Hunter × Hunter

Hunter × Hunter is a Manga of Yoshihiro Togashi. The original title is HUNTER×HUNTER ( hantā cross-country race hantā ). The series is published in French with the editions Kana. 23 volumes left in France, while the volume 24 left on October 4th, 2007 to Japan, where the series is always in the course of publication. Hunter × Hunter was the subject of an adaptation in cartoon. It is a Shōnen, i.e. a manga which aims at a public of teenager of male sex.

Short summary of the history

Gon Freecks is twelve years old, and its dream is to become hunter (English hunter). The hunters are adventurers of elite who can be hunters of premium, chief-cook, archeologists, zoologists, dispensers of justice or consultants in various fields. His/her father, Jin Freecks, which he does not know directly, is one of largest the hunters of his time. It is as to find it as Gon wants to become hunter .

However the examination of hunter , which takes place each year, is extremely difficult and perilous. One says that a candidate on 10 000 arrives on the place of the tests and that only one candidate every three years becomes hunter with his first attempt. During the tests, it is not rare to be wounded, even killed by monsters, traps or even of other competitors…

During this examination, Gon will meet various characters, as well friendly as enemy: Kurapika, for which the only objective is to avenge its clan assassinated by the phantom brigade, Léorio, of which the acknowledged goal is to acquire money but which actually dream to become doctor, Kirua, 12 years, wire of a family of hired killers, in rebellion against its family and takes part has this examination right for the simple pleasure of having fun, Hisoka, whose great passion is the combat against very powerful warriors, like much of others…

To note that the force of Gon is not only physical: its charisma, its intelligence, its coolness and especially its incredible capacity to attract sympathy often help it to leave the most perilous situations.

Winks

Hunter × Hunter takes again the most current characteristic of the Shōnen, namely the training of the engagements under the aspect of an initiatory search, but also comprises winks with other famous manga:

Right before the arc York Shin City, Kirua telephones his/her brother and this last has a collection of figurine in its room. In bottom on the left, one can see a figurine of His Goku (Dragon Ball of Akira Toriyama) and another of Sailor Moon (work of its wife Naoko Takeuchi, which helped it in its work).

Concepts of the manga

See the detailed article: Nen .

The Nen is an energy which draws its force in the will. The four great principles are practices intended to increase this will. It comprises inter alia:

the ten : choice of the objective
the zetsu : the thought becomes a word
the ren : increase in will
the hatsu : movement of will have which materializes the will. One can be various types of hatsu according to his personality: reinforcement, handling, transformation, emission, specification, and matérialisation.

The tower of the celestial tournament

After the examination of hunter, where Kirua failed, the two children go to the tower of the celestial tournament. In this 991 height meters immense tower, clash combatants come from the whole world. This tower not only enables them to be involved with the combat, but also to earn money. Indeed, after each victory, one gains the right to go up of a certain number of stages, and a more or less important sum according to the stage. The combat does not have rules, with share the prohibition of the weapons. It stops with the K.O or as soon as one of the competitors adds up 10 points. The points amount as follows: " Clean hits" , ordinary blows, are worth 1 point. " Criticals hits" , blows in one way or another extraordinary count for 2 points, and 1 is added point when there is " Down" , i.e. a combatant is with ground.

However, draws up itself in front of Gon and Kirua the border symbolic system of the 200ème stage. From this one, the rules change. The weapons are authorized, and one must gain 10 victories before adding up 4 defeats to be able to defy the " floor master". But what only the initiates know, it is that starting from the 200ème stage, the combatants use the Nen .

Helped by Wing, the Master of Zuchi, another child met in the tower, Gon and Kirua learn the bases from the Nen . After having lost against Guido in spite of the prohibition of Wing to fight, its 1st duel, Gon, like Kirua, gradually will develop to them ren. It is as in the celestial Tower as Gon fights against Hisoka for the first time, and that it is even able to place its " to him; fist in the figure". This cycle marks really the " début" of Hunter × Hunter, moment when the history really takes off with the discovery of the Nen .

York Shin City

After the combat against Hisoka, Gon and Kirua will pass a little time at Mito, aunt de Gon who raised it. This one then will give him one limps mysterious that it has since years, and who come from Jin, the father of Gon. Once the two friends succeeded in opening it using the Nen , they find there a cassette audio, a chart of safeguard for a video game named " Greed Island" , and a mysterious ring. On the cassette, a message recorded of Jin enjoint Gon to find it, defying it almost.

