My Hero Academia is arguably the most popular modern shonen anime and manga around. It features a world in which almost everyone is born with a quirk and superheroes have become a common profession. This makes for an action-packed story, full of intense fights and sad backstories for both the villains and heroes.
Within this world, there is an abundance of interesting characters. Manga artist and creator Kohei Horikoshi has a talent for creating unique-looking and colorful characters. So, without further ado, here are our top 13 female characters from across both the manga and anime.
13. Kyoka Jiro — Earphone Jack
As one of the classmates of the main character at U.A. High School, Jiro has had plenty of time to shine onscreen and in the manga. She was born with headphone jacks attached to her ears, through which she can transmit sound and use it to hear intel and enemies’ positions.
Born to parents who are both musicians, Jiro is a talented singer and can play various instruments, even teaching her fellow classmates how to play well enough to perform for the school festival. How cool is that? Jiro is living out our dreams of being both a hero and a rock star, and she does it effortlessly. Oh, how I wish that was me.
12. Tsuyu Asui — Froppy
Tsuyu Asui is a fan favorite of the series, even getting an OVA special in the anime dedicated to her hero training. This is likely due to her mature nature, which allows her to keep calm under pressure. She’s also reliable and caring, making Tsuyu the kind of friend everyone wants.
Tsuyu is a frog person, born with traits similar to that of a frog including long, powerful legs she can use as destructive kicks in combat and to jump very high. Her frog-like tongue can be used as a whip, grapple, or even rope to bring down enemies, which can freak some people out, but is incredibly useful. She is currently enrolled at U.A. High School and studying to become a Pro Hero.
11. Chiyo Shuzenji — Recovery Girl
Recovery Girl is the nurse employed at U.A. High School due to her quirk, Heal, which allows her to amplify and speed up the healing process. She does so by kissing the injured patient, at which point they will heal back to normal in a matter of seconds but will be drained of their stamina. This quirk is limited to what the body can naturally heal, preventing it from being pulled out by the author to save dying or maimed heroes.
Aside from her quirk, she is also able to perform surgery and has been working at the school for over 40 years. That said, her personality is what truly makes her shine. Whenever Recovery Girl shows up, we’re likely to be chuckling.
10. Nejire Hado — Nejire-Chan
Nejire Hado is one of the best up-and-coming hero students at U.A. High School, considered to be one of “The Big 3,” which are the top three hero students who stand out above the rest. She is a very kind-hearted individual, who works hard to be a hero with her quirk, Wave Motion, which fires out energy surges. It’s a useful quirk to have, no doubt, allowing her to alleviate and boost her own mobility, as well as fire the beams at enemies.
In terms of strength, Nejire is considered to be on par with Pro Heroes and fights alongside many of them during the major battles in the Paranormal Liberation War and the current manga arc. We may not see that much of Nejire, but her power and bubbly personality make us wish for more.
9. Momo Yaoyorozu — Creati
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Momo Yaoyorozu may be the type of character you take one look at and dismiss as just one more pretty face, but there’s a lot more to her. Reliable and calm, Momo is a great person to have by your side in a fight. Not only is she incredibly intelligent and a great strategist, but she also has a quirk that allows her to create any object you can think of with her body. Of course, this makes her super resourceful, and while her insecurities may sometimes get in her way, Momo is able to set them aside to find a solution to every problem she faces.
8. Kaina Tsutsumi — Lady Nagant
Lady Nagant is a great example of how heroes can turn to a path of villainy, and her story perfectly showcases everything that is wrong with Hero Society. As a Pro-Hero, she was instructed to assassinate anyone who stepped out of line, no matter how unjustly, slowly becoming disillusioned with heroes.
After finally snapping, Nagant swore to bring down Hero Society and its corruption, but that didn’t make her completely heartless. Behind her seriousness and ruthlessness is a woman who truly cares about doing what’s right, and is fearless enough to go through with whatever she puts her mind to — be it on the side of heroes or villains.
