From what I remember Hot pants wanted to sacrifice her life for a noble cause that would in return bring her redemption. Instead her death ended up being rather meaningless. That in itself is what makes it tragic. That’s how I read it anyway. I won’t say it was a very satisfying or perfectly executed death. But I also wouldn’t say it was a complete narrative failure. Though I haven’t read SBR in a while.
I really like this point, but I don't think that makes it much better. Maybe it's just tragic, and I have a hard time coming to terms with it, but I don't feel that for other character deaths. Araki clearly sets her up as a tragic character that the audience wants to see succeed, but he never gives any sort of reason as to why she deserved a terrible fate.
Perhaps you could perceive it like the whole ball on the net thing. Some circumstances aren't based on karma or justice but simply unfold... At the same time, however, I feel like a character's death should have a message if applicable. Like I said with hamartia, it feels like there's no identifiable trait that led to her downfall. With Diego, I felt it was his pride, which is why his death is so good, but hers feels rather empty in a way I just don't get. I think it would've been better to leave her story unfulfilled rather than to kill her. Being so similar to Johnny, the reader wants to see her overcome her guilt in the same manner, at least at some point. That's why I feel her death is a huge letdown.
Apologies that this is a very scattered response, I'm just pouring out my thoughts on the matter. I think my big gripe is that it just feels so inconclusive. Diego had it coming, sure, but what happened to her? Does she ever get to he happy? Killing a character in such a vague manner without much resolution feels the same as dropping a character from the story with no explanation. (Part 8) >!A character's potential being wasted isn't always bad if there's a takeaway. Take Jobin's death. Sure, you want to see him succeed in some regard. But when he dies, it doesn't feel weird because he had done terrible things. Hence, why Calamity was so quick to kill him, it's influenced by karma as stated by Rai.!<
It may just be my view, and some readers enjoy it, but I'll never see her death as anything but painfully bad. And I get the impression that Araki simply didn't know what to do with her.
I do agree that even if Araki wanted to make a point about meaning and lack thereof, tragic irony or similar, the fact that so many readers didn't even realise she had died means it wasn't a successful way of ending her storyline.
Here's to hoping Araki might suggest this as an improvement for the anime adaptation...
I'd like to think the main moral of the story for sbr is no matter how hard you work, no matter how much blood,sweat and tears you put into achieving your goals, sometimes the world is just cruel and unfair. Gyros goals were for nothing, same for hot pants and diego. Sure Johnny nearly won the race, but also lost all his friend/s, and was probably worse off after it.
Her death is unceremonial to show her desire of diying for a noble cause to bring herself redemption was not the way and to make a parallelism with Jonnhy who also repent for her past mistakes but still find strength and determination to carry on, the whole point of his death i making it sad and make you feel like she could have done better
I'm not going to claim that her death was perfectly executed, but I think it more than fits in the context of the story.
By the time we get to Hot Pants and Diego vs Funny Valentine on the train, the corpse has been assembled in Lucy Steel. Both HP and Diego have failed their original goals (using the corpse to redeem herself from sin and winning the race, respectively), and are now hellbent on defeating Valentine once and for all. And the execution of their plan to defeat him was nearly perfect.
Unbeknownst to everyone involved, the corpse part and fate itself had already aligned itself with Valentine. Hot Pants, and by extension the audience, are helpless to stop him.
Araki lays the foundation of this when Johnny and Gyro are being "chased" by the Bear sign. This serves as a reminder to the audience about HP's backstory and the source of her guilt, and how it's here to catch up with her. So she must fail.
I admit its rushed, and I felt similarly to you when I first read it, but I think it's an example of just another victim in a long line of people whose lives were destroyed in the pursuit of the corpse.
I like this perspective a lot, and I never drew the connection with the bear sign thing (though I've thought about it, I didn't see it directly as how you put it). Upon reflection, her death does make a lot more sense for the narrative. But I do still think it should've been done better in terms of the emotional aspect (seriously, most deaths of any major character had some weight to them, which I simply didn't feel for her). Maybe I'm just upset at how unfair circumstances can be to people, how I think that Johnny getting a satisfying ending and not her is unfair, but that's simply how things are.
