Hunter x Hunter Watch Order: 1999 or 2011?

Start with the 2011 Hunter x Hunter series and watch its 148 episodes in order. It introduces Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio for itself. The 1999 series is another adaptation of the beginning of their story, made twelve years earlier; it is an optional alternative, not a season you must finish before the newer show.

The short answers: the 2011 series marks its fifteenth anniversary on October 2, 2026. It goes further into the story than the 1999 series and its OVAs, which stop with Greed Island. It ends in the material of the manga's Vol. 32. The manga is not finished: VIZ lists chapter 420 on September 6, 2026, the latest chapter on its English index when checked on October 2. That index does not yet list chapter 421.

The 2011 series at fifteen

The 2011 version is Madhouse's adaptation; Nippon TV's introduction names the studio. The broadcaster's own announcements placed its first episode on Sunday, October 2, 2011, which makes October 2, 2026 its fifteenth anniversary. It ended in September 2014 with episode 148, the last on Nippon TV's episode page.

The October 2 review found no verified fifteenth-anniversary anime project in Nippon TV’s news log, the readable VAP material, or targeted searches of Madhouse and Shueisha announcements. Some pages could not be read, so this is a bounded search result, not proof that no announcement exists. The animation released in February 2026 was an opening sequence for the smartphone game Hunter x Hunter Nen x Survivor. No verified new television series changes the order advice or the recorded endpoint here.

Why the 2011 series first

The practical advantage is a single television run with a clear endpoint. Its first episode sends Gon away from home to take the Hunter Exam, and its final episode returns to the search for his father that set the journey in motion. Calling it a complete adaptation would go too far: the manga continues beyond the material covered here, and it is still being published. What the anime offers is a stopping place within that larger story, reached without moving between television series and separately titled video releases.

1999 or 2011: how the older series and its OVAs fit

Nippon Animation lists the original television series as 62 episodes. Its continuation was released as original video animation, usually abbreviated to OVA. Those releases matter if you choose the older version: the television listing alone does not contain its entire animated journey.

The route is the 1999 television series, then the eight-episode Hunter x Hunter OVA continuation (2002), the eight-episode Greed Island (2003), and the fourteen-episode G.I. Final (2004). That makes 92 episodes across the television and video releases. Nippon Animation's archived descriptions identify the first OVA as a return to the television story and the Greed Island release as the adventure in the game connected to Gon's father. These are continuations within the older adaptation, not bonus episodes to insert into the 2011 run.

The difference in scope is the plainest answer to 1999 versus 2011. The older route stops with Greed Island. The 2011 series continues past it into the Chimera Ant and election arcs, both named in Nippon TV's news log. If you choose the older route anyway, check that the edition available to you includes the separately named continuations; a listing for the television series is not enough to answer that.

Should you switch versions halfway through?

Our recommendation is to start the 2011 version at episode one even if you have watched some of 1999. You may recognize an exam, a destination or a character, but matching a broad story arc does not guarantee that every introduction has occurred in the same order. If you later want a second viewing, the earlier version serves a different purpose: comparison, not obligation.

Where the anime ends in the manga

The final television episode brings Gon's original search back into focus, and in print that material sits in Vol. 32. VIZ's chapter index groups chapters 331 to 340 under that volume, and VIZ's description of Vol. 32 covers the Hunter election and Gon's hoped-for reunion.

Vol. 33, chapters 341 to 350 in VIZ's index, introduces plans for an expedition to the Dark Continent. That gives a spoiler-light sense of the change in scope after the anime's closing stretch.

If you want to move into print near that transition, start with Vol. 32 and expect overlap, then continue in volume order. Starting at Vol. 33 would skip the end of Vol. 32. Reading from volume one is the alternative if you want Togashi's original telling throughout.

Is Hunter x Hunter finished?

The anime is finished at 148 episodes. The manga is not. Yoshihiro Togashi's story began in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1998, but it no longer runs weekly: when it went on hiatus in January 2023, Shueisha said it had decided with Togashi that it should not follow a weekly serialized format going forward, as Anime News Network reports. Chapters now arrive in runs with gaps between them.

The most recent run began with chapter 411 in the issue on sale in Japan on June 29, 2026, the first new chapter since chapter 410 in December 2024, and ran through chapter 420 in the issue on sale September 7, ten chapters in all. That week, Weekly Shonen Jump announced that the manga would go on hiatus and that its return would be announced at a later date. VIZ's English chapter list carries the same run, chapters 411 to 420, dated June 28 to September 6, 2026.

In book form, Shueisha published Japanese Vol. 39 on July 3, 2026. The newest English volume is VIZ's Vol. 38, released January 6, 2026; we found no VIZ listing for Vol. 39 when we checked on October 2, 2026.

The films

Phantom Rouge and The Last Mission are optional movie adventures. VIZ describes Phantom Rouge as an investigation involving Kurapika's stolen eyes and the Phantom Troupe. The Last Mission takes the group to a tournament at Heaven's Arena that is interrupted by an attack. Those premises assume that the familiar cast and organizations already mean something to you.

Leave both films until after the 2011 television run for a simple first-watch order. That recommendation avoids interrupting the series to solve a movie-placement puzzle; it does not place the films chronologically after episode 148, and The Last Mission's title does not make it the television show's finale.

Buying the opening in English

For a first read of the manga, choose between the single volume and the three-volume collection. Both start at the beginning. The number on the omnibus spine belongs to that edition: its Vol. 1 contains the material sold separately as Vols. 1, 2 and 3.

English paperback	ISBN-13	VIZ list price
Standard Vol. 1, 184 pages	9781591167532	$11.99
3-in-1 Edition, Vol. 1, 560 pages	9781974751655	$16.99

The single costs less up front if you are testing whether you want to read on. The omnibus costs $5 more at these list prices and includes two further volumes; VIZ's shop explicitly identifies the contents as Vols. 1–3. Buying it alongside the first three singles would duplicate that material. VIZ lists both formats at the same 5 by 7½-inch trim size. Page totals alone do not establish paper or binding quality.

The opening also gives a useful sample of what our quote commentary examines: Leorio reverses a decision under pressure, Gon keeps thinking about a question after the test has moved on, Kurapika refuses to explain himself until privacy costs him his place, and Kite's rebuke of Gon turns awkward once Kite names the teacher he owes his survival to. Those lines were checked in the standard English Vol. 1; their page references should not be assumed to match the omnibus.

These are publisher list prices checked on September 23, 2026, not live shop prices or stock promises. Follow the linked publisher listings to compare current sellers. This is a choice of opening book, not a recommendation for where to continue after episode 148.

The manga’s Volume 3 opening analysis tests the prisoner’s threat display against Kurapika’s reaction to the spider tattoo. Its disclosure identifies the limited licensed excerpt, without claiming the fight’s outcome or an episode-to-book boundary.

The standard Volume 4 opening analysis examines Kurapika’s bargain with Hisoka and Gon’s concern for his friends. It identifies the licensed pages read and keeps the later outcome outside the argument.

The standard Volume 5 opening analysis examines Killua’s wish for friendship against Illumi’s account of his nature. The spoiler note identifies the pages read and leaves the later outcome outside its argument.