WARNING: All spoilers on this page are unmarked.
My Hero Academia, a famous series with a large fanbase, isn't without its share of divisive opinions. Be warned- all spoilers are unmarked.
A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope and examples shouldn't be added for 6 months. This is measured from release or when the issue becomes divisive, whichever comes later.
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Character Arc and Development
- One of the longest-running debates is whether the story would have been better if Midoriya had stayed Quirkless:
- Those who believe it would, consider Midoriya receiving One For All a case in which the hero gets powerups handed to him, and would have preferred seeing Izuku become a great hero despite being Quirkless, often citing other characters that have Quirks but functionally fight as if Quirkless due to the limitations they have, Aizawa* and Stain* in particular being mentioned. They also point out that Midoriya becoming a famous hero with such unfavorable odds would have been a more inspiring tale than Midoriya becoming a great hero because he was lucky to meet somebody who gave him an overpowered Quirk. It does not help that many official plot summaries and advertisements for My Hero Academia describe the premise in ways that make it sound like Midoriya stays Quirkless, meaning a good number of viewers and readers get into the series expecting that only to end up disappointed.
- Those who believe it wouldn't, however, argue that Midoriya is forced to learn how to use One For All, turning it from an Awesome, but Impractical ability that breaks his bones to a power he can use as effectively as All Might once did, leaving him room for growth, and argue that it would be unrealistic to expect a Quirkless Midoriya to be able to effectively fight against villains who have mastered their Quirks, some being downright overpowered, and would just end up being curb-stomped by most of his opponents * or beating them in ways that would be unsatisfying whether by giving Izuku an immersion-breaking level of Plot Armor or having his foes grab the Idiot Ball, pointing out that Horikoshi ultimately decided against Midoriya being a Quirkless hero for this very reason. They finally argue that a Quirkless Izuku would have been seriously overshadowed by his Quirk-wielding classmates.
- Then, there's a third camp (though not as loud or visible) that sits on an awkward middle ground: those who believe that, like the first group, Midoriya should have stayed Quirkless, but like the second group, ultimately agrees that My Hero Academia's story, with its high stakes Save the World plot and overpowered villains running amok simply wasn't made with a Badass Normal protagonist in mind and would require to extensively overhaul the entire series and its world-building in order to accommodate for such drastic changes but argue that a more grounded plot with lower stakes and a smaller power scale would have made for a more interesting story.
- Reactions to Uraraka developing a crush on Midoriya are mixed, with those that are against it stating that it has caused her to become Demoted to Satellite Love Interest. Not helping matters is that despite her prominence in the story, she has yet to have A Day in the Limelight arc. However, some defend it because once Uraraka had her Love Epiphany, she decided that either Love Is a Weakness or that while Midoriya is nice, she has her own goals to work towards. As the series continues and Uraraka began to slowly drip Out of Focus, detractors began writing her off as a lost cause and claiming she's been Demoted to Satellite Love Interest, while supporters argue that, of the appearances she does get, very few focus on her feelings for Midoriya, but rather more on her motivations. While later developments would increase her focus and agency as a character to the point of being an Author's Saving Throw, for many it was too little, too late.
- Endeavor's "redemption arc". This one has become a huge topic of debate since Endeavor and All Might's conversation in the provisional retake course. The huge amount of Draco in Leather Pants treatment Endeavor receives, along with the Ron the Death Eater treatment given to his wife and children, makes the possibility of a down-to-earth discussion even slimmer. Things such as whether he should be arrested, should his actions be made public, should his wife and children forgive him, does he deserve redemption, whether he can be considered evil, etc. are all questions that have evenly split the fandom between those that think the manga is not dealing with such a mature theme as "Should you forgive your abusers?" properly (or shouldn't deal with it at all) and those that think the manga is doing an amazing job and hope that Endeavor gets forgiveness or peace of mind for becoming The Atoner. There's also the third field that doesn't care whether Endeavor is forgiven or not, but like that the story takes this complex approach to the subject. It becomes problematic enough that, by the end of the Pro Hero Arc, some of Endeavor's detractors actually started sending death threats to Horikoshi on tumblr.
