Who Is Ochaco Uraraka?

Ochaco Uraraka, also known by her hero name Uravity, is a major character in the popular anime and manga series My Hero Academia. She is a cheerful and optimistic student in Class 1-A at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero. Ochaco is one of the closest friends of the series' protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, and develops a crush on him throughout the story.

Appearance

Ochaco Uraraka is a short, fair-skinned girl with an athletic yet curvy build and auburn hair and eyes. A permanent pink blush is visible on her cheeks, and her rounded eyes have thick upper lashes. Her bobbed hair features two long strands framing her face, and her fingertips have thick pads resembling those of a cat. As a U.A. student, she wears the standard female uniform, which consists of a gray dress jacket, a white dress shirt, a red tie, and a teal pleated skirt. She wears black leggings with brown dress shoes. 

Uraraka’s hero costume is a black, full-body suit with pale pink accents and a variety of accessories. The suit has two black semi-spheres on her chest and pink stripes on her torso and shoulders. She also wears a thick, hot pink choker and light pink gauntlets on her arms. Her thick, light pink belt has a darker pink marking in the center where it connects and large, knee-high boots with dark pink soles complete the outfit. The tight fit of the costume was a design error due to her lack of specificity in her request. 

Later in the series her costume is upgraded during her work-study with the Pro Hero Ryukyu. The belt around her waist is minimized, the arm gauntlets are altered to include grappling hooks, and she no longer has a visor on her headgear.

Personality

Ochako Uraraka's personality is defined by her cheerful, optimistic, and kind nature, coupled with a strong sense of empathy and a bubbly, sometimes airheaded, demeanor. However, beneath this surface lies a fiercely determined, focused, and courageous individual who can become quite serious when the situation calls for it. This side of her is particularly apparent during competitive events, like her memorable fight with Bakugo in the U.A. Sports Festival.

Since meeting Izuku, Ochaco has also grown to admire his motives and compassionate nature. She strives to be more like him in terms of both emotional strength and combat prowess. While she initially preferred rescue work, she recognized her limitations and trained with the combat-oriented hero Gunhead to improve her close-quarters fighting skills.

Her strong desire to support her family financially is a significant driving force for her heroism, and she is also perceptive and a good judge of people, making her a well-rounded and emotionally intelligent character despite her seemingly simple exterior. Beyond the money, she was inspired by her parents' ability to bring smiles to people's faces through their work. Her goal is to bring that same joy as a hero.

Though capable of impulsive decisions, Uraraka is also surprisingly strategic. She has trained to improve her combat skills and learn martial arts, allowing her to be a more instinctive and effective fighter. Ochaco is candid about her main motivation for becoming a hero. Though initially embarrassed by this, she is ultimately proud of doing it for her family.

Background

Growing up, Ochaco witnessed her parents constantly exhausted from their work. Her initial dream was not about fame, but to earn money so her family could live a comfortable life, a goal that she was openly, if a little embarrassedly, honest about. Despite her desire to help with the family business using her Zero Gravity Quirk, her father urged her to pursue her own path and achieve her own dreams. Her parents are loving and supportive, and they threw her a celebratory party after her performance in the U.A. Sports Festival.

Ochaco's humble background has made her very frugal. She goes to great lengths to save money, even skipping meals and admitting to sleeping to avoid spending money on oxygen. She is a close friend of Izuku Midoriya and was the person who gave his once-insulting nickname "Deku" a positive meaning. This greatly inspired Izuku, and she herself is often motivated by his compassion and strength. Izuku and Ochaco's relationship becomes canon when they are depicted holding hands in the final chapter, signifying a move to a more intimate relationship, though the author intentionally kept their romance understated.

While her primary motivation was originally financial, her experience as a hero-in-training, including witnessing Pro Heroes suffer, matured her outlook. She became more determined to save people and protect her fellow heroes, not just her family. Years after the Final War, Ochaco becomes the No. 24 Pro Hero and starts a Quirk counseling program in schools to help young children. Though still sending money to her parents, they never touch it, having been provided a comfortable life.

Powers and Abilities

Ochaco Uraraka's primary Quirk is Zero Gravity, which allows her to make any solid object she touches with her fingertips weightless. Her non-Quirk skills include a high tactical intellect, advanced martial arts training, enhanced stamina, and a strong, determined will.

Characteristics and Tactical Skills

• Gunhead Martial Arts: Ochaco interned with the Battle Hero, Gunhead, and learned his close-quarters combat fighting style. This training emphasizes grappling, takedowns, and throws, allowing her to neutralize opponents effectively.

• Enhanced Speed and Agility: Her combat reflexes are sharp, allowing her to evade attacks. She combines her natural speed with her Quirk to achieve enhanced aerial agility.

