Desire to protect in Bleach
[Disclaimer: this is NOT a post for Orihime and IchiHime fans, so I suggest you spare your fragile heart the trouble and skip it. If you’re not content with what you read, just block and move on, that’s easy. With that said, off we go.]
Today, I saw Ichihime stans (them again, how surprising 🙃) claiming that Ichigo and Orihime are the two characters that want to protect people the most. The exact words were:
“The detail is that Ichigo and Orihime are the ones who most strongly represent the desire to protect others, there is no one in Bleach who has a desire as great as them and that is why they complement each other personally”
I laughed out loud because while I agree with Ichigo (his name and the whole story makes it pretty clear from the start anyways), what on earth is Inoue doing here?! Some of her fans really don’t know what to invent anymore to give her the importance she doesn’t have 🙄.
Orihime is absolutely not presented as someone whose ultimate goal is to protect others. Ichigo and Uryū are. And it’s not even a debate, it’s plainly shown multiple times in the manga.
Regarding Ichigo, he isn’t introduced as wanting to protect everyone at the very start (though, beating the guys who knocked over the vases with the flowers of the dead girl is somehow a hint of his future status as a protector, I guess?). Once he meets Rukia, he starts by saying he’s not the type to let people die without doing nothing, until it turns into a wish of protecting not just his family circle but “a mountain of people” by the time he meets Uryū (he even tells him so).
Uryū, in a flashback, is shown wanting to protect all people from Hollows from a very early age (you can even say he wanted to protect people before Ichigo (who needed a push from Rukia) did.).
“bUt UrYū PuT tHe WhOlE tOwN iN dAnGeR iN tHe FiRsT ArC”
1 – The bait wasn’t supposed to attract so many Hollows. It is explained later it was Aizen’s fault. If he hadn’t intervened, Uryū would have dealt with them without problems.
2 – Uryū knew about Orihime and Chad having spiritual energy, so it’s logical to suppose he thought they would find a way to deal with them. Or that he thought Ichigo would come to help them. In any case, it sure wasn’t Uryū’s best idea, I’ll grant you that. But it’s not like he started that competition with the goal to hurt them. Plus, what about Ichigo? He never worried about them (okay, he didn’t know they had spiritual energy, but still).
3 – The Hollow competition diminishes in nothing Uryū’s resolve to save people, in fact it has nothing to do with it, as Uryū stated he would not let a single hollow hurt the citizens. The beef he had was with Ichigo and more largely Shinigami. It didn’t affect his will to protect. This will is strong, and Ichigo having the same ideals, it explains why they bound and became friends this fast.
Now, about Orihime. When did she ever start to say her goal was to protect others? She didn’t, actually. Because it was never the case.
When Rukia was kidnapped, she tried to “convince” Ichigo not to go rescue her (some might say she was “““encouraging him”””… But she did so in such a weird way, it was awkward at best), and when she finally went to Soul Society, was it to save Rukia? No, absolutely not, it was just because of her crush for Kurosaki.
(Let’s be real, Ichigo and Uryū were the only ones who wanted to save Kuchiki because that’s??? the decent thing to do??? while Chad and Inoue did not care about her safety at all. I wonder how poor Rukia would react if she had known at the time (and Chad saying before they leave Uryū is the weakest of them all really makes me dislike him, especially as Chad almost always lost his fights and Uryū was more skilled than them)).
Also, I have to highlight a fact I feel no one ever talks about, but that still strikes me, though.
Who, in the seventeen months timeskip, took it upon himself to protect the city while Ichigo was without powers? Spoiler, it’s not Inoue or Chad.
And not only that, but neither Orihime nor Sado left a single finger to help him during that time. Yet they had their powers, so where were they? Because when Ichigo is here, they sure have no problems coming to help him:
The fact that, in the Fullbring Arc, Ichigo himself didn’t ask Orihime and Chad to take care of the Hollows while Uryū was in the hospital (instead asking Uryū how they were gonna do with him incapacitated, as if they didn’t have two other friends, hello?), shows how little faith he has in their capacities. None of the two even suggested to help. It could have been a moment of growth, showing they exist outside of Ichigo for once, but no. Even though they were “training” (all that to be brainwashed by Tsukishima in the end, cough cough) the least they could have done was to offer their help to Uryū to protect the town (it’s also their own???). That’s what real friends do. But there was not Ichigo, so they didn’t feel concern, I guess 🤷🏻♀️.
And after that, I’m supposed to believe Orihime represents the desire to protect everyone? 😂 Lol, you’re kidding me. She just wants to protect Ichigo and nobody else. When he’s not involved, she just doesn’t seem to care, and Chad is no better. If I remember correctly, part of her went to Hueco Mundo because she wanted to see if Ichigo would rescue her like he did with Kuchiki? She was jealous of Rukia and Nel? But wow, what an amazing portrayal of the desire to protect everyone indeed!
Let’s be clear: I’m not saying Orihime isn’t nice. She is. But is she as selfless or altruistic as some fans makes her out to be? No, she absolutely isn’t. Being nice is different from being selfless/altruistic. Uryū and Rukia are the ones who are the most selfless with a strong sense of abnegation: Rukia in the first arc when she goes back to the Soul Society with Byakuya and Renji in order to protect Ichigo even though she knows she’s likely to be executed for her crime, and Uryū in the last arc when he plans on destroying the Wahrwelt with him inside in order to save everyone, even though he has to become a “traitor” to his friends. Oh yeah, and this boy also sacrificed his powers during the Soul Society Arc, with the aim to protect, again.
