! Beyond is the spitting image of late Netero. Does that count?
! But the second DVD. :ninja:
! Beyond is the spitting image of late Netero. Does that count?
! But the second DVD. :ninja:
Thank god I didn't start this series yet.
Thank god I didn't start this series yet.
Me too. I'm waiting for it to end before I can start.
You guys are going to be waiting awhile I'm afraid. Despite what some people think HxH ain't ending any time soon, even hiatuses aside.
I'm not really bugged that much by the hiatuses personally. Don't misconstrue me, in a perfect world I'd love and vastly prefer HxH to be continuously running weekly like One Piece and the like or at the very least be in a monthly format. Nor am I defending Togashi's ongoing attrociously lazy work ethic. However I just use the time I'd spend every week for HxH on some other manga while I wait for the series to get off it's Dragon Quest induced stop. It's not like there aren't other great manga (or at the very least, entertaining manga) out there.
How long ago was the latest Dragon Quest game released, exactly ?
Back in 09 I believe
X is coming up
You guys are going to be waiting awhile I'm afraid. Despite what some people think HxH ain't ending any time soon, even hiatuses aside.
I'm not really bugged that much by the hiatuses personally. Don't misconstrue me, in a perfect world I'd love and vastly prefer HxH to be continuously running weekly like One Piece and the like or at the very least be in a monthly format. Nor am I defending Togashi's ongoing attrociously lazy work ethic. However I just use the time I'd spend every week for HxH on some other manga while I wait for the series to get off it's Dragon Quest induced stop. It's not like there aren't other great manga (or at the very least, entertaining manga) out there.
It's exactly what I'm doing, only I haven't started it.
I'm currently catching up on Gintama and Jojo.
Makes more sense than him ending the series.
Not mad or disappointed btw. This time around he didn't leave us hanging in a middle of the climax of an arc. I literally have not much to look forward to with w/e the next arc will be.
So did anyone translate this yet, or should I do it…
I mean, I'll do it anyway, but it seems like all the fans are just people who whine about hiatuses. Would you rather have a crappy manga that meanders and draws stuff on, or a good manga that stops for a few months. I mean, usually how every other... thing except weekly manga works, is that it comes out in seasons. Or long itterations. Or some such thing.
^^^Im not complaining. I'm thrilled we got a new anime, finished the ant arc, and had 30 straight weeks of chapters. I'd be fine with a gone for a year then 30 weeks of chapters schedule
Hunter X Hunter is The Darkt Tower equivalent in mangadom
Would you rather have a crappy manga that meanders and draws stuff on, or a good manga that stops for a few months.
You act as if those things are mutually exclusive.
I mean, usually how every other… thing except weekly manga works, is that it comes out in seasons. Or long itterations. Or some such thing.
And Togashi works for… a WEEKLY MANGA MAGAZINE. If he can't hack it, switch to a monthly, take one week out of every four off, write a novel instead, retire, or just admit he needs an assistant or two so he wouldn't burn out so quickly, and can then manage to do the same job every other one of his peers is able to do, without being given inexplicable special treatment.
Hunter X Hunter is The Darkt Tower equivalent in mangadom
So its going to end with them meeting the personification of Togashi living in the manga, literally deus ex machina write out plot obstacles, and then end on an incredibly lame and sour note back where it began?
I'm fine with the guy taking breaks, there's absoluletly nothing wrong with a little time off. But when it becomes so frequent and when he takes a full year off it gets ridiculous and he shouldn't be forgiven no matter how good his story is. Something like Berserk is totally different though, you can just tell by looking at the art how much more work is put into the detail than in HxH.
I haven't read the series to be honest with you but its getting hard to not read it because I hear its better than One Piece, these frequent breaks are kind of putting it off for me though.
@RobbyBevard:
And Togashi works for… a WEEKLY MANGA MAGAZINE. If he can't hack it, switch to a monthly, take one week out of every four off, write a novel instead, retire, or just admit he needs an assistant or two so he wouldn't burn out so quickly, and can then manage to do the same job every other one of his peers is able to do, without being given inexplicable special treatment.
I bet when he started he had put a lot of pride in the idea and attempt of doing a manga solely by himself that would become the flagship for JUMP. Had he accomplished that he probably would be regarded as a legend.
Now it's just sad.
lol this is literally one of the most circuitous threads on the internet
you guys just really love to say the same things over and over lol
! Netero is the family name. The late's Netero's name is Issac, this one's Netero.
