Hunter × Hunter

• 1. Introduction

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  Hunter × Hunter, the Japanese manga series by Yoshihiro Togashi, is spoken aloud as "hunter hunter," because the multiplication sign in its title makes no sound. The doubled name came from a television variety show called Downtown, where the hosts like to repeat a phrase for a laugh. Togashi was watching the show when the final title came to him.

  At the center of the series stands a boy, an absent father, and a profession that sounds too fantastical to need a license. Yet the license is real within the story, and earning it is only the beginning. Over the years the series has become one of the best-selling manga ever printed, and its readers have learned to be patient.

  Several questions run through the story that follows. What does it take to earn that license, and what strange energy lets its holders fight the way they do? Where did an idea like this come from? And how does a creator plan an ending for something so sprawling?

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• 2. A Collector's Idea

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  Yoshihiro Togashi collects objects as a hobby, and that habit is where Hunter × Hunter began. He imagined a manga about collecting and first pictured it under the placeholder title "(something) Hunter." The doubled name arrived afterward.

  The series launched in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump on the 3rd of March 1998. Togashi brought tools from his earlier series, YuYu Hakusho. He drew with drafting ink and Kabura pens, as before. The one change was coloring, which he began doing on an eMac.

  Togashi usually works with few assistants, or none at all. For the first volume, though, fellow manga artist Naoko Takeuchi, who later became his wife, applied screentone to the single-color pages.

  Early in the serialization, Togashi's first son was born. He came to believe that his private life would shape the work, especially the idea of a young boy searching for his father. That boy needed a world to search in, and Togashi built one with its own licensing system and its own rules for fighting.

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• 3. Licenses and Life Energy

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  Fewer than one candidate in a hundred thousand passes the annual Hunter Examination. The Hunter Association runs the exam, and a license opens places that ordinary people cannot enter. Licensed Hunters are elite specialists who track secret treasures, rare beasts, or other people.

  A license can carry up to three stars. One star recognizes "remarkable achievements in a particular field." A second star goes to a Hunter who holds an official position and has mentored another Hunter up to a single star. The third star requires "remarkable achievements in multiple fields."

  Nen is the ability to control one's own life energy, or aura. Everyone emits aura constantly, whether or not they know it. Four basic techniques form its foundation. One keeps aura inside the body to strengthen its defense. Another shuts the flow off, which hides a person's presence and eases fatigue. A third lets the user produce more aura. The fourth is each person's own signature use of Nen.

  Six types of Nen user exist, sorted by their signature abilities. Some strengthen their natural physical abilities. Others project aura out of their bodies, control objects or living things, change the properties of their aura, or create objects out of it. The sixth type holds unique abilities that fit nowhere else.

  A Nen user can bind their ability to a pledge, and the stricter the pledge, the stronger the ability grows. One character, Kurapika, forged a chain that cannot be broken and can fully restrain members of the Phantom Troupe. His price was his own life, forfeit if he ever uses the chain on anyone outside that group.

  Nen also hides inside the Hunter Exam itself, where it is the true final requirement.

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• 4. Exam, Arena and Island

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  Gon Freecss grew up believing that both of his parents were dead. Then Kite, an apprentice of Gon's father Ging Freecss, told him that Ging was alive and a renowned Hunter. Gon left home to take the exam and follow in his father's footsteps.

  Three fellow candidates become his friends during the exam. Kurapika is the last survivor of the Kurta clan and wants vengeance on the Phantom Troupe, who slaughtered his people. Leorio hopes to become a physician and wants the financial rewards of a Hunter's life. Killua Zoldyck is a former assassin from the infamous Zoldyck family.

  Hisoka also sits among the examinees, a deadly transmuter with a keen interest in Gon. After numerous trials, Gon and his friends pass, except for Killua. Killua fails after killing another applicant under the influence of his brother Illumi, and he retreats to the family estate.

  At a towering martial arts arena, a master named Wing teaches Gon and Killua Nen once the two are reunited. Later, the group gathers again and clashes with the Phantom Troupe. Kurapika kills two members and seals the powers of their leader, Chrollo Lucilfer. He must abandon the pursuit to rescue Gon and Killua.

  Greed Island is a video game infused with Nen, and Ging created it. Gon and Killua play it for clues to his whereabouts, and Biscuit Krueger trains them to refine their Nen. Killua briefly leaves to retake and pass the Hunter Exam, then rejoins Gon to finish the game. The artifacts they earn were meant to lead them to Ging.

