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Its funny how they keep obsessed on IR and thinking we are bitter of Ori tag team in Ichigo vs Yhwach

Their obsession goes so far they make their own edits and art while claim "This is what happened if TYBW handled by OG staff" as they think all of staff no longer from OG anime

Hi, Jenny !

Erf, don't talk to me about it... Ever single time I go to the Ichiruki tag out of curiosity, I find tweets of them spitting on the ship, and I'm left wondering why they are here in the first place if they don't like it. I block them, but the algorithm has been broken for some time now and I have to see their tweets while I. Blocked. Them?! How wrong is that?!

They really have time to lose. Why aren't they enjoying their fave instead of obsessing on a ship they don't even like, especially as the first episodes of the Cour 4 were released? Since apparently, the anime team gave Ori a "''''''bigger role"""""". LMAO! I saw the episodes myself, she didn't do anything. There's nothing to be mad about. The result of the "tag team" will be the same, we all know it. I can't wait for Ichigo to say "Inoue's shied didn't work" and Inoue only cheering up to be "You wont be able to fight now", take pictures and send them to them while saying: "This is your fave, lol?".

Yhwach was toying with them at that point. Ichigo never acknowledged Orihime in whatever manner, and that didn't change in the anime, he still didn't tell her he had a plan. And, I know I'm repeating myself but this tag-team is bound to fail. So what should people be bitter about? Nothing. If anything, I'm more sad about the anime desperately trying to fix Kubo's mistakes and make the endgame couples more believable.

What's more, Orihime had no point in being in this fight anyway. It's Uryū's arc. And, as much as IH hardcore fans hate to admit it, it made sense narratively to have Rukia take part in the final fight. The story started with her, and it's only logical that it ended with her. The final fight should have been IchiIshi(Ruki), and I'll die on that hill. There was no reason for Inoue to be there. But since Kubo had to "justify" his endgame couples, lol. Plus, Rukia has always been shown to know how to cheer up Ichigo, unlike Hime. So yeah, she would have been a better teammate, that's for sure.

Ichihimey stans are just angry that, years later, Ichiruki, and people who dislike Bleach ending in general, exist. They want to force their lame couples onto everybody, but unfortunately for them, some of us here have criticical reading and won't accept their nonsense, so they are left crying and hating everybody who don't agree with them.

During the fullbring arc, Ichigo should still be able to see hollows and soul reapers because he is a quincy, right?

I don't think the idea of Ichigo being a quincy was a sudden addition in tybw, because if we look at it, there are many parallels between Ichigo and Uryuu, considering how they both lost their powers in their final forms (which also had the same color palettes for some reason🙄) and how they got their powers back through an attack to their chests. Also, the fact that their spiritual powers have a synergic effect, can by all means, lead one to the assumption that Ichigo could be more than a shinigami/hollow combo. I mean, no other shinigami had that effect on Uryuu, or vice versa.

Which brings me to the point:

Why the hell no one told him that when he was going through the worst mental breakdown of his life?

Isshin, his own father, knew and could've told him about Masaki and his quincy heritage to find a way for him to regain his powers. Yet...he didn't? He just sat there and watched his son sink more into depression day by day? I swear Isshin gets closer to winning the "worst dad ever" contest everyday, and that's saying something, considering the other opponent is Ryuuken.

Or why the hell didn't Urahara do anything? He also knew about Ichigo's parentage, he apparently cared about him, and he also knew Uryuu, a living quincy, was there who could've helped Ichigo somehow. Granted, it wouldn't be like his soul reaper powers, but his quincy heritage could've been so much fun to discover (specially with Uryuu as a duo, I love the two of them sharing one brain cell.)

Which also brings me to my final point:

How didn't Uryuu find out about this? Like, I don't hold it against him since he himself was left out of the full story, but...come on, he could've deduced something was wrong. He had seen the similarities and the synergic effect, and despite it being a very rare sight, he never confided in any one (aka Urahara, since Ryuken is out of the picture) about that. But like I said, I don't hold it against him. The only thing that makes me irritated about this, is that it undermines Uryuu's inteligence and his amazing ability at sensing spiritual powers. But, who are we kidding? When did Kubo ever cared about Uryuu in that regard?

