@Vast:
Sure, but "canaria" (serinus canaria) is the scientific name of canaries. So probably Togashi wanted to call her Canaria, that's why he wrote "kanaria" in katakana. If he wanted to call her "Canary", he would have written just "kanari" (カナリ)
"Kanaria" is the common term for the word "Canary"; it doesn't just refer to the genus. If you were to translate a book about canaries into Japanese, the word would be exclusively written as "kanaria" because it's the Japanese equivalent. Kanari (カナリ) isn't a word and it isn't commonly written in Japanese as Kanarii (カナリー). "Canary" is the best translation for that reason because it conveys the same image. Native Japanese speakers would immediately associate the word "Kanaria" with the bird "Canary" because it's the most common way to say it.
@kewl0210:
I wouldn't say it's "trying to be reminiscent of pokemon" so much as those sorts of ideas of adventure and discovery are kind of universal. The idea of "we don't know that much about what this big world is" and slowly learning about it is pretty commonly used as well. It depends on how it's executed, and like you said, HXH does it very serious and mature and logical.
Re-read the first chapter and pretend that you know nothing about what will come next. What is the first impression it gives? Think about the human to animal ratio in it. How many animal friends that Gon has and how often he interacts with them. The first volume cover. The first six, actually. As well as the setup. Satoshi (Ash Ketchum) wanted to become a Pokemon Master to follow after his own dad. The term "Pokemon Master" in Pokemon was as vague as the term "Hunter" is in the first chapter of HxH. In fact, the Pokemon Bulbapedia says that fans still have no idea what the hell a "Pokemon Master" even is because Nintendo refuses to answer the question. It's a direct parallel.
@kewl0210:
I can think of plenty of other manga that have had tournaments in them. Like, half of every shounen manga ever…
Those things are the vessels for writing a certain kind of story. They're like the "sitcom of a blowhard husband and sassy wife" that started with the Honeymooners and got copied about 500 thousand times. It's very basic structure, not trying to be "reminiscent of this". What makes a story is what comes AFTER its basic premise. Especially the "seek out the unknown" idea has been around since the Illiad and the Odyssy. Or even earlier.
The reminiscence comes through scenes/terminology that are clearly direct homages. Like Gon's first match in Heavens Arena. How does he defeat his first opponent? After having done weighted training, Gon pushes his opponent out of the ring in one shot. I seem to recall a certain Monkey King doing something extremely similar. "Ren" looks very similar to the Dragon Ball aura shroud.