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NEWS: Hunter x Hunter Manga's Return Not Announced in Shonen Jump 50

I thought the author was struggling with sickness?
I quite doubt "lazyness" is the issue here.

I knew he was big, but I didn't think he had that much clout. Is he really as big of a deal as the other nigh-untouchable manga-kas? I'm talking like Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP, Akira Toriyama, Ken Akamatsu, Takehiko Inoue, and Naoki Urasawa. I guess I'm just underestimated how huge YYH and HxH is in japan.

<snip>
I knew he was big, but I didn't think he had that much clout. Is he really as big of a deal as the other nigh-untouchable manga-kas? I'm talking like Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP, Akira Toriyama, Ken Akamatsu, Takehiko Inoue, and Naoki Urasawa. I guess I'm just underestimated how huge YYH and HxH is in japan.

BrainBlow wrote:

I thought the author was struggling with sickness? I quite doubt "lazyness" is the issue here.

Yea, sickness called laziness, apathy, etc.

You don't know much about his works either right, his laziness is VERY visible and his antics are relatively well known by now.

This guy is lazy and lacks respect toward fans and his manga. He has 0 love and 0 dedication. If he had Yuyo Hakusho would not have ended the way it did, and HxH would not be in the state it is.

Wonder what game he is busy playing to not want to resume HxH this time...

As bakuman is almost a true story, I firmly believe Hiramaru is based on the lazy Togashi, except, 0 likable, unlike Hiramaru. You don't judge a book by its cover, but look at Togashi's pictures, he looks like a real as*.

With his popular manga and his wife's Naoko Takeuchi's, I guess he does not need to work at all and can be lazy all he wants, and he shows it.

bj_waters wrote:

I knew he was big, but I didn't think he had that much clout. Is he really as big of a deal as the other nigh-untouchable manga-kas? I'm talking like Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP, Akira Toriyama, Ken Akamatsu, Takehiko Inoue, and Naoki Urasawa. I guess I'm just underestimated how huge YYH and HxH is in japan.

Nah, he is not that big, his sucess is only local so far(Japan only) but YuYU Hakusho was super popular and so is Hunter x Hunter but in manga form mainly.

He is light years away from the sucess of big shots like Akira Toriyama, Oda, Rumiko takahashi, Leiji Matsumoto, etc.

His own wife Naoko Takeuchi is a way bigger shot than him with Sailor Moon that reached super-stardom status internationally and that continues to make tons of money.

HxH sells like a million + copies every new volume so I guess the publisher just keeps up with his lazy ass, its not like anyone can reach a million seller per volume and HxH is 15 years old and like One piece, its popularity does not decreases and despite his laziness he still sells, he has a very faithful fanbase (for some strange reason, no matter how good (HxH is great but not THAT great), no work is worth putting up with his lazy butt imo but his core fanbase thinks otherwise evidently).

dan9999 wrote:

BrainBlow wrote: I thought the author was struggling with sickness? I quite doubt "lazyness" is the issue here. Yea, sickness called laziness, apathy, etc. You don't know much about his works either right, his laziness is VERY visible and his antics are relatively well known by now. This guy is lazy and lacks respect toward fans and his manga. He has 0 love and 0 dedication. If he had Yuyo Hakusho would not have ended the way it did, and HxH would not be in the state it is. Wonder what game he is busy playing to not want to resume HxH this time... As bakuman is almost a true story, I firmly believe Hiramaru is based on the lazy Togashi, except, 0 likable, unlike Hiramaru. You don't judge a book by its cover, but look at Togashi's pictures, he looks like a real as*. With his popular manga and his wife's Naoko Takeuchi's, I guess he does not need to work at all and can be lazy all he wants, and he shows it. bj_waters wrote: I knew he was big, but I didn't think he had that much clout. Is he really as big of a deal as the other nigh-untouchable manga-kas? I'm talking like Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP, Akira Toriyama, Ken Akamatsu, Takehiko Inoue, and Naoki Urasawa. I guess I'm just underestimated how huge YYH and HxH is in japan. Nah, he is not that big, his sucess is only local so far(Japan only) but YuYU Hakusho was super popular and so is Hunter x Hunter but in manga form mainly. He is light years away from the sucess of big shots like Akira Toriyama, Oda, Rumiko takahashi, Leiji Matsumoto, etc. His own wife Naoko Takeuchi is a way bigger shot than him with Sailor Moon that reached super-stardom status internationally and that continues to make tons of money. HxH sells like a million + copies every new volume so I guess the publisher just keeps up with his lazy ass, its not like anyone can reach a million seller per volume and HxH is 15 years old and like One piece, its popularity does not decreases and despite his laziness he still sells, he has a very faithful fanbase (for some strange reason, no matter how good (HxH is great but not THAT great), no work is worth putting up with his lazy butt imo but his core fanbase thinks otherwise evidently).