! Nothing confirms that he's his real son though.
! Yeah, Netero is the family name. Issac Netero and Beyond Netero are their names.
! Issac Netero
! Last speech bubble. アイザック=ネテロ aizakku=netero (the equal sign is the same as the ・, it just separates 2 words in katakana, specifically in a name, if I'm not mistaken)
! Beyond Netero
! Again, last speech bubble. ビヨンド=ネテロ biyondo=netero
! So, the pun is that Beyond Netero is someone beyond Netero (aka the chairman, who we think of as Netero).
! It really has nothing to do with whether Beyond's actually the late chairman's son or not. The fact remains that it's a stupid pun.
But it wasn't an ending of a volume.
Yeah, but in Robby's case, if he's thinking of dropping it, last chapter would be a better breaking off point. What does the volume ending have to do with dropping a weekly manga you're reading for free online? A good volume breaking off point won't likely come until the end of the series.
! Well that line does seem fishy :
"The second dvd was only to be viewed by all 12 of the zodiac if someone claiming to be netero's child appeared."
! That word can be translated as "claim" but also as "identify himself (as)" So it's not necessarily fishy. Besides, it says publicly. I think it's more likely that Netero didn't tell people about his son for whatever reason, but thought the son might come forward when he died, so he left instructions for such a scenario. If the son doesn't, no reason for anyone to know about him.
! On the other hand, if Beyond is an imposter, at the very least, Netero knew about him and prepared instructions. But that's kind of weird thing to keep from your advisers. Reasons for hiding an actual son are a lot more abundant.
Yeah, but in Robby's case, if he's thinking of dropping it, last chapter would be a better breaking off point. What does the volume ending have to do with dropping a weekly manga you're reading for free online?
Actually, I support and buy the hard copies of the series I like. Hunter is one of them. It would be easier on my shelf if the good stopping point had been at the end of a volume.
Prooobably why Togashi timed it that way.
Well, I experienced the wonder of a "new HxH chapter this week!" twice since I've caught up, I guess that's something. But HxH will forever remain "that series that is on Hiatus" in my mind.
I hope he (miraculously) finishes the manga before that Dragon Quest MMO comes out, though, or else we'll never see him again.
btw to all those afraid of reading, read one chapter a week and in 3 years you should be at GI. or read upto GI and start reading one chap pr week, that way you will catch up in 100 or so chapters. just regulate and don't be greedy :p
! What is this son people are talking about? Did I miss something?
@RobbyBevard:
You act as if those things are mutually exclusive.
And Togashi works for… a WEEKLY MANGA MAGAZINE. If he can't hack it, switch to a monthly, take one week out of every four off, write a novel instead, retire, or just admit he needs an assistant or two so he wouldn't burn out so quickly, and can then manage to do the same job every other one of his peers is able to do, without being given inexplicable special treatment.
So its going to end with them meeting the personification of Togashi living in the manga, literally deus ex machina write out plot obstacles, and then end on an incredibly lame and sour note back where it began?
So, by that standard, if he was in a monthly magazine and got the same amount of content out a year, then it would be ok? It would be the exact same thing.
Dude, TONS of manga are like this. It isn't an uncommon thing for manga to go on hiatuses. Often without announcement of when(or even if) they'll be back. Many manga run only every other week or every 4th week in a weekly magazine, as well. Are they somehow at fault or does it make the manga bad because of that? I really don't think so, I wholeheartedly disagree. You're holding it up to a weird standard of "because it's in this magazine he doesn't have any choice". Where it doesn't actually make the series any worse. It's a demand for instant gratification and appeal to the majority (everyone else does it, so he has to, too). And compared to a monthly manga (any monthly manga, even one that comes out every issue) he's done a lot more total pages this year than they do for an average year.
Here's a brief list of manga which go on hiatuses, have gone on hiatuses, have irregular release rates, etc:
Black Lagoon: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1447
Vagabond: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=387 (Been on hiatus for over a year and a half)
Saint Young Men: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=19610
Hayate no Gotoku: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=778
Liar Game: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=3296
Shamo: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=325 (Went on hiatus for 5 years, changed publishers.)
Kaijyuu no Kodomo: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=7511
Garouden: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=2159
Akagi: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=10132
Historie: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=3548 (Goes on hiatuses, some chapters have only like 9-10 pages even though it's a monthly manga)
Tobaku Haouden Zero: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=17390 (Went on hiatus for about 2 and a half years)
Arakawa Under the Brdige: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=7227
Tokkou no Shima: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=24898
Air Gear: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=491
Gunnm Last Order: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=2158 (Author said it was going on hiatus and may never come back, and eventually changed magazines and publishers after 6 months.)
