My Hero Academia Chapter 333 Explained: Shigaraki Outsmarted by Star and Stripe

My Hero Academia Chapter 333 was officially released today, and as the leaks confirmed, Shigaraki seems to have been outsmarted by Star and Stripe. In a complex move that confirmed a few My Hero Academia theories about All for One (AFO) and One for All (OFA), chapter 333 finally brought the heavily overpowered AFO and Shigaraki down to an even playing field.

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Star and Stripe turns the tables on All for One in My Hero Academia Chapter 333

In My Hero Academia Chapter 332, Star imposed a rule on the Tiamat missiles to change their directions. Still, Shigaraki escaped that impact by making a tunnel in the earth with his decay and emerging unscathed to attack Star. Star refused to move away to shield her beloved fellow soldiers and pilots.

This allowed Shigaraki to grab her face and start stealing her quirk, seemingly ending in another tragic sacrifice in My Hero Academia after Lady Nagant in My Hero Academia chapter 315.

My Hero Academia Chapter 333 is titled “Ghosts/Apparitions,” which can be interpreted as Vestiges. The chapter begins with AFO revealing that he had strategically complicated the international situation so that there would be no help given to the heroes of Japan because he wanted to delay Star’s appearance so that he could steal OFA first and then New Order.

Star And Deku (Source: Shounen Jump)

OFA and New Order are two of the most powerful quirks in MY Hero Academia, and together they can obliterate the entire world. Star’s appearance derailed AFO’s plans, and he now moves to steal New Order first to prevent the meeting of Star and Midoriya Izuku.

AFO's hatred for Star [source: Shounen Jump)

Many readers speculated that Star might have a trick up her sleeve, and in Chapter 333, My Hero Academia sees one of its boldest moves. At first, Star tries to impose a rule on herself using her quirk New Order, stating that “I, Kathleen Bate, will not decay.”

Star attempts to impose New Order on herself (image source: Shounen Jump, colouring: eYuler)

However, New Order’s limits are finally exposed as she cannot stop Shigaraki’s quirk, decay, one of the fastest-acting quirks in My Hero Academia. After Shigaraki taunts her that she couldn’t save both her body and quirk, she loses both in trying to do so.

Star’s body starts to crumble and Shigaraki rejoices that he has stolen New Order, the second most coveted quirk in My Hero Academia Universe, according to AFO.

However, as he moves to use New Order, his body explodes from within, and it is revealed that Star, having anticipated this exact outcome, had imposed a rule on the quirk New Order itself, that “New Order will revolt against other quirks.”

Star's trump card (source: Shounen Jump)

Here is the brilliance of Stars and Stripes and the deciding proof of one of the most discussed theories in My Hero academia, that quirks are essentially souls of the wielder.

As Chapter 333 moves into the inner world of Shigaraki’s body, AFO is shown to be battling with Shigaraki for the control of the body, and in front of them stands Stars and Stripes in her Vestige form.

Star as a vestige (source: Shounen Jump)

This is a call back to the vestiges of previous Holders of OFA that Midoriya Izuku sees throughout My Hero Academia, proving once again that no one is truly gone until their quirks disappear as well.

In keeping with the imposed rule, New Order, in the form of Star, starts to trample and decimate the vestiges of all the quirks that AFO had accumulated over time, leading to Shigaraki’s body being exploded.

Since quirks can be given or taken but not destroyed, OFA starts giving his quirks to the pilots to preserve both the quirks and Shigaraki’s body. In the final pages of My Hero Academia Chapter 333, Star bids an emotional farewell to her hero, All Might, as her body crumbles into dust, and AFO continues to rage.

Last Page of My Hero Academia Chapter 333 (Source: Shounen Jump)

My Hero Academia reveals an essential aspect of AFO’s character through a flashback of Yoichi, that AFO only considers those parts of a story that support his plans and refuses to acknowledge the existence of other factors. Because to him, the rest of the story does not matter.

Star immediately shakes this, as she destroys the chief factor that made Modified Shigaraki almost impossible to defeat in My Hero Academia, AFO’s wealth of stolen Quirks.

Star's Farewell (Source: Shounen Jump, coloring : mor3color)

Readers were skeptical about Horikoshi introducing such an overhyped character for such a brief time.

Still, like the rest of My Hero Academia, Horikoshi completely subverts the theories and takes away the logical obstacle standing in the way of a believable ultimate battle between Deku vs. Shigaraki.

In chapter 334, the aftermath of Star’s death would be shown, and as hinted in chapter 332, Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist may finally arrive at the battle scene. As of now, My Hero Academia Chapter 334 is slated to be released on November 21.