Orihime Inoue
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| Bleach character | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Orihime Inoue | |
| Occupation | High School student |
| Birthday | September 3[1] |
| Height | 157 cm[1] (5' 1¾") |
| Weight | 45 kg[1] (99 lb) |
| Blood type | BO[1] |
| Theme song | "T'en va pas" by Elsa |
| Seiyū | Yuki Matsuoka |
| Voice actor | Stephanie Sheh |
Orihime Inoue (井上 織姫 Inoue Orihime?) is a major character in the manga and anime series Bleach. She is a classmate and friend of Ichigo Kurosaki, the protagonist of the series. Like many other friends of Ichigo, she quickly develops spiritual powers of her own after Ichigo becomes a shinigami.[2]
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[edit] Character outline
Orihime Inoue has long orange-brown hair which she wears with the bangs behind her ears and hairpins. She does not remove her hairpins, except to sleep (she is seen without them in episode 64 when she wakes up), as they are worn in memory of her brother,[3] while her hair is worn long in honor of the promise Tatsuki Arisawa once made to protect her.[4] Her large breasts are occasionally made the subject of jokes in the series. She also has an amazingly hard head, which has injured Ishida, Chad, and Ichigo. Orihime has brown eyes in color pictures of the manga, but bluish gray eyes in the anime.
Orihime is friendly, sensitive, and kind. She comes off as naive and rather clueless, which is at odds with her consistently high marks in school.[5] Apparently, she is hopeless when it comes to technology. One of the members of the Handicrafts' Club remarks that she is not smart enough to use a cell phone, which is why she does not have one. Additionally, thanks to training from Tatsuki, Orihime can physically fight at the first degree black belt level in karate.
Orihime cooks and eats strange food at home, although she also likes some normal food. Aside from Rangiku Matsumoto and possibly Tessai Tsukabishi, no one shares Orihime's tastes. Her favorite food is red bean paste, and she likes putting butter on sweet potatoes.[6] She moves houses in the middle of the manga after she is evicted for unrevealed reasons, she stayed at a hotel during the move, and carried a reversible sleeping bag around for a week to make a joke about her eviction.
Orihime has a tendency to rush into situations without thinking, sometimes leading to embarrassing consequences. At one point, the schoolgirls ask Rukia if she has feelings for Ichigo. When Rukia denies any such thing, Orihime is disappointed that Rukia does not share her sentiments, because if she had, then it would be two girls against one boy, which of course makes no sense.[7] She also tends to have an overactive imagination and gets carried away thinking of implausible scenarios (such as portraying herself as a futuristic and apparently highly destructive robot in an assignment asking "How do you see yourself in the future?", when the question refers to what occupation one wishes or believes they will have).[8]
Orihime has also demonstrated that she is perceptive, mostly when it comes to Ichigo Kurosaki. She is in love with Ichigo, and in both the manga and anime her feelings only become more evident as time goes on. She has revealed these feelings both to Rangiku Matsumoto and to Ichigo himself, though he was asleep at the time. She also has the uncanny ability to detect Ichigo by scent and sense his spiritual pressure, even when masked by the vizard.
Through her expanding role in the manga, Orihime has become a more complex character than her earlier archetype suggested. Where in the beginning of the manga Orihime was more happy and goofy, the current manga arc deals with her feelings of uselessness and inner turmoils that had not been addressed previously. Her character being featured along with female leads from other Weekly Shonen Jump series recently also suggests her possible role as a second female lead.[9]
[edit] School
Orihime scores the highest marks in school after Uryū Ishida and Ryō Kunieda (creating a rather laughable remark from one of her classmates: "It's not fair, she's got boobs and brains!"). Despite her intelligence, she appears to lack "street smarts." She is also a member of the Handicrafts' Club with Uryū and apparently likes to invent very ridiculous sports to play with Tatsuki (like "baseccer," a combination of baseball and soccer much like kickball or soccer-baseball except they use a bat to hit the soccer ball instead of their foot). Like Chad and Ishida, she is in the same class as Ichigo. She is frequently in the company of Tatsuki, her best friend and a childhood friend of Ichigo's.
[edit] History
Orihime lives by herself in Karakura, where the story takes place, and is supported by relatives living elsewhere. Previously, she had lived with her older brother, Sora,[10] who was fifteen years older than her. She and her brother were raised by a drunk father and a cheating mother, who always argued and beat their children to vent off steam. It is unknown if her parents are still alive.
