Why Palm is Just as Bad as Hisoka
This is why I believe Palm from Hunter x Hunter was failed as a character.
Let’s start off by saying that Palm is definitely a character that would never pass the Bechdel test. Boy-crazy in a way that comes across as endearing in a weird sort of way when we first meet her, but later delves into predatorily sinister when she warns Gon and Killua that she will kill them if they lose to Knuckle and Shoot as she does not want them to beat her into joining their group leader (Knov) first whom she has a massive crush on.
However, despite an intense training arc that involved hours of Nen training and repeatedly getting beat up by Knuckle, they both are still defeated. So, after they later return, to appease Palm’s murderous rage, Gon agrees to go on a date with her. Let me reiterate: a 12-year-old boy is agreeing to go on a date with a 22-year-old woman. When I first saw this, I was at a loss as to how they thought this was acceptable to showcase. Even if it can be argued that it’s supposed to be accurate to the manga, we all know adaptations do take liberties with changing things from texts so I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just age Palm down to a 13-year-old girl at the very least as her character would still have worked perfectly — with the exception of her character design needing to be altered slightly.
I would also like to add that it was very inappropriate to state that Gon was a womanizer and dated multiple older women from Whale Island. As if that somehow was ample reasoning enough to make it acceptable for Gon to go on a date with Palm since he had all these experiences with women already? It’s narratives like these that remind us that in some parts of Japan, the age of consent is as low as 13. This is a case that is clearly emphasized through the character of Gon in this instance.
I do believe they completely ruined her character by bringing in this age-inappropriate romance aspect to her character. It saddened me as I immediately wanted to like a character like Palm. A gothic, slightly unhinged, murderous female character would have been such a fun addition to the group, which she was until they had to completely ruin it with her Gon obsession. Just because it’s a romantic obsession does not make it any better than Hisoka’s weird obsession with Gon and Killua, and it should be taken just as seriously. I think that because it is a romantic-based obsession fans of the show have a tendency to not take it as seriously as all the creepy attention solely seems to fall on Hisoka even though Palm is just as creepy.
This is why, in my opinion, I believe that Palm is meant to be a mirroring character to Hisoka for what he could have potentially been — as a friend on the “good” side. It’s a shame that their main two mirroring qualities are negative ones: wanting to murder others, and an unhealthy hyper-fixation on Gon and Killua. There is some form of redemption in her character when she becomes a Chimera Ant, however, as she tries to sacrifice herself for the mission only to be caught by Pitou and Shaiapouf, and be made into a Chimera Ant by them instead. This is another way for the writers to convince us that she is inherently more “good” than Hisoka as we know that he would never do something like that for the sake of protecting others. However, I am unconvinced her self-sacrifice is necessarily something worthy of full redemption for her character as, in my eyes, this is something any Hunter would do. Even Shoot who was literally labeled as a coward when he was first introduced, almost died fighting during the Chimera Ant battle arc; showcasing that wanting to sacrifice yourself for the sake of saving others is just an innate trait of Hunters. Therefore, her wanting to sacrifice herself doesn’t necessarily make her any better than Hisoka, more so that she is just as good as any Hunter is supposed to be.
I would like to add that the main benefit of her transforming into a Chimera Ant, however, is that her Gon obsession disappears, and it’s established that they are just purely friends and allies now. This doesn’t at all dismiss her past actions, but at the very least is a step in the right direction. I think that’s why, in my opinion, her transforming into a Chimera Ant was actually a good thing for her. It was very much needed as it forced her to instantly mature. She was suddenly calmer and more emotionally stable too, granted it only took the Chimera Ants severing her emotions from her memories and then Killua bringing her back to reality to achieve this.
It’s unfortunate that we missed out on the wholesomeness that could have been seeing Palm in an older sister role. It would have been fine keeping her crush on Knov, in fact not being so easily swayed by Gon romantically would only have made her seem more resolute in her feelings for Knov. Her murderous tendencies towards Gon and Killua although comedic, does not make sense in the grand scheme of the Hunter by-laws that states a Hunter cannot target another Hunter. I think that her emotional instability and obsession with romance also makes us, as an audience, downplay her abilities and only proves to work against her as a character as we’re unable to take her seriously. It is only when she starts her spy mission to infiltrate the Chimera Ant King’s castle as one of Biszeff’s assistants that we see a smart, composed, and serious side to her which was so short-lived. It would have been nice to see a natural progression of maturity through various missions with the gang instead of the sudden, quick physical change through her becoming a Chimera Ant. Regardless, I am glad the change happened either way as it was very much needed for her character.
So, in more ways than one, I believe that Palm was failed as a character, mostly by not giving her an older sister role to Gon as opposed to a creepy older date, and also by not having a more natural progression of maturity in her character. Palm deserved so much more than to act as a mirror to Hisoka. She had the opportunity to be her own fully realized character and it saddens me that like so many other female characters in the Shounen genre, she was failed by the writers. But I will still continue to follow her journey within Hunter x Hunter as I am hopeful that we may see her as an older sister figure to Gon and Killua in the future; however, since it has been over ten years since the last season of the series, I guess I’ll just have to the read the manga to find out like everyone else.
