Hunter x Hunter manga returning this month

The Hunter x Hunter manga is coming back — and it’s arriving much sooner than we once thought. While the Japanese Shonen Jump Twitter originally announced the release date as Nov. 4, it turns out that the beloved manga will be returning in just a couple of weeks, on Oct. 23.

Viz Media announced Monday that the new chapters of Hunter x Hunter will be available simultaneously in English and Japanese starting then. Additionally, Viz has put the entirety of the Hunter x Hunter manga in the digital vault today, accessible to Shonen Jump members for $1.99 a month. However, the latest chapters (388-390) are available for free.

The Hunter x Hunter manga has been on hiatus since 2018, when creator Yoshihiro Togashio took a break due to health-related issues. In May, he created a Twitter account to share updates on his work, heralding the series’ return.

The Hunter x Hunter manga started in 1998 and has been adapted into two anime series. It takes place in a world where licensed professionals called Hunters embark on fantastical adventures, such as subduing dangerous monsters, tracking down criminals, or hunting treasure. They can harness supernatural power known as Nen to augment their fighting abilities.

Gon, a young boy with superb fighting skills, goes off on a quest to find his father, a legendary hunter who left him when he was just a baby. Along the way, he befriends Killua, the heir to a notorious and deadly assassin family; Kurapika, the revenge-bent sole survivor of a genocide; and Leorio, who wants to be a Hunter so he can pay his medical school tuition. As fans of the 2011 anime series might know, the manga pretty much wrapped up Gon’s arc and has since pivoted to following Kurapika.

Image: Yoshihiro Togashi/Shueisha

Kurapika is a member of the Kurta clan, a group of isolated people known for their brilliant Scarlet Eyes. When he was younger, they were all killed by a group of thieves known as the Phantom Troupe and their eyes plucked out and sold across the black market. Kurapika has dedicated his life to tracking down the Scarlet Eyes and eliminating the Phantom Troupe — at the cost of his own life energy. This quest has led him on a dangerous expedition to an unknown continent, where he serves as bodyguard to a baby princess. He’s also been embroiled in a royal family’s cutthroat war for succession.

Leorio is also there, but he’s working on the Med Bay and we unfortunately don’t see much of him (though the teaser image Viz Media tweeted out hints that maybe we’ll see more of Leorio).

Volume 37 of Hunter x Hunter hits Shonen Jump on Oct. 23. An unofficial Shonen Jump Twitter account posted an image of the cover: