First off, why change the order of the fights? The order in the final phase was based on impressions on Netero about the contestants, and that makes Gon and Hanzo the ones who impressed Netero the most. And this change makes Kurapika and Hisoka the most impressive ones rather than the second. Either that or this is another proof that Kurapika is the director's favorite character wand wasn't satisfied that he was second to last and not showing his fight in the manga and wanted to give some spotlight going against what Togashi wanted.
Is Kurapika being part of the Kurta's public knowledge now or something?
The fight starts, and it goes in a similar way to Hisoka's fight with Kastro with messing with the cards and try to distract Kurapika by commenting on his fighting style and the flying cards.
Then Hisoka talks and says that he's not a magician and doesn't use magic. Why does he reveal his secrets so early? Doesn't that goes against his fighting style with Kastro?
Kurapika gets excited for a bit, and says he'll use use pride in place of his broken sword. I thought the 1999 was supposed to be the mature shonen that doesn't use immature cliched lines out of BLEACH or any shonen filled with cliches.
The fight goes on, and we see some weird stuff. Kurapika slashes Hisoka in half and he turns into cards! Didn't the 1999 purists rage over a similar move in the 2011 version? Yet, we see here the 1999 pulls a similar trick!! The other thing is Hisoka's attack and the obvious error. For a moment we think Hisoka has stabbed Kurapika's left side, yet we see that he hit his right side and there's no blood. Not even a scratch. I thought the 1999 version is the more serious and more violent than the toned down kiddified new version!
The fight goes one, and Kurapika injures Hisoka with one his cards...... okay...? I think I'll buy that...! But that's not the weird part. The weird part is this:
To be honest, I can't describe this scene! It's like Hisoka is on drugs or something!! In the fourth test he was able to control himself, but here he's like about to lose it!!
So in my opinion... this is not one of the best fights.