Hunter x Hunter Creator Joins Twitter, Reveals Manga’s Long Hiatus Is Ending

After a four-year hiatus, the creator of the popular shonen manga Hunter x Hunter not only created a Twitter account today, but announced that he is working on four new chapters of the series.

Hunter x Hunter, created by Yoshihiro Togashi, is about a boy named Gon and his journey as a hunter. Hunters are basically licensed super-citizens with access to private information and the privilege to hunt unique animals and persons of interest.

Gon’s perilous trek is riddled with death-defying battles and heartache in hopes of meeting his long-lost deadbeat father, Ging. I might be embellishing a tad but know that Dragon Ball Z’s Goku has nothing on Ging in terms of shitty parenting. Luckily, Gon discovers that his true father was the friends he made along the way.

What was Togashi’s first official tweet? A close-up photo of a manga panel draft with the number six written on the bottom edge of the page. “4 more episodes for the time being,” Togashi said in the Google-translated tweet.

Any doubts that Togashi’s Twitter account was a fake were immediately punched into the stratosphere by One-Punch Man artist Yusuke Murata, who confirmed the account was the real deal.

The ever-reliable Audrey “aitaikimochi” Lamsam posited that the characters in Togashi’s tweet might indicated Togashi intends on ending the manga in the four chapters he’s working on.

This seemingly innocuous “I have a Twitter now” news is significant for fans. The series stands among the ranks of other popular works like Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond and the late Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, manga fans had come to grips with never reaching a conclusion.

The Hunter x Hunter faithful, believing Gon and friend’s adventures would continue, went so far as to create a hiatus chart for Hunter x Hunter that tracks its appearances in Shonen Jump magazine against the days it’s been on hiatus. As such, today’s tweet finally puts to bed speculation about the future adventures of Gon and company.

If you haven’t steeped yourself in Hunter x Hunter yet (which you should) but have watched the irreverent “Big Three” anime Naruto, know that Hunter x Hunter’s early adventures are basically Naruto’s first three story arcs (y’know, the good ones). That’s because Hunter x Hunter served as inspiration for Masashi Kishimoto’s magnum opus.

While this news is no doubt spectacular, I’d be remiss not to mention that the reason behind Hunter x Hunter’s storied hiatus is Togashi’s health, an issue that plagues many managka due to their grueling work schedules. Over the years, Togashi enlightened readers on his workflow while being bedridden for severe back issues in a series of Hunter x Hunter author’s notes.

In a 2018 Weekly Jump interview translated by Redditor VeraciousCake, Togashi voiced his frustration at the manga dragging on and his desire to conclude Hunter x Hunter or die trying.

“But Hunter x Hunter as it is now has a lot in it that makes me want to keep on reading, even from my own perspective as a reader,” Togashi said (via VeraciousCake). “And from my perspective as a writer, there are still many things in it left that I want to write, that I would enjoy writing. And so if anyone would be willing to enjoy this ride with me, that is all I can hope for.”