Where are your sources to say he's lazy? Your saying a lot but not backing anything you say. If he really didn't care he would of just quit because like you said he really doesn't need to do this anymore. Despite that he still remains connected with the series as seen by his role in the anime movie.

Y'know, the long hiatuses used to bother me, but I try not to criticize people when I would do a similar thing in their position.

The fact of the matter is, making manga is a long, and tortuous process. You are stuck in a room for days on end and the pressures of making deadlines are intense. It is a system that became the norm due to Tezuka, but Tezuka was an outlier rather than the norm. Togashi's already been there and done that. It is unsurprising that someone would not want to subject themselves to the same hellish conditions forever.

Obviously, Togashi has now reached a position in his career where he can dictate when and how much he writes. And you know what? He's earned it. Unlike most mangaka, he does not use assistants, which increases his workload by more than double. When you take that into consideration, his constant breaks make a lot more sense.

人気の一方で休載が非常に多く（1999年以降は毎年10回以上休載している）、本誌
掲載時にはネームに近いラフ画で、背景もほとんど無い状態で掲載されることが
頻繁に発生した。『幽☆遊☆白書』終盤から、その傾向は見られていたが、本作
で下描き掲載が頻繁に見られるようになり、批判や苦情の声が上がっている。
Though popular, hiatuses are extremely frequent. (Since 1999 there has always
been 10 or more issues of hiatus.) When it appeared in the magazine it frequently
was in rough pictures, almost like that of a Name, and appeared with almost
no backgrounds. This tendency was seen from the end of "Yuu Yuu Hakusho",
but by the frequent appearance of the under sketches appearing as the actual
work, criticisms and complaints arose.

また、休載の理由は主に「作者急病のため」とされていたが、作者が巻末コメント
などで最新のゲームをプレイしたことや旅行に行ってきたことを隠さず書き、さ
らにコミックマーケットなどの同人誌即売会に参加し、同人誌を発行している姿
も確認されていた。このため、休載の理由と真実を明らかにしないことと、「休
載が多い = 打ち切り」にしない編集部の体質も、批判や苦情の対象となっている。
ラフ画の状態で本誌に掲載された場合、単行本化される際に直されるが、修正作
業を行うために本誌の連載を休む、本末転倒な傾向がある。次第に「急病」という
理由での休載は減り、「作者の都合」とされるようになった。
Also, the reason for the hiatuses was mainly written as "because of sudden illness of the author", but the author's comments at the end of the volumes wrote, not hiding anything, that he was playing the latest games and going on trips. As well, he had been participating in doujinshi sales exhibitions in the comic market, he was confirmed seen publishing doujinshi. Because of this, the reason for the hiatuses and the truth not being clear, and so that it wouldn't be "Many hiatuses = Cancellation", the editorial department became a target of criticism and complaints. Though the rough pictures in the magazine were fixed in the volume versions, in order to do refined work, the serialization in the magazine was put on hiatuses, having this tendency to have their priorities backwards. Gradually the reason of "sudden illness" decreased, and it became "circumstances of the author".

2005年50号から「病気」という理由で休載し、2006年8号に再開したが、11号に掲
載されたのを最後に長期休載となった。当初は2006年 4月に再開予定だったがそ
の様子はなく、出版社側からの説明やジャンプ誌面での休載のお知らせなどは全
くなかった。連載を中断している漫画は他誌などでは少なからず存在し、1年以上
の長期休載は漫画業界全体ではそれほど珍しいことでないとしても、『少年ジャ
ンプ』というメジャーな雑誌での70週以上もの長期休載は極めて異例である。
From issue 50 of 2005 with the reason of "illness" it went on hiatus. Though
it started again in issue 8 of 2006, in issue 11, its appearance ended with
a hiatus for an extended amount of time. At first it was planned to be resumed
in April of 2006, but this did not occur, and there was no explanation about
a hiatus from the publisher nor a notice in Jump itself. Mangas which have
breaks in serialization in other magazines are extremely few in number.
Though for a manga to have an extended hiatus of over a year overall not
extremely rare over the entire manga industry, though for the major magazine
"Weekly Jump", a hiatus lasting over 70 weeks is an extreme exception to
the norm.

