Hunter x Hunter creator Yoshihiro Togashi is celebrated for his genre-defining worlds, layered narratives, and eerie, unsettling visuals that explore the psychological and often darkly surreal. Togashi rose to prominence with Yu Yu Hakusho, a story about a teenage spirit detective named Yusuke Urameshi, who investigates supernatural phenomena. Known for blending action, horror, and Existentialism, Yu Yu Hakusho pushed the boundaries of traditional shōnen storytelling. After that came Hunter x Hunter, a shonen manga that is still unrivaled for its complexity and depth.

Among the many inspirations behind Togashi’s haunting creations is Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger, the visionary artist responsible for the iconic nightmare visuals of the Alien franchise. Giger’s biomechanical horror and fascination with merging the organic with the unnatural resonate deeply in Togashi's work, particularly in Hunter x Hunter, Level E, and Yu Yu Hakusho, where disturbing creature designs and environments echo Giger’s profound artistic vision. Togashi’s love for surreal, unnerving esthetics is evident in his work, and his iration for artists like Giger allowed him to pull from a darker pool of influence, translating Giger’s aesthetic into the uniquely unsettling worlds of his manga.

H.R. Giger's Grotesque Esthetic Feels Otherworldly

Giger-inspired Environments Provide the Perfect Backdrop for Spirit Detective Adventures

Hints of Giger’s influence first appear in Yu Yu Hakusho, particularly the younger Toguro’s grotesque transformation at the end of the Dark Tournament arc, and in the Saga of the Three Kings arc, where Yusuke and friends travel to the Demon Plane. The arc introduces a host of ghastly creatures and twisted environments, capturing Giger’s signature dread of evolution gone wrong. Mukuro, one of the Three Kings, stands out for her cyborg design, which results from acid burns she suffered at a young age, reminiscent of the Xenomorph’s deadly acidic blood.

Togashi continues to incorporate Giger’s artistic principles in Hunter x Hunter. The designs of Nen Beasts, creatures that are conjured to their but feel distinctly “other”, are reminiscent of Giger’s biomechanical life forms. These Beasts often reflect the subconscious drives of their conjurers, embodying desires and fears. The manga’s ongoing Succession Contest arc introduces the Kakin Empire’s royal family, who each have a Nen Beast, which, like Alien, is born by ingesting an egg. Their unsettling designs, twisted forms, and mechanical yet organic qualities evoke Giger’s fascination with entities that are part machine, part flesh, and all horror.

The Chimera Ants' Designs Rival the Xenomorphs

Meruem and the Xenomorphs Are Perfect Organisms

The influence of Giger on Togashi’s world-building becomes unmistakable in Hunter x Hunter’s Chimera Ant arc, where the Ants’ hive lair and the Queen’s grotesque design resemble Giger’s biomechanical nightmare landscapes. Much like Giger’s Alien ship interiors, the Ants’ colony exudes a dark, disorienting atmosphere where organic and mechanical elements blur, creating a breeding ground for terror and mutation. Like the Xenomorphs, the Ants also imprison their prey in sticky cocoons, saving them for later. The Chimera Ant Queen, with her repellent reproductive cycle and haunting physicality, embodies Giger’s fascination with evolution and reproduction, underscoring the horror of unchecked transformation.

Meruem, the Ant King, represents Togashi’s ultimate homage to Giger. His design is most obviously a reference to Dragon Ball Z’s Cell, and both anime icons are based on a biologically perfect organism. Meruem’s unsettling appearance combines humanoid and insect traits that are both horrifying and hypnotic. His regal, predatory nature captures Giger’s influence most directly: the terrifying allure of something that transcends humanity’s limits. Through Meruem and the Chimera Ants, Togashi not only honors Giger’s legacy, but pushes it further, using this horror as a canvas for exploring 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 E, his lesser-known sci-fi manga. Level E centers on an alien prince with a penchant for manipulation and psychological games. Though far lighter in tone than Hunter x Hunter, the series delves into unsettling themes through alien designs and twisted humor. The extraterrestrial beings in Level E embody Togashi's knack for blending horror with wit, and while they don’t appear overtly Giger-esque, the way they blur the boundary between the familiar and the bizarre suggests the influence of Giger’s vision of alien intelligence.

Togashi’s interest in the "alien" extends beyond physical horror, showing up as a thematic device across his works. Like Giger, who explored the surreal and otherworldly to evoke unease, Togashi uses foreign beings and monstrous creatures to explore psychological boundaries. From Level E's extraterrestrial mind games to YuYu Hakusho’s body horror with the Toguro Brothers and Hunter X Hunter’s strange beasts, Togashi’s work consistently probes into humanity’s fears of the unknown and the monstrous, creating worlds where horror serves as a vehicle for exploring complex, existential themes.

Source: North American Shōnen Jump (2003)