Day Two of My New Life: Why Honkai Star Rail's March 7th was one of last year's best new female characters

Can it possibly be a coincidence that Honkai: Star Rail's March 7th takes her name from the day before International Women's Day? Yes, almost certainly, especially considering that HSR is the creation of Chinese devs, for whom March 7th actually falls sometime in April on the Western calendar. (Hence the game's release on April 26th last year, which was indeed the 7th day of the 3rd month of Gui Mao Year… yeah, you see what they did there.) Still though, she did get her cake day from HoYoverse on social media yesterday, so there's that.

Aside from this fun coincidence of dates, though, there's plenty to recommend March 7th as one of the best female game characters we met in 2023. As Star Rail's mascot, she's the first companion to join your team on more than a trial basis, sticking with your Trailblazer through thick and thin ever since encountering them mid-battle at Herta Space Station in the prologue.

She really deserves better than her 4-star character rating, considering that she's a highly competent tank who'll shield her pals from danger and draw counterattacks so that she can freeze enemies in place with her ice-infused archery skills, placing her in a key support role that forms the backbone of many F2P players' team compositions.

Indeed, when I got my 2023 Year in Review stats from HSR (like Spotify Wrapped, but starkly informing me that I spent 118 hours last year in one weeby gacha game), I wasn't remotely surprised to learn that March 7th was my most frequent sister-in-arms on the turn-based battlefield.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around her ult line being "Gotta try hard sometimes!", considering that she's carried the rest of my Astral Express crew through four lengthy expeditions and counting as part of the game's main story. Self-effacement isn't usually part of March's characterisation — nor should it be, why should a talented young woman be modest about her accomplishments? — but this does always make me want to give her a hug and tell her that she works hard all the time and ought to give herself a break.

On top of all this, she's relentlessly cheerful, able to appreciate the little joys in life – even when faced with multiple world-ending threats, her own uncertain history as an orphaned amnesiac rescued from the depths of space, or all the uncalled-for derision from the team's resident dour goth boy who continually acts put-upon about her efforts to be nice to him.

Your Trailblazer can choose to take Dan Heng's part and persistently pull her pigtails — if you're a monster — but I don't mind telling you that my Stelle is consistently kind and supportive, because March 7th is the best of us, and we don't deserve her.