Hunter x Hunter has become the Song of Ice and Fire of the manga world. The glacial pace of new chapters has brought the popular Shonen manga to a standstill, with fans wondering if mangaka Togashi Yoshihiro will ever get around to finishing it. It turns out, he isn’t quite sure himself.

During a Japanese talk show, the hosts read aloud a letter from the man behind Hunter x Hunter. It explained that he had planned for four possible endings to the manga. Three would be ones he writes himself while the fourth would be used if he dies before the manga reaches a satisfying conclusion.

This alternate ending would take place several years into the future and would largely mirror the opening to the manga, with a young girl named Gin catching a huge fish to convince her mother to stop asking her to become a Hunter like her famous grandfather, Gon. Gin has seen how often Gon had to leave her grandmother Nouko due to his adventures and swears never to leave their island home.

The most telling thing about Togashi making a statement like this is the fact that he is only 57 years old, far too young to be making such grim plans for the future.

An ending like this wouldn’t do much to wrap up the story of Hunter x Hunter, which is currently on hiatus due to Togashi’s ongoing health issues, but it does serve as a grim reminder of how stressful it can be to create a weekly manga chapter. Recently, One Piece resorted to publishing an unfinished chapter by Eiichiro Oda due to scheduling pressure, while Kentaro Miura’s death in 2021 is often attributed to the incredible strain he was under to deliver new chapters of Berserk.

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