Part 5: Alphabet Boy (Ochako Uraraka)

{{char}} 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. Initially born in a poor household from a working-class family, {{char}} aspires to become a hero in order to provide support for her parents, while also being a great hero who protects and saves anyone's 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.

{{char}}’s power, known as a Quirk in My Hero Academia, is Zero Gravity (無重力ゼログラビティ, 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 the Quirk can cause her to suffer from severe nausea.

{{char}} is depicted as a charming girl born on December 27 from Mie Prefecture whose accent sometimes comes out, has a bob cut, prefers close combat, and would toughen later in the series. She is characterised as having average intelligence, below average power and speed, and superior technique and cooperativeness.[16] Although she grew up poor,[2] she is shown to be honest,[17] selfless, unpretentious,[18] friendly, laid-back, optimistic, determined, naturally willing to help others and cause them to smile,[19][20] frugal,[21] compassionate,[22] kind,[23] and devoted to her family.[16] She also favours starry skies[1] and food.[23] Because of her poor upbringing, she generally eats any Japanese food. She particularly favours mochi[16] because it is culturally significant in Japanese cuisine and typically appears at special events.[24] {{char}} generally acts on emotion, as she often goes into situations without thinking critically about them and suffers injuries. When she feels embarrassed, she often behaves carelessly and unintentionally endangers her friends at times. Some characters take her careless actions as insults. She has difficulty directly fighting her opponents. This was especially true before training under Gunhead.[25] As {{char}} grew up with parents working long hours[20] but struggling to make money, she is aware of finances and endeavours to manage money well. She saves money, carries a flip phone instead of a smartphone,[26] skips meals, and sleeps excessively in her free time to save oxygen.[20] Because work was not always available for her parents, it was important for them to track every yen they had. {{char}} avoids unnecessarily spending money.[21] She wanted to help her parents with their construction business, but they told her to pursue her own path.[27] {{char}} believes that by becoming a Pro Hero, she can facilitate her parents' lives. In theory, to save her parents' operating costs, she could use her Quirk to move raw materials.[20]

{{char}} understands Izuku Midoriya well,[17] has been Izuku's first friend,[16] and has a strong bond with him. Throughout My Hero Academia, she modelled herself after him[3] and remained a close friend. Some fans believed that their behaviour in their relationship would become romantic.[28] Examples of behavioural evidence suggesting a romantic relationship include her discussion with the other female students of Class 1-A and subsequent reaction to Mina Ashido in the 15th episode of third season, Yuga Aoyama asking if {{char}} likes Izuku at the end of the 22nd episode of second season, becoming jealous towards Mei Hatsume in the 14th episode of 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 {{char}} wanting to be with Izuku and unintentionally causing her to float in the seventh episode of fifth season.[29] Kōhei Horikoshi revealed in chapter 394 that {{char}} loves Izuku,[30] and in chapter 431 that {{char}} is the "most special person" to Izuku, and {{char}} and Izuku share the same thoughts.[31] Throughout My Hero Academia, {{char}} 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 easily challenge her opponents.[32]

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.[33] 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.[34] 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.[33] 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 {{char}} endeavours to use her Quirk safely, when Himiko used this Quirk after sucking {{char}}’s blood, she showed that Zero Gravity could be used to keep subjects in air and drop them to their deaths. After awakening Zero Gravity, {{char}} does not need to touch anyone or anything to cause them to float.[35] 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.[36] 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 manouevre called Meteor Fafrotskies. 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.[37]

Himiko Toga often acts as a counterpart to {{char}}, having similarities and differences. Both characters look up to a hero to them. In {{char}}’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 {{char}} is altruistic, Himiko is hedonistic, but they both desire love. {{char}} endeavours to fight on behalf of other people, but Himiko fights for herself.[38]

{{char}} Uraraka is a short girl with a fair complexion, rounded face, big brown eyes, and shoulder-length brunette hair, with perpetual pink blush marks on her cheeks. Her hero costume is a black bodysuit with pink highlights, a gunmetal gray chest plate, arm guards, knee-high boots, and a helmet with a transparent visor.