There are very few anime out there that are perfect adaptations of the manga that they’re based on. It’s tough to perfectly change the medium in which the story is told, from a comic format to an animated one. And while some series can make this transition pretty seamlessly, others show their differences more clearly.
This is the case for Hunter x Hunter, a long-running manga that has been adapted into an anime twice, with the most recent version coming out in 2011. The manga is periodically on hiatus and is still being published, so there is a ton of material for the anime to cover, making it inevitable that some things are just not going to make it to anime-only fans.
10 The Manga Has A Darker Atmosphere
While Hunter x Hunter is a shonen series and is therefore geared toward an audience of elementary school and teenage boys, its tone and atmosphere can be surprisingly dark. The series doesn’t shy away from the fact that the often violent tasks. Hunters need to do can result in death and despair. It doesn’t try to make these concepts cuter or easier to swallow. The anime, which does deal with some of these same themes, often feels less dire, with a more lighthearted atmosphere.
9 Leorio Is A Pretty Powerful Character
Leorio is really no slouch as a fighter in either the anime or the manga. But his character is definitely played for a laugh far more often in the anime. However, in the manga, he is very rarely used as a comic relief character, at least no more than any other character has their funny moments. Beyond this, he is shown to be a very capable Hunter who can hold his own alongside people like Gon and Killua.
8 The Greed Island Cards Are Explained
Greed Island is an in-world video game in the series played in a virtual-reality setting (which later, of course, turns out to be a real place). This is one of the stranger additions to Hunter x Hunter and feels slightly outside of the series's rest.
But in the manga, the playing methods are gone into depth, particularly about the cards that need to be collected. They each have their own powers and purposes, all of which are laid out and explained.
7 There Is More Information About Meteor City
One of the chapters of the manga that is mostly left out of the anime is Chapter 102, part of the Yorknew City Arc. The chapter deals with a Mafia informant trying to gain information about the Phantom Troupe but keeps hearing that they don’t exist. This leads to a lot of extended information about Meteor City, which much of the surrounding story deals with. It’s not incredibly vital to the plot, but it does mean there’s a lot of world-building left out of the anime.
6 The Manga Is More Violent
Manga can often get away with the kind of outright violence that anime sometimes shies away from. While there are certainly incredibly violent anime out there, Hunter x Hunter is a remarkably tame version of a wildly violent story as a comic. The series deals with many different kinds of situations that can all lead to bloodshed, and it doesn’t veer away from showing it. Fans who have only watched the anime might be surprised to know just how gritty the manga can get.
5 Gyro Is Likely Going To Be A Final Boss
Gyro is introduced in the anime as the leader of the NGL during the Chimera Ant Arc. But beyond being a shadowy figure that’s mysteriously referenced, he is never mentioned again, even though it’s clear from his plans that he would likely be a later villain. He has similarly not appeared much in the manga, but readers are often reminded of him in the story, hinting that he will probably be the final villain that Gon and his friends will someday have to take out.
4 Kite Sets Gon Off On His Journey
In the manga, Kite's character is one of the first that’s seen on the page. He rescues Gon after Foxbear attacks him in the very first chapter. But more importantly, he’s the one who tells Gon that his father, Ging, is still alive out there.
This sets Gon off on his adventure in the first place. While one could argue this doesn’t change the story that much, Kite’s absence at the beginning of the series makes some manga fans feel subtly changing the plot.
3 The Character Designs And Art Styles Are More Varied
It makes sense for an anime to streamline the art style and match the character designs more closely to one another, as there needs to be some consistency for an animation team to work from. But Yoshiro Tagashi is known in Hunter x Hunter for both an inconsistency in quality in his art (because producing a weekly manga chapter is challenging work) and also in his characters sometimes seeming like they’re from completely different manga, giving the series a unique and surprising look.
2 Not Every Arc Has Been Adapted
It’s not unusual for anime adaptations to adapt only the first few arcs of a manga series, especially when that series is incredibly long and doesn’t yet have an end in sight. Hunter x Hunter is in this exact situation, with the anime series wrapping up after only adapting the first seven arcs, ending with the 13th Hunter Chairman Election. There is another complete story arc, the Dark Continent Expedition, following that as well as an ongoing arc that the series didn’t adapt.
1 The Manga Isn’t Complete
Yoshihiro Togashi has been working on Hunter x Hunter on and off for more than 20 years, as it first began its serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1998. He hasn’t been especially consistent in his work since then, as he doesn’t work with assistants as most manga creators do, and that requires him to take frequent breaks. It also means that the story is far from finished, despite the conclusion that the anime uses to wrap up the story.