Hunter × Hunter
| Hunter × Hunter | |
| File:Hunter x Hunter Volume 1.jpg Cover of the Japanese Hunter × Hunter manga Vol. 1 | |
| Genre | Shōnen |
|---|---|
| Created by | Yoshihiro Togashi |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Yoshihiro Togashi |
| Published by |  Shueisha
  Culturecom Kana |
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Kazuhiro Furuhashi |
| Studio | Nippon Animation |
| Related works | |
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Hunter × Hunter: Original Video Animation | |
Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター pronounced "Hunter Hunter") is a manga by Yoshihiro Togashi about a 12-year-old boy named Gon Freecs (ゴン＝フリークス), and his quest to find his father, Ging Freecs. Ging is a Hunter, which in the setting of Hunter × Hunter means that he is a member of society's elite, with a license to go anywhere or do anything. Hunter x Hunter started running in Japan in Weekly Shonen Jump in the 14th issue of 1998.
Characters
- Gon Freecs
- A young boy who wishes to become a hunter to follow in his father's footsteps. His father, the legendary hunter Ging Freecs, 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 off with an unusual choice of weaponry - a fishing rod. After learning nen, he switches to relying on his Hatsu ability, the Jajanken.
- Killua Zaoldyeck
- Born to the Zaoldyeck family of assassins, Killua is considered the genius of his generation. He is named as the heir to his family due to his amazing talent, 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 transformation type Hatsu ability on electricity. His original killing ability was to 'adjust' his hand therefore sharpening his nails. This allows him to slice up his opponents and/or pluck out vital organs. He also knows 'rhythm echo' which creates a series of after images of himself through a varying cadence of steps.
- Kurapika
- The last living member of the Kuruta tribe, Kurapika has made it his life goal to hunt down and destroy the group responsible for his tribe's destruction - the Genei Ryodan (also known as the Phantom Troupe). His tribe was renowned for their eyes - which would turn flaming red in times of anger or emotional agitation. The so-called 'scarlet eyes'(also known as Kuruta eyeballs) were considered a priceless treasure among body-part collectors, which is what prompted the Genei Ryodan to destroy them.
- Kurapika enters the Hunters Exam because he believes becoming a Blacklist Hunter will give him the necessary resources to fight the Genei Ryodan. 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 learns he can switch between both the materialization and specialization types of Hatsu depending on what color his eyes are at the moment. He takes advantage of this fact while fighting against the Genei Ryodan, tricking them into thinking they are fighting a nen user whose only ability is materializing chains. He doesn't want anyone to know he was from the clan so he wears black 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 had once lost a very close friend 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.
- 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, a hunter he would see grow and then destroy when Gon's at his prime. This is the type of person Hisoka is. 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.
Story arcs
Hunter Exam Story Arc
In the first major story arc, Gon takes a series of bizarre tests to become a Hunter himself, which include such things as navigating a deadly jungle, hunting other applicants, killing a wild boar, and making sushi. During the Hunter Test, Gon meets and befriends three of the other applicants, Kurapika, Killua and Leorio.
Another of the applicants in the Hunter Test is Hisoka, a complex villain who uses playing cards as weapons, and who views Gon as an "unripe fruit" that he will take great pleasure in killing once he's grown up enough to present a challenge.
Zoldyeck Family & Celestial Tower Story Arcs
The second story arc involves Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio springing Killua from his parents' mansion. At the end of the second story arc, Leorio leaves for medical school and becomes a professional doctor while Kurapika leaves to find work, taking both characters out of the story. In the third story arc, Gon and Killua go to the Celestial Tower (also known as "Heavens Arena"), a 251-floor building where people can compete in fighting tournaments around the clock for cash. It is here they meet the Kungfu master Wing, who teaches them about Nen, a chi-like energy that can be used to manifest superhuman powers. He teaches a young child named Zushi, who joins Gon and Killua to fight in the tournament to gain money and experience. Hisoka defeats another powerful Nen user, Kastro, who was able to create and use a double made from Nen. Hisoka loses both arms in the battle but Machi, a fellow Nen user, uses her ability to sew the arms back on. Gon battles Hisoka and is able to land a few hits but loses in the end.