Real: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=142 (Comes out with about one volume a year for 11 years.)
Berserk: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=88 DN Angel: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=361
D. Gray Man: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=95
Nana: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=655
Ubel Blatt: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=2291
So, are ALL these manga inferior because they don't keep a regular schedule? Do they not deserve to exist because of one reason or another that the authors don't keep a regular schedule? I didn't even list the hundreds of irregularly scheduled manga that aren't on hiatuses. These are just ones I could find offhand that have frequent hiatuses or went on a long multi-month/year hiatuses (The reason mostly is that it isn't a big deal, and people don't categorize manga by "goes on hiatuses" and "doesn't go on hiatuses"). And there are TONS more, I just can't find one unifying resource. The majority of these also happen to either be ones actively on hiatus or having went on hiatus or come back in the last 6 months. And I read most of these and I think they're VERY good manga, and it just honestly makes me sick to hear people saying "I'm dropping this because it's going on hiatus" if they genuinely like the manga. It's common and it's a necessary evil, and it doesn't make the manga worse. You're basing it off some personal thing having to do with the author that has NOTHING to do with the series based on rumors that he's just lazy and doesn't want to do it all year round, or you just don't want to have to wait after reading it for so long, or whatever other reason one might have. HXH is one of the longest running mangas around and Togashi's been doing serial manga for nearly 25 years now.
Sorry if this sounds obnoxious, but it seriously annoys me how immature people a lot of people are about this in this thread.
My first hiatus and hopefully my last.. lol Like i said the series wasn't going to end because it was so obvious. Hopefully the hiatus isn't any longer than 3 months.
I've been trying to avoid adding to the discussion of the hiatus and Togashi but I can't resist any longer (see last paragraph for my thoughts in general).
@RobbyBevard:
You act as if those things are mutually exclusive.
They are mutually exclusive for some authors. Not everyone can write a weekly series while keeping it interesting. Not everyone can be Oda. To insinuate Togashi is lazy because he can't write HxH in that way is unfair. The fact that he continues to create intriguing plot lines 14 years into HxH suggests how much he still cares about the series. Many skilled manga authors burn themselves out but continue producing weekly chapters that are terrible (everyone can think of their own example of this). I don't want HxH to be ruined in that way. Even if that means hiatuses.
@RobbyBevard:
And Togashi works for… a WEEKLY MANGA MAGAZINE. If he can't hack it, switch to a monthly, take one week out of every four off, write a novel instead, retire, or just admit he needs an assistant or two so he wouldn't burn out so quickly, and can then manage to do the same job every other one of his peers is able to do, without being given inexplicable special treatment.
Yeah, as outsiders, Togashi changing magazines seems like a good way to avoid this problem (I've thought about it before). But please consider that if the weekly magazine he writes for wants to keep him on and he wants to continue to write for them that is all that really matters. You suggest that he is lazy relative to his peers. Do you really consider Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo to be more hard working than him? They do produce more chapters than Togashi but, surely, that is not the only measure of an author's work.
I think HxH is an amazing, innovative, series and as much as hiatuses suck I consider them to just be a part of the deal. Most of us who have read and enjoyed HxH for years have accepted them. This time we were fortunate in that so many chapters were published and that it even has an anime that is currently running. If you don't like this series that much I understand why you would be upset but you should probably just go read something else. The hiatuses are not likely to go away. You can complain about Togashi being 'lazy' if it makes you feel better but realize that many of us don't see him this way. My feelings are those of respect for a Mangaka who continues to try hard to create a story worth reading.
So, by that standard, if he was in a monthly magazine and got the same amount of content out a year, then it would be ok? It would be the exact same thing.
\Many manga run only every other week or every 4th week in a weekly magazine, as well. Are they somehow at fault or does it make the manga bad because of that?
Yes, that would resolve the complaint entirely. It's not about the amount produced, its about keeping to a regular dependable schedule and keeping the quality as consistent as possible.
I've already said multiple times that there's no complaint about other manga series being monthly, Berserk's regular hiatuses, or Negima having only come out 3 weeks out of every 4. Because you know exactly how they're going to go, what schedule they're going to be on, and you can count on the quality level more or less maintaining whenever chapters do come out.
