During the San Diego Comic-Con event, Viz Media announced that they have acquired the rights to the Hunter x Hunter film, Phantom Rouge, with plans to release the project next spring.
The feature film based on the popular anime was originally released in 2013 in Japan, with Viz only now bringing it over to the anime’s western audiences. In 2017, Hunter x Hunter fans have already seen the long hiatus of its manga come to a close, with Yoshihiro Togashi overcoming his health issues. Now Hunter x Hunter fans are once again blessed, this time with a new English dubbed version of Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge in the making.
— VIZ Media (@VIZMedia) July 20, 2017
The movie introduces the fourth Spider Omokage. Kurapika became a Hunter in order to take vengeance upon a criminal group called the Phantom Troupe, who was responsible for killing his entire clan.
The reason for this was because Kurapika’s clan members had something called the Scarlet Eyes. These eyes turned to a beautiful scarlet colour during times of emotional distress. They were considered the worlds greatest treasure and so stolen by the Troupe. Kurapika and his friends in Gon, Killua and Leorio strive to find each Troupe member, with the fourth member being revealed in this movie. In addition, Kurapika will have his eyes stolen by one of his thought to be deceased childhood friends, making the film even more intense.
— VIZ Media (@VIZMedia) July 20, 2017
In addition to the movie, which is set to be released in 2018, Viz is also bringing Hunter x Hunter fans the Greed Island Arc dubbed in English for the first time. For western audiences, it is only a matter of waiting for a short few months, before getting their next Hunter x Hunter anime installments.
You can read Viz Media’s synopsis of Hunter x Hunter below:
“Hunters are a special breed, dedicated to tracking down treasures, magical beasts and even other people. But such pursuits require a license, and less than one in a hundred thousand can pass the gruelling qualification exam. Those who do pass gain access to restricted areas, amazing stores of information and the right to call themselves “Hunters.” Can Gon, a country boy, follow his father and join their ranks?”
Yoshihiro Togashi’s manga career began in 1986 at the age of twenty, when he won the coveted Osamu Tezuka Award for new manga artists. He debuted in the Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1989 with the romantic comedy Tende Showaru Cupid. From 1990 to 1994, he wrote and drew the hit manga YuYu Hakusho, which was followed by the dark-comedy science fiction series Level E and the adventure series Hunter x Hunter. In 1999, he married the manga artist Naoko Takeuchi.
