The most followed mangaka on Twitter is back.  And creatively speaking, he hasn’t changed much.  If you thought Togashi Yoshihiro was going to make allowances for this hiatus being the longest so far, you’re sadly mistaken.  And honestly – what were you even thinking?  This is Togashi we’re talking about.  When has he ever made allowances for anything?

It’s just hilarious to me that in his first new material in 184 weeks, Togashi just plows right ahead with a chapter featuring characters from about the fifth circle of significance.  Because, presumably, that’s what he drafted in the first place – it was next.  You were never going to see Gon and Killua (indeed who knows if we ever will again – though Gon has been plastered all over the marketing for the series), but never mind relevant “Dark Continent” names like Kurapika or Melody or Bisky – we didn’t even get succession candidates.  We got a bunch of mobsters from the Kakin underground.  And I’d be lying if I said I remembered who any of them were.

There is a connection to some names from about the third tier – the Spiders, who’d cut a deal with one of the crime families to find out who offed some of them and help them climb a tier or two on the ship.  And I remembered that only because I looked it up.  The Spiders do make an appearance in Chapter 392, as does ex-Spider Hisoka, looking as respectable as we’ve ever seen him.

My friend Samu kindly provided me with some links to research everything that happened in this arc, but while I looked them over, to be honest I have limited time and limited patience for that sort of thing these days.  I don’t know how even Togashi keeps it all straight, to be honest.  As such I find this arc to be more interesting on abstract level than genuinely compelling, and I’m less invested in it than any in the series.  The fact that it’s been so brutalized by Togashi’s health-driven breaks doesn’t help in that respect, either.

Nevertheless, it’s great to have Togashi back since any Togashi is better than 99% of what’s out there and what’s more, pretty much unique.  I’m sure I’ll get back to the level of engagement I was at during the last active period, though if he’s able to stick around for more than 10 chapters (1 volume) that would certainly help.  Will he be?  Well, we can at least be hopeful.  Togashi taking to Twitter is the one huge difference this time around – he’s sharing the experience, including the ugly side of trying to be a mangaka with debilitating back issues.  Togashi is now drawing exclusively on a tablet, curled in kind of a “C” shape in a special chair, and that seemed to be working at least marginally better for him.  All we can do is hope.

It’s definitely a flush moment for Togashi as an artist.  His “Puzzle” exhibition is drawing huge crowds in Tokyo, mangaka from across the spectrum are declaring their abject worship, and it’s pretty clear that anime would love to produce more HxH if he ever gives them enough material (mind you, a Hisoka vs. Chrollo OVA could happen right now).  When Volume 37 comes out it will no doubt have monster sales, breaking into seven figures easily.  No matter how rarely Togashi is able to produce new material, his popularity never wavers.  He’s a phenomenon (and deservedly so).

So – will I be covering these new chapters?  The best answer I can give you is yes, but I’m not sure in what fashion.  I may do weekly posts if time permits, or I may find that I don’t have enough to say and just do a summary at the end of the ten chapters we know we’re getting.  Not knowing whether it will just be those ten makes that decision even harder, but I’ll figure out something that makes sense as we go.  In the meantime, I think we ought to do what we should every time this happens – appreciate having Togashi active and creating, because there’s no one else like him.