ochako’s already been uncomfortable under the male label her entire life. even as a kid, she wasn’t fond of things that were gendered male, wasn’t fond of hanging out with boys ( though was forced to hang out with them more because. you know. society. ) and all in all wasn’t fond of being a boy. she tried to pay no attention to this however since she thought she was just being stupid.
eventually she finds out about being trans through one of her friends even if it was in a mocking manner. it wasn’t a first time, since she’s heard other stories from her parents herself, but isn’t entirely sure about their stance on it. she does enough research more specifically towards books and other news headlines upon it and has the idea of oh. maybe i’m the same.
of course, transitioning was kind of tough on her knowing her financial status and everything. with the aforementioned, she was hesitant to mention it to her parents as well, half of it because she was afraid of what her mom would say ( since trans people were treated differently in the ph in comparison to japan ) AND the fact that they wouldn’t have the budget for her transition. surprisingly, they reacted positively, and they were very much happy that she told them sooner. it took a while for them to get used to referring to her as ‘their daughter’ than ‘their son’ but slowly and surely it went okay.
in terms of transitioning, ochako was only able to get on estrogen for a while before stopping completely because... as i said, lack of budget. most of her clothes were hand-me-downs from her mom and new clothes only came sporadically yet she insisted that the old ones would suffice.
all in all in bnha’s current canon, she was pretty much passing for her age. since she did have to get a little more buffer for her training and whatnot, she’s a bit more bigger than girls in her class but no one really questioned it. her voice isn’t as high-pitched in canon: it’s a bit deeper but she does take voice training to make her sound more of a girl! misgendering only served as a problem sometimes and she wouldn’t hesitate on correcting people.
i’ve mentioned it previously but 1a as a whole is aware of her trans identity: so are her teachers! they all support her lots and she’s very thankful for that.
