I would blame no one for being frustrated at Hunter X Hunter once again going on hiatus after ten chapters. I know I am. I would, however, blame them for being surprised (this is clearly the routine now – ten chapters = one volume). And I would flat-out condemn them as idiots (or worse) for casting aspersions on Togashi’s work ethic (as some are still doing). The harsh lesson of HxH’s serialization is that there aren’t always good solutions to problems. Sometimes a situation just sucks and you have to deal with it.
That said, I do get the feeling that circumstances are a little different this time. Togashi, first through his Twitter account and then his author comments, has been much more forthcoming about his situation. We know more or less what he’s dealing with physically, and we know there are many more chapters (perhaps as many as thirty) which are written – though obviously not drawn. Togashi’s final (for this round) WSJ author comment (dropping the “Staff Member Tanehana” jape and getting serious) says “I’m currently trying to figure out how to keep the manga going without causing so much stress to everyone who helps me out.”
Well, that’s a lot to unpack. It’s kind of heartbreaking, at least for me, but it’s nice to have Togashi-sensei be so open about his eternal struggle with crippling back pain. To me, that sentence implies that everything is on the table. There may be no good solutions – but maybe there are acceptable ones? Maybe Togashi himself can manage to generate a new chapter per month using the current process. Or one per quarter. Maybe it means he’s open to delegating more of the process to his assistants, or even bringing in a co-author. Who knows? What’s clear is that the desire is there – both from Togashi and the editorial staff at Shueisha – to somehow drag Hunter X Hunter to the finish line.
My sense of it is that there are certain lines Togashi doesn’t want to cross. He wants to publish in WSJ, even if he can’t do weekly – I think being a WSJ mangaka is important to him symbolically. He doesn’t want to simply become a writer and let another mangaka do the art. I think the reasons are obvious – HxH is his baby. Togashi is Hunter X Hunter in every meaningful way. And as frustrating as it is for us, I believe if it isn’t his work he doesn’t see the point in continuing it. There are compromises he doesn’t want to make, but it’s clear from the words of both Togashi and the editors that he’s willing to make some. What I think is happening now is the process of trying to figure out what those are, and if they’re enough to create a new paradigm that’s workable.
It’s so exquisitely Togashi to return with ten chapters and to show us Kurapika exactly once (by far the most viral image from his Twitter) – in literally the final panel. This is his general attitude towards compromise, and it’s been totally consistent. He does what he wants, how he wants. Change that, and the magic is gone – and that’s the reality he and Shueisha are dealing with in trying to decide the series’ future. I’ll be honest – I didn’t remember the details of most of what was happening in this chapter. Hell, I had to go to the wiki to remind of who Kacho even was (though her face was familiar). But it was nice to get an extended glimpse inside Melody’s (rather neurotic) thought process.
What I don’t feel I have at this point is a horse in this race, or indeed a compelling reason to have one. It’s pretty obvious who we should be rooting against (though I wouldn’t put it past Togashi for that to be a misdirection), and certain princes and followers are more sympathetic (seemingly) than others. But spending only intermittent time with people we didn’t know at all before makes it difficult to form any deep attachments, or even to feel as if we really know them. This is clearly less of a problem for some readers than it is for me – that’s fine. That makes Melody rather important, given her ability to see through artifice to the real person underneath.
In sum, then, Hunter X Hunter at the moment is a mass of unknowns. What will happen with the manga, and what will happen with the story – I have no clue about either. I trust Togashi to make the right decision in both cases, and as always the right approach with HxH is to be grateful for whatever we get, whenever we get it.