You can even put Masaki in there with what she did for Isshin and Ichigo (this is why I can’t stand people saying Orihime ressembles Masaki, because this is blatantly wrong, they’re nothing alike). Her speech to Ryūken before going to rescue Isshin underlines her strong will, which Orihime doesn’t possess and never will.
Now, tell me, when did Orihime put her life on the line for Ichigo like Masaki, Rukia or Uryū did? Because I can’t remember a single moment when she was ready to sacrifice anything for him while she’s supposed to “love” him. She always ended up relying on Ichigo in the end while claiming she didn’t want to be a burden to him (and failing spectacularly each time), and the one time she actually “fights alongside him” (lol), they lose.
This is what true selflessness is like – putting others before yourself:
With that, I rest my case.
I said on X how some IH fans claimed Orihime represents the desire to protect the most when it isn’t true, and how she has flaws, and someone said:
“But that's not a claim; it's literally in the manga. She also stated her desire to protect others, not just Ichi, and forgave people like Ulq despite his actions; she even healed Harribel despite protests from Renji & Rukia. I don't ship IH btw
Reading this, I really needed to react to it here. I didn’t answer to that person because it would surely turn into endless debates. Also, the “I don’t ship IH btw”, hmm…
I mustn't have explained myself clearly then. I don’t say Orihime has 0 desire to protect, that would be utterly nonsensical. What I mean is that she doesn’t represent that desire the most strongly. Other characters (such as Rukia and Uryū, as I said above) are shown to represent that desire more than her.
“it's literally in the manga. She also stated her desire to protect others, not just Ichi”
Okay, the one with Tatsuki is a fair point, I’ll grant you that. And, to be honest, I would have wanted to see more of that Orihime ready to throw hands at her enemies, cause this scene shows she’s capable of it. Right, she said she will protect Tatsuki, okay (that must be the only scene when she openly states she wants to protect someone else than Ichigo by the way).
However, when you look at it, the “I’ll protect Tatsuki” is quickly followed by the “to protect Kurosaki” scene when Yoruichi asks them their reasons to go to Soul Society. Pay attention to how she doesn’t even say “to protect my friends”, but “Kurosaki” specifically, as if Chad and Uryū don’t matter. See the difference?
Also, funny to mention Tatsuki when Orihime doesn’t even spare her her last goodbye before going to Hueco Mundo. Again, she picked up a guy she doesn’t know very much instead of her best friend who helped her when she was bullied and has protected her for years…
“and forgave people like Ulq despite his actions”
Okay, and? What is the point? We’re talking about Orihime’s desire to protect and if she’s the one who symbolizes that the best. What is the fact that she forgives Ulquiorra doing here? I fail to see how it has something to do with the whole desire thing. Unless it’s more an argument to the fact I said she has flaws? But then again, I never said Orihime isn’t forgiving or only has flaws. She does have qualities, I’m not denying that, but the fact that she forgives Ulquiorra changes nothing to the fact that she still has flaws (one of her main one probably being her jealousy). So I don’t really understand your point here.
“she even healed Harribel despite protests from Renji & Rukia”
Uh, I don’t remember that. I take it it must be in one of the novels? Which one, I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter, as the novels weren’t written by Kubo himself.
Anyway, again, what does the fact that she heals Harribel have to do with the desire to protect? Of course Inoue isn’t going to let her die. She has even shown compassion to ennemies who beat her up. It’s in her character. Does it mean it’s enough to acknowledge “Wow, this girl clearly wants to save everyone, and absolutely no one in the whole stories represents this better!”? Well no, I don’t think so.
Moving on to the third picture where Orihime is in Hueco Mundo with Chad. She… isn’t even protecting/helping anyone? They are training. Ichigo fought Quilge to free the Arrancars, all Orihime really did was shield Nel, and even then Quilge disintegrated her shield, but if you really want it, yes, I’ll give you the fact she protected Nelliel, okay. But she didn’t do really more than that.
Also. Why are Orihime and Chad in Hueco Mundo in the first place? Because Ichigo went there, that’s all. Now, imagine that, for one reason or another, Ichigo couldn’t go to Hueco Mundo to help the Arrancars. Do you honestly think Orihime and Chad would have gone there to help without him? Of course they wouldn’t have. After they know the situation, they just say “Ichigo, you’re gonna go help them, right? 🥺”, implying that if Ichi doesn’t, they won’t either. So, yes, Orihime can have this “we help Arrancars and Soul Reapers” speech, the truth is that it’s more complex than that (and if she really wanted to help, why didn’t she stay with the Fourth Division and help heal the soul reapers that were hurt by the Quincies?)
I’ll repeat myself, but I can’t stress enough how Orihime didn’t help Uryū for the seventeenth month Ichigo was depowered, while it would have only been logical and be a good argument in favor of her protecting others because that’s what she wants to do. Instead, she said she “trained”… for Ichigo.
In the end, Orihime’s desire to protect is always somehow tied to Ichigo (and the fact that her character revolves mostly around him is an argument I often see when people criticize her). And that’s my biggest issue: You don’t help/protect others just because your friend do it, you help/protect others because it’s simply the right thing to do. That’s what people like Masaki, Rukia and Uryū (and Ichigo of course) do, and far better that Inoue.]
