Ochaco Uraraka

Ochaco Uraraka (Japanese: 麗日お茶子, Hepburn: Uraraka Ochako), also known by her hero name Uravity (Japanese: ウラビティ, Hepburn: Urabiti), is a superhero and one of the main protagonists of the manga series My Hero Academia, created by Kōhei Horikoshi. Born into a poor working-class household, Ochaco aspires to become a hero to support her parents as she protects and saves others' lives. She is one of Izuku Midoriya's closest friends and the one who inspires him to embrace the nickname "Deku" as his hero name.
In My Hero Academia, where most characters have superpowers called quirks, Ochaco's quirk is Zero Gravity (無重力, Zero Gurabiti), which allows her to nullify the effects of gravity and make any object weightless by touching them with the extended pads on her fingertips. Overuse of her quirk causes her to suffer from severe nausea.
Ochaco is voiced by Ayane Sakura in Japanese and Luci Christian in English. Her character has received praise for her development and personality. She is popular within the My Hero Academia fandom, placing high in several popularity polls. She has also appeared in various media such as cosplay, internet memes, and different pieces of merchandise.
Kōhei Horikoshi aimed to create a world where most characters have quirks, the name given to superpowers in the My Hero Academia universe. Originally, he was going to create the character who would become Ochaco Uraraka as Yu Takeyama, or Mt. Lady. This version of Mt. Lady would be a student at UA High School and have blue hair but would not have the horns that appear in her final design. Because he believed having a supporting character whose only power is becoming giant would cause major issues and eventually become dark, he had Mt. Lady, a side character Pro Hero, exhibit the size-changing quirk, and Ochaco have the Zero Gravity quirk. A change that Ben Sockol, a writer for Screen Rant, believed to be more interesting to readers. Horikoshi also favoured the name he gave Ochaco. An editor noted in the English translation of the first volume of My Hero Academia that her name means "Tea-Girl Pretty-Day" and conveys beauty. According to Louis Kemner, who wrote for Comic Book Resources, the kanji in Ochaco's given name mean "tea" and "child", but she seldom drinks tea in the series. He wrote that instead her surname, which is made of the characters meaning "beautiful" and "day", seemed more appropriate for her character.
Ochaco's character design in the anime differs from that in the manga. Horikoshi's design in the manga is seen as being more realistic, as the anime depicts her with a figure more typically seen among female anime characters. In My Hero Academia Official Character Book: Ultra Archive, Horikoshi's book on the characters in My Hero Academia, he remarked that his tendency to draw thick hips, feet, and waists was suspicious, but he favoured drawing a girl who appeared slightly plump and solid.
Ochaco Uraraka is voiced by Ayane Sakura in Japanese and Luci Christian in English. In an interview, Ayane Sakura said she was happy to have received the role of Ochaco and that her desire to portray Ochaco was strong. In another interview, Sakura stated that in the first season of the series, she thought Ochaco was a character with a strong core, and when Ochaco entered UA High School, she was not experienced in actual combat. Sakura said that as Ochaco faced her increasingly shining and growing path, people could appeal to her handling things piling up in her path. She thought part of Ochaco's core did not change, but she wondered if the experiences would show in her behaviour. Additionally, she said that from the first season, she said, "Ochaco is not a heroine, but a hero". Sakura remarked that although she had been portraying Ochaco for more than six years and felt her character became increasingly wiser, during the production of the fifth season, there was tension that led up to the sixth season. At that point, she felt that Ochaco, as a hero, would eventually rescue other heroes.
In an interview with Misato Fukuen, Himiko Toga's actress, regarding their roles, Sakura stated that it was difficult to ignore Himiko when she played Ochaco in the seventh season. Sakura cried when she was recording the 20th episode of the seventh season with Fukuen and said that the image of Himiko had become deeply ingrained in her mind. She said she could not remember much because she could not see the script well.