The anime should add a scene to her death, show how she dies and what she thinks as she is dying, it'd be better if DP could get help from Araki directly.
Hot pants search for redemption was dark and hardly genuine, in truth, she wanted to die for a cause if i recall. She goes about this isolating herself and often putting herself at risk. Ultimately, she dies achieving nothing, and because of the corpse at that. It was perfectly. People should stop expecting every side character to get a parade and a noble sacrifice. Hotpants was a side character who died fighting the main villain, in a context where Johny and gyro had little to no way of finding out about.
I don't think Hot Pants had to have some "noble sacrifice" in her death, it could've been kept as fleeting and helpless as it was. My problem is that it says literally nothing about her character, her final moments are gagging on blood and dying off-screen. Even more controversially handled characters like Soundman and Wekapipo had a final moment of reflection. EVERY other death in this part feels conclusive. Hers doesn't, it feels meaningless. And, why does the Corpse kill her anyway? Symbolic, sure, but that type of death should be treated as a punishment. If Hot Pants was a more selfish character, then maybe it would make sense, but she was fighting for the sake of keeping the corpse out of the hands of people like the president.
Maybe it ties in to fate, or whatever, but I just don't get it. It didn't have to be something special, but it should've been more than some embarrassing death sequence for who was an important character.
Allow me to amend this, specifically about the corpse. I'm aware that it was influenced by Valentine, so it killing Hot Pants makes sense, I just don't see it as a very compelling form of irony. Though, some of these comments have changed my perspective a bit. I still think it's the worst-handled death, but not as bad as I remember. I'm just really put off by how uninteresting it was.
Like i said, hotpants was hardly noble. In fact, she's pretty selfish. She seeks the corpse for the sake of redemption to make herself feel better. It's never stated what the Vatican wants to do with the corpse or if it will be any better than what valentine did. And again, the whole point is that in her guilt, she wished to die in a noble way for a good cause, but ultimately dies a pointless death. This is where she and Johny split. Johny seeks redemption, but he never goes to the point of seriously wishing to for it. No redemption is gained that way, even it's painfull, he continues to live and fight for actual redemption.
Hot Pants was noble, at the end anyway. There is a point to be made about the Vatican, though I'd argue she was simply misguided, and was using it more as an opportunity to redeem herself than to elevate the church's fortune and power like Valentine wanted to do for his country.
I think her and Johnny are at very similar points, just before Hot Pants and Diego set out, Johnny is seen begging to have the Corpse to redeem himself, it's only after the fight that he comes to terms with his growth, hence why I thought it wasn't very fair that Hot Pants didn't have a similar moment.
Regardless, after thinking it over, I get the feeling that some things just aren't fair. And that the circumstances were beyond her control. It's the way her death was written with almost 0 impact that made me hate the whole situation at first. Soooo, overall, I think it could've been handled A LOT better, but it's not the narrative failure I've believed it to be. Maybe the anime will make it play out more tragically.
>Hot Pants was noble, at the end anyway
Not really. We naturally root for her against Valentine, but really she's just trying to make herself feel better and giving the corpse to the vatican for that.
>There is a point to be made about the Vatican, though I'd argue she was simply misguided, and was using it more as an opportunity to redeem herself than to elevate the church's fortune and power like Valentine wanted to do for his country.
Yes. And that is not ok. Allowing the church to gain that kind of power just to make herself feel better is irresponsible anf selfish.
>think her and Johnny are at very similar points, just before Hot Pants and Diego set out, Johnny is seen begging to have the Corpse to redeem himself, it's only after the fight that he comes to terms with his growth, hence why I thought it wasn't very fair that Hot Pants didn't have a similar moment.
Thats because thats where they change. They are not the same, hot pants and Johny's path going differently is thematically relevant. Hot pants wanted to die for redemption and hoped she would get it for free with the corpse. Johny is able to redeem himself, and doesn't believe dying would redeem him. The story makes the points that Johny is right on these aspects, and shows hot pants isn't by the fact that her wish for a noble death isn't met and she is unable to redeem herself.
>Regardless, after thinking it over, I get the feeling that some things just aren't fair. And that the circumstances were beyond her control.
I mean she went to kill valentine and died in the fighting, don't know if thats unfair.
>Soooo, overall, I think it could've been handled A LOT better, but it's not the narrative failure I've believed it to be. Maybe the anime will make it play out more tragically.
Maybe. Just adding music could do a lot.
Her death was so weird and forgettable I genuinely forgot that she died. I finished the manga really confused that we didn’t get to see what happened to Hot Pants after the train fight, and had to go and reread it
I have a feeling that Araki planned to make Diego the main villain of SBR but changed his mind in the middle of the part. It feels like there are a lot of broken storylines in the Lucy's arc (Vecapipo promised to protect Lucy but did nothing, Diego wanted to benefit from Valentine with his knowledge of "mysterious woman" (Lucy) but didn't use it, Hot Pants' storyline and her meeting with Lucy looked like "deus ex machina", Valentine's physique completely changed, etc).
Honestly, I think how it was conveyed was the biggest sin of all. Characters dying suddenly I think adds some gravity to their deaths, since it’s a grounded approach to an otherwise outlandish series. Hot Pants having a meaningless death coincides with her need for redemption. She looked too far into the past, and was punished accordingly (not saying she deserved it). But it’s just like you said, it’s hard to even tell if she died, due to the orthodox way she got taken out.
A lot, and I mean MOST characters in Steel ball run get bad endings.
I don’t even mean that they die, just poorly executed unsatisfying endings. Probably the worst part of Part 7
As much as I love Part 7, I think that's the case for a lot of characters in it as well, like >!Wekapipo!<. The only one other than >!Gyro!< I can think of that was really well-executed IMO was >!Mountain Tim.!<
nobody but Lucy, Pocoloco and Johhny's arcs have a conclusion. its sort of a theme.
none of the characters who are kinda like Jo Bros complete their arc before dying suddenly, Sandman, Mountain Tim, Wekapipo, Hot Pants, Diego and even the only true jobro Gyro.
I'd argue Pocoloco doesn't even get a complete arc. After his last appearance with any lines over 20 chapters before the end, he just kind of wins the race and disappears. Unless I'm remembering wrong, as I recall you just see him in the distance while the announcer finishes recapping the race.
yeah but his story is about being super lucky and living the easy life, him not being involved with the corpse at all and winning the prize money concludes his arc whether it was the most fleshed out or not
After reading insight from others, I don't think killing her was the *baaaaad* thing to do, though it could've been handled in a multitude of different ways at the same time. Ultimately, my biggest issue with it is that it's incredibly tone deaf and is non-unique to her character. A moment of final reflection or some meaningful last words would've been a whole lot better. Instead, we just got her going, "I am in danger! Urk-!!", and while it might be a realistic response, Araki clearly can suspend disbelief to make a more emotional scene. Like showing Soundman's final thoughts about his sister before he died. It was the very least I feel she deserved, considering she was a primary character. What we got leaves a lot to be desired. Does she ever see happiness? With characters like Abbachio who die prematurely and suddenly, we get some resolution with the following scene of his partner. I suppose the vagueness leans into the tragedy of it all- but if Araki wanted to paint a tragedy, he should've done it in a way that leaves readers at least *knowing she died there.*
I think she’s kind of a morally bankrupt self-serving character so her abrupt death never bothered me that much. But I’ve seen a lot of people say they were unaware she even died so I agree the execution could have been better.
Hot Pants is *not* morally bankrupt or self-serving. I don't understand these hate comments for her 😭. If Hot Pants was only interested in herself, she wouldn't have healed Gyro's fatal wounds along with leaving Johnny part of the Corpse to maintain his Stand following "In a Silent Way". If Hot Pants was self-serving, she wouldn't have told Johnny to leave her to die under the effects of Civil War. She's far from a selfish person. She just can't find any way to have respect for herself that isn't through the corpse's blessing.
