Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-4556650-20140411113722/@comment-3544775-20140418134347

I doubt they knew, since probably even Jump didn't knew when Togashi will return (they probably knew he won't return in the next 2-3-4 months, but doubt they knew for longer period of 6 months). But Madhouse did plan to make a 3-4 years anime and that's usually enough time for Togashi to return. There was no point in prolonging Greed Island arc, since it was previously animated, so it's totally pointless to prolong it, as majority of the people are expecting the Chimera Ant arc. And they are still going of around 2 chapters per episode and the Chimera Ant arc feels slow right now. Btw there seems to be some news about HxH coming next month, it could be new movie, it could be anime's end, it could be Togashi return.