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yyh4ever · 5 months

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Yoshihiro Togashi Handwritten Letter

Togashi sent a handwritten letter to the idol Yumiko Seki, answering 11 questions. The letter was read aloud in the Iwakura and Yoshizumi's Show, on TV Asahi, on November 14th and 21st, 2023.

There's already a translation of the Q&A by the hunter fandom (please read it), but I want to share my favorite parts and maybe some interesting info that was said during the TV program. You can watch the full version on bilibili. The whole film studio was decorated with Hunter x Hunter manuscripts and figures, and BGM from both versions of the anime was played during the broadcast.

The MCs of the show are two female comedians, Yoshizumi and Iwakura. The guests were Yumiko Seki (former Sakurazaka46); singer Toshiya Miyata (Kis-My-Ft2), a huge Hunter x Hunter fan; and the comedian Shintaro Morimoto (TONTSUKATAN) who read Togashi's letter and served as moderator.

At the beginning of the show, Seki-san revealed she met Togashi in a Sakurazaka46 live concert.

Everyone was shocked to learn she met him face-to-face!

Then, Seki-san showed an autographed shikishi Togashi-sensei gave her when she graduated from Sakurazaka46. (T/N: She announced her graduation on December 13, 2022, and graduated on April 30, 2023 at the Sakurazaka46 3rd TOUR 2023).

Killua: "Graduation is the starting line!!"

It's interesting to add that Killua is Seki's favorite character and orange & white were her penlight colors, also her favorite colors. That's why Togashi drew Killua holding a bouquet of orange and white flowers.

Miyata joked that he will make sure that everyone knows he loves Hunter x Hunter by the time he graduates from Kis-My-Ft2 boy band. Morimoto told him "don't graduate just to get a shikishi" (LOL).

By the way, Miyata loves Kurapika, so I hope Togashi gives him a Kurapika shikishi one day :P

Here's Togashi's huge letter!

Before reading sensei's answers, they anticipated the huge success of the show, and came up with the hashtag #冨樫先生からのお手紙 (letter from Togashi-sensei).

It was a success indeed, trending all over social media.

Then, Morimoto started to read the Q&A.

The second question was about the Hunter x Hunter character setting. Before reading the answer, they showed a Togashi's memo containing a detailed timeline of each character that he uses in order to develop the story without creating any contradictions. There's a timeline of the Chimera Ant Arc, and a table of the princes' entourage, allowing Togashi to distinguish them. He even drew characters that didn't appear.

Miyata left his seat and came closer to the monitor, so he could see the memo better. He's a crazy HxH stan just like us.

This material is actually from Jump Ryu's booklet (2016). You can also watch the Jump Ryu video with subs on YouTube, where Togashi explains better how this character table works.

Here's the part of the answer Togashi talks about Killua's inspirations. I am a huge fan of MDP Psycho!

The author of "Toy-y", Atsushi Kamijo, thanked Togashi on his Twitter. He also wrote that he loves Level-E.

When answering question 4, we found out Togashi-sensei watched Sakurazaka46 New Year's special feature in 2021, when Seki-san asked for the complete set of Hunter × Hunter.

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But, because Togashi-sensei is such an introvert, he thought he would make her feel uncomfortable by actually sending it. It took him two years to finally decide to send it.

Miyata laughed so hard, saying: "Togashi-sensei is such an otaku!!" (LOL)

Seki-san confirmed Togashi really sent the Hunter × Hunter set to her ^^

The 5th question was about Togashi's favorite nen ability. Seki-san and Miyata also shared their favorite type of nen.

Seki-san loves Killua, thus she likes transmutation. She also likes Hisoka's analysis about nen, and thinks Killua fits his description about transmuters perfectly.

As for Miyata, he loves Kurapika, therefore he likes the conjurer type. He remembered that in order to conjurer chains, Kurapika had to imagine, touch, draw, and even licked real chains.

He was curious if Goreinu, a character that appears in Greed Island, had to do something similar and touch gorillas in order to be able to materialize them.

Miyata is a crazy HxH fan, he came up with many curious tidbits and did a deep analysis of the series. It's not confirmed in the manga or any databook if Goreinu is really a conjurer, but I really liked his point of view.

Question 7 about Meruem's final moments was really touching. After hearing Miyata's explanation about Meruem and Kogumi, Iwakura almost started crying.

Tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw the double spread of Meruem's final moments.

The funny thing is, at the beginning of the show, she told us she had only read the first chapter.

So, Morimoto joked: "Why did you have to stop at volume 1!!?" XD

Morimoto also revealed that Togashi-sensei's favorite scene is Meruem and Kogumi double spread.

Question 8, what does Togashi do on his days off? Morimoto asked Seki-san's opinion. She imagines Togashi having mandarin oranges on a kotatsu table, and talking to cats on the porch.

T/N: Eating oranges while sitting around a kotatsu table is a japanese tradition during the winter.