そして、2007年44号に突如連載再開が予告され、2008年新年2号まで10週連続限定
という形で掲載される。この再開の2日前の2007年10月4日に、単行本24巻を前巻
から1年7ヶ月ぶりに発売した。これ以降も休載を挟んで連載は継続されている。

And in issue 44 of 2007, there was suddenly a notice that serialization
would continue. It appeared in the form of 10 consecutive issues until issue
2 of 2008. Two days before this resumption, on October 4th 2007, Volume
24, the previous volume's worth of manga from 1 year and 7 months previous
went on sale. From here on, there have been serializations with hiatuses
interposed.

First Page:
Ending of Serialization
~Looking back, defeat announcement-
*For those who want to know the conclusion fast, just go ahead to the end of the next page.

That I was finally able to complete it, speaking openly my pleasant feelings honestly is the biggest thing.
It's not that I've lost all attachment to the work, but more like the stress had severely exceeded my will.
Anyway, the half-year until the end has been long and terrible.
Truthfully, I had planned to end it in around December of '93. [It actually ended in July of 1994.]
Far from that, I was forcibly implored by the editorial department, but...
To give all of the large and small reasons it would total about 50, but I'll give you the three main reasons.
(1)For convenience of my health (2)My way of thinking regarding the manga (3)Desires outside work.
(3) Is out of the question.
In short, I want to have fun, I want to relax, and I very much want to sleep, that sort of thing.
But the majority of the 50 reasons lie here.
(1)Is a result of not fulfilling (3) up until now.
From when I was first serialized until about the martial arts tournament [I guess he means the Dark Tournament], my weekly time off went to half days of sleep.
Outside of that, I had continuing days where I took naps to relieve stress which cut down on my sleep time, but it made it pretty enjoyable.
But as in an RPG, my HP was definitely decreasing, with how around when I did a 31 Page One-Shot and a Center Color in succession so I didn't sleep all night, I started to have heart pains, and that time shrank.
Around that time I started to think kinda seriously about my working pace.
I thought "Even if it's impossible to live a regular daily life schedule, if I draw so I can sleep precisely when I want to, I wonder what pace I can work at?"
I acted on it.
Manuscripts started being late really quickly.
But I avoided all-nighters the best I could.
At this time I started to change the way I dealt with my manga for work.
"I don't wanna die from overwork from my work. If I do suddenly then the time for having fun and the time for writing manuscripts as I want will be fine. Color manuscripts are scary. One-Shots are scary." [This paragraph is weird as hell... This should be what he's saying.]
In addition to sleep time, I started to lose time for reliving stress.
And I reached the first peak of sending in manuscripts late in the battle between Sensui and Yusuke.

Second Page:
But at that point, I realized I was building a completely different level of stress than I had up until that point.
Keeping in shape and reliving stress up until that point had brought about a new stress. "I can't satisfactorily do manuscripts." The origin of problem (2).
If you're someone with liked drawings that it's said to attract people with your drawing power, than any ambition they have will be pushed to their utmost limits. [This sentence is weird, too.]
I know that because when I was new, Hagiwara Kazushi-san's editor a the time, T-shi showed it to me. [The mangaka who writes BASTARD!]
If I'm honest, his drawings totally outmatch mine, I thought.
But "If I can, I want to draw it all myself."
I couldn't throw away that ideal.
During Yu Yu Hakusho's serialization, there were a ton of times when I did entire manuscripts alone.
That's when the stress reached its peak.
I don't know if I can make this understandable, but the method I used for reducing stress from when I couldn't satisfactorily do manuscripts was "Finishing the manuscripts by myself.".
The result was those weeks' manuscripts were really crappy. The backgrounds and the characters were scribbles. The one-shot Two-Shot, Karasu VS Kurama, Yusuke meeting with Raizen were all mostly drawn alone.
The second two chapters, according to comments from certain postcards, were 19 pages done half a day right before falling. [No idea what this sentence means.]
I might have been eliminated as a pro, but I was still self-satisfied.
Already, at this point, a reason to suppress the "No matter how people feel, or how rough the manuscripts get, I want to draw what I want alone." feeling had been lost.
It's unfortunate, Yu Yu Hakusho's characters got completely stuck to the commercial magazine basis.
Really that was if you wanted to get rid of a character who was finished, all you could do was keep them around doing the same things until the readers got tired of them.
If you tried to get rid of a character like that in Jump, of course it would get rejected.
I didn't have the physical strength to endure doing the same thing over again anymore.
There's where I realized the thing I'd always thought.
"If I'm able to be serialized in Jump for a long time, I'll end the work of my own will."
The system where if the questionnaire results were bad you would be canceled in 10 weeks in Jump was something I was made aware of.
On the contrary, that becomes encouragement, with consciousness of "influence from the readers" you could be able to study various things.
But I ended up not thinking about that at all and wanting to draw the manga solely for my self-satisfaction.
I couldn't think of any work that could match up to those Jump reader's standards, so I gave up the challenge. I'll summarize all of these sentences:

