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Ochaco Uraraka’s Quirk is perhaps one of the most interestinginMy Hero Academia. It doesn’t often create as many cool particle effects as Bakugo’s Explosion or Deku’s One For All, but it seems incredibly powerful when used correctly. It acts as a mysterious force that can affect nearly everything while unseen. Early on, we see that Uraraka has to get creative with the Quirk to take full advantage of it, but are there limits in place that nerf her potential?
Let’s take a closer look at the Zero Gravity Quirk inMy Hero Academiato understand Ochaco’s limitations and how she overcame them to be a successful hero and an asset to the other members of her hero class.
Ochaco’s Quirk: Zero Gravity
How Does it Work?
At its base level,Ochaco can use Zero Gravity to remove the gravitational forceacting on solid objects or people that she has previously touched with the pads on her fingers. After touching anything with her five fingers, the Quirk automatically activates, causing the person or object to start floating up while still seemingly retaining its mass and inertia but losing any acceleration. This was how she saved Deku from falling to the ground with her Quirk despite his speedy descent during the hero exam.
The way Zero Gravity works means thatOchaco has to be careful how she holdsand touches things, as she could accidentally cause them to start floating. Luckily, she can also deactivate her Quirk by pressing her hands together, returning the target to normal. She uses the deactivation part of her ability to slam targets back to the ground. Even though her quirk is called Zero Gravity, in a way, using gravity is one of the deadliest uses of it. Combined with martial arts and grappling hooks, Ochaco can use her Quirk to effortlessly throw opponents around and create chaos on the battlefield with falling objects and debris.
In Season 7,Ochaco’s Quirk apparently receives an awakeningin response to her desperation, allowing her to levitate things without needing to directly touch them across the battlefield and exceed her previous limits. She also displays advanced control over the gravity of a person during her Quirk awakening, even able to slowly lower people she hasn’t directly touched softly back to the ground.
“We’re floating? Even though Uraraka didn’t touch us? Her power spread. It’s like a chain.” -Kyoka Jiro in Episode 158.
Weaknesses to Balance the Quirk
Zero Gravity Carries Some Drawbacks
On the surface, a Quirk that can casually defy gravity seems extremely broken. Because of this, there are several limitations we see Ochaco has to play around with when using it. The usage of her power gives her a queasy, upset stomach. If she overuses Zero Gravity, it causes her to lose control and start throwing up. This is one way the power is limited, so she can’t just use it on herself to get infinite flight. However, through training, Ochaco can overcome her queasiness somewhat, strengthening her inner ear to avoid nausea and use her Zero Gravity more effectively.
Ochaco also has a limit to the weight of objects her Quirk can manipulate at one time, which is thought to be around three tons. However, in the final war arc,Ochaco was able to exceed this limitwhen using an awakened Quirk.
“I thought that girl’s Quirk couldn’t float more than about three tons of material, max. These kids are something else.” Pro Hero Tiger watching everyone on the battlefield starting to float in Episode 158.
She also initially has the weakness of needing to use her hands to touch her opponents for her Quirk to work. This meant that in her early battles, she would need to engineer a clever way to get in close to her opponents to touch them. However, after her Quirk grew more powerful, it seems this weakness has gone away. It’s a good thing the series ended at the point that it did, since the Zero Gravity Quirk with such reduced limits might have trivialized many of the villain fights inMy Hero Academia.
