Did Hisoka Really Say “Bungee Gum Possesses the Properties of Both Rubber and Gum”?

Yes in substance, but not in those exact words in any official English we could find. VIZ Media's own promotional clip has the actor it credits as the voice of Hisoka say that "Bungee gum contains the properties of both rubber and gum, you see." The popular version, with "possesses", appears as a list heading on a news site and in no official text we could read. In VIZ's Volume 7, where the manga explains the ability after the Kastro match, the explanation comes from the narration, not from Hisoka.

What VIZ's official clip says

On June 6, 2022, VIZ posted "Famous Hisoka Lines" to its YouTube channel. The description says, "Voice actor Keith Silverstein recites some of Hisoka's memorable lines!", and an on-screen card under his name calls him the voice of Hisoka in Hunter x Hunter. Anime News Network's credits for the 2011 anime list him in the English cast as Hisoka. From about 0:19 to 0:24, the clip's own captions read: "Bungee gum contains the properties of both rubber and gum, you see." That is the one official English wording of the line we found. It says "contains", not "possesses", and it ends with "you see." The clip is a recitation for promotion. It does not name an episode, and it does not say that this is the dub's script.

What VIZ's Volume 7 prints

VIZ's English edition sets the reveal at the start of Volume 7, in chapter 55, "As for Hisoka…", which the volume's contents page puts at page 7. The volume's summary of the story so far ends with Hisoka winning his match against Kastro. Afterward, a woman with a needle sews his arms back on, and one balloon in the sequence reads "Nen stitches!!" On page 14 Hisoka names the technique, "Elastic Love"-Bungee Gum, as he covers the seams. On page 16 the ability is explained in the third person, as narration: "First, the Bungee Gum!" and "He modifies his aura, making it both elastic and sticky!!" The same page adds, "Stick it anywhere, and peel it off at will!!", "It stretches far, and snaps back quickly!!" and "Incidentally, its name is taken from Hisoka's favorite brand of chewing gum as a child!!" (VIZ letters all of these in capitals, and we give them in sentence case here. Pages 14 and 16 carry no printed number; we count on from page 11, which does.) The rubber-and-gum sentence does not appear on pages 7 to 17, the pages VIZ's free preview shows.

The ability comes back when Hisoka fights Chrollo. In VIZ's Volume 34, chapter 351, "Battle to the Death", page 17 names it "Bungee Gum: 'Elastic Love'!!", and that preview runs to page 21 without the rubber-and-gum sentence. Both previews end before the later scenes, so neither rules the line out of the rest of either volume.

Where it falls in the 2011 anime

Anime News Network's episode list puts episode 32, "A x Surprising x Win," on May 20, 2012. Nippon TV's episode page describes Kastro taking Hisoka's arms, Hisoka staying calm despite losing both, and Hisoka's counterattack beginning. The rematch with Gon runs across episodes 35 and 36, which aired on June 17 and June 24, 2012. Nippon TV's page for episode 36 says that after Gon lands a blow and hands back the exam plate, Hisoka turns his own Nen ability on him. We could not establish which episode, or which line of dub or subtitles, carries the rubber-and-gum sentence. We are not guessing at it here.

Where "possesses" comes from

ComicBook's 2025 ranking of Hunter × Hunter quotes puts "Bungee Gum Possesses the Properties of Both Rubber and Gum." at number one, as a heading. The paragraph under it does not quote the sentence. It calls the line "a long-running meme" and says the ability can "mimic both rubber and gum properties." A list heading in title case is not evidence of a wording on this site, so "possesses" stays unconfirmed. On this evidence it is a variant of the line VIZ's clip says with "contains", not an invention, but we cannot tell whether it comes from a subtitle track, the dub, a later manga page or a fan's memory.

What we could not check, and what this site prints

We did not read the VIZ pages of the Gon rematch or the full Chrollo fight, the dub or subtitle tracks of episodes 32 to 36, or the Japanese. Any one of them could hold the rubber-and-gum sentence in exactly the popular form. Until one is read, the safe quotation is the one VIZ published: "Bungee gum contains the properties of both rubber and gum, you see." Hisoka's quote page holds two lines checked against VIZ's Volume 2, and VIZ's Volume 7 has its own guide page. Other checked lines are on the Hunter × Hunter hub. The verification process explains why a heading does not count as a source, and the verdict is in the fact-check database.