- Bakugo's character arc is polarizing for the same reasons that Endeavor's is. Some appreciate that he's becoming a better person over time. Others are unhappy that he hasn't faced direct punishment for his past misdeeds. To elaborate The biggest point of contention is a scene from the first chapter in which Bakugo tells Midoriya to jump off a roof and hope he gets reincarnated with a Quirk. Some viewers think of this behavior as unacceptably vile, and are disgusted at him for not apologizing until Chapter 322, while others are willing to look past it, brushing it off as Values Dissonance (due to Japan's more laissez-faire attitude toward bullying compared to the West) or Early-Installment Weirdness (as it's far more extreme than anything he's done in later chapters, and the incident is ignored by the narrative). For what it's worth, Horikoshi himself views the scene as an Old Shame and has mentioned in an interview that he regrets having Bakugo go that far.
- With the series having a lot of characters, there is some discourse over whether or not the series needs to give focus to those characters. Many point out that Horikoshi appears to have a knack for creating characters with colorful designs and interesting characterizations, many of whom becomes fan-favorites and would love for him to give more focus to them and include them more in the narrative, most of them being from 1-A and 1-B in particular, these fans themselves express frustration when they're left to the wayside, not helped by Horikoshi even stating a desire to give certain characters more focus, but not seeming to follow through. Conversely, many argue that these characters don't need to get focus since they're side characters at the end of the day, that giving every character focus ends up wasting time that could be spent on the greater narrative or on further developing the main characters ,* and that expecting Horikoshi to be able to adequately provide focus to the hundreds of characters in the series is unrealistic. The final arc in particular furthered this debate, with supporters happy that numerous characters like Mezo Shoji, Mina Ashido, or Nejire Hado were finally getting time in the spotlight even if only for a chapter or two , while detractors saw it as needless detours keeping focus off of the conflicts that actually need to happen.* Then there are those who think these moments are, while not awful, half-baked ideas that feel slapped in at the last minute, particularly with Nejire, who after over 200 chapters finally received her own backstory, though for many it was too little, too late* And then there are those that, while happy some particular characters got spotlight, want plenty of other popular characters to not be ignored either, particular Ensemble Dark Horse characters like Hanta Sero, Itsuka Kendo, and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu.
Setting
- The nature of hero society, and what constitutes as right and wrong; the topic of debate heavily tied into the nature of To Be Lawful or Good. Hero society is shown to allow anyone to attain licenses to be heroes and help people, at the cost of criminalizing individuals who attempt to help without proper licensing. Several instances in which characters perform heroic acts end with them nearly getting into legal trouble for doing so without permission, including Midoriya attempting to save Bakugo from the Sludge Villain, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida's apprehending of Stain, and the Bakugo Rescue Squad's successful retrieval of Bakugo. Vigilantes, in particular, are treated as lawbreakers, in spite of their existence being the origin of Hero Society:
- Supporters point out that this is, at worst, Necessarily Evil so that Quirk usage doesn't run wild and so people without the proper training don't get hurt. This is further supported when after the Paranormal Liberation War arc, some civilian vigilantes, armed with support items, try to take down some villains, only for their efforts to result in casualties and collateral damage.
- Supporters also point out that rescue work is complicated, and simply rushing into the fray, especially with powers you may not have trained to master, can lead to compounding disasters. Restricting hero work only to people who have completed the course — that is, been trained over years to know how to properly assess all the risks, keep their cool under pressure, know basic emergency medicine, and understand the full potential of their powers — is thus no different to having firefighters, emergency service personnel or police. The backstory of would-be Gentleman Thief Gentle Criminal is even rooted in the fact his impulsive attempt to save somebody with his powers only led to the victim and the hero already rushing in to save the victim both being hurt.