We get three or four chapters of Berserk, then it goes on hiatus for 4 months, then we get three or four chapters, and it comes out to 10 or 12 per year. Even when its a content light chapter, you never look at the finished art and think "Oh, he just scribbled that out in 10 minutes." The quality remains the same.
When George Martin takes 5 years to write a novel… no one questions the creative process involved. if that's how long it takes, that's how long it takes... but we are allowed to get a little irritated if he had multiple cliffhangers that have now been sitting for 10 years and the overall final product isn't anywhere near as good as what he's been shown to be capable of.
George Lucas took 20 years to make Star Wars Episode 1. No one complained about how long it took to make... but in the product that came out.
They are mutually exclusive for some authors. Not everyone can write a weekly series while keeping it interesting. Not everyone can be Oda. To insinuate Togashi is lazy because he can't write HxH in that way is unfair.
Even Oda can't be Oda. The last arc was probably the worst one he's ever done, and that followed a couple years of drag.
I'm not saying Togashi is lazy, or intending to anyway. I'm saying, if he can't keep up the pace of a weekly and maintain story and art quality,for whatever reason (health, inspiration, work ethic, whatever the reason) figure out something that works that's more consistent that suits him better. Be that go monthly, hire assistants, or whatever. Or at least at the time of hiatus, have some inkling of how long he'll be away.
All american comics are monthly. (Except when they fall behind schedule and thus come out after 6 weeks instead of 4.) European comics are often annual. Novel series regularly come out years apart with no announcement of when the next one is supposed to be with authors doing different works entirely between them. It's not the breaks or the time taken that give me trouble. I don't know why it feels okay for an american comic to be a week or two late, but its so throwing coming from Hunter, but it is. (possibly because they aren't tied to 20 other titles keeping the same schedule)
If hunter, like clockwork, had 20 chapters over five months, then went on a hiatus for 12 months, that'd be fine. But when its 10 chapters, or 30, and the length of the hiatus varies wildly… that throws some extra unease and... I guess dissapointment maybe? into the equation that I just don't experience from anything else.
But apparently both he and the magazine are fine with the current setup, they keep letting him do it, so it's presumably never going to change. So that'll be what it'll be. The series is good, I'm not going to argue that, but I don't think I personally have the patience for always being on edge about how much we get in a go anymore. If I can just wait for the american volume releases (which are waaaay behind the japanese weekly) and stop following the weekly, and treat it like any other series of novels, where its just "when it shows up it shows up" I'd personally probably be a lot better off.
Or maybe if he just keeps to shorter 20 chapter arcs that don't take years and years to resolve.
Its simply that, the schedule Togashi runs on, does something to my enjoyment of the series that nothing else does, on any schedule or medium. And I don't know why that is. Maybe it IS because its so good, maybe its because there's less and less new manga series I like as I get older, or because its one of the only three or four long running titles left I care at all about. Maybe its just personal jelousy from having to work all the time and being envious of his ability to take time away from work. I dunno.
Anyway, I'm apparently coming across far more pessimistic and angry about the series than I ever intended, and failed to communicate in some way, since many people seem to be having the same reaction to what I'm saying, and not what I'm meaning, no matter how much I try to explain it. I've made this point as clearly as I can, several times by now, so I don't think I'll be trying to clarify again.
Of course in a year I'll have forgotten this stance entirely and jump right into the new stuff when it comes around again.
Is it safe to assume you are keeping the thread open this time around because of the new anime/movie?
Is it safe to assume you are keeping the thread open this time around because of the new anime/movie?
As long as it doesn't turn into an unrelated spam fest like last time. Yes.
I'm still waiting for the return of Black Lagoon, Veritas, Shamo, and Vagabond. Gave up on Garouden. Almost gave up on Ubel Blatt until it came back around the same time as Liar Game.
I've come to accept hiatuses are just apart of the experience of certain very good manga I read. At least it's not common with most great manga. What made it so unbearable for HxH was implication that Togashi was breaking to play video games and shit.
@RobbyBevard:
Yes, that would resolve the complaint entirely. It's not about the amount produced, its about keeping to a regular dependable schedule and keeping the quality as consistent as possible.
I've already said multiple times that there's no complaint about other manga series being monthly, Berserk's regular hiatuses, or Negima having only come out 3 weeks out of every 4. Because you know exactly how they're going to go, what schedule they're going to be on, and you can count on the quality level more or less maintaining whenever chapters do come out.