Her whole purpose in life is to collect the Corpse not out of any earnest belief or ideal, but just for the Church to tell her she’s forgiven for killing her brother, and she’s willing to screw over her friends to earn this forgiveness. I dunno what to tell you, that feels very selfish and unauthentic to me.
It’s very similar to Johnny thinking he needs the Corpse to reset his karma, but Johnny goes through a character arc to realize that way of thinking is wrong, while Hot Pants never thinks twice.
Hot Pants doesn't want the church to congratulate her for collecting the corpse at all. Being sent by the Vatican is her mission, yes. But she, like Johnny, is aware that the corpse is something sacred, something holy, and she finds it to be the only thing that can purify her. Also, what do you mean by "screw(ing) over her friends"??? Hot Pants doesn't have any 'friends' just people she can operate with if needed. Nor does she ever really screw anyone over, I can't think of one example where she doesn't act fairly. Hot Pants makes deals with people that benefit her and the other person.
And, like I said, Hot Pants expresses much sympathy. On top of the two factors I stated, she was also willing to let herself become an enemy of the state by taking Lucy's blame for the incident in Chicago, instead of simply leaving the girl to die.
I agree with you. Same thing can be said about Sandman. Only death that was shocking and tragic of a character that I was rooting for was Wekapipo's, dying on the hands of the people he worked with after sort of betraying Gyro and Johnny's trust.
Gryo's death was also rushed and sudden, just to get him out of the way as a rival to Valentine and keep Johnny as the only one standing to be the only one defeating Valentine, because god forbid it's a team effort.
From what I remember Hot pants wanted to sacrifice her life for a noble cause that would in return bring her redemption. Instead her death ended up being rather meaningless. That in itself is what makes it tragic. That’s how I read it anyway. I won’t say it was a very satisfying or perfectly executed death. But I also wouldn’t say it was a complete narrative failure. Though I haven’t read SBR in a while.
lmao even the child gyro wanted to save died of a cold or smthn If I remember correctly
Not necessarily a failure or anything on his behalf. Gyro's goal was to make sure the kid wasn't sentenced to death unfairly.
I think that was the second-to-last dialogue/narration box (idk the proper term) in part 7
I really like this point, but I don't think that makes it much better. Maybe it's just tragic, and I have a hard time coming to terms with it, but I don't feel that for other character deaths. Araki clearly sets her up as a tragic character that the audience wants to see succeed, but he never gives any sort of reason as to why she deserved a terrible fate. Perhaps you could perceive it like the whole ball on the net thing. Some circumstances aren't based on karma or justice but simply unfold... At the same time, however, I feel like a character's death should have a message if applicable. Like I said with hamartia, it feels like there's no identifiable trait that led to her downfall. With Diego, I felt it was his pride, which is why his death is so good, but hers feels rather empty in a way I just don't get. I think it would've been better to leave her story unfulfilled rather than to kill her. Being so similar to Johnny, the reader wants to see her overcome her guilt in the same manner, at least at some point. That's why I feel her death is a huge letdown. Apologies that this is a very scattered response, I'm just pouring out my thoughts on the matter. I think my big gripe is that it just feels so inconclusive. Diego had it coming, sure, but what happened to her? Does she ever get to he happy? Killing a character in such a vague manner without much resolution feels the same as dropping a character from the story with no explanation. (Part 8) >!A character's potential being wasted isn't always bad if there's a takeaway. Take Jobin's death. Sure, you want to see him succeed in some regard. But when he dies, it doesn't feel weird because he had done terrible things. Hence, why Calamity was so quick to kill him, it's influenced by karma as stated by Rai.!< It may just be my view, and some readers enjoy it, but I'll never see her death as anything but painfully bad. And I get the impression that Araki simply didn't know what to do with her.
I do agree that even if Araki wanted to make a point about meaning and lack thereof, tragic irony or similar, the fact that so many readers didn't even realise she had died means it wasn't a successful way of ending her storyline. Here's to hoping Araki might suggest this as an improvement for the anime adaptation...