Having learned that " Greed Island" is a very rare play, they go to York Shin City, for famous the " bidding of York Shin" , in order to find a specimen of it. They will meet the brigade over there, and will be even made remove, the spider wishing to avenge death for Uvoguine, killed by " The type with the chaine" , which is not other than Kurapika.

At the end of this cycle, very dark visually, and with little true combat, Gon and Kirua find a means of playing " Greed Island" by offering their services to a billionaire who buys all the existing specimens of the play, and engages of the mercenaries to finish it.

Greed Island

Greed Island is a Video game appearing in the Manga, is played on a console " Joystation".

This legendary play, ever finished, was created by several hunters with the particularly powerful Nen and only to the players controlling themselves the nen is accessible. The players must gather hundred charts obtained by achieving powerful tests, as a combatant of the creatures or characters or by solving enigmas.

Contrary to an ordinary play, the player is physically transported in the world of the play. It is known as that certain players never return, or die in the play. To finish access to a treasure would give, but nobody knows what it acts. Actually, the play is in the real-world, on an island isolated by strong marine currents. The characters not players have human appearance and are programmed by the Nen , or sometimes of the prisoners having agreed to take part - but they incur the capital punishment if they enfreignent the rules of the game which proceeds in fact in the real-world.

Gon, Kirua and Cookie will finish the play by cumulating 100 charts on fixed site. One of the creators of the play is the father even of Gon, Jin. The name even of the play is a combination of initial of its creators (G for Ging, another manner of writing Jin).

At the end of the play, Gon and Kirua will find Kaito.

In the Animates, more than 25 episodes (OAV) are devoted to this cycle.

Kimeras Ants

Introduction

After the end of the play Greed Island and meeting again with Kaito, Gon and Kirua find themselves embarked in a new adventure.

Indeed, on one of the islands of the world of Hunter × Hunter, a Ant-dream unloads. Just like the ants, the queens of ant-dreams lay eggs which become prone of the latter. Nevertheless, these ant-dreams have like double characteristic, on the one hand to have the size of an human being, and on the other hand, to give to their offspring certain characteristics Génétique S of their old preys. Thus, if the queen had suddenly eaten a crab, one of his/her children will recover genes of this crab. However, the same applies when the ant-dreams eat an human being. It will result from it a very advanced species, much stronger than the normal human beings.

With the saga of the ant-dreams, the engagements multiply. Initially, Gon, Kirua and Kaito will try to stop the proliferation of these creatures, but in vain. In fact, these last very quickly learned how to control the Nen , which enabled them to multiply by ten their power.

Thus, Kaito will die by facing one of them, Neferupitô. As for Gon and Kirua, they will succeed in escaping from the territory of the ant-dreams and will continue their formation near Cookie in order to prepare to fight again.

Birth of the king and consequences

Thereafter, the king finally will be born, wounding the queen seriously. From this premature birth will rise from the unexpected events: the chiefs of troop, trained by Léol and Zazan, all will seek to become king. Koruto, the ant-dream resulting from the little boy seen in end of volume 18 will join as for him Morau and Nov. to require of them to look after the queen.

But the latter dies, and the nest with it. In fact much left the place except four chiefs of troop. One of them will reveal besides that the ant-dreams remember perfectly their life as human.

It is then the hour of the coup d'etat for the king who decides to seize Gorutô Is, in particular palate. After a true massacre, the king will discover a guard controlling the Nen and will eat it, and Neferupitô will discover the faculty of the king: it seizes the force of what it eats.

Meanwhile, Knuckle and Shoot find Kaito.

The king reveals his very special philosophy and will be astonished, for example, to see that Digo, the king of Gorutô Is, is a weak and stupid being. By seeing the dancers being frightened in front of him whereas it will devour them, it asks to them whether they have " already thought of the life of oxen or the cochons" that they ate. The king is posed in donor lessons, a being seeming higher than humanity.

The king thus kills the chief of Gorutô Is which will be then handled to achieve a later goal.

The plan

Gon and Kirua has then business with Pâmu whose madness reached its paroxysm. During this time the ant-dreams sow panic, with small scales for the moment. Kirua, to protect Gon and Pâmu from a warlike Ant-dream, will even come from there to withdraw a tiny needle of cranium to break the handling of which it was the object by his brother and to multiply by ten its aptitudes.