- Detractors, however, point out that punishing individuals for accomplishing things neither law enforcement nor heroes could manage to do is extremely idiotic, and does nothing more than enforce complacency as they are forced to do nothing but wait for a licensed hero, something heavily hinted in series to be part of the reason Shigaraki turned out the way he did.
- Not helping matters is the seeming hypocrisy behind some of the decisions made, such as the near threat of expulsion for most of Class 1-A for their part in saving Bakugo (in fact, the twelve who knew about it and did nothing would have been given the same punishment as the five who went), or the near-arresting of Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki for apprehending Stain unlicensed, despite both situations being what they're being trained to stop:
- Defenders of the society point out that for all intents and purposes, the students broke the law, and shouldn't be encouraged just for having good intentions. Additionally, while the students got yelled at, they never received any major punishments for one reason or another. While the adults didn't condone their actions, they still received leeway in the consequences.
- Detractors, however, note that had said actions not been performed, the situations would have turned out much worse, and punishing them flies in the face of one of the core themes of the series, being a hero means sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong, in this case, outside the law. Also, they'd make the point that the lack of using their Quirks on the villains makes the situation different from the Stain incident, a point that All Might acknowledges but Aizawa does not.
- Supporters point out that this is, at worst, Necessarily Evil so that Quirk usage doesn't run wild and so people without the proper training don't get hurt. This is further supported when after the Paranormal Liberation War arc, some civilian vigilantes, armed with support items, try to take down some villains, only for their efforts to result in casualties and collateral damage.
- Stain's ideology. While originally near-unanimously agreed on, as the series continued and a deeper analysis of his ideals was made, Stain's ideology became a heavy topic of debate:
- Like Stain himself, defenders believe in the ideology, noting the hero ranking system has led to many heroes being focused more on competing rather than on saving people, and that this environment is what bred heroes like Endeavornote , while also pointing out that both Midoriya and Iida note that his ideals were justified, it was just his actions that made him reprehensible.
- Detractors point out that Stain's ideals disregard the fact that hero work is a legitimate occupation, and as such to not expect a form of income would be unusual and just like firefighters, police officers, and soldiers, heroes can save people and still be rewarded.
- Under Stain's own ideals, anyone short of All Might himself and those that aspire to be like him such as Midoriya would be incapable of meeting his standards.note
- Stain is also called a hypocrite due to not meeting his own standards, as his time as Stendhal proves, during which he resorted to working with the Villain Factory's Kuin, and routinely murdered villains as a vigilante. Add his rejection of Iida's acknowledgment that Stain was right leading into a Villainous Breakdown, it paints Stain more as a hypocrite drowning in Black-and-White Insanity that overlaps with a tautological templar, as only his point is right. Plunging him even further down this path is the fact that his philosophy conveniently leaves out the part where he is justified in murdering those he doesn't like to bring about the change he wants — he barely tried anything else first.
- Not helping matters are that his actions damage his own cause, as whereas All Might tried to promote justice and peace, Stain's actions promoted fear and chaos.
- Finally, his desire for the "heroes of old" comes across as reckless romanticism and a blatant disregard for the reality of the world he lives in: the worldwide prevalence of Quirks means that heroic intervention is an everyday necessity, not the rare, extraordinary event that it was in the pre-Quirk days. He is essentially asking that a regulated, organized, self-perpetuating infrastructure of highly-trained specialists be replaced by widespread vigilantism.
- It is likely that a member of this crowd will find that the only good point that Stain made was that the word "hero" has become a misnomer and that some other term should be used for what are essentially law enforcement/search-and-rescue/disaster management personnel in flashy costumes — not exactly a problem that justifies murder.
- Then there are those who Take a Third Option. They acknowledge, like Midoriya, Iida, All Might, and Mera In-Universe, that while Stain did have some good points, his ideology was far from flawless.
