Despite a year and a half of no new manga and nearly 12 years since the latest anime concluded, Hunter x Hunter is making big moves in 2026. While perhaps not the anime source fans may have craved, the year's opening salvo, in addition to creator Yoshihiro Togashi's continuous updates on chapter production, included new original anime footage for a brand-new game.
Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Survivor's release featured all-new, exclusive anime footage for which fans have been starved all this time, reuniting players with Gon Freecss and more. Available on the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store, this mobile title has turned out to merely be phase one as Hunter x Hunter stages more exciting returns in 2026.
On Friday, December 19, the official X (formerly Twitter) account of Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Survivor announced that the game would feature new animation footage. Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Survivor is a mobile game set to release in 2026. And as announced by the staff, the game will feature an original opening movie.
As part of the announcement, the game's staff members also unveiled some new stills, featuring Gon Freecss, Hisoka Morow, Chrollo Lucilfer, and Killua Zoldyck. While none of the stills showed the characters clearly, their drawings looked crisp, pretty much confirming that the new original opening movie will be fresh.
That said, with the game set to release in 2026, fans will need to wait a little longer until it is released.
While it is indeed true that the new Hunter x Hunter anime footage is only an opening movie for the Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Survivor game, it is also the first real glimpse the franchise has released in years. As fans will know, the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, is notoriously known for his hiatuses. Nevertheless, as evident from his X page, the creator has recently been working more consistently.
Hunter x Hunter could be coming back soon as rumors backed with concrete evidence surfaced online.
Hence, there is a chance that the franchise may be secretly preparing for a comeback in which the creators must have decided to produce new original anime footage for the game. But for those perhaps craving something positively brand-new in terms of Hunter x Hunter's story, Togashi has fans covered.
With more than twenty chapters completed, and chapter #411 on the way for worldwide release on June 28, 2026, Hunter x Hunter is officially back in its purest form, which is more than enough for content-starved fans. The last substantial rolling release ended on December 8, 2024, more than a year and a half ago at this point, so this latest stream of updates on Hunter x Hunter has seemingly broken the dam, with plenty of stories to enjoy in the near future.
While this is exciting, Togashi remains diligent in moving ahead on more chapters to build out, fingers crossed, a healthy release schedule for the foreseeable future. But for now, it's the perfect time to rejoice, even if a full return of Hunter x Hunter's anime has not yet been announced. The fans know all too well what goes into any new pages for its iconic story, and appear ready to continue being patient, already reaping the rewards going into Summer 2026.
