Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター, Hantā Hantā?) is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi with an anime adaptation. The first chapter of the Hunter × Hunter manga series was published in March of 1998, in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.[1] The manga has continued its serialization and currently reached 280 chapters, however, the publication history of the Hunter × Hunter manga has been plagued with hiatuses, the longest of which lasted one and a half years, between February 2006 and October 2007. These hiatuses are often attributed to the author suffering from an unspecified illness. The most recent hiatus started in mid-May, and the series is scheduled to return on October 6, 2008.
The story of Hunter × Hunter focuses on a young boy named Gon Freecss, who one day discovers that the father he had always been told was dead was alive and well. He learns that his father, Ging Freecss, is a legendary Hunter, a person that has proven themselves through rigorous examination to be an elite member of humanity, with a license to go anywhere or do almost anything. Typically, Hunters devote themselves to tracking down priceless items, mystical places, and the unseen wonders of the world. Despite the fact that his father abandoned Gon with his relatives in order to pursue his dreams, Gon becomes determined to follow in his father's footsteps, pass the Hunter examination, and eventually find his father, to prove himself as a Hunter in his own right.
Plot
- See also: List of Hunter × Hunter chapters
Although Gon's search for his father is initially presented as the plot for Hunter × Hunter, the actual narrative of Hunter × Hunter is that of a coming of age story focusing on the four main characters. Each of these four youth has his own reasons for becoming a Hunter, and each undergoes both physical and emotional growth.
Like many other shōnen manga, Hunter × Hunter takes the storytelling format of story arcs. As of March, 2008, four story arcs, the Hunter Exam arc, the Zoldyck Family & Heavens Arena Story Arc, the Yorknew arc, and the Greed Island arc, have been completed, with a fifth arc, the Chimera Ant arc, nearing completion.
Hunter Exam Story Arc
Twelve years prior, a legendary Hunter named Ging Freecss left his infant son, Gon Freecss, with his cousin Mito on Whale Island. Gon, raised believing his parents were dead, finds out from Ging's apprentice, Kite, that his father is still alive. As such, Gon leaves his home to follow in his father's footsteps as a Hunter by taking the Hunter Exam. Prior to the Hunter Exam, Gon meets and befriends three of the other applicants, Kurapika, Killua, and Leorio. Another of the applicants in the Hunter Exam is Hisoka, a villainous examinee who takes it upon himself to test the worthiness of his peers attempting to become Hunters. He takes an interest in Gon and his friends, allowing them to live because of their potential.
The Hunter Exam tests Gon through a series of bizarre stages, including running a six-hour marathon, navigating through a wetland home to some of the world's most vicious and crafty animals, impressing two Gourmet Hunters with both his cooking and bravery, surviving the nefarious Trick Tower (requiring passage through numerous deadly traps and fighting sentenced prison inmates within a three-day period), and a manhunt pitting examinees against each other for their number badges. The final stage of the Hunter Exam was a one-on-one tournament between the remaining nine examinees, where all but one will become official Hunters. During the final stage, after confronting his elder brother in the tournament, Killua murders one of the applicants and is disqualified; prompting him to return home to his family on Kukuroo Mountain in the Republic of Padokea.
Zoldyck Family & Heavens Arena Story Arc
Gon, left unconscious from his match with Hanzo during the final stage of the Hunter Exam, awakes to the news of Killua's departure from the exam. Determined to get him back, Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio all head to the Republic of Padokea to retrieve Killua. Entry into the Zoldyck estate on Kukuroo Mountain requires the team to weight train for 20 days to open a gate weighing tons. Killua, under punishment for running away from home, has a meeting with his father to decide what he really wants to do with his life. Although many of the Zoldyck employees prevent Gon and his friends from getting close to any of the Zoldycks, Killua chooses to forgo his family's expectations of being the head assassin for the family business and chooses to leave with Gon. After leaving Kukuroo Mountain, Kurapika departs to find work and Leorio leaves to attend medical school. The four make a vow to reunite on September 1st in Yorknew City.