I feel like tybw had soooo much potential to be the best arc, since the blueprint in my opinion, is phenomenal, if we were actually invested in Ichigo being a quincy. He went out to help a few arrancars in need because he likes to be a hero, and then somehow got sucked into the war by saving the soul society. He was gutted by Uryuu's actions (pun intended), and if it were anyone else, he would've literally cut them in half, because the only person he has any loyalties towards to in this war, is Uryuu, and while it makes me happy as a shipper, it also takes away Ichigo's agency as the main character, specially the one who is part of both factions.

If anything, Ichigo being a quincy and seeing Uryuu betray him despite that, is even more delicious, but I digress. The point is, nobody ever thinks of Ichigo as a quincy, which could've made much more dilemma if it weren't the case, both between Ichigo and Uryuu, and also between Ichigo and other soul reapers.

Sorry if it became a bit long, but I just needed to let out my frustration here, since suddenly the bleach fandom is of the belief that criticism = hate.

Hello, Anon!

No need to apologize for the long rant, my blog is here for that!

I feel like, since old Bleach fans left the fandom when the last flawed arc and lame 10-years-later epilogue were released, a "new generation" arose, which read Bleach already knowing the end. And I don't know why, but suddenly, they started claiming everything made perfect sense. And if you dare criticize Bleach (and not even only the endgame couples, I mean, there are so many other plotholes? The "I'll leave it to you" lines of Kisuke? The Sokyoku being rebuilt stronger while it was a symbol of Soul Society's perversion?! What happened to the characters? And so on), if you dare to criticize Bleach you'll be insulted and despised by those people. It's like Kubo is holding a gun to their head and threatening them to shoot if they dont worship his work, I don't know.

But I digress.

I indeed always wondered why Uryū was still being able to at least sense Hollows (so probably seeing ghosts too) after losing his powers, while Ichigo wasn't, and to this day, I'm sorry to say I still haven't find a satisfactory explanation yet. I think I read (a long time ago) that Uryū still had a bit of spiritual pressure left after having used Letz Still? But then we have this:

Ichigo states that Uryū has zero spiritual pressure. From here, we have two options:

Either Ichigo's wrong (and he does have been shown to be bad at sensing spiritual pressure) and Ishida has some spiritual pressure left, but very little, so you can't feel it unless you're near him (which would explain why no Arrancar came his way at that moment)

Or, Ichigo is right, and Uryū has no spiritual pressure at all. But, that brings us to square one, aka why was he able to sense Hollows with no powers left? Unless you consider Quincies have the ability to sense Hollows and spirits even when they have no powers. But then again, back to square one, because in that case, Ichigo being half-Quincy should have been able to sense Hollows and spirits despite having lost his powers. So that would mean you need to be a "full" Quincy (aka, your parents need to both be Quincies) to see Hollows and spiritual stuff even when you don't have spiritual powers. This is the only reason I see that could explain this difference between Kurosaki and Ishida. Just like Auswählen affected Uryū and others Gemischt Quincies but not Ichigo and his sisters. They are not full Quincies.

Moving on to your next point, that is to say "Why did nobody tell Ichigo he was a Quincy?": I'm with you on that. Why indeed did Isshin never tell his son?! That's the biggest mistery of the century. I'm also mad at Masaki for not having told him anything. You don't wait for a child to be in danger to tell him to be careful. There's simply no way Isshin and Masaki weren't aware Ichigo would grow to see spirits and Hollows one day. But they didn't tell him anything, and this is something I'll never understand. My guess is that Ichigo's parents probably wanted him to have a "normal life", but they were so naive if they really thought not telling their son (and their daughters, too!!!) would prevent him from being involved with supernatural stuff.

I understand Kubo probably wanted to keep the "Quincy mom" reveal for the end, to keep the surprise until the end. The last arc was about the Quincies, so it was fitting, I guess. But he just had to make Ichigo know this early on nonetheless, and just make him avoid mentioning his mother's real identity until the last arc. It was perfectly doable. Going back to Isshin, yes, I have my fair share of criticism about him. He was a Shinigami captain, didn't he think it was best to prepare his son to the future dangers he might encounter? Ryūken should have also told Uryū about Yhwach. Keeping your children in the dark, on whatever topic, is dangerous for them, even if your intention is to protect them. Why couldn't the daddies be more honest, I swear.