- While the state of the Hero Society, namely the Ranking system, is agreed to be flawed,note it's noted that Stain's standards are nigh impossible to achieve outside of All Might and those attempting to emulate him, and that expecting a form of income is not wrong and does not make someone less a hero, oft citing Urarakanote as someone who wouldn't meet Stain's standards yet still is unambiguously heroic. It's also debated in-universe that adopting Stain's philosophy wholesale would force Heroes into a nightmarish Martyrdom Culture where they are expected to sacrifice life and limb for the sake of defending people with no compensation for these actions whatsoever. While he is correct that any system of status or reward will inevitably lead to people who want to be a hero for the wrong reasons, making Heroism a completely thankless course would be potentially worse.
- It's also noted that regardless of their motivation for being a hero, the heroes are still saving people and keeping the peace. Endeavor, despite being an Abusive Parent and driven by the desire to surpass All Might, still stopped enough crimes and saved enough people to become the #2, and later #1, hero. Mt. Lady, the epitome of the kind of hero Stain detests due to her Glory Seeker nature, still saves numerous people and ended up blocking the villain counterattack with her face in giant mode to ensure the Bakugo Rescue Squad could escape when she was already injured.
- Lastly, it's noted that his actions did far more damage to society than it fixed, due to the attraction of various individuals who wholeheartedly agreed with his ideals and began imitating him, leading to their joining the League of Villains, who want to simply destroy society rather than rebuild it as he does. Among these cases are Dabi, Toga, and Spinner, the three of them all contributing to Bakugo's kidnapping which in turn led to the fight between All for One and All Might, causing All Might's retirement and nearly destabilizing society. Dabi, in particular, has amassed a large body count as a member, including the hero Snatch, and did even more so as his releasing Hood to attack Endeavor almost lead to a repeat of Kamino. All of their actions however they justify under following the ideals of Stain.
- Since Aizawa is a Base-Breaking Character, his teaching methods are also controversial, particularly how willing he is to expel his students. Supporters argue that it's natural for him to have high standards for would-be heroes and quickly shoo out those who don't have what it takes, and that, as mentioned above, he was right to be angry with most of his class for making an unauthorized attempt to save Bakugo or not doing anything about the ones who did. Detractors, however, argue that Aizawa's Quirk test is no better of a judge of talent than the entrance exam, especially for Midoriya,*. They also argue that even threatening to expel those who didn't take part in the Kamino Ward rescue mission was excessive. The later revelation that Aizawa didn't actually expel any of his students either is a realistic twist that's consistent with his use of "rational deceptions" or a poor attempt to justify Aizawa's actions in retrospect.
Arcs and Plot Points
- Provisional Hero License Exam Arc has major Tough Act to Follow for many, coming right after School Trip and Hideout Raid arcs which are both big Wham Episode with great fight scenes such as Deku vs Muscular or All Might vs All For One. Some consider it despite being obviously inferior but still decent with amazing Deku vs Bakugo confrontation at the end of it, others think that few good scenes can't save it from being a Filler that could be shortened to few chapters. It's especially jarring in the anime adaptation, where it serves as a second half of 3rd season, right after previously mentioned two very highly praised arcs. For few it was even a point when they stopped watching the show, because it peaked too early.
- The Internship Arc has become one of the most controversial parts of the story, with many people calling it either the best or worst arc in the entire series. Those who love it often praise the darker tone and greater focus on the villains and their relationship with others, as well as the intense and emotional battles throughout the arc, and the fact that it has the series' first character death. Detractors of the arc often bring up how the main cast is almost entirely sidelined in favor of characters who have just been introduced, taking away some of the impacts of higher stakes, the awkward pacing and Arc Fatigue, and the entirety of the heroines' role in the story being relegated to half a chapter. Additionally, despite his amazing introduction, Overhaul's entire organization is destroyed in the span of a single operation, making him look completely incompetent, and immediately after has his arms removed by the League of Villains, who were able to win their short-lived "rivalry" by leaving all the work to the heroes. However, the base is less broken with regards to the ending of the arc, which both fans and detractors agree to be rushed.
