Kurapika

how Kurapika joined the Tourney
Kurapika makes his first appearance on board a ship that goes from Whale Island to a testing site of the 287th Hunter Examination. He, Gon and Leorio are the only 3 candidates unaffected by a storm the night before. The captain reveals that he is an examiner and asks them why they want to become Hunters. With some reluctance, Kurapika replies that he wants to capture the Phantom Troupe. Leorio on the other hand answers the captain that he is attracted by the material possessions provided by being a Hunter. The two quarrel over their different opinions and decide to end it with a fight out on the deck while another storm is raging. When they are about to start, a crew member is knocked off the deck by a piece of wood broken off from a yard. Gon jumps off the ship to catch him and in turn is kept from falling into the sea by Kurapika and Leorio. After the incident they apologize to and make up with each other. Seeing that the captain laughs and decides to take the trio to the nearest testing place, Zaban City.

In Zaban City, following Gon, Kurapika and Leorio head for a tree on a mountain that the captain advised them to go to. They encounter a group of people on the way and an old lady, also an examiner, asks them a question which they only have 5 seconds to answer. The question is such a dilemma that none of them can give an answer within due time. Getting annoyed, Leorio picks up a wooden stick and attacks her but is blocked by Kurapika, who explains to him that they have passed because keeping silent is the correct answer to this question. The old lady then tells them to go to a house in the forest to find a couple, who will be their navigators if they consider the trio qualified. Upon entering the house, they see a wounded man lying on the floor and a woman being held captive by a Kiriko. The monster flees as soon as it sees them. Telling Leorio to take care of the husband, Kurapika and Gon chase after it and force it to let go of the wife. Kurapika catches her and notices the strange tattoos on her hands and face.

Leorio then shows up and says that there is nothing to worry about the husband. Kurapika suddenly hits Leorio in the face with his wooden sword. It turns out this Leorio is a Kiriko in disguise. After the monster runs away, he asks the wife who she really is, to which her answer is a strange smile. Meanwhile Gon is able to tell 2 identical-looking Kirikos apart, which greatly surprises them. The 2 Kirikos and the husband and wife, who are actually their son and daughter, then explain to the trio how they have qualified for the next test — Kurapika for his vast knowledge, Leorio for his good medical skill and confidence, and Gon for his extraordinary movement and observation. They finally decided to take them to the exam center.

At the starting site of the first phase, a large tunnel, Kurapika, Leorio and Gon see a lot of experts. Tonpa, nicknamed Rookie Crusher, offers each of them a can of his laxative-spiked drink but Kurapika pours it away after Gon claims that it has a bad taste. An examiner, Satotz, then appears and tells the candidates to follow him through the tunnel. He runs faster and faster but Kurapika has little problem keeping up with him. While running, he reveals to Leorio the story about the stolen scarlet eyes of his people and his determination to retrieve them and capture the Phantom Troupe. The marathon finally ends when they reach the Numere Wetlands, also known as the Swindler's Swamp.

Satotz warns them of the dangers and tells them to follow him through the Swamp in another marathon. On the way, Kurapika, Leorio and a number of other candidates are attacked by Hisoka, a man notorious for his bloodthirstiness. All of them are killed in a short time, except for him, Leorio and Cherry, examinee #76. Knowing that they have no chance of winning against Hisoka, they split up in 3 different directions. After a while, Kurapika returns and sees Gon kneeling there with a shocked expression on his face. While running together to the site of the second phase, the Visca Forest Reserve, Gon tells him about what happened to him and Leorio.

At the site of the second phase, two Gourmet Hunters, Menchi and Buhara, appear. The second phase starts with Buhara asking them to cook roast pork. Even though the kind of pig that they need to catch, the Great Stamp, is the most dangerous pig in the world. Kurapika, his 3 friends, and many other contestants have little difficulties passing the test after they discover that these pigs have a spot of weakness on their foreheads.