We get three or four chapters of Berserk, then it goes on hiatus for 4 months, then we get three or four chapters, and it comes out to 10 or 12 per year. Even when its a content light chapter, you never look at the finished art and think "Oh, he just scribbled that out in 10 minutes." The quality remains the same.
When George Martin takes 5 years to write a novel… no one questions the creative process involved. if that's how long it takes, that's how long it takes... but we are allowed to get a little irritated if he had multiple cliffhangers that have now been sitting for 10 years and the overall final product isn't anywhere near as good as what he's been shown to be capable of.
George Lucas took 20 years to make Star Wars Episode 1. No one complained about how long it took to make... but in the product that came out.
Even Oda can't be Oda. The last arc was probably the worst one he's ever done, and that followed a couple years of drag.
I'm not saying Togashi is lazy, or intending to anyway. I'm saying, if he can't keep up the pace of a weekly and maintain story and art quality,for whatever reason (health, inspiration, work ethic, whatever the reason) figure out something that works that's more consistent that suits him better. Be that go monthly, hire assistants, or whatever. Or at least at the time of hiatus, have some inkling of how long he'll be away.
All american comics are monthly. (Except when they fall behind schedule and thus come out after 6 weeks instead of 4.) European comics are often annual. Novel series regularly come out years apart with no announcement of when the next one is supposed to be with authors doing different works entirely between them. It's not the breaks or the time taken that give me trouble. I don't know why it feels okay for an american comic to be a week or two late, but its so throwing coming from Hunter, but it is. (possibly because they aren't tied to 20 other titles keeping the same schedule)
If hunter, like clockwork, had 20 chapters over five months, then went on a hiatus for 12 months, that'd be fine. But when its 10 chapters, or 30, and the length of the hiatus varies wildly... that throws some extra unease and... I guess dissapointment maybe? into the equation that I just don't experience from anything else.
But apparently both he and the magazine are fine with the current setup, they keep letting him do it, so it's presumably never going to change. So that'll be what it'll be. The series is good, I'm not going to argue that, but I don't think I personally have the patience for always being on edge about how much we get in a go anymore. If I can just wait for the american volume releases (which are waaaay behind the japanese weekly) and stop following the weekly, and treat it like any other series of novels, where its just "when it shows up it shows up" I'd personally probably be a lot better off.
Or maybe if he just keeps to shorter 20 chapter arcs that don't take years and years to resolve.
Its simply that, the schedule Togashi runs on, does something to my enjoyment of the series that nothing else does, on any schedule or medium. And I don't know why that is. Maybe it IS because its so good, maybe its because there's less and less new manga series I like as I get older, or because its one of the only three or four long running titles left I care at all about. Maybe its just personal jelousy from having to work all the time and being envious of his ability to take time away from work. I dunno.
Anyway, I'm apparently coming across far more pessimistic and angry about the series than I ever intended, and failed to communicate in some way, since many people seem to be having the same reaction to what I'm saying, and not what I'm meaning, no matter how much I try to explain it. I've made this point as clearly as I can, several times by now, so I don't think I'll be trying to clarify again.
Of course in a year I'll have forgotten this stance entirely and jump right into the new stuff when it comes around again.
What I don't understand is: you have a magazine targeted at young children, and you take 7 years to finish one arc. How many people could still stay around to be invested ?
^ Hunter x Hunter doesn't do very well in the weekly format but it does do well on tank sales.
And that only makes sense if you consider longtime fans.
It's not that hard to understand, really.
I mean, you're still reading One Piece / Naruto / Hunter X Hunter / Bleach / Whatever from whenever you started reading them, aren't you?
You didn't stop reading: why would JUMP readers? JUMP may be "targeted at young children" but manga fans of all ages read JUMP, growing up and old with the magazine.
Over in the JUMP TOC thread there were some posts with pretty interesting statistics concerning the drastically older readerbase of JUMP in recent years compared to a few years ago, wonder if they can be found.
–-
But anyway, for JUMP readers there's obviously going to be a lot of crossover when it comes to being patrons of one manga or another (they're all published in the same magazine).
I'm willing to wager that, just as it is here or anywhere else, you've got folks who read and buy One Piece, Bakuman, Hunter X Hunter, Beelzebub and others and they aren't just exclusively fans of a single series, but many.
