Kurapika

Kurapika (クラピカ Kurapika) is one of the four main protagonists in the series Hunter × Hunter. He seeks vengeance for his bloody past, and his eyes glow a beautiful and covetted scarlet when excited.

Appearance
Kurapika has medium blond hair with brown eyes; blue in the 1999 series and gray in the 2011 series. In his first appearance in the series, he wears a blue cape-like outer garment with a mandarin collar, decorated with orange-colored hem; also a white full-body training suit underneath. This change to a blue and yellow vest-like top with a skirt. His shoes are a kind of blue-colored Chinese style flats.

Kurapika also wears a single earring in his left ear, but it is unknown whether his ear was actually pierced or not. The earring is a silver diamond-shaped drop earring. Although the one that's often shown wearing earring is only the left one, sometimes he wears earrings in both ears. After learning of Nen, he starts using black contact lenses in order to hide his Scarlet Eyes.

Personality
Kurapika is a level-headed and intelligent individual, possessing vast knowledge. Kurapika is reticent; he isn't one to open up to people easily and quite judgmental. His distance from others initially keeps him level-headed and moralistic, but his heart has been poisoned with sadness and hatred. Having been traumatized from losing everyone he loved at the age of twelve, Kurapika closes his heart to new people and remains introverted as to stay focused on his goal. Though Kurapika outwardly states that he desires to become a Blacklist Hunter and his ultimate goal is to capture the band of thieves that massacred his family, his fury allows him to compromise his personal morality and delve into the squalid side of society. After becoming a professional Hunter, Kurapika starts upon a self-destructive path. His anger leads him to commit villainous acts of wrath as catharsis for his pain. Kurapika's reserved demeanor makes him very ruthless and unreasonable, but his friends are the only ones able to slightly settle his seething enough for him to think rationally. Even so, he considers his friendships to be a weakness hindering him from succeeding in his aims.

Background
Kurapika is the sole survivor of the Kurta clan, a group of people that chose to live in obscurity in the Lukso Province. They possess eyes that turn flaming scarlet in times of anger or emotional agitation, and the color remained eternally in the iris at the time of death. The famous brilliance of the Scarlet Eyes caused them to have high demand as a flesh collector's treasure.

At the age of twelve, Kurapika's village is massacred by the Phantom Troupe for their valuable eyes, leaving behind scores of dead bodies with eyes gouged out in their wake. As the last surviving member of his clan, Kurapika vows to gain back all the stolen eyes of his people and to arrest all of the members of the Troupe.

Preliminary phase
Kurapika makes his first appearance on board a ship that goes from Whale Island to a testing site of the 287th Hunter Exam. He, Gon and Leorio are the only 3 candidates unaffected by a storm the night before. The captain reveals that he's 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.

First phase
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.

Second phase
At the site of the second phase, 2 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 Machi 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.

Third phase
The 3rd phase of the Hunter Exam starts atop the Trick Tower, which has numerous passages, and they have 72 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 tatoo 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, 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 10 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, etc. Thanks to a brilliant idea of Gon's in choosing ways, they manage to reach the bottom of the tower with just 30 seconds left, thus qualifying for the 4th phase.

Fourth phase
During the 4th phase, the remaining examinees are taken to Zevil Island to take part in a 7-day manhunt among themselves to capture each others 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.

Final 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 Licence 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, he, 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.

Zoldyck Family arc
Kurapika, Leorio and Gon arrive at the entrance of the Zoldyck Estate, the Testing Gate, on Kukuroo Mountain on a tour bus. They tell the old gatekeeper, Zebro, that they are Killua's friends but he says he can't let them enter until they can at least push open the 1st testing door which weighs 4 tons, because going into the estate via any other way will result in them getting killed by the huge guard dog named Mike. The trio then accept Zebro's invitation to stay in his house to train, using his heavy equipments. After 20 days, they all are able to opens a testing door and head for the Zoldyck Residence without any problem until they are stopped at another gate by a female attendant named Canary. She beats Gon up to prevent them from advancing but thanks to Gon's insistence, she becomes more and more reluctant to block their path and finally asks them to save Killua. Kikyo Zoldyck then appears with her son Kalluto, knocks Canary unconscious and tells them to leave, but after regaining consciousness Canary says she is going to lead them to the attendants' room.

