Yoshihiro Togashi
Author Yoshihiro Togashi explained that one of his hobbies was collecting objects of all sorts, so he was inspired to create a manga involving collecting titled "(something) Hunter". He came up with the final name "Hunter × Hunter" while watching the television variety show "Downtown", in which the hosts often repeat what they say to make the audience laugh. The "×" in the title is silent. As with his previous series, "Yu Yu Hakusho", Togashi used drafting ink and "Kabura" pens for his illustrations but began using an eMac to color them. Togashi uses few or no assistants in the manga's production; however, fellow manga artist and future wife Naoko Takeuchi assisted Togashi in adding screentone to single-color pages for the first volume. With the birth of their first son early in its publication, Togashi felt that this personal aspect of his life would be a great influence on his work, particularly the manga's theme of a young boy searching for his father.