Yoshihiro Tagashi's health issues remain a serious roadblock on the manga's way.
Despite its recent troubles — with one hiatus after another forcing the story to take huge pauses in between highly inconsistent updates — Hunter X Hunter manga continues to remain a beloved title with legions of fans all over the globe. And now they are finally in for some very good news. The long-awaited update regarding the future of the manga came October 1 via a post on Twitter by none other than the author of the series himself — Yoshihiro Tagashi — who confirmed that he's returning to work on the project.
In less than 24 hours his post was viewed by 35 million users, receiving close to half a million likes with the majority of the 9000 plus comments being nothing but praise for Mr. Tagashi. This incredible level of love and appreciation that the fans demonstrate towards Hunter X Hunter despite the above-mentioned issues is very heartwarming and inspiring — especially considering the fact that these issues are not only really unlikely to go away but might become even more present in the future.
At this point the majority of the fans, who more or less closely follow Yoshihiro Tagashi's updates, are aware of the persistent 'health issues' that have been plaguing his life and severely limiting his work output.
The first mentions of those problems date back to 2015 but at the time the information on the subject was somewhat vague and obscure.
In 2022 however it has been publicly revealed that the famous mangaka suffers from lower back and hip problems that prevent him from sitting in a chair for more than two hours a day. What's worse is that, according to the articles in the media, over the recent years it has been gradually turning into a more and more serious issue forcing Mr. Tagashi to draw while laying down or even attempt doing it standing up.
And while the fans continue to rally behind the famous author showering him with praise and support — any hopes for a regular serialization of Hunter X Hunter are still completely out of the question. Thus the upcoming 2024 return of the manga will most likely be followed by another long hiatus.