Genei Ryodan Story Arc
The fourth story arc reunites the four main characters for the world's largest auction in a sprawling metropolis called Yorkshin 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 Genei Ryodan (also known as 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, who has a clairvoyant Nen ability. He spends the rest of the arc balancing his bodyguard duties with his goal to hunt down the Genei Ryodan.
By the end of the Genei Ryodan story arc, Kurapika has directly killed Uvogin, indirectly killed Pakunoda (via a deadly Nen ability which killed her when she broke the conditions he had set onto her), and "sealed" Kuroro Lucifer's Nen ability (via the same ability he used on Pakunoda). The latter two are accomplished via an unsteady alliance with Hisoka, who betrays the Genei Ryodan in exchange for a chance to fight Kuroro Lucifer. Once Kuroro's powers are "sealed," Hisoka completely loses interest and walks away.
Greed Island Story Arc
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 players 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. 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 Kruger , 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 the Celestial Tower arc.
Also during this arc, Killua's little sister, Karuto, joins the Genei Ryodan; replacing Hisoka as member number 4.
Chimera Ant Story Arc
After leaving Greed Island, Gon and Killua meet up with Kaito, 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 are combinations of all the different insects and animals it has eaten. The queen Chimera Ant itself just happens to wash up on the shore of an island inhabited by a luddite culture, and proceeds to wipe most of them out and spawn hundreds of offspring before Gon, Killua, and Kaito arrive. The three very powerful Royal Guards are introduced, who develop Nen abilities. One of the Royal Guards, Nefelpitou, fights Kite and decapitates him. Kite is later brought back, but his zombification renders him unable to recognize Gon and Killua.
Netero, Morau, and Novu arrive as reinforcements. However, they are unable to stop the birth of the king. The queen dies because the king ripped himself out of her stomach too early. Many of the ants stop being loyal to the King, proclaiming themselves kings, and two even join 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 Ryuuseigai; the place that is the origin of the Genei Ryodan (aka Genei Ryodan in Japanese). Half of the group: Phinx, Feitan, Shalnark, Shizuku, Bonorenofu and Karuto travel to Ryuuseigai to halt the invasion. Upon reaching the colony, the team splits up, agreeing that whoever defeats Zazan will be the temporary leader of the Genei Ryodan until Kuroro Lucifer's return.
The ants move into East Goruto and 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.
Currently, Gon, Killua, Morau, Knuckle, Shoot, Novu, and Netero are about to attack the 3 Royal Guards and the King in the King's palace. However, it has been strongly suggested that something will go wrong with the plan.
Togashi is currently on "sick" leave, and have been on and off for the past couple of years, so it is uncertain whether he will finish this particular arc of the storyline or not. Template:Endspoiler
Nen
Nen is the living aura produced by all living beings, and the ability to use nen is what makes Hunters, and people like the Genei Ryodan so powerful.
An individual becomes sensitive to his/her nen once their shouko (points of the body where energy flows from) are opened. Learning to control this energy, however, is no simple task. The study of nen begins with several basic techniques, as well as a range of more advanced techniques that require experience and high endurance.
The most important ability of a nen user is their 'Hatsu.' This is their special ability - the unique manisfistation of their aura. Nen-users carefully create their own Hatsu ability to enhance their own strengths, resulting in abilities that uniquely represent the nen-user. Although every nen-user's ability will be different, nen-users can be split into some general 'groups.'
As powerful as nen may seem, a fundamental concept of nen is that everything must be within human boundaries. However these boundaries can be pushed to the limit through a means of a balancing act set in a contract a nen-user defines for oneself. Ergo any 'Hatsu' created has some fundamental drawback; which is usually tailored to interfere as little as possible with the needs and personality of the said creator. For example a character in the story has the ability to attach timebombs to peoples bodies. In order to do so he must meet three conditions: touch the person while mentioning his ability (albeit without revealing that the ability is his), reveal himself as the user in order to activate the countdown, and he must explain how to deactivate it (by catching him and reciting a phrase). Being a wily and elusive character he makes it difficult to be caught and thus shores up his weaknesses nicely while maximizing the utility of his ability. It is a delicate balance system that rewards a well thought out ability and the smarter and more thoroughly prepared nen-user in a battle as opposed to the out-and-out stronger nen-user.
