Hunter × Hunter

Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター), pronounced "Hunter Hunter", is a Japanese 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 1998, in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

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. 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.

The manga series was adapted into an anime produced by Nippon Animation, along with three OVAs as well. It premiered on the Japanese terrestrial television network Fuji TV and the satellite television station Animax on October 6, 1999.

On April 27, 2009, the series made its North American television debut on the FUNimation Channel.

Plot
Twelve years prior to the start of the story, the famous Hunter Ging Freecss left his infant son, Gon Freecss, with his aunt Mito on Whale Island. Gon, raised believing his parents were dead, finds out from Ging's apprentice, Kite, that his father is still alive. Gon then 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 Zoldyck, and Leorio. After the exam, Kurapika departs to find work and Leorio leaves to attend medical school. Gon and Killua decide to gain combat experience by training at the Heavens Arena, a 251-story building where thousands of martial artists compete daily in fighting tournaments. There, they meet the kung-fu master, Wing, who teaches them about Nen--a chi-like life energy that can be used to manifest superhuman powers.

The third story arc reunites the main characters for the world's largest auction in a sprawling metropolis called Yorknew City. Gon, Killua, and Leorio try different methods to make enough money to buy Greed Island, a video game that could help Gon find his father. 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. Finally Gon and Killua's find the Greed Island, the seemingly-magical video game that sucks players within. 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. Inside Greed Island Gon and Killua are joined by Biscuit Krueger, a master and experienced teacher of Nen who trains them. As part of their reward, they are allowed to take three cards to be used in the real world. Using the card 'Accompany', Gon and Killua travel to a player under the username 'Nigg', who they believe to be Ging. However, it ends up bringing them to Kite instead.

Alongside Kite, Gon and Killua briefly work as biological researchers in the country of Kakin. As they investigate a giant insect limb found on the country's shores, the group discover it came from a man-sized chimera ant queen — an insect that devours other insects and animals, and then gives birth to progeny that inherit the characteristics of the different species it has eaten. The queen chimera ant washes up onto island nation called the Neo-Green Life (N.G.L.) Autonomous Region, inhabited by a neo-luddite culture. She quickly develops a taste for humans and builds a colony in order to conceive both an army of offspring and a chimera ant king. The chimera ants proceed to wipe most of the population out before Gon, Killua, and Kite arrive. The queen dies during labor, and the chimera ant king and his Royal Guards flee the N.G.L., secretly overthrowing the government of the nearby Republic of East Gorteau soon thereafter. Under the guise of the former king of the Republic, the chimera ant king initiates the process of forcibly awakening Nen in the civilians of East Gorteau in order to form his own personal army to conquer the world — resulting in the deaths of millions unable to awaken Nen. As ants formerly under the queen's rule rejoin the king, the Hunter Association mobilizes quickly to stop the oncoming genocide by sending in an extermination team of Hunters to East Gorteau. Distraught over the murder of Kite at the hands of the Royal Guards, Gon and Killua join the extermination team in order to take revenge for their friend.

Manga
The Hunter × Hunter manga is currently serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan. Shueisha compiles the manga's chapters into tankōbon volumes, of which 26 have been released. The manga is currently being published in the United States by VIZ Media, with 25 English volumes released in North America as of March 2, 2009. Volume 26 was published in January of 2010.

The publication history of the Hunter × Hunter manga has been plagued with hiatuses, the longest of which lasted from February 2006 through October 2007. These hiatuses were often attributed to rumors of the author suffering from an unspecified illness. Since that time, the manga has settled into a schedule of being serialized for ten weeks (ten chapters) with no delays for any chapters, but then going back into hiatus for several months until the publication of the tankōbon collecting the most recent ten chapters, upon which the serialization continues for another ten weeks. The last hiatus began after the publication of Chapter 310, on May 2010.

Anime series


The anime adaptation was produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, broadcast on Fuji Television and Animax from October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001. The television series concluded at 62 episodes, adapting the first eleven volumes of the manga series.

Viz Media licensed the Hunter × Hunter anime, via The Ocean Group, for distribution in the Region 1 market. The television series was released across four DVD boxed sets throughout 2009, the first having been released on December 9, 2008. Each set consists of fifteen episodes , with the final DVD box set released on December 1, 2009. The series began being broadcast in the United States on the Funimation Channel April 27, 2009 and finished its original TV run on October 20, 2009.

Original video animations
Since the completion of the television series, three subsequent original video animation DVD series produced by Nippon Animation have carried the story from where the broadcast left off. The first OVA was directed by Satoshi Saga and released from January 17, 2002 to April 17, 2002. It adapts volume 12 and half of volume 13 into eight episodes. The next two OVA releases, Greed Island and G.I. Final, were directed respectively by Yukihiro Matsushita and Makoto Sato while released from February 5, 2003 to August 18, 2004. They adapt the rest of volume 13 through most of volume 18 into a total of 22 episodes. Volumes 19 to 27 have yet to be adapted into animation.

An early pilot was also shown only at the 1998 Jump Super Anime Tour.

Soundtrack
The background music for the anime was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi, and released onto five different soundtracks. The first three soundtracks correspond to the first series, while the latter two each were released in response to each Hunter × Hunter OVA.

Musicals
There have been three musicals, 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.

The first is just called Hunter × Hunter: Musical. It was originally performed during December 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 August 15 until August 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 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 ~". It was originally performed during August 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. Hisoka, Leorio, a number of Phantom Troupe members, and all Nostrade bodyguards are absent from the plotline. 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, including Kurapika's capture of Chrollo Lucilfer (played by Konishi Hiroki).

Video games
As with several other anime series, Hunter × Hunter has spawned numerous video games created by Konami (most of which take place on Greed Island), and appeared along with other Weekly Shōnen Jump properties in the Nintendo DS fighting game Jump Super Stars and its sequel Jump Ultimate Stars and a trading card game (which is based on the cards used on Greed Island).

Reception
Hunter × Hunter is one of Togashi's two most famous titles (the other being YuYu Hakusho). As of May 2009, the first 24 volumes of the manga have sold over 46,000,000 copies combined in Japan alone. Volume 26 of the manga was the best selling manga in the first two weeks of its release, and has sold over 800,000 copies as of November 3, 2008. The latest volume (volume 27) sold 488,446 copies in Japan in its first week alone. 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.