'Hunter x Hunter' Animator Shares Character Sketches

It has been a few years since Hunter x Hunter enjoyed an anime run, but the show’s crew has not [...]

By Megan Peters

It has been a few years since Hunter x Hunter enjoyed an anime run, but the show's crew has not forgotten it. Hidehiko Sawada was the man tasked with key animation on Madhouse's anime run, and the artist recently revisited the series.

Over on Twitter, a slew of black-and-white sketches done by Sawada started circulating with fans. The images focus on a variety of fan-favorite characters, and they have got fans wishing there were more anime episodes out to enjoy.

As you can see below, the first sketch Sawada did was a cast-wide one. Gon Freecs is seen front and center while guys like Kurapika and Leorio Paradinight stand beside him. Of course Killua Zoldyck can be found near his friends, and then dozens of other familiar faces can be spotted near the team. Alluka and Biscuit Krueger are hard to miss after all.

In the following sketches, fans are shown close-ups of individual characters from Hunter x Hunter. Chrollo is seen atop one of the sketches with his forehead covered by white bandages. Biscuit is given an outfit change in another drawing while the third focuses in on Killua's fiery transformation. And, of course, Leorio is seen in one sketch looking rather drunk and a bits handsy.

For those unfamiliar with Hunter x Hunter, the series was originally created by Yoshihiro Togashi. The story follows a young boy named Gon Freecss, who discovers that his previously thought to be dead father is in fact alive. Not only is he alive, he is a famous Hunter, a professional traveler who specializes in finding rare treasures, exploring unidentified lands, and hunting down dangerous individuals. Gon then decides that in order to meet his father he has to become a licensed Hunter, but in that journey gets wrapped up in way more strangeness than he ever could have anticipated.

The series first ran in Shuiesha's Weekly Shonen Jump in March 1998. Unforunately, the series has gone on a number of hiatuses ever since 2006 which were most likely incurred by bouts of illness Togashi experienced when publishing his last work, Yu Yu Hakusho. The series has run for 360 chapters, and been collected into 47 volumes as of 2017. It's one of Shueisha's most successful selling series with over 66 million copies sold in Japan.

Are you impressed by these character sketches? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

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