When Sora turned eighteen, he ran away with Orihime, who was three years old, and raised her since. For six years, Orihime and Sora lived in harmony despite the fact that Orihime was bullied in school because of her long hair. One day, Sora gave Orihime a pair of hairpins. However, Orihime refused to wear them because she said they were childish. On the same day, Sora was killed in a car accident and died in the Kurosaki clinic. Orihime has worn the hairpins ever since. A year after Sora died, Orihime met Tatsuki who defended her from the bullies. They have been best friends ever since.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Early story
Orihime first appears as a high school student who has a crush on Ichigo despite her friend Tatsuki's disapproval. Her first exposure to the spiritual world comes when her deceased brother, Sora Inoue, becomes the hollow Acidwire. Driven by rage, he attacks Orihime and Tatsuki (whom Orihime had invited over for dinner), knocking Orihime's soul out of her body. In spirit form, she witnesses the battle between Sora and Ichigo. While Ichigo manages to hold him off, the battle does not end until Orihime's intervention that results in Sora stabbing himself with Ichigo's zanpakutō, purifying himself in the process. She is able to bid Sora a safe trip, something she never had the chance to say on the day of his death.
While both Tatsuki and Orihime's memories are modified by Rukia, this event enables them to start developing spiritual awareness. They are further affected when Ichigo helps Don Kanonji with a hollow on his TV show, an event both of them had attended. She once again encounters a hollow when Uryū lures a massive number to Karakura Town for his challenge to Ichigo. The hollow, Numb Chandelier, uses her ability to control various students and forces them to attack Orihime. When Tatsuki tries to fend off the assaults and protect Orihime, she is controlled as well. Seeing Tatsuki in tears, Orihime decides it is time for her to protect Tatsuki in return for their friendship. This desire transforms her flower-shaped hairpins into six fairy-like spirits. These six spirits, who call themselves "Shun Shun Rikka," briefly explain their powers for Orihime, which she uses to defeat the hollow.
Afterward, Kisuke Urahara takes her and Yasutora Sado to his shop. There, he explains to the two about their powers and takes them to witness Ichigo and Uryū's fight against a Menos Grande. During their spectating, Orihime reveals that although Rukia modified her memory of the earlier incident with Sora, Orihime had never really forgotten it; rather, she refused to remember it because she couldn't bear to see Ichigo and her brother fight each other over her.
[edit] Soul Society arc
After Rukia is taken back to Soul Society, Orihime decides to join Ichigo on his rescue mission, along with Chad, Uryū, and Yoruichi Shihouin as their guide. For the majority of their mission, Orihime is grouped with Uryū. Compared to the others, the two are fairly stealthy about their movements, attracting attention a total of three significant times while the others are fighting at basically every turn.
Shortly after arriving, they fight Jirōbō Ikkanzaka of the 7th Division, who continually targets Orihime in favor of the much stronger Uryū. Uryū dispatches him (non-fatally) fairly easily. Orihime then gets the idea to steal a pair of shinigami uniforms to blend in. When two possible candidates from the 12th Division show up, Uryū's hesitation causes him to forget to help subdue them, so he merely watches as Orihime does so single-handedly. She later mentions that Tatsuki trained her to fight at an equivalent level of a black belt in karate. However, when they come face to face with the captain of 12th Division, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Uryū forces another shinigami, Makizō Aramaki of 11th Division, to carry Orihime away.
Later, with the help from 11th Division captain Kenpachi Zaraki and lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi, she is able to reunite with Chad, Uryū, and Ganju Shiba. While they manage to save Rukia, they are unable to stop Sōsuke Aizen, the mastermind behind the entire scheme, from departing for Hueco Mundo.
After several days of recovering, the group decides to head back for human world. However, Rukia decides to stay in Soul Society. Respecting her wishes, they return without her.
[edit] Bount arc
In the anime, Orihime returns to school where she finally starts to talk to Tatsuki Arisawa again. During that morning, Renji Abarai turns up outside in a gigai calling for Ichigo, who runs out of class. Later that evening, Orihime is visited by the spirit of her dead brother, who assures her that he got to Soul Society safely and he will never become a hollow again. Meanwhile, Renji's phone picks up a spiritual anomaly near Orihime's house and he informs Ichigo of this. Chad and Uryū also sense this. Back at Orihime's house, her brother starts to behave strangely and suggests going outside. When Renji, Ichigo, Chad and Ishida arrive, there is a huge door (which somewhat resembles the Gates of Hell) floating outside Orihime's house. She is then sucked in while three shadowy figures stand on the rooftops laughing. The next day, everybody at school, including Tatsuki, seems to have lost their memories of her existence.
