Summary
When we first meet Himiko Toga, she rattles on about love, romance, and wanting to suck the blood of those she loves, preferably the main character, Midoriya Izuku inMy Hero Academia. Uraraka Ochako has also been dealing with herfeelings of love and romance for Deku, making the two love rivals.
However, there is a clear difference in the way they express their feelings. Toga has been searching for someone to love and accept her for who she is, while Uraraka has been suppressing her feelings and supporting those she holds dear. But what are the differences in how they express their love, especially for each other?
What’s The Difference Between Toga’s and Uraraka’s Love?
Both Toga And Uraraka Perceive Love Very Differently
Toga was highly influenced by her Quirk, Transform, into believing what love is. Because of this misguided notion,Toga believes that to love someone, one must fully become one with them and drink their blood. However, this can be considered controversial, weird, and deemed abnormal by many others inMy Hero Academia.
This is contrary to Uraraka, who was raised in a loving family. While they struggled a fair bit, she was always surrounded by happiness. Uraraka always wanted to see others happy and with a smile from a young age after seeing her parents' troubled faces when she was growing up. At the beginning of the series, Uraraka does not understand the meaning behind Toga’s feelings. As they grew up with vastly different backgrounds, they often misunderstood one another when they spoke in battle.
Toga sought after Uraraka, looking for someone similar to her but also looking for someone to love and accept her. Unfortunately, due to Toga being a villain, this is not something Uraraka could easily entertain, as Toga had consistently targeted and attacked her friends. However, it is finally in Chapter 289 that Uraraka begins to understand Toga’s words and feelings.
Uraraka was the best person for Toga to fall in love with, although she fell harder for Midoriya Izuku. However, this might only be because she had no one else left to run to and was seeking validation from Deku.Toga spiraled after Twice’s deathand Uraraka’s rejection. However, it is thanks to Uraraka’s open-mindedness that she can convey her feelings and accept Toga for who she is.
On the other hand, Toga’s beliefs in love are starkly different from Uraraka’s due to the influence of her Quirk. Uraraka’s love, which is acceptance and wanting others around her to be happy, saves Toga and gives her the closure she needs.
However, it was only when Uraraka saw Toga smile with tears in her eyes that Uraraka realized Toga must have been hurting inside, so she sought Toga to understand and accept her feelings. While Toga misunderstood what love is due to the influence of her Quirk, Uraraka just wanted to see those around her happy, including Toga. As a result, Uraraka’s determination to put a genuine smile on Toga’s face saved her in the end.
How does Toga perceive love?
Toga has always had a skewed idea of love, likely due to the influence and suppression of her Quirk. At a very young age, after Toga began showcasing the manifestation of her Quirk, she was forced to undergo Quirk Counseling to be accepted into society. However, this forced suppression further enhanced her Quirk’s influence, which resulted in her beliefs of love and blood being misconstrued as one.
To Toga, she always believed that she was normal in an abnormal society that constantly sought to suppress her emotions. This is why she decided to join the League of Villians as a means to find others who are accepting of her values. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Toga’s Quirk it also resulted in her violently harming others to get their blood. Had others been more accepting of her Quirk and its implications, her perception of love would not have been as skewed.
How Does Uraraka Perceive Love?
Uraraka’s version of love is starkly different from Toga’s
Unlike Toga, Uraraka was raised in a loving family that always supported her and her dreams. Although her parents weren’t wealthy due to their struggling construction business, they always supported their daughter and insisted she walk her own path of happiness. Due to this loving relationship, Uraraka strived to see others happy because the exhausted look on her parents' faces always made her sad.
One of the reasons Uraraka chose to become a Hero is to put smiles on others' faces because she genuinely wanted others to be happy. Due to her acceptance into the Quirk society and determination to see others with a smile, Uraraka quickly noticed the difference in Toga’s smile, which helped her realize that Toga had been misunderstood. Uraraka extends a newfound friendship with Toga in the Final Battle with this newfound information because all Toga ever wanted was to be accepted by others.
How Did The Two Meet?
Uraraka meets Toga for the first time during the Forest Training Arc; during atest of courage, the Wild, Wild Pussycatsprepare for the first years along with Asui Tsuyu. As the battle begins, Toga recognizes Uraraka as someone similar to her, someone in love.
After this meeting, Toga becomes attached to Uraraka and Deku, seeking them out in battle and, most of all, questioning them on their views of society. However, during the Final War, Toga finally receives the answer she’s been looking for: to feel accepted by someone she loves.
My Hero Academia
Cast
In My Hero Academia, some humans have superpowers called quirks. Izuku Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is not one of them. Deku has always idolized heroes like the number one hero, All Might, and since he was a child, he has always wanted to be a hero. However, his lack of a quirk has always held him back, but a chance encounter with All Might after discovering a classmate in danger sets Deku on the path to becoming a true hero. My Hero Academia centers around Deku and a class of heroes-in-training at UA. This school shapes young quirk users into future heroes through fake rescue missions, combat training, and other hero-tempering tasks. With young Deku inheriting the “One-For-All” quirk, he will learn what it means to be a true hero while facing off with dastardly supervillains.
