Bleach: “Seductive alone with her sick friend”

Orihime is a teenager of average height. She has brown eyes[4] and long, waist-length, burnt orange hair with short bangs framing the top of her forehead. Her most noticeable physical trait is her slender yet very curvaceous figure for a teenager, especially in terms of her large breasts. She wears her hair in bangs tucked behind her ears with hairpins, which she only removes to sleep,[5] as they are worn in the memory of her brother.[6] Orihime initially wears her hair with a full but parted fringe before pulling most of her bangs behind her ears as she was ready to leave for Soul Society.[7]

Seventeen months after Aizen's defeat, Orihime's hair becomes fuller and wavier. Her bangs naturally frame her face without her hair clips and also hang over her ears.[8] She stops wearing her hair clips and instead keeps them clipped onto the left collar of her school uniform.[9]

Ten years after Yhwach's defeat, she wears her hair tied back with a band and is back to wearing her hairpins.[10]

Personality Orihime is independent, friendly, humorous, optimistic, sensitive, caring and kind. She comes off as naive and rather clueless, which contradicts her exceptionally high marks as third highest in her grade.[11] She studies hard because when her grades drop, she receives less financial support from her relatives.[12] She is a member of the Handicrafts Club[13] and likes to invent very ridiculous sports to play with Tatsuki (such as "base-cer," a combination of baseball and soccer).[14] She tends to zone out with her mouth open and loses track of what she was thinking or dreaming about. She has an over-active imagination and gets carried away thinking of implausible scenarios, such as portraying herself as a futuristic and highly destructive robot in an assignment asking a student "How do you see yourself in the future?".[15]

Orihime likes Asian flower print clothing and comedies. While she does eat some normal food, Orihime cooks and eats unusual meals, which other people often find unappetizing. Her favorite food is red bean paste and she likes putting butter on sweet potatoes.[1] She enjoys cheese and butter most of the time.

Orihime has demonstrated that she is perceptive when it comes to people's mental and emotional state, especially in regards to Ichigo, as she is able to tell what kind of driving force is pushing someone. She additionally has a crush on Ichigo and later falls in love with him.[16] She has exhibited traits that appear to have some connection with Ichigo, such as the ability to detect Ichigo by scent, [17] sense his Spiritual Pressure even when masked by the Visored, and an awareness of what mood Ichigo is in, sensing his feelings of anguish, disappointment, or worry, even feeling pain herself when she sees Ichigo getting hurt.[18]

17 months after Aizen's defeat, Orihime has gained a much firmer resolve in combat; when Ichigo was training with Kūgo Ginjō, Orihime was entirely willing to injure Ginjō if he attacked without her permission. She and Sado have sworn that they would be strong enough to not burden Ichigo when he finally regains his power to fight, which is reflected in her development of a technique that acts as both offense and defense.[19]

Orihime and her brother, Sora Inoue, were raised by a drunken father and a prostitute mother, who always argued and beat their children. Fearing that their parents would kill Orihime, in the March that Sora turned eighteen, he ran away with Orihime, who was three years old, and raised her on his own from then on.[20][12][21] For nine years, Orihime and Sora lived in harmony despite the fact that Orihime was bullied in school because of her unusual hair color. One day, Sora gave Orihime a pair of hairpins. However, Orihime refused to wear them because she said they were childish. That day, Sora died, and Orihime began wearing the hairpins every day since. After Sora's death, Orihime prayed for him every day. A year after Sora died, Orihime met Tatsuki Arisawa and befriended her and the amount of days she prayed for him diminished. After entering Karakura High School, she stopped praying for him and instead talked about Ichigo before she left and when she returned from school. She wanted to show Sora that she was happy and that he did not have to worry about her.[22][23]

Since Sora's death, Orihime has lived by herself in Karakura Town, receiving financial support from a distantly related aunt living elsewhere.[1][12]

Powers & Abilities

Natural Abilities

Spiritual Awareness: Orihime has a good amount of skill in detecting spiritual energy. She can sense Hollows and ongoing battles at a significant distance. If she concentrates, she can even sense Reiatsu of people within protective barriers.[258]

