Just as we’re reminded of the insane hours One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda keeps, we forget about another famed manga creator who has been taking time off.
Japanese site Netallica pointed out the concern Oda’s schedule has caused among fans, with people saying he should not overdue it and should take it easy. What about Yoshihiro Togashi, the creator of Hunter × Hunter?
Togashi has put Hunter x Hunter on hiatus numerous times over the years. In an article titled “King of Hiatus,” website Comipress went through and showed how frequently he’s missed publication since the late 1990s.
There could be a variety of reasons for these breaks. Honestly, I don’t think it’s fair to Togashi to attempt to guess those reasons or try to put myself in his position. I’m sure he has his reasons, whether they are for physical or mental health — or simply a desire to have a life.
Apparently, Togashi did have serious back surgery, and the last we’d heard in September 2014 (via ANN), Weekly Shonen Jump was putting Hunter x Hunter on hiatus until further notice.
As Movie News Guide, the manga’s arc isn’t officially finished, so this hiatus has left fans feeling in limbo. That feeling is understandable.
As Netallica notes, Japanese fans keep saying things like Togashi should “get back to work” and “draw manga”. There doesn’t seem to be the same concern that Oda gets. It’s like fans don’t want manga creators to overwork themselves, but then seems miffed or even somewhat upset when a time is taken off.
Comments
8 responses to “Manga Fans Sure Can Be Demanding”
Signs of frustration at a lack of content really just shows how good HiatusXHiatus is; that fans want more of the quality content that makes the series so great. And yes much of the breaks are health related, he hasn’t been in that great of a condition for a long time but you can see he tried really hard to keep pressing on. However you see in HxH that it began to severely affect his work quality, it began to vary rather drastically. For example take a look at chapter 337 *SPOILERS IN LINK*(not sure if i can post links to these sorts of things, so remove if neccessary) http://kissmanga.com/Manga/Hunter-x-Hunter/Hunter-X-Hunter-337?id=108704
tbh i’m pretty sure i could draw that myself so i think it was a good idea to just stop completely, in order to finish in a way that befits the series. All we can really do is hope Togashi-sensei gets better soon 🙂
He does good work, and I understand if health issues and whatnot are a reason for staying on Hiatus. But like Starze mentioned, HxH is a good manga and people are eager for the next installments.
He should not ‘overdue’ it ¿
What bugs me is the massive contrast between how much leeway is given to Togashi with HxH as opposed to Jump’s infamously ruthless attitude towards new series. There needs to be a bit more balance imo.
i agree, there should be more leeway but in reality the nature of the industry tends to prevent this from happening, if you are an established mangaka with one or more popular serialisations under your belt you are bound to want to be retained so therefore get more leeway. At the other end of the spectrum there are just a ridiculous amount of new entrants and new writers that enable (and cause) Jump and other companies to be so selective/ruthless in their choices. There is a surplus in both supply and demand (read as; golden age) which gives us the high quality we are used to. Economically it’s sound business practice but pretty shitty towards new series/writers. It doesn’t help that profit margins are pretty tight in the industry at large anyway, or the way through which writers are paid :/
Maybe he should just script the last few chapters and get Madhouse to finish animating it. God I miss eating cereal and watching Hunter x Hunter on wednesday morning (via crunchyroll) It was my most favourite thing.
Speaking of, Where’s Kon’s last film Madhouse!!!?!?!
I understand if Togashi cannot write. What bothers me is that he doesn’t communicate with his fans. He won’t tell us if he even plans to continue the manga, or when it might continue. We have no idea what is going on so we aimlessly wait for something that may not even come.
At least Togashi’s issue appears to be health related. Meanwhile it’s a running joke that the timing of when Kentaro Miura puts Berserk on hiatus seems to eerily line up with releases of Idolmaster games…