Final yr, I began studying Hunter x Hunter by Togashi Yoshihiro. Its repute was identified to me: I had usually seen folks on-line (and even typically offline) point out it as their favourite collection and an instance of what shounen battle manga may very well be. My early impression was combined as a result of it felt like a Take a look at into one other Take a look at into Coaching right into a Event into Extra Coaching, and it made me really feel like what lied forward was an countless string of event arcs. The truth that Togashi’s different well-known manga (YuYu Hakusho) was house to a number of the most well-known event arcs added to this hunch.
Seems that I used to be off the mark. Hunter x Hunter is certainly a shounen battle manga with world constructing and a convoluted energy system (“nen”) that appears particularly weak to ass-pulls, however what I ultimately got here to understand is that it’s all about establishing a world the place Togashi can do no matter he needs.
Creating and figuring out forgeries at an underground public sale. A card sport inside a sport world. An all-out battle in opposition to mutant bugs. The job of “hunter” and the function of nen are deliberately open-ended, and may be bent to suit any state of affairs or state of affairs. Hunter x Hunter can mainly change subgenres regularly, and all of it counts as a part of the higher work. Nonetheless, it takes a severely good manga artist and storyteller with a selected type of versatile creativeness to drag this off effectively. Whereas there are numerous nice manga creators, it’s exhausting to consider one other who may do what Togashi does.
One of many drawbacks consequently is that the wildly completely different story arcs normally begin off with a ridiculous quantity of exposition—the sort that made me all the time suppose, “What the hell are you attempting this time?” However the cause this occurs is as a result of Togashi is mainly pulling out a brand new instruction guide for a brand new board sport each time, and it’s a type of fashionable video games that you would be able to’t totally admire till the ins and outs. He’s primarily meticulously establishing the items, and when you see how all the board strikes, it turns into a riveting expertise. Nonetheless, it nonetheless requires you to undergo it with some persistence.
I ended up ending the Chimera Ant arc, which I saved seeing folks reward most frequently, with some even calling it the best arc in a shounen collection (and presumably any collection) ever. I don’t know if I agree, however I feel there’s a strong argument for it, particularly in the way in which it manages to embrace the orthodoxy of ordinary battle manga but additionally defy expectations. The arc is probably the most harking back to Dragon Ball of something in Hunter x Hunter, even having a villain lower from the identical aesthetic material as Freeza and Cell, however all the saga taken as a complete makes for some highly effective and poignant human drama.
As a result of I learn Hunter x Hunter over the course of a single yr, I didn’t need to expertise the delays that occurred whereas it was being serialized attributable to Togashi’s poor well being that leaves him at occasions utterly debilitated. This inevitably modifications my impression of the collection in comparison with somebody who learn the collection in actual time. Regardless of that, I can simply see why Togashi has his loyal following that sticks with him by all of the challenges he faces.
A number of months in the past, within the wake of Toriyama Akira’s passing, I noticed some feedback on social media asking why Togashi can’t get others to take over Hunter x Hunter for him. The fan response was largely an adamant refusal—irrespective of how uncommon the chapters have develop into, it simply wouldn’t be the identical with out him on the helm. I can admire this sentiment as a result of we’ve seen loads of circumstances of artistic works falling aside within the improper arms, even when these arms are well-intentioned. Togashi’s sheer versatility whereas nonetheless adhering to the spirit of shounen feels nigh-impossible to duplicate, and it makes Hunter x Hunter a piece not like some other.
