Hisoka

Hisoka is a Hunter and former member of the Phantom Troupe. He is always in search for strong opponents, and would spare those who have great potential, such as Gon and Killua. Hisoka's appearance is similar to that of a magician or jester. He is tall and has light skin and a fairly toned stature. His attire is usually adorned with various suit symbols on the front and back torso, and he changes outfits in each story arc. He wears face paint: a maroon star on his right cheek and a spring green teardrop on his left cheek, or alternately, a maroon teardrop on his left cheek and spring green star on his right cheek. During the Greed Island arc, Hisoka wears a Greed Island Ring on his left middle finger. In the 13th Hunter Chairman Election arc, Hisoka is shown wearing two earrings with ornamental hearts.

In his first appearance in Nippon Animation's anime series, Hisoka's hair is blue. After a revamp of the show it was replaced with a red, almost neon pink color to be in accordance with the manga. In Madhouse's adaptation, Hisoka has red hair and light amber eyes. During the Yorknew City arc in the manga, Hisoka dyes his hair light green. These dynamic variations in appearance illustrate the complexity of his character. Hisoka is portrayed as entirely self-serving, self-absorbed, and selfish; he does whatever he likes as long as it pleases him in some way. His insatiable love for spilling the blood of powerful fighters in combat and his enjoyment of extreme pain while doing so fuels his seemingly sadomasochistic desires. In order for them to grow to their full potential (so as to improve the pleasure of killing them later), Hisoka allows the main protagonists to live in situations wherein he is easily able to kill them. Likewise, he grows excited to meet any new people he deems worthy of fighting or anyone with potential to be a good fighter and entertain him in the future. With his manipulative and self-centered nature, Hisoka is essentially a sociopath. While he does like Gon, Killua, and many others, he has stated that for him what is valuable one day could easily become trash the next, and he will not hesitate to kill anyone should they not meet his standards. He does not care for what has happened in the past, as he is only interested in what could be amusing to him in the future or present. While Hisoka's nature tends to be malevolent, he isn't an indiscriminate killer. He has no problems killing anyone regardless of age or sex; however, he only kills people who are in his way or those he deems "worthy."

As such, his character is more simply amoral than flat out evil. He even assists the protagonists if there is "fun" in doing so or if it will make them stronger leading to a more entertaining fight in the future. Above all else, Hisoka cares only about having fun and a good challenge which may or may not involve killing people. He has a nasty habit of skipping out on Spider meetings. Hisoka could be described as pansexual, but in a very deranged way: he is attracted to powerful fighters, or people who have the potential to become so, and his desire is expressed through barely repressible murderous tendencies.  Hisoka often exhibits androgynous characteristics throughout the series, manifested in his wearing of "women's" shoes and using an alluring speech style typically reserved for females in Japanese. In the manga, he ends nearly every sentence with a suit symbol. Hisoka's past is never explored in Hunter × Hunter. His character is an enigma that speaks little of his past, because he is uninterested in it. It is revealed, however, that Hisoka joined the Phantom Troupe as a false member at some point after the Kurta Massacre, and 2 or 3 years before the YorkNew City arc. Hisoka is also introduced as a second time examinee in the Hunter Exam; he is disqualified for almost killing an examiner during his first attempt. In the 1999 anime adaptation it is stated during his battle with Gon on the 200th floor of Heaven's Arena that Hisoka chewed "Bungee Gum" a lot as a child, but because his family was poor he often chewed it until it lost all flavor. He later named his signature gum technique after the brand. In the manga and 2011 adaption however, it is only said that he named both of his techniques after a candy brand and a chewing gum brand he liked when he was a kid. Hisoka, applicant #44, is seen as a heavy contender throughout the Hunter exam. He failed the previous year's exam after nearly killing a proctor he did not approve of. Hisoka is introduced in the series as another applicant bumps into him without apologizing; shortly afterwards the applicant's arms are removed from his body. During the first phase, out of a desire to satiate his appetite for murder, Hisoka "plays proctor" and kills a number of applicants in the Numere Wetlands. He takes an interest in Gon and his friends after the boy uses his father's fishing rod to stop Hisoka from killing Leorio. In the third phase, Hisoka is targeted by Togari for having nearly killed the proctor during last year. Hisoka kills Togari with ease and is the first to pass through the Trick Tower.