As I said (or corrected myself into saying), not all Japanese fans of the old series criticized the new one. But I can assure you that criticisms do exist. If it is popular by opinion polls, then that popularity probably came from the fans of the younger generation.
But of course, you can doubt the credibility of the 2ch forum.
Look, I read 2ch forum regularly too, I say you're definitely generalization and seeing (and reporting) only what you want to see. I don't know what you true agenda is but you're definitely coming off desperate to get approval and tried to misrepresent.
From what I've seen, the reaction on 2ch is basically similar to western forums -- there're always the anti hardcore 1999 series fanboys who's hates anything new. Then there're the manga fans who hated the old anime, and like the new series immensely for many reasons (quicker pace, lesser filler, more faithful). The consensus on 2ch that the Gon and Killua of the 1999 series is very different from manga.
IN fact in the specific comparison threads (アニメ新旧・原作 比較スレ), many people would point out the parts they thought the new versions were superior to old version, so I don't know why you pretend to ignore these threads and the positive reactions. Again I think you only want to report what you wanted to see in order to create some illusions.
Another consensus I read is that Japanese fans agree that the 1999 series is Kurapika centric (the Nippon Animation was probably drawn more to his stories, added a lot of stuff for him and favored too much of him) while the Madhouse seems to be Killua centric.
And NO please don't mislead people, 2ch is not 'credible' in representation ALL of Japanese opinions. They're the hardcore of the most hardcore nerds who tends to be very hater-y. The fandom of HxH in Japan is a lot more diverse and mainstream than the western, Togashi is one of nation's top favorite author and the series has many non otaku fans, there're TONS of female fans (most don't go on 2ch) and fans of all ages, so an otaku forum doesn't speaks for all of Japanese. And the popularity of internet in Japan isn't the same as west, it doesn't reflect mainstream opinion at all as most internet is still used by the 'nerds' and 'geeks'. What you see on Japanese internet doesn't represent much of the national opinions.
. What can I say, this episode was badass! I kept replaying certain parts over and over again, maybe because I just wanted to prolong it (lame I know xD)! When the opening first started I was disappointed, but when Gon and Killua started running down Heaven's Arena (I don't care how ridiculous that looked, it was awesome!) I began to love it! I am loving the Troupe's designs as well as Wing's and Zushi's. Speaking of Zushi, they really made him look badass! Seriously now I'm dying to see him in the manga again. The ending was also pretty cool. Not that big a fan of the song (the chorus is cool though), but it features some great visuals! I love how Nen-centric it is 
