Hunter × Hunter
The first "Hunter × Hunter" anime adaptation was produced by the company Nippon Animation and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, who had previously directed the "Rurouni Kenshin" television series. A total of 62 episodes of "Hunter × Hunter" were broadcast on the Japanese terrestrial television network Fuji Television from October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001 during the same Saturday evening timeslot as the anime version of Togashi's previous series "Yu Yu Hakusho". Additionally, "Hunter × Hunter" has aired on the satellite television station Animax. Although it closely follows the manga, the violence in the anime version is lessened for younger audiences. Marvelous Entertainment has released all episodes of the series in Japan on DVD in 13 separate volumes between September 20, 2000 and September 19, 2001.
Hunter × Hunter
The first "Hunter × Hunter" anime series has enjoyed much more modest popularity than its manga source. "Newtype" listed it as having a Japanese television rating of 10.5 for the fourth quarter of 2000. The show's viewership was ranked number six among the top ten anime television series in Japan for February 2001. The series was voted as the 16th best anime of 2000 in the "Animage" Anime Grand Prix, but rose to fourth place the following year. In 2001, the staff of the magazine listed "Hunter × Hunter" as the 94th most important anime of all time. In a 2006 web poll conducted in Japan by the network TV Asahi, the "Hunter × Hunter" television series was voted 28th best anime of all time. In 2010, Mania.com's Briana Lawrence listed "Hunter × Hunter" at number nine of the website's "10 Anime Series That Need a Reboot".