In an interview with The Natural Aristocrat, Luci Christian stated that she had not read the manga, she was surprised to learn that Ochaco was strong. She said that she was pleased to act as characters similar to Ochaco. In an interview with Gizmodo's io9, Christian said she already knew what Ochaco should sound like, such as in the speech she gave to plead for Izuku's return in the sixth season, where she cannot be hampered by her voice. She also remarked that being involved in the series changed her life as she also reflected on the journey to voice her character.
In an interview with Leah Clark, Himiko's English actress, regarding their roles, Christian said that reflecting on Himiko's backstory felt painful and it would resonate for so many people trying to figure things out when they are young. Clark stated that as she was working on the seventh season, she did not know about Toga's fate until Christian accidentally spoiled it for her.
Ochaco is depicted as a kind, bright, and charming girl from Mie Prefecture whose accent sometimes slips out. She is characterised as being honest and determined with average intelligence and below-average power and speed, but superior technique and cooperativeness. She grew up poor, so she is frugal. She carries a flip phone instead of a smartphone, and she skips meals to save money. She is devoted to her family and wanted to help her parents with their construction business, but they told her to pursue her own path.
Ochaco generally acts on emotion and goes into situations without thinking and suffers injuries. When she feels embarrassed, she behaves carelessly and has unintentionally endangered her friends. Some characters take her careless actions as insults.
She prefers close combat, but has difficulty directly fighting her opponents, especially before she trained under the Pro Hero Gunhead.
Ochaco understands Izuku Midoriya well, was Izuku's first friend, and has a strong bond with him. Throughout My Hero Academia, she modelled herself after him and remained a close friend. Some fans believed that their relationship would become romantic. Examples of behavioural evidence suggesting a romantic relationship include her discussion with the other female students of their Class 1-A and subsequent reaction to Mina Ashido in the 15th episode of the third season, Yuga Aoyama asking if Ochaco likes Izuku at the end of the 22nd episode of the second season, becoming jealous towards Mei Hatsume in the 14th episode of the third season, shopping with Izuku in a shopping centre but subsequently running away and trying to say she harbours no romantic feelings, and becoming defensive towards Mina's statement about Ochaco wanting to be with Izuku and unintentionally causing her to float in the seventh episode of the fifth season. Kōhei Horikoshi revealed in chapter 394 that Ochaco loves Izuku, and in chapter 431 that Ochaco is of top importance to Izuku, and Ochaco and Izuku share the same thoughts. Throughout My Hero Academia, Ochaco tries to repress her feelings and emotions for Izuku, as opposed to Himiko. Although she is said to be Izuku's love interest, she started as somewhat dull and dependent but became a strong, independent character who can challenge her opponents.
Himiko Toga acts as a foil to Ochaco. Both characters look up to a hero to them. In Ochaco's case, she looks up to Izuku, but in Himiko's case, she looks up to Stain. They want their role models close to them because they believe that without them, they would not be complete. As Ochaco is altruistic, Himiko is hedonistic, but they both desire love. Ochaco endeavours to fight for other people, but Himiko fights for herself.
Her quirk, Zero Gravity, allows her to remove gravity from objects by touching these objects. She starts off with being able to remove gravity from anything up to three tonnes in weight, but overusing this will cause her nausea. To place that in perspective, she could theoretically move a one-tonne car, but she could not easily move a construction vehicle. To use her quirk, she must touch an object with all five fingers on a given hand, and to release an object, she must use both hands. Closing her fingers together cancels her quirk's effects. The quirk requires creativity and strategy. She diligently improves her quirk, and by the fifth season she is able to render an aeroplane weightless.