While staying in the servants' room, they are forced into playing a guessing game with some butlers of the family, which they manage to win. Killua at last arrives and leaves the Zoldyck Estate together with them. Kurapika then tells his 3 friends what Hisoka whispered to him during the final phase. He would wait for Kurapika in Yorknew City, where the largest auction in the world takes place, on September 1st to tell him some interesting things about the Phantom Troupe. It's 6 months until that day so Kurapika says goodbye to his friends, after telling them that he is going to look for some work as a Hunter and arranging to meet up with them later in Yorknew City in September.

At The Flesh Collector's Mansion
At some point after parting company with his friends, Kurapika succeeds in finding an agency specializing in providing rich and famous people with bodyguards and hirelings. However, he is immediately told that despite his Hunter License, he is not qualified for such work because he still knows nothing of Nen. The agent says that his Hunter Exam hasn't finished and tells him to come back after being able to see pure aura.

At the beginning of August, Kurapika appears again at the mansion of a collector who collects body parts to apply for a job. It is revealed through his flashback that he learned Nen in 6 months and deliberately looked for a customer who had strong connections with the auction in Yorknew City. In the mansion he meets 5 other people 3 of them hunters themselves: Melody, Baise, Shachmono Tocino, Basho and Squala. A man shows up on the screen in the hall where they are waiting and tells them that if they want the job, they at least have to get out of the mansion alive. As he finishes, a group of 11 people who wear black hooded robes and masks and are armed with guns and swords suddenly appear and attack them. Using his Dowsing Chain, Kurapika blocks a number of bullets fired at him and jumps onto a chandelier to avoid the sword users and observe the situation. Noticing that Tocino is the only person who is not being attacked, he jumps down, puts a knife at Tocino's throat and orders him to stop the attackers in 3 seconds. Tocino obeys by making the Black Assistants disappear and tells them that he is a Hunter ordered by the owner of the mansion to test them and that they can get out of the mansion now. Kurapika suspects that he is trying to confuse them. Using his Dowsing Chain again, he discovers that Squala is another infiltrator, which is further confirmed by Senritsu's, Baise's and Basho's techniques. He and 3 other genuine applicants thus pass the test. After each of them completes another mission of finding a rare body part, they are all officially hired by the man who was on the screen previously, Dalzollene.

In Yorknew City
Kurapika and co's first task is to guard their boss on a journey to Yorknew City, where they will be participating in the Mafia's underground auction. The boss turns out to be Neon Nostrade, the daughter of the Nostrade Clan's leader. Neon, besides being spoilt, is also a Specialist whose ability Lovely Ghostwriter allows her to make accurate predictions about the future. Her father has been using her ability to gain high status within the Mafia, hence the need for a large number of bodyguards. They arrive in Yorknew City on September 1st and on the night of that day the underground auction is attacked by the Phantom Troupe, who want to steal all the auction items. Some of Kurapika's comrades and many clients from the Mafia are slaughtered by the Troupe. However, having been warned about a possible attack via Neon's predictions, one of the Shadow Beasts, a group of the best 10 Nen users within the Mafia, has already removed all the items from the vault.

Believing that the Phantom Troupe have stolen them, the Mafia organizations in Yorknew City give chase, and Kurapika is instructed to join in. The Phantom Troupe decide to confront the Mafia, in the hope of luring out the Shadow Beasts to question them about the auction items. One member of the Troupe, Uvogin, is an extremely strong Enhancer. He single-handedly massacres a large number of armed Mafia gangsters. This has the intended effect, as four of the Shadow Beasts appear and attack him. Even though they manage to injure and paralyse Uvogin, they are ultimately killed by him. Seeing the spider tatoo on Uvogin's back, Kurapika flies into a rage. Despite his comrades' discouragement, he goes forward, takes advantage of the situation to capture Uvogin using his Chain Jail then leaves on a car with his comrades. The Troupe immediately chase after them, but their pursuit is halted by the arrival of the rest of the Shadow Beasts. On killing most of the Shadow Beasts, the Phantom Troupe manage to find out the Owl is the one with the auction items.