Gon and Killua decide to gain combat experience by training at the Heavens Arena, a 251-story building where over 4,000 fighters compete daily in fighting tournaments around the clock for cash. Here, they meet the assistant master of the Shingen-Ryu Kung fu style, Wing. Wing ends up teaching them about Nen, a chi-like life energy that can be used to manifest superhuman powers. His pupil is a child named Zushi, who joins Gon and Killua in the tournament to gain both money and experience. Hisoka follows them there and is revealed to be a member of the Phantom Troupe, who also plan to gather in Yorknew City in September. After learning Nen, Gon battles Hisoka in a one-on-one fight to test his skills. Although he doesn't come out the victor, Gon thoroughly impresses Hisoka with his talent. When the match finishes, Gon and Killua decide to leave the Heavens Arena and head back to his aunt Mito's house on Whale Island.
Yorknew Story Arc
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Main article: Phantom Troupe
The third story arc reunites the four main characters for the world's largest auction in a sprawling metropolis called Yorknew City. While Gon, Killua, and Leorio try different methods to make enough money to buy Greed Island, a "Joystation" video game that could help Gon find his father, Kurapika takes center stage. This story arc introduces the Phantom Troupe, a group of thieves who, among many other crimes, slaughtered all the other members of Kurapika's clan. Kurapika crosses paths with them while working as a bodyguard for a teenage girl named Neon with a clairvoyant Nen ability. He spends the rest of the arc balancing his bodyguard duties with his goal to hunt down the Phantom Troupe.
By the end of the Phantom Troupe story arc, Kurapika has killed two members of the Troupe and "sealed" the leader's Nen ability. These are accomplished via an unsteady alliance with Hisoka, who betrays the Phantom Troupe in exchange for a chance to fight Chrollo Lucilfer. Once Chrollo's powers are "sealed," Hisoka completely loses interest and walks away.
Greed Island Story Arc
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Gon, Killua, and Leorio return to help Kurapika at the end of the third story arc, after which Leorio and Kurapika leave again, returning the focus to Gon and Killua. The fifth story arc concerns Gon and Killua's adventures on Greed Island, the seemingly-magical video game that sucks its player's physical bodies into its own world. It is later revealed that the game is actually set on an island in the real world (the physical game set is actually just a teleporting device), created and run by a group of powerful Nen users who are led by none other than Gon's own father Ging. 'Greed Island' is named after the letters of each name of the creators. The Greed Island story arc is very video-game-like. The game Greed Island runs on a complex card-based gaming system. The goal of the game is to collect a number of set cards, although almost everything in the game, from food to money, can be turned into cards. There are cards capable of doing anything, from making people pregnant regardless of gender, granting wishes, and magic spell cards that can warp you to specific towns. Inside Greed Island Gon and Killua are joined by Biscuit Krueger, a 57-year-old woman who looks like a 12-year-old girl, and is a master and experienced teacher of Nen. She continues the Nen training Wing gave to Gon and Killua during their stay at Heavens Arena. As the story progresses, a player (actually a gang of three) nicknamed 'Bomber' is blowing other players up, killing their way towards winning the game and its prize. Using traps and strategy, Gon, Killua, and Biscuit team up with other players and defeated the Bombers. The Phantom Troupe also travels to Greed Island, looking for a Nen remover to remove the dagger placed on Chrollo's heart by Kurapika. Gon, Killua, and Biscuit are the first to complete 'Greed Island' and after bidding Biscuit goodbye, they return to their search for Ging. As part of their reward, they are allowed to take three cards to be used in the real world. Using the card 'Accompany' they travel to 'Ngig' who they believe is Ging. 'Ngig' was his father, but his father only wanted Gon to come alone, so he had a safety measure in place, that if "Accompany" was used, it would take them to Kite instead.
Also during this arc, Killua's younger brother, Kalluto, joins the Phantom Troupe; replacing Hisoka as member number 4.