She can also synchronise her quirk with other heroes. Manoeuvres she can make with the quirk include Meteor Storm, Zero Satellites, and Comet Home Run. For Meteor Storm, she can drop rubble on someone. For Zero Satellites, she can throw debris with her grappling hooks. For Comet Home Run, she can make debris float and hit the mass of debris with a large pillar, similar to how one would play baseball. During her fight with Himiko Toga, she awakened her quirk, but after she talked to Himiko Toga in a heartfelt demeanour. Zero Gravity is potentially dangerous. Although Ochaco endeavours to use her quirk safely, when Himiko used this quirk after sucking Ochaco's blood, she showed that Zero Gravity could be used to keep subjects in the air and drop them to their deaths. After awakening Zero Gravity, Ochaco does not need to touch anyone or anything to cause them to float. She awakened her quirk when she encountered clones of Twice, and the floating Twice clones touched other characters and had them float. This mechanism would work in a similar manner to Tomura Shigaraki's awakened quirk. She has also used her quirk in combination with other characters' quirks. For example, when she fights alongside Tsuyu Asui, they combine their quirks to perform a manoeuvre called Meteor Fafrotskies. Meteor Fafrotskies allows Ochaco to remove gravity from an object, Tsuyu to throw the object with her tongue, and Ochaco to restore gravity in the thrown object. Another character she combines her quirk with is Izuku, where she uses her quirk to reduce debris and injuries Izuku would incur because of One For All being too powerful for him.
Ochaco, at 15 years old, first appears when going to an entrance examination with Izuku Midoriya and other students within Class 1-A. She notices Izuku and acts friendly towards him. She takes the examination with the other students and shows that she can throw an object an infinite length. During the examination, when Izuku was falling, Ochaco touched him to save him from death. She also beat Tenya Ida in a fight. In the first episode of the second season, she explains to Izuku and Tenya that she wants to earn money to support her poor parents. Her parents work in construction, but they have trouble making money, so they have Ochaco carry a flip phone. Ochaco says she plans to send her paycheques to her parents. Although Katsuki Bakugo called Izuku "Deku" when they were children, as an insult, Ochaco calls Izuku "Deku" because she gave a good meaning to "Deku", instead indicating the feeling of perseverance. Specifically, Ochaco said that "Deku" sounded similarly to "dekiru (出来る)", meaning "to be able". Then, she fights Katsuki in the UA Sports Festival. Despite knowing she would lose against him, she does her best, but becomes disappointed when he wins. She calls her parents on her mobile phone and cries. After her phone call, she recuperates. Later, she trains under Pro Hero Gunhead to strengthen herself, learn martial arts, and blend physical combat with her quirk. Because UA High School can become competitive, she must use offence more than defence. She would later use what she learned from Gunhead to fight against Thirteen, a Pro Hero, in a final examination. Although she would fight alongside Yuga Aoyama against Thirteen in the final examination, Yuga would reveal that Ochaco has a crush on Izuku. This would cause Ochaco to lose control and get dragged by Thirteen, but as Thirteen stopped her quirk to spare Ochaco's life, Ochaco capitalised on this decision to apprehend her.
She moves into a new dormitory in the 13th episode of the third season. Because she has a plain dormitory compared to the rest of her class, she apologises. Later, Tsuyu Asui shows concern about her future because of what happened in Katsuki's rescue. Ochaco states to Tsuyu that things will happen favourably and demonstrates a caring demeanour.
In the 10th episode of the fifth season, during a match between Classes 1-A and 1-B, Izuku loses control of the Black Whip quirk. This quirk allows the user to emit black energy tendrils from anywhere in that user's body, but they strain the body. The match is cancelled. Ochaco and Hitoshi Shinso intervene, and Ochaco gets hurt in the process, but she holds Izuku to have Hitoshi use his Brainwashing quirk. The Brainwashing quirk allows Hitoshi to tame and subdue opponents. In the next episode, Neito Monoma attacks Ochaco after she lets Izuku approach the ground. Despite Neito's ability to copy the One For All quirk, Ochaco defeats Neito through martial arts and escorts him to jail. She defeats most of Class 1-B independently through her Zero Gravity quirk and martial arts. Shota Aizawa commends her maturity. In the 16th episode of the same season, she works with Tsuyu, Ryukyu, and Sea Rescue Hero Selkie to stop drug smugglers flying an aeroplane. Ochaco enters the aeroplane, containing illicit drugs, by a grappling hook. She makes sure not to act recklessly, as she was learning from her encounter with the Black Whip quirk. She knocks the pilot unconscious and attempts to fly the aeroplane to safety. Although the aeroplane stalls, she persists in her endeavour to land it safely. Initially unsure if her quirk would be able to make the aeroplane weightless, she makes it weightless so Ryukyu can land the aeroplane in the water. Ochaco vomits from nausea caused by overexertion. She also gets a new hero costume.