Back at their headquarters, Dalzollene tries to torture Uvogin to force information about the items from him. Despite being impervious to these attempts thanks to his strong Enhancement aura, Uvogin reveals that the Shadow Beasts took the items away. He also suggests that, since the Spiders couldn't steal anything, if they are to release him immediately, he will spare their lives. Kurapica questions Uvogin about his comrades. On hearing that they were killed according to the Spider's plan, Kurapica hits him in a rage, managing to damage his nose and lips slightly. After Kurapica has left to meet up with Hisoka, Dalzollene calls members of the Mafia in to take Uvogin in custody. Shortly afterwards, the Phantom Troupe arrive, dressed as Mafia members. They kill Dalzollene, cure Uvogin's paralysis and free him. His furious shout upon release is heard by Senritsu, allowing Kurapika's teammates time to escape. Finding no one, Uvogin swears to hunt down the chain user, Kurapika. Meanwhile, at the pre-arranged rendezvous Kurapika meets up with Hisoka, who tells him about his secret purpose of joining the Phantom Troupe and offers to team up with him. Kurapika tells Hisoka to meet again the next day, September 3rd, at the same time.

Meeting up with Senritsu and the rest later, he suggests that they get Neon to contact her father and ask for his advice. Light Nostrade promotes Kurapika to team leader, and makes arrangements to meet them later. Meanwhile, Uvogin has managed to track them down. Kurapika stays behind to confront him. After agreeing to go to a place far from the city where they can fight freely, Uvogin and Kurapika face off in a Nen battle. He manages to capture Uvogin and deprive him of his Nen. After questioning him fruitlessly, he is forced to kill Uvogin.

Kurapika's defeat of Uvogin makes him the main target of the Phantom Troupe, who begin to actively search for him. On September 3rd, they catch Gon and Killua. One of them, Pakunoda, has the ability of mind-reading through touching. Since neither Gon nor Killua know the "chain guy" is Kurapika, Pakunoda assumes that they have nothing to do with him. Shortly afterwards, Killua realizes that Kurapika is the one the Troupe are searching for, but luckily he and Gon manage to escape at night, before being questioned by her again.

Just before Gon and Killua are captured, Kurapika meets with Light Nostrade. He learns that the Ten Mafia Dons have hired a group of professional assassins to eliminate the Phantom Troupe and that Light wants him to join the assassination team. After meeting up with the assassins in the auction building in the night of September 3rd, he is told that Neon has slipped away from her guards to attend the rescheduled auction herself. Using his Nen ability, he manages to find her whereabouts. The auction building is once again attacked by the Troupe in revenge for Uvogin, and most of the hired assassins and 2,000 Mafia gangsters protecting it are killed quickly. Two elite assassins, Zeno and Silva Zoldyck, however almost succeed in killing the Troupe's leader, Chrollo, but just before they can finish the job, Illumi Zoldyck calls and tells them the Ten Dons have been assassinated in a mission whose client is Chrollo. The Zoldycks thus spare his life and leave. Then, using the ability of a member, Kortopi, the Phantom Troupe fake their own deaths, create copies of all the items and continue the auction using the fakes. Kurapica arrives just in time to see the fake corpses and win the last item: a pair of fake scarlet eyes.

The next day, September 4th, Kurapika meets up with Gon, Killua and Leorio again. He tells them about the secrets of his Nen abilities and his connection with Hisoka, knowing that they're true friends. Now that Gon and Killua have learnt of his abilities, they realize the threat Pakunoda poses. He then receives a message from Hisoka saying that the bodies are fakes. Kurapika decides to keep chasing after the Phantom Troupe alone but Leorio, Killua and Gon want to help him. While following the Phantom Troupe, Gon and Killua are again captured. Pakunoda questions them again and finds out who Kurapika is. With the help of Leorio and Senritsu, Kurapika manages to capture Chrollo Lucilfer before Pakunoda could reveal what she has found out. When Pakunoda comes with Gon and Killua to meet him for a hostage exchange, Kurapika uses his Judgement Chain to forbid Chrollo from using Nen or communicating with the other Phantom Troupe members, and also to forbid Pakunoda from revealing what she knows about him. After the exchange, Kurapika collapses from exhaustion due to his continual use of his scarlet eyes. Once he has recovered, he leaves Yorknew City to continue his search for the scarlet eyes.

