A Corner of a Page

On May 1, 2024, Yoshihiro Togashi posted a photograph to his X account that contained almost nothing. A fragment of a ruler. The corner of a manuscript page with the number five written on it. And a caption: “No405, I’m working on it. Moon Healing Escalation!” The phrase is a reference to his wife Naoko Takeuchi’s manga Sailor Moon , and it indicated that Togashi had quietly advanced five chapters into a new batch of Hunter × Hunter while the rest of the world assumed the series was dormant. The post amassed over 300,000 likes in under twelve hours. The man showed us a corner of a page and the internet lost its collective mind.

If you’re new to this particular corner of manga fandom, you need to understand something: this is normal. This is how it works. Since 2006, Togashi has taken numerous lengthy hiatuses while serializing Hunter × Hunter. Some were due to illness and lower back pain, while reasons for others were never disclosed. The series has earned the nickname “Hiatus × Hiatus.” Fans track the days between chapters the way birdwatchers track migration patterns. And Manuscript No. 405, which would eventually become the chapter titled Performance (芝居, Shibai) , became one of the most closely watched pieces of paper in the history of serialized comics.

How a Page Gets Made When You Can’t Sit Down

Here’s what you should know before you joke about a mangaka being lazy. In July 2022, Togashi revealed that he was unable to sit in a chair for two years due to his back and hip problems, but was able to resume drawing by doing so while lying down. He included an illustration of himself as an anthropomorphic dog lying on its back while drawing, and captioned it, “Currently, I can only draw in this position.”

By September 2024, it had gotten worse. His post read: “I feel like the bones around my spine are about to collapse like the final blocks in a game of Jenga. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post to see if I will complete it or collapse first.” He signed off with the parenthetical “(Back pain high),” which is either gallows humor or something beyond it. He described his digital coloring process bluntly: “I have no choice but to stand up when coloring my current drawings. Besides, I have to stand up when drawing a line of the panels. I can’t keep my posture even for 10 minutes, so I have no choice but to roam around.”

The production pipeline for Chapter 405 specifically moved through character pencils, inking, dialogue insertion, and background production, not in a linear sprint but across months. Hunter × Hunter went on hiatus 494 days before that May post. Rather than Togashi simply resuming work, his update suggested he’d been working on it for some time, having completed four chapters since then. By June 7, 2024, he reported that Chapter 410 had finished inking while Chapter 405 was at the dialogue stage with backgrounds still in production. The man works like a one-person animation studio running on willpower and a spine held together by stubbornness.

What Chapter 405 Actually Contains

Chapter 405 marks the first appearance of Hisoka in the story since Chapter 357, which was published on June 13, 2016. Think about that gap. Over eight years of real-world time between one character’s exit from a panel and his reappearance. The chapter opens in a high-end casino on the ship, where a card game called Square-X is being played. A man keeps calling for more cards. Spectators explain the rules. Then the player reveals his hand and it’s Hisoka.

But the real craft is in the misdirection. Someone pretending to be Hisoka secretly watches the real one. A flashback reveals the imposter to be Bonolenov, a Phantom Troupe member whom Chrollo instructed to disguise himself as Hisoka and hang around where the Mafia might be. We learn the real reason the Troupe is on the Black Whale 1. They didn’t come here looking for Hisoka. They came so Chrollo could find a Nen ability he needs to kill Hisoka once and for all. Togashi is running a chess match inside a poker game inside a succession war. The density is absurd. I mean that as the highest compliment.

The Field Guide to Waiting

If you’re entering the Hunter × Hunter fandom now, here’s what to know, what to avoid, and what to seek out.

Know this: Since December 2024, Hunter × Hunter has been in another indefinite hiatus since Chapter 410 was published, this time because of health and production reasons. The manga is in a completed manuscript state on Chapter 425, although it is unclear when or how that chapter will be released. In December 2024, Togashi revealed he is currently working on dialogue and adjusting the timeline for the next 50 chapters. Fifty. The man can barely stand for ten minutes and he’s plotting fifty chapters ahead.

Avoid this: The temptation to demand he hand the art off to someone else. It comes up in every fan discussion, and it misses the point. As critic Jason Thompson speculated in 2012, Togashi’s approach is “because he’s a perfectionist who enjoys his work and wants to do things himself.” His visual storytelling is inseparable from his writing. The paneling, the composition, the way a poker hand is revealed across a page spread. You can’t ghost-write that. Plenty of fans in online communities have noted that bringing in another illustrator risks producing something that reads like fanfiction wearing the original’s clothes. I tend to agree.

Seek this out: Read the chapter itself through VIZ Media. Follow Togashi’s X account, which remains the single most reliable source for updates. And read the chapters slowly. These are not disposable weekly content. They are manuscripts assembled by a man lying on his back, drawing upward, page by page, over months and years.

The Longer Game

Yoshihiro Togashi, born April 27, 1966, began drawing manga at an early age. He is best known for writing and illustrating YuYu Hakusho (1990–1994) and Hunter × Hunter (1998–present), which are two of the best-selling manga series of all time. He burned out horribly on YuYu Hakusho and has spoken openly about not wanting to repeat that mistake. After completing the color manuscript for Chapter 405’s batch, he wrote: “Thanks to you all, I was able to hand over the color manuscript to the editor. Your kind words of encouragement and concern have given me strength. Thank you very much. But, my back has really deteriorated.”

In my opinion, Manuscript No. 405 is not just a chapter of a manga. It’s a document of what it costs a person to keep making something when their body has turned against the process. It’s proof that the craft can’t be separated from the craftsman. Togashi draws lying down, roams his apartment between panel lines, and posts pictures of page corners that trend globally. The chapter he produced is dense, layered, and structurally brilliant. The wait for the next batch will be long. That’s fine. The work is worth the patience it demands.