In chapter 323, because of All For One's actions in causing hero society to struggle and Tomura Shigaraki looking for Izuku, civilians try to stay away from Izuku and do not support him. To surpass All Might in power, he needs support from civilians. Civilians panic and become angry about lawlessness running rampant in Japan, but Ochaco convinces them that UA High School needs Izuku, and if he does not return, he will die. Izuku had attempted to face villains independently, but Ochaco, with Principal Nezu's encouragement and Class 1-A taking Izuku back, applied her philosophy.
Ochaco and Himiko Toga fight with each other at times. Himiko often mirrors Ochaco, but in a villainous manner. Ochaco uses martial arts against her, but they both crave love and sympathise with each other. They meet each other in the sixth episode of the third season. In the tenth episode of the sixth season, during the Paranormal Liberation War started by an organisation the League of Villains found called the Paranormal Liberation Front and led by Tomura Shigaraki, Himiko sneaks up on Ochaco, but Ochaco says she will apprehend Himiko if Himiko decides to obstruct Ochaco. In chapter 395, Himiko has clones to try to stop the heroes, but Ochaco stops her, and her clones dissolve. Himiko reveals to Ochaco how her life progressed. To prevent Ochaco from dying, Himiko gives her own blood to her before she dies.
In chapter 429, Ochaco indirectly confesses her feelings for Izuku and reveals to him that Himiko's death troubled her. She blames herself for Himiko's death, but Izuku tells Ochaco that she is a hero to him. She thinks about Himiko's death for the rest of the series. In chapter 430, eight years after the events of the series, Ochaco has become a Pro Hero and intends to help offer quirk counselling. Because of how she feels about Himiko's rejection from hero society and consequent death, she wants to ensure something similar does not happen again. Her long-time crush on Izuku is further realised when he confesses that he wants to spend more time with her than anyone else, convincing her to confess that she has the same feelings for him, encouraged by Himiko's spirit.
Ochaco also appears in the films My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission, and My Hero Academia: You're Next.
Ochaco appears in the spin-off light novel series My Hero Academia: School Briefs, My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions, and the parody comic My Hero Academia: Smash!!, which depicts My Hero Academia's events in a more comedic manner. In My Hero Academia Official Character Book: Ultra Archive, she also appears in an omake with Katsuki Bakugo set during a final examination in chapter 68, where they talk about Izuku Midoriya. She appears as a playable character in the video games My Hero Academia: Battle for All, My Hero One's Justice, My Hero One's Justice 2, My Hero Ultra Rumble, and My Hero Academia: Smash Rising.
In a crossover promotion with Avengers: Infinity War, Ochaco shares a brief conversation with Black Widow. She appears alongside Izuku, Katsuki, and All Might in Fortnite as crossover characters. Ochaco was also a character skin option as Juno for crossover promotion in Overwatch 2, which became available from 17 to 30 October 2024.
Ochaco appears in the My Hero Academia Collectible Card Game, a part of the UniVersus Collectible Card Game. She is prominent in the Girl Power booster set and JetBurn expansion, and she has her own deck. Examples of trading cards from her themed deck include Zero Gravity, Floating Drop, and Uravity Stunner, among other cards.
In the stage play, Ochaco is portrayed by Yume Takeuchi [ja].
