Hunter x Hunter Watch Order (And Is It Finished?)

Two television adaptations, three OVA runs, two films and a manga that keeps going dark and coming back: Hunter x Hunter looks far messier than it actually is. The route below runs to about 58 hours, skips nothing that matters, and finishes at a real ending rather than a cliffhanger. The manga's status changed twice during 2026, which is why that section carries a date.

Every Hunter x Hunter arc at a glance

#	Arc	Episodes	Aired	What it is
1	Hunter Exam	1-26	Oct 2011 to Apr 2012	The cast meets, plus the Zoldyck detour
2	Heavens Arena	27-38	Apr to Jul 2012	Nen finally gets explained
3	Phantom Troupe	39-58	Jul to Dec 2012	Yorknew City and Kurapika's revenge
4	Greed Island	59-75	Dec 2012 to Apr 2013	A game world, and real training
5	Chimera Ant	76-136	Apr 2013 to Jul 2014	61 episodes; the series at full power
6	Election	137-148	Jul to Sep 2014	The consequences, and the ending

Which version should you watch: 2011 or 1999?

Both adaptations are good. They are not interchangeable, though, and the gap between them is coverage, not quality.

The 2011 series is the default

Madhouse's 148-episode run (October 2011 to September 2014, directed by Hiroshi Kojina) is the only version that carries the story through to the end of the Election arc, the sixth and last anyone has animated. It sticks close to the source, wastes almost no episodes on filler, and holds a consistent visual standard across three years of weekly broadcast. The Chimera Ant stretch in particular gets the direction and the budget it needs, which is not something you can say about most long shonen adaptations at hour forty.

The 1999 series is a second helping

Nippon Animation's 62-episode version (October 1999 to March 2001, directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi) has a grimier palette, a better score and a slower, more patient pace that plenty of long-time fans still prefer for the early arcs. The catch is where it leaves you. It stops partway through Yorknew City, and reaching the end of Greed Island from there means tracking down three separate OVA runs that were never given an official English release. Come back to it once you are attached to the world. Do not start here.

The 2011 watch order, arc by arc

Broadcast order is the correct order. There are no recap episodes worth skipping and no filler to route around.

1. Hunter Exam, episodes 1-26

Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio meet during a professional licensing exam that keeps quietly turning into a survival test. This is the most conventional stretch of the series and the one people quit during, so it helps to know what it is doing: establishing a world that punishes bad judgement far more harshly than it punishes weakness. Watch how Hisoka is written here, as a threat the heroes are not expected to beat and mostly survive by reading correctly. The final five episodes leave the exam behind for the Zoldyck family estate, which is where Killua stops being a sidekick.

2. Heavens Arena, episodes 27-38

Twelve episodes inside a fighting tower, and the point where the show becomes itself. Wing sits the boys down and explains Nen, and the series switches from "who hits hardest" to "who understands the rules best". Pay close attention, because most later fights are decided by a restriction a character chose to place on themselves rather than by raw power. Our Nen explainer lays out the six categories and the water divination test in one place if you want the system on paper.

3. Phantom Troupe, episodes 39-58

Yorknew City during auction season, with four plots running at once: Kurapika taking a bodyguard job, Gon and Killua chasing money, the Mafia families, and the Troupe itself. Chrollo arrives, Kurapika's chains get their proper showcase, and the series proves it can write a villain group with genuine internal politics instead of a ladder of bosses. It also rewards a rewatch more than any other arc, because information the script withholds early is exactly what makes the hostage exchange land later.

4. Greed Island, episodes 59-75

A video-game arc that is really a training arc. Gon and Killua enter a Nen-powered game world chasing a lead on Gon's father, and Biscuit Krueger drills them until their abilities have actual shape: this is where Jajanken gets built, condition by condition. Seventeen episodes, lighter than everything around it, and the last comfortable stretch of the show.

5. Chimera Ant, episodes 76-136

Spoiler warning: this section and the next describe the shape of the final two arcs, though not their outcomes.

Sixty-one episodes, the longest block by a wide margin, and the reason people call this one of the best written shonen ever made. A colony of insect-like creatures begins absorbing human traits, the Hunter Association sends its heaviest hitters, and the show slows down to ask what actually separates a person from a monster. Meruem and Neferpitou sit at the centre of it, Kite is the reason Gon's own arc turns ugly, and the last stretch leans on narration in a way that genuinely divides viewers. If the opening twenty episodes feel slow, push on anyway: the setup is doing load-bearing work. Several of the top placements in our strongest Hunter x Hunter characters ranking are settled inside this arc.

6. Election, episodes 137-148

Twelve episodes of consequences: a leadership vote inside the Hunter Association, an ugly piece of Zoldyck family business, and the conversation Gon has been walking towards since episode one. It is talky and deliberately unglamorous after Chimera Ant, and the back half belongs to Killua rather than Gon. Treat it as the final act, not an epilogue to skim: landing an ending this cleanly is a good part of why the show sits where it does on our list of the best shonen anime of all time.

Where the 1999 anime and the OVAs fit

If you do go back, the 1999 route is four pieces in this order. All of it is optional, and none of it takes you past Greed Island.

