Hunter x Hunter creator Yoshihiro Togashi is celebrated for its genre-defining worlds, layered narratives, and eerie, unsettling visuals that explore the psychological and often darkly surreal. Togashi rose to prominence with Yu Yu Hakushoa story about a teenage spiritual detective named Yusuke Urameshi who investigates supernatural phenomena. Known for mixing action, horror and existentialism, Yu Yu Hakusho it pushed the limits of traditional shōnen storytelling. After that came Hunter x Huntera shonen manga that is still unparalleled in its complexity and depth.
Among the many inspirations behind Togashi’s haunting creations is Swiss surrealist HR Gigerthe visionary artist responsible for the iconic nightmarish visuals of Foreigner franchise. Giger’s biomechanical horror and fascination with the fusion of the organic and the unnatural resonate deeply in Togashi’s work, particularly in Hunter x Hunter, Level Eand Yu Yu Hakushowhere Disturbing creature designs and environments echo Giger’s deep artistic vision. Togashi’s love of surreal, unnerving aesthetics is evident in his work, and his admiration for artists like Giger has allowed him to pull from a darker source of influence, translating Giger’s aesthetic into the uniquely disturbing worlds of his manga.
HR Giger’s grotesque aesthetic feels otherworldly
Giger-inspired environments provide the perfect setting for spiritual detective adventures
Hints of Giger’s influence first appear in Yu Yu Hakushoparticularly young Toguro’s grotesque transformation at the end of the Dark Tournament arc and the Three Kings Saga arc, where Yusuke and friends travel to the Demonic Plane. The arc features a series of horrific creatures and twisted environments, capturing Giger’s signature dread of evolution going wrong. Mukuro, one of the Three Kings, is notable for his cyborg design, the result of acid burns he suffered as a young man, resembling the Xenomorph’s deadly acidic blood.
Togashi continues to incorporate Giger’s artistic principles into Hunter x Hunter. The designs of the Nen Beasts, creatures that are conjured for their user but that appear distinctly “other,” are reminiscent of Giger’s biomechanical lifeforms. These Beasts often reflect the subconscious impulses of their casters, embodying desires and fears. The manga’s ongoing Contest of Succession arc features the royal family of the Kakin Empire, each with a Nen Beast, which, like Foreignerborn by ingesting an egg. Their disturbing designs, distorted forms, and mechanical-yet-organic qualities evoke Giger’s fascination with entities that are part machine, part flesh, and all horror.
Chimera Ant Designs Rival Xenomorphs
Meruem and the Xenomorphs are perfect organisms
Giger’s influence on the construction of Togashi’s world becomes unmistakable in Hunter x HunterThe Chimera Ant arc, where the ant lair and the Queen’s grotesque design resemble Giger’s nightmarish biomechanical landscapes. Very similar to Giger’s Foreigner interiors of ships, the ant colony exudes a dark and disorienting atmosphere where blurred organic and mechanical elementscreating a fertile ground for terror and mutation. Like Xenomorphs, Ants also trap their prey in sticky cocoons, saving them for later. The Chimera Ant Queen, with her repellent reproductive cycle and frightening physicality, embodies Giger’s fascination with evolution and reproduction, underscoring the horror of unbridled transformation.
Meruem, the Ant King, represents Togashi’s final tribute to Giger. Its design is obviously a reference to Dragon Ball Z‘s Cell, and both anime icons are based on a biologically perfect organism. Meruem’s disturbing appearance combines humanoid and insect-like features that are both horrifying and hypnotic. His regal, predatory nature captures Giger’s influence most directly: the terrifying allure of something that transcends the limits of humanity. Through Meruem and the Chimera Ants, Togashi not only honors Giger’s legacy, but takes it even further, using this horror as a canvas to explore power, mortality, and what it means to be truly “other.”
Level E explores the humorous side of alien encounters
Togashi maintains his surrealist vision
Another fascinating example of Togashi’s exploration of horror aesthetics appears in Level Ehis lesser-known science fiction manga. Level E centers on an alien prince with a penchant for manipulation and psychological games. Although with a much lighter tone than Hunter x Hunterthe series delves into disturbing themes through alien designs and twisted humor. Extraterrestrial beings in Level E they embody Togashi’s talent for mixing horror with intelligence, and while they don’t seem overtly Giger-esque, the way they blur the line between the familiar and the bizarre suggests the influence of Giger’s vision of alien intelligence.
Togashi’s interest in the “alien” goes beyond physical horror, appearing as a thematic device in his works. Like Giger, who explored the surreal and supernatural to evoke discomfort, Togashi uses strange beings and monstrous creatures to explore psychological limits. Of Level Eextraterrestrial mind games for YuYu HakushoThe body horror of the Toguro brothers and Hunter X Hunter’From Strange Beasts, Togashi’s work consistently delves into humanity’s fears regarding the unknown and the monstrous, creating worlds where horror serves as a vehicle to explore complex existential themes.