Ochaco has been popular among the fans of the series. In a 2018 My Hero Academia character popularity poll by Crunchyroll, Ochaco tallied up in fourth place with 3,268 votes. She also ranked fourth behind Izuku, Shoto Todoroki, and Bakugo in the first Japanese popularity poll with 652 votes. In 2024, in the "World Best Hero" global poll, she was found to be the franchise's eleventh most popular character overall and the most popular female character. At the Crunchyroll's inaugural Anime Awards, Ochaco was nominated for Best Girl, and she went on to win in the same category at the second edition in 2018. In the Funimation's Decade of Anime fan poll, she was voted as one of the five recipients for the "Best Girls of the Decade" category. She is also notable in that she breaks the trend of acting as a love interest or a damsel in distress commonly seen among shōnen heroines. In a poll Goo Ranking took, 6.7% of Japanese men and women in their 20s and 30s believed Ochaco was the worst heroine.
BoxLunch collaborated with Crunchyroll to offer in-store displays of My Hero Academia. In eleven locations in the United States, fans could photograph themselves with characters such as Ochaco Uraraka, Izuku Midoriya, and Katsuki Bakugo.
People started cosplaying her on websites such as Instagram, and one user on Reddit accurately recreated her costume. Another cosplayer on Instagram recreated her costume in a manner Ochaco would appear in a live action film. A contributor to WorldCosplay was photographed wearing Ochaco's hero costume. A different cosplayer on Instagram recreated Ochaco wearing a cheerleader's outfit and her school uniform, including her bob cut. A Spanish cosplayer posted a picture of herself wearing Ochaco's hero costume and giving the appearance of floating over Tokyo.
Ochaco has also been famous for fan art. One person drew fan art of an older Ochaco. Another fan artist conceptualised what Ochaco might look like if she had the One For All quirk, showing her having exposed arms, tears in her boots, carrying a rock, and radiating vibrant colours. Other people have taken to making fan art of Izuku and Ochaco together because of their beliefs about a romantic relationship. An illustrator who goes by the alias PultraArte posted fan art of Ochaco wearing Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba character Nezuko Kamado's clothing. Kōhei Horikoshi participated in a fan art contest and submitted a sketch of Ochaco after he ended My Hero Academia. Ochaco, among other anime characters, also often appears in images generated by text-to-image models in response to prompts on the human form.
Ochaco had internet memes made of her. Examples include a parody of Pennywise looking at Georgie Denbrough from a gutter, a Twitter post of a user posing as Ochaco saying, "money", Ochaco showing surprise in a similar manner to Pikachu, a muscular Ochaco in the style of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and a comparison to Gloria from Pokémon Sword and Shield. In one meme, fans pointed out the visual similarities between Izuku and Ochaco's faces.
Ochaco has had various merchandise sold of her, including a Nendoroid, a Figma figure, a Hello! Good Smile figure, a Pop Up Parade figure, a Revoltech figure, a McFarlane Toys figure, a Funko Pop! figure, a Squishmallow, and 1/8 scale figures. Pop culture enamel pin manufacturer FiGPiN also manufactured pins of Ochaco. Kawada released Nanoblock sets of Ochaco in 2022 and 2024. Pharrell Williams released a line of clothing for My Hero Academia that included a T-shirt featuring Ochaco. TSM sold T-shirts and hoodies that featured Ochaco, Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto.