Order	Release	Episodes	Year	Covers
1	Hunter x Hunter (TV)	62	1999-2001	Hunter Exam to the middle of Yorknew City
2	Hunter x Hunter (OVA)	8	2002	Finishes Yorknew City
3	Greed Island (OVA)	8	2003	Opens Greed Island
4	G.I. Final (OVA)	14	2004	Finishes Greed Island, then stops

The 1999 series ended because it had caught up with the manga, and the studio chose to stop rather than invent filler. Episode 62 leaves you mid-auction in Yorknew, with the Zoldyck brothers walking away from Chrollo and Hisoka quietly informing Kurapika that the Troupe corpses are fakes, so the 2002 OVA is not optional once you commit to this route. Those three OVA runs never received an official English release, which is the practical reason almost every newcomer stays with the 2011 version.

The two films, and where they belong

There are exactly two, both released during the 2011 series' run: Phantom Rouge (January 2013) and The Last Mission (December 2013). Neither adapts a manga arc, neither is referenced anywhere in the series, and skipping both costs you nothing. If you do want them, the placements are easy. Phantom Rouge sits straight after episode 58, with Kurapika and Leorio chasing a rumour of another pair of scarlet eyes, although a few of its details contradict the episodes either side of it. The Last Mission plays out almost entirely inside Heavens Arena during a Battle Olympia tournament, with Gon and Killua taking a break from their expedition with Kite, which places it just after Greed Island.

Is Hunter x Hunter finished? The September 2026 answer

The anime is finished in the sense that nothing more is being made. The story is not, and 2026 was its most eventful year in a decade.

Yoshihiro Togashi has serialised the manga since March 1998, with long health-related breaks becoming routine from 2006 onwards. Chapter 410 ran in December 2024, then nothing appeared for roughly eighteen months, until chapter 411 turned up in Weekly Shonen Jump at the end of June 2026. Ten chapters followed, almost weekly, pausing only for Jump's summer break, and the run closed with chapter 420 in early September 2026. The series went straight back on hiatus. Togashi has said publicly that manuscripts past chapter 421 are already drawn, but as of September 2026 Shueisha has announced no date for any of them. Volume 39, Negotiation, arrived in July 2026, and the manga had passed 100 million copies in circulation as of June 2026.

As for a continuation of the anime, nothing has been announced. The "new Hunter x Hunter animation" that circulated widely in 2026 is a ninety-second opening video animated by Studio M2 for the mobile game Nen x Survivor, which launched worldwide in February 2026. It is genuinely new footage, Netero and Uvogin included, and it is not a seventh season.

Picking up the manga after episode 148

Episode 148 closes the Election arc on chapter 339. Start reading at chapter 340 and you are into unadapted material immediately: the Dark Continent Expedition arc, then the Succession War aboard the Black Whale, which is where the story still sits. Be ready for a shift in register. The later chapters are dense and heavily narrated, closer to a political thriller than to the fights you just watched, and they juggle a cast several times the size of the anime's. Chapters 340 to 420 are all that exist beyond the anime, eighty-one in total.

On the question of where to watch, the 2011 series has left Crunchyroll and now sits on Netflix, Hulu and Tubi in the United States, all 148 episodes on each. Rights move between services and regions often, so check your own before planning a weekend around it. If you would rather line up another long-runner, our One Piece watch order is the next mountain most Hunter x Hunter fans climb.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the correct Hunter x Hunter watch order?

Watch the 2011 anime in broadcast order, episodes 1 to 148: Hunter Exam (1-26), Heavens Arena (27-38), Phantom Troupe (39-58), Greed Island (59-75), Chimera Ant (76-136) and Election (137-148). There is no filler to skip, and the two films are non-canon side stories you can leave out entirely.

Should I watch the 1999 or the 2011 Hunter x Hunter?

Start with the 2011 version. It runs 148 episodes and takes the story to a proper stopping point, while the 1999 series ends partway through Yorknew City after 62 episodes and needs three OVA runs, none officially released in English, just to reach the end of Greed Island. The 1999 version is a good rewatch afterwards for its atmosphere and score.

How many episodes of Hunter x Hunter are there?

The 2011 anime has 148 episodes, roughly 58 hours of viewing. The 1999 anime has 62 television episodes plus 30 OVA episodes across three series, 92 in total, but it covers much less of the story and stops at the end of Greed Island.

Where does the Hunter x Hunter anime end in the manga?

Episode 148 closes the 13th Hunter Chairman Election arc on chapter 339. Begin reading at chapter 340 to continue straight into the Dark Continent Expedition arc and the Succession War that follows it. Eighty-one chapters exist past that point, running up to chapter 420.

Is Hunter x Hunter finished?

No. The anime stopped in September 2014 and nothing further has been produced, and the manga is still unfinished. It returned at the end of June 2026 with chapter 411 after about eighteen months away, ran ten chapters through chapter 420 in early September 2026, then went back on hiatus with no announced return date.

Is there a Hunter x Hunter season 7 or a new anime?

Not as of September 2026. No continuation of the 2011 series has been announced, and the Dark Continent arcs have never been animated. The new animation that surfaced in 2026 is a short opening video produced for the mobile game Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Survivor, not a new season.