Hunter x Hunter is the name of the popular Japanese anime, created by Yoshihiro Togashi in 1998. By today there have been two seasons with 36 episodes released, and the manga is known all over the world, being translated to all possible languages.
The series takes place in an imaginary world in which there is a certain organization of Hunters. A license held by its members gives them many advantages: first-class travel by any mode of transport, access to information that is closed to ordinary people, the right to take large sums of money from banks, and much more. That is why many people dream to get into this organization and become a real Hunter. However, not everyone can do it, because it selects only the best of the best.
Gon Freecss is a young man who is waiting for the final exam, passing which he can become a member of the organization of Hunters. He has always dreamed of joining the organization, because only by becoming a member of it can he find his father, who disappeared years ago.
The author of the anime came up with its name after watching one TV show, where the phrases were repeated twice just for fun. At first, Togashi was thinking to name it more complicated, with the word “Hunter” accompanied by something else (like “Hunter of something..”), but all the good things happen unexpectedly. As for the “X” in the name, it is never pronounced, so can be just a decorative element, making it unique.
Throughout the years, only two logo versions were created for the manga. And the name with the duplicated word and the “X” became the basis for both logos.
The first chapters of the Hunter x Hunter manga were published in 1998. At the same time, a colorful emblem saw the light. The logo consists of two words “HUNTER” written in bold sans serif type. The top line is unevenly colored: a dark green “H” is paired with lemon yellow letters. In this case, the left vertical stroke of “H” is longer than the right and goes beyond the edge of the inscription.
The word “HUNTER” in the second line looks even more unusual. It is placed like a mirroring image, so each letter remains in its place, but is turned around. The only dark green shade is used for these letters. Between the two parts of the logo, there is a black rectangular plate with white hieroglyphics. It is crossed out with a bold red “X”.
The new logo was created in 2011 and stayed in use until 2014, for the remake of the original anime, that was launched on Nippon TV. The structure and idea of the logo were pretty much the same as on the initial badge, only the color palette was changed.
The letters have burgundy outlines in the form of a frame. The inside of the first word was completely white. An orange-red gradient was used for the reverse stitch, and this created a nice contrast. As for the “X” in the middle, it turned blue-green and gained a thin gold outline.
The uppercase bold inscription from the Hunter x Hunter logo is executed in an extra-bold geometric sans-serif typeface with clean traditional contours. The font is based on a simple sans-serif, like Arial Black, and also reminds Konsens ExtraBold with its massiveness and solidness. There is a noticeable difference in the length and thickness of the strokes, the shape of the letters, and the size of the spaces between letters.
In the first version, the inscription looks very colorful: there is a lot of green in it, which is complemented by yellow, red, black, and white. The logo on the remake of the series is not as bright, though it does have a gradient. The base of its palette is burgundy, white, orange, red, turquoise, and black.
So the colors of the official visual identity of Hunter x Hunter are all about energy and motion. They evoke a sense of happiness and growth, of movement and playfulness.