If you can't tell by now, there are going to be manga spoilers here for "My Hero Academia." Proceed if you don't care, or if you already caught up with the manga.
This might seem a bit late, but I've been dying to talk to people about this topic. Currently the most recent chapter that came out is chapter 226. The anime has only covered up until chapter 124. If you don't care about manga spoilers and/or don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry, I was going to explain anyway.
Oh, and before I continue, just want to say, for those of you who don't know there are two accepted ways that you can spell Uraraka's first name. 'Ochako,' which uses a 'k' at the end (most people tend to use this version), and 'Ochaco' which uses a 'c.' I prefer to use the later version. Just saying.
As we all know, the big reason that most people were told on why Ochaco wants to be a hero is to earn a lot of money to support her parents as seen in the 1st episode of season 2 (or 14th episode of the anime).
Also, I prefer watching the sub version rather than the dub.
Now, lets get to the point. In chapter 212, Kohei Horikoshi decided to... add to that. He basically did a retcon.
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This is the manga panel that caused controversy among many fans, where she basically states that her real reason why she wants to be a hero was because she loved to see "people's happy faces."
(I actually don't know how many people had problems with this. I just remember that a few days after this chapter came out some youtubers with anime related content posted videos on their review of the 212nd chapter. Many of them were not happy, or thought it was strange that Horikoshi made such a change. The comments of said videos weren't that different either. I like watching channels like these because I have this obsession of really wanting to know other people's opinions and comparing them to my own.)
I, however, never had a problem with it. If anything, it made perfect sense to me.
If we go back to the episode where she first revealed her 'original' reasons to become a hero, sometime after the scene shown in the video I plugged in earlier. At around 17:10-ish into the episode, we see a flashback of little Ochaco talking with her parents.
(I couldn't find a video of the flashback so I'll just write down the conversation that happened in said flashback. I'm getting these lines from a sub version I watched.)
Ochaco's dad: You want to work for us?
Little Ochaco: Yeah! When I get big, I'll help you and Mommy!
Ochaco's dad: I appreciate the thought, Ochaco. But as your dad, I'd be even happier if you could achieve your dream. When that happens, you can take us to Hawaii!
...
When I first saw this scene, I always thought there was something missing.
Notice that her dad says "I'd be happier if you could achieve your dream," implying that she already wanted to become a hero before she desired to help her parents financially. This also implies that her dad was aware of that fact.
Having her original reason to become a hero be to make people happy by saving them makes sense. The reason why she doesn't mention it when she first discusses this with Izuku and Tenya is because her reasons must have shifted when she realized how hard her parents were struggling to support themselves. Causing her to decide that helping her parents was her top priority from then on.
Later on, when she witnesses Izuku going through immense pain and having a hard time controlling his rapidly evolving quirk(s)(which is revealed shortly after in the manga), she starts remembering her original reason to become a hero. Probably because she hated seeing Izuku in such a state, wanting to see him smile like he always does.
But that's just a theory, A MANGA THEORY! Thanks for reading! XD
