How Ochaco’s Motivations Changed Throughout the Series

The central thesis of My Hero Academia is “what does it mean to be a hero?”. Every page, every chapter, every volume challenges this question and seeks to develop a satisfying, if not complicated, answer. For all the heroes in this story who provide their own answers and examples of heroism, Ochaco Uraraka is one character that stands out as constantly questioning and developing her own definition of heroism.

Beginning the story with all the optimism and assuredness of any high schooler, her experiences dealing with the tragedies and tribulations of hero society lead her to reassess what her place is in the world. By the end of the series, Ochaco stands out as a beacon among the hero world, ushering in a new ideal, inspired by the trials of friends and foes alike. When analyzing Ochaco’s character, there are often comments about how she is “just in it for the money”, a simple summarization of one of her earliest claims to heroism. But in order to understand her motivations and how they progress, there are key events and characters that shape who she is today.

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Ochaco Uraraka Origin

Ochaco’s Motivation to Become a Hero is a Noble One

Before Ochaco ever made it to U.A., she watched her parents struggle and wanted to do everything in her power to help them. She originally suggested using her quirk to help with their construction business, but her parents pushed her to pursue her own dreams. So, she decides to become a pro hero, using her power to help others, while being able to make enough money to help her parents. This is the reason she originally gave to Deku and Iida before the Sports Festival, but even before this moment, we see that her character runs much deeper than someone just looking for a payday. With her selfless request to give Deku her points from the entrance exam, she showed that she does possess a strong moral character, and the drive to do what she thinks is right.

We also learn later on, that she loved watching heroes as a child because she loved how they put smiles on people’s faces. Her parents were always tired and struggling with their business, but even they couldn’t help but beam at heroics. These early experiences shaped her ideals early on, with her eventually coming back to the idea of wanting to put a smile on people’s faces.

Deku’s Inspiration

Deku Was, In Many Ways, Ochaco’s Ideal Hero

Ochaco begins to take a lot of inspiration from Deku from their very first days at U.A.. Seeing how hard he works towards his dream, literally breaking down his body and constantly pushing past his limits, she begins to emulate him more and more. Others begin to take notice of her consideration of him. Notably, Aoyama asks if she is thinking of him, romantically in particular, when Ochaco is thinking about what Deku would do in their final exam.

While she was fine considering Deku as a role model, she struggled with her feelings being more than that from that moment forward, first dismissing them as platonic, attempting to push them aside entirely, before finally being forced to confront them as the series came to a close. Deku’s drive to save and succeed is what made Ochaco fall in love with him, but it also made her consider the kind of hero that she wanted to be, and how much she needed to dedicate herself in order to get there. And there is one character in particular that challenged her on these feelings from their first interaction, until their very last and beyond.

Toga’s Challenges

Deku Isn’t Ochaco’s Only Inspiration

After Deku, Toga is what drives Ochaco’s character the most throughout the story, and through their interactions the central theme of heroism is challenged again and again. With Toga, Ochaco sees someone who lives a much “freer” life than her. She isn’t afraid to flaunt her love for Deku or Ochaco. She isn’t afraid to be herself, as much as that may trouble or terrify those around her. For Ochaco, who is so often pushing down her feelings, and failing to acknowledge what she wants, Toga presents a major challenge to her philosophy.

She also challenges her view of villains. Ochaco can’t forgive the terrible things she knows Toga has done, especially using her own quirk, but after learning more about her story, she realizes that they might not be so different, separated only by circumstance. They both love the same boy. They both want to be free to be themselves. In another life, they might have even been friends.

It is upon considering these things, that Ochaco realizes she has a lot to learn from Toga, regarding what it means to be yourself, and what it means to be a hero. It is due to Toga that Ochaco is able to finally admit that, “she fell in love with Izuku Midoriya”. And it is also through Toga that she has to reconsider just what it means to “save people”, and who needs saving.

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Saving People

Ochaco Truly Becomes a Rescue Hero

There are a few different answers given to the “hero” question in MHA. A hero means interfering even when you don’t have to. A great hero wants to save and win. A hero is someone whose body “moves without thinking”. For Ochaco, being a hero means being able to make people happy, and being able to put a smile on their face like her own childhood hero did. But through her experiences with Deku, Toga and especially with Nighteye, she questions what the responsibilities of a hero really are, and what it means to save people.

In the Shie Hassaikai arc, Ochaco holds a dying Nighteye in her arms, and watches Deku yet again tear himself apart in order to save everyone. Aizawa later comforts her, and asks her to think about what she wants to do. And in contrast to the many reasons she gave before, with her feeling greedy for wanting to help her parents, she simply declares: “I want to save people.” From this point on, what exactly that means evolved for Ochaco.

Saving Deku

With Deku, she has seen him hurting, lacking self-care throughout the entirety of the story, and she wants more than anything to ease his pain. In one of the shining moments of the story for Ochaco, Deku and Hero society at large, she asks a hostile group of citizens, wary of letting Deku into the shelter of U.A., to stop and consider who Izuku Midoriya is, the person outside the hero persona. Before this, it is clear that Deku didn’t even consider this for himself, and while previously Ochaco might have shied away from the moment, she offered her answer to the “hero question”. Her body simply moved without thinking, and in turn she began the process of acknowledging and saving Izuku Midoriya.

Saving Toga

With Toga, she had trouble reconciling the reality of her villainy with the tragedy of her upbringing. Everyone in Toga’s life failed to acknowledge her and her challenges, not unlike Deku. But where Deku was shunned for his lack of a quirk, Toga was villainized and ostracized for hers. In turn, she was molded into the Toga everyone knows today, the member of the League of Villains, the person who caused Ochaco and many others a lot of pain. For Ochaco to rescue her, she also needed to acknowledge the girl inside, beneath the villainous reputation. Himiko Toga, the girl who just wanted to love, in her own way. Her ending may not have been as triumphant as others, as she sacrificed her own life to save Ochaco, but Ochaco gave her the acknowledgment she had been looking for her whole life, and she was able to go out on her own terms.

Ochaco Uraraka Rising

Ochaco Ends the Series With a New Guiding Purpose

In the epilogue of the series, we see how Ochaco has used the totality of her experiences in order to address the underlying problems of hero society. Much like a doctor recommending preemptive care for a patient, Ochaco wants to help people with the challenges of their quirks before they succumb to or are ostracized for them, as in the case of Toga and many other people shunned by hero society.

With her quirk counseling initiatives, she represents one of the most important pieces of heroism in the world of MHA. She has learned to acknowledge the unique challenges present in everyone, quirk-related or not, and in doing so provided her own answer on what it means to be a hero.

My Hero Academia is available to stream on Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime where available. You can also read the manga on VIZ’s Shonen Jump App.

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