Orihime Inoue

Orihime Inoue is a female anime and manga character who features in Bleach.

Biography

Origin

Orihime Inoue.

Orihime Inoue (Japanese: 井上 織姫, Hepburn: Inoue Orihime) was a female human who was born as the child of a drunken father and a prostitute mother with her having an older brother named Sora Inoue. Her parents were always arguing and beating their children where her brother Sora came to believe that they would kill his sister. This led to him and Orihime running away from home when he turned 18 years old where he took his 3 year old sister with him. Upon running away, they settled in Karakura Town where he decided to raise his sister on his own from that point forwards.

At school, a distracted Ichigo Kurosaki collided with Orihime, knocking her to the ground. After he apologized, she acted strangely and began making excuses whilst fleeing the scene. The next day Orihime encountered Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki on the street. She states that she is uncertain of whether or not she was hit by a car and has a bruise on her leg caused by a Hollow. Ichigo offers to walk her home, but she declined. Later, Orihime has Tatsuki over for dinner, revealing more of her crush when she becomes distracted by the thought of Ichigo's offer to walk her home. After dinner, they were attacked by Acidwire, who pulled Orihime's soul from her body, leaving the Chain of Fate unbroken so that she initially did not die. Horrified, Orihime witnessed the Hollow attack Tatsuki, who was unable to see either of the spirits and becomes scared and confused. Ichigo attacked the Hollow but is flung from the building. Acidwire then reveals to Orihime that he was actually her brother Sora. Orihime was initially sceptical as she doesn't believe Sora would do such horrible things, but finally believes him when she sees his reaction to her hair-clips. As his fight with Ichigo continues, Orihime places herself between the pair, resulting in Acidwire wounding her. She embraced him and apologizes to her brother for causing all this. Sora then purified himself with Ichigo's Zanpakutō as Orihime bids him farewell.

Following the incident, both Tatsuki and Orihime's memories were modified by Rukia in an effort to erase the event from their minds. Unknow to her, the encounter with a Hollow led to the pair beginning to develop spiritual awareness. Ichigo later introduced her to Uryū Ishida when she once again encounters a Hollow when Uryū lures a massive number to Karakura Town for his challenge to Ichigo. She tries to get her friends away from danger, but the Hollow, Numb Chandelier, uses her ability to make various students attack her. As the students endanger Orihime, Tatsuki arrives to defend her from the attack. However, Tatsuki soon falls under Numb Chandelier's control and is forced to turn on Orihime. Seeing Tatsuki in tears brings back old memories of the days when Orihime was bullied for the color of her hair and when Tatsuki saved her, thus Orihime decides it is time for her to protect Tatsuki in return for their friendship. This desire forces her powers to manifest for the first time. Orihime then notices her Shun Shun Rikka flying over her head and with their guidance, she uses them to defeat the Hollow and heal Tatsuki. Afterwards, Kisuke Urahara takes her and Yasutora Sado to his shop, where he explained their powers to them. As she and Sado watch Ichigo and Uryū fight a Menos Grande, Orihime reveals that she had not forgotten what happened with Acidwire. After Rukia is arrested and taken to Soul Society, Orihime asks Ichigo why nobody seems to remember her. After Ichigo explains the situation to her, she asks him what he is planning to do about it. After he leaves, she swears not to let him get hurt. Along with Sado, she accepts an offer to begin training her abilities under the guidance of Yoruichi Shihōin, the cat. Orihime asks Uryū to train with them, but he declines. During their training, she manages to activate her powers after remembering how she felt about protecting Tatsuki. Orihime lied to Tatsuki about where she was going and spent her last day in Karakura Town with her and promised to return.

Soul Society

Travelling to Urahara's Shop, she along with Chad, Uryū and Ichigo were led by Yoruichi into the Dangai as they journeyed to Soul Society. Despite Yoruichi's warning, Orihime uses her shield against the Kōtotsu to save her friends, putting herself at risk. She heals Jidanbō Ikkanzaka after Gin Ichimaru prevents them from entering Seireitei. When they reach the home of Kūkaku Shiba, Orihime proves able to create the Kidō cannonball needed to break through the Shakonmaku fairly easily compared to the others. She sacrifices her own food for Ichigo when he experiences problems with the technique. When the group uses the cannonball to enter Seireitei, she is blown away with Uryū when the ball disintegrates. Despite using Santen Kesshun to break their fall, she is knocked unconscious. Dreaming of Ichigo, she wakes up to find that Uryū had applied first aid to her injured shoulder. Upon arriving in Soul Society, their group came to split up with Orihime wandering the city with Uryū. Orihime spends most of the mission in the Seireitei with Uryū, and is noticed early on. The two manage to avoid Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, but are confronted by Jirōbō Ikkanzaka of the 7th Division. Orihime proves attempts to help Uryū defeat him, but her lack of killing intent renders her offensive ability ineffective, resulting in Tsubaki being injured. Nonetheless, Uryū defeats him with ease, saving her. Although happy with her friend's powers, Orihime laments her own lack growth through training. The pair steal Shinigami uniforms on Orihime's influence after she defeats weaker members of the Gotei 13. She attracts the attention of Toshimori Umesada of the Ninth Division, resulting in Uryū protecting her from his advances before he is called off. The pair renew their search for Rukia, unaware that they are being stalked by the captain of the Twelfth Division.

