeatedly framed as dangerous, and they do manage to show that. His presence felt like a threat. Everytime he was on the Hunter Exam you are actually scared for the other examiners. The outcome with Shalnark also showed this.

Oddly though, Meruem is introduced as an apex being, but much of his intimidation comes from narration and dialogue rather than purely from visual storytelling and action. Sure, he kills a bunch of people and that was about it. There was no weight to his presence. They even cheaped out by having him kill a child to show that he's really "evil." (that turned somewhat good)

And finally the exposition. The Tell Don't Show. My eyes constantly moved away from the screen everytime this occurs. I skim through manga pages everytime there is one (you know what page I'm taking about). And by God is this HxH's most egregious fault. It's like Togashi can't keep up with the power system that he himself designed so he falls back on lengthy expositions. IMO any visual media that relies on exposition to convey its parts has already failed at its delivery. Characters are shown to be intelligent yet somehow the readers/viewers are treated as mentally stunted children. Tense scenes are interrupted by explanations and commentary. Instead of letting the choreography and reactions speak for themselves, the scene constantly tells you what’s happening and why it matters, which weakens the impact - hell, the stairs scene would've been more impactful with just an internal monologue from Gon. Instead of letting tension build naturally through timing, visuals, and silence, the scene spells everything out. This removes one of the biggest strengths of complex narratives: the satisfaction of understanding something on your own - which is the only reason why I love rewatching a series.

I read somewhere that the Hunter Exam was a litmus test if you'd like the series or not. But I don't think that's right, the problems that showed up later in the series weren't present in the Hunter Exam - it showed up *after* Nen was fully introduced.

Well, those were my two cents, I don't even know why I brothered to push through with this series.