And when Hunter X Hunter or Liar's Game or Black Lagoon or Air Gear, or Blade of the Immortal or Veritas, or any number of series that go on hiatus without preamble for long periods of time… it's not like there aren't other manga to read.
That's how I figure it and imo it's just the only sensible response to Hunter X Hunter hiatuses...
! Especially considering that we aren't even supposed to be seeing the weekly releases to be affected by bad art / breaks in serialization (and thus get all mad about it).
! People love Togashi especially and I can obviously relate, but I think there's a line we can sometimes cross when it comes to being upset about the weekly goings on in this manga when they aren't even something we're paying for to be upset at. If the VOLUMES look like junk or never come out, then you can be mad – if you buy them. Togashi came back and went for 8 straight months without a break despite an arm injury, a new anime is airing, and there's going to be a movie. The manga isn't ending. We just had an incredible new arc, the return of beloved characters and the promise of some very cool new ones. Considering how we've made out after previous hiatuses, there are a LOT of pluses.
Hopefully he'll return soon, but at any rate an excellent series thought dead is revived.
–-
And I have to say, I'm really looking forward to seeing:
! What this new storyline is going to mean for the Zodiac, who I agree were underutilized in the last arc. If we get to see them –and Ging!-- in action versus this Beyond Netero, I am ALL for it.
! And as an observation, Togashi really seems to like this idea of a bizarre and unnatural Outside World more unruly than anyone could ever be prepared for. It keeps appearing in all his works. In Level E he had the alien planets and game world, in Yu Yu Hakushou he had the Makai realm, full of craziness. It's a bit daunting to imagine that Hunter X Hunter's world, extreme as it is, can't even hold a candle to what lies Outside. But very exciting!
Here's a brief list of manga which go on hiatuses, have gone on hiatuses, have irregular release rates, etc:
Black Lagoon: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1447
Vagabond: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=387 (Been on hiatus for over a year and a half)
Saint Young Men: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=19610
Hayate no Gotoku: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=778
Liar Game: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=3296
Shamo: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=325 (Went on hiatus for 5 years, changed publishers.)
Kaijyuu no Kodomo: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=7511
Garouden: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=2159
Akagi: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=10132
Historie: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=3548 (Goes on hiatuses, some chapters have only like 9-10 pages even though it's a monthly manga)
Tobaku Haouden Zero: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=17390 (Went on hiatus for about 2 and a half years)
Arakawa Under the Brdige: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=7227
Tokkou no Shima: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=24898
Air Gear: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=491
Gunnm Last Order: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=2158 (Author said it was going on hiatus and may never come back, and eventually changed magazines and publishers after 6 months.)
Real: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=142 (Comes out with about one volume a year for 11 years.)
Berserk: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=88 DN Angel: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=361
D. Gray Man: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=95
Nana: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=655
Ubel Blatt: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=2291
I haven't read all of the series in that list but I know for a fact that most of what you listed cannot be compared to Hunter. For one thing, the art is always consistent and for another, most of them have only had one hiatus not constant hiatuses where they churn out an inferior product (art-wise) every time.
Vagabond has had one major hiatus because the author hit a mental block and it was right before the end game which the author needs special consideration. plus it's monthly.
Hayate has had one hiatus. Reasons unknown, probably the author wanted a break or something.
Liar Game has had one hiatus right after the end of a great battle so it wasn't randomly injected during an arc and didn't ruin the flow of the story.
Shamo didn't go on a hiatus as much as it ended it's part one. It had built up slowly to wrapping up the manga for that point till it restarted. Plus the author had the pretty legitimate excuse of having to change effin magazines.
Akagi is a Fukumoto manga who is known for leaving his manga on hold to work on other manga. Akagi in that regard is a major exception for him as Fukumoto generally splits his manga into parts so that they are self contained and he always releases consistent work for that part until it's finished. For Akagi, it's a manga that ahs long been dragged out because it's the only manga keeping the magazine it's in afloat and would have ended long ago if it weren't for that fact.
Historie: Monthly. And the irregular releases you're talking about is when it takes off a month here and there.
Zero: Fukumoto manga, split into parts yadda yadda.
Air Gear: One hiatus. Also it sucks monkey balls.
Berserk: As Robby explained.
Ubel Blatt: One hiatus.
