Why Hunter X Hunter should have replaced Bleach in the Anime Big 3, explained

Modified May 09, 2024 06:52 GMT

Why Hunter X Hunter should have replaced Bleach in the Anime Big 3, explained — Hunter x Hunter and Bleach anime visuals (Image via Madhouse, Studio Pierrot)

Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter manga is certainly one of the most popular shonen manga to have been released in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Unfortunately, the manga went through several hiatuses, forcing it to halt its serialization on several occasions.

This effectively allowed other manga series to establish themselves as popular. One such manga was Tite Kubo's Bleach. Therefore, some fans believe that Hunter X Hunter deserved Bleach's spot in Anime Big 3.

Hunter x Hunter follows the story of Gon Freecss, a boy who departs from his hometown to look for his father, Ging Freecss. His father was a world-renowned hunter who had left him home when he was very young. Thus, Gon also begins his adventure as Hunter to look for his father and learn why his father left him.

Why Hunter X Hunter deserved to be part of the Big 3 more than Bleach

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One anime fan on X (formerly Twitter) @25th_ilka stated that out of the three Big 3 anime, Bleach had a much better run compared to its competition - One Piece and Naruto. This opinion wasn't meant to act as criticism for One Piece and Naruto, but praise for Bleach. However, that's when another anime fan on X @hypareyli2 said that Hunter X Hunter deserved a spot in the Big 3 anime rather than Bleach.

As part of their take, @hypareyli2 stated that Hunter X Hunter had a much bigger impact than Bleach on the animanga industry as most manga creators were inspired by it. In addition, they stated that HXH was far more popular and objectively better than Bleach. In the end, @hypareyli2 also stated that Naruto was better than both series.

Gon Freecss as seen in the anime (Image via Madhouse)

While there are some poor opinions in this take, if one were to think about it, HXH manga could have been part of the Big 3 if it wasn't for its hiatuses. Otherwise, there could have been an alternate concept that accounted for all four anime - One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, and Hunter X Hunter.

What fans thought about the take

There were some fans who agreed to the take as they believed that HXH was genuinely the better series out of the two. According to them, the only reason Bleach entered the conversation was because Yoshihiro Togashi's series went into a hiatus.

Fans reacting to the opinion given by the anime fan (Image via Sportskeeda/X)

However, the opinion wasn't really that accurate. The Big 3 anime were the three Weekly Shonen Jump manga series that were the biggest sellers and had attained their peak during the golden era of Jump comics. Thus, HXH which went into hiatuses could not enter the conversation. Some fans even added that Togashi's series only became popular after the 2011 anime came out, not before that.

Meanwhile, some fans completely disregarded the take by @hypareyli2. This is because, as per them, Bleach has inspired several manga series like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer. Even Black Clover manga creator Yuki Tabata has stated how he was inspired by Bleach to create his manga. Thus, it made more sense that Bleach had a bigger impact on the animanga industry than HXH.