Izuku Midoriya might officially be My Hero Academia's protagonist, but the anime's secret weapon has always been its wider cast. From the other students at U.A. to the pro heroes and even many of the villains, My Hero Academia has always taken the time to flesh out characters that in other anime would be little more than set dressing.

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It's a true ensemble piece. The show has done particularly well at portraying female characters, something that shōnen anime has traditionally struggled with. Choosing the anime's best female character isn't easy (there are a lot of good options), but some fans feel Ochaco Uraraka fits the bill. She's arguably the show's female lead and Ochaco has grown a lot throughout the series. Whether or not she's truly the best is a matter of personal opinion, and plenty of people dislike her, but the case for Ochaco as My Hero Academia's best female character is still pretty strong.

1 Character Design

Keeping It Clean

One of the worst things about being an anime fan is knowing that one's parents or significant other could walk in at any moment and mistake the favorite show for something a lot less innocent. For almost as long as anime has been around, female characters have been portrayed with exaggerated proportions and wearing costumes that would make Midnight blush.

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Ochaco may not have the coolest character design in My Hero Academia, but at least it isn't pure fan service. Out of uniform, she looks like a normal teenage girl, with normal proportions. Some mean-spirited fans might even call her a little "plain" looking. Her hero costume itself isn't overly revealing and focuses on function over form. This is in contrast to characters like Momo, who are well-written but have costumes that can seem a little inappropriate. It's bad enough in most anime, but it just feels creepy when one remembers how old My Hero Academia's characters are meant to be.

2 She Has A Powerful Quirk

Better Than It Seems

Ochaco's quirk, Zero Gravity, doesn't appear to be all that impressive at first. By touching any solid object with the pads of her fingers, she can negate gravity's effect on it, making it weightless. At the beginning of the anime, the quirk had two major limitations: Ochaco had a 3-ton weight limit, and if she floated herself, it made her feel sick. Besides restraining enemies by making them float, it seemed to have limited offensive abilities. This meant Ochaco would be stuck as a support hero limited to rescuing people and cleaning up the aftermath of battles.

Yet with her strategic mind and a lot of hard work, Ochaco has mastered her quirk. Fans first got a taste of this in her battle against Bakugo during the Sports Festival when she made the debris Bakugo had created weightless and then dropped it on him in a move now known as Meteor Storm. Similarly, during the Battle Trials arc, she turns some rubble into a weightless giant baseball bat in a move called Comet Home Run. Her quirk also makes her great at support. She's used it to help her allies move across the battlefield safely countless times, and she even used it to save Midoriya in the fourth episode. Compared to many other female characters, Ochaco's quirk has a lot of utility and is perfect for offense, defense, and support. Once Zero Gravity is Awakened, she'll be one of the strongest heroes in the anime.

3 Her Heroic Aspirations

Doing It For Her Family

My Hero Academia's portrayal of heroism can be pretty jaded at times. Its pro-heroes aren't as bad as the likes of The Boys, but in the anime, heroism has become highly commercialized with pro-heroes being worshiped just as much for their stardom as their saves. This means that even some of the most likable characters have less than altruistic reasons for wanting to become heroes.

Not Ochaco though. Unlike some of her classmates, she doesn't come from one of My Hero Academia's strongest families. In Season 1, she confides in Midoriya that her family is incredibly poor, and she wants to be a hero so that she can support them. It's a surprisingly grounded and relatable reason for wanting to risk one's life. As Ochaco has increasingly been exposed to villains and seen those she cares about get hurt, as well as innocent people, Ochaco's reasons for wanting to be a hero have evolved. She genuinely thinks heroes should save people, and she wants to help as much as she can.

4 Character Growth

Always Moving Forward

While My Hero Academia has mainly focused on Midoriya's growth as a hero, it frequently takes time to focus on the development of others too. Of all the female students in class 1-A, it could be argued that Ochaco has seen the most character development.

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Ochaco can come across as a little dull in earlier episodes. She's the friendly love interest of Midoriya, defined by her kindness and seemingly OK quirk. But throughout the anime, she's become a fierce character in her own right. She's played an important part in many battles, saved the day more than once, and evolved her quirk into something awesome. She's also become more independent. Early on she realized that she had become overly dependent on Deku's help and chose to refuse it during her battle against Bakugo, even if it meant defeat. She has gone from being a shy, insecure student to a strong, confident hero who can give the toughest opponents a run for their money.

5 Her Kindness And Selflessness

Puts Others First

From the very beginning of My Hero Academia, Ochaco has been a character defined by her kindness and selflessness. An early example of this was when she heard Bakugo call Midoriya Deku, which means useless. Rather than let her new friend feel bad, she told him she thought it made him sound determined. This inspired the young hero to take the insult and claim it as his hero name.

As one of My Hero Academia's most selfless characters, she'll do anything to help her friends, even if it hurts her academic or hero career - as seen when she tried to give Deku her points during the exams. During the Dark Deku arc, there's nothing Ochaco won't do to save her friend. Even her whole reason for wanting to be a hero is selfless.

6 Rivalry With Toga

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

My Hero Academia is full of great rivalries but nearly all of them are between male characters. Ochaco and Toga are pretty much the only female characters to have their own rivalry, and it's a really fun one. Initially, it just seemed like they hated each other because they both liked Midoriya, but in reality, their feud has a lot more depth to it.

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Ochaco and Toga are opposites, both in their worldviews and personalities. Whereas Ochaco often tries to hide and ignore her emotions, Toga wears her heart on her sleeve. Ochaco refuses to admit her feelings for her classmate, while the crazy and obsessive Toga shouts her feelings from the rooftops. Ochaco has powers perfect for becoming a hero, but Toga has socially unacceptable powers, something that drove her to villainy. The two have had some great battles against each other in the anime, and if the show adapts the manga accurately, their final confrontation will be as heartwarming as it is action-packed.

7 She Never Gives Up

Determined To Improve

One of the reasons Ochaco has grown so much compared to some other female characters in the anime is the fact she never gives up. She might seem soft at first, but Ochaco's determination to improve knows no end. She doesn't know the meaning of the word "quit."

Despite knowing she's outmatched during her battle with Bakugo, Ochaco refuses to give up and gives it her all. Even when her plan failed, she continued to fight to the point where she was knocked unconscious. Something that earned her Bakugo's respect - which isn't won lightly. That defeat drove her to learn martial arts during her training with Gunhead. Much like her love interest, Ochaco will never surrender and continues to fight past the point most characters would have given up.

8 She's A Positive Role Model

Makes Others Better

All these positive traits combined are why Ochaco is the best female character in My Hero Academia. They make her a positive role model - not just to her classmates and heroes, but to viewers too. She constantly inspires her classmates to do better, like during the Shie Hassaikai raid when she motivates her classmates to push beyond their limits and fight harder against the villains. Her determination and courage serve as catalysts for her friends to work harder and save the day.

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Deku might be the protagonist, but the Dark Deku arc showed how thoughtless he had become. Only Ochaco could bring him back from the brink. For the audience, Ochaco sums up what it really means to be a hero. Yes, she's flawed and self-conscious, and she might not have the strongest quirk. But despite those things, she always strives to do what's right. While most shōnen romantic interests are little more than eye candy, Ochaco is a strong character in her own right.

My Hero Academia (2016)

Action

Superhero

Release Date

April 3, 2016

Studio

Bones

Japanese Title

Boku no Hero Academia

Number of Episodes

141+