How do you feel about Orihime being pushed onto the sidelines again? I was hoping for her to be in the action a bit longer, though i feel like her role in this fight isnt over yet.
Typically, I would be really pissed off about it. In fact, I had the feeling that Orihime would be stepping off the battlefield this chapter last week when Ichigo told her to move to safety. Strangely enough though, I’m actually not bothered by it in the slightest.
I posted about this on my personal as an initial reaction, but I’ll say it here again: I definitely think that Orihime will make her way back to that battlefield soon, and in doing so, will have her big power reveal moment.
Interestingly enough, Yhwach’s been making an almost deliberate point of things to write Orihime off when she’s brought to his attention. He writes her off as “mere human”, “poor woman”, and “that girl”, but still felt it necessary to know about her abilities as early as the first wave of Vandenreich attacks on Soul Society? Orihime’s powers have been likened to that of a god multiple times (no less by a person who considers himself much like a god), there is a ton of buildup for a power reveal that I almost don’t know what to do with it all, her backstory remains vague and unclear (she is the only member of the main cast to have her backstory told by someone other than herself, she and Sora don’t really look anything alike, there’s a suspicious 15 year age gap between her and Sora, Sora’s explanation of her backstory is vague and barely covers anything outside of him raising her, etc), and her powers can reject fate. Again, interesting that Yhwach brough up the concept of “fate” in this chapter, just as Orihime leaves the battlefield behind.
In this fight against Ichigo, Yhwach could’ve easily moved to attack Orihime to prevent her from using her shields, healing Ichigo, or both. I find it noteworthy that he barely so much as acknowledged Orihime during the fight, despite the fairly important support role she played in it up until now. This, in combination with the fact that:
Her powers are very, very similar to the explanation of the infant Yhwach (specifically this page).
When Yhwach envisioned Ichigo approaching him in battle, he didn’t foresee Orihime at Ichigo’s side, despite her clearly showing up alongside him.
Like I said, her powers have been likened to that of a god; additionally, she’s been described as “similar to a shinigami”, “it’s hard to believe she would have that much power while still being a human”, etc –things that call into question the validity of her being a human while full of this potential that no one can really put their finger on.
There’s a valid theory floating around that Orihime has ties to the Soul King (in terms of her true origins).
-Makes me wonder, what if Yhwach didn’t take action against Orihime, and didn’t foresee Orihime approaching alongside Ichigo because she somehow escapes his field of vision, so to speak? What if he didn’ take action because he couldn’t predict her movements? What if her powers and true origins allow her to escape Yhwach’s all-encompassing field of vision that spans multiple planes of reality at once? If that were the case (which I think it’s fair game to theorise that it just might be), it would make Orihime’s movements in this battle to be extremely important to this fight.
Like I said, Orihime is a character that has been likened to a god more than once, her powers are tied to rejecting fate, and has character ties to the concept of multiple timelines (or rather, multiple lifetimes, which could be considered the same or at least similar in this case- give or take a few nuances).
Orihime’s been awfully quiet in the last couple chapters, it makes me think she has plans of her own to return and continue to aid Ichigo. I don’t see why she would just continue to stand aside of her own volition at this point, even if Ichigo & Yhwach’s reiatsu is pretty overwhelming. I could easily see Chapter 678 following along the lines of Ichigo fighting against Yhwach more, realising his bankai isn’t enough, Yhwach getting Ichigo on the ropes, and then Orihime reappearing to aid him.
Anyways, a lot of this information is my own speculation, but I definitely think she’ll be back on that battlefield to help turn the tides. If for none of the reasons above, then perhaps to help complete the parallelism and inversion of The Lust Arc that’s already present in these chapters.
TL;DR I’m not actually upset about Orihime exiting the battlefield, because it doesn’t feel like the other times when she’s been sidelined in battle. It feels like she’s got a plan of her own up her sleeve, that she’s not quite finished with her role just yet. If she doesn’t get a chance to rejoin the fray, I’ll definitely be disappointed, but I just get this sense that this fight is way different than the others… her chance is definitely coming.
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