My Hero Academia is a classic shonen story with uplifting themes, all centered around the idea of becoming a noble hero, ready to lay one's life down for the common good. Ochaco Uraraka, codename Uravity, is a rising star who embodies these themes. The following five scenes showcase just how far she has come on her journey.
When She Admitted Her Main Goal
Ochaco Uraraka grew up in a modest household; she often ate locusts, and her parents had to fight to pay the bills and rent. Ochaco wanted to find a way to repay her parents and support them as a hero. At first, she was embarrassed about wanting to be a hero for the pay, fearing this was a shallow and selfish goal. She soon admitted it to Tenya Iida and Izuku Midoriya, and got a positive response rather than scorn. Izuku and Iida both understood that Ochaco was doing this to support her parents, not herself. Ochaco had nothing to be ashamed of; she was simply shaping her heroic goals around her family's specific needs. This cheered Ochaco up and may allow her to pursue this goal with a clear mind and renewed purpose.
When She Lost To Bakugo
In the U.A. sports festival, a tournament of 16 combatants was launched. In the first round's final match, Ochaco faced her class's mightiest student, Katsuki Bakugo. Despite being best-suited for support work, Ochaco gave it her best shot. She creatively tried to turn Bakugo's Explosion Quirk against him by levitating all the debris, then bringing it down on Bakugo's head. Ochaco still lost the match, though, and broke into tears when she told her parents about it on the phone. But this was a moment of growth; Ochaco may have lost, but the match was good practice, and she was toughening herself up against setbacks and failure. She endured this distress and came out stronger for it, inspiring her to take the next step to keep improving herself.
When She Trained With Gun Head
After the sports festival, the U.A. students began their internships. Ochaco trained with the melee hero Gun Head, inspired by her match with Bakugo to shore up her close-range technique. This is just what Ochaco needed since her physical power and technique were limited. Gun Head taught Ochaco how to deal with opponents armed with knives, and he was a scary-looking but helpful (and kind) instructor for Ochaco and the other students. This was yet another vital step in Ochaco's growth, and she took it entirely on her own accord. It would soon serve her well.
When She Faced Himiko Toga
Later, when classes 1-A and 1-B arrived at the forest training camp, the League of Villains stormed the place, attacking the students and the Wild, Wild Pussycats alike. Tsuyu Asui was cornered by the villain Himiko Toga, and Ochaco bravely faced this villainess with her new and improved technique. Ochaco pinned Himiko down, then heard some chilling words: that Himiko and Ochaco were not so different after all. Both of them were maidens in love, longing to be like their personal heroes.
Ochaco was shaken, but there's no doubt that she realized that one key difference set her and Himiko apart. Himiko was acting for selfish and hedonistic reasons, while Ochaco was fighting for others (mainly her parents). Ochaco was following Izuku's footsteps so she could benefit the people around her, and Izuku was her role model, not someone to stalk and obsess over. This helped reinforce Ochaco's perspective: that she needed Izuku as an example, not someone to worship or treat like a toy. Their relationship was now more clearly defined than ever.
When She Teamed Up With Ryukyu
Gun Head wasn't the only pro hero who helped Ochaco along. Later on, Ochaco became an apprentice to Ryukyu, along with fellow U.A. students Tsuyu Asui and Nejire Hado. These three girls quickly learned to work as a team, and Ochaco and Tsuyu firmly established their Quirk combo as a viable battle technique. Tsuyu's Frog Quirk worked well with Ochaco's zero-gravity Quirk, where Ochaco makes an item weightless, then Tsuyu flings it into the air with her tongue. Once Ochaco restores the item's gravity, it comes crashing down, and Tsuyu might even hop onto the object to view the battlefield and help Ochaco with the timing. This was vital battlefield experience, and Ochaco and the others took on actual villains and defeated them. Ochaco was also on the scene when the heroes and police raided Overhaul's yakuza HQ, proving how far Ochaco had come in so little time.