Chimera Ant Story Arc
After leaving Greed Island, Gon and Killua meet up with Kite, the Hunter who told Gon about Ging and Hunters in the very first chapter. They are all hired to investigate a strange insect leg that washed up on a beach. Genetic testing determines that the leg belongs to an abnormally large queen Chimera Ant, an insect that eats other insects and animals, and then gives birth to children that inherit the characteristics of all the different insects and animals it has eaten. The queen Chimera Ant itself happens to wash up on the shore of an island nation called the NGL (Neo Green Life) inhabited by a neo-luddite culture. She quickly develops a taste for humans after given the opportunity to eat them. The Chimera Ants proceed to wipe most of the population out and spawn hundreds of offspring before Gon, Killua, and Kite arrive. The three very powerful Royal Guards are introduced, who develop Nen abilities. One of the Royal Guards, Neferpitou, fights Kite and kills him. Kite is later brought back to life by Neferpitou as a training tool for warrior Chimera Ants, but he is now a puppet, much to Gon and Killua's sadness. Gon vows to find a way to save Kite.
Chairman Netero, Morel, and Knov arrive as reinforcements. However, they are unable to stop the birth of the Chimera Ant King. The queen dies due to the King ripping himself out of her womb too early. With the Queen dead and their inhibitions gone, many of the warrior Ants proclaimed themselves kings and departed the hive; two of them end up joining the Hunters' side.
As a side story to the main plotline centered around Gon and Killua, one of the children of the queen Chimera Ant, Zazan, starts a colony near Meteor City, the place that is the origin of the Phantom Troupe. Half of the group: Phinx, Feitan, Shalnark, Shizuku, Bonolenov, and Kalluto travel to Meteor City to halt the invasion. Upon reaching the colony, the team splits up, agreeing that whoever defeats Zazan will be the temporary leader of the Phantom Troupe until Chrollo Lucilfer returns. Feitan ends up defeating Zazan, and as such, is now the ad interim leader.
The King and Royal Guard Ants pull a "coup d'etat" on the nearby Republic of East Gorteau and from there begin the process of "selecting" humans that have the capability to gain Nen powers. This causes many deaths as only a small amount of humans are able to gain Nen powers. They were quickly detected by the Hunters. As warrior Ants from the old hive rejoin the King, the Hunters mobilize quickly to stop the massacre.
As soon as Gon, Killua, Morel, Knuckle, Shoot, Knov, and Ikarugo break into the palace of East Gorteau, both Netero and Zeno arrive. Zeno uses his hatsu ability to cause extensive damage to the palace in order to create a large enough distraction for Gon's team to enter unnoticed. In the process, the ability injures the King's gun-gi opponent, Komugi, in the process. Through playing the game, the King learned about human emotion and called into doubt his purpose in life. The King, distraught by the damage done to Komugi, orders Neferpitou to heal her wounds while complying with Netero and Zeno's request for a battle located on different grounds.
The plan developed by Gon's team is temporarily halted by the unexpected presence of Menthuthuyoupi, one of the Chimera Ant King's three royal guards, in front of their point of entry. Shaiapouf, worried for the King's safety after the destruction done to the palace, rushes towards the throne room where he was confronted by Morel. At the same time, Menthuthuyoupi engages in combat with Shoot, while Killua and Gon attempt to discover an alternate entry into the throne room after the staircase is destroyed by Zeno's hatsu.
While Knuckle takes over the battle with Menthuthuyoupi, Gon and Killua finally catch up with Neferpitou (who was currently healing Komugi). Gon challenges Pitou, who refuses because he needs to heal Komugi for the King. Gon, still broken by Kite's state, shows no mercy by claiming that Neferpitou is being selfish in determining whose lives are saved and angry that he didn't show the same feelings for Kite. Gon commences his hatsu to attack, but Pitou completely surrenders himself to Gon, removing his own arm and telling Gon he would give up his arms and legs if he would let him finish healing Komugi. Killua then tells Gon that killing Pitou would do no good, as there would be no one to return Kite to normal. After hearing this, Gon calms down and sets the condition to wait for one hour while Neferpitou heals Komugi to a stable condition and then returning with them to restore Kite. Meanwhile, Knuckle engages Menthuthuyoupi alone. In a attempt to take advantage of Menthuthuyoupi's weakness, Knuckle finds he was faking and ready to give him a lethal attack. At the last second, Killua stuns Menthuthuyoupi with lightning and Knuckle punches him down.
