| Orihime Inoue | |
|---|---|
| |
| Age | 17 |
| Gender | Female |
| Species | Human |
| Status | alive |
| Professional Status | |
| Occupation | High School Student, apprentice baker during senior year |
| Appearances | |
| Media | Manga |
| First Appearance | Volume 1, Chapter 1 |
Orihime Inoue is a classmate and friend of Ichigo Kurosaki's, and one of the supporting protagonists in the series.
Appearance[]
Orihime has long, burnt orange hair that comes down to her waist. At the start of the series, she wore her bangs down, but, right before the start of the Soul Society Arc, she started tucking them behind her ears.
Orihime's most noticeable feature is her very curvy and mature figure, which occasionally causes her to be teased or taunted.
Personality[]
Orihime has a gentle, pacifist nature, but also a fierce devotion to her friends. She will not hesitate to go into battle or allow herself to be captured to keep them safe. Being bullied throughout her childhood and the death of her brother have caused her to be somewhat reclusive, notable by the fact that she spends much of her time in her appartment, where she lives alone. She has an attraction to Ichigo, which also caused some issues of self-esteem, inferiority, and jealousy towards Rukia to surface. Despite those issues, she says that she looks up to Rukia and bears her no ill will.
Plot[]
Past[]
Orihime was raised from the time she was three by her brother Sora, then eighteen. Unfortunately, when she was nine years old, Sora was struck by a car and died at the Kurosaki clinic. She keeps a framed picture in her living room and always wears her hair clips in his memory, as they were a gift he gave to her on the day of the accident. Orihime was frequently bullied for her hair color, so she was never able to let it grow past her shoulders, for fear that it would be seized and cut, but she befriended Tatsuki, who promised to protect her from that sort of treatment.
Substitute Soul Reaper Arc[]
However, her growing friendship with Tatsuki caused the disembodied spirit of Sora to feel distant from her, as he stayed behind to watch over her. This resulted in him undergoing Hollowfication, although the anime suggests that the Espada and Grand Fisher had a hand in the transformation.
Sora's Hollow spirit, dubbed Acidwire, did save her from an oncoming car, but later attacked her and Tatsuki in their old apartment, removing Orihime's soul from her body and threatening to kill Tatsuki. Ichigo appeared to slay Acidwire, but hesitated, knowing his identity. Acidwire disarms Ichigo before attacking him, but actually attacks Orihime in the manga. Either way, she takes the attack, embracing the Hollow and apologizing for unintentionally causing so much trouble. This allows Sora to regain enough sanity to remove his mask and use Ichigo's Zanpakuto to cleanse himself.
Orihime's memories of this event are erased by Rukia Kuchiki, but they resurface in her dreams, and she eventually remembers the night in full.