None of these I've mentioned compare to Togashi and I have a feeling that the rest of what you mentioned don't either. You're totally missing the point. It's not about having a hiatus, it's about CONSISTENCY. Togashi is the only one I know who constantly goes into hiatuses at unpredictable intervals for an unpredictable length and when he does come out of them, he gives out shoddy work. With the other authors you mentioned, the ones who didn't only have 1 hiatus and so aren't relevant to the argument from the get go as at this point, they were one time things, (I think Berserk's the only one that fits the bill actually), you know where the author is coming from, you know his schedule which is consistent and fixed and you know he works hard because of the quality of the product produced. With Togashi, I just get the feeling that he doesn't care and it just ruins my experience of the manga. If the author is not invested in his own work, why should I? And it shows, not just in the constant hiatuses and shoddy art-work but in the content he churns out even after all that time, how he wastes pages with gratuitous, pointless double spreads of boxes or 9 pages of black text or even entire chapters like those terrible chapters with just Yupi and Pitou getting sexual thoughts about the King or the one with the koala with its pointless, tired and cliche, terribly shallow existential drivel.
Also I'm sorry if I'm sounding obnoxious but I'm sick and tired of being accused by many of being a self-entitled brat from expecting the minimum standard from an author. Always making excuses for the author when other authors manage just fine (when at this point he has had all the time in the world to rectify his problems and has clearly stuck to this schedule because he's comfortable with it, fans be damned) or because we don't pay (which is totally missing the point and does not affect the validity of the argument in any way).
And you know what? I'm not exactly a huge HxH fan either so I don't exactly care if Togashi goes on a hiatus either way in terms of how much I care about the manga (which is very little). If fans are satisfied with the way things are? Bully for them, their business. It does not affect me either way. What does bug the hell out of me is the constant talk about how people like me are being unreasonable for not lowering our standards, for expecting that the author at least provide the same amount of work as his peers in WSJ, about how we're silly children that are fussing around something minor and trivial and how pathetic and immature we are compared to the big adults that wait.
From an objective point of view, it seems to me that this constant trivialization of our complaints seems less to me that you actually believe that the issues are minor but more of a self-reassurance on your part that HxH is perfect and Togashi is perfect and that we're the ones who are stupid for not appreciating Togashi's genius and pathetic for not being able to wait for such mastery of the craft and it is worth it!
The result is the same old tired knee-jerk reactions that piss me off not because of the arguments made themselves but the attitude towards people who make perfectly reasonable complaints and offer reasonable alternatives like switching to a monthly or hiring assistants. Because to admit otherwise would be to admit that all the excruciating metaphorical flogging you've gotten with the manga would have been for nothing and that would have been way too much for their egos to handle!
Let me make this point clear, I don't think this applies to all or even most of the people here that are fine with Togashi's hiatuses. But I do get this impression of being marginalized and trivialized and it is not a nice feeling to be told that your opinion is worth crap and that we're just being big babies.
tl;dr
I respect your opinion that this is a minor issue that should be taken in stride. Could you respect OUR opinion that this is a major issue that people should be able to elgitmately complain about and not jump down our throats if one of us decides to no longer subject themselves to that excessive and unnecessary torture?
@Thousand:
If the author is not invested in his own work, why should I? And it shows, not just in the constant hiatuses and shoddy art-work but in the content he churns out even after all that time, how he wastes pages with gratuitous, pointless double spreads of boxes or 9 pages of black text or even entire chapters like those terrible chapters with just Yupi and Pitou getting sexual thoughts about the King or the one with the koala with its pointless, tired and cliche, terribly shallow existential drivel.
I dont think, that this particular complaint has anything to do with his constant hiatuses or him being lazy. Its just for him trying to do something special, so to say. For example, I found the many text-only pages before the death of the king very fitting and emphasizing the intended mood.
Though I fully agree with the rest of your post and with robbys. There would be fewer problems, if he had some clearly defined schedule, with him bringing out a chapter only every second or third week. Or him making a pause of 2-3 months, after having published 20 or 30 chapters. As long as we know, when this break/hiatus is coming and how long it will take.
I also kinda suspect that the abrupt and very dissatisfying end of the last arc has something to do with togashi wanting to end the arc before his hiatus.
Chapter's out !
"lets go to the new world". Damn Togashi is such a copycat.
@RobbyBevard:
Like I keep saying. Editor notes don't mean SHIT. I keep pulling out the Luffy and Ace example because its the msot ridiculous and obvious one, but I can't even begin to count how many times an editor note has said "Next chapter focuses on this character!" only for that character to not even be in the chapter, or "the battle concludes!" only for a battle to go for another volume and a half. A few weeks ago a Bleach chapter ended saying "next time, a flashback about this character!" and then there was nothing of the sort.