The shadowy figures rope Ichigo and the others into playing their "games" to get their friend back, eventually kidnapping Chad instead of returning Orihime. One of the shadowy figures impersonates Orihime beforehand, and turns into a tall thin man with a moustache, glasses, and top hat who reveals himself as Kuroud. Next, a thin teenager with a zipper hood appears and introduces himself as Noba, and finally comes the girl who was phoning them, named Ririn. Chad is then sucked through the gates leaving the group down to three.
After some more games, the three strangers are revealed to be modified souls in gigai forms. They return both Orihime and Chad, but insist that one of their group has been replaced by an imposter in the process. The next game involves them finding the imposter over the course of the school day as their classmates disappear. The imposter is eventually revealed to be Chad. The final challenge involves rescuing Chad. Ichigo eventually realizes that Urahara is behind the whole thing.
Afterwards, Urahara reveals to the group that Uryū has lost his powers. Yoruichi appears and tells them that Bounts have appeared. Urahara explains to the group about the Bounts and because they have high spirit powers, they might be targeted. He also tells them that the three mod souls have Bount detectors inside them. He then pairs Orihime up with Claude who takes him home in pill form and puts him into a rabbit bag. As she is admiring him, Kon, Chad, and Noba (inside a turtle plushie) turn up. As they are talking, Noba and Kuroud detect a Bount and the two run off to stop it from absorbing somebody's soul. The find that they are too late and are confronted by Ryō Utagawam who then walks off. They sense Ichigo is in trouble and run to find him just after Ryō Udagawa has carried off Yoshino Sōma. Orihime realises Rukia Kuchiki has come back to the real world and she invites her to come to a restaurant while Ichigo and Chad exchange confused looks.
After the three bring Rukia up to date with the situation, they go back to Ichigo's house and talk, during the middle of which Renji barges in. Orihime then continues to help Ichigo and the group fight the Bounts and help rescue Uryū, who the Bounts have taken a liking to and claim they need. Orihime later has to fight Rukia, who is possessed by the Bount Mabashi's doll, Ritz. Though reluctant to harm either Rukia or the Bount, Rukia's momentary ability to overpower the doll gives Orihime enough motivation to free Rukia from the doll's control.
Orihime later accompanies Ichigo and the group to Soul Society after the Bounts go there to get revenge for their creation. In Soul Society, the group split up to search for the Bounts in Rukongai. While searching, Orihime finds Ichigo. While they are speculating over where the Bounts might be, they sense Rukia is in trouble. The two of them arrive to help Rukia in the aftermath of her fight with Yoshi and accompany Byakuya Kuchiki back to his house, where they are told Rukia's life is not in danger.
Later, the group get information of the Bounts' whereabouts, but they get split up when Ichigo and Uryū sense Jin Kariya, who is fighting Byakuya Kuchiki, and separately go to investigate. Orihime and Chad later reappear when Maki Ichinose tries to stop the group (which now includes Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Renji Abarai and Rangiku Matsumoto). Ichinose tries to kill the group but Kenpachi Zaraki soon shows up and engages Ichinose. The group then return to Seireitei, where they find gatekeeper Jidanbō injured after losing to the Bounts. Orihime then decides to stay behind and heal Jidanbō. Later on, Orihime meets up again with Ichigo and the others, and heals both Chad and Uryū's injuries.
[edit] Arrancar arc
The group's return marks the beginning of the school semester. However, the arrival of a new student, Shinji Hirako, brings along many troubling issues. Noticing the change of behavior in Ichigo, Orihime and Chad confront Shinji after overhearing his conversation with Hiyori Sarugaki. Before they can learn anything, Hiyori is carried away by Shinji.
Shortly after, the human world is invaded by two arrancar, Ulquiorra and Yammy. Orihime and Chad manage to save Tatsuki, who was present when the two invaders arrived. Ichigo arrives shortly after, but is then neutralized when his inner hollow interferes with the battle. The three of them sustain massive injuries, with the spirit for Orihime's attack ability, Tsubaki, completely destroyed. They are saved by the arrival of Yoruichi and Urahara.
