Hunter X Hunter current manga discussion (Major Spoilers!)

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, I'm only gonna start reading again when it's done.

I know that'll be 40 years after I die of old age, but at this point in the story, I can wait.

[gunswordfist]

You'll die of old age in 20 years. You can't fool us.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know the drill by now:

10. Morel vs. Leol
9. Zeno/Silva vs. Chrollo
8. Killua vs. Illumi (Hunter Exams)
7. Gon's Team vs. Razor's Team (Nen Dodgeball)
6. Gon vs. Knuckle (final match)
5. Gon vs. Hisoka (Heaven's Arena)
4. Knuckle (with assistance from others) vs. Youpi
3. Killua vs. Chimera Ant Minions (including Ikalgo)
2. Kurapika vs. Uvogin
1. Meruem vs. Komugi (at Gungi)

No, my #1 isn't a joke entry. After thinking long and hard about it, HXH is a series full of unconventional "battles," so why shouldn't this count? It's still a life or death situation, involves the same kind of psychological warfare as regular fights in the series, and at the end of the day is still a clear-cut versus situation on the surface. It's my favorite, though, because of Meruem's excellent character development in it.

Also, as much as Spark loves to mock Togashi, even he can't deny that few battle shonen mangaka can make the actual battles quite as interesting as Togashi does. Making this list made me realize something compared to my other ones: Only two of these are solo battles with the main character. The rest of the list is more diverse than any other list of this sort that I've made thus far. It's a testament to how good Togashi is at balancing his cast of characters, whereas even in other great manga it's still the main character who receives more focus and better encounters than the supporting ones.

As for some of my other choices:
-Killua's "battle" with Illumi was great psychological warfare that demonstrated how Killua at that point still perceived his family to have a dominance over him.

-The dodgeball game is an incredibly entertaining strategic team battle (which shows that Togashi probably wouldn't be half-bad at writing a sports manga), and it's a genuinely great part of an otherwise lackluster arc.

-Both of Gon's fights are great showcases of his ability to strategize and persevere, yet interestingly he ultimately loses both encounters, but grows from each experience.

-Killua's battle in the forest is so intense and full of incredibly good strategies and the most memorable conclusion where he decides to save Ikalgo's life despite all of the shit that he just went through, simply because he just really respects his code of honor as a character, despite being an enemy.

-The rest of the fights are just great traditional-style shonen battles, except executed incredibly well.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Hmm, my own list looks fairly different.

10. Killua vs. Rammot
9. Gon vs. Hanzo
8. Ikalgo vs. Bloster
7. Gon vs. Hisoka vs. Geretta
6. Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, and Tonpa vs. Trick Tower Prisoners
5. Netero vs. Meruem
4. Gon vs. Hisoka (Heaven's Arena)
3. Kurapika vs. Uvogin
2. Knuckle, Meleoron, Shoot, and Morel vs. Menthuthuyoupi
1. Meruem vs. Komugi (all matches)

Killua's fight with Rammot was a great character development moment for him, being the point where is finally able to break free from Illumi's needle controlling his subconscious. Gon's fight with Hanzo is really memorable in showing Gon's determination and perseverance not to give up despite Hanzo severely beating him and breaking his arm, ultimately forcing Hanzo to give in and give up. I really liked Ikalgo's character, and his fight with Bloster was a very suspenseful battle as he was up against an opponent way above his level and has to execute a very perilous strategy in order to defeat him. I liked seeing Gon devise a careful strategy to take Hisoka's tag without coming into direct contact with him in that phase of the Hunter Exam, and ultimately failing when Geretta paralyzes him and steals his own, only for Hisoka to kill him and give Gon his tag, which he feels unsatisfied about driving his desire to beat Hisoka and return the tag back to him (which he later does in the HA arc, though he loses the fight). The entire sequence with the gang against the Trick Tower Prisoners is my favorite part of the Hunter Exam arc. I never considered thinking of counting it as a fight before now, but all of Meruem's gungi matches with Komugi were great moments of character development him, which alongside Killua and Gon's character development is my favorite aspect of that arc, and thinking about it probably also comprises or is a part of many of my favorite moments/scenes in the CA arc as well. The rest are pretty self-explanatory, well-done traditional battle-shonen fights that I figure are on most fans' lists (for good reason).   

