Every Hunter X Hunter Fan Must Know How Yoshihiro Togashi Came up With the Most Heartbreaking Chimera Ant Arc Scene
Hunter X Hunter‘s creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, explained how he came up with the idea for his depiction of Meruem’s last moments. The scene, which is heartbreaking and concludes the Chimera Ant arc, shows Komugi, the young Gungi master and the dying king’s friend, consoling a seriously injured Meruem. The unique use of white speech bubbles on blacked-out backgrounds makes this particular chapter distinctive.
The new information about Meruem’s death comes from the Japanese podcast, Iwakura and Yoshizumi’s Show. Yumiko Seki, a former member of Sakurazaka46, a Japanese pop group, revealed on the program that she had emailed Togashi a series of inquiries regarding his comic. She made the decision to share his handwritten replies, which Togashi’s Troupe on X translated into English, along with other Hunter x Hunter fans on the podcast.
Yoshihiro Togashi’s Wish Came True With Komugi And Mereum’s Scene
In the interview with Yoshihiro Togashi, the interviewer brought up the cut-to-black scene at Meruem’s final moments, which had a profound impact on all readers. The interviewer then posed the question of whether he planned to write it like that from the beginning.
Togashi responded that almost all the panel layouts were decided right before or during the storyboard process, when the tension was at its peak, and this was when he had the idea of having several pages of speech bubbles on black backgrounds divided vertically.
He further stated:
While drawing the chapter’s storyboards, I thought of a part from Fumiyo Kono’a “Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms”, remembering the scene as a sequence of monologue-only panels on white backgrounds as divided vertically… It was then that I decided to continue the exchange between Komugi and Meruem in simple, pitch-black panels.
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms is a famous manga about a family affected by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Despite misinterpreting the context of when this occurred, it inspired the now iconic Hunter x Hunter chapter, which features black panels interspersed with white speech bubbles, with Meruem having a final conversation with Komugi.
Yoshihiro Togashi Gave The Example of Ashita no Joe and Fist of the North Star
Togashi also gave the example of Ashita no Joe and Raoh from Fist of the North Star, both of which use kakeami (a shading technique that can involve crosshatching) to portray an emotional moment.
He mentions that the kakeami technique is used to emphasize emotional moments in manga, with notable examples including the conclusion of Ashita no Joe, where Joe “burns out” after giving his all in the boxing ring, or Fist of the North Star, when Raoh dies after his final confrontation with Kenshiro.
Togashi revealed that he always wanted to take on that challenge, and his wish came true with the double-page spread of Komugi and Meruem. He also stated that he was satisfied with the fact that he ended his series with the double-page spread that ended up impressing the fans.
