The highly popular Shonen Jump manga "Hunter x Hunter" is finally back after going on a hiatus in August 2014, putting an end to a near record-breaking absence and fears that the manga would end.
The series went on hiatus following the combined 37th/38th issue of "Weekly Shonen Jump" after author Yoshihiro Togashi suffered from serious lower back pain. However, what was supposed to be a two-week hiatus, with the manga slated to return with 2014's 41st issue, wound up extending until now.
The announcement didn't reveal when the manga is slated to return, only that details will appear in this year's 16th issue of Shueisha's "Weekly Shonen Jump" magazine come Saturday. Either way, this news marks the end of a 76-issue hiatus, falling short of the record 79-issue hiatus spanning from issue 12/2006 to issue 44/2007.
News of the hiatus coming to an end is great for fans who have become increasingly frustrated with "Hunter x Hunter's" troubled history. Though popular, fans have slowly been losing patience with the series and even complied statistics about the repeated absences and hiatuses the series has had ever since since it debuted March 3, 1998.
What the statistics reveal is quite troubling to say the least. As mentioned before, the longest hiatus lasted 79 issues spanning from issue 12/2006. Conversely, the longest publication streak is 30 issues, spanning from issue 35/2011 to issue 16/2012. The total amount of times it hasn't appeared relative to the amount of times it has is equally troubling. There have been 868 issues of "Weekly Shonen Jump" since "Hunter x Hunter's" debut. Of those issues, the series has appeared in 40 percent or 351 issues, while it has been absent in 60 percent or 517 issues.
It has been absent from so many issues that fans have jokingly referred to those instances as the "Great Hiatus Arc," with these absences mostly affecting the progress of the "Chimera Ant Arc."
With all of these absences in mind, fans aren't holding out much hope, fully expecting Togashi to resume the "Ankoku Tairiku Arc" ("Dark Continent" in English), only to go on another hiatus after six to eight chapters. One person joked about this, saying that since he intends to read the arc all at once, he'll have to wait a decade before doing so.
So what was Togashi doing all this time? Well, aside from the obvious recovery, the "Yu Yu Hakusho" creator contributed an illustration to "30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Super History Book," which came out in January, and is part of the jury for Shueisha's Fujio Akatsuka Award.
Regardless of all these issues, "Hunter x Hunter" is still wildly popular in Japan and abroad. The manga has inspired two television anime series: the first lasting from 1999 to 2001 and the second lasting from 2011 until 2014. The manga also inspired two anime films, several original video anime titles and a slew of video games (10 of which are Japan-exclusive).
