Ask John: Will the Hunter x Hunter TV Series Continue Into Filler Arcs?

Question:
The Hunter x Hunter anime is closing in on the manga, with about 4-5 volumes of story left. So do you think it will follow its 90’s incarnation and simply be wrapped up before the manga ever finishes? Or will Madhouse also continue to adapt later arcs as OAVs as Nippon Animation did? Or do you also feel that the series as a whole might actually be heading to a conclusion soon, which is why the tv show was greenlit in the first place?

Answer:
I believe that there’s little doubt that Madhouse was commissioned to produce a new Hunter x Hunter television series in 2011 in order to capitalize on manga creator Yoshihiro Togashi’s return to regularly serializing his story after a lengthy span of hiatus interspersed with sporadic output. Considering that 7 years had passed since even the most recent of Nippon Animation’s Hunter x Hunter OVA series, Togashi’s heralded return to regular serialization would have offered a prime opportunity for publisher Shueisha to launch a new TV series to capture the interest of new viewers and new readers that weren’t around or weren’t reading the series back in 1998 when it premiered. In 2011 no one could predict exactly how long Togashi would sustain his work or precisely how long the Hunter x Hunter manga would continue, so doubtlessly the production plan was just for Madhouse to begin adapting the manga from the beginning, and producers would just wait to see how successful the program would become, the show’s success determining how long it would continue. Now, at 122 episodes, the show appears to be approaching the conclusion of its lengthy current story arc. Particularly in light of the other lengthy current shounen action anime St. Seiya Omega coming to its conclusion, I expect the current Hunter x Hunter television series to likewise end soon when its current “Chimera Ant” story arc finishes. The two original Hunter x Hunter feature films do demonstrate Madhouse’s ability to create original stories for the anime adaptation, but both feature films have been short, self-contained tales set within the context of the existing manga story, not lengthy, serialized stories that extend the existing manga story into the future. Nippon Animation’s adaptation was able to continue with three OVA series following its TV series because plenty of manga chapters were available to adapt into OVA episodes. Without original manga chapters to serve as a road map for TV anime episodes to continue indefinitely into the future, I don’t think that the series will attempt to do what shows such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Bleach have done in the past. My gut instinct, which may be proven wrong, is that Shueisha and Madhouse will simply conclude the current Hunter x Hunter anime franchise at the end of the current story arc and possibly resurrect the franchise a year or more in the future with supplemental OVAs when a sufficient additional amount of manga is available to adapt. The first adaptation from Nippon Animation didn’t attempt to create “original” story arcs just for the anime adaptation. The current TV series has demonstrated little desire to append the original manga with “filler” or “original” material.