stopped out of selfishness. I'm sorry.

Y'know, the long hiatuses used to bother me, but I try not to criticize people when I would do a similar thing in their position.

The fact of the matter is, making manga is a long, and tortuous process. You are stuck in a room for days on end and the pressures of making deadlines are intense. It is a system that became the norm due to Tezuka, but Tezuka was an outlier rather than the norm. Togashi's already been there and done that. It is unsurprising that someone would not want to subject themselves to the same hellish conditions forever.

Obviously, Togashi has now reached a position in his career where he can dictate when and how much he writes. And you know what? He's earned it. Unlike most mangaka, he does not use assistants, which increases his workload by more than double. When you take that into consideration, his constant breaks make a lot more sense.

BS.

Not when you have mangaka like Oda that shows passion, dedication real love for what he does, probably for mangaka like him taking a brake is working on that which they love (manga).

Do you think Oda needs to work anymore? He is the most successful mangaka. He can quite today, he is already a millionaire and would continue to get tons of cash, with how dedicate he is, noone would criticize it for much needed brakes or long vacation, guess what? HE DOES NOT, and One Piece is from the same time of HxH, can you tell how many hiatuses he has taken all this time? let alone brakes? Its only recently that he has taken a week or two at much a few times, but before that, always working on what he genuinely loves, AND IT SHOWS; its EVIDENT, we, or at lest me as fan, can get all those feelings from his manga and how he has led his career till now.

Togashi, he is just lazy. No assistants? And it shows in his half backed chapters. It would merit respect if the quality would not diminish, but, who cares, his fans don't mind it, why should he?

dan9999 wrote:

BS. Not when you have mangaka like Oda that shows passion, dedication real love for what he does, probably for mangaka like him taking a brake is working on that which they love (manga). Do you think Oda needs to work anymore? He is the most successful mangaka. He can quite today, he is already a millionaire and would continue to get tons of cash, with how dedicate he is, noone would criticize it for much needed brakes or long vacation, guess what? HE DOES NOT, and One Piece is from the same time of HxH, can you tell how many hiatuses he has taken all this time? let alone brakes? Its only recently that he has taken a week or two at much a few times, but before that, always working on what he genuinely loves, AND IT SHOWS; its EVIDENT, we, or at lest me as fan, can get all those feelings from his manga and how he has led his career till now. Togashi, he is just lazy. No assistants? And it shows in his half backed chapters. It would merit respect if the quality would not diminish, but, who cares, his fans don't mind it, why should he?

There are many mangaka that are able to withstand the brutal schedule, but it doesn't mean we should expect it from everyone. Also, Oda has four assistants, while Togashi has none. That means a lot.

I would not argue that 'laziness' has a role to play in this. But do I understand why Togashi would want to take time off when writing manga is such a merciless process? Yeah. We've grown so accustomed to mangaka churning out chapters as quickly as possibly that we forget how difficult it is and take it as a personal affront when they do not.

Also, if Togashi had just quit outright due to not wanting to work anymore or wanting to respect the fans, then we never would have got the Chimera Ant Arc. In the end, despite the examples of poor artwork, I find the arc equal in quality and enjoyment to the rest of the series. If waiting a lot means we'll get another great arc like that, then count me in.