Hi, first I'm sorry if this is an unwanted askâŠbut I admit I never really like orihime's character much, I preferred Ichiruki too. I recently decided to look into ichihime fans's interpretations, I read your analysis, I was pretty impressed. But one thing still bothers me about Orihime, why she scream "save me" in HM? Other characters say "save yourself." Is she really selfish? Other times she even helps the enemy out of kindness but why did she seem selfish here? No hate, genuinely curious.
No problem. Iâve been asked similar questions to this a lot over the years, criticizing Orihimeâs actions in Hueco Mundo, and to be honest I canât for the life of me understand why? I mean, when you consider that sheâs a literal victim of child abuse, a fifteen year old girl with no real battle experience, who was told to stay out of the upcoming battles by Urahara because sheâd only get in the wayâŠby the time sheâs faced with a situation as perilous and traumatizing as the lust arcâŠwhat exactly was she supposed to do?We know she isnât selfish because she was in HM to begin with. Instead of waking Ichigo up that night in his bedroom and begging him to save her, she walked into enemy territory, completely alone, having no idea what sort of horrors might await her there, all in order to save him and everyone else. She sacrificed herself. And as you said, âOther characters say âsave yourself,ââ but Orihime did literally just that, only a few hours prior? When Ichigo was fighting a losing battle against Grimmjow, and she called out to him, begging him not to get hurt, telling him he didnât have to win or fight anymore. He could leave her behind to die, and save himself. Just as long as he didnât get hurt. We know she isnât selfish. But when heâs dead at her feet, a corpse with a hole in his chestâŠand all she has is the promise that he would protect her and wouldnât loseâŠWould it make any more sense to ask him to save himself, even though heâs dead and itâs already too late (or so it seemed)? Save himself, save herâNeither request would make any sense. Theyâre not supposed to make sense. Theyâre not supposed to be calm and rational and unselfish. Because these are not the actions or thoughts of a rational thinking person. Sheâs under extreme mental and emotional stress, having a psychological breakdown, talking to a corpse. The entire point of Ichigo dying in the lust arc was to build up suspense and have the greatest impact when he hollowfies and comes back to life, to create a sense of complete peril and hopelessness first. A feeling of âthis is the end, all hope is lost, thereâs no way outâ while Ichigoâs dead on the floor, Ulquiorra is advancing on Ishida, and Orihime is being driven into madnessâclutching at her face, babbling to herself, almost incoherently, because sheâs just witnessed the death of her friend and their one and only hope, who always promised that he wouldnât lose, all after sheâs been threatened to be strapped down and force-fed by Ulquiorra (only for him to then describe the âpsychological cagesâ sheâs been put under by Aizen to Nnoitrra), then beaten and tormented by Loly and Menoly (twice!), then sexually assaulted by Nnoitrra, etc.And so, to me, it makes absolutely no sense to question the actions of a fifteen year old abuse victim who has spent the last 24 hours or so suffering such on-going physical assault, as well as psychological torment and trauma at the hands of extremely sadistic captors only to finally reach her breaking point, which was witnessing the brutal death of her friend and savior, right before her very eyes, as the killer continues to taunt her, even as sheâs begging and pleading for his life. Read that back again and ask what the ârightâ way to behave is. Especially when we consider that her powers are linked to her emotional state, which was totally shattered. All hope was lost. That was supposed to be her breaking point, as part of the narrative, and it was.As I said, she wasnât in a state of calm, rational thought. Nor was she being âselfish.â Because we know she isnât selfish. She was traumatized. (And even if people still choose to ignore all of that, blame the abuse victim and call her selfishâŠone single isolated moment of selfishness would not cancel out the dozens of instances where sheâs been completely selfless. Especially when it comes to Ichigo).