Last year, we lost Akira Toriyama, whose creation Dragon Ball remains the most influential Shonen manga of all time, paving the way for the Big Three of manga: Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. Given that the number of volumes spawned out of these titles, Viz Media has published the 3-in-1 paperback editions for all of them. And now Viz is giving the 3-in-1 treatment to Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter, which has been ongoing since 1998.

Published around the same time as the aforementioned Big Three, Hunter x Hunter always felt like an anomaly compared to most Shonen titles. Years before this series, Togashi had done his Dragon Ball-styled Shonen series with YuYu Hakusho, which embraced the conventions that you associate with the Battle Shonen, from power-ups to tournament arcs. Although Togashi concluded YuYu Hakusho sooner than expected, due to personal and professional reasons, Hunter x Hunter was made to deconstruct the tropes of the genre.

From the first couple of chapters, Hunter x Hunter opens like any other Shonen series by introducing Gon Freecss, a young boy who seems to bond well with most wild animals, yearns to go out on an adventure. Upon discovering that his father, Ging, who left Gon at a young age, is actually a world-renowned Hunter – a licensed professional who specializes in locating rare or unidentified animal species, treasure hunting, surveying unexplored enclaves, and hunting criminals – Gon departs on a journey to become a Hunter and find his father. As he departs from his home of Whale Island – whose silhouette is literally shaped like a whale – Gon meets and befriends other applicants, such as Kurapika and Leorio, each with their own reason to take the Hunter Exam.

What initially struck me from this initial arc occurs during the third chapter, in which Gon and Co. meet the Quizzing Lady, one of the examiners in the preliminary phase of the exam as she gives candidates quizzes before they could proceed to the next phase. As she asks them a dilemmatic quiz that they have to answer in five seconds, they remain silent as not answering is the correct answer to the dilemma. However, the Lady notes that Gon had the right mentality to the question, in that the trivial abstraction now could become reality, and one must be prepared to make the choice then. Not only does this set up the puzzle solving that defines this arc, it also foreshadows that the physical and psychological challenges that are our characters will confront throughout the series.

Again, there is more puzzle solving than actual fighting, with our heroes navigating various stages where they have to rely on their wits and teamwork, despite the nuisance of other applicants, most notably Tonpa, the self-proclaimed Rookie Crusher who takes great pleasure in the failures of new examinees. However, newcomers to the world of Hunter x Hunter may be shocked by the level of violence, with a number of applicants losing their lives, either by the various stages of the Exam, or even themselves. The two notable characters to reflect the book’s violence are Hisoka, a deceitful and narcissistic magician with an affinity towards murder, and Killua, a member of a notorious assassin family who ends up becoming friends with Gon as they are both around the same age.

As for Togashi’s art, this is where things can get divisive. While he shows a wide range of character designs which lean harder to cartoonish caricatures as oppose to the cast of YuYu Hakusho, there are pages where the action is sketchy and relying a lot on white backgrounds. Unlike Eiichiro Oda’s work on One Piece which uses a ton of visual information in its illustrations, Togashi takes a more simplistic approach with a great deal of dialogue doing most of the storytelling, with the occasional striking image, particularly the moments of shocking violence. Although Togashi’s art would improve in subsequent volumes where he gets to experiment more, his biggest strength at this point is his nuanced writing that takes characters that could be Shonen archetypes and twist them to unpredictable, but fun directions.

While newbies may be unsure about this series from its art and tonal whiplashes, the first of these 3-in-1 Editions is a great entry point for anyone getting into Hunter x Hunter.This series is doing something besides than the typical fighting showdowns you would expect from Battle Shonen manga.

We’re going to cover one of the most iconic Shonen Manga in the history of Manga, Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter.

After hearing tales of his dad as a Hunter, a young country boy named Gon prepares to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a legendary Hunter. He embarks on a journey across the sea to take the Hunter Exams. After he finally finds the elusive Exam Hall, the other Hunter hopefuls prove deadly serious, and the tests are wild and wicked. Will Gon’s plucky spirit and courageous heart be enough to carry him closer to his dream?

Once again, Viz Media re-releasing a new collected edition that benefits not only Hunter x Hunter fans but new readers and fans of Manga. This collected edition starts new fans in the right direction when it comes to Shonen manga, not to mention having something to read while the later portion of the series is on hiatus. With it being an older Shonen title, it does show its age in terms of its story and artwork (which will be covered further in the review).

This collected edition sets up the premise of the story perfectly, though if you are approaching the manga after you watch the anime, keep in mind that things are a tad different from the anime. For example, we see that Gon learned about his dad’s time as a Hunter from Kite, this was shown later in the anime. But aside from that, it sets up what you need to know about the importance of Hunters in the story, introducing the key characters and finally what it takes to be one. Speaking of the story, it still has a way of mystifying the reader, introducing terrifying creatures, and enemies that fans love to hate (I’m looking at you Hisoka!)

As for the artwork, this collected edition includes unique illustrations from each volume, including an illustration of Sailor Moon that he drew for Naoko Takeuchi, who helped him with his color pages in the earlier stages of Hunter x Hunter. The way Gon is drawn reminds me of Osamu Tezuka‘s Astro Boy, a certain innocence to him, and the knowledge of what tragedy he will face in future volumes. Togashi’s eye for detail in character design and creature design (whether it’s humorous or in a serious tone) is remarkable, this is the case for Gon’s pals, Leorio, Kurapika, and Killua, who showed quite well that looks can be deceiving. In certain scenes, the moments filled with action are drawn well, and in certain situations, there are hints of comedic humor involved to keep the story enticing and the reader’s attention from straying away, but how can you not be interested in the Hunter Exam? We have fights with shape-shifting creatures, a fierce game of takeaway, and a cooking challenge, all collected in three volumes.

This is very old school/classic shonen manga, which is not surprising considering the story has been around for awhile. Written by the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho, this is a solid recommendation for anyone who's a fan of series like Dragon Ball and One Piece.

This is technically a reread for me but it's so nice to have multiple volumes put together. I always feel like chapters end too abruptly in volumes, this is the perfect way to experience the vast and expansive feeling of Hunter x Hunter. Everyone you know, love, and hate are present once again!

I've heard a lot about this series over the year and I'm not disappointed at all!!! It deserves all the hype it had and i can't wait to continue more! killua is indeed an iconic character