Some anime characters leave a deep impression despite a short appearance in the series. Star and Stripe was one such character in Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia, who wrapped fans around her pinky in the span of a few chapters/episodes.
Yet, the powerful lady could not survive the threat posed by Shigaraki and died a heroic death just as suddenly as she was introduced. In fact her sudden and forced exit from My Hero Academia led fans to doubt Kohei Horikoshi’s skills as a writer.
Star and Stripe Had Great Character Development Only to Die in My Hero Academia
Cathleen Bate, better known by her hero name, Star and Stripe, was the No. 1 Pro Hero of the USA. She came to Japan’s rescue despite the UN not finalizing aid. She never cared for her Hero License and faced Shigaraki.
She had an extremely fleshed-out character, as readers got to know how All Might saved her family years ago, and Bate considered him a beacon of hope. Her gratitude towards All Might was part of the reason why she rushed to the UA’s help.
Seriously such a waste of a phenomenal character
— Chibi Reviews (@ChibiReviews) May 11, 2024
Horikoshi-sensei is a great writer and it's proven with how quickly he made people care about Star and Stripe.
She only lost cause plot told her to lose pic.twitter.com/OfDnQeV21z
This sounds a lot like Gege killing every interesting character that challenges Sukuna.
— Brandon Varnell (@BrandonBVarnell) May 11, 2024
Even in death, she chose not to sacrifice her ally and sabotaged her own quirk. She managed to severely injure Shigaraki. While her self-sacrifice is praiseworthy, fans are pissed that she was introduced for a brief time just to die.
Many claim that her introduction was unnecessary if she was going to be nerfed so soon anyway. She was used to represent the International Heroes and justify their absence in the series.
Kohei Horikoshi Forced Star and Stripe to Lose
You can barely find any My Hero Academia fans who hate Star and Stripe. She was a lovable brute of a character, who everyone instantly took a liking to. She was pushed into the story to tackle the question: Why isn’t any International Hero appearing for help?
Many fans claim that Star and Stripe could have been a last-minute plot device to expand further on AFO’s abilities. This is proved even more as she has never been mentioned in the series since its reception. Her existence came to the light only two or three chapters before her debut.
The problem is that Horikoshi is NOT a great writer.
— El Abraham (@El_Abraham_CH) May 11, 2024
He’s an incredible artist and really good in creating concepts and premises, that’s why we care for his characters so much but he struggles a lot with his storytelling since a long time ago.
Actually, I completely disagree. For all intents and purposes she was a character doomed by the narrative. Hori was able to take a character who’s function was to make the big bad feasibly beatable and actually make you CARE about her. That’s not a fumble. That’s good writing.
— Lord-O Returns (@returns_o15484) May 11, 2024
Of course, there are a fair number of people who claim she died simply because Shigaraki was stronger, but how is it possible for even the #1 Hero of the USA to be completely destroyed by a villain? A villain this strong would immediately be classified as a threat to the world, leading to international interference.
She was also used to restrict International Heroes from interfering in Japan’s problems as her death made other countries and heroes turn their backs on Japan. This left only Japan’s heroes to fight against All For One, without any external help. Surely, swarming AFO with heroes would be the sappiest ending to My Hero Academia.
RIP STAR AND STRIPE YOU WERE A GREAT HERO🫡🫡🫡🫡 pic.twitter.com/ttgWSkOQJZ
— mochi 🌸 (@miodriya) May 11, 2024
#MHASeason7 this scene truly made me so sad.. All might..u really are the symbol of peace.. That inspired every child in this world to become a hero💔 Star n stripe u are really a true hero😭💔 pic.twitter.com/Nq5FxVPyXM
— 💐𝐅𝐀𝐘💐 || CEO OF KCHK !! (@stargirluravity) May 11, 2024
Kohei Horikoshi was also called out for introducing one strong female character who could prove her worth against the myriad of male heroes but ended up killing her. Overall, Star and Stripe’s fate made My Hero Academia‘s audience quite riled due to her wasted potential and untimely death.
You can read My Hero Academia on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