And yeah, Urahara is no better, although you might argue he was not his father, so he judged it wasn't his role to tell Ichigo about his family story. Yet, as Ichigo's boss, Ikumi said to Ichi: "Kids like you should be able to rely on us adults", or something akin. Well, it didn't work really well here. Maybe Uryū could have been able to help, as you said. I will forever be disappointed that we never got to see a deep conversation between my two boys about power loss, because? they have been in the same boat? Why didn't Kubo jump on the occasion to use this common point and reinforce their bond? Maybe Uryū could have used the same technique Ryūken used on him to awaken his powers? I don't know if this would have worked though, but just the fact of trying something would have been interesting. We deserved more.

On to your last point. Now that you say it, it is indeed weird Uryū never noticed anything from the get-go. He's the most skilled at analyzing spiritual pressure, so why didn't he feel Ichigo had some quincy energy in his spiritual pressure? Again, Kubo probably wanted to keep the secret until the end, but it creates some plotholes... I'm upset that Uryū only discovered Ichigo's Quincy heritage during their first fight at the soul king's palace, being shocked to see Ichigo use Blut Vene. Why, why did he learn that here?! Was there no mention of Masaki in the Ishida archives? I don't know, it feels weird. His father knew, Isshin knew, Ichigo came to know, but Uryū was the last to know? It's sad and unfair methinks. Let's not blame him, but Kubo.

Yeah, when did Tite ever care about Uryū, you're right. Just look at the awful ending he got, that tells you all. What do you mean, he (apparently) has no family (I was so upset by Kubo's lack of answer "putting Uryū aside" when asked if he would marry. But Chad who never ever cared about romance somehow will??? WTF???), and is not with his friends? Uryū is altruistic to a fault with a strong sense of abnegation so him being a doctor doesn't bother me as much as it does with others, but we never saw how he overcame his trauma with the autopsy of his mother. It's a shame, really.

I can't bring myself to hate the Thousand Year Blood War arc because of the amazing IchiIshi angst in it, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who see the chemistry between those two, platonic or anything else it is (just so you know, I think Uryū's voice actor said that what was between Ishida and Kurosaki was more than friendship. Just like Kubo said what was between Ichigo and Rukia was more than friendship too. Have Chad and Hime ever got that privilege? Hmm, I don't think so).

But to go back to the last arc, it's wasted potential, honestly. And I think some things could have been handled better. Take Masaki's heritage, for instance: Ichigo learnt he was a Quincy, then what? Did knowing that really bring something to his character? We could have had Ichigo reflecting on this heritage, being torn between his loyalty to the Soul Society (I swear they really didn't deserve to be forgiven by Ichi), and the fact he has to fight a clan his MOTHER AND BEST FRIEND (Uryū) are part of. In the introduction arc, he claims he doesn't know enough to know if it was the Quincies or the Shinigami who were right. But since this is the last arc, we could have had him being in conflict with Soul Society and mad at the fact they genocided an entire population NOT ONCE BUT TWICE. I mean, I know Quincies endangered the balance of the world and something had to be done, but sorry, mass murdering people isn't a solution, especially as Hollows were toxic to Quincies, what were they supposed to do?! Plus, in a Q&A, Kubo said Uryū would be perfecty able to have a zanpakutō, so Quincies could be able to purify souls like Shinigami! All that to say, in the end, Ichigo never truly reflected on his mother being a Quincy, which is something we should have seen. I'm not a fan either of how, in this last arc, Kubo depicted the Shinigami as "good" and the Quincies as "bad". I wish things have not been so manichean. A conflict doesn't only imply soldiers, it involves civils too. And we were never shown civil Quincies. Just soldiers (and apparently blood-thirsted) quincies. Not a very good depiction of a conflict to me, honestly.

I have several other issues with this arc (such as why Inoue and Chad were there when they were obviously the weakest of the group?), but, as I said, IchiIshi angst, so yeah, this arc still is important to me. I hope their final fight against Yhwach will be extended. It's their arc, yet I've seen quite a few IH shippers claim (with the release of the first three episodes) that Inoue was the star of the show? Lmao, as if. This isn't even her arc. We all know how her "tag team" with Ichigo ended. So back off, take back your fave and let my boys shine! I also can't wait to know why Uryū survived the Auswählen, although I'm a bit afraid too, honestly.

