With the airing of the second episode of season 7, My Hero Academia shocked viewers by showing the death of America’s top hero, Star and Stripe, at the hands of Shigaraki Tomura. Despite her valiant efforts, fans are expressing disappointment and anger towards manga author Kohei Horikoshi for his handling of her character development.
After the intense battle against Shigaraki Tomura and his allies, All Might became aware that Shigaraki was only three days away from obtaining the All For One quirk. In response, he reached out to heroes from other nations for assistance. America’s top hero, Star and Stripe, answered the call and arrived in Japan to aid All Might, whom she referred to as her “master.”
Why are fans of My Hero Academia justified in their anger towards Horikoshi for the death of Star and Stripe?
While My Hero Academia fans may not be expressing outright anger towards the death of Star and Stripe, it is understandable that they are directing frustration towards manga creator Kohei Horikoshi for the sudden and unceremonious introduction and subsequent death of the character in the series.
Despite the intention of portraying the absence of heroes from other countries in Japan’s time of need, the mishandling of the hero’s entire storyline is understandable in light of America’s No. 1 Hero’s death.
Despite never being mentioned in the series before, Star and Stripe was still recognized as America’s No.1 Hero and second only to All Might worldwide, as shown in the My Hero Academia anime. It is speculated that creator Kohei Horikoshi may have designed her character specifically for plot development.
Despite the fact that her fight with Shigaraki provided the heroes with more time for the ultimate showdown, the author could have used different elements in the story to delay it. This suggests that Horikoshi’s sole purpose for introducing Star and Stripe was to create an emotional impact and sense of loss for the fans.
Despite being introduced shortly before her death, the character’s impact on fans and other characters was limited due to the short amount of time she was present in the series. Fans had already grown to like her and were eager to see more of her in future chapters. Sadly, her appearance and death were confined to only a few chapters.
How Fans Reacted to Star and Stripe’s Death
The concerns surrounding Star and Stripe’s death were loudly expressed by fans, who noticed that her character was merely disposable, introduced solely for the purpose of being killed off.
“I think the main issue is introducing new characters to just be cannon fodder,”a fan said.
Many fans expressed disappointment in Kohei Horikoshi for not choosing to kill off a different character, such as Aizawa, who both fans and characters had already developed strong connections with. They believed that this would have had a much greater impact than the death of Star and Stripe.
“I think what they want is for her to at least live an arc or two, and for Hori to kill someone like Eraserhead,”one fan said.
Even Shigaraki Tomura’s fans despised the way her character was introduced in order to weaken him.
“She was just introduced to nerf shigaraki and it was done poorly, also she lost just cuz she ain’t the mc, not even once she was mentioned before, and supposedly she’s the strongest hero after AM,”another fan said.
“Or maybe those accusations wouldn’t exist if he didn’t kill her right in her first appearance, she’s literally a plot device,”other fan shared.
Despite fans potentially disregarding it, the entire story arc was poorly executed, particularly because the anime portrayed her as the strongest hero after All Might. Therefore, it was illogical for Star and Stripe to meet such an early demise.
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