General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20265 min read

Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター) (2011 TV series)

Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター) is a 148-episode Japanese television anime produced by Madhouse, adapted from Yoshihiro Togashi's (冨樫義博) manga of the same name and broadcast on Nippon TV from October 2, 2011 to September 2014.¹^•² It is the second anime adaptation of the manga and restarts the story from the first volume of the original.³

Key fact	Detail
Episodes and run	148 episodes; aired 2011-10-02 to September 24, 2014 (Anime News Network lists the end as 2014-10-24), Sundays at 10:55 JST on Nippon TV²^•⁴^•⁵
Studio and staff	Madhouse; directed by Hiroshi Koujina (神志那弘志), series composition Atsushi Maekawa (前川淳), character design and chief animation direction Takahiro Yoshimatsu (吉松孝博), music Yoshihisa Hirano (平野義久)³
Main cast	Gon – Megumi Han (潘めぐみ), Killua – Mariya Ise (伊瀬茉莉也), Leorio – Keiji Fujiwara (藤原啓治), Kurapika – Miyuki Sawashiro (沢城みゆき), Hisoka – Daisuke Namikawa (浪川大輔)³
Adaptation position	Second anime adaptation; restarts from volume 1 of Togashi's manga, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since 1998³^•¹
Manga circulation	Over 55 million copies in Japan as of August 2011; the series' cumulative circulation surpassed 100 million copies as of 2026¹^•²
Audience ratings	MyAnimeList score 9.03 from 2,020,554 users, ranked #10; ANN Bayesian estimate 8.574 (rank #44 of 8145)⁵^•⁴
Production committee	VAP, Nippon Television Network, Shueisha, and Madhouse (製作著作)²

Premise and adaptation coverage

The series opens with 12-year-old Gon leaving Whale Island to become a Hunter like his father, fulfilling a promise to his guardian Mito and setting out for the Hunter Exam; episode 1, タビダチ×ト×ナカマタチ, aired October 2, 2011 on Nippon TV.⁶

As the second adaptation, the 2011 series deliberately starts over from the manga's first volume rather than continuing the earlier anime.³ The source manga had already run for over a decade at the time of production, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump (Shueisha) since 1998 and exceeding 55 million cumulative copies in Japan as of August 2011.¹

Production

Madhouse assembled the core staff: director Hiroshi Koujina, series composition by Atsushi Maekawa, character design and chief animation direction by Takahiro Yoshimatsu, and music by Yoshihisa Hirano.³ A Japanese television database records a change in series composition, crediting Maekawa for episodes 1–58 and Tsuyoshi Kamijō (上代務) from episode 39, with Maruyama Masao (丸山正雄) as creative producer.⁷

The production committee credited with 製作著作 comprised VAP, Nippon TV, Shueisha, and Madhouse.² MyAnimeList likewise lists VAP, Nippon Television Network, and Shueisha as producers, Madhouse as the animation studio, and VIZ Media as licensor.⁵

The main voice cast paired Megumi Han as Gon Freecss, Mariya Ise as Killua Zoldyck, Keiji Fujiwara as Leorio, Miyuki Sawashiro as Kurapika, and Daisuke Namikawa as Hisoka.³

Broadcast and distribution

The series aired in the Sunday 10:55–11:25 slot on NTV within the NNN station network, beginning October 2, 2011.⁷ Animate Times records the full run as October 2, 2011 to September 24, 2014 on Nippon TV and other stations, totaling 148 episodes; Anime News Network instead gives the end date as October 24, 2014, and the two sources have not been reconciled here.²^•⁴

International broadcasts followed in stages: Animax Asia from April 24, 2012; GMA in the Philippines with episodes 1–50 from September 1, 2014 and episodes 51–100 from August 24, 2015; and Toonami in the United States from April 16, 2016 to June 22, 2019.⁴ VIZ Media released North American Blu-ray volumes 1–7 between October 25, 2016 and February 18, 2020, followed by a Complete Series Amazon Exclusive set on June 21, 2022.⁴ In Japan, Disney+ streams the series as six seasons covering 2011–2014.⁸

Music and themes

Yoshihisa Hirano composed the series' music.³ The opening theme, "departure!" by Masatoshi Ono, was used across multiple versions spanning episodes 1–147.⁴

The ending theme changed by arc. Anime News Network lists "Just Awake" by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas (eps 1–26), "Hunting for Your Dream." by Galneryus (eps 27–58), "REASON" by YUZU (eps 59–75), and "Hyōri Ittai" (表裏一体) by YUZU (eps 99–136).⁴ MyAnimeList's list differs in detail: it places "HUNTING FOR YOUR DREAM" at episodes 27–50 with "Riot" by Yoshihisa Hirano at episode 51, and "Hyouriittai" at episodes 99–134 and 136; the two databases disagree on these episode ranges, and neither discrepancy is resolved by an authoritative source here.⁵

Reception

Aggregate audience ratings place the series near the top of both major databases. MyAnimeList records a score of 9.03 from 2,020,554 users, ranked #10 overall and #8 in popularity, with 3,254,786 members and 233,118 favorites; of its user reviews, 825 recommend the series, 68 report mixed feelings, and 59 do not recommend it.⁵ Anime News Network's user ratings give an arithmetic mean of 8.665 (rank #121 of 10,776), a weighted mean of 8.585 (rank #127), and a Bayesian estimate of 8.574 (rank #44 of 8,145), from 1,230 ratings including 421 "Masterpiece" votes.⁴

By the numbers

148 episodes of 24 minutes running time per Anime News Network; Nippon TV's English page describes approximately 30-minute episodes, a difference the sources leave unresolved.⁴^•¹
Broadcast window: October 2, 2011 to September 24, 2014 (Animate Times) or October 24, 2014 (ANN), Sundays at 10:55 JST.²^•⁴^•⁵
Manga circulation: over 55 million copies in Japan as of August 2011, rising past 100 million cumulative copies by 2026.¹^•²
Audience scores: 9.03 on MyAnimeList (2,020,554 users); 8.574 Bayesian estimate on ANN.⁵^•⁴

What has changed since 2023

Animate Times records that the manga's cumulative circulation surpassed 100 million copies as of 2026, up from the 55 million reported at the time the anime entered production.²^•¹ Nippon TV's official Japanese series site remains active with sections for the story, characters (including a page for the Zodiacs, 十二支ん), terminology, and Greed Island card explanations.⁹

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026