Unequal in Death: My Hero Academia's Bias Against Female Characters

My Hero Academia has often been criticized for how it treats its female characters, and the way it kills them off is no exception. Here is a list of case studies that show that female characters' deaths have less narrative weight than most of their male counterparts.

Kenji "Magne" Hikishi

Magne is the first named character to die in the series, in Chapter 125- the start of the Internship arc and the third season of the anime.

With the League of Villains in dire straits as a result of All For One's arrest, Jin "Twice" Bubaigawara makes contact with Kai "Overhaul" Chisaki of the Shie Hassaikai and brings him to the League, only for negotiations to break down. Magne attacks Overhaul while delivering a brief speech about herself and her backstory, then is instantly killed when Overhaul uses his Quirk to disassemble her. In the ensuing fight, Tomura Shigaraki, the League of Villains' leader, kills one of Overhauls' underlings while Overhaul destroys Atsuhiko "Mr. Compress" Sako's arm. The two organizations end up in a tenuous alliance.

Magne's death has repercussions for the rest of the arc. Twice is overwhelmed with guilt for the role he played in it, while Magne's friend Himiko Toga, the only other female in the League of Villains, swears vengeance on Overhaul.

All in all, this isn't so bad compared to some of the others, but it's still unfortunate that the only transgender member of the League of Villains, as well as one of the two female members, was the first to die. While Magne's death has significance in the short term, it's forgotten about after the arc.

Mirai "Sir Nighteye" Sasaki

During the Internship arc, five Class 1-A students take on internships under veteran heroes. Izuku "Deku" Midoriya interns under Sir Nighteye, who was his mentor Toshinori "All Might" Yagi's sidekick until the two parted on bad terms. Nighteye had foreseen All Might's death using his Quirk and begged him to retire, but All Might refused to listien.

Initially, Nighteye views Midoriya with disdain, believing him to be less worthy of inheriting All Might's power than Nighteye's protege Mirio "Lemillion" Togata. Midoriya passes Nighteye's test to get the internship, but Nighteye makes it clear that he intends to make it clear that Midoriya is less deserving than Mirio.

Over the course of the arc, however, Nighteye warms up to Midoriya. When Midoriya is forced to allow Overhaul to leave with his young ward Eri, Nighteye criticizes Midoriya for wanting to intervene to protect Eri, since doing so would have jeopardized the operation, but takes full responsibility when it turns out that this was a grave mistake.

At the climax of the arc, Nighteye is impaled through the abdomen, and while he lasts long enough to reach the hospital, his wounds are too grave for him to be saved. Nighteye is able to make peace with All Might, and gives Mirio a vision, promising that he'll become a great hero someday.

Nighteye's death weighs on everyone involved. All Might is left with much to think about after his sidekick's death, while Mirio honors his mentor's memory.

Saijin "Snatch" Higawara

You may not remember who Snatch even is, which is understandable, since he only appears in a single scene.

In the aftermath of the Internship arc, the heroes are transporting the captured Shie Hassaikai to prison, when Shigaraki, Mr. Compress, Dabi and Shuichi "Spinner" Iguchi attack. Snatch's sand-based Quirk proves an effective counter to Shigaraki's Quirk, which decays anything he touches with five fingers of one hand, but Mr. Compress and Dabi gain the advantage and kill him. Before Snatch dies, he asks Dabi, who recently killed several people, if he ever thought about what the families of his victims had to go through.

Basically, Snatch is a surprisingly memorable character whose death has impact despite his limited panel time.

Chitose "Curious" Kizuki

In the Meta Liberation Army arc, the League of Villains ends up in a battle with the eponymous organization, an extremist group that demands the right to unrestricted Quirk usage, with members who hold prominent positions in society.

In the first battle of the arc, Curious, the executive director of a publishing company and a former journalist, ass well as the only female leader in the Meta Liberation Army, fights Toga. Curious has the advantage for most of the fight, but then Toga uses her ability to shapeshift into other people to unleash the person's Quirk, and defeats Curious.