Gon finds finally Kaito completely zombifié and handled. A desire of revenge never yet seen at his place will be born from these sad meeting again.

Later, Gon, Kirua, Knuckle, Shot, Morau and Nov. will go to Gorutô Is, and will seek to prevent the " sélection" , a large gathering which aims at celebrating the constitution of the country and which should gather the totality of the population, it with an aim of creating an army of human beings controlling the Nen in theirs insufflating, but that implies a strong death rate owing to the fact that according to the ant-dreams, it is necessary to strike its victim to develop the direction of the nen at her.

The roles consequently will be distributed and a plan will be set up, aiming at moving away the guards from the king so that the president Nétéro can fight against him.

Intervention of the brigade

The tv news reports the damage caused by the ant-dreams. Part of the phantom brigade decides to attack Zazan which autoproclamée queen of the city of shooting star. Phinks, Feitan, Shizuku, Bonorenof, Sharnalk and Karuto (brother of Kirua) which replaces Hisoka will go to its den and will face the henchmen of Zazan. It is finally Feitan which will kill it thanks to its faculties.

Gorutô Is

Gon and Kiua will be introduced in Gorutô Is to prevent the selection. They are followed, which does not prevent Kirua from leaving Gon alone so that it deals with stopping the process. Gon will deal with ant-dreams until it meets a strange being, the man-chameleon, who will present himself under the name of Méléoron, will become his friend and will teach him its three faculties with which it intends to beat the king. While being presented, Méléoron will miss pronouncing another name: " Jai… ". One thus suspects that his true name is Jairo, antipathetic character, founder of NGL.Il is told in volume 20 qu ' it killed his own father being child while realizing that this one did not attach any importance to the existence of his/her son, which considered then, the world having rejected it in its eyes, which it was not human and which it would do nothing but spread throughout the world his hatred. However, it seems that the meeting with Gon is about to change gives it.

Kirua will undergo the attacks as for him of Ikaguro, an octopus which handles an human being to draw from the remote chips. Kirua will get rid some after being made a friend of the Ant-dream and having saved it. They are then the brothers Orogo who will be caught some with him with a strange set of darts. At the end of a difficult victory, Kirua crumbles and will be saved by Ikaguro. It is all the same to note that Kirua will withdraw from this difficult and almost fatal combat a novel method, based seems it on a quasi unlimited speed similar to the reactions reflexes.

Morau and Nov. is in Peijing, capital of Gorutô Is, and attack the guards. They especially seek to attract the guards of the king. Morau will fight against Djido, the man-cheetah and at the end of this combat, he will learn that one of the royal guards, Shaupfufu, can give new competences to the ant-dreams.

Komugi

The king is devoted as for him to a pastime of strangest: he plays various strategy games where the goal is of " to capture the roi" with an aim of developing its intelligence. The king beats the great champions, until coming to a play named Gun-gi. There, a little girl very strange, blind, the snot with the nose will show herself in front of the king who will face it in Gun-Gi. The king proves to be unable to beat the young girl which uses of the best possible strategies. The king will come from there to make a bet, but the young girl has neither covetousness nor fear, and is ready to die if it loses with the play. The king becomes completely insane then and tears off his left arm to give it to the young girl who will refuse, frightened. Shaupfufu will be made strike by the king but it will call Neferupitô so that she comes to look after it. During the period of care, Neferupitô will be constrained to give up the activity of sentinel of the palate, based on its monstrous " en". It will then be replaced by Shaupufu. But Nov., thanks to its faculty of teleportation will then try to infiltrate in the palate and will see its eyes then will have it of this last and will be definitively frightened by this monstrous will have, which will definitively exclude it from the race, then leaving in Morau only the responsibility kill this last.

To date one is unaware of still if the King will beat the young girl and until where will go these parts. Any door to believe that the young girl makes use of the Nen , especially the fact that it only opens the eyes to play. A former fact comes to contradict this assumption: the king can perfectly recognize a user of nen without very using the gyô .

Continuation of the plans

Morau keep silent Léol thanks to its fantastic pulmonary capacities, in an immersed church where Léol had trapped it. Pâmu engages towards the royal guards and takes risks more and more, while counting on the holes created by its Master Nov. to flee. Nov. is in a lamentable state since its return of the castle.