Sam Leach of Anime News Network praised Ochaco as favourable and stated that her fight against Katsuki Bakugo would be integral to her character development. Alex Osborn of IGN described Ochaco as tough and courageous, highlighting her growth and progression that occurred during the battles. Daniel Kurland of Den of Geek also offered some praise, specifically for her character development and personality. He would later write for Comic Book Resources and state that people would place much emphasis on her role in the anime, her relationship with Izuku, and her motivation. Conversely, he would say that people would not emphasise the work Ochaco took to get to where she is, her prowess, and her costume. Comic Book Resources also compared her to characters such as Winry Rockbell in Fullmetal Alchemist, Ruby Hoshino in Oshi no Ko, Petra Ral in Attack on Titan, Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon, Misa Amane in Death Note, Yuki Cross in Vampire Knight, Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, Asuna Yuki in Sword Art Online, Atsuko Kagari in Little Witch Academia, Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuga in Naruto, Yotsuba Nakano in The Quintessential Quintuplets, Princess Shuna in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, and Nobara Kugisaki in Jujutsu Kaisen. The Anime UK News reviewer also offered praise for the character. Louis Kemner, a writer for Comic Book Resources, stated that Ochaco "is almost Izuku in miniature", and similar to Izuku, she is an underdog who values hard work and positivity. Ali Blecman, a writer for POMEgranate Magazine, praised her determination and learning from Izuku. Nick Valdez of ComicBook.com praised Ochaco for her performance and determination in the 14th episode of the sixth season and called her the most valuable player in that episode. A writer for Game Rant, Robbie Mitchell, stated her character design avoids the fan service many female anime characters exhibit. Rather, her costume prioritises functionality. Regarding Ochaco's rivalry with Himiko, Kofi Outlaw of ComicBook.com stated that after years of battling each other, the end of their conflict became favourable. Rei Penber of Game Rant said that she is an important character and underused. Her fight with Himiko Toga has emotional value. The fight with Himiko is a strong point in My Hero Academia, and it is emphasised in the anime. Louis Kemner stated that although Momo Yaoyorozu performs the highest within Class 1-A, Ochaco is shrewd in combat and hands-on experiences because of her upbringing. Ryan McCarthy appreciated how Ochaco demonstrated her growth of intelligence and maturity and how she bore much of the burden of Class 1-A.
Olivea Eaton of Comic Book Resources felt that Ochaco became less likeable as the series progressed, excessively worries about and trusts Izuku, sometimes fails to defend Izuku from Katsuki, and becomes jealous of other girls socialising with Izuku. For example, when she voted for Izuku to become the president of Class 1-A, Katsuki asked who voted for Izuku, and she failed to answer Katsuki. Cody McIntosh, also of Comic Book Resources, criticised Ochaco in that she has a frivolous demeanour, behaves similarly to Mt. Lady, and does not appear to show what kind of hero she would like to be. He stated that she idolises Izuku, and their relationship likely would not live up to what she favours. Ali Blecman said that Ochaco's moments of thinking about her crush were strong enough to cause her to fail tests and get stabbed. Ahmed Rehan Nasir of Game Rant criticised how My Hero Academia handled Ochaco and said the series started her as a strong character with promising goals, but as the series went on, other male characters would take her place, and she would be regarded as a side character. He felt that the series did not offer the development the character needed, therefore making the character appear unimportant. He said that similar to many other shōnen manga, My Hero Academia would eventually neglect developing female characters and treat Ochaco as a love interest. Rosa Perez of Comic Book Resources felt that although she is an important friend to Izuku, she and Tenya Ida were moved in favour of Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki as the main trio. Louis Kemner criticised Ochaco's talking method during her final fight with Himiko, a term he called talk jutsu in reference to Naruto, by saying this method was unnecessary. In contrast, Ben Sockol of Screen Rant said that it improves the mentioned trope in a more realistic and satisfying way by creating something new that Naruto did not.
Rae Grimes of Comic Book Resources noted that Ochaco and Izuku helped each other during the entrance examination; Ochaco gave Izuku some of her points at that examination, and Izuku trusts Ochaco deeply enough to inform her about his quirk's nature. According to Lauren Kells, a writer of Screen Rant, they had an encouraging relationship with each other. For example, Ochaco would wear Izuku's mask and scarf. Louis Kemner stated that Ochaco could have adopted Himiko's behaviours, but she instead followed her conscience and Izuku's demeanour. Michelle Smith from Soliloquy in Blue called Ochaco "spunky", but felt her monetary side became less important. Lauren Kells found that Ochaco's unique motivation to support her parents is what differentiates her from other heroes in the series.