- The U.A. Cultural Festival Arc is divisive, since it's basically the antithesis of the Internship Arc. It's a relatively short Breather Episode arc that returns the focus to the school and only has two significant new characters: the Arc Villain and his sidekick. Fans enjoy it for these reasons, especially for having a more sympathetic villain who serves as Midoriya's Evil Counterpart, and for letting the supporting cast of Class 1-A get screentime and development. Detractors, however, dislike that relatively little happens in the arc apart from Midoriya developing new techniques, and go so far as to treat it like it's filler.
- The Power escalation of the series with Midoriya eventually receiving the Quirks of all the previous One For All users and Shigaraki getting more powerful in the Meta Liberation Army Arc, with The Doctor giving him the original All For One Quirk while augmenting his body further in the Paranormal Liberation War Arc practically fractured the fandom:
- Detractors, mainly those who were getting tired of overpowered protagonists in battle shonen, dislike how Midoriya and Shigaraki ended up leaving the other characters behind and made them irrelevant, a problem that’s plagued other shonen series like Dragon Ball and Naruto, they point out that most of Midoriya's new quirks could either be replaced with support gears or by simply refining One for All and criticize how rushed his mastery of them ended up being. Said criticism carrying over to Shigaraki as well, with some fearing that he became a Invincible Villain that easily curbstomped most of the heroes in the final arc, including Bakugo, with Midoriya being the only one who managed to land serious damage to him, and ultimately argue that this is a clear problem of Power Creep rearing its head on a manga that managed to avoid it, that neither Shigaraki or Midoriya needed to be that powerful and that many fan-favorites will now be left in the dust.
- Supporters, however, are excited about this twist, saying that it introduced an interesting new conflict for Midoriya, making his fights more varied and exciting, citing Black Whip as a great example of versatility, argue that his wits allows many possibilities for him to grow further, his quirks ending up not being that powerful outside of Gear Shift and Fa Jin and that some of his quirks are so simple * that dedicating arcs to all of them would needlessly pad things out. They also pointed out that it's completely logical for the Quirks of previous One For All users to be merged into it, since the merger of an existing Quirk with an acquired one is how One For All came into existence in the first place, and that it was obviously necessary for Shigaraki to get power-ups if he's going to still be a threat even after Midoriya masters One For All. Power Creep or not, it means that now even after mastering One For All it'll take more than a simple Speed Blitz to defeat Shigaraki. They finally point out that Midoriya isn't invincible despite his new quirks and can't be everywhere either, allowing the supporting cast to shine and that the complaints of side characters being irrelevant are overblown.
- Because of the fan-favorite status of both Twice and Hawks, Hawks's extended manipulation and later killing of Twice while infiltrating the League of Villains has led to a significant amount of discourse. Most of the debate is over where exactly the hero's actions lie on the Sliding Scale of Unavoidable vs. Unforgivable. That said, the moral ambiguity of this conflict was undoubtedly intended by Horikoshi.
- Fans of Twice tend to frame the issue as Hawks manipulating the feelings of a mentally ill man for months to squeeze out information until Twice outlived his usefulness. In particular, they emphasize the implied killing taboo among heroes that discourages even the most hardened of heroes from using lethal force against the most dangerous of villains (excluding Nomu). They argue that the extrajudicial murder of Twice was wildly unnecessary given the fact that there were multiple heroes on the scene capable of non-lethal capture (like Midnight, Cementoss, or Fatgum). They also point out that Hawks' request for Twice to come quietly was done immediately after revealing his deception and likely with knowledge of Twice's prior issues with disloyalty, suggesting Hawks expected (or even planned) for a hostile response to justify killing him. That even Dabi was internally angered by the perceived callousness, as evidenced by a rare instance of empathy towards Twice's feelings, is taken as support for this interpretation.
