Hunter × Hunter
Before the first anime television series was created, a short film adaptation of "Hunter × Hunter" was shown as part of the 1998 "Jump Super Anime Tour" alongside similar adaptations of "Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi!" and "One Piece". Produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe, it depicts the early events of the manga up to Gon's ocean voyage from Whale Island.
Manga
Japanese publishers began pursuing a U.S. market in the mid-1990s due to a stagnation in the domestic market for manga. The U.S. manga market took an upturn with mid-1990s anime and manga versions of Masamune Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell" (translated by Frederik L. Schodt and Toren Smith) becoming very popular among fans. An extremely successful manga and anime translated and dubbed in English in the mid-1990s was "Sailor Moon". By 1995–1998, the "Sailor Moon" manga had been exported to over 23 countries, including China, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, North America and most of Europe. In 1997, Mixx Entertainment began publishing "Sailor Moon", along with CLAMP's "Magic Knight Rayearth", Hitoshi Iwaaki's "Parasyte" and Tsutomu Takahashi's "Ice Blade" in the monthly manga magazine "MixxZine". Two years later, "MixxZine" was renamed to "Tokyopop" before discontinuing in 2011. Mixx Entertainment, later renamed Tokyopop, also published manga in trade paperbacks and, like Viz, began aggressive marketing of manga to both young male and young female demographics.