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As the serialization of Hunter x Hunter progressed through the Hunter Exam arc, the reception of the series skyrocketed. While the ratings had been high from the start, everyone understood that those scores were largely a reflection of the audience's deep trust in Haruto rather than the actual quality of the content.
However, once the exam arc began, the magnetic pull of the series intensified. The story didn't rely on typical explosive action. Instead, almost every chapter featured the characters delivering an unexpected performance that caught the readers off guard.
There was Gon's clever trick with the candle in the first duel, Kurapika's fury against the fake Phantom Troupe member in the second, and Leorio's psychological gambling match with the female prisoner in the third.
Then came the fourth duel in this week's latest update. Killua, the enigmatic boy with a hidden streak of ruthlessness, faced off against Johness the Dissector.
It was immediately clear that Johness was on an entirely different level from the previous generic thugs.
Upon his introduction, he casually crushed a solid stone wall with his bare hands and boasted that his greatest joy was tearing humans apart. His lethal style relied on pure, overwhelming grip strength. In just a few short pages, the narrative established his utter disregard for human life.
As manga fans began to fear for Killua's safety, with even Gon and Kurapika urging him to surrender rather than face such a monster, Killua's performance left the entire fan base speechless.
The encounter lasted only seconds. In the moment they clashed, Killua's fingers lengthened and his nails extended like the retractable claws of a predatory cat. He carved a massive hole into the serial killer's chest, ripped out his heart, and calmly crushed it in his palm.
The readers saw the bleeding heart and the hollow cavity in Johness's chest. The killer's expression shifted in an instant from the anticipation of murdering a child to a desperate, hollow longing for life as he expired.
The scene shocked Gon's party, but it absolutely stunned the readers. The revelation of Killua's background as a member of the Zoldyck family of assassins hit them deeply. After the chapter concluded, the forums erupted in disbelief.
"Killua... he's that used to killing?"
"That chapter actually terrified me! How can someone as cute as Killua be that horrifyingly efficient at murder?"
"Is he really supposed to be a core member of the hero's party? An assassin as a main protagonist's best friend?"
"Don't be so quick to judge. Maybe he's a 'kind-hearted' assassin?"
"A kind-hearted assassin? Listen to yourself. Those two words don't even belong in the same sentence."
"I mean, maybe he's the type who only targets the corrupt rich to help the poor! I could accept a setting like that."
"Helping the poor? Did you read the same chapter I did? The Zoldyck family has turned assassination into a global industrial chain passed down through generations. You think a family like that cares about charity?"
"And Gon's reaction was so strange. After seeing Killua rip a man's heart out, he just smiled and congratulated him!"
"Well, what else was he supposed to do? Killua just took out a freak who murdered hundreds of people. Was Gon supposed to give him a lecture on the sanctity of life?"
"Maybe not, but that cheerful expression was chilling. Gon's personality is getting hard to define. It feels completely different from the other shonen protagonists I grew up with."
"Forget your old impressions. This is a Haruto work. His style has always been distinct from the mainstream tropes."
"Is it really that different? I don't feel it."
"Look at Parasyte. There was no absolute good or evil there; it was just a struggle for survival between two intelligent species. Madoka Magica turned the very concept of a 'magical girl' into something terrifying. As for Hunter x Hunter... it's labeled as a shonen battle series, but who says the lead has to be a moral saint? I like Gon the way he is. He cares deeply for his inner circle and doesn't waste his empathy on strangers who mean nothing to him."
"Exactly. Some people have read too many stories with 'holy' protagonists and can't wrap their heads around anything else. Killua just executed a serial killer! Is that really supposed to be a deal-breaker for their friendship?"
"Killua didn't look like he was doing it for the first time. He's definitely killed plenty of people for his family. Who knows if they were all 'bad' people?"
"Stop overthinking things that haven't even been drawn yet. Even if Killua did kill some ordinary people on a job, so what? David from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners spent years as a mercenary killing plenty of people, and no one attacked his character for it."
"Killua looked badass, and the world of Hunter x Hunter is truly pulling me in now!"
"Normally, the organizers of an exam would try to prevent student deaths, right? But the Hunter Association has traps everywhere. Candidates died in the marathon tunnel from hallucinogenic plants. They died during the cooking challenge while hunting ingredients."
"And in the Trick Tower, anyone who tried to take a shortcut by climbing down the outside was snatched up and eaten by monsters. The Hunter Association feels more like a mercenary guild that happens to be officially recognized by the world."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense. It seems like everyone in this series is driven by self-interest rather than a sense of right and wrong. Even the examiners set traps to thin the herd."