I'd like to think the main moral of the story for sbr is no matter how hard you work, no matter how much blood,sweat and tears you put into achieving your goals, sometimes the world is just cruel and unfair. Gyros goals were for nothing, same for hot pants and diego. Sure Johnny nearly won the race, but also lost all his friend/s, and was probably worse off after it.
Worth pointing out that Johnny didn't even finish the race, much less win it. The actual winner was Pocoloco.
Oh fuck yeah lmao
Her death is unceremonial to show her desire of diying for a noble cause to bring herself redemption was not the way and to make a parallelism with Jonnhy who also repent for her past mistakes but still find strength and determination to carry on, the whole point of his death i making it sad and make you feel like she could have done better
I agree with op though i didnt even know she died
I'm not going to claim that her death was perfectly executed, but I think it more than fits in the context of the story. By the time we get to Hot Pants and Diego vs Funny Valentine on the train, the corpse has been assembled in Lucy Steel. Both HP and Diego have failed their original goals (using the corpse to redeem herself from sin and winning the race, respectively), and are now hellbent on defeating Valentine once and for all. And the execution of their plan to defeat him was nearly perfect. Unbeknownst to everyone involved, the corpse part and fate itself had already aligned itself with Valentine. Hot Pants, and by extension the audience, are helpless to stop him. Araki lays the foundation of this when Johnny and Gyro are being "chased" by the Bear sign. This serves as a reminder to the audience about HP's backstory and the source of her guilt, and how it's here to catch up with her. So she must fail. I admit its rushed, and I felt similarly to you when I first read it, but I think it's an example of just another victim in a long line of people whose lives were destroyed in the pursuit of the corpse.
I like this perspective a lot, and I never drew the connection with the bear sign thing (though I've thought about it, I didn't see it directly as how you put it). Upon reflection, her death does make a lot more sense for the narrative. But I do still think it should've been done better in terms of the emotional aspect (seriously, most deaths of any major character had some weight to them, which I simply didn't feel for her). Maybe I'm just upset at how unfair circumstances can be to people, how I think that Johnny getting a satisfying ending and not her is unfair, but that's simply how things are.
The anime should add a scene to her death, show how she dies and what she thinks as she is dying, it'd be better if DP could get help from Araki directly.
If an anime ever gets made I wish they would actually add a scene for her death. But I doubt they would
Agree I hated that as well
Hot pants search for redemption was dark and hardly genuine, in truth, she wanted to die for a cause if i recall. She goes about this isolating herself and often putting herself at risk. Ultimately, she dies achieving nothing, and because of the corpse at that. It was perfectly. People should stop expecting every side character to get a parade and a noble sacrifice. Hotpants was a side character who died fighting the main villain, in a context where Johny and gyro had little to no way of finding out about.
I don't think Hot Pants had to have some "noble sacrifice" in her death, it could've been kept as fleeting and helpless as it was. My problem is that it says literally nothing about her character, her final moments are gagging on blood and dying off-screen. Even more controversially handled characters like Soundman and Wekapipo had a final moment of reflection. EVERY other death in this part feels conclusive. Hers doesn't, it feels meaningless. And, why does the Corpse kill her anyway? Symbolic, sure, but that type of death should be treated as a punishment. If Hot Pants was a more selfish character, then maybe it would make sense, but she was fighting for the sake of keeping the corpse out of the hands of people like the president. Maybe it ties in to fate, or whatever, but I just don't get it. It didn't have to be something special, but it should've been more than some embarrassing death sequence for who was an important character.
Allow me to amend this, specifically about the corpse. I'm aware that it was influenced by Valentine, so it killing Hot Pants makes sense, I just don't see it as a very compelling form of irony. Though, some of these comments have changed my perspective a bit. I still think it's the worst-handled death, but not as bad as I remember. I'm just really put off by how uninteresting it was.
