My Hero Academia: Star and Stripe’s death was pointless, and here's why

My Hero Academia has established its legacy of bringing high-stakes action, and memorable heroes and villains. It has a colorful group of heroes who live up to the multi-faceted ideals of justice and heroism. The anime world runs with the societal systems, in which Pro Heroes have a tremendous responsibility not only in their power, but also in the cultural and political positions.

With the progression of the story to the darker and more intricate arcs, international heroes started to be introduced, which was an indication of the way the world perceived the collapse of the hero society of Japan, and how the presence of characters like All For One was a threat on a larger scale.

One of the forces facing them on a global scale was the Number 1 Hero of the United States — Star and Stripe, the strongest woman in the world, and a role model of All Might himself. The arrival of Star and Stripe was massively hyped, particularly in the My Hero Academia manga, where the pacing and buildup created high anticipation. Yet, with all the hype, the storyline of the Star and Stripe was cut off suddenly by the way the character died in her first battle. Although her death was an outcome of a battle with merits, it was generally seen as unnecessary and weak in terms of the story. The world of My Hero Academia lives and dies by character payoffs, and the temporary effect of Star and Stripe was enough to make readers regard her death as less serious and full of mature implications, compared to most of the characters at such a level.

Her struggle against Shigaraki, being exceptionally retold and conceptually impactful, did not last long. In a one-on-one battle, she demonstrated her immense Quirk, New Order, by subjugating the air and transforming laser shots into physical attacks and even imbuing physical mechanisms with rules. But her death did not stop Shigaraki much, or give the heroes any long-term benefit. Rather, it served as an occasion to demonstrate the growth of Shigaraki — it is a trend that My Hero Academia has relied on several occasions in the past.

The destruction of her own Quirk in the body of Shigaraki and making it unusable by Shigaraki was the only significant contribution that Star and Stripe had made in the narrative. But then, such a gain itself was short-lived and mostly figurative. The storyline of My Hero Academia moved back to the initial focus within a couple of chapters, and the international arena she epitomized was replaced by the backdrop.

Which brings us to an extremely important issue: Star and Stripe is a waste of character development in My Hero Academia. She might have used international hero dynamics in the main storyline or collaborated with others, such as Hawks or Endeavor. Instead of raising the stakes, her death isolated her arc in the main story. Neither did she have any contacts with the main characters, nor did her presence shape the internal conflict of Japan (except in her death). It did not seem like an intelligent decision, and more like a convenient tool so that the threat of Shigaraki could be reestablished without burdening the current core cast.

Moreover, her character description was not even tapped into. The presentation of flashbacks provided a hint of how she adored All Might, and her attachment to him provided her with an emotional anchor. That was not elaborated on more than a few pages, though. Her values, ideas of heroism, and her experience as the human hero ranked first in the world but remained unspoken. Putting so much weight on a character, only to have it give so little back, has robbed the show of what could have been one of the most memorable characters to have appeared in the series.

Star and Stripe’s death in the My Hero Academia manga

Star and Stripe in the My Hero Academia manga emerges at an important moment when the story tries to globalize the war. Shigaraki kills her after she makes a last gambit, putting conditions on her Quirk to make it unstable and attack other Quirks that Shigaraki might attempt to steal. Nevertheless, the outcome is just a slight inconvenience to the villain, who adjusts shortly afterward.

Star and Stripe died empty of emotion or strategy when compared to the heroes of other times, who had died in heroic battles. The My Hero Academia manga does not stay on the subject, and the reader also does not have time to mourn or even see what the rest of the community of heroes will do in response.

Rather, the earlier demises, including that of Sir Nighteye, had inherent connections to the fundamental relationships, and shifted the emotional arcs of other key individuals including Deku.

The death of Star and Stripe did not have that ripple effect. Rather than supporting the storyline, it further supported a by-now all-too-familiar narrative cadence: Introduce a powerful anti-hero, providing an obstacle before falling, allowing the villains to be left even stronger, with the plot changing little. It also begs to question whether her character was intended to have depth the whole time, or was it a mere foil just to remind the viewer that the bad guy is unbeatable.

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Overall, the death of Star and Stripe in My Hero Academia was beautiful to watch, but it had sub-par storytelling. In spite of her influence, fame, and thematic link to All Might, her storyline was abrupt and unexplored. Her sacrifice did not in any meaningful way alter the course of battle or add another layer of emotional tension to the war that existed before and continued after this moment. It was a wasted scene in the end, in a series that has struck impeccable balances between emotion and escalation all through its run. It was an exciting face discarded too early, leaving not much behind itself apart from a feeling that her death did not need to occur.

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