10 Facts About Hunter X Hunter

If you are an anime lover, the Hunter x Hunter series will no longer be strange with you, right? It is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi which has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 1998, although the manga has frequently gone on extended hiatuses since 2006. Hunter × Hunter has been a huge critical and financial success and has become one of Shueisha’s best-selling manga series, having over 78 million copies in circulation as of November 2019. The manga has gained its reputation all over the world, attracting millions of fans following it. However, even if you are the one who read and watched the series several times, are you sure that you knew everything about it?

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, there are more and more anime and manga lovers starting to discover this masterpiece. If you are a freshman, this is a perfect opportunity to enjoy a new series of famous manga and anime. Now it’s time to dig deeper into this Hunter × Hunter series.

WARNING: Hunter x Hunter spoilers ahead.

[FACT 1] Ging didn’t abandon Gon at will. Someone led him to give up his kid

It’s worth being serious about this tiny fact we’ve spotted in the manga. Before Gon departed to take the Hunter exam as the first step to achieve the ultimate goal of finding his father, Aunt Mito apologized for lying to Gon. Whatever the reason is, Gon thinks that it isn’t necessary and he knew Mito was not telling the truth that Ging abandoned him. It’s valid to argue that Ging saw the possibility of Mito taking away his kid. But letting Mito think that it’s all her fault all along would be so mean of him. It’s probably true that he was forced to give up Gon, and he just tried to find ways after that so his kid would want to become a Hunter and seek for him.

[FACT 2] How Hunter x Hunter came about

In one of the interviews, Togashi admitted, when he found out that manga readers love sports and fights, he ultimately decided to create another story about fighting, which turned out to be excellent, and HunterxHunter was born.

But there’s another angle the fandom might have missed. In the final page of a chapter from Heavens arena arc, Naoko Takeuchi’s bunny avatar asked Yoshihiro Togashi’s alter ego, which looks like a dog, about the origin of Hunter x Hunter. And this is how it went:

[FACT 3] Neon Nostrade is dead

This news is quite a shock for some who have not read the manga and even the manga readers missed this crucial detail due to the thrilling build-up of events happening in the hushed battle royale between 14 Kakin princes. It was so big that the Dark Continent arc would serve a blast in the history of anime once it gets televised.

Many saw Neon as Botan’s counterpart, a Spirit World guide from Togashi’s other work Yu Yu Hakusho, due to the likeness in their appearance. She had a date-like encounter with Chrollo Lucilfer, which made her a potential love interest, although short-lived.  Some fans also shipped her with Kurapika, but this is very less likely to become a two-way relationship as the likes of Neon, who is fond of collecting body parts may be one of the reasons why the killers went after the Kurta clan. This is probably the same reason why Togashi didn’t spend enough time to make a drama out of this character’s death.

It also seemed to us that her death makes a challenging situation as there won’t be guiding prophecies that will help them to come up with a sound plan and avoid the bad fortunes from transpiring.

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[FACT 4] Killua once tried to commit suicide

Since he fought alongside Gon against a doll resembling his older brother, Killua fleeing means leaving his best friend behind for the worst.

Guilty of Gon becoming blind because he fled, and believing that what he did is a form of betrayal, Killua decided to end his life by letting a train reduce him into pieces. Fortunately, Gon came about and saved his friend from death. The two had a moment, which for us, is one of their best exchanges of lines in the entire span of HxH.

[FACT 5] Pariston kept 5000 Chimera Ant Eggs probably hatched before the expedition

It’s time to have an item about Mr. Sparkles. Many see Pariston Hill as the most dangerous living antagonist in Hunter x Hunter, far more evil than the 4th prince Tserriednich and darker than Chrollo Lucilfer. Although he claims to be a non-combatant (which we should doubt), the fear of him radiates from his manipulative persona, genius-level intellect and cruel intentions. Moreover, the safety of the known world is under his mercy, having control of 5,000 Chimera Ant eggs that hatched nen-wielding half-breeds during the events of the 13th Chairman election arc.

While these Chimera Ants’ whereabouts are unknown, it’s best not to forget that they may look like humans with developed nen (think of Palm Siberia) and that they are under a control system purposely set up to serve the former Vice Chairman’s interest. Ging further elaborated that Pariston plans to use these offsprings for the Hunter Exam.

