General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20266 min read

Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター) (1999 TV series)

Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター) (1999 TV series) is the first television anime adaptation of Yoshihiro Togashi's manga Hunter × Hunter, produced by Nippon Animation and broadcast on the Fuji TV network for 62 episodes from October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001.¹^•² Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, who had previously directed the Rurouni Kenshin television series, it follows Gon Freecss, a boy who leaves his home on Whale Island to take the lethal Hunter Examination and search for the father who left him as an infant.³^•⁴ The series covers only the first eleven volumes of the manga; the remaining adapted arcs, the Yorknew City and Greed Island arcs, were released separately as original video animations (OVAs).²

Key fact	Detail
Broadcast	Fuji TV network, October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001¹
Episode count	62 episodes, about 23 minutes each²^•⁵
Studio and director	Nippon Animation; directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi³
Manga coverage	Only the first 11 volumes; Yorknew City and Greed Island arcs continued as DVD OVAs²
Main voice cast	Junko Takeuchi as Gon, Yuki Kaida and Cheryl McMaster as Kurapika, Kanako Mitsuhashi and Annika Odegard as Killua, Hozumi Gôda and Jonathan Love as Leorio (Japanese and English roles)⁵
Ratings	IMDb 8.6/10 from about 13,000 votes; Newtype reported a Japanese TV rating of 10.5 for Q4 2000⁵^•³
English release	Licensed by Viz Media as of August 2008; first box set released that December²

Story and premise

The series opens with Gon, a boy raised on Whale Island by his aunt Mito, who had been told his parents died; the discovery that his father Jin (Ging) is alive and ranks among the world's foremost Hunters drives him to leave home.⁴ The Hunters themselves are defined in the Fuji TV synopsis as a sought-after profession that only about one person in tens of thousands can qualify for, one that brings social standing, fame, and money.⁴ In the first aired episode, a giant fox bear attacks Gon and the hunter Kite saves him, telling him his father still lives; Gon then announces to his aunt that he plans to take the Hunter Exam.⁶

During the demanding examination Gon meets his three central companions: Leorio, Kurapika, and Killua.⁵ The television run proceeds through the Hunter Exam, Zoldyck Family, Heavens Arena, and Phantom Troupe (Yorknew) material, ending before the story's later Chimera Ant and Chairman Election arcs, which no anime would cover until the 2011 remake.⁷

Production and adaptation choices

Furuhashi's adaptation keeps close to the manga in its early episodes but diverges in tone and content as it progresses. The Hunter Exam arc adds minor filler scenes that expand character interactions, and the series inserts original episodes during and after the Yorknew City arc, alters parts of Kurapika's backstory, and fabricates an extra phase of the Hunter Exam not present in the source.⁷ Compared with the 2011 remake, the 1999 series spends considerably longer on the exam: one side-by-side analysis calls 1999's version more "substantial," featuring an entire extra leg of the Exam, while the 2011 series stays nearer the manga's pacing.⁸

Why it stopped. When the anime had covered most of the available source material by 2001, Nippon Animation chose to end the adaptation rather than continue it with filler.³ The manga's serialization went on hiatus during production, and as a result the 1999 series could not complete the story.⁹ The Yorknew City and Greed Island arcs were instead finished as three separate OVA series, which observers criticize for visibly lower animation quality than the television episodes; the Greed Island OVAs in particular are described as rough, and they skipped some material the 2011 anime kept.¹⁰

Style and tone

The 1999 series is frequently described as darker and slower than its successor. Comparisons note its atmospheric direction, distinct color palette, and a soundtrack many still associate with Gon's early adventures.⁷ Both the 1999 and 2011 adaptations aimed to be faithful to Togashi, but they come at the material with stylistic differences that fans have cataloged scene by scene, including a widely circulated comparison of the Gon versus Hisoka fight between the two versions.¹¹ Viewers who watched both report that the 2011 version tells the same story more quickly, with different opening and ending themes.¹²

Reception

Critical reception for the 1999 television adaptation has been generally favorable. Miyako Matsuda of Protoculture Addicts, Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network, and Derrick L. Tucker of THEM Anime Reviews all praised the narrative and characters; Matsuda singled out the adventure-filled world and the values of friendship, effort, and victory that Togashi built into it.³ In Japanese audience measures, Newtype listed a television rating of 10.5 for the fourth quarter of 2000, and the show ranked sixth among Japan's top ten anime series for February 2001.³

Polls and rankings. Readers voted the series 16th best anime of 2000 in the Animage Anime Grand Prix, and fourth the following year; in 2001 Animage's staff placed it 94th among the most important anime of all time, and a 2006 TV Asahi web poll in Japan ranked it 28th.³ On IMDb the series holds an 8.6/10 from roughly 13,000 user votes.⁵ The series has enjoyed more modest popularity than its manga source, and in 2010 Mania.com listed it among series needing a reboot, a wish the 2011 remake then fulfilled.³

Compared with the 2011 series

A second adaptation by Madhouse aired from October 2011 to September 2014 on Nippon TV and retold the entire story from the beginning, adding the Chimera Ant and Chairman Election arcs that the 1999 series never reached.⁸^•¹³ The two versions make different trade-offs. The 2011 series invents no storylines and runs faster, though some fans feel its Hunter Exam and Heavens Arena arcs move too briskly; the 1999 series retains a darker atmosphere and puts Kite, the hunter who inspires Gon's journey, in its opening episode.⁷^•⁶ The 1999 version is also described as more serious and deeper in its character treatment, while the 2011 version has more vibrant colors and a soundtrack many consider stronger.¹⁴

In 2026, the ShoPro-run Jump Channel began streaming HUNTER×HUNTER episodes free on YouTube, scheduling the Hunter Exam and Zoldyck, Heavens Arena, Phantom Troupe, Greed Island, Chimera Ant, and Election arcs from May 29 onward, two weeks per episode batch.¹⁵

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026