Shueisha’s Shonen Jump Plus announced on May 31 that Yoshiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter manga would begin serialization again on June 26. This relaunch is the first time since the series’s hiatus in 2016, and it is slated to appear in the 30th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. Volume 34 of Hunter x Hunter will be released on the same day as well. To commemorate the occasion, Shueisha has released free chapters of Hunter x Hunter on the Shonen Jump Plus. Currently, the manga is on the Dark Continent Expedition arc.
On May 31 Shonen Jump’s global vice president at Viz Media, Hisashi Sasaki confirmed the Viz Media would simultaneously release the English digital edition of Hunter x Hunter when returns on June 26.
I can now officially announce that H ✕ H is coming back from hiatus! And yes, we will simultaneously include in English SJ from No.30!
— SHONENJUMP SASAKI (@SASAKI_Hisashi) May 30, 2017
Long hiatuses have plagued Hunter x Hunter serialization since Shueisha first started publishing the series in 1998. Over the years, Togashi has had to cease publication due to health reasons. Hunter x Hunter last appeared on the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump July of last year before entering an indefinite hiatus.
The following is a list compiled by Yahoo Japan of Hunter x Hunter‘s hiatuses:
February 2006 to October 2007 (1 year and 8 months)
December 2007 to February 2008 (3 months)
May 2008 to September 2008 (6 months)
December 2008 to December 2009 (1 year)
June 2010 to August 2011 (1 year and 1 month)
March 2012 to May 2014 (2 years and 3 months)
August 2014 to May 2016 (1 year and 8 months)
July 2016 to June 2016 (1 year)
Shueisha released the 33rd volume of the manga last summer, the first time the manga had been compiled since 2012. This volume sold over almost 300,000 volumes within the first week of its release and became number one on the best-sellers list for comics.
Since its 1998 debut, Hunter x Hunter has inspired two anime adaptations, OVAs, two films, two musicals, ten video games, a spin-off one-shot drawn by Tokyo Ghoul’s Sui Ishida, and countless doujinshi. Representations of Hunter x Hunter at doujinshi events is not as strong as other Weekly Shonen Jump series such as Naruto, Bleach, and Gintama. However, an only event called Re: Hunter continues to be held, attracting international fans of Hunter x Hunter every spring and fall in Japan. The last Re: Hunter occurred at Super Comic City this past May.
