Hunter x Hunter fans around the world clamored in celebration earlier this week after creator Yoshihiro Togashi teased the end of the beloved shonen manga’s hiatus. But while some merely waited for two years, one unsung fan put himself through real-life training until the day the manga resumed serialization.
Back in 2020, YouTuber Totsugeki Tarue began a series of videos he religiously posts titled “One Thousand Karate Punches of Gratitude a Day Until Hunter x Hunter Resumes Serialization.” In the hour-long videos, Tarue dons a white martial arts gi while livestreaming himself throwing hands, literally, every day until the manga resumes publication.
After seeing the online hate and criticism Togashi received for HxH’s hiatus, Tarue told Japanese publication Maidona News that he began livestreaming himself performing straight punches to express his gratitude for Togashi’s body of work.
“I wanted to provide a positive topic while negative news about Mr. Togashi was flowing every time [HxH was on hiatus],” Tarue said in the interview as translated via Google.
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Though the office worker had no prior martial arts experience, his straight-fist punches improved over time and his Amazon-bought gi was slowly covered in anime-esque battle damage. Tarue said the gi began to fray from the waist and especially on the side where he would thrust his fist.
“I think that it may be because I wash it every day. Even if I wash it every day, the collar is black. And it’s awkward.”
Tarue’s tribute to Togashi entails two years and four months of emulating the lightning-fast strikes of HxH’s 12th chairman Isaac Netero. To put a feather in his already illustrious cap, the fan continued to throw punches even while enduring the pain and fever that came with his covid vaccination. If that isn’t a real-life example of enhancement Nin training, I don’t know what is.
Now that new chapters of HxH are seemingly on the horizon, Tarue told Maidon News that he still plans on throwing punches of gratitude for Togashi.
When asked if he desired Togashi to notice his valiant training arc in tribute to him, Tarue humbly replied that he wasn’t interested.
“I like Hunter x Hunter too much, so I want Mr. Togashi to be a lord who doesn’t know me,” Tarue said.