I Personally Believe Himiko Toga Truly Represents Growing Up As A Girl Who Doesn't Actually Fit The Mold

I personally believe Himiko Toga truly represents growing up as a girl who doesn't actually fit the mold of what society expects from being born as one; the refusal to be objectified and subsequently abused to feel obligated to fit in, despite the cost of rebelling.

It's alright when Himiko hasn't developed her Quirk—her sense of personality and identity—because her parents can play dress up with her as they please. Himiko can just be anything they want her to be.

She has been taught being cute is being human and this link is repeated over and over again when we hear about her. Her parents punish her individuality by calling her a monster, denying any possible humanity and forcing her to suppress herself; Himiko cannot just be anyone she wants to be.

This idea is stressed when she is paired up against Ochako over and over again throughout the series.

Ochako is the perfect example of what a girl should be like. She is selfless, innocent, kind and she buries deep down, to an unhealthy extent, all possible ugly things—the ideal, damaging image of what a girl should be like. When she is in love or jealous or even sad, she refuses to let these things show until she is alone as opposed to Himiko, who has learned to let herself go (with a cost, of course.)

What does Himiko mean when she says she wants to be like Ochako? We understand that she literally wants to become somebody else because that is the way she loves, but has Himiko ever loved herself?

In the final battle, Himiko takes the blood of Ochako only to offer all of her blood back. The detail is, when she does this, she keeps parts of her actual features this time. The lightning is used specifically on that side of her face, because Himiko isn't hiding herself anymore under someone else's face in order to feel loved.

She learns to fully love herself because Ochako, someone who has grown on the side of normality, fights to let her know what she means for her. She is ready to take more than one stab wound just to reach Himiko and let her know that she envies her smile. Her freedom. Ochako may have always been accepted on the surface, but she now validates Himiko's way of living however she pleases and even claims to want to have the liberty she does.

And Himiko allows her (and eventually literally pushes her) to live however she wants to as well, freeing Ochako from all the previous expectations she was once held back with too.