Summary
Stars and Stripes introduced unique abilities in an epic battle that highlighted the self-sacrifice of a beloved character. Fans debated the impact of the arc, lamenting the wasted potential, questioning Star's fate, and the loss of Shigaraki's quirks. Despite its flaws in execution, the battle in this arc was still enjoyable, with room for improvement.
My Hero Academia once again did something unusual by having this final arc focus entirely on a brand new character, America's number one hero, Star and Stripe. While Star and Stripe themselves are interesting and beloved characters, many fans have objected to the plot's use (or lack thereof) of the character's potential.
The Star and Stripe arc of My Hero Academia is one of the shortest, consisting of only one major fight scene. Aside from the villain, there are basically no characters that the audience is familiar with, which makes it a bit of a risk. Luckily, Star is a very likeable character who defies orders to help Japan because it's the right thing to do, and it doesn't take long for the audience to get to know her.
In fact, part of the problem with this arc is that fans like Star and Stripe too much for her ultimate fate.
The Star and Stripe arc covers chapters 329-334 of the manga and episodes 139 and 140 of the anime (the first two episodes of season 7).
My Hero Academia's Star and Stripe Arc is an Epic Battle
Stars and Stripes' popularity makes it easy to root for her.
As noted above, the plot focuses on the battle between “Tomura Shigaraki” and Star and Stripe, America's top hero. Star's incredibly unique ability, New Order, gives the fight some really interesting dimensions, as her powers are incredibly versatile and perfect for someone like Shigaraki.. It's easy to see how Star managed to rise to the top of the United States with her powers. However, Star's Quirk is a bit complicated with its rules, meaning some people may have trouble keeping track of exactly how she uses her abilities throughout battle.
While the battle ended with Star's unfortunate death, she still managed to deal massive damage to Shigaraki, destroying his body to the point where he was incapacitated for a week, even with her incredible regenerative abilities. Both the manga and anime weren't shy about showing how badly Shigaraki was injured, really emphasizing the idea that Star had actually injured him. The battle itself was very exciting and showed some unusual things, like the use of intercontinental ballistic missiles, proving that they were really doing everything they could to end Shigaraki and All for One's evil.
This arc is largely successful, and that's largely because Star is a very sympathetic and relatable character. Like Deku, she deeply admires All Might, mimicking his appearance, and that gives her motivation for coming to Japan beyond just being the right thing to do. Her ultimate downfall is not wanting to kill her teammates, which most people would struggle with, but her clever use of her Quirk turns what could have been a completely meaningless death into an amazing moment of self-sacrifice.
The Stars and Stripes Arc has many problems.
Will Star and Stripe's fate go differently?
Of course, the Stars and Stripes arc, while it had a lot of good moments, also had some that left some fans scratching their heads, while others were angry at the idea of such wasted potential. Overall, the arc was handled a little better in the anime than the manga, adding some decent music and quality performances, along with a few brief new scenes that helped to further flesh out the story.
One of the main problems many fans have with this arc is that based on what happened afterward, it doesn't seem like Star really gained much with his sacrifice. It's said that Shigaraki lost several Quirks, but fans can only say that he definitely lost his Reflect, since he couldn't use it to counter the laser attack. Although he did lose his Super Regeneration briefly, he was able to get it back by taking a copy from a Nomu, thus making the loss meaningless. It would have been much better if Shigaraki had lost some of the Quirks fans are familiar with, such as Rivet Stab, to create a more lasting and noticeable loss of abilities for the villain..
Another problem with this arc is Star and Stripe themselves. Was it okay to kill her off so quickly after her introduction, or was it just a waste of potential? There are definitely ways she could have survived this fight; perhaps Shigaraki had to choose between Decay and stealing her Quirk, and chose the latter. Star could have survived, but without her Quirk, giving her the chance to meet other characters. It's clear that Star was never going to be able to defeat Shigaraki here. It was a job that ultimately had to go to Deku as the main character, so some fans felt this fight was pointless from the start because of that.
And, while this arc does give a good reason for no other nations to come to Japan's aid in the final battle, even that seems like something that didn't need to be established. Is it really that big of a deal to have outside help, especially since so many international heroes were introduced in the third movie, World Heroes' Mission? Bringing them into the fray would give the final battle a much more epic feel than it already is, and wouldn't even need to change much to accommodate this.
Overall, the Star and Stripe arc, while entertaining, can be considered one of the most flawed in the series. While some fans consider it completely unnecessary, others feel that it is a waste of a good character, and both sides have some valid arguments to make. Despite this, the battle itself is still fun to watch, and some fans may even find themselves choking up a little when Star finally falls. As one of the My Hero AcademiaThe final parts of the movie certainly didn't live up to expectations, but overall it was quite enjoyable.