It is not clear if they managed to get past Kurapika’s screening to get the license and become an assassin or bodyguard for a Kakin prince. We remain to wait with this question hanging as the crazy events in the expedition add up to our worries. The tragedies keep piling up, and with 5000 Chimera Ants ready to accept orders, we need to expect a more catastrophic turn of events!

[FACT 6] Chrollo has the spider tattoo in his right arm in the 1999 anime series.

His fake corpse shows that the spider tattoo is in his right arm. There exists a question whether it is true or not in 2011 as Chrollo’s sleeves were much longer than what his corpse wore in the 1999 version. Considering Kortopi’s ability to produce an exact copy, it could be right for the original anime series. But in 2011, the location of Chrollo’s spider tattoo might be a candidate for retcon as it never appeared in the manga. Another difference is the missing left arm.

[FACT 7] What Togashi has to say about Chrollo vs Hisoka battle

The Hunter x Hunter mangaka mentioned in one of his chapters that most fighters who claim to win 100% end up losing in the battle. He dreamed of creating a scene where one of his characters declared 100% win before the match and pulled it off.  In our opinion, Chrollo or someone of his caliber is the perfect person to say this. The moment in the manga was epic, and it could be better when the remainder of Hunter x Hunter becomes animated.

[FACT 8] Gon wasn’t aware about most of Killua’s pain and tears.

The many times Killua cried (about Gon) and went through so many desperate struggles (most of them being in Chimera Ant arc), Gon wasn’t there to join him, except when Gon killed Pitou where they both cried, and when Killua tried to kill himself. Still, Gon wasn’t able to witness how devastated Killua seemed because an Illumi doll just stole his eyes. We selected the sections that Killua in pain and tears

• Killua cried when he saw Gon crying out of frustration after the 30-day suspension of losing his Nen due to Knuckle’s ability: bankruptcy.
• Killua also cried while battling with Chimera Ant Rammot.
• We did not see tears, but Killua was obviously broken when Gon told him: “You have it easy, Killua. Since it had nothing to do with you.”
• Killua cried twice when he encountered Chimera Ant Palm, and they talked about Gon.
• Killua can be seen wiping his tears when he saw an emaciated Gon lying helpless.
• Lastly, Killua cried when he saw Gon’s arm.

[FACT 9] Dark Continent is around 1,175 times more dangerous than the Swindlers Swamp, also known as Miles or Numere Wetlands.

We are aware that the Dark Continent being a devastating region for humans, even for nen users, is a fact most people knew already. However, we’d like to give you a picture below.

As such, we aim to compare it with another terrifying place to be in—the Swindler’s Swamp. This eerie part of the known world is home to many unusual creatures or magical beasts, which are highly probable to be lesser variants of those that await our characters in the Dark Continent realm.

The foggy and swampy Numere Wetlands is home to tricky creatures. When you get deceived, you die.

In this arc, Togashi introduced us to shape-shifting apes, a giant strawberry dinosaur, butterflies using bodies of their victims as live breeding grounds, an enormous frog waiting for people to step on its camouflaged mouth, mushrooms that explode and so on. Watching this part of the show for the 2nd or nth time seems like a prelude to the Dark Continent.

As such, the survival rate in the Milsy Wetlands was 47% (including the deaths brought by Hisoka’s massacre). This feat is nowhere near Dark Continent’s human survival rate of 0.04%. If that 311 people entered the unknown region, not more than 12 would come back alive. In this comparison, we can assume that DC is 1,175 times more dangerous.

[FACT 10] Togashi is a reader of his own work. Therefore, he wants to finish the Hunter x Hunter manga

His exact words were: “I need to finish writing Hunter x Hunter. It has come to a point where either the story concludes first, or I die before that happens (lol). But I do intend to finish it.”

In an earlier interview, he disclosed that there might be 3-4 more stories after the Chimera Ant arc. Whether it would be extended or not would depend on the circumstances.

He also added that the story ended once, and that’s when Gon finally meets Ging. However, Togashi unveils that he is also a reader of his own work, excited of what’s about to come and that there’s still so much room for the story and its characters to grow.

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