'Hunter x Hunter' Creator Reveals He Let [SPOILER] Live

Volume 34 of the Hunter x Hunter manga recently released in Japan, and with it, came several notes from series creator Yoshihiro Togashi. Revealing information not known before, it seems that he intended to kill a different member of the Phantom Troupe during their interactions with Hisoka during the Yorknew City arc.

It turns out, Togashi originally wanted Hisoka to kill Machi but he let her live.

According to Togashi, "The thing [he] most wanted to do was to let someone kill a member of the Troupe. The flow of the story had already been roughly decided, but not who exactly Hisoka would kill in the end. Although Hisoka wanted to kill Machi in that place, [he] rejected it."

Togashi rejected Machi's death because "[b]ased upon reflection of and revenge from this fight, and the fact the Chrollo's ability should be curtailed, Hisoka coldly made the rational decision because [he] wanted his seriousness to be shown."

Togashi "had a hunch" that leaving Machi alive would thus make the story more interesting down the line and kept her around. Machi had the most interaction with Hisoka, so it does make sense that Togashi originally planned to kill her as he often laid multiple foreshadowing themes throughout his writing.

But seeing as how he kept her alive, he might have thought of a better idea for her in a future story. Now that the Troupe has returned in full during the current Succession Contest arc, hopefully we'll see what Togashi has planned for her soon.

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.

Hunter x Hunter was then adapted into two different anime series. One series ran from 1999 to 2001 from Nippon Animation and lasted for 62 episodes. The second adaptation, produced by Madhouse, ran from 2011 to 2014.

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