• Enhanced Stamina and Durability: Through rigorous training, she developed impressive stamina, enabling her to endure prolonged and taxing battles. Her strong will allows her to push past her physical limits. 

• Tactical Intellect: Ochaco is a quick and creative thinker who can deduce opponents' strategies and exploit their weaknesses. She devised a plan to trap Bakugo during the Sports Festival and swiftly defeated multiple opponents during the Joint Training Battle.

• Indomitable Will: She is incredibly determined and persistent, often surprising her opponents with her refusal to give up. This inner fortitude was most apparent during her emotional battle with Himiko Toga in the Final War.

• High Spirit and Empathy: Her naturally cheerful and outgoing nature makes her a warm and compassionate hero. Her empathy gives her unique insight into her opponents' motivations, as seen during her fight with Toga.

Quirk Powers and Fighting Styles

In the world of My Hero Academia, a Quirk is a special, superhuman ability unique to an individual, with about 80% of the population possessing one. Quirks are genetic and manifest by the age of four, and are divided into three main categories: Emitter, which allows a user to emit or control something (like fire or electricity); Transformation, which temporarily alters the user's body; and Mutant, which causes a permanent physical anomaly that often aids in their abilities 

• Quirk Type: Zero Gravity is an emitter-type power that allows her to make solid objects, including herself, weightless by making physical contact with her fingertips. Overusing the ability causes severe nausea and potentially vomiting.

• Zero Gravity: Ochaco’s quirk allows her to make objects or people weightless by making physical contact with her fingertips, which negates gravity from solid objects. To deactivate the power, she must touch her fingertips together. The ability has a weight limit and using it too much can cause nausea, with her limit being about three tons.

  • Levitation: She can touch an object and cause it to float indefinitely. This can be used for rescue, like when she saved Izuku from falling, or to restrain opponents.

  • Self-Floating: By applying her Quirk to herself, Ochaco can make her body weightless to increase her agility and maneuverability in battle.

  • Environmental Manipulation: Ochaco can make battlefield debris weightless to clear paths or use them as projectiles against enemies. 

  • Skill Release: Her base technique to restore gravity to any object she has made weightless by touching her fingers together.

  • Comet Home Run: Ochaco makes a concrete pillar and rubble weightless, then uses the pillar to bat the rubble at her opponents.

  • Meteor Storm: After making a large amount of rubble float, Ochaco releases it all at once to rain down on her enemies.

  • Meteor Fafrotskies: A combined attack with Tsuyu Asui where they launch a stronger, multi-ranged version of Meteor Storm.

  • Zero Satellites: Ochaco floats debris and then uses her grappling hooks to slam them into a target.

  • Gravity Plus: A move that combines her Quirk with her martial arts. She touches an opponent to make them float, then uses grappling to throw them.

  • Spacewalk: An upgraded version of her self-floating ability, where she uses her grappling hooks to propel herself through the air while weightless.

• Quirk Awakening: In the Final War arc, Ochaco's Quirk undergoes an awakening, significantly enhancing her abilities. 

  • Expanded Range: Her anti-gravity effects can now spread between objects that are in contact, without her needing to touch every single one.

  • Weight Limit Removed: She no longer has a three-ton weight limit. This allows her to float massive amounts of material.

  • Control Over Descent: She gains the ability to gently release levitated objects without needing to touch her fingers together. 

Goals and Reputation

Uraraka's primary goal at the beginning of the series is to become a Pro Hero to earn money and give her parents a comfortable life. Her family owns a failing construction business, and she has seen them struggle for years. This selfless, yet practical, motivation drives her to enter the hero profession. Initially embarrassed by this "selfish" goal, she is reassured by her friends that her family-oriented motive is, in fact, noble. 

After witnessing the death of Sir Nighteye, Uraraka becomes determined to save people no matter the cost. She begins to realize that heroes, like civilians, also need saving, especially emotionally. This is heavily influenced by her observation of Izuku Midoriya's self-sacrificial tendencies. This new understanding culminates in her decision to focus on saving and protecting the heroes who are struggling. 

In her final confrontation with the villain Himiko Toga, Uraraka recognizes that some villains are products of a flawed hero society. Toga's tragic background makes Uraraka vow to create a world where no one is left behind. As a Pro Hero after graduation, she helps spearhead a nationwide Quirk counseling program in Toga's memory. The program helps children better understand and control their Quirks, which results in a decrease in new villains.

Among fans and in the story, Uraraka becomes known as one of the most empathetic characters, demonstrating that heroism is not solely about raw strength. She plays a crucial role in bringing the fearful citizens back to U.A. High during the Final War Arc by giving an impassioned speech that defended Midoriya and calmed the crowd. By the end of the series, her efforts to create Quirk counseling programs make her a groundbreaking hero who reshapes hero society for the better.