Later on, Orihime attempted to heal Tsubaki's injuries but proves to have difficulty doing so. The pair are then confronted by Makizō Aramaki of the Eleventh Division, who sees through their disguises. They are saved by members of the Twelfth Division, but they abruptly explode. Warned beforehand by Uryū, Orihime manages to use Santen Kesshun just in time to protect him, herself, and Aramaki. Orihime sheds tears over being unable to save the Shinigami, confusing Aramaki. When Mayuri Kurotsuchi appears and expresses interest in her abilities, she refuses to run away to save herself. However, Uryū threatens Aramaki into running away with her in his arms to get her away from the impending battle between him and Kurotsuchi, although the latter initially tries to prevent his target from getting away. Orihime and Aramaki are found by Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi and brought to the Eleventh Division quarters where she is questioned by its members. The whole group, with Orihime traveling on Zaraki's back with a jealous Yachiru, run for the barracks where Uryū, Chad and Ganju Shiba are being held and break them out of jail. Orihime and her friends witness Kenpachi challenge Captains Sajin Komamura, Kaname Tōsen and their vice-captains to battle before being dragged off by Yachiru in order to find Ichigo.

Orihime identified Ichigo's huge Reiatsu when they arrive during the climatic battle between their friend and Byakuya Kuchiki. Orihime explains their reasons for rescuing Rukia to a confused Aramaki. She refuses to leave the area when Uryū advises her to do so, staying despite the danger. Following his battle, Ichigo hurts himself by colliding heads with Orihime and is reassured that she was not injured at all during the mission. She tearfully informs him that she regrets not being able to help him, but Ichigo thanks her anyway for her concern. Because she was not healed by the Fourth Division, she is the only person in the Seireitei who does not hear Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu’s message about Sōsuke Aizen’s betrayal. Aizen escapes as Orihime watches helplessly with her friends at the bottom of the hill, though Rukia survives the ordeal. Afterwards, she uses her abilities to heal Ichigo, drawing the Fourth Division's attention. Orihime stays in Soul Society for a week while the others recuperate following Aizen's escape. After receiving new clothes for the return home from Uryū, Orihime suspects that he has a crush on Rukia due to the dress he made her, before discovering that her Shinigami friend is not in her quarters. She reports this to Ichigo after attempting to search for Rukia herself. They both search for her, with Orihime climbing up to Byakuya's window and having to decline an invitation to a drink with Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto; this leads them to the Shiba household, where they find Rukia. When Rukia decided to stay with the Gotei 13, Orihime gave Uryū's dress to her anyway, despite her not needing it in Soul Society. While many Shinigami officers look on, Orihime entered the Senkaimon with her friends to return to the World of the Living.

Arrancar

On the first day of the new semester, Orihime greets Ichigo along with Chad and Uryū. She came to be ambushed by Chizuru Honshō until Tatsuki intervened to extract Orihime from the formers grasp. Orihime then noticed when Ichigo's badge alerts him to the presence of a Hollow nearby and along with Chad, fakes a bathroom trip to follow Ichigo. While there, Orihime lets the others know that Uryū had not come because he's not been himself, but realizes she should not have said anything. Orihime is distracted by a worried Ichigo as a new student arrives in class. The next day, Orihime arrives in school and greets both Ichigo and Shinji, who seems overwhelmed that she'd remembered his name and hugs her. This causes a ruckus with the other students who express jealousy and bewilderment, with Chizuru even threatening Shinji's life before Ichigo pulls him away. Noticing the change of behavior in Ichigo, Orihime and Chad confront Shinji after overhearing his conversation with Hiyori Sarugaki. They manage to get Hiyori's name out of her, but before they can learn anything else, Hiyori was carried away by Shinji despite Orihime's attempt to stop them.

Orihime and Chad later responded to a surge of spiritual pressure where they saw a tear into the world of the living by the Arrancar. These two were Ulquiorra Schiffer and Yammy Riyalgo who were member of the Espada that had come to probe the resistance they would experience in Karakura Town. They arrive just after Yammy absorbs many nearby souls, saving the lone survivor, Tatsuki. Initially, on Chad's advice, Orihime runs away with her weakened friend, but stops when she witnesses the brutality with which Yammy deals with him in retaliation. She feels guilt because Chad asked her to run even though he knew neither of them could match Yammy in strength. Seen as worthless, the Arrancar goes to attack Orihime as well only to be stopped by her Santen Kesshun ability, surprising them both as she begins to heal Chad's injuries. She uses her Koten Zanshun against Yammy, but the attack is ineffective and Tsubaki is destroyed. Ichigo arrives to prevent Yammy from hurting her and she laments that she was useless in battle once more. She is reassured by Ichigo's determination to end the battle. Orihime recognizes the new darkness in Ichigo's Reiatsu that wasn't there in Soul Society. She retreated once more, but returns when Ichigo starts to get beaten. This time, Yammy lands a hit on her, aggressively smashing her away from Ichigo as she tries to help. Orihime sustains massive injuries from the battle, but is saved by the arrival of Yoruichi and Urahara. When Yoruichi attempted to treat Orihime's injuries, Yammy tied to attack once more but they came to be protected by Urahara.

Five days later, Orihime came to return to school where she reassured her alarmed friends that she was alright despite her many bandages. When Ichigo showed up, appearing worried and conflicted, her failure to put him at ease upsets her. Meanwhile, the clash with the Arrancar prompted the Soul Society to send a group of Shinigami to help defend the Human World, with Rukia among them. Recognizing Ichigo's guilt, she drags him towards Orihime and forces him to apologize for his inability to protect her and for his depressing behavior. Orihime appears shocked at her return and later glad as Ichigo vows to get stronger to protect her, welcoming Rukia back in the process. While the return of Rukia helps to cheer up a depressed Ichigo, Orihime becomes conflicted with gratefulness and jealousy, feelings she expressed to the memorial picture she has of Sora in her living room, seeming upset. Meanwhile, the other Shinigami decide they can't stay at Ichigo's so Rangiku decides to stay with Orihime and tries to persuade her captain to come with her. Although initially shocked, Orihime lets Rangiku stay at her house, exciting the Shinigami. Later on, while Rangiku is in the bath, Orihime tells her of her jealousy, confiding in her her feelings of inadequacy. Rangiku comforts her, calling her a fool for feeling that way, and advises her not to be jealous of Rukia nor to let such feelings get the better of her as she is equally as important to Ichigo as she is. They had fun after Orihime cooks and surprisingly whilst Rangiku enjoyed her food.

During this time, Karakura Town came to be invaded again by an Arrancar named Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and his subordinates. Orihime was left to look after Rangiku's Gigai so that she won't interrupt the battle. Instead, she tried to run to her guests, but was held back by the Mod-Soul inside of Rangiku's Gigai. Following Hitsugaya's defeat of his opponent, Rangiku rushes to get Orihime's aid in healing him. Later on, while healing Rukia, she could not help, but notice Ichigo watch on in concern, sadly closing her eyes afterwards. Rukia comments on how greatly Orihime has improved her powers, given the speed with which she healed her, though Orihime denied this. After the second assault on the Human World, Orihime becomes a little gloomy wondering if Ichigo is alright, but knows that he will be fine because, like Rukia, she can sense his Reiatsu if she concentrates. She notices that everyone seems gloomy, including Tatsuki and decides she needs to spend some time with her. However, her neighbor pulls her out of these thoughts when she is informed that her guests have brought something large into her living room. She stands enthralled by the large screen they brought into the room as the Commander of Soul Society finally informs them that they've figured out the true agenda of Sōsuke Aizen. She tries to leave what she considers to be an important meeting, but was stopped by Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, who states that she should stay as the matter involves Humans as well. At the mention of the Ōken Orihime becomes confused until Rangiku explains that Soul Society has a King and that he lives in an alternate dimension from the Souls and Shinigami. She is also horrified to learn that the creation of the Ōken requires over a hundred thousand Human souls. However, she further learns that Aizen intends to use Karakura Town and its civilians to create the key, thus wiping most of them out. Yamamoto then entrusts with her the job of telling her people about this revelation so they can start preparing for the worst in the war to come.

She is able to track down Ichigo at the Visored base, despite it being shielded by a barrier. She is then able to show her great intellect by deducing the barrier's abilities and how powerful it is. Furthermore, she manages to pass through the Visored's barrier without much effort, greatly surprising them when she arrives and is just a Human. This feat amazes and impresses the Visored Hachigen Ushōda, who created the barrier. She manages to inform Ichigo of Aizen's plans and is amazed to find that he is with the Visored in an attempt to get stronger to stop him. She also marvels at how strong he is getting mentally and how his Reiatsu doesn't feel as dark nor as scary anymore.

She continued her training with Rukia in the Soul Society at the old training grounds of the Thirteenth Division. However, Karakura Town experienced a third invasion from the Arrancar with the Soul Society informing Captain Ukitake who alerted Orihime and Rukia.

Heuco Mundo

Inside her cell, she was approached by Loly and Menoly where the pair decided to take their jealousy out on her once again. The pair began to beat her and were looking to kill her for the attention she had received from Aizen. This was interrupted by Grimmjow who effortlessly knocked aside the two female Arrancar with him critically injuring Menoly. He then decided to take Orihime away as part of his own plan but she first intended to heal Loly and Menoly of their wounds. Grimmjow then took Inoue with him as he went to find Ichigo in order to continue his fight with Kurosaki where he wanted Orihime to heal the shinigami of his injuries. This was because Grimmjow wanted a fair fight where he would fight Ichigo at his full strength and to defeat him. At first, Orihime refused as she knew that Grimmjow only wanted to heal Ichigo to fight him but Kurosaki asked her to heal him as he intended to fight Jaegerjaquez as well.

Thousand Year Blood War

Sometime afterwards, she came to marry Ichigo and later gave birth to their son who they named Kazui Kurosaki.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Orihime Inoue was a female human of average height who had brown eyes and long, waist-length, burnt orange hair. Her hair is worn long in honor of the promise Tatsuki Arisawa once made to protect her.

Orihime was shown to be friendly, humorous, sensitive and kind person. Her warm and bubbly personality meant that she was very sweet who tended to be a good friend to almost everyone. She believed it to be possible for people to care about one another and to place their hearts as close together as they can manage to the point that they were one.

She tended to come off as naïve and somewhat clueless which was at odds with her exceptionally high marks in school. This also led to her tendency to rush into situations without thinking which sometimes lead to embarrassing or even dangerous consequences.

Orihime has a tendency to rush into situations without thinking, sometimes leading to embarrassing or even dangerous consequences. She tends to have an overactive imagination and gets carried away thinking of implausible scenarios, such as initially fantasizing a date with Ichigo, later ending into her becoming a boxing champion prior to being shot. Her imagination led her to wanting to do many things in her life as she said she wanted to be a teacher, an astronaut and even own a cake shop. However, she often lamented that the sheer number of things she wanted meant she wished she could live her life five times over or be in five different places at once. Despite that, she remarked that though she wanted to do different things she would always fall in love with the same person.

She had an older brother by the name of Sora Inoue (井上昊, Inoue Sora) who was responsible for raising her.

In fact, she wore her hair long in honor of the promise Tatsuki Arisawa once made to protect her.

Originally, she developed a crush on Ichigo Kurosaki (黒崎 一護, Kurosaki Ichigo) after he saved her life. This led to her becoming his close friend where her feelings developed into an unconditional love for him. At one point, she cam to be jealous of the relationship that Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki shared with one another despite her friendship and admiration of both of them. By adulthood, she came to marry Ichigo Kurosaki and in that time she had their child who was named Kazui Kurosaki (黒崎一勇, Kurosaki Kazui).

Powers and abilities

Originally, Orihime Inoue was an ordinary human being with no special inherent abilities. Her cooking style can be described as very bad, disgusting, or more often strange to the point that aside from Rangiku Matsumoto, no one would think it delectable, and became a running joke.

After her encounter with Acidwire, she came to begin to develop spiritual awareness.

She came to be skilled in detecting spiritual energy allowing her to sense Hollows and battles at significant distances. Orihime was even able to sense Reiatsu of people that were within protective barriers.

Her spirit energy cam to manifest in the Shun Shun Rikka (盾舜六花, Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield; Viz "Six Princess Shielding Flowers") that was a six-petal flower-shaped hairpin given to her by her brother. It consisted of six sprits that resided within the hairpins each of which were two petals on the clip when inactive. She had four techniques that use the spirits in combination with a spirit chant and the technique name. Only spiritually aware beings could see them. They resided in her hair-clips which were shaped like six-petaled flowers, each fairy had two points on a given clip when inactive. Through various combinations of the six fairies, Orihime had the power to reject fate by denying or undoing events in various forms. This power depending on the combination could be used for either attack, defense, or healing.

When using her powers, she said the words "I reject" (私は拒絶する, watashi wa kyozetsu suru). Among the techniques known to her included:

• Santen Kesshun (三天結盾, Three Sacred Links Shield) : a defensive technique that created a shield between the enemy and the target which repelled any attacks against it.
• Sōten Kisshun (双天帰盾, Twin Sacred Return Shield) : a healing technique that surrounded a target in energy that returned it to its former, complete state. Rather than heal, it rejected, reversed, and reconstructed phenomena that had occurred even those that Orihime had not witnessed.
• Koten Zanshun (孤天斬盾, Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield) :
• Shiten Kōshun (四天抗盾, Shield of Four Heavens' Resistance) :

She later underwent basic training in Kidō with Kūkaku Shiba where Orihime demonstrated a natural talent for precise spiritual energy control as she quickly mastered the technique.

Notes

• Orihime Inoue was created by Tite Kubo where she featured in the setting of the Bleach universe.

In other media

Television

• In Bleach, Orihime Inoue appeared in the setting of the anime television series adaptation where she was voiced by Japanese actress Yuki Matsuoka and by English actress Stephanie Sheh in the dub. An anime original story was the Bount Arc where Orihime returned to school with her friends, where Lieutenant Renji Abarai turned up outside in a Gigai. Later that evening, she is visited at home by what appeared to be her dead brother reassuring her, though he acts strangely. Her friends arrive in time to witness her being sucked into doors that bear a striking resemblance to the Gates of Hell. The next day everyone seems to have forgotten her. 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 mustache, glasses, and top hat who reveals himself as Kurōdo. 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 was then sucked through the gates, leaving the group down to three. They discover that the culprits are three modified souls who return Orihime and Chad. Urahara reveals that he was behind the whole thing to test Ichigo and his group. After Urahara reveals the loss of Uryū's powers, Yoruichi arrives to tell them of the Bounts and how they might be potential targets. Orihime is paired with the Mod-Soul, Kurōdo, in the form of a rabbit bag. The Mod-Souls detect a Bount so she and Chad run to be confronted by Ryō Utagawa, who merely walks away from them. They arrive to the battle after he takes Yoshino Sōma. Orihime excitedly greets Rukia again. After bringing Rukia up to speed with the situation, Orihime continues to help out against the Bounts. She is at the hospital with the others when they are attacked by Hō and Ban, who are eventually defeated with the aid of Ganju. She helps rescue Uryū from Kariya's mansion. When attacked by Yoshi, she teams up with Rukia and Kurōdo to fight her. Despite their efforts they can't defeat her and are ambush by a second Bount, Mabashi. He uses his doll, Ritz, to take over Rukia and force the two of them to battle one another. Orihime soon overcomes her fears and uses her healing ability to heal and rejects the doll from Rukia. Later, Orihime arrives at the Bount's cave with her friends, where they struggle with Ugaki's doll, Gesell. She stays behind with Chad in order to heal both Rukia and Rangiku, who were injured during the struggle. Orihime and her friends chase the Bounts to Soul Society. After discussing the invasion, they all move out to search for the Bounts in Rukongai. Orihime and Ichigo, after sensing that Rukia was in trouble, arrive on the scene just after Byakuya saves her from another attack by Yoshi. She witnesses the explosions that damage the Seireitei. They all wait for Rukia to recover at Byakuya's luxurious home. Orihime calms Ichigo down when he and Byakuya get into a confrontation over their presence in Soul Society before she thanks the noble for helping Rukia. She and Ichigo tire themselves out searching for Bounts all day with no luck and later collapse at Kūkaku's house, confused. She enjoys riding the boars as they use them in order to go out searching once more. Later, the group gets information on the Bounts’ whereabouts, but Ichigo leaves when Kariya begins fighting with Byakuya. She is there when the group is confronted by Maki Ichinose, who tries to wipe out the group using his light abilities, rendering their attacks ineffective. They are saved by the interference of Kenpachi, who takes over the fight and allows them to rush to stop Kariya from entering the Seireitei. They arrive at the gate too late and find that Jidanbō has been injured by Kariya and his Bounts. She heals the giant enough for him to open the gate, but upon seeing him struggle with his injuries, Orihime decides to stay behind and heal him more. She tosses Kurōdo towards her friends so he can aid in their search. Later on, Orihime meets up again with Ichigo and the others, and heals both Chad and Uryū's injuries.

Appearances

• Bleach:

External Links

• Bleach Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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