Nen
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A major concept in the Hunter × Hunter series is Nen, a system of spiritual energy control that is what makes special abilities possible. This concept has roots in author Yoshihiro Togashi's earlier manga series, YuYu Hakusho, and is based on part on the concept of Chi found in both Buddhism and traditional martial arts. In addition, the concept of opening aura nodes to be able to actively utilize nen is based on the Buddhist concept of meditation to open the body's pores. This strictly defined system of energy control differentiates Hunter × Hunter from other shōnen manga series with similar concepts of spiritual energy, where abilities are vaguely defined and often contradictory.
Characters
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Characters from top to bottom: Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Killua.
- Gon Freecss
- A young boy who wishes to become a hunter to find his father, the legendary hunter Ging Freecss. Ging had left Gon in his aunt's care since birth. Gon is a headstrong optimistic youth with extraordinary senses of smell and hearing, sharp instincts, and an innate understanding for animals.
- Gon starts with an unusual choice of weaponry - a fishing rod. After learning nen, he switches to relying on his Hatsu ability, the Jajanken.
- Kurapika
- The last living member of the Kurta clan, Kurapika has made it his life goal to hunt down and destroy the group responsible for his tribe's destruction - the Phantom Troupe. His tribe was renowned for their eyes - which would turn flaming scarlet in times of anger or emotional agitation. The so-called 'scarlet eyes' (also known as Kurta eyeballs) were considered a priceless treasure among body-part collectors, which is what prompted the Phantom Troupe to destroy them.
- Kurapika enters the Hunters Exam because he believes becoming a Black-List Hunter will give him the necessary resources to fight the Phantom Troupe. Kurapika is in general calm and level-headed, preferring to think before leaping into battles. He is also a strong fighter - a huge boost in strength and agility being a side effect of his tribe's scarlet eyes. After being taught nen, Kurapika develops the ability to use two nen types - his usual conjuration type, and a specialization type that comes into effect only when his eyes turn scarlet. The specialization type allows him to use the other five nen types all at 100% efficiency. He takes advantage of this fact while fighting against the Phantom Troupe by tricking them into thinking they are fighting a nen user whose only ability is either manipulating or conjuring chains. He doesn't want anyone to know he was from the clan so he wears dark-colored contacts.
- Leorio
- Leorio claimed that he joined the Hunter exam solely for money. Later, he reveals that it is because he wishes to become a doctor, and needs the money to pay for school fees. He lost his friend Pietro to a debilitating illness only because he had lacked the money to pay for a cure, and now aspires to become a doctor who is able to cure the poor without needing to charge.
- He is not so much of an experienced or talented fighter like most of the other Hunter Examinees, but is by no means weak. He is actually revealed to be physically stronger than Gon or Kurapika. He too, came to learn of nen after passing the Hunter exam. However, he has (at current) chosen to put aside his nen training so he can fulfill his goal of becoming a doctor. Before showing Gon and Killua his Nen he thought that all there was to nen was "ten," one of its four aspects; however, he was corrected by Gon and Killua.
- Killua Zoldyck
- Born to the Zoldyck family of assassins, Killua is considered the genius of his generation. He has been trained and raised since birth to take over as heir of the Zoldyck family business of assassination and is already a professional assassin even at his young age.
