The feeling at the end of the episode was perfect – the only thing better would have been a message telling us the series was going to continue next week after all.
And the philosophy behind the story is laid out quite poetically by Ging (he still stinks as a father, but he’s undeniably got a way with words), in a holistic way that it never was before.
We touch base with many old faces, tie up some loose ends while leaving many more dangling. There is indeed closure here – Gon catches up to Ging and has the talk he’s been dreaming of at last. That said, there’s absolutely no doubt that Togashi intended the events of this episode (Madhouse added a bit here and there, especially for Gon’s journey to the World Tree, but most was manga canon) as a kind of epilogue for the story that ran for the first 147. But there can be no doubt that the mythology of Hunter X Hunter is limited only by Togashi’s imagination, and as we’ve seen, his imagination is virtually limitless. And how much of what he does explore will find its way to anime one day is just as difficult to say, given everything that would have to fall into place for there to be further production on H x H. How much if any of that possibility Togashi will explore is anyone’s guess, as his health is obviously a huge concern. And Togashi has left us a truly astonishing number of dangling plot threads, enough to make Han-san’s quote about the first 339 chapters and 148 episodes being a prologue seem very realistic. With a story like Hunter X Hunter that’s how it should be, because there should always be a world of endless possibility waiting for us at edge of the the horizon. It’s quite interesting that Togashi-sensei wrote this chapter when he did, because it does indeed feel like both an end and a beginning. HUNTER×HUNTER is my treasure for now and ever. This precious experience will motivate me for my future career. But this finale gave the series the kind of closure it needed, even subtly casting Gon and Killua’s status in a different light. I was a little bit empty after last week’s episode, to be honest – Gon and Killua’s parting was not the emotional catharsis I’d hoped it might be. And frankly, this final episode serves as a series review in its own right – eloquently encapsulating everything that was so wonderful about H x H far better than I would have thought possible in 22 minutes. The “Memories x and Milestones” posts I’ve written over the last ten days already serve as a series review of sorts, so there isn’t a whole lot of point in covering that ground here. But this series means too much to me to let it go so easily. If I were smart I would just say a heartfelt “thank you” and stop right there. There can’t be a shred of doubt about my feelings. And without question those posts have been read by more people, both cumulatively and in an average week, than any other posts I’ve written. How in the world does one go about starting a post like this? I’ve written so much about Hunter X Hunter over the last three years – without question more than I’ve written about any subject in my life. To everything up until now, and to everyone, I say, “Thank you.”
I know I shouldn’t talk too much, but I will condense my feelings right here. Though I say that, when I think that “I’ve been going to the same place every week at the same time for three years, but next week, this won’t happen…,” I get very sad… Actually, it’s like what has happened up until now in the story was nothing more than a prologue, and it gets me even more expectant for what’s to come. The original manga is still continuing, and the adventures haven’t ended yet. If you ask me, episode 147 is the final episode, and 148 is sort of an epilogue. I will be stubborn and only call it “episode 148.” I say this, because in terms of episode numbers, in a certain meaning, this will be the final episode, but I feel that it also feels like the start of a new beginning. The other day, at Sanbunzaka Studio, the place of all the beginnings, we conducted the recording for episode 148 of Hunter x Hunter, which will serve as the turning point for the anime for now. In many ways, I think this is probably the toughest post I’ve ever had to write.
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