‘Hunter x Hunter’ Fans Have Lots To Say About Its New Nen Beast

Hunter x Hunter fans have been really enjoying the manga’s return from its last hiatus as the current Succession Contest arc has been introducing many cool and new ideas to the series.

The biggest of which are the Guardian Nen Beasts, and the latest one with the power to revive its host after they die has gotten all the fans talking about its potential.

When Second Prince Camilla is accused of trying to assassinate First Prince Benjamin, she is briefly held at gunpoint. While his bodyguard assumes she’s a nen user, he assumes she’s a counter type of fighter and shoots her. She unexpectedly dies, and before the bodyguard to find out the cause he’s killed by her Guardian Nen Beast.

This beast, The Cat That’s Lived A Million Lives (which is also a play on a popular children’s book in Japan), is a counter-attack typed nen beast that activates after the death of the host and steals the remaining life force of the one who killed them. Because of this, she’s incredibly confident and heads to kill Benjamin herself.

After shooting one of his guards, she’s mysterious incapacitated by his right hand bodyguard and imprisoned for the attempted murder of Prince Benjamin. Although her power leads to an unsuccessful attack on her sibling, fans are wondering what kind of role she’ll play in the rest of the arc given her almost invincible ability that will always revive her when she dies. But like most powers in Hunter x Hunter, there are a specific set of rules (such as needing to be killed by someone) that will surely be exploited somehow if she is to be put down for good.

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.

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.