Hunter x Hunter Is on Hiatus at Chapter 420: Worth Starting in 2026?

The serialization fate is the whole story right now. Hunter x Hunter has published in bursts since moving off a weekly schedule in December 2022, and the most recent run ended with chapter 420 in Weekly Shonen Jump on September 7, 2026 - ten chapters after returning in late June - with the magazine saying only that a return will be announced later. Volume 39, collecting chapters 401 to 410, shipped on July 3, 2026, the first new volume in twenty-two months.

The reading threshold is higher than its reputation suggests. The current arc is a dense political succession war aboard a ship, told largely through narration and factional detail, and it is not a casual jumping-on point even for returning fans. Readers who came for the tournament and villain-of-the-week structure of the early arcs will find the recent material a different genre wearing the same title.

Where to start is genuinely easy to answer: watch the 2011 anime, which covers the story faithfully up to chapter 339, then continue from volume 33 if you want the manga's later material. The art rewards the wait - the panel density and character acting are among the best in the medium - and the series has passed 100 million copies in circulation, so nothing about its standing is in question. Only its schedule is.

Editorial Discussion

The question readers actually ask is whether it is safe to start a series that may never finish, and the fair answer depends on what you want. What exists is substantial: about 420 chapters across several self-contained arcs, with the Chimera Ant arc functioning as a genuine conclusion had the series stopped there. What is missing is the endgame, and Togashi has posted that manuscripts through chapter 427 are complete without publication dates attached. The realistic expectation is another burst, not a resolution. Start it for the finished arcs and treat everything past chapter 340 as an ongoing gift.