I know, the Hunter x Hunter manga hasn’t updated in years now. The anime is just as bad really, mostly due to the lack of material from the manga. So when any news goes up, every fan is excited. Well, unfortunately, it’s likely not the news you’ve been hoping for.
For those of you who can’t read Japanese, this Hunter x Hunter Twitter post is from Real Escape Game‘s official Twitter account. An escape game is basically a live-action roleplaying game in which you work together with a group of other players in order to solve puzzles to escape a specially designed escape room. The escape rooms can span multiple rooms to make it more complex, but the basic premise remains the same.
As for the actual Twitter post, it basically announces a collaboration with the Hunter x Hunter franchise in order to make a themed escape room modeled after the Hunter Exam tests. You’re apparently supposed to make this escape room at home with a special kit you can buy. Once done, you’re apparently supposed to communicate with “Gon” and “Killua”, who are possibly trained actors. Those two act as gamemasters for your sessions, giving you instructions and generally making you feel as if you are participating in a Hunter Exam. And unfortunately, that’s it.
Hunter x Hunter, Where Art Thou?
It’s hard to believe that after so many years of no Hunter x Hunter news, that this is all we get. Then again, it may not be all that surprising if you follow the manga. Unfortunately, the manga is plagued with very long and numerous hiatuses. The current hiatus started from Ch. 390, which last posted in Weekly Shonen Jump back in November 26, 2018. I don’t know about you, but a hiatus of over 2 years is seriously pushing it.
Yoshihiro Togashi, the mangaka for Hunter x Hunter, has given various reasons for these hiatuses. Most of them are medical reasons, mostly to do with chronic illness and lower back pain. Some however, have zero explanation. The current hiatus is the former, although Togashi-sensei is a bit vague on exactly what he’s suffering from this time. He mentioned that he had already completed 10 weeks of storyboards, and that he plans to continue to work on the manuscripts during the hiatus. Unfortunately, that was also the last we heard of him since. Let’s hope that he’s still in good health, and that Hunter x Hunter doesn’t become an orphaned series.
Conclusion
The first Hunter x Hunter news we get in over 2 years…and it’s a goddamn virtual escape game collaboration. Welp, I suppose the manga‘s hiatus continues. You can’t have an anime without the material it’s based on, after all. Oh, you could, but filler material tends to be sketchy at best for a very good reason.
Sources: Real Escape Game, Anime News Network