There will probably be some spoilers, so just in case, if you don’t want to take the risk, better not to read. Be warned.

Overall, the episodes were great! The animation was good, I liked the fluidity with which we went from one fight to another. The episode with Benihime coming from behind a curtain was amazing (yeah, it wasn’t in the manga). Oh, and the anime/movie team modified Kisuke’s final lines by adding “everyone” after “Kurosaki, Kuchiki” and changing “I leave the rest to you” to “I’m sorry”. I’m disappointed by the Ichiruki erasure, but nothing to do about it.

Yoruichi’s cat form was super cool, too! They tried to do not too much, not too little, and it worked. I had been spoiled on the fact that she was going to lick Kisuke’s face, and I thought the whole pussy/cat thing was going to be a bit gross, but not at all!

Noooowww, moving on to the Yhwach fight. I… still don’t understand some fans reactions about Inoue, like: “They did my girl justice” or “The best part was Inoue!” because she did nothing extraordinary (as expected). There was a flashback of her saying “I’m sure Kurosaki’s heart is like this flower: red, cause he’s warm and he wants to protect everyone…” okay, so it didn’t bring anything to her character, it was all about Ichigo again 🙄. And the flashback lasted what, a few seconds? It wasn’t developped at all, I didn’t even see what it brought to the story, it was useless in my opinion. It’s like they needed to find something to make the episode.

Inoue blocked some blows (like in the manga), but there were some she didn’t that she could easily have blocked, and in the end, Ichigo became too fast for her so she couldn’t follow him. Also, you would think Ichigo would have told her he had a plan, this time, but no, he didn’t. Such trust between them! What’s more, I never understood why Orihime gripped his arm and told him to wait? He was in the middle of a fight, he had a plan, and he needed his whole concentration, what was she thinking, seriously… All that for their “duo” to fail in the end… 😮‍💨

“Oohhh, Inoue was the star of the movie” 🫩 no, she wasn’t. Don’t expect her to do much more than what she did in the manga.

Meanwhile, I loved seeing Jugram’s new form and his fight with Uryū. Uryū, who was even able to guess Ichigo’s answers to Yhwach while he wasn’t even there. Wow! Can you imagine what a strong bond you need to share to know exactly what the other person will say/react to whatever situation she’s in? It was amazing to see Uryū know Ichigo so well. It’s not like with Hime who was shown unable to understand him multiple times in the series 🤭.

🫩🫩🫩

Girl, do you realize you’re being so insecure that you have to mention Rukia instead of idk, just enjoying your fave?

“iT hAd To Be HiMe InStEaD oF rUkIa.” Just to check, can you remind me how Ichigo and Orihime tagteam ended?

Oh yeah, like that:

Now, I want you to look at me in the eyes and repeat that Orihime was the best match for Ichi to fight Yhwach. Because she wasn’t. One might even argue she was the worst partner to have for this fight.

Since the first episodes of Cour 4 were released in theaters, hardcore Inoue/Ichihimey fans somehow seem to believe Hime reached god-level, and would even be powerful enough to take down Yhwach on her own, putting her on a pedestal she could never reached to begin with. Are we serious???

When Uryū reveals his “double agent” cover to Ichigo, he litteraly tells him Yhwach is too strong and powerful to be beaten; that’s why he went alone to try to kill him so he could protect his friends. He wasn’t wrong, Yhwach kicked Ichigo’s ass more than once. And you really think Ori can deal with such a powerful opponent by herself??

Some of you need to hear it again it seems, so here we go: Yhwach was TOYING with them. Nothing more. Once he got serious, your fave wasn’t able to do anything. Her “tagteam” with Kurosaki failed spectacularly in the manga, and since the anime quite faithfully follows it, newflash: your fave will lose here too.

(I’m almost begging the anime team to change her lines, honestly, so she can say something more useful than “you wont be able to fight 😢” 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. I heard they already changed the “I’ll live the rest to you” lines of Kisuke 😒. Ichiruki erasure won’t make Ichihime more believable or well-written, you know..)

I’ll grant you the fact Rukia wouldn’t have done much against Yhwach. In fact, I’ll go even further as to say nobody would have been able to do anything against him. The only solution was the Silver Arrow, that nobody had yet at that time. But hey, you know what? At least Rukia knows how to cheer Ichigo up when he needs to. The “Man in my Heart” speech, her talking to Ichi after giving him his powers back in the Fullbring arc, are prime examples of it. Plus, even if Rukia couldn’t have done anything, the story started with her, so narratively you can argue it made sense to end it with her.