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• 5. Ants and the Dark Continent

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  Kite, not Ging, was waiting at the end of that trail. He was researching a man-eating Chimera Ant queen in the Neo-Green Life Autonomous Region, known as N.G.L. The queen's offspring learned Nen by eating Hunters, and they overthrew the nearby rulers.

  Netero, president of the Hunter Association, joined the effort to stop them, yet the Ant King Meruem proved formidable. Netero ultimately defeated Meruem with a suicide bomb. Gon, driven by vengeance over Kite's death, overexerted his Nen to kill the Ant Neferpitou. He was left critically injured.

  After the crisis, the Zodiacs, a group that includes Ging, began looking for a new chairman. Killua brought his sister Alluka to heal Gon, over the resistance of his family and the interference of Illumi. Gon then met Ging at last, who explained that his journey was aimed at a forbidden destination.

  Netero's son Beyond later organizes an expedition to the Dark Continent, backed by the Kingdom of Kakin. The world's major powers permit it under strict oversight, and the Zodiacs supervise Beyond. Kurapika and Leorio join the Zodiacs, replacing Ging and Pariston Hill, who form independent teams.

  Chrollo regains his Nen and fights Hisoka. Hisoka, after being revived, begins assassinating Phantom Troupe members aboard Kakin's ship. Kurapika is on board as bodyguard to Prince Wobble, hoping to recover the Kurta clan's stolen scarlet eyes from Prince Tserriednich. Readers following that voyage have often waited far longer than a week for each new installment.

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• 6. Hiatuses and Endings

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  Since 2006, Hunter × Hunter has gone on extended hiatus again and again. Togashi has apologized to readers in Weekly Shōnen Jump for substandard artwork, promising to redraw certain sections for the collected volumes.

  A two-year break ended in June 2014, and the series paused again just two months later. It resumed on the 18th of April 2016 and stopped on the 4th of June. It returned on the 26th of June 2017, paused on the 31st of August, and came back on the 29th of January 2018. Another hiatus began on the 9th of April. After five months, the series ran from the 22nd of September to the 26th of November 2018 before stopping once more.

  In May 2022, Togashi opened a Twitter account and teased the return of the series. In July he revealed that back and hip problems had kept him from sitting for two years, so he drew lying down. In August he announced a larger staff, noting that backgrounds for chapter 399 were done and chapter 400 would follow.

  The series resumed on the 24th of October 2022, after three years and eleven months, the longest hiatus in its history. On the 26th of December 2022 it paused again. The Weekly Shōnen Jump editorial department said that, after talking with Togashi, the manga would no longer continue in a weekly format.

  On the 9th of March 2023, Togashi tweeted that chapter 401 was finished. On the 1st of October, after nearly seven months, he tweeted the phrase "Start over" beside a page corner and a ruler. On the 1st of May 2024 he shared a page numbered 5, signaling work on chapter 405. By the 22nd of July he had background instructions ready for chapters 409 and 410 and teased progress up to chapter 416. Chapters ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from the 7th of October to the 9th of December 2024, followed by another hiatus.

  In November 2023, a handwritten letter from Togashi aired on a TV Asahi variety show. It revealed that he had planned four possible endings. Only the fourth, called ending D, was shown, and it exists as a contingency in case he dies before finishing. It jumps forward in time to Gon's granddaughter, Gin.

  Togashi guessed that readers would react about 80 percent positively to ending A. He expected ending B to split readers evenly and ending C to draw 90 percent negative reactions. He called A the safe choice, yet he admitted a personal preference for C, despite the criticism he expected. His hope is to write a conclusion satisfying enough that none of A, B or C is needed. Whichever he chooses, the story has already traveled well beyond the printed page.

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• 7. Beyond the Page

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  Before any television series existed, a short film played at the 1998 Jump Super Anime Tour. It ran beside adaptations of Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi! and One Piece. Studio Pierrot produced it and Noriyuki Abe directed. It covered the early events of the manga up to Gon's ocean voyage from Whale Island.

  Nippon Animation's 62-episode series, directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, aired on Fuji TV from the 16th of October 1999 to the 31st of March 2001. Three original video animations followed, totaling 30 episodes. Satoshi Saga directed the first, with eight episodes released from the 17th of January to the 17th of April 2002. Yukihiro Matsushita directed Greed Island, with eight episodes in 2003. Makoto Sato directed G.I. Final, with 14 episodes released from the 3rd of March to the 18th of August 2004.

  Madhouse made a second television series, directed by Hiroshi Kōjina. It ran for 148 episodes on Nippon TV, from the 2nd of October 2011 to the 23rd of September 2014.

