This ‘Hunter x Hunter’ And ‘Dragon Ball Z’ Mash-Up Is Too Perfect

Hunter x Hunter is one of the most popular Shonen action series because of the choices it makes to differentiate itself from other manga stories. But one criticism, and in-joke, from the fan community is how similar one character looks to a popular Dragon Ball Z villain.

One fan took this joke one step further and imagined what would happen if Hunter x Hunter‘s Meruem (who’s getting a collectible figure soon) sat in a room with Dragon Ball Z‘s Cell.

Twitter user @u_zuta shared this art that puts Meruem toe to toe with Cell. Seeing how the two are similarly designed, even down to their point of origin, it’s natural that they would be confused at the sight of one another.

Their origins are somewhat identical as well as Meruem is the result of many evolutionary chains in the Chimera Ant arc, and Cell never reaches his “perfect” form unless he evolves as well. Though their personalities could not be more different, it does beg the question of which of the two would win in a fight should they come to blows.

Premium Bandai is currently selling a replica set of its Greed Island card game. It runs 8,800 yen (about $78 USD) and Premium Bandai will be taking orders through February with shipment beginning in April. If this seems like it would be too cumbersome but you still want to show off your love of Hunter x Hunter, you can do so with Premium Bandai’s other replica offering, the Beatle 07.

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.