High Spiritual Power: Orihime is able to get close to several battles between powerful opponents without being overwhelmed, such as the battles between Ulquiorra and Grimmjow[259], Ichigo and Ulquiorra[260], and most impressively, Ichigo and Yhwach after the latter had absorbed the Soul King.[261] During her basic training in Kidō with Kūkaku Shiba, Orihime demonstrated a natural talent for precise spiritual energy control, as she quickly mastered the technique.[262] Her Reiatsu is golden-yellow.[263] Franceska Mila Rose even compares Orihime's Reiryoku to that of Sado, and notes that it would be problematic if Quilge Opie could absorb both of their power.[264]

Durability: Orihime is strong enough to survive separate assaults by Loly and Menoly, which involved physical attacks and the use of Bala,[265] and minor assaults by Nnoitra and Tesra. It is also stated by a few people that she has a strong head.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: While a pacifist by nature, Orihime has a natural talent for martial arts. According to Tatsuki, who trained Orihime herself, Orihime has the fighting skill of a 1st-dan.[266] Orihime is skillful enough to incapacitate two unseated Shinigami soldiers when she surprise attacked them.[267]

Memory Chikan Resistance: Orihime was able to recall the event of her brother fighting Ichigo Kurosaki, even though the memory chikan has been used on her by Rukia.[268]

Shun Shun Rikka Shun Shun Rikka (盾舜六花, Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield; Viz "Six Princess Shielding Flowers"): Orihime's spirit energy is harbored in the pair of six-petal flower-shaped hairpins that her brother gave her. Shun Shun Rikka is composed of six spirits that reside within the hairpins, each of which is two petals on the clip when inactive.[269] Only spiritually aware beings can see them.[270] They reside in her hair-clips, which are shaped like six-petaled flowers. Through various combinations of the six fairies, Orihime has the power to reject phenomena by denying or undoing events in various forms.[271][272] This power can be used for attack, defense, or healing (depending on the combination).

The Visored Hachigen Ushōda comments that her hair pins, being the physical manifestation of her powers, is very much like the Zanpakutō of a Shinigami, and that her powers resemble his own powers.[273] Sousuke Aizen, in his explanation of the Hōgyoku, states that Orihime's powers were actually awakened by the Hōgyoku; when she cursed her powerlessness with all her heart, the Hōgyoku answered her desire.[274]

The spirits are separate manifestations of Orihime's spirit, each with its own unique appearance and personality. Each are named after a flower:

Ayame Ayame (あやめ, Iris) Voiced by, Tomoe Sakuragawa, English: Philece Sampler

Ayame has a quiet personality. She wears a dress larger than her body. She, along with Shun'ō, is in charge of Shun Shun Rikka's healing ability.[275]

Baigon Baigon (梅巌, Ume) Voiced by, Kiyoyuki Yanada, English: Liam O'Brien

Baigon is a bald male spirit. He is brawny, and has a large body. He wears a mask that covers the bottom of his face. Baigon is part of Shun Shun Rikka's defense.[275]

Hinagiku Hinagiku (火無菊, Daisy) Voiced by, Daisuke Kishio, English: Kirk Thornton

Hinagiku is a highly energetic male spirit. He wears a large eye patch that ends in a horn. Hinagiku is part of Shun Shun Rikka's defense.[275]

Lily Lily (リリィ, Lily) Voiced by Rie Kugimiya, English: Kate Higgins

Lily is a female spirit with bright pink hair, transparent yellow goggles, and a blue bathing suit. She has a tattoo on her backside. Lily is part of Shun Shun Rikka's defense. She has a futuristic style.[275]

Shun'ō Shun'ō (舜桜, Althea) Voiced by Junko Noda, English: Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Latin American Spanish: Javier Olguín

Shun'ō is a friendly young male spirit with a topknot. He and Tsubaki are usually the ones who talk to Orihime. He, along with Ayame, is in charge of Shun Shun Rikka's healing ability.[275]

Tsubaki Tsubaki (椿鬼, Camellia) Voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, English: Wally Wingert, Latin American Spanish: Jorge Ornelas Tsubaki is a fiery male spirit. He is the only Shun Shun Rikka spirit 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.[276][275]

Techniques Orihime's techniques involve incantations and manipulating the Shun Shun Rikka into different groups. Though Orihime initially needed to recite their kotodama to use her techniques, further training has rendered this unnecessary. Her kotodama 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.[277]

Santen Kesshun (三天結盾, Three Sacred Links Shield; Viz "Three-God Shield"): is Orihime's defensive technique. It repels attacks by placing a shield between the enemy and target.[275] The incantation arranges Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon into a triangle which has the ability to repel the "outer shield".[278] 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.[279] Orihime is later able to shape Santen Kesshun into a dome-shaped barrier large enough to easily hold herself and other individuals.[280]