The editor notes are written and printed before they even GET the next chapter, and are complete guesswork on the editor's part, how often and consistently they're stupid and/or wrong is evidence of that. While yes they could ask the author whats coming next week, its pretty clear they usually don't, they just say whatever the hell.
But don't for even half a second believe the editor note about anything. There's a reason scanlators don't usually bother translating that nonsense, and its not in the trades at all. Because its completely made up crap that usually has no bearing on anything.
let's see… this chapter had the zodiacs, their new mission and a new arc, EXACTLY what the editor's notes said.
this proves that the editor's notes are completely useless after all :getlost:
Great chapter :( It makes me hope Beyond is a good guy. The guy who explained everything reminds me of a chameleon. I wonder if these guys are based on animals, too?
"The author will tell us when he decides to start up again" made me laugh.
Aaaaaaand Scene.
Everyone give him a round of applause.
We'll probably see him in another two to three years.
Time to play the waiting game.
Every time I see Beyond now, I'll probably think of Luffy, only because of the "Let us go to the New World!" and the scar on his face though. Although his adventurous spirit is pretty similar to Luffy's too.
I was seriously getting into this chapter thinking about what's going to happen then BAM, the hiatus announcement. Such a rapid shift of emotion I couldn't do anything but laugh. Glad I'm not the only one.
Well…. maybe the hiatus will just be a few weeks?............................. :(
The art will be good again when it eventually comes back 11+ months from now
Here's some advice from a long time fan: Forget about the manga. Assume it's never coming back. It'll save you alot of grief.
there's still the anime.
That was actually a great chapter. Now One Piece, Toriko and Hunter all have a New World :)
You guys have already said enough about the hiatus. In my opinion, sure things could be better, but honestly I'm OK with our current set up. I can be patient if Togashi is always going to deliver like he did in this most recent run. We got the epic end to the ant arc with the King and Komugi, Killua's interesting family, Hisoka, Hunter politics with the amazing Pariston, Leorio's brash return, the meeting of Ging and Gon and high expectations for a new arc. I'm more than satisfied.
This chapter was so fucking good, and then Hiatus announcement. Fuck it.
He can't be tired! If he was tired, just finish the manga already, he was pointing towards an ending anyways. But this? This is a start of a whole new arc with 12 new characters. . .And he stops just RIGHT after that?
I don't know how these things work so someone might enlighten me, but this makes no damn sense whatsoever.
That being said, and for the sake of discussing the last HxH chapter in xxxx time. . .I still don't see Gon and co. ready for this new world. No way. Yet this start couldn't be any more explicit "we are going to the fucking new world!".
let's see… this chapter had the zodiacs, their new mission and a new arc, EXACTLY what the editor's notes said.
this proves that the editor's notes are completely useless after all :getlost:
Oh look you said one thing that's completely stupid. This proves that everything you say must be completely stupid.
So we actually don't know what the 2nd dvd said yet? I thought Netero ordered to hunt his son. And Beyond looks awesome.
Next week in Japan
"Wow, that was an awesome chapter of Hunter x Hunter. I can't wait to see how this new story arc unfolds and what adventures await Gon and his crew."
Reads hiatus announcement
"Son of a bitch."
So we actually don't know what the 2nd dvd said yet? I thought Netero ordered to hunt his son. And Beyond looks awesome.
It's an order from V5.
:c I hate that the best manga out there right now has to go away. It's like he knows that everyone loves it and so he takes it away to tease us. that littler fucker. D:<
So, why is there a mech in Beyond's crew?
I missed Hiatus x Hiatus. It felt weird reading it weekly. Nice troll by Togashi. Just 1 chapter into the new arc and he goes on hiatus.
Next week in Japan
"Wow, that was an awesome chapter of Hunter x Hunter. I can't wait to see how this new story arc unfolds and what adventures await Gon and his crew."
Reads hiatus announcement
"Son of a bitch."
Are you sure they don't have a "That's our Togashi" sitcom relationship?
I can totally see it, especially because of that hilarious comic made about him.
Questions and Pondering..
I wonder if they will actually have to wait 2-3(random number) years before entering the Outer world, or are they just going to enter without permission. Even though it was said they technically don't need permission.
If so, I wonder if we will get arcs there, or is Togashi going to end the series after they manage to make it to the outer world. (Killua and Gon will probably be 16-17 years old)