- Supporters of Hawks frame the issue more as extremely important (i.e. world-protecting) intelligence work culminating in Hawks regretfully using lethal force out of necessity. In fact, Hawks had given Twice the chance to surrender peacefully, when it would have been easier to immediately go in for the kill, something Hawks only resorts to after Dabi shows up and nearly kills Hawks. They point out that, regardless of how Affably Evil and mentally unwell he is, Twice is guilty of multiple instances of murder and attempted murder (both personally and through his doubles) while having complete loyalty to a group of terrorists planning the downfall of society. Hawks advocates specify that pitying Twice's rough past shouldn't mean handling a literal One-Man Army (capable of him cloning individuals like Gigantomachia, Re-Destro, or Shigaraki himself) with kid gloves, much less one who attacked you first. Especially taking into account that one of Twice's last actions was fatally stabbing a hero in the back of the head to protect the gleefully psychotic Toga. Some go so far as to commend Hawks for making the tough decision and putting the lives of thousands above his own moral comfort. Hawks supporters also note that Dabi's sympathy for Twice comes off as rather disingenuous, considering that Hawks notices that Dabi is not actually grieving for Twice's death, and Dabi later uses footage of Hawks killing Twice in order to further undermine the public's faith in heroes, implying that Dabi considers Twice a convenient tool rather than a comrade. Compare how Hawks regrets killing Twice, and privately expresses sympathy for Twice.
- The revelation that Aoyama is the U.A. traitor has also caused some division. Mostly in how it was executed rather than who it turned out to be. For starters, the entire subplot itself was seemingly forgotten about after the Kamino Arc and the cliffhanger that led readers to believe Hagakure had been the traitor just seemed like a rug pull for the sake of it in hindsight. Additionally, the discovery of the traitor's identity was via the sheer coincidence of Hagakure happening upon Aoyama with his parents, making it come off as an all too convenient plot device to use against All for One. Then there's the fact that this whole revelation happened in the final arc long after anything significant came of the subplot, with Aoyama ratting out the location of the summer training camp being the last intel he conveyed. Which some redditors point out could have been accomplished/explained with one of All For One's numerous quirks just as easily
. Not helping matters was how quickly the situation blew over and how Easily Forgiven Aoyama was after Class 1A found out about it with Hagakure, Bakugo, Present Mic, and Tsukauchi arguably having the most realistic reactions out of anyone there. Bafflingly, Aizawa claims he has no intention of expelling Aoyama for his endangering of the entire class recognizing that it's his own fault for not paying closer attention to his students. Yet he had no qualms about expelling the five who went about saving Bakugo as well as the other students who knew of their plan on the mere basis of not being licensed to do hero work just yet. * Others point out that rather than being an active traitor, Aoyama was told to leak information when ordered to and was more or less allowed to attend as a normal student until he was needed. Doesn't help at all that readers are more divided over the betrayal than Class 1-A themselves.- Adding to his status as a Base-Breaking Character, the mere existence of the UA traitor also reveals how All For One is actually an incredibly incompetent villain. Deciding to use a previously quirkless kid as a mole at a prestigious hero school with notoriously high standards is risky enough, but we later find out that Aoyama doesn't even have a failsafe mechanism in him like Lady Nagant did. While this can be excused with the explanation that AFO didn't have this quirk when he approached the Aoyamas it doesn't explain why he shows no reaction or concern about his exposure. This led people to question why he continued to keep Yuga under his thumb instead of killing him or better yet, relegating Toga to steal the blood of a general studies student to take up this role instead. The reveal that All For One also had other spies active amongst the refugees being housed in UA (who seem loyal out of a sense of devotion to him rather than fear like Aoyama) makes his decision to keep relying on him even more confusing.
