Hunter x Hunter author Yoshihiro Togashi offers golf comics Oh! Tonbo among the best manga he read in 2023. Mangala revealed that the main character Tonbo is how Togashi tried and failed to create Gon in the first place. The letter was sent to idol Yumiko Seki and read in a segment of Iwakura to Yoshizumi no Bangumi (The Iwakura and Yoshizumi Show) on November 21, 2023. Seki’s question to Togashi was “What have you seen lately? What comic series is interesting? He replied, “There was a manga where I thought, ‘It’s amazing as expected of recent works but I don’t have the courage to name the specific work. So if I were to change the definition from ‘recent’ to works that are still being published, I would choose one that I still enjoy reading, and that would be ‘Oi! Tonbo’.
It’s a golf manga, but I think you can enjoy it even if you don’t know the rules. The main character, Tonbo, is the type of person I wanted Gon to be when I first planned to publish Hunter². [sic]. That’s the ideal image that I couldn’t realize in the first chapter. It is a work that perfectly combines Mr. Kawasaki’s knowledge of people and golf with Mr. Furusawa’s warm illustrations that tenderly depict dedicated characters.”
Oh! Tonbo has been published in Golf Digest’s Weekly Golf Digest magazine since August 2014, in 46 volumes. The manga is written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by Yu Furusawa. While the manga may not be popular worldwide, an anime adaptation was announced in May 2023. A teaser trailer, images, and a spring 2024 release date were revealed in May. 10. Studio OLM Team Inoue (Pon no Michi, Yo-kai Watch) was also announced to be animating the film with SMDE responsible for the CGI.
The official synopsis of the upcoming anime is: Igarashi throws away his past and moves to the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture as if running away from society. In Hijinoshima, known as “Japan’s Last Unexplored Spot,” the only person he meets is middle school student, Tonbo. This innocent and cheerful girl has an unbelievable golf talent!? Stimulated by this fateful encounter, both of their fates changed greatly…
Togashi’s letter supporting Oi! The Tonbo manga follows other revelations read on The Iwakura and Yoshizumi Show. It was revealed that the original Hunter x Hunter had a timeskip and multiple endings, including one if Togashi died.
Source: Iwakura and Yoshizumi Exhibition, via Golf Digest© P98-23 © V・N・S・M