My Hero Academia: Why Star and Stripe Deserves Better

Warning: Contains spoilers for recent My Hero Academia chapters. You have been warned.

My Hero Academia tends to focus on Japan to the exclusion of the rest of the world. Apart from the movies, the first time that the United States becomes relevant is near the end of the series, when Tomura Shigaraki and his benefactor All For One become international-level threats. At this point, Cathleen "Star and Stripe" Bate, the #1 Hero in the U.S. and a protégé of All Might, decides she must intervene, even if she ends up defying the wishes of her superiors.

The main problem with her character is her lack of panel time despite her importance. Star is introduced in Chapter 328 and killed off in Chapter 333. Her accomplishments- nearly defeating the All For One-empowered Shigaraki and not only managing to deny him "New Order" but weakening him through her sacrifice- are rather impressive, but there are two other issues with her from a narrative standpoint.

The first is the lack of buildup, since My Hero Academia usually tends to establish its important players well in advance. Obviously, All Might, Japan's #1 Hero, is introduced in the first chapter, but Endeavor is introduced fairly early on and shown to be a large part of his son Shoto's life. Other characters get subtler introductions, as Destro and Oji Harima, the ancestors of Re-Destro and Mr. Compress, are mentioned in passing as Gentle Criminal mentions the best-known villains of old. Star, however, is not so much as mentioned in the manga prior to this point, and while All Might is shown saving her in the first movie, it barely amounts to a cameo. Even a mention of the U.S.' #1 Hero would have done a great deal to build anticipation for seeing Star and Stripe.

The second problem is a lack of development. Star's backstory is briefly touched upon as a way of explaining why she feels inferior to All Might, but it's brought up midway through the battle. Perhaps Star could have been introduced earlier, with her Quirk shown in action with the effects kept cryptic(a bit like when Gentle Criminal defeated the pro heroes in the convenience store) as a way of establishing her and fleshing her out.

The unfortunate part is that because she has little role, her sacrifice has minimal emotional impact, and All Might's other protege Sir Nighteye is a good counterpoint. While he was only introduced in the Internship arc, it's indicated that All Might did not usually take on sidekicks, but made an exception for Nighteye before he and All Might parted on bad terms over All Might insisting on continuing to fight in spite of Nighteye's predicting his death. While Nighteye is rather unpleasant, especially to Midoriya, he's arguably right about Mirio being a better choice for All Might's successor, and later shows redeeming elements, such as when he defends Midoriya at the meeting. He has an emotional death scene as the first hero to die on-panel, and his death impacts All Might, Midoriya, Mirio, Centipeder, Bubble Girl and Uraraka. Compare how Star is only mentioned in passing by All Might in the meeting after her death, and while her squad also mourns her, they have little presence in the story.

As it stands now, Star comes off as more of a plot device to weaken Shigaraki in time for the final battle, rather than a character in her own right. Perhaps playing a role prior to the final battle would have given us more reason to be invested in her, but as it stands now, she's one of many missed opportunities when it comes to characters in this series.