Inoue wasn’t able to do anything during the tagteam against Yhwach once he got serious, but on top of that, she was also unable to encourage Ichigo, and you can even argue what she said when they lost pushed him closer to despair. Sorry, but I wouldn’t want somebody like that with me if I had to fight the toughest villain I’ve ever known. Not to forget, Orihime was only here because Ichigo had no one else at that time.

Anyway, it’s Uryū’s arc, so he’s the one who should have been here from the start, and not to arrive in the nick of time (I really, really hope we will have an extended final fight Ichigo/Uryū vs Yhwach much more developped than in the manga, we deserve it). But Haschwalth would have killed Ori or Chad instantly, so of course someone powerful had to stay behind so the weaks get spared 🤭.

I think everyone by now who follows Bleach news is aware of the rumors of the series potentially returning in Shōnen Jump.

As much as I love the universe of Bleach, I have mixed feelings about that new arc, because it will not erase the issues and the lame ending of the Thousand Year Blood War Arc?

I mean, the characters will still be stuck with the insatisfactory lives Kubo gave them: Chad being a boxer despite having promised to not use his fists for fight, Uryū being a pediatrician despite the fact we never got to see him having a real discussion with Ryūken to make him overcome his trauma with Kanae’s autopsy, Inoue being relegated to a housewife while she dreamt of being so many things, Ichigo who doesn’t give her or their kid the singlest care while doing a translator job that doesn’t fit him (his whole personnality was always to protect, how does being a translator symbolizes that?!), Rukia being married to Renji while she was never explicitly shown to have romantic feelings for him (and it was not shown much on Renji’s side either). And I’m not counting the many others plotholes we got.

This is why I don’t have my hopes too up for that arc. Not that it won’t be nice and nostalgic to see Ichigo and his friends again, but, I can’t bring myself to feel overjoyed, because I know Kubo won’t fix the problems he himself created, unfortunately. All I hope is that he won’t make that arc more of a mess than the last already is.

Even so, I love IchiIshiRuki too much, and these three always got their time to shine (even a little) in each arc. So. I’ll still follow the new arc, mainly (only) for those three. I’m not making any prediction on what will happen, just praying not to be too much disappointed.

Forever baffled and utterly annoyed with the fact hardcore IchiHime fans are quick to blame the Bleach anime (and poor Noriuki Abe) for pushing IchiRuki when:

Most of the reasons why people ship IchiRuki (poems, symbolisms, color spreads, etc.) were already present in the manga,

Kubo became involved in the anime after the Bount arc and so had multiple occasions to add “IchiHime moments” in it, yet did nothing of it, instead praised the episodes with IchiRuki in it (especially the ice-skating one, aka 9/11 for hardcore IchiHimey fans) and didn’t remember the anime pushing IchiRuki at all,

Some Orihime scenes were cut/altered, but so were some Rukia scenes too (contrary to what IchiHimey stand believe, IchiRuki fans were also not really happy with that unknown shinigami added during “Memories in the rain”),

Orihime got filler scenes too, for instance, the one where Kurosaki holds her hand in the Hueco Mundo arc.

The anime didn’t “push” IchiRuki. Ichihime (and Orihime herself) just wasn’t popular to begin with, and still isn’t, even now. Just look at the recent contest results about the most popular fictional ships in Japan. IchiRuki ranked something along the lines of 78, I think? GinRan had a good rank, too. IchiHime? They didn’t make it. Their rànk would have been so low lmao.

But I guess canon shippers have nothing better to do than desperately try to find a reason why nobody likes their hetslop ship, so… they keep being annoying despite their couple having been canon for years. They’re the literal definition of insecurity.

I just realized another one of the reasons Ichihime isn’t a good ship at all is because of what will become of the characters after their death:

— Chad and Orihime are likely to go to Soul Society (and I think it is said by Ukitake Orihime has the potential to be a shinigami).

— Uryū and Ichigo are likely not to go to Soul Society.

For Uryū we know that quincies go to another place according to a Q&A from Kubo (whatever this other place is exactly hasn’t been clarified yet).

