Mystery Hunter (怪奇ハンター) is a manga by Shotaro Ishinomori, published in two incarnations through his lifetime.
The first version was serialized in Weekly Shonen King through 1968, while the revival was in Dokkan V in 1977.
Plot[]
Hayato Taki inherited three legacies from his late father. The first was a huge fortune. During his lifetime, his father traveled across the seven seas in his own deep-sea workboat, searching for treasures from sunken ships and hidden treasures from pirates. The second was a captain's hat. An old hat that his father used to love to wear. And the third was something that has no form. A sense of adventure, the desire to challenge mysteries. With these three legacies, the Mystery Hunter Hayato Taki was born!
Characters[]
- Hayato Taki
- Chang Changku, renamed "Wang Chinchin" in Dokkan V serialization
- Sambo, one of Hayato's additional sidekicks in the original serialization
- Anne, a mysterious heroine in the second Weekly Shonen King story-arc
Serializations[]
- Weekly Shonen King: March 31 (#14) to April 14, 1968 (#16), June 30 (#27) to July 21, 1968 (#30)
- Dokkan V: April to September 1977
Both serializations of Mystery Hunter were cut short, with inconclusive endings, although the first hinted at more of a sequel and more of an adventure to unfold for Hayato.
In the second version, aimed at younger readers, Hayato himself appears a bit younger.
Related Works[]
Flying Phantom Ship[]
Hayato's design was de-aged some and re-used for the protagonist of the animated film adaptation (in place of the manga's protagonist Isamu). This design then wound up re-used in turn for the Dokkan version of Hayato.
Cyborg 009[]
Of course, Hayato's sidekick Chang is a clear re-use of Cyborg 006 in a fully human role.
The chapter "Queen of 1 Million Years" was also sourced for the 21st episode of the 1968 series, but rewritten to feature the cyborgs instead.
Genma Wars[]
Sambo was re-used from this work.