  Madhouse also announced a film in March 2012, Hunter × Hunter: Phantom Rouge, released by Toho on the 12th of January 2013. Its original story follows the effort to retrieve Kurapika's eyes, stolen by Omokage, Hisoka's predecessor in the Phantom Troupe. It grossed $12,595,288 at the Japanese box office. It drew on an unpublished manga story that Togashi had written about ten years earlier.

  A two-part prequel manga by Togashi ran in the issues of the 3rd and the 10th of December 2012. It was collected as Volume 0 and handed to the first one million theatergoers. A second film, The Last Mission, arrived on the 27th of December 2013. It centers on Netero, as Gon and his friends uncover the dark secrets of his past. The Tokyo Ghoul author Sui Ishida drew a 69-page storyboard about Hisoka's past, released digitally via Shōnen Jump+ on the 2nd of June 2016.

  Toshihiko Sahashi composed the music for the first anime and the three video animations. Marvelous Entertainment released many audio CDs, including a three-volume soundtrack with 129 songs. A radio drama called Hunter × Hunter R ran to 17 volumes.

  A musical played in Tokyo from December 2000 to January 2001, with an original story set between the Yorknew City and Greed Island arcs. A second musical in August 2002 retold the rescue of Killua from his family's estate. A stage play in August 2004 gave the Phantom Troupe finale 16 performances at the Theater Sun-mall in Tokyo. Hunter × Hunter: The Stage played the Galaxy Theatre in Tokyo from the 12th to the 28th of May 2023. A sequel followed there from the 16th to the 31st of March 2024.

  Ten Japan-exclusive video games exist, many developed or published by Konami or Bandai, for systems ranging from the WonderSwan to the PlayStation 2. Characters also appear in crossover fighters such as Jump Force. The 3-on-3 fighter Nen × Impact, from Eighting and Bushiroad Games, was delayed because of the rollback netcode it needed. It was released on the 17th of July 2025. A mobile game, Nen × Survivor, was scheduled for worldwide release on the 17th of February 2026.

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• 8. Readers and Critics

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  Volume one reached shops on the 4th of June 1998, and by the 4th of September 2024 the collected edition had reached 38 volumes. Viz Media began publishing the series in English in North America in April 2005. It sits under the Shonen Jump Advanced line for older teens and young adults. By the 3rd of October 2023-37 English volumes had appeared, and in April 2014 the series had joined the digital English Weekly Shonen Jump.

  The Japanese numbers climbed steadily. The series had sold over 60.6 million collected volumes by February 2012, making it Shueisha's eighth best-selling manga. That total reached 66.3 million copies by 2014, then over 72 million by December 2018. It passed 79 million in November 2021 and 84 million by July 2022. In both 2012 and 2013 it ranked eighth for the year, selling 3.4 and 4.6 million copies. Volumes 30 through 36 topped Oricon's weekly list in Japan.

  The honors are varied. The series ranked fourth on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list for 2012. Readers of Da Vinci magazine voted it the eleventh greatest Weekly Shōnen Jump series in November 2014. In TV Asahi's 2021 Manga Sōsenkyo poll, where 150,000 people voted, it placed eleventh.

  Critic Jason Thompson, in his 2007 book Manga: The Complete Guide, called the story "an almost random collection of psych-outs, battles, puzzles, and trickery." He added that it works from chapter to chapter and across the whole. Writing for Anime News Network in 2012, he found it hard to summarize. He said it is "every shōnen manga in one, with training sequences, tournament battles, a crime-mystery story arc, and a virtual-reality, RPG-style story arc."

  Thompson admired how thoroughly Nen is explained, "so thoroughly that you almost think it could exist." About Togashi's games and challenges, he wrote, "Over and over Togashi invents some little closed system or rules just so the heroes can break them." He then joked, "if he ever wants to change careers, I'd suggest game designer." He also noted that Togashi mixes cartoony and realistic characters in the same panels. In his words, "the whole manga is about the mixture of childish adventure and creepy, adult themes."

  Chris Sims of ComicsAlliance called the first story arc among the most "fun, ridiculous, and ludicrously violent comics I've ever read." Charles Solomon of The New York Times and Los Angeles Times praised Gon's moral seriousness, which gave him "an appeal his relentlessly upbeat counterparts lack." Publishers Weekly found the first volume's art "clear and graceful" and the characters "endearing and complex." Reviewers Rika Takahashi and Claude J. Pelletier found the art simpler than in Level E and YuYu Hakusho, yet praised the narrative and characters.

  Viz announced a 3-in-1 edition in May 2024, whose first volume arrived on the 18th of February 2025. That gave newcomers another way to start at Gon's very first step.

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