Not a meaningless crush: Ochako's crush on Izuku doesn't have much to do with Izuku at all
- Vague Manga Spoilers
Many people who watch My Hero Academia go through a similar process with Ochako Uraraka’s character: they think she’s the typical Female Lead That Could Be A Love Interest, then grow to like her when some of her motivations are revealed early in Season 1, and then get annoyed by her when the latter half of Season 2 – the Final Exam Arc – puts some focus on her crush on the main character, Izuku Midoriya.
While it seems like shallow and unnecessary fanservice, this crush of her serves an actual purpose in the plot and for her character, but not in the romantic sense. In fact, I'd argue that it doesn’t have much to do with Izuku at all.
Enter Himiko Toga. Here's a comment made by Horikoshi himself:
There's a lot of similaties between them, but here we're going to focus on the crush and romance aspect, to see why Ochako's crush on Izuku was a way to establish her relationship with Toga.
Season 2: Final Exams
The first proper focus we have of Ochako’s crush on Izuku is during the second half of season 2 - first during her final exam, and later in the final episode at the shopping mall.
Toga is also properly introduced to us during these episodes, although we see a glimpses of her (and Dabi) earlier in the Season.
Season 3: The Training Camp
This is where it really starts, as Ochako and Toga meet for the first time.
Tsuyu is also at the scene, and Toga shows an interest in both of then, referring to both of them as “cute”,
But she focuses more on Ochako, saying something along the lines of her sensing that Ochako has a crush on someone, which of course, was shown to us in the earlier episodes.
Tsuyu doesn’t have a crush on anyone, and thus recieves a little less of Toga’s attention.
A major point established about Toga’s character is that when she likes someone, she doesn’t only want to become like that person, but actually become that person.
As shown to us before, Ochako has a pretty high level of respect and admiration towards Izuku.
Toga notices this, and coupled with the crush, she assumes that Ochako also wants to be like Izuku “You want to be the same as the person you like, right?”
At this point, we’ve also learnt that Toga also has a crush on Izuku, and wants to become him.
So, it’s easy to understand that Toga thought Ochako would understand her in regards to this. [this is then confirmed in Chapter 289 and 348]
A conversation: Chapter 342
Toga is a villain that has killed a lot of people, and has no qualms about bringing destruction to the city.
Ochako has fought her a couple times, but only as a hero vs. a villain.
Their conversations [chapter 289] consisted of Ochako saying things that was obvious to her with the way her life has been up until now.
In her conversation with Izuku in chapter 342, she mentions how she realizes now that Toga is just a person too, and that what’s obvious for her doesn’t apply to Toga.
Izuku mentions how he feels the same with Shigaraki and the cying child inside him.
Chapter 394: Ochako vs. Toga
Yes, Ochako explicitely states that she fell in love in Izuku Midoriya.
No, that is not the point of the chapter.
The point is that her love and admiration made her want to be more like him, to see people’s hearts like he does. [re: chapter 342, Izuku trying to save Shigaraki’s heart]
As stated before, Ochako has realized that she hasn’t been trying to see Toga as more than a villain she had to defeat, and now she is reaching out, trying to save Toga’s heart even if it’s too late.
Love and Smiles
“Smiling is why we live our lives”. - Dabi to Toga, Chapter 341
This has always been their thing.
Toga, who has been cast out of society due her “weird” and “creepy” quirk, and the way she shows her love,
Toga, who wants a place where she can exist just the way she is, loving who she loves, and smiling when she wants to
Ochako, whose parents always happily encouraged her and made time for her even when they were struggling with money and tired from work
Ochako, whose eyes were drawn to the smiling citizens when a hero saved someone and defeated a villain, and wanted to be the reason for those smiles
Also reminder that as much as they are made for each other they also exist as characters outside of that
In conclusion,
People who think Ochako is nothing more than a heroine that has a crush on the main character are stupid and have no reading comprehension.
People who say that Ochako’s character “fell off” after the romance was introduced only care to see their bias about female leads proven right have no patience for the actual story.
Her crush is a way to establish her story with Toga.
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I've been thinking about names re: durges (and especially Corentin)
I haven't really liked the whole "this character's name is The Dark Urge" because it's honestly...silly to me? A bit? But I saw someone else discussing their durge's backstory today and it got me thinking about the function of names a bit more.
Naming someone "The Dark Urge" is super dehumanizing. And, like, that's the point, of course. But Corentin, even at their most compliant, was always trying to eek out some semblance of individuality or control or rebellion. They were kidnapped brought to the Bhaalists at 15, after all. Even with the cult's (and Bhaal's) efforts, it's difficult to completely rewire someone who's nearly a grown adult, especially one who's fighting it kicking and screaming most of the time.
So while they lose their memories of their family due to the constant trauma, they do manage to hold on to some things. Their refusal to eat bog body stays the entire time, as does their insistence on maintaining a hair care routine (which is when they start braiding Orin's hair, too). But after they break, other aspects of cleanliness they'd managed to hold onto until that point fall to the wayside, and they stop resisting when Savorak, and Fel, and the Bhaalists call them "The Dark Urge" instead of their name. Orin still calls them Corentin for a little bit, but she stops eventually too as she gets more and more restless and insistent on gaining power.
And then they meet Gortash who, despite also being a horrible person, isn't as bad as the people Corentin had been forced to lead. At this point they know what the likely ending of the Absolutist plot is going to be (though they're still in the early stages of the plan) but being able to work so closely with someone who's sincere and, more importantly, isn't going to stab them the moment they turn their back to him, is like breathing in fresh air for the first time in a decade or more (both figuratively and literally). And they dare to hope that there's an actual, true way out of the hell they'd been living in.
So when Gortash eventually asks if The Dark Urge is really their name, they tell him no.
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A little mend here that I was pleasantly surprised worked, I fixed the fraying bits on my book-shaped wallet! Figured that red thread works quite well with the themes of War of the Worlds.
First up, we've got some simple stitches perpendicular to the edge of the wallet, think a blanket stitch but the thread doesn't run through the loop created. Honestly, there are probably more complex ways I could have stitched that vinyl "leather" back onto the fabric and cardboard of the book structure, but I figured these simple stitches would be faster, and work just fine.
Second, on a slightly larger tear on the "spine" corner, I did some randa stitching! This actually draws from a style of embroidery I'm almost completely unfamiliar with, most popular in Brazil, so I may be labeling it wrong. If you know better, let me know! It's a sort of baseball-stitching like process, I was roughly following this video as a tutorial: https://vm.vxtiktok.com/t/ZT8TNMKw9/
and also this one to understand how to get started: https://vm.vxtiktok.com/t/ZT8TNrMML/ (Excuse the tiktok links, but I am not immune to the allure of short video on occasion! I even have posts of my own, every now and again)
I actually need to do similar rim-lining on the other three corners, as the adhesive is starting to come off, and that'll hold it still enough to solve the problem.
Also, some miscellaneous adventures in hemming patches properly! A process that proved MUCH simpler once I found my rolled hem foot. These two patches came out quite good, actually! straight stitching, for the most part, and relatively even folds.
It was much simpler to get the hems just so on a larger patch like this one, thankfully! I'm actually really pleased with the way this one in particular came out, and hopefully, I can make something pretty with it on the thigh of the jeans it goes with. (yes, that's why the patches are numbered, so I can keep track of where they go in the stack!)
Even despite how well things went overall with the patches, I still fumbled, got a bit hasty in trying to get the corner of one of the later patches through the machine. Said haste had me trying to shove shove, cram cram the fabric through the foot to get it hemmed, turns out, don't do that! Results in bending the needle on my machine! Oof!
Luckily, the machine came with some spare needles, so it only slowed me down a little bit!
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