- Killua joined the Hunter exam after running away from home, and by chance meets and befriends Gon. He is a very agile and strong fighter with just his bare hands, carrying his family's characteristic immunity to poisons and electricity. He later bases his Transmutation type Hatsu ability on electricity. One of his other killing abilities was to 'alter' the bone structure of his hand in a way that would sharpen his fingers and nails to the point of a lethal claw. This allows him to slice up his opponents and/or pluck out vital organs. He also knows a technique called the 'rhythm echo', which creates a series of after images of him through a varying cadence of steps. Later, he learns to fight with a yo-yo and electric shocks.
- Hisoka
- Hiding under the guise of a clown-faced magician, not much is known about him or his past. During the Hunter exams Hisoka decided to take on the role of assistant examiner and commenced to kill anybody whom he thought did not meet his standards as a hunter. During this event Hisoka met Gon and became interested with him after realizing the potential Gon had to become a great hunter due to his his courage to face him despite great odds solely to protect his friends. He believed he was a Hunter he would see grow to his prime, then destroy. Due to knowledge of nen being so limited, Hisoka takes advantage of this and uses nen freely, claiming it to be magic. This would make him more of an illusionist than someone who actually has magical powers. Despite dressing up as a clown claiming to be a magician, he is an extremely skilled and dangerous fighter.
Media
Manga
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The manga is currently published in Japan in Weekly Shōnen Jump, and past episodes have been compiled into a set of 25 tankōbon and growing. The manga is currently being published in the United States by VIZ Media. It is currently up to volume 21, the latest recently released in July 2008.
For unknown reasons, the manga has been on a very loose schedule since mid-1998. In mid-2006, the mangaka, Togashi, took his longest break. The Manga returned on October 5, 2007 and went on hiatus again December 5, 2007. The official reason given for the break was illness. The manga once again resumed on March 4th, 2008, along with the volume release of the 25th tankōbon. As of May 7, 2008 the manga has once again gone onto hiatus and it is scheduled to Return October 6, 2008.
- In Brazil, the first volume of the manga was released in January 2008.
Anime
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An early Hunter × Hunter OVA was shown only at the 1998 Jump Super Anime Tour.
- An anime of Hunter × Hunter was broadcast on Fuji Television from mid October 1999 to March 2001, and ran for 62 episodes. The anime series removed the vast quantities of gore and severed limbs that filled the manga, added new scenes like the "Battleship Island" test in the Hunter Exam, and fleshed out both the main characters and a few minor characters. The televised anime ended just before the end of the Phantom Troupe story arc. Three subsequent OVAs have carried the story through the end of the Phantom Troupe story arc (8 episodes), and through the Greed Island story arc (8 episodes, released from February through April 2003, and 14 episodes, released from March through August 2004). There was a fourth OVA in production, but was put on hold for unknown reasons.citation needed The anime is produced in English in Singapore by Odex.
- In Latin America the Hunter × Hunter anime was broadcast in a mostly uncensored form. In Chile the series was broadcast in 2003 by the local channel Chilevisión and the cable TV channel Etc...TV, where it achieved a cult following in the Chilean Otaku community, though it found only moderate mainstream success.
- The Hunter × Hunter anime found popularity in Arabic speaking countries when Spacetoon aired the series with an Arabic dub under the title "القناص" (The Hunter) on Cannal Algerie. Although a number of scenes were edited out, the plot, the violent fight scenes and the characters' names remained available in the dub. In its early runs, the Arabic dub ended with the original 62 episodes of the anime. In later runs, it added the 8 episodes from the first OVA.
- In the Philippines, the Hunter × Hunter anime has been aired on GMA 7. The first Greed Island OVA was also aired, but the channel was unable to show the Greed Island Final OVA. The DVDs for the anime and English versions of the manga were widely available in the country.
- Hunter × Hunter was aired in France and Belgium, completely uncensored. The DVDs have also been released there.
- The Hunter × Hunter anime has been licensed by VIZ Media to be released in the United States. Box sets of the series will be released starting in Q4 2008, with subsequent sets being released every two months.
