'Hunter x Hunter' First Debuted 20 Years Ago Today

Yoshihiro Togashi's first debuted Hunter x Hunter in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump on March 3, 1998, and despite its rough run throughout, the series took fans by surprise and is now celebrating its 20th Anniversary.

Despite the series' famous multiple hiatuses due to its author's bouts of illness and exhaustion, fans remain loyal to the series and have kept it one of the most popular action series running in the magazine. The series has gotten such well deserved attention over the years because of Togashi's spins on the shonen action formula. While his progression and escalation remains the same as other series, Hunter x Hunter is unique in how it ties all of its story arcs together into a properly flowing story.

Rather than each feel like a random assortment events featuring enemies of increasing strength, Togashi uses his story arcs to plant seeds for future arcs and gives a ton of attention to his side characters. In fact, there are major swaths of the story where its presumed lead, Gon, takes a backseat to Kurapika or Killua.

While the series has seen two different anime adaptations, there has yet to be a proper return to the anime that fans wish for as well. But now that the manga is 20 years old today, and is now back from its most recent hiatus, perhaps there is still hope out there for a more involved Hunter x Hunter anniversary.

Regardless, fans are still paying tribute for the series' birthday. Read on to see fans' well wishes.