This event prompts Soul Society to send a group of shinigami to help defend the human world, Rukia among them. While the return of Rukia helps to cheer up a depressed Ichigo, Orihime becomes conflicted with gratefulness and jealousy. After talking with Rangiku Matsumoto, who decides to stay with Orihime, she becomes positive again, with desire to grow stronger.
After the second assault on the human world, this time by Grimmjow Jaggerjack and five other arrancar, Soul Society finally figures out the true agenda of Sōsuke Aizen and requests Orihime deliver this information to the human defenders. She is able to track down Ichigo, who is at the vizard base, and manages to pass through the vizards' barrier without much effort. This feat amazes and impresses the vizard Hachigen Ushōda, who created the barrier.
Orihime is then summoned to meet Urahara at his shop. There, she is asked to not participate in the coming battle. Though part of the reason is Orihime's lack of combat ability, Urahara is really trying to prevent her from attracting Aizen's interest. Discouraged briefly, Orihime regains her confidence after talking to Rukia. She is further helped when Hachigen restores Tsubaki for her. She then joins Rukia in her training in Soul Society.
Unfortunately, Orihime's ability does spur Aizen's attention. Upon seeing footage brought back by Ulquiorra, he decides to have her captured. A third invasion of the human world is ordered, intending to lure Orihime out. The plan is a success, with Ulquiorra intercepting Orihime as she passes through the tunnel. Threatened with the lives of those she cares the most, she has no choice but to comply.
Orihime is given a chance to bid farewell to one person, and she uses the chance to make a tearful love confession to Ichigo, even attempting to kiss him, while he is asleep. Before she leaves the human world, she writes some seemingly irrelevant things in a note book.
[edit] Hueco Mundo arc
As she arrives in Las Noches, the fortress of the arrancar, Orihime is ordered by Aizen to demonstrate her power to the rest of the arrancar by restoring Grimmjow's missing arm. After she recreates it, Grimmjow also asks her to restore his number six tattoo, identifying him as one of the Espada. Upon completion of this task, Grimmjow butchers Luppi to get his rank back, much to Orihime's horror.
Orihime is assigned to a modest room as Ichigo, Ishida, and Chad attempt to rescue her. She receives a new wardrobe similar to that of an arrancar and is informed by Ulquiorra that Ichigo and his group (which now includes Rukia, Renji, and a trio of hollows) are attempting a rescue on her behalf. She appears to have converted to Aizen's side and is ordered by him to repair the Orb of Distortion, which was damaged via the excessive transformations of various hollows into arrancar, by reversing time and returning it to the moment before Aizen started using it. However, this proves to be false, as she resolves to destroy the orb with her powers by erasing its existence altogether.
As Ichigo's group separately make their way through Las Noches, she senses Chad's defeat at the hands of Noitora as Ulquoirra walks in to her room. As he tries to convince her to eat, she repeatedly insists that Chad is still alive. Frustrated, Ulquoirra tells her that all her friends are eventually going to be defeated and that only fools come into Hueco Mundo with their powers untested. Orihime responds with a slap across Ulquoirra's face. Ulquiorra leaves as Orihime breaks down and starts crying.
[edit] Powers
Orihime's power manifests itself as the Shun Shun Rikka (盾舜六花, lit. Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield; Six Princess Shielding Flowers in the English anime), six fairy-like creatures that reside in her hair-clips (shaped like six-petaled flowers, each fairy is two points on a given clip) when inactive. Through various combinations of the six fairies, Orihime has the power to reject fate by denying or undoing events in various forms. This power can be used for attack, defense, or healing (depending on the combination). Orihime's mood directly influences the effectiveness of her powers. Feelings such as doubt or worry make them weaker, while conviction makes them stronger. At their height, her powers resembles those of a deity in strength.
Orihime's powers initially manifested during the duel between Ichigo and Ishida while trying to protect her friend Tatsuki from Numb Chandelier. She was trained by Yoruichi Shihouin in their usage before attempting to rescue Rukia Kuchiki from being executed in Soul Society. Curiously, Orihime's spiritual energy and powers resemble those of the vizard Hachigen Ushōda. Orihime mainly functions in a healing capacity, due to the nature of her powers. Despite her ability to inflict lethal damage, she is a pacifist and will only harm opponents to save someone's life.