For Ichigo, the quantity of spiritual energy clearly that of shinigami a captain, and we know Shinigami captains who die go to Hell because of their huge amount of spiritual energy. So Ichigo may go there too. Plus, being half-quincy, maybe he could go to whatever place quincies go when they die. Let’s not forget that possibility.

My point is, even in death, Ichihime makes no sense because Ichigo and Orihime will go to different places when their end eventually comes. Inoue to Soul Society, and Ichigo to Hell/Quincy afterlife, where he’ll meet again either Rukia (who is a shinigami captain, so she's bound to go to Hell when she dies) or Uryū.

I’m genuinely curious to know if Kubo had thought about that when he wrote Bleach, or if he didn’t think about his characters’ afterlife (which is probably the case). Maybe we’ll learn more about it in the Hell Arc if it was to be written one day, or in the Klub Outside, although I won’t bet too much on it, but you never know. Yeah, I guess Ichihime really doesn’t make sense even at the very end.

Again, ichiishiiruki is the golden trio we were robbed of.

“From what I have seen of the Hell Arc, Uryu is not going to play a role in the story going forward.”

???

Says who? Because you’re not Kubo, so who are you to claim that exactly? There’s only one person who can say and decide what will happen in the Hell Arc: Bleach’s author, Tite Kubo. And you’re clearly not him. Besides, maybe Kubo will never write that arc, we can’t know until it is indeed released.

Oh, and just so you know: Uryū was present in all the arcs, just like Ichigo, Orihime and Chad, because guess what? They have always been the main characters from the start, so there’s no reason Uryū would be more out of the picture than the others.

“He shows up in the last chapter being focused on his job as a pediatrician and instead of going to Ichigo's house and watching Chad's match with everybody else.”

So what? He’s working. And when you’re at work, maybe you didn’t know, but you can’t leave your work just to do what you please. You’re living in a weird world if you think you can.

“He doesn't even make an appearance in the New Breathes From Hell one shot chapter.”

Again, so what? Just because he didn’t appear in a one-shot means he won’t appear anymore? Do you even understand what you’re writing? After the Hueco Mundo arc, Grimmjow didn’t appear in the Fullbringer arc, and oh, surprise! He appeared again in the Thousand Year Blood War Arc!

Your argument is just so flawed.

“Yes, Uryu is the last of his kind and from what I have read, Uryu is no longer friends with Ichigo and the others.”

LMAO you’re really illiterate if you seriously think that. Ichigo and Uryū’s friendship is one of the strongest of the series, even during the last arc, and it’s made pretty clear they’re best friends thick and through, but obviously, if you read Bleach with your eyes close you can’t comprehend that.

“I believe that with the changes Kubo made were to show that as we get older, the friendships we have as teenagers usually don't survive the roads we take as adults.”

You “believe”? Lol. I don’t see what your opinion has to do in all this. Again, you’re NOT Kubo, so what you think really isn’t the matter here.

“It is a sad fact of life that we grow apart from the friends we had as teenagers.”

Uh, no? Just because you lost contact with a childhood friend doesn’t mean it’s the case for everyone. Your own case doesn’t apply to everybody.

“Sometimes, we reconnect or we have grown apart and no longer have anything in common to maintain the friendship.”

Same comment as above. You lost contact with a childhood friend? Sorry for you, but some people stay friends for years and years without problems.

“ That is the case with Ichigo and Uryu.”

Uh, no, absolutely not. Uryū has always been, always is and always will be one of Ichigo’s closest friend. This is made pretty clear time and time again in the manga and in the anime.

I was reflecting on Bleach during work, and something struck me.

Has anyone noticed how Orihime’s “friendships”, especially with girls, all miserably fail? Because, if you think about it:

~Pre-timeskip~

Two main girls are gravitating around Orihime

First, we have Tatsuki (I know there is Michiru and co. but I don't think they can be considered as important as Tatsuki is— which is a shame, but I'll don't count them for now). She is introduced as Inoue's best friend, and we learn that she helped Hime when she was bullied years ago.

This is also Tatsuki Orihime turns to when she tries to put her nose in business that isn't her own and get information (aka, Masaki's death).

Their friendship is shown as being (apparently) so strong that this is thanks to it that Orihime gains her powers.

But then, the fact happens that Orihime leaves for Hueco Mundo. And who does she say her last goodbