Does My Hero Academia have a main female character? Explored

One of the most popular new-gen anime and manga series to come out in recent years is Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia series. The series has been published in Shueisha’s flagship Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since July 2014 and is arguably one of the most popular manga series of today.

Set in a superhero-centric world, My Hero Academia fans praise the enticing setting and Golden Age of Comic Books influence on how Horikoshi handles his story. Fans are also known to be incredibly receptive to central protagonist Izuku Midoriya, who is incredibly relatable as he goes from a true zero to an undeniable hero.

However, as the manga series approaches its end, fans are looking back on My Hero Academia as a whole for all its flaws, strengths, and the bad choices by the author within the series. Here, such a retrospective has led many fans to discuss what could be considered one of the series’ biggest shortcomings of My Hero Academia.

Although there is no clear main female character in My Hero Academia, one character comes closer than any other

my hero academia’s female cast https://t.co/m5rNK3NH0z

— jam/evie ₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎ (@sillytouya) February 11, 2023

With the My Hero Academia manga series progressing through its final arc at the time, there are some aspects of the story which fans are okay to pass judgment on. One such aspect that fans seem especially honed in on is the apparent lack of a female protagonist within the series’ events.

Throughout the series, there has been no female character who got an amount of screentime and focus that is comparable to that of Izuku Midoriya. Even making such comparisons to Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki is difficult to do, with most every female character in the series falling short to any one of the three’s total focus and screentime.

That being said, there is one female character who clearly outshines the rest of the cast in this regard. This is none other than Ochaco Uraraka, who is unfortunately not given enough attention to be considered the main female character in My Hero Academia. However, she does clearly come the closest out of any female character in the series.

That's even ignoring how some manga's like Demon Slayer and Fairy Tail (Plus Sword Art Online) Has boring mediocre story telling with little to zero plot whatsoever and bland protagonist.

And how the girls in Manga (Like the females in Naruto And My Hero Academia) all suck ass.

— Bright Side Dylan (@TheLastCokeman) March 18, 2023

One of the key reasons why Uraraka comes closer than anyone else stems from her having a villainous partner to develop over the entire series with in the form of Himiko Toga. Having a set of foil characters can help to continuously deepen and develop both involved, ensuring that they’re continuously evolving in some way.

This also opens both up to additional backstory and origin exposition, which is what many fans are expecting the next few issues to focus on for Toga and Uraraka. Unfortunately, even with such a built in support system, she is simply ignored far too much to be considered the true main female character in My Hero Academia.

Likewise, this issue of not being able to truly argue for Uraraka’s status as the main female character in the series stems from Horikoshi’s lack of female representation overall. Both in general and especially when compared to male representation, Horikoshi tends to focus more on the male cast at the expense of properly showcasing his female cast.

Be sure to keep up with all My Hero Academia anime, manga, and live-action news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.