The fairies are separate manifestations of Orihime's spirit, each with its own unique appearance and personality, and each named after a flower:
- Ayame (あやめ, lit. iris)
- Baigon (梅巌, lit. solemn ume)
- Hinagiku (火無菊, lit. daisy)1
- Lily (リリィ)
- Shun'ō (舜桜, lit. althea + cherry blossom)
- Tsubaki (椿鬼, lit. camellia)
[edit] Techniques
Orihime's techniques involve incantations manipulating the Shun Shun Rikka into three different groups. Though Orihime initially needed to chant an incantation to use her techniques, further training has rendered this unnecessary. Her incantation consists of voicing the names of the members involved, followed by the technique name and the phrase "I reject" (私は拒絶する watashi wa kyozetsu suru?), a reference to the nature of her powers.
Santen Kesshun (三天結盾, lit. Three Sacred Links Shield) is Orihime's defensive technique. The incantation arranges Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon into a triangle, forming a barrier capable of repelling anything on the far side. Because the barrier rejects negative events, it can also function as an airbag of sorts, allowing Orihime and anyone else nearby to survive a potentially lethal fall unharmed.
Sōten Kisshun (双天帰盾, lit. Twin Sacred Return Shield) is Orihime's healing technique, though it goes well beyond simple healing. The incantation summons Ayame and Shun'ō to form a half-oval barrier around whatever or whomever Orihime wishes. While active, the barrier repels all negative events inflicted upon anything within the barrier. No matter how extensive the damage may be (whether used on living beings or inanimate objects), the barrier can restore it to full working order by reversing space and time around the damaged area, making it as if the object was never damaged in the first place. This is the aspect of her power that piques Sōsuke Aizen's interest in her since, in Aizen's words, she "violates the realm of gods."
Koten Zanshun (孤天斬盾, lit. Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield)[11] is Orihime's offensive technique. The incantation summons Tsubaki, who forms a thin barrier to either side of himself. By flying at an enemy, the barrier can reject anything to either side of it, thus cutting through enemies like a sword. While Tsubaki can cut through basically anything, Orihime's general dislike of combat and hesitance to use lethal force degrades the effectiveness of the technique making him easy to counter and equally easy to injure.
[edit] Trivia
- Her given name is taken from an ancient Japanese fairy tale which the festival Tanabata is based on. On a cover in volume one of the manga, Orihime's name is put, in English, as "Vega" which also links in with the Tanabata story. Vega, a star in the northern hemisphere, is the star Orihime (the princess from the Tanabata legend) is identified with.
- Orihime has gained minor fame even among non-fans thanks to her starring in the viral Internet Flash cartoon Loituma Girl. The cartoon consists of a short looped animation of Orihime twirling a "leek" (specifically, a negi, or Welsh onion) while Ievan Polkka plays. The four frames of animation come from the anime's second episode.
- According to Tite Kubo, Orihime's face is the hardest to draw, tied with Ichigo's.[12]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Kubo, Tite (2006). Bleach Official Character Book SOULs. Tokyo, Japan: Shueisha, 38. ISBN 4-08-874079-3
- ^ Kubo, Tite (2002). Japanese version; Bleach volume 5. Tokyo, Japan: Shueisha, pages 163-184. ISBN 4-08-873335-5
- ^ Bleach Official Character Book SOULs, page 41.
- ^ Kubo, Tite (2002). Japanese version; Bleach volume 5, pages 159-162.
- ^ Kubo, Tite (2002). Japanese version; Bleach volume 5, page 9.
- ^ Bleach manga, Volume 2, page 188
- ^ Kubo, Tite (2002). Japanese version; Bleach volume 6. Tokyo, Japan: Shueisha, pages 173-178. ISBN 4-08-873366-5
- ^ Kubo, Tite (2002). Japanese version; Bleach volume 3. Tokyo, Japan: Shueisha, page 19. ISBN 4-08-873275-8
- ^ "Gathering of Heroines". Weekly Shonen Jump 2006-36+37: Cover.
- ^ Bleach Official Character Book SOULs, page 40, states that Orihime's brother is named Sora. In the official English manga translation by VIZ Media, he is named Kakei. At the time of the publication of the manga translation, Orihime's brother had no name, so VIZ created one for Orihime's brother. The official character book first appeared in February 2006.[1]
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 43, page 15.
- ^ Weekly Shonen Jump interview, year 2004, issue 42.