The next test has however proven to be a real problem as the other examiner Menchi asks them to make sushi. Despite having read some books about this dish and his careful analysis of the hints that Hanzo, a contestant from the country of sushi, and Menchi unintentionally give away, Kurapika is still failed like the rest. When the second phase is on the verge of having no qualifier, Chairman Netero of the Hunters Association arrives in an airship, criticizes Menchi for losing her temper as an examiner and tells her to give them another test, which she herself also has to take. This time around Menchi asks them to cook boiled Spider Eagle eggs, which hang from strong strings connecting the two sides of deep ravines. Even though they have to jump into a ravine to find the egg, Kurapika and 41 other examinees pass the test and are subsequently taken to the site of the 3rd phase in the Chairman's airship.

The third phase of the Hunter Exam starts atop the Trick Tower, which has numerous passages, and they have seventy-two hours to get to the bottom of it alive. Kurapika, Leorio, Killua, and Gon are forced to form a team of 5 with Tonpa to pass through the 1st door. They advance, using the majority rule several times on the way, and their road leads them to a platform set up in the middle of a bottomless abyss where they have to participate in a best-of-five series consisting of 5 no-hold-barred one on one matches against a team of 5 long-term prisoners. Tonpa is the first to fight and he deliberately forfeits the match to undermine his teammates. Gon's match is the second and thanks to his quick thinking he manages a win to level the score at 1 - 1. The 3rd match is Kurapika's and his opponent is Majitani, an impostor with a spider tattoo on his back who brags about his fake Phantom Troupe membership to Kurapika. Enraged, his eyes turn scarlet and he knocks Majitani down with a single punch,[17] however the match is still going on because he refuses to kill his opponent, who seems to be unconscious.

Seeing that, Leorio steps in, makes a bet that Majitani is still alive and pretends to drop him into the abyss. Majitani is so scared that he stops playing possum and admits defeat. The score is now 2 - 1 in favor of Kurapika's team but they have lost 40 hours due to betting. Leorio's own match is the 4th, and he loses it after a rock-paper-scissors game along with a bet of ten hours on the gender of his opponent, Leroute. With the score being 2 - 2, Killua quickly kills his opponent, Johness the Dissector, in the last match, putting it at 3 - 2 in their favor, but Kurapika's team now have less than 10 hours to reach the bottom. As they advance, they have to use the majority rule some more times and face many other obstacles such as electric quizzes, multiple choice labyrinth, mine camps, "Go", etc. Thanks to a brilliant idea of Gon's in choosing ways, they manage to reach the bottom of the tower with just thirty seconds left, thus qualifying for the fourth phase.

During the fourth phase, the remaining examinees are taken to Zevil Island to take part in a 7-day manhunt among themselves to capture each other's number badges. Kurapika's designed target is Tonpa, who in turn has Leorio as his target. After Leorio is tricked by Tonpa and Sommy and loses his badge, Kurapika appears, knocks Tonpa down and asks Leorio to team up with him, to which Leorio agrees. They take the badges #16 and #118 from Tonpa and Sommy.

Even though Kurapika already has 6 points from his own and Tonpa's badges, he still helps Leorio find his target Ponzu, examinee #246. As they are looking for the target, they again encounter Hisoka, who tells them to give him their badges if they want to live. Kurapika says that he will give him the badge #118 which only means 1 point to them, as for the other 3 badges, they will fight with their lives to protect them. Hisoka agrees, lets them go and takes the badge #118.

At the end of the 6th day, he and Leorio meet Gon and tell Gon about Ponzu. Gon helps them find her by tracking the smell of the medicine that she uses to defend herself. Finally they find Ponzu, but together with her they are trapped in a cave full of snakes whose owner Bourbon, examinee #103, is already dead due to anaphylactic shock caused by her bees. Thanks to Gon's bravery and ability to hold his breath for an extended period of time, all of them are able to get out of this situation by using a soporific gas of Ponzu's to make the snakes sleep. Before they go, Gon takes the badge #246 from a sleeping Ponzu and leaves her the badge #103. With this, Kurapika and his 2 friends qualify for the next and also the last phase.