Curious is basically forgotten about after the fight, in which the Meta Liberation Army agrees to ally with the League of Villains. While some members are reluctant about the arrangement, they never bring up how Toga killed Curious.

Jin "Twice' Bubaigawara

After the Meta Liberation Army agrees to serve the League of Villains in the Paranormal Liberation Front, the heroes prepare for the worst. Keigo "Hawks" Takami, the #2 Hero, infiltrates the villains and provides intelligence. He also quickly develops a rapport with Twice, but also realizes that his ability to clone himself makes him the greatest threat.

Just before the battle begins, Hawks tricks Twice and lures him into another room, demanding that he surrender, since he cares for Twice enough to not want to kill him. Twice, having been pushed to his breaking point by Hawks' betrayal, snaps and begins to fight back, but is quickly overpowered. Hawks tries to avoid killing Twice, but when Dabi shows up, Hawks is forced to finish off Twice.

Meanwhile, another hero is about to capture Toga and Mr. Compress when one of Twice's clones stabs the hero in the head. Mr. Compress and Toga are grateful for the rescue, but soon notice that Twice's clone is falling apart, due to the original Twice having been killed. The final Twice clone says an emotional goodbye to Toga before disintegrating.

There are multiple repercussions to Twice's death. Toga becomes vengeful once again, especially after Dabi gives her some of Twice's blood, allowing her to use his cloning Quirk. Meanwhile, Hawks is one of several heroes who comes under fire for their actions- in his case, his killing Twice- and while he defends his decision, he privately feels sympathy for Twice.

Nemuri "Midnight" Kayama

One of my criticisms of the Paranormal Liberation War arc was the relative lack of named characters dying on the protagonists' side, as well as how they treated the one character who did die- Midnight, the only known female teacher at U.A. besides Thirteen, whose gender is ambiguous for much of the story.

After the colossal villain known as Gigantomachia is unleashed, the heroes try to stop him nonlethally. Midnight's ability to produce sleep gases would be ideal, but the League of Villains, riding Gigantomachia's back, knocks her down when she tries to sedate him. She hastily contacts Momo "Creati" Yaoyorozu, asking the latter to use her powers to create a sedative and entrusting her with the task of stopping Gigantomachia before suddenly being attacked and forced to disconnect.

In the aftermath of the battle, some of Midnight's students break down in tears as they find her broken glasses. That find implies that she has been killed, and Midnight's inclusion in a page full of the portraits of the dead confirms it... and that's it for her death scene.

One would think that her colleagues, especially her old friends and schoolmates Shota "Eraserhead" Aizawa and Hisashi "Present Mic" Yamada would bring up her death, but it hasn't even been mentioned in the dozens of chapters since her death.

Her death is somewhat reminiscent of Marco Bott from Attack on Titan, in that both characters were killed offscreen and later found dead, but not only does Marco impact his friend Jean Kirstein's character development, but his death is later shown onscreen, and near the end, Jean confronts Marco's killers.

Cassie "Star and Stripe" Bate

I covered Star in another entry but will briefly recap her here.

She's America's #1 hero, a fan of All Might and supposedly an important character in the setting, but dies at the end of her fight with Shigaraki and is barely mentioned afterward. Her former superior, Admiral Timothy Apgar, tries to appeal to the president of the United States, specifically using her, but time will tell if she's successful.

Basically, the problem with her character is that she's introduced too late and given too little development and buildup to have much of an impact. The fact that her death barely impacts the story doesn't help.

Conclusion

As you can see, My Hero Academia tends to give the deaths of female characters disproportionately less narrative weight than their male counterparts, since the death of a female character is more quickly forgotten than a male character of comparable importance. Killing off female characters is all well and good, since some works are averse to expose their female characters to death and harm, but it's still important to treat female characters' deaths as respectfully as male characters, or else the work cannot truly be considered fair.