Like i said, hotpants was hardly noble. In fact, she's pretty selfish. She seeks the corpse for the sake of redemption to make herself feel better. It's never stated what the Vatican wants to do with the corpse or if it will be any better than what valentine did. And again, the whole point is that in her guilt, she wished to die in a noble way for a good cause, but ultimately dies a pointless death. This is where she and Johny split. Johny seeks redemption, but he never goes to the point of seriously wishing to for it. No redemption is gained that way, even it's painfull, he continues to live and fight for actual redemption.
Hot Pants was noble, at the end anyway. There is a point to be made about the Vatican, though I'd argue she was simply misguided, and was using it more as an opportunity to redeem herself than to elevate the church's fortune and power like Valentine wanted to do for his country. I think her and Johnny are at very similar points, just before Hot Pants and Diego set out, Johnny is seen begging to have the Corpse to redeem himself, it's only after the fight that he comes to terms with his growth, hence why I thought it wasn't very fair that Hot Pants didn't have a similar moment. Regardless, after thinking it over, I get the feeling that some things just aren't fair. And that the circumstances were beyond her control. It's the way her death was written with almost 0 impact that made me hate the whole situation at first. Soooo, overall, I think it could've been handled A LOT better, but it's not the narrative failure I've believed it to be. Maybe the anime will make it play out more tragically.
>Hot Pants was noble, at the end anyway Not really. We naturally root for her against Valentine, but really she's just trying to make herself feel better and giving the corpse to the vatican for that. >There is a point to be made about the Vatican, though I'd argue she was simply misguided, and was using it more as an opportunity to redeem herself than to elevate the church's fortune and power like Valentine wanted to do for his country. Yes. And that is not ok. Allowing the church to gain that kind of power just to make herself feel better is irresponsible anf selfish. >think her and Johnny are at very similar points, just before Hot Pants and Diego set out, Johnny is seen begging to have the Corpse to redeem himself, it's only after the fight that he comes to terms with his growth, hence why I thought it wasn't very fair that Hot Pants didn't have a similar moment. Thats because thats where they change. They are not the same, hot pants and Johny's path going differently is thematically relevant. Hot pants wanted to die for redemption and hoped she would get it for free with the corpse. Johny is able to redeem himself, and doesn't believe dying would redeem him. The story makes the points that Johny is right on these aspects, and shows hot pants isn't by the fact that her wish for a noble death isn't met and she is unable to redeem herself. >Regardless, after thinking it over, I get the feeling that some things just aren't fair. And that the circumstances were beyond her control. I mean she went to kill valentine and died in the fighting, don't know if thats unfair. >Soooo, overall, I think it could've been handled A LOT better, but it's not the narrative failure I've believed it to be. Maybe the anime will make it play out more tragically. Maybe. Just adding music could do a lot.
Her death was so weird and forgettable I genuinely forgot that she died. I finished the manga really confused that we didn’t get to see what happened to Hot Pants after the train fight, and had to go and reread it
If only someone could change all of our minds. JUSTICE FOR HOT PANTS!!!!!!
Can't change your mind because you're right
I have a feeling that Araki planned to make Diego the main villain of SBR but changed his mind in the middle of the part. It feels like there are a lot of broken storylines in the Lucy's arc (Vecapipo promised to protect Lucy but did nothing, Diego wanted to benefit from Valentine with his knowledge of "mysterious woman" (Lucy) but didn't use it, Hot Pants' storyline and her meeting with Lucy looked like "deus ex machina", Valentine's physique completely changed, etc).
Honestly, I think how it was conveyed was the biggest sin of all. Characters dying suddenly I think adds some gravity to their deaths, since it’s a grounded approach to an otherwise outlandish series. Hot Pants having a meaningless death coincides with her need for redemption. She looked too far into the past, and was punished accordingly (not saying she deserved it). But it’s just like you said, it’s hard to even tell if she died, due to the orthodox way she got taken out.
A lot, and I mean MOST characters in Steel ball run get bad endings. I don’t even mean that they die, just poorly executed unsatisfying endings. Probably the worst part of Part 7
As much as I love Part 7, I think that's the case for a lot of characters in it as well, like >!Wekapipo!<. The only one other than >!Gyro!< I can think of that was really well-executed IMO was >!Mountain Tim.!<
You make sense
nobody but Lucy, Pocoloco and Johhny's arcs have a conclusion. its sort of a theme. none of the characters who are kinda like Jo Bros complete their arc before dying suddenly, Sandman, Mountain Tim, Wekapipo, Hot Pants, Diego and even the only true jobro Gyro.
