#ending d

Here's a full translation of Togashi's letter to Yumiko Seki!

Does anyone know why, out of all the characters Togashi chose to draw in a special occasion for the Hunter Exam arc, Noko's the one who looks so out of place?

The last time I checked, her name and presence weren’t even fully introduced in that arc until after the Heaven's Arena arc, where Gon mentions her name. Yet even then, she doesn't have a proper design and remains a blurred, half-hearted doodle. Am I missing something here?

You might have seen this page in Togashi's twitter. It features almost everyone who played a role in the Hunter Exam arc, especially those who had speaking parts. We see the main four, Hisoka, Tonpa, some of the Hunter Examiners, Kite, Mito, the Kirikos, Hanzo, Ponzu, Pokkle, and even some Hunter applicants like the Amori brothers, Bourbon (the man with the snakes), and Nicholas (the little man with the computer), along with Kon, Gon’s fox bear friend.

All of them had distinct roles in the Hunter Exam arc, regardless of how big or small. Yet Noko is included too?

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Noko. In fact, I believe she has a lot of potential if Togashi chooses to develop her in some way, especially while Gon is still on Whale Island. It would finally give us a chance to learn more about the ONLY OTHER KID ON THAT ISLAND. This fact has always bothered me. How can Togashi introduce such a random detail and expect us not to question it? Did he really think mentioning that there’s only one other kid would go unnoticed? I mean, sure, it's an island, but it's absurd to consider.

This makes me wonder even more about her. How did she cope being the only kid on that island while Gon was away?

I don't know about you, but if I was her, I would've been so bored out of my mind. My insecurity would've skyrocketed out of the roof.

Like Gon, she's homeschooled too. What were their hangouts like? Gon did mention once that he would make pinky promises with her (along with Mito too).

Seriously Togashi, what the hell's going on?!

He confuses me so much sometimes. He barely acknowledges her, and yet when he does bring her up, it’s just in small mentions or casual facts, like her being the only kid there.

And now he put her in the arc where she wasn't even there!?? Yeah, okay, she only appeared three times while watching Gon go on the boat. But again, she barely did anything and it took us two more arcs to understand that she was even there thanks to Gon telling us that she lives here too.

Her presence in the special drawing on twitter just looks out of place.

She's also the only one not showing her face. That one panel where it is noticeable doesn't count because it's literally just two dots and a line. We already know she has braids though. But what's new here is that she's sitting on Kon's shoulder. Kon has always been seen with Gon. Did Noko know about Gon being friends with Kon?? How would she know this?? She's holding onto Kon in a way we haven't even seen Gon do. Does she miss Gon which is why she hangs onto Kon in this image? I wouldn't blame her acting this way if I knew I was left alone while the other kid who lives on the same island left.

Like...does togashi care about her character or not?? Because her background, despite not being mentioned enough, is very interesting and the way she clings onto Kon is odd too not to mention that Kon is fine with that?? I know that this tweet he made a while ago isn't canon but you can't tell me that you're not wondering why he added Noko and portrayed her this way.

Am I the only one bothered by how she's being shown here??

Like come on someone else must've noticed how out of place she looks here too by now!

Yeah, I've seen Togashi's ending D thing, but her presence and role in it still sucks A LOT. Judging by how it looked, to me, it sounded like Togashi was using Noko as some sort of scapegoat just to seal an ending, and I hated that. To be fair, he hasn't given any details about Noko's character, but based on the fact that we still don't know anything about her, her role in that ending pissed me off. Togashi could've simply extended the small break between Heavens Arena and Yorknew City arc so that she could've had a proper appearance but nooooo he only used that small break to explain how Ging's cassette worked and have Gon literally tell Killua that she's the other kid here WITHOUT HAVING HER GO TO GON AND FEEL RELIEVED THAT THE OTHER KID ON THE ISLAND CAME BACK.

So which is it? Is she important or not?

It's too bad and weird that she's the only one being treated this way.

I will not be answering any of them! But all I have to say is :

No, it’s not canon.

No, it’s not meant to be taken seriously.

Yes, there’s still a chance for a killugon ending.

Yes, Togashi was very likely joking, because he’s known for being a quirky and strange unpredictable man.

I’m not going to speak on it again but if you want to read more on it, I’ll link the old posts I made abt it!

https://www.tumblr.com/mariposahxh/734643702822322176/guys-there-is-nothing-to-worry-about-that-ending

https://www.tumblr.com/mariposahxh/734623740670902272/i-am-going-to-need-lots-of-killugon-therapy-to

honorable mentions (not my posts) :

https://www.tumblr.com/beatle-07/734619967836782592/if-you-are-like-me-disappointed-about-how-basic

I want to deliver an interesting nugget. I'm being led to believe by translators in the r/HunterxHunter discord server (no longer associated with the reddit cause reasons) that the Japanese audience reaction has been more positive generally? I mean, obv it's entirely possible the Japanese fanbase has just as many if not more 'dudebros' who are just eating it up uncritically. I however am interested in the possibility that our rough translation is making it somehow even worse? Apparently, if the translators are to be believed in there, the image out right now was translated using chatGPT. So if it feels like it reads janky to anyone else, there's that. Said translators in there, (that mostly work on manga scanlations) are working on a hand translated version, so I'll share it when it's out! In the meantime, someone scalped this together somehow, it's the original Japanese text of Togashi's Letter to the program. Go nuts!