After author Yoshihiro Togashi hinted at the conclusion of the beloved shonen manga’s sabbatical earlier this week, fans all around the world erupted in joy. While some fans simply waited two years, one unsung enthusiast put himself through real-life training until the manga’s serialization was restored.
Totsugeki Tarue, a YouTuber, started a series of videos titled “One Thousand Karate Punches of Gratitude a Day Until Hunter x Hunter Resumes Serialization” in 2020. Tarue wears a white martial arts gi while live streaming himself throwing hands every day until the manga begins publication in the hour-long videos.
A Tweet from a new Twitter account has gone viral in the Japanese Twitter community. The Tweet’s caption reads, “4 more chapters for the time being,” and it includes a side image of a piece of paper that appears to be a rough drawing of a manga panel. According to the Tweet, Togashi sensei has completed six new Hunter x Hunter chapters and is now working on four more. The post received over 200k likes in a matter of hours, but because the account was only recently created, there was no way of knowing whether it belonged to the Hunter x Hunter creator until One Punch Man author confirmed it.
Yasuke Murata, the author of One Punch Man, is also a follower of this Twitter profile, which lends legitimacy to this Tweet. They also reposted the tweet, writing, “I was with the individual myself.”
Since November 2018, the manga has been on pause. The manga was relaunched in September 2018 following a sabbatical that began in April 2018. The manga was originally put on hold in September 2017, although Togashi stated at the time that he wanted to resume it before the end of the year. In January 2018, the manga was restarted. Prior to them, the manga had been on a number of hiatuses.
In 1998, Togashi first published the manga in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Two television anime series, two anime films, and several original video animation titles were inspired by the manga. In October 2018, Shueisha released the manga’s 36th compiled book volume. In August of this year, Viz Media issued the 36th volume in North America.
In Japan, the manga’s second television anime adaptation debuted in 2011 and lasted 148 episodes. In 2014, the final episode aired.
The series was streamed live on Crunchyroll as it aired in Japan. From the outset, the series recreated the tale of Togashi’s original manga. The plot follows Gon Freecs as he aspires to become a Hunter in order to track down his father and learn why his father abandoned him as a newborn in order to pursue his dream of becoming a Hunter.