The last phase of the Hunter Exam is an elimination tournament with a twist—the winner of a match will be removed from the list and receive his very own Hunter License and the loser will be given more chance. Kurapika's first fight is against Hisoka. After fighting for a while, Hisoka whispers something to him and quits the match, allowing him to become a licensed Hunter. When Illumi Zoldyck wants to go murder Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Hanzo, and some examiners block his way. Later he also requests that the Hunters Association examine the nature of Killua's act of murder against another contestant, Bodoro, during the last phase and has a brief argument with Pokkle, who wins by default thanks to Killua's disqualification, but they make up with each other after the exam has ended. He then decides to go with Gon and Leorio to Kukuroo Mountain to rescue Killua from the control of his family.

After freeing Killua from the Zoldyck's reign, Kurapika is assigned to track down an S.S. officer who knows the location of funds stolen during World War II. While in Germany, Kurapika finds an Asian woman fighting German guards. When asked her name, she said "Luong".

When highlighted
Kurapika has his chains hanging loose.

After the announcer calls his name
Kurapika takes out his bokken swords then whips his chains as the camera zooms saying "Hunter applicants from all across the world congregate here."

Dowing Chain (Neutral)
Kurapika shapes his chain like a ball and chain and slings it into his opponent.

Divine Chain (Side)
Kurapika whips his chains on the opponent three times.

Sky Chain (Up)
Kurapika jumps into the air whipping his chains into the air.

Chain Jail (Down)
Kurapika wraps his chains around his opponent and restricts their movements for three seconds.

Emperor Time (Hyper Smash)
Kurapika's eyes shift into scarlet, he changes from a Conjurer to a Specialist. This will give him an increase in attack speed for thirty seconds.

Judgement Chain (Final Smash)
Kurapika has The Stake of Retribution, a blade on the end of the Judgment Chain, enters the victim's body and wraps around the heart. Kurapika then states two conditions, and the opponent tries to violate one by attacking Kurapika, but the crushes his/her heart, killing him/her and taking a life from the stock.

Victory Animations

 * 1) Kurapika swings his bokken swords around then thrusts them saying "There are some hunters sad to say, who seek treasure and wild game."
 * 2) Kurapika swings his chains above him and says "It's conviction, profound knowledge and a sound mind and body!"
 * 3) Kurapika snakes his chains forward and says "I suppose I should probably follow suit."

On-Screen Appearance
Kurapika swings on a chain to his point and says "It seems, this room is actually an elevator."

Trivia

 * Kurapika's rival is a “femme fatale” type woman fighter with mysterious motivations, Luong. His second rival is the Tyrannosaurus Rex soldier, Big John.
 * Kurapika shares his English voice actress with Swellow, Granbull and Sadira.
 * Kurapika shares his Japanese voice actress with Shion "Sinon" Asada, Isabella "Ivy" Valentine, Jolyne Cujoh, Dead Master, Carl Clover, Cammy White, Decapre, Tarah, Wyldstyle and Edina Pop.
 * Kurapika shares his French voice actor with Hong Yun-Seong, Lyon Vastia, Brawl Europe, Raticate, Bela Okmyx, ReDead, Mr. Big and Jet (Fairy Tail).
 * Kurapika shares his German voice actor with Bat, El Stingray, Shaggy Rogers, shioh of the Gomar & Shioh pair, Sieghart, Eelektross, Mallow, Dia Jack, Orbb and Mr. Big.
 * Kurapika shares her Arabic voice actress with Iggy, Liberty, Gengar, Pink Five, Millia Rage, Reki and Merlin (The Seven Deadly Sins).
 * Kurapika shares his Mandarin Chinese voice actress with Lucy Heartfilia, Casey, Kazumi Mishima, Laki Olietta, Devil Kazumi, Tokiko Tsumura, Mimi, Meganium, Rebecca Dold, Nakoruru, Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, Bella X1, Kangaskhan, Nemu Kurotsuchi, Elphelt Valentine, Hiyori Sarugaki, Meliodas, Laura Matsuda and Yuri Sakazaki.