Sōten Kisshun (双天帰盾, Twin Sacred Return Shield; Viz "Twin-God Reflection Shield"): is Orihime's "healing" technique. It surrounds something to return it to its former, complete state.[275] It rejects, reverses, and reconstructs phenomena that have occurred, even phenomena that Orihime hasn't witnessed.[281] The incantation summons Ayame and Shun'ō to form a half-oval barrier around whatever or whomever Orihime wishes. Their ability is to repel the "inner shield." The shield placed inside means that they repel the damage within a limited area. In other words, they return a subject covered by the shield to the state that they were in before taking damage.[282] Orihime fully restored Grimmjow's destroyed arm from nothing. Sousuke Aizen describes this as "The Rejection of Events". Her ability is to limit, reject, and negate any kind of event that has happened to her target.Yasochika Iemura comments that the technique's healing speed is potentially faster than Isane Kotetsu's and his own.[283] Far more powerful than "Temporal Regression" or "Spatial Regression", it is a power that trespasses into God's territory.[284] Originally, Orihime wasn't able to restore a destroyed Tsubaki, but Hachigen Ushōda states that since she has powers very close to his own, she should be able to restore him to his original form, even without a shattered fragment.[285] Later, she can fully resurrect the dead.[286] While Orihime can heal wounds quickly, it takes longer for her to replenish the patient's Reiatsu.[287] Large amounts of foreign spiritual pressure around a wound makes her power to reject ineffective.[288]

Koten Zanshun (孤天斬盾, Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield; Viz "Lone-God Slicing Shield"): is Orihime's offensive technique. It rejects the fusion of matter and splits it.[275] The incantation summons Tsubaki, who has the ability to repel "both sides of the shield." He breaks through the enemy, puts up a shield inside, and repels the combined substance, splitting the enemy in two.[289] 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.[290]

Shiten Kōshun (四天抗盾, Shield of Four Heavens' Resistance; Viz "Four-God Resistance Shield"): is one of Orihime's techniques. It combines Shun Shun Rikka's offensive and defensive properties. The incantation integrates Tsubaki into the center of her Santen Kesshun ability, creating a triangular shield which, at the very instant of receiving an attack, disperses the resultant force as a concentrated explosion which is automatically returned along the attack's opposing trajectory.[291]

Weaknesses(Shun Shun Rikka)

Fragility: The Arrancar Tesra, when holding Orihime captive, warns her not to try to attack him, as he can easily break the physical container of her Shun Shun Rikka, the hair pins themselves, stating that they are ridiculously weak.[292]

Determination Impediment: Orihime's determination directly influences the effectiveness of her powers. Feelings like doubt or worry make them weaker,[293] while conviction makes them stronger.[294]

Soul King: Orihime's powers cannot revive the Soul King.[295]

Trivia According to her character profile by Tite Kubo, Orihime's theme song is T'en va pas by Elsa.[1] She ranked 8th in the fourth Bleach popularity poll[312] (she placed highly in previous polls placing 5th, 12th and 10th). She ranked 6th in the tenth poll.[313]

Orihime owns a pink teddy called Enraku (エンラク, Enraku) which gets knocked over during Acidwire's attack.[314] Enraku was ranked #53 during the first popularity poll run by Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka came 33rd tying with 2 others in the Zanpakutō popularity poll. The color of Orihime's eyes vary from the manga to the anime. They are shown as brown in the manga while the anime depicts them as silver or gray.

While the spirit Shun'ō of Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka is presented as male in the manga and confirmed to be male in Bleach: Official Character Book SOULs, the anime presents Shun'ō as female instead.[304]

Klub Outside Trivia

According to Q&A #202 by Tite Kubo on his fansite "Klub Outside", Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka was considered the most challenging to design. Originally, Orihime was to become a sort of "Dragon Girl" with a pair of horns and a tail.[315]

According to Q&A #228 by Tite Kubo on his fansite "Klub Outside", Kisuke installed a cover on the outside of Orihime's hairpins to make them difficult to break prior to them entering the final battle.

The mood of the scene is: #1 neutral. The characters are simply present, awaiting the next event.

The mood of the scene is: #1 The scene is steady and calm, ready for whatever comes next.