Hiatus
- For unknown reasons, the manga has been on a very loose schedule since mid-2003, and, as of February 2006, the manga has been on hiatus, with the return date unannounced. The manga was announced to return in April, however this did not occur, leaving many fans dissapointed. Many fans speculate as to the cause of this hiatus, with reasons ranging from illness on the part of the mangaka, to a lack of story concepts/ideas. Many people also speculated that perhaps Togashi's wife, Naoko Takeuchi (Famed artist of "Sailor Moon") would take Togashi's place authoring and illustrating the series, however she laughed this off on her web diary and said that this was merely a rumor.
Media
- The manga is currently published in Japan in Weekly Shonen Jump, and past episodes have been compiled into a set of 23 tankōbon and growing. The manga is currently being published in the United States by VIZ Media. It is currently up to volume 10, with #11 due out in November and #12 due out in January.
- 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 Genei Ryodan story arc. Three subsequent OVAs have carried the story through the end of the Genei Ryodan 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). The anime is produced in English in Singapore by Odex. The anime also found popularity in Arabic speaking countries when Space Toon aired the Arabic dub under the title "القناص" (The Sharpshooter), although a number of scenes were edited out, the plot, the violent fight scenes and the characters' names remained available in the dub. However despite its popularity, the OVAs have yet to receive Arabic translation, a common situation.
- There have been three musicals, the third 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
- 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 "Genei Ryodan" 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 4 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; The Nightmare of Zoldyeck". It was originally performed during August of 2002.
- This is an alternate re-telling of when Kurapika, Leorio, and Gon go to Kukuruu Moutain 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.
- The third Musical is called "Hunter × Hunter: Real Stage; A Longing for Pakunoda ~ A Spider's Memory ~". It was originally performed during August of 2004.
- As with several other anime series, Hunter × Hunter has spawned numerous video games (most of which take place on Greed Island), and appeared along with other Shonen Jump properties in the Nintendo DS fighting game Jump Superstars, and a trading card game (which is not based on the cards used on Greed Island).
Miscellany
Translation notes
The english spellings of the main characters' names in Hunter x Hunter is a topic of debate among fans of the series. The series first became available to English-speaking audiences via scanslations, translators generally translated names phonetically. Later, in the endnotes of the series' 12th tankōbon, Togashi wrote several of the characters names in romaji (the alphabet used in English-speaking countries), many of which didn't match up to the translators' guesses. To further complicate matters, Togashi released an "official handbook" in June 2004 which listed the names of characters with completely different romaji spellings, many of which were nonsensical (such as translating "Pakunoda" as "Phalcnothdk"). When Viz translated the manga for its legitimate American release, they created their own set of English names - some of which were phonetic and others where English translations.
As an example, the first name of the leader of the Genei Ryodan is "クロロ", phonetically translated as "Kuroro". Later, the name appeared in romaji both in the endnotes of the 12th tankōbon "Quoll", but in the official handbook Togashi spells the name "Chrollo." Chrollo is the spelling adopted by Viz for their American translation, although Kuroro remains as the most popular form amongst fans.
Music
Openings:
- "Ohayou" by Keno (episode 1 – 48)
- "Taiyou wa Yoru mo Kagayaku" by WINO (episode 49 – 62)
- "Pale Ale" by Kenichi Kurosawa (OVA 1)
- "Pray" by Wish (GI)
- "Believe In Tomorrow" by Sunflower's Garden (GI Final)
Endings:
- "Kaze no Uta" by Minako Honda (episode 1 – 31)
- "E-Jan - Do You Feel Like I Feel" by Masato Nagai (episode 32 – 50)
- "Hotaru (Firefly)" by Masato Nagai (episode 51 – 62)
- "Carry On" by Kenichi Kurosawa (OVA 1)
- "Popcorn" by Mikuni Shimokawa (GI)
- "Moshimo Kono Sekai de Kimi to Boku ga Deaenakatta Nara" by Sunflower's Garden (GI Final)