Soundtrack
The background music for the anime was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi, and released onto six different soundtracks. The first three soundtracks correspond to the first series, while the latter three each were released in response to each Hunter × Hunter OVA.
Openings:
- "Ohayou (Good Morning)" by Keno (Episodes 1 – 48)
- "Taiyou wa Yoru mo Kagayaku (The Sun Also Shines at Night)" by WINO (Episodes 49 – 62)
- "Pale Ale" by Kenichi Kurosawa (Hunter × Hunter OVA)
- "Pray" by Wish (Hunter × Hunter Greed Island)
- "Believe In Tomorrow" by Sunflower's Garden (Hunter × Hunter GI Final)
Endings:
- "Kaze no Uta (Song of the Wind)" by Minako Honda (Episodes 1 – 31)
- "E-Jan - Do You Feel Like I Feel" by Masato Nagai (Episodes 32 – 50)
- "Hotaru (Firefly)" by Masato Nagai (Episodes 51 – 62)
- "Carry On" by Kenichi Kurosawa (Hunter × Hunter OVA)
- "Popcorn" by Mikuni Shimokawa (Hunter × Hunter Greed Island)
- "Moshimo Kono Sekai de Kimi to Boku ga Deaenakatta Nara (If You and I Never Met in This World)" by Sunflower's Garden (Hunter × Hunter GI Final)
Musicals
- There have been three musicalscitation needed, the second of which very little is known about. In the musicals, Killua, Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, and Hisoka, are all played by their Japanese voice actors;
- Gon – Junko Takeuchi
- Killua – Kanako Mitsuhashi
- Leorio – Hozumi Goda
- Kurapika – Yuki Kaida, Kimura Akiko
- Hisoka – Hiroki Takahashi
- The first is just called "Hunter × Hunter: Musical". It was originally performed during December of 2000. It is an original story that appears to take place in between the end of the "Yorknew City" arc and the beginning of the "Greed Island" arc. Gon gets a mysterious phone call, to come aid the citizens of Elrais. Once they get there they find that the country's four best performers have been kidnapped. It is later found that the kidnappers are controlling Madame Isabel (who is like a ghost). They plan to use her power to take revenge on Elrais. It is up to Gon and party to rescue the performers, and save the country.
- The second Musical is called "Hunter × Hunter; Deja-vu in Summer." It ran from Aug 15 until Aug 26, 2001. This musical has not been released on DVD.
- The third Musical is called "Hunter × Hunter; The Nightmare of Zoldyck." It was originally performed during August of 2002. This is an alternate re-telling of when Kurapika, Leorio, and Gon go to Kukuroo Mountain to fetch Killua back. This includes a farewell party at the Zoldyck mansion, and Illumi placing a "switch" in Killua's mind. This switch will cause Killua to become murderous and attack his friends, if he ever tries to fight Illumi.
Play
- There is also a play called "Hunter × Hunter: Real Stage; A Longing for Pakunoda ~ A Spider's Memory ~"citation needed. It was originally performed during August of 2004. It is a darker retelling of the kidnapping in the Phantom Troupe Story Arc. It has no singing and not too much humor unlike in the Musicals. In addition, Kurapika is played by Kimura Akiko; the voice actress of Mito Freecss and Biscuit in the Hunter × Hunter Anime. Killua and Gon are played by their respective voice actresses. It contains flashbacks of Pakunoda's (played by Ikeda Yukiko) memories and experiences with the Spiders.
Video games
Reception
Hunter × Hunter is one of Togashi's two most famous titles (the other being YuYu Hakusho). As of June 2007, the first 20 volumes of the manga have sold over 36,958,000 copies combined in Japan alone.[2] The latest volume release of the manga (Volume 25) was also ranked the second most popular manga in terms sales for the week of its release.[3] The manga has also been translated to different languages in many countries around the world.
In a 2006 web poll conducted in Japan by the network TV Asahi, the Hunter × Hunter television anime series was voted as the 28th best anime of all time.[4]
References
External links
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