Togashi didn't mention anything like that in his answer, but there's an interview with Naoko Takeuchi (WITH magazine, May 2022) where she says, "We have been married for over 20 years. Although we have small fights sometimes, my husband is extremely kind and quiet, like a hermit (...) The house we have lived for 20 years is also a place of healing. Sometimes we have meals or tea in the garden". So, I can totally picture Togashi-sensei eating oranges in the winter and talking to cats.

Togashi-sensei stated he is the type of person who always has sound playing while he is working, just like Yoshizumi-san. She was happy she was acknowledged in his letter!

The question 9 was about manga that Togashi-sensei found interesting recently. Miyata remembered that Togashi had wrote a recommendation on the obi of Kimestu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) volume 4, praising the series. I had completely forgotten Togashi loves Demon Slayer!

In his letter, Togashi-sensei wrote he couldn't give the name of the series he's currently into, since he would get criticized. But he left some clues. Yoshimizu said the crazy amount of ッッッ (small tsu) used in his answer was maybe a keyword, and that the fans would probably figure it out. She had no idea what manga he was talking about, though.

Togashi-sensei also wrote this manga is a true story published in 2023. So, many fans came up with the Autobiography of Keisuke Itagaki (author of Grappler Baki): an autobiographical manga depicting the harsh life experienced by Keisuke Itagaki in the "JGSDF 1st Airborne Brigade" that consumed his youth!

I started reading it, and the author really loves to use "ッッッ" at the end of the sentences. I don't think it's the kind of content I would recommend to an idol like Seki-san. Anyway, I don't know whether that's the correct answer or not, but it seems so.

The manga that Togashi-sensei ended up recommending was "Oi! Tombo". It has been serialized in Weekly Golf Digest since 2014. An anime is also scheduled to premiere in 2024. I was happy to see that the Golf Digest X Account mentioned his letter!

Seki-san was introduced to an unexpected golf manga, but she immediately became interested, saying, "I really want to read it'' and "I want to buy it right away.'' I guess we all felt that way. I'm definitely watching the anime!

The 10th question was about the ending! The reaction of the guests and MCs when Morimoto read there's an Ending D in case Togashi-sensei dies was priceless.

Before Morimoto could read the "Ending D", Miyata recalled he went to watch the Hunter × Hunter movie "Phantom Rouge", and received a copy of Volume 0. He grabbed it, and showed the Q&A with Togashi-sensei, highlighting Question 4: What will end up happening to Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe? A: "They will all die."

He was really looking forward to knowing the ending of Hunter × Hunter, but not this one (LOL). Morimoto and Miyata were too nervous, they took a sip to calm down before reading the "Ending D Pattern".

The final question was about the amount of text in volume 37. Miyata commenting that his answer also had an incredible amount of text made me laugh so hard. It was a huge answer indeed.

Togashi's last words were:

"Words are da best!" (Words rule/Nothing can beat words/Only words wins/ whatever sounds better in english).

Everyone laughed so hard, because this is actually a slang used by young people or fandom to say someone or something is the best. He wrote the letter in polite japanese, it was fun he ended it with a slang. By the way, Togashi-sensei loves slang, specially fandom unique vocabulary, as he usually uses it Hunter x Hunter. He's a fan of Keyakizaka46/Sakurazaka46 after all.

Miyata was excited to hear that Togashi-sensei himself is "bugged", which makes him want to continue reading HxH even more. One thing that caught Miyata's attention during this final question was the part Togashi-sensei mentioned he needs to settle many issues during the voyage of the Black Whale ship. Actually, the word "settlement" (解決) captured the attention of many fans, as they posted a lot about that on social media.

Miyata thought about people on board the ship whose fates needs a resolution. He wondered if this was about Kurapika and The Phantom Troupe since the conditions to what Togashi-sensei said in volume 0 (everyone's gonna die) are right there to happen soon.

He showed his Volume 0 again. LOL, I hope Togashi-sensei was just joking.

Of course, let's not forget that are many other unfinished business that needs a solution in this arc, we have a whole succession to the throne war in motion. But, Miyata was really hyped about Kurapika and volume 0.

The show ended with a big thanks and bow to Togashi-sensei!

Miyata said he has been reading HxH for more than 20 years, since he was in elementary school. No matter how old he is, he still gets excited about it! He loves Hunter × Hunter!

Morimoto asked Seki-san to say some final words to Togashi-sensei. Besides showing all her love for Hunter × Hunter, Seki-san was really cute and asked Togashi-sensei to take really good care of his health!

That's it, sorry for being like Togashi-sensei and writing too much. Although my posts are more about Yu Yu Haksuho, I feel I needed to address his letter too. I didn't take the Ending D too serious, since it was discarded. However, I think it was a cute closing to HxH. Like Miyata-said, everything went back to the beginning, The Whale Island where it all started.

I just want Togashi-sensei to live long and write his favorite ending!

There were other interesting parts, like Seki-san telling Togashi-sensei to make a DVD BOX of the TV show. In the end, everyone wanted to make one ^^ (me too). It is a really precious letter. I hope Seki-san frames it and make an altar :P

Thank you very much, Togashi-sensei!

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