Female Character Writing
- Horikoshi's handling of the female characters. One party believes Horikoshi to be doing amazing in showing the female cast, giving them equal focus as the male characters while also allowing them each awesome moments on a regular basis, considering it a rarity for most shonen, and even having female characters that aren't necessarily waifish, with different body types being among the cast. Another party believes Horikoshi is wasting the female cast's potential, and that the male characters take up the spotlight while the females stay in the background. Uraraka, the most prominent of the female characters, hasn't had nearly as much Character Focus as Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki have, and how prominently her love for Midoriya factors into her character arc has its own share of issues, namely the aforementioned risk of her being Demoted to Satellite Love Interest. A third party believes that while Horikoshi is doing better than most, the girls are still outshined by the guys. The anime alleviates some of this by giving Tsuyu some focus in the OVAs and the anime-original all-female school Seiai Academy, whose members engage in a fierce battle with several U.A. girls (Shoji is the only male in the fight) where Yaoyorozu regains a huge bout of confidence.
- The questionably mature art of the main Class 1-A girls. Some fans don't like the art because they feel that it "sexualizes teenagers". Others, however, appreciate the fanservice and are quick to call out these people for "stirring up trouble", or "witchhunting". Not helping matters concerning this is when Horikoshi was criticized for tweeting a drawing in April 2018 that consisted of the female cast in bathing suits to celebrate the start of Season 3.
- Yaoyorozu's hero costume. Defenders say that since her Quirk requires exposed body area, it makes sense for the places with the largest fat deposits on the body — for women, often the chest, stomach, and thighs –- to be exposed, and cite Midnight's experiences with discriminatory laws as evidence that complaining about heroines wearing skimpy hero costumes is misogynistic. Detractors claim it's illogical and sexualized, given that it doesn't offer chest support and it exposes so much of her unprotected body, and that Yaoyorozu seems to do just fine in situations where she has to wear the less-exposing school athletic uniform. They also claim that there was no reason for Horikoshi to make exposure a requirement of her Quirk to begin with, and thus no reason to have such a young character wearing such a skimpy hero costume. It is worth noting that for the stage play, the costume for Yaoyorozu's actress included a zipper. and with the introduction of Mirio, and specifically his quirk intergrated costume that permeates WITH him instead of falling of him like with normal clothes, the argument of direct skin exposure being needed becomes weaker.
- The treatment of the series' female characters in general has come under increased scrutiny starting from the Meta Liberation Army Arc. During the battle between the League of Villains and the MLA, not only is Curious the only major member of the MLA to die, but she dies an incredibly graphic Cruel and Unusual Death when Toga uses Uraraka's Quirk to send her floating in the air before dropping Curious to the ground so hard she is reduced to a bloody smear. Then, during the following Paranormal Liberation War Arc, not only does Mirko get brutally maimed and dismembered (which happens again in the Final War Arc), but Midnight, one of the only main pro heroines and teachers, is Killed Offscreen by some minor villains with little to no fanfare and is barely mentioned again afterwards despite her bond with Aizawa and Present Mic and that she was being built up as a mentor figure for Mina and Momo, and she was one of only two major heroes to die outside of a bunch of redshirts. Compare this to how the male Sir Nighteye was given a more dignified tear-jerking death scene in a hospital bed surrounded by his loved ones. He was also brought up a few times after his death and his absence from the story actually affected the plot; with Midoriya having to intern under Endeavor due to his agency still being in the turnover phase, while Midnight has had the impact of her death relegated mostly to the subplot revolving around Mina. Some have also pointed out that Gran Torino managed to survive a much more graphic injury we actually see despite the fact that his death would have carried more emotional weight due to his connection with central characters, Midoriya and All Might specifically. Perhaps the biggest controversy was Star and Stripe, who was suddenly introduced with a Story-Breaker Power Quirk hyped up as a bigger deal than One For All, only to die just a few chapters later purely to show how powerful Shigaraki has become, leaving debates about whether or not her single fight was worth its time. Detractors see this as blatant sexism and "fridging" in an artificial attempt to shock the viewers and raise the stakes, while supporters claim that it's realistic that just because a character is a woman doesn't mean they're exempt from injury and even death in an action series like this. Yet another party feels that the characters were too underutilized for their deaths/injuries to have impact and wishes their stories and relationships with other characters had been better fleshed out first.