Kirua awakes finally in a clandestine hospital and will join Gon. It finds Ikaguro disguised a little. Gon brought Méléoron to Knuckle so that they become partners and they seem very well to get along. Kirua sets out again on the way towards his/her friends while taking along his buddy octopus with him after however serious warnings.

Komugi always plays against the king but it is found exhausted and tired. Whereas Shaupfufu thinks that the king will beat it in some parts, the king orders to him to rest. Shaupfufu thinks whereas this girl is dangerous. The tension is with its roof.

The preparations of the engagements seem to finish, but it starts to reign in the palate even a certain confusion due makes some with confusion present in the spirit of the king, which realizes that it appears unable to kill the young blind man, whose name is Komugi. He wonders about his name, on his own existence, his capacity. Whereas it tries to be convinced that the force is the most important existing capacity, all the others being unimportant in comparison, it does not manage to kill Komugi and will go even until giving the order to Neferupitô to protect it as if it were about him.

In the camp of Gon, the tension is also very strong and the distribution of the roles of each one is done. With an aim of informing the remainder of the team on what occurs close to the palate to a few hours to the hour H, Nov. tries to give a progress report on the situation by using its faculty and realizes thus that Shaupufu can generate a hypnotic powder which will prevent panic when the massacre of the selection begins. This is a very good aspect of the situation because the panic which will reign during their attack of the palate will be thus avoided. Gon prepares to face Neferupitô and Kirua is well decided to cover it during this time. Knuckle and Shoot are both also decided to fight against Yupih in spite of their rather pacifist character. However Morau is found only vis-a-vis Shaupufu and the combat in which it launched out against the heads of division during several days tired it and it does not seem sure to be able to hold this last sufficiently far away from the king, tries to which Méléoron is decided to apply by means of its special faculty. The moment of the attack is close.

Attack

Whereas the royal guard seems fine ready to defend the king costs whom costs, a gigantic dragon of nen goes down from the sky and creates the diversion necessary to the Gon team to pass to the action without being detected.

Netero prepared perfectly with the offensive on the king, since it draws aside Neferupito using his hatsu easily. It would seem that Netero is older Zeno. Indeed, this last known as of Netero which he is the only person has to have faced his/her grandfather and has to have survived there. In a flashback on the life of Netero, it would seem that this last was at the top of its power at the 47 years age, age to which he would have created a technique surpuissante name of Hyakushiki-Kannon. The latter would have been completed after Netero managed to give 10.000 punches in an amount of time of 0,36 S.

Netero removed from Neferupito then cuts through a path towards the king. But, in other confrontation with Yupi: after a first promising attack of Knuckle, keeps it royal benefits from the release of In Neferupito towards the palate and one moment of carelessness of the Gon team to destroy the driving staircase with the king. This unexpected blow destroys the hopes of the Gon team to reach the room where Meruem is.

This being, the king had changed site without however misleading right now the vigilance of the two assassins launched to his continuation (IE Netero and Zeno). But, Neferupito takes care of the grain and realizing of the danger which the king incurs, he manages to precede the two assassins. The king holds between his arms, Komugi inanimate and seriously wounded in the bottom of the belly. He asks Neferupito to look after it while he fights with Netero and Zeno in another place. What accepts these two last. The king shows for the first time of the signs of humanity.

As regards team Gon, the combi Morau-Knuckle manages to inflict new damage with Yupi. The engagements start to be set up, Morau leaves towards Shaupufu, Shoot although wounded succeed in retaining Yupi, and profit from the assistance of Knuckle, always invisible. Ikarugo took possession of the body of Puratta and seeks Pamu. Kirua covers Gon by killing the soldiers of Werefin which realizes some. Gon seems to move towards Neferupito of a prompt step…

Chapters and episodes

Searches and open-ended questions

Intro on the searches

With leaving childhood, Gon knows which will be its goal from henceforth: the search for his/her father. Will that be the basic screen, the ultimate goal (?) of this series. He knows for that he will have to become Hunter. But with the wire of the volumes and its adventures, certain actions to acomplir (" quêtes") will be necessary to this hunting for the father (examination of hunter, to finish Greed Island) while others will become priority (to find Kirua after the examination of Hunter, to return the badge to Hisoka, to regulate the problem of Ant-Dreams etc…). In addition, the author lets plane a certain number of mysteries, or rather leaves open doors for (perhaps) there returning later: which is the history of the mother of Gon? What becomes the 2 kimera-ants Koruto and the twin little brother of the king? And Jairo (which is presented during several pages, it is inevitably to find it afterwards!?)

