In 2023, Yoshihiro Togashi, the creator of Hunter x Hunter, sent a letter to Iwakura and Yoshizumi’s Show, where he answered a bunch of questions that were asked of him by former Sakurazaka46 member Yumiko Seki about the show, its characters, its ending, and Togashi’s process of creating one of the greatest anime and manga series of all time.
One of the questions was about what Hunter x Hunter fans consider the most emotional scene in the series. It involved the death of Meruem, the main antagonist of the Chimera Ant arc, and Komugi, his only companion. The Chimera ant arc is the biggest arc in Hunter x Hunter and includes many action-based and emotional moments from the story.
While talking about the death scene, Togashi explained why Meruem’s final moments were portrayed on a black manga panel with white speech bubbles. He also talked about the inspiration behind the death and the innovation of panels, which led to the most emotional scene of the entire Hunter x Hunter series.
The Most Emotional Moment of Chimera Ant Arc in Hunter x Hunter
There are very few villains in the anime and manga world who can make fans fall in love with them and make them cry during their deaths. Meruem was one of them. The King of the Chimera ants, Meruem, was extremely powerful and believed that his race was above humanity, which is why he decided to destroy it.
However, along the way, he met Komugi, the world Gungi champion, who essentially became the most important person in his life. Meruem developed a sense of companionship towards Komugi during their Gungi games. However, during his fight with Netero, the chairman of the Hunter Association, Meruem, was poisoned, which later spread to Komugi too.
In the end, Meruem accepted his fate and decided to live out his final moments with his only friend while playing the last Gungi game. When introduced, Meruem’s character was one of the most hated characters in the entire series. But the emotional impact of his death made him one of the most loved characters in the end.
Yoshihiro Togashi Reveals His Inspiration Behind Hunter x Hunter’s Most Emotional Deaths
Meruem’s death in Hunter x Hunter had a deeper impact in the manga than in the anime series. This was because, while drawing this particular moment, Yoshihiro Togashi introduced a black manga panel with white speech bubbles. Togashi talked about this in his letter, which was translated and shared by @TogashisTroupe on X (Formerly Twitter).
Togashi stated:
“While drawing the chapter’s storyboards, I thought of a part from Fumiyo Kōno’s “Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms”, remembering the scene as a sequence of monologue-only panels on white backgrounds divided vertically (when I reread it later, I realized it was my imagination and that I had mistakenly confused it with panels from another scene…). It was then that I decided to continue the exchange between Komugi and Meruem in simple, pitch- black panels.”
While writing the final moments of Meruem and Komugi, Togashi remembered Fumiyo Kōno’s Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. The manga revolves around a family who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. One of the monologue-only scenes from the manga was written on panels with a white background, which served as inspiration for the black panels of Meruem and Komugi’s death scene.
You can watch Hunter x Hunter on Prime Video, Max, Hulu, and Netflix.
