I found the "pick the opponent's number" exam the best of HxH first arc. Hisoka's insanity was also crazy, even more so in the 1999 anime. It was also funny how Leorio struggled to pass the first exam and yet became a Hunter.
Yeah, that was brutal. Hisoka is ruthless. Also he didn't act like if he felt pain from having his fucking arm taken off... I wonder if he feels pain at all.
The series is entertaining but the amount of reading it requires you to do during fights really turns me off. It makes the fights seem like they have really shit slow pacing.