Searches

initial Search: search for Jin, the father of Gon. Beginning of the history, and weaves basic: it is by seeking Gin that Gon will want to become Hunter (saga Examen), to finish Greed Island (Saga Greed Island), for that to become stronger and to recover money (saga York Shin City & Tournoi Turn Celestial), to join his/her father (but finally Kaito: saga ant-dreams)
priority Searches: " sagas" of HunterXHunter:

Examination of hunter (finished search)
Tournament of the Celestial Tower (Examination 2nd part) (finished search)
York Shin City (finished search)
Greed Island (finished search)
Kimera Ants

Searches " secondaires" :

Kurapika : to find the eyes (scarlet pupils) of the clan Kuruta
Kurapika: to eliminate the phantom brigade
Gon: To return the badge in Hisoka (and thus to succeed in striking it with the head). (finished search)
Léolio: To become Doctor
Senritsu: to find the partition demoniaque
Hisoka: to beat Kuroro
Kuroro: to erase Nen (finished search?)
Karuto : to find his/her big brother (Moreover, is Kirua or another big brother?)

Open-ended questions

Which is the mother of Gon. One failed the knowledge in the return of Gon after the examination, but Gon refused.
That become the 2 will kimera Koruto & the twin brother of the king (is a sister, like Reina)?
Which becomes " Jairo", the only soldier having escaped with the will of the queen, former godfather of NGL?
Which will become Kaito will make a success of you they has the " ressusciter" ?
will Kuroro face Hisoka or Kurapika (or other)? is
Which the specialities (nen) of each one? In particular: the president, of the members of close guard etc…
Which is the superb technique found by Kirua, but not put into practice, in the volume 23?

Comment

Hunter × Hunter is often décrié for its drawing sometimes too not very detailed or for the mania of the author to photocopy certain scenes.

In fact, it is a question of leaving more place to the texts. Rare are the chapters where there is action: it is often of long phases of dialog but with always precise and given goals. The example more striking is the saga biddings where there is one truth fights, that opposing Kurapika to Uvoguine. Contrary to others Shōnen, the combat is not a priority of the author. Indeed, this one uses of the engagements only with parsimony, going sometimes until making dialogs with a fort suspense where one oscillates between combat and simple conversation. Even the traditional tournament which one finds in almost all the shōnen is erased here and has interest only in what the characters say. Even the combat between Hanzo and Gon cannot be regarded as a combat, considering the two adversaries seek to make fold the other to push it with the abandonment.

Hunter × Hunter is thus this kind of manga which one reads more than it is looked at. It is a question for Yoshihiro Togashi of holding its readers with a true excavated and sought history, to create intrigues interesting and not focused on a succession of engagements. Hunter × Hunter can thus be regarded as a shōnen of a great originality.

Topicality

Since chapter 260 left in February 2006, the author did not leave any new chapter. He has starts again recently, and there are now 269 published chapters, that is to say 9 chapters moreover. According to some, the series will not make more than 26 volumes. It seems that the ten chapters which appear in this moment are intended to constitute volume 25.

Since August 11th, 2007, the news (given by Shueisha) according to which the prepublication will begin again as from October of the same year is done pressing on the forums dedicated to the japanimation and several chapters will leave on this occasion, then will follow a new pause on behalf of Mr. Togashi to prepare new chapters. This provision, single in Japan and suitable for the format of the American series, has the merit to accentuate the pressure.

Since October 2nd, 2007, of the images of chapter 261 appeared on Web sites devoted to this manga. This chapter is appeared in the Shonen Jump on October 6th, 2007, is two days after the volume 24, which contains more chapters than with accustomed (13 chapters, of the 248 to the 260), that is to say the totality of the chapters published in the Shonen Jump not having been the subject of a binding yet. Although it is about chapter 261, an error slipped into the magazine which indicates 260.

Bonds

Official site Shueisha
Single-Hunter.com
HxHdreams.free.fr
greed.island.free.fr
Hunter X Hunter - Manga
Greed-Island.net
Hunterxhunter.cl

Random links: