Orihime Inoue

Orihime Inoue (井上 織姫) is a fictional character and major figure in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. She is a classmate and friend of Ichigo Kurosaki, the main character of the series. Like many other friends of Ichigo, she quickly develops spiritual powers of her own after Ichigo becomes a shinigami. Her given name is taken from a Japanese legend that the festival Tanabata is based on. On a chapter cover in Volume 1 of the manga, the word Vega, a star that symbolizes Orihime the weaver princess from the Tanabata legend, is printed to show the connection. She ranked 8th in the most recent Shonen Jump poll, surpassing Izuru Kira by 123 votes.

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, and the source of her spiritual energy power, the Shun Shun Rikka while her hair is worn long in honor of the promise Tatsuki Arisawa once made to protect her. Her large breasts are occasionally made the subject of jokes in the series. She also has an amazingly hard head, which has injured Uryū, Chad, and Ichigo. The only person who has been able to damage her head has been Yachiru Kusajishi in a comical moment when she is riding on Kenpachi Zaraki's shoulders. Orihime has brown eyes in color pictures of the manga, but gray eyes in the anime.

Orihime is friendly, humorous in her own way, sensitive, and kind. She comes off as naive and rather clueless, which is at odds with her exceptionally high marks in school. 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, according to Tatsuki, Orihime has the fighting skill of a black belt, however, in the English dubbed version she says Orihime is at the skill of a yellow belt. Uryū Ishida notes that she hates seeing people in pain, even if they are enemies.

Her cooking style can be described as very creative, more often strange to the point that aside from Rangiku Matsumoto and possibly Tessai Tsukabishi no one would think it delectable, and is one of the running jokes in the series. Her favorite food in particular is red bean paste, and she likes putting butter on sweet potatoes.

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 and therefore the girls "team" would win, which makes no sense. 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.

Orihime has a crush on Ichigo Kurosaki which develops into love as the series progresses. This leads her to become jealous of the close relationship between Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki despite her friendship with and admiration of both of them. She has revealed these feelings both to Rangiku Matsumoto and to Ichigo himself, though he was asleep at the time.

Orihime has also demonstrated that she is perceptive, mostly when it comes to Ichigo Kurosaki. She has the uncanny ability to detect Ichigo by scent, and sense his spiritual pressure, even when masked by a powerful barrier.

Through her expanding role in the manga, Orihime has become a more complex character than her earlier archetype suggested. Where Orihime was more happy and goofy at the start of the series, later arcs deal with her feelings of inadequacy and inner turmoils. She also functions as a second female lead after the Soul Society arc, which was recognized when her character was featured along with female leads from other Weekly Shonen Jump series on a special Shonen Jump cover.

School
Orihime scores the highest marks in school after Uryū Ishida and Ryō Kunieda. 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 "base-cer," 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 Uryū, 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.

History
Orihime lives by herself in Karakura Town, where the story takes place, and is supported by relatives living elsewhere. Previously, she had lived with her older brother, Sora, who was fifteen years older than her. She and her brother were raised by a drunk father and an adulterous mother, who always argued and beat their children. 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 orange hair (like Ichigo). 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 wounded 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 bullies that verbally and physically abused her because of her hair, which Orihime had cut short in an attempt to staunch the bullying. They have been best friends ever since, with Orihime long since returning to wearing her hair long in a show of faith for Tatsuki's vow to protect her.

Synopsis
After Ichigo Kurosaki gains the powers of a shinigami, his interactions with his classmates begin to have unforeseen side effects. Orihime, after being saved from a hollow by Ichigo, finds herself endowed with the Shun Shun Rikka, six spirits that inhabit her hair pins and help her during battle situations. After Rukia Kuchiki is taken back to Soul Society to be executed, Orihime joins Ichigo and some of her other classmates in an effort to save her. Upon arriving in Soul Society their group is split up, and Orihime wanders the city with Uryū Ishida. After Rukia is saved by Ichigo, Orihime heals his wounds with her Shun Shun Rikka and returns to the human world.

During the Bount invasion, Orihime is kidnapped by Kisuke Urahara to test Ichigo's abilities for the ensuing Bount threat. Once Ichigo passes the test Orihime is released unharmed. Orihime accompanies Ichigo and her friends for the duration of the invasion, battles alongside Kuroud and Shuhei Hisagi against the Bount Mabashi and a manipulated Rukia, and heals their wounds once their battles are won.

Soon after the Bount are dealt with, arrancar begin to invade Karakura Town. During a battle with the Espada Yammy, the attack component of Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka is destroyed, making her unable to help in the oncoming battles. After sitting on the sidelines for the second arrancar invasion, Orihime has her Shun Shun Rikka restored by Hachigen Ushōda, and Orihime goes to Soul Society to train for the next arrancar attack. After a month of training Orihime returns to the human world with Rukia (due to a second attack by the Arrancar, which is a ploy by Aizen to lure Orihime out into the open). While traveling between the two realms she is met by Ulquiorra Schiffer, who threatens to kill Ichigo and her friends unless she agrees to go to Hueco Mundo. Orihime complies and, after secretly saying goodbye to Ichigo, joins the arrancar.

Upon her arrival in the arrancar base, Orihime is introduced to Sōsuke Aizen, a former shinigami and current leader of the arrancar. Aizen explains that he intends to use Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka to restore the Orb of Distortion, though she decides to use her powers to destroy the Orb instead. Before she can act on her plans Ichigo and a group of others arrive in Hueco Mundo to save her. When Ichigo is injured during the rescue, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, wanting to battle Ichigo at full strength, frees Orihime from her confinements so that she can heal him. Once he is well enough to fight he battles with Grimmjow and ultimately claims victory. Just as Ichigo and Orihime prepare to leave, Nnoitra Jiruga arrives to stop them and they are unable to fend him off until Kenpachi Zaraki arrives to save them. As they try to recuperate, Orihime is once again captured by Aizen. With this he explains that his reasons for kidnapping her have always been to draw the shinigami to Hueco Mundo, keeping them preoccupied while he destroys Karakura Town. Her purpose fulfilled, he leaves her behind, giving her permission to reunite with her friends.

Abilities
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 like doubt or worry make them weaker, while conviction makes them stronger. At their height, her powers resemble those of a deity in strength.

Orihime's powers initially manifested during the duel between Ichigo and Uryū 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 (who even compared her Shun Shun Rikka to a zanpakutō.) 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) - Iris -
 * Ayame is a shy female spirit covered in a dress larger than her body. She is capable of healing together with Shun'ō.


 * Baigon (梅巌) - Ume -
 * Baigon is a bald male spirit with a mask that covers the bottom of his face. He is capable of shielding Orihime from attacks along with Hinagiku and Lily.


 * Hinagiku (火無菊) - Daisy -
 * Hinagiku is a male spirit with a large eye patch that ends in a horn. He is capable of shielding Orihime from attacks along with Baigon and Lily.


 * Lily (リリィ) - Lily -
 * Lily is a female spirit with bright pink hair, transparent yellow goggles, and a blue thong bathing suit. She has a tattoo on her backside. She is capable of shielding Orihime from attacks along with Baigon and Hinagiku.


 * Shun'ō (舜桜) – Althea -
 * Shun'ō is a friendly female spirit with a topknot. She and Tsubaki are usually the ones who talk to Orihime. She is capable of healing together with Ayame.


 * Tsubaki (椿鬼) - Camellia -
 * Tsubaki is a fiery male spirit who is the only Shun Shun Rikka capable of direct attack. He often strikes anyone who gets on his nerves (including Orihime). Because he is primarily focused on attacking, he is vulnerable to counter-attacks and has been injured several times. The stronger Orihime's anger and killing intent, the more powerful he becomes. However, Orihime's timid nature limits his overall power and has contributed to his injuries in the past.

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), 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. It can even resurrect the dead. Objects inside the barrier are unable to leave until the process is complete.

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." At first it was believed the technique required that Orihime have some piece of what she is healing to restore what's missing. She was unable to heal Tsubaki after his destruction because he was shattered into pieces too small to find. However, it has been suggested by Hachigen Ushouda, a vizard with similar powers, that Orihime should be able to restore anything she wants without actually having a piece of it. It is also known that the healing of one of their own kind takes longer.

Koten Zanshun (孤天斬盾, lit. Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield) 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. This also suggests that the full effectiveness of this technique has yet to be seen.

Appearances outside of Bleach
Her character has gained additional fame even among non-fans thanks to a short looped animation of Orihime twirling a "leek" (specifically, a negi, or Welsh onion) played to Ievan Polkka. Known as the Loituma Girl, the four frames used in the flash cartoon were taken from the second episode in the anime.