~Kurapika Kurta~

Gallery Kurapika (クラピカ Kurapika) is the last survivor of the Kurta Clan. He is a Blacklist Hunter and the current underboss of the organization founded by Light Nostrade. He is a member of the Zodiacs with the codename Rat (子ね Ne, lit. "Rat"). His goal is to avenge his clan and recover the remaining Scarlet Eyes. He takes the role of the main protagonist of the Yorknew City and Succession Contest arcs. He was also the deuteragonist of the Hunter Exam arc.

Kurapika has medium blond hair with brown eyes; blue in the 1999 anime adaptation (grey/dark grey in the 2011 anime adaptation). His eyes glow a beautiful and coveted scarlet when experiencing intense emotion. In his first appearance in the series, he wears a blue tabard decorated with an orange-colored (red in the 2011 anime adaptation) hem and a white full-body training suit underneath. He changes his tabard and training suit for the duration of the Yorknew City arc. His shoes are Chinese-style winkle-picker flats. From the Election arc he wears a blue or black suit with dress shoes, and in some subsequent appearances, he also wears a necktie. From the Succession Contest arc, as a royal bodyguard, he wears a uniform consisting of a blue suit and tie with a gold capital H on the left breast of the jacket.

Kurapika also wears two drop earrings ornamented with a ruby. After learning Nen, he starts using black contact lenses in order to hide his Scarlet Eyes.

Personality Kurapika is a cool and intelligent individual, possessing vast knowledge. He is reticent; not 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. However, Kurapika can be kind and affectionate, smiling when those friends are happy. 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, he is willing to compromise his personal morality and delve into the squalid side of society in order to achieve his goal. He is prone to fits of uncontrollable anger should the memory of his clan be insulted in any way.

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 at times, but his friends are the only ones able to slightly settle his seething enough for him to think rationally. He slowly transitioned from considering his friendships to be a weakness hindering him from succeeding in his aims to appreciating their value, and he was willing to put his revenge on the Phantom Troupe on hold for his friends' well-being. He even questioned the legitimacy of his quest after experiencing the deep ties that bind the Spiders together, particularly Pakunoda's loyalty, although it ultimately did not deter him.

Although he made himself unavailable for a period, the people dear to him became part of his drives, leading him to search for more power in order not to lose anyone else. Upon nearly completing his goal of retrieving the eyes of his brethren, he began to feel a deep sense of loss, believing to have no one and nowhere to return to.

As a child, his personality was more akin to Gon's where he sought out adventure and had an impulsive nature. Kurapika was still protective of his friends, however, going as far as to beat a man for his derogatory comments against one.

Background Pairo saved Kurapika Pairo saved Kurapika Kurapika was born to the Kurta Clan in a secluded forest in the Lukso Province. As a child, he almost fell from a cliff but was saved by his best friend, Pairo. While he was unharmed, his friend Pairo had harmed both his legs and eyes, their condition worsening every day. Kurapika felt responsible for the incident and resolved to leave the forest and search the outside world for a doctor who could cure Pairo. Kurapika thus approached the Kurta Clan's elder several times to request to go to the outside world, but he was constantly refused. This sparked a long-lasting debate between the two, with Kurapika perceiving the Kurta Clan's fear of the outside world as unreasonable and backward. After one such argument, he talked to Pairo and discovered that people outside of the Kurta Clan do not have Scarlet Eyes, which caused their clan to be persecuted.[5]

Kurapika and Pairo reading Dino Hunter Kurapika and Pairo reading Dino Hunter At some point, Kurapika and Pairo saved a female outsider called Sheila. As thanks, she gave them a book about the adventures of the D Hunter in the outside world which they read together, strengthening their desire to visit the outside world. After Sheila left, Kurapika realized that the Kurta Clan's elder had stolen the book and confronted him about it. Having an argument again, the clan elder finally allowed Kurapika to take the test to go to the outside world. Studying hard and passing all the tests successfully, the elder gave him his last test: to go shopping in the outside world with a partner without revealing their Scarlet Eyes. Kurapika chose Pairo as his partner. The elder had them put drops in their eyes which would cause their eyes to remain red for days if they change color during the test. During the journey, Kurapika vowed to himself to find a way to cure Pairo so that they would be able to explore the outside world together.[5]

Kurapika passes the final test Kurapika passes the final test While buying groceries, Kurapika and Pairo were bullied and nearly swindled by three thugs. Kurapika managed to maintain his calm only thanks to his friend. The other people at the supermarket took their side and chased the thugs away. After the boys completed their shopping, they were approached by the trio again. This time they mocked Pairo's condition, making Kurapika furious. His eyes turned scarlet and he single-handedly beat them up. The thugs revealed that the elder had paid them to rile him up. Pairo had them report that they failed. Having recognized them as Kurta, the people who had previously defended them turned violent and frightened. On the way back, Kurapika noticed that his eyes had gone back to their normal color, with Pairo disclosing that the previous day he had heard that the elder planned to cheat, and so had swapped the drops for his eye medicine.[6]

The Kurta Clan massacre The Kurta Clan massacre Having passed the test, Kurapika was granted unrestricted permission to go to the outside world. Before leaving, Kurapika promised Pairo that he would return with a doctor and that they would one day go to the outside world together. Pairo had him also promise to have fun and enjoy himself while outside, having adventures just like the Hunter they read about from Sheila's book. Six weeks later, while Kurapika was away, the Kurta Clan was approached by the Phantom Troupe and massacred, their eyes sold on the black market. The news reported the death of all 128 members of the Kurta Clan and of scores of dead bodies with eyes gouged out in their wake.[6] As the last surviving member of his clan, Kurapika vowed to gain back all the stolen eyes of his people and to capture all of the members of the Troupe.[7]