"I have to say, this is exactly the kind of manga I want to read. The real world is full of hypocritical moralists, so I want to see raw human nature in my fiction. Why is Haruto so popular? Because from Parasyte to Madoka and Cyberpunk to Hunter, he doesn't waste time on morality or 'right versus wrong.' He shows that when it comes to survival, those things are secondary."
"Haruto's protagonists don't go out of their way to be villains, but they don't hold themselves to the standards of moral paragons or saints either. This actually aligns more with the values of an average person."
"What about Madoka? She was the ultimate saint who sacrificed herself for the universe."
"Give me a break. Madoka was young and naive. In the previous timelines, she cried and regretted becoming a magical girl constantly. In those loops, she didn't care about the fate of humanity; she just wanted a normal life. The real 'God Madoka' only exists because she was crushed by reality and chose to love the world anyway. That is far more profound than some protagonist who is a saint just because the author said so. She is leagues above those generic 'moral' heroes."
The latest chapter of Hunter x Hunter sparked a high-level discussion among manga fans.
While some readers needed time to adjust to the increasingly gritty world-building, the majority of the fan base gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Gon might look like an airhead, but he possessed a hidden, darker edge.
Killua appeared to be a cool, handsome boy but was actually a cold-blooded assassin. Kurapika was sharp-tongued yet possessed a pure and noble heart.
And Leorio, despite his rough exterior, harbored a selfless and grand dream.
After four months of serialization, the readers looked back and realized that the characters they thought were slow to develop had actually been carved deeply into their hearts.
This was the magic of Hunter x Hunter.
Over the next few weeks, the conclusion of the Trick Tower arc was serialized.
Due to the sabotage by Tonpa, Gon's team found themselves with three wins and two losses. As a penalty, they were locked in a room for fifty hours, leaving them with very little time to reach the bottom of the tower.
It was here that the series showcased Haruto's genius for subverting expectations.
When faced with a "majority rule" choice, the team was torn. They had to choose between a fast path that only three people could use, or a long path that all five could use but would take more time than they had left.
The "correct" answer for a ruthless exam was to eliminate two teammates. However, Gon came up with a brilliant alternative: they voted for the long path to open the door, used the tools provided in that room to break through the wall into the fast path, and then all five of them squeezed onto Killua's skateboard to fly down the slopes and reach the finish line just in time.
In hindsight, it was a clever trick rather than a grand strategy. But that was exactly the point.
Taking a simple "lateral thinking" solution and framing it with masterful pacing and character moments gave the readers a sense of satisfaction.
It created a moment where the audience thought, "Oh, so that's how you beat the system."
By the time the twentieth chapter was released in late February, the manga's rating had climbed from 9.5 to 9.7. The weekly reader votes surged from 3.3 million to 3.7 million.
Furthermore, the sales slump that Prime Manga had experienced after the conclusion of Initial D had completely reversed. The highest-selling issue of Weekly Prime in recent years had been the one featuring the final chapter of Initial D, which moved a staggering 17.7 million copies in a single week.
However, that was an anomaly.
On average, the magazine hovered around 15.5 million copies, placing it second among the "Big Four" publishing houses, trailing behind the leader at 16.3 million. After Initial D ended, Prime Manga had plummeted to 13.8 million. Then, thanks to Haruto, Hunter x Hunter brought it back up to 15 million.
Now, as the story reached its peak, the circulation hit 16.01 million copies. Meanwhile, the industry leader was at 16.33 million.
Prime Manga began spending a massive amount on advertising across Japan, loudly proclaiming that Weekly Prime had become only the second magazine in history to break the 16 million mark.
To an outsider, it just looked like Prime Manga was having a good run. But to veterans, there was only one explanation. Hunter x Hunter, after only five months of serialization, had already caught up to, and perhaps even surpassed, the popularity of Initial D. Otherwise, how could the magazine's sales increase so dramatically without any other major hits to support it?
This realization sent shockwaves through Haruto's peers.
The weekly reader votes might be inflated by fan loyalty, but the magazine's circulation was a hard, objective metric. Who were these new buyers?
They weren't just old fans; they were a new wave of readers drawn in specifically by the allure of Hunter x Hunter.
To reach this level of influence in less than five months was borderline supernatural.
As March began, the atmosphere in the manga industry was thick with tension.
At the same time, the anime world was beginning to stir. The promotional campaign for Code Geass had officially begun.