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The fact that our lists look so different as opposed to the more similar stuff we had for other series is, IMO, yet another testament to how diverse and varied the fights in this series are.

Good choices, BTW.

[Spark Of Spirit]

10. Killua vs. Illumi
9. Welfin vs. Ikalgo
8. Cheetu vs. Morel
7. Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, and Tonpa vs. Trick Tower Prisoners
6. Gon vs. Knuckle
5. Chrollo vs. Zeno and Silva
4. Kurapika vs. Uvogin
3. Killua vs. Chimera Ant Minions
2. Meruem vs. Komugi
1. Knuckle, Meleoron, Shoot, and Morel vs. Menthuthuyoupi

Not much surprising there.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Great choices, all the same!

[Spark Of Spirit]

This is the first year since 1998 without a single chapter of Hunter X Hunter released.

I find it hard to believe that he originally intended the series to run this long. I wish he would just finish it and retire already.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Eh, he's a talented writer so I don't want him to outright quit. Rather, I believe that he should just stick to occasional short stories (like a volume or two in length) rather than write another long-running series after HXH. Level E proves that he can do interesting and creative stuff with just a few chapters at a time telling their own unique stories. Besides, as Dr. Insomniac's article pointed out, HXH has never been about the conclusion. It's about how interesting the journey is.

Also, as much as you like to hound on the guy for his breaks, his best material still puts most other shonen manga to shame, including a lot of one's that I like. So he's still earned his status as one of the greats in my book.

[Daikun]

The manga returns June 26.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ok folks, it's that time again where we all place our collective bets for how long this run will last before the next inevitable hiatus. Personally, my money's on a whopping 5 panels. I know it seems like a bit much, but I have faith in Togashi to struggle through hardship and put that much out.

[Spark Of Spirit]

He'll make enough for volume 35.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, Inoue Takehiko releases one volume per year of REAL, which as slow as that is, still surpasses the rate at which Togashi releases Hunter X Hunter these days. The thing that makes it all the more funny, though, is that REAL is Takehiko's side project. It's what he does outside of his regular releases of Vagabond, which is what he primarily works on. So, essentially he releases his secondary series at a faster rate than Togashi releases his one and only manga that he's currently been working on for the past two decades. I'm honestly curious what that man does in all of his downtime (which, to be fair, he can clearly afford to have given both his own status as a mangaka as well as that of his wife).

[Spark Of Spirit]

Apparently he was helping edit other manga like Kuroko.

That's why I almost believed that April Fools joke about a sequel anime series for YYH written by Togashi. It's like, what else would he be doing? Makes sense to me!

It's kind of surprising that he doesn't do more stuff like that. If he has problems drawing, he could always be writing, dictating, or producing other things. No idea why he doesn't unless there are reasons he isn't productive unrelated to his health.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Togashi draws Hunter x Hunter because he likes drawing it. Otherwise he could've easily ended it by now. But not only is he still making it, but he has plans for a series after it. The man likes making manga. He just physically can't draw it following the agonizing production schedule of the weekly manga grind, hence why he needs long periods of rest.

I don't know why I still hear such belittling remarks that Togashi is "lazy" when he went out of the way to explain his health problems in the author comments for HxH's chapters in Jump last year, where he made it clear that he is physically in pain just doing simple things like sitting in a chair or going to the bathroom. Saying that Togashi should be writing if he can't draw is something I'd expect someone who is not in a creative career to say. Creativity doesn't work that way. If his hand is already too weak to draw how exactly is he supposed to write? If his health problems are already getting in the way of drawing manga, they're most likely getting in the way of doing other things he would like to do as well. That's even supposing that he's interested in doing other things than making manga, or at least doing something in the industry. We know he's keeping himself occupied by doing editorial work for Shueshia, and that's a demanding job in of itself. Not to mention the man probably has a family life and other shit he's doing that we're not seeing. We only ever know of a small portion of a mangaka's life, and we don't really know what Togashi's is like or how severe his health issues are, so who are we to judge? 

We're not entitled to more Hunter X Hunter. Let Togashi draw his damn series at his own pace.