Fans of the manga Hunter X Hunter are used to the long hiatuses in the series caused by author Yoshihiro Togashi's health conditions, but a mysterious sequence of tweets is implying that the next chapters of the beloved series could be out soon.
Hunter X Hunter is a hugely popular manga that has sold more than 79 million volumes and follows the adventures of Gon Freecs in the ranks of the Hunter Association. It began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1998 but has frequently gone on extended hiatuses since 2006. Some were due to illness and lower back pain experienced by mangaka Togashi, while reasons for others were never disclosed, with critics and fans speculating that Togashi's slow output is due to his perfectionist attitude. The long breaks, however, have not diminished the appreciation for the series, with fans always eagerly waiting for new chapters. According to a mysterious, unofficial Twitter account and to one of Togashi's colleagues, the wait could be over soon.
On May 24, the Twitter account 冨樫義博 (@Un4v5s8bgsVk9Xp), which many believe actually belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, shared a picture showing the corner of a sketched page accompanied by a caption saying, "We're up to the fourth at the moment." This teases that three chapters are ready and a fourth one is in the works. What drove fans crazy is that Yusuke Murata, known for being the artist behind One-Punch Man, liked and shared the tweet, turning it viral. After some hours, Murata erased his tweet, perhaps because he noticed that the account is not official or because he was asked to do it by Togashi himself, but the story does not end there. Hours later, Murata tweeted again, confirming that the account that posted the original image belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. The Twitter account Shonen Jump News - Unofficial weighed in and added, "Considering everything tweeted before, it seems safe to say more HUNTERxHUNTER chapters are being produced for now."
It should be noted that no official confirmation has yet arrived from Togashi or Shueisha, and Murata could still be mistaken. However, it will be very hard to contain Hunter X Hunter fans' excitement. The series is going through its longest hiatus: the last chapter released was 390, which came out in November 2018. The manga is currently in the Succession Contest Arc, focusing on the voyage of the Black Whale 1 ship toward the New Continent, an unexplored land that promises to expand the Hunter X Hunter world greatly. Many new characters were introduced and fan favorites returned, including the Hunter Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe, which is searching for Hisoka, while series protagonist Gon Freecs has been conspicuously absent.
Fans of Hunter X Hunter have been patiently waiting for four years to receive news on the series, and now that it might have finally happened, the involvement of Yusuke Murata makes everything even more resounding, taking the internet by storm. The only thing that fans of the franchise can do for now is keeping their fingers crossed and wait for an official confirmation that Hunter X Hunter is indeed going to be back soon.
Source: Shonen Jump News - Unofficial