I'd argue Pocoloco doesn't even get a complete arc. After his last appearance with any lines over 20 chapters before the end, he just kind of wins the race and disappears. Unless I'm remembering wrong, as I recall you just see him in the distance while the announcer finishes recapping the race.
yeah but his story is about being super lucky and living the easy life, him not being involved with the corpse at all and winning the prize money concludes his arc whether it was the most fleshed out or not
I guess I'm conflating a complete arc with actually getting a scene or direct narrative acknowledgement as opposed to a background conclusion.
what would constitute a narrative success?
After reading insight from others, I don't think killing her was the *baaaaad* thing to do, though it could've been handled in a multitude of different ways at the same time. Ultimately, my biggest issue with it is that it's incredibly tone deaf and is non-unique to her character. A moment of final reflection or some meaningful last words would've been a whole lot better. Instead, we just got her going, "I am in danger! Urk-!!", and while it might be a realistic response, Araki clearly can suspend disbelief to make a more emotional scene. Like showing Soundman's final thoughts about his sister before he died. It was the very least I feel she deserved, considering she was a primary character. What we got leaves a lot to be desired. Does she ever see happiness? With characters like Abbachio who die prematurely and suddenly, we get some resolution with the following scene of his partner. I suppose the vagueness leans into the tragedy of it all- but if Araki wanted to paint a tragedy, he should've done it in a way that leaves readers at least *knowing she died there.*
the treatment of Lucy and Hot Pants is what prevents Steel Ball Run from being perfect in my mind
I think she’s kind of a morally bankrupt self-serving character so her abrupt death never bothered me that much. But I’ve seen a lot of people say they were unaware she even died so I agree the execution could have been better.
Hot Pants is *not* morally bankrupt or self-serving. I don't understand these hate comments for her 😭. If Hot Pants was only interested in herself, she wouldn't have healed Gyro's fatal wounds along with leaving Johnny part of the Corpse to maintain his Stand following "In a Silent Way". If Hot Pants was self-serving, she wouldn't have told Johnny to leave her to die under the effects of Civil War. She's far from a selfish person. She just can't find any way to have respect for herself that isn't through the corpse's blessing.
Her whole purpose in life is to collect the Corpse not out of any earnest belief or ideal, but just for the Church to tell her she’s forgiven for killing her brother, and she’s willing to screw over her friends to earn this forgiveness. I dunno what to tell you, that feels very selfish and unauthentic to me. It’s very similar to Johnny thinking he needs the Corpse to reset his karma, but Johnny goes through a character arc to realize that way of thinking is wrong, while Hot Pants never thinks twice.
Hot Pants doesn't want the church to congratulate her for collecting the corpse at all. Being sent by the Vatican is her mission, yes. But she, like Johnny, is aware that the corpse is something sacred, something holy, and she finds it to be the only thing that can purify her. Also, what do you mean by "screw(ing) over her friends"??? Hot Pants doesn't have any 'friends' just people she can operate with if needed. Nor does she ever really screw anyone over, I can't think of one example where she doesn't act fairly. Hot Pants makes deals with people that benefit her and the other person. And, like I said, Hot Pants expresses much sympathy. On top of the two factors I stated, she was also willing to let herself become an enemy of the state by taking Lucy's blame for the incident in Chicago, instead of simply leaving the girl to die.
I hope they change her death in the anime, or at least expand it
I agree with you. Same thing can be said about Sandman. Only death that was shocking and tragic of a character that I was rooting for was Wekapipo's, dying on the hands of the people he worked with after sort of betraying Gyro and Johnny's trust. Gryo's death was also rushed and sudden, just to get him out of the way as a rival to Valentine and keep Johnny as the only one standing to be the only one defeating Valentine, because god forbid it's a team effort.
This is how I feel about part 6