Greed Island arc
Kurapika makes a short reappearance during the Greed Island Arc when Killua calls him, telling him about the possibility of the Judgement Chain he imposed on Chrollo having been removed, but Kurapika assures Killua that it is still staying in Chrollo body. After that, he has a short conversation with Light Nostrade, who is in a state of great confusion due to the loss of his daughter's prophetic ability.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc
Kurapika is one of the absentees during the first 4 rounds of the election, despite the reappearances of his comrades under Light Nostrade such as Senritsu and Basho. He hasn't visited the hospital where Gon is being given intensive-care treatment and is not available on the phone either, which makes Leorio wonder what he may be doing.

After the events regarding the election and Gon's recovery, Leorio tries to call him again. Kurapika is seen in a church, making a funeral for his murdered comrades, ignoring all incoming calls. He managed to find several of their stolen Scarlet Eyes, looking more than ever determined to avenge them.

Combat and Skills
Kurapika's physical strength seems to increase whenever his scarlet eyes are activated. He is also capable of fighting using two bokken swords, (Tantō in the 1999 anime) hidden under his over shirt.

Nen Abilities
Kurapika is a Conjurer, one that can create objects out of thin air according to his imagination. The weapon that he conjures is a unique one — five chains that extend from each finger on his right hand. Some of the fingers were specially designed to deal vengeance on the Phantom Troupe. He is able to conceal his chain using "In" in order to bind his opponent without their knowledge until it's too late.

Emperor Time (Absolute Mastery)
When Kurapika's eyes turn scarlet, he shifts from a Conjurer to a Specialist. This state is called Emperor Time (絶対時間 (エンペラータイム) ), and it allows him to utilize all the types of Nen to 100% efficiency (for a Conjurer). In the manga, Kurapika explains this using the terms "Level" and "Force/Accuracy". Kurapika's "Levels" in the various Nen categories remain the same during Emperor Time, however, his Force and Accuracy for every category is raised to 100%. Thus, if Kurapika's Level in Conjuration were 10, his Level in Emission (the polar opposite nen type) would be 4, and during Emperor Time, he would be evenly matched against a Level 4 Emitter at 100%. Outside of Emperor Time, his Force and Accuracy in Emission would at most be only be 40%.The explanation of this ability was shown during Kurapika's fight with Uvogin.

To increase his effectiveness against the formidable Phantom Troupe, Kurapika places strict Limitations on the usage of his chains.

Trivia

 * Kurapika has ranked second in all of the 3 popularity polls that have been conducted so far by Weekly Shounen Jump. In the first character popularity poll, he acquired 13,498 votes. In the second character popularity poll, he had 7,176 votes. In the most recent and third character popularity poll, he had 3,467 votes.
 * During the first poll, fans are impressed by his great will and are often confused about his gender which gave him a lot of points.
 * Kurapika was inspired by the Ohmu in Hayao Miyazaki's manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
 * Despite his clan named, Kurapika was never been shown with full name. However, "Kurapika Kurta" is the name given by the fans. Among the four main characters, Kurapika is the only one whose last name has not been mentioned yet.
 * Kurapika wears two earrings, although only one is seen throughout the series.
 * Although Kurapika wore a different outfit for the Zoldyck Family arc, in the 2011 version, he has the same outfit from the Hunter Exam.
 * Kurama, one of the main characters in Yoshihiro Togashi's other manga and anime Yu Yu Hakusho bears some similarities to Kurapika:
 * Both share similar personality (i.e possessing wide knowledge, calm yet deadly when provoked)
 * Both are mistaken by their arch enemy as a girl.
 * Both Kurama and Kurapika use whip-like weapons.