Yoshihiro Togashi The Lazy Genius Behind Hunter x Hunter
For sure, you’ve heard about Hunter x Hunter the manga and the anime, maybe you’ve watched or read this masterpiece, or perhaps you have a friend who did and annoys you how sad he/she is about this unfinished project. What I can say to you; the first thing I remember when I see this title “ Hunter x Hunter “ is how long I am waiting. My friend, I will be honest with myself and with you, it seems a long way off. Yoshihiro Togashi is a man who had everything but he chose laziness, or at least that’s what it looks like.
So let’s tell you some facts about Togashi while waiting for his rock to move.
Early life and Career
He studied the major of “Education” at “Yamagata” University, hoping to become a teacher, but he left university dreaming to become a Mangaka (manga artist), after he received a phone call from one of “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine editors, who told him to travel to Tokyo, and there the career’s march began.
It’s supposedly that his first manga is “Senseha Toshishita”, which was one shot of 15 pages. It was later published in 1990 in Volume 4 of the manga “Ten de Shouwaru Cupid”.
He won the “Tezuka” award for new mangaka, which is one of the most prestigious awards when he was 20 while studying at the university, for the “One-shot” manga he issued for “Weekly Young Jump” magazine it was titled “Buttobi Straight”.
He was among the nominees to win the “Hop Steps” award, which is an annual award given to the best emerging mangaka, for the One-Shot manga “Jura no Miduki.”
his first published manga (One-Shot) for “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine was Issue №20 dated 1/5/1989, and it was titled “Okami Nante Kowakunai”. On 06/24/1989 he published his first serialized manga for “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine, it lasted until 03/12/1990 with a total of 32 chapters, and was titled “Ten de Shouwaru Cupid”.
In Issue №51 dated 12/3/1990 of “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine, he published his manga “YuYu Hakusho”, which paved his way to fame, as it was turned to anime.
In 1998, published his manga “Level E”, Which was later turned into anime. In Issue №14 dated 3/2/1998 of “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine, he published the manga “ Hunter x Hunter”, the highest-earning manga of his career.
His first workplace was his private residence at the same time, and due to the lack of space, it was a corner in the kitchen.
In 1993, he won the “Shogakukan Publishing House” award, which is one of the most prominent awards in the manga industry, for his manga “YuYu Hakusho”. Yuyu Hakusho Anime won the “Anime Grand Prix” award, offered by “Animage” magazine, for best anime for two consecutive years 1994 and 1995.
He worked as an editor for “Kuroko no Basket” by the author “Fujimaki Tadatoshi”.
Personal life and Working Styles
While working on “YuYu Hakusho”, he suffered from various health problems caused by his overwork, he suffered from lower back pain, which made him finish the manga early, his assistant once found him drawing manga while he was lying on the ground.
His editor once suggested that he need to leave the task of inking the characters at least to his assistants in order to reduce the burden, but he refused, commenting that if he did it means the ending of his career as a mangaka.
He was passing his wallet (bank card) to his assistants, allowing them to buy their own needs. He also pays the restaurant bills for his assistants sometimes, and he even invited them to a fancy restaurant once. He rewarded them extra fees, equal to two months’ salary.
He has a younger brother who’s Mangaka “Hideaki Togashi”. He has two children from his wife, “Naoko Takeuchi,” mangaka of the popular “Sailor Moon” series. [ Sugoi: Awesome in Japanese]
He loves horror movies and his best films in this category are “Dawn of the dead” [ Restore The Snyderverse and hooray for the Army of the dead on Netflix] and “Don’t Look Up”. He loves aliens and zombie movies [ Maybe he will like The Walking dead!!].
When he got the news that “YuYu Hakusho” was being adopted as anime, he showed a natural reaction with shyness. [ Despite being his first manga that had the honor of becoming an anime].
He voiced the character of Contestant №86, who appeared In the “The Hunter Exam” arc in “Hunter x Hunter 1999”.
He expressed his love for Takehiko Inoue’s manga “Slam Dunk,” especially the last half. He also loves the Dragon Ball manga, and “Akira Toriyama” is a source of motivation. Once he was so excited after rereading the manga “Dragon Ball”, so he continued working on the manga for more than 18 hours.
He loves video games, especially the “Dragon Quest” series. He used to play video games with his assistants during short breaks and before bed, he enjoys playing “Mario Kart” on his “Super Nintendo”.
He felt happy after announcing the end of “YuYu Hakusho” manga, however, he did not make a party, but went straight to a restaurant with his assistants and played video games. He really likes to take a break and play games.
Behind Hunter x Hunter
He apologized to the magazine’s readers for the low quality of his graphics and always promised to improve the drawings in volumes. [ Many times actually].
One of the goals he set (in his mind) at the beginning of publishing “Hunter x Hunter” manga is to have a “long term” series. [ That’s why we are waiting folks].
Just two numbers away, to break his record for the number of pauses related to “Hunter x Hunter”, with a total of 81 stops since issue №1 of 2019. [ Maybe he’s Kentaro Miura’s accomplice].
He declared in 2018 that he must finish “Hunter x Hunter”, either he finishes it first or simply dies before that happens [ Thank God, he intends to finish it].
He openly expressed his shock that “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine still in relax mode while he was a completely silent ghost, the magazine which is known for its commitment to the weekly publication. [ Hahaha, come on man it’s all about the money money money..].
Commenting on his frequent stops, he mentioned that he works every day, as he is like a Comedian who despite his disappearance from the lights for a period of time, he’s doing another work. [ Hmmm is he talking about the Comedian in Watchmen ?]
In the end
That’s for this article folks, really this man is a great mangaka, I love his works and even he looks lazy but he is a man working behind the shadows. Ah! I forgot to mention, he is a fan of the Japanese idol group “Keyakizaka46” he sends to them flowers on numerous occasions. and he smokes, I don’t know if he quit smoking on the date I’m writing this.
Originally published at https://allanimangas.blogspot.com on January 17, 2021.