7. Nemuri Kayama — Midnight
Aside from being a Pro-Hero, Midnight is one of the main teachers at U.A. High School, where she teaches Modern Hero Art History, as well as the basics of hero work. Her ability is called the Somnambulist quirk, which allows her to put her enemies to sleep by using fans and whips to waft her quirk in the enemy’s direction.
With a playful, flirtatious, but temperamental nature, she was well respected amongst her peers and eventually sacrificed her life in the fight against the Paranormal Liberation Army. Her death may have happened off-screen, but its impact on her students was proof of how loved she was.
6. Mei Hatsume
While some strive to be heroes, others’ only goal is to roll up their sleeves and set their creativity free. That’s Mei, one of the few on-screen characters who does not use their quirk to fight villains, instead using her vast intellect to design gear and equipment for heroes.
She is enrolled at U.A. High School in the Support Course, where she has asserted herself as a talented inventor, creating support equipment crucial to the main plot. These inventions even allow anyone to keep up with a hero in battle, as demonstrated by Mei during a high school tournament. The only things bigger than her brain are her confidence and boldness.
5. Ochaco Uraraka — Uravity
I’ll be honest, Ochaco’s quirk isn’t even close to being the best in the series (some argue it’s not even that useful), but she has plenty of personality to make up for it. Having grown up poor, Ochaco decided to become a heroine for the income this career provides, in order to help her parents live more comfortably. Needless to say, she’s well on her way to achieving that goal.
Ever since becoming a U.A. student, Ochaco has made a lot of progress, learning how to fight from Gunhead, and making adjustments to her costume to get better use of her quirk during combat. She’s determined and kind, which are pretty much all the qualities you can ask for of a heroine.
4. Nana Shimura
As one of the previous wielders of All for One, Nana Shimura was tasked with keeping the peace before All Might entered the scene. She trained and recruited All Might to be the eighth user, granting him his wish of becoming a hero despite being quirkless. Her own personal quirk was Float, which was eventually inherited by Midoriya, and allowed her to hover or levitate in mid-air.
Not everything is fun and games about heroic life, though, and Nana knew that better than most. Always level-headed and self-sacrificing, she was forced to give up her son in order to keep her family safe. This didn’t exactly have the result she hoped for, as her son eventually fathered the villain of the series, but her intentions were good.
3. Himiko Toga
Himiko Toga has one of the best character arcs in My Hero Academia. Although she may seem like a blood-thirsty psychopath on first impression, there’s a lot more to her. She’s definitely blood-thirsty, don’t get me wrong, but Himiko is also a deeply caring person, as seen through her friendship with Twice.
Growing up rejected by society, Himiko has a warped perception of love, almost childish in its selfishness, however, she eventually develops into someone willing to sacrifice herself for others. Himiko is one of the best characters in the series, with a depth one can only find if they truly look for it, as Ochaco did.
2. Cathleen Bates — Star and Stripe
The woman of this and every hour is none other than Cathleen Bates, best known as Star and Stripe. Tough, loyal, and incredibly strong, she wastes no time coming to the defense of anyone who needs her, especially when that someone is her idol, All Might.
With one of the best quirks in the series, able to bend the universe and laws of physics to her will, Cathleen is the highest-ranked Pro-Hero in America. The path to getting there was far from easy, though. It took a lot of perseverance (and encouragement from her peers) for Cathleen to make it in this male-dominated career, but she did, and she did it well. Granted, her appearance in My Hero Academia was short-lived, but she certainly left her mark.
1. Rumi Usagiyama — Mirko
Those who have been keeping up to date will be very familiar with the professional hero Mirko. Out of all the heroes in the Japanese force, no one has the guts and drive like her, beyond even that of Midoriya. She is the highest-ranked female professional hero in the country, known as the Rabbit Hero due to her quirk, Rabbit.
The quirk grants her rabbit qualities in both appearance and physical abilities, like incredible agility, leg strength, and jump force — all of which allow her to take down foes with ease. While she looks and has a very cute quirk, she is rough and combative, able to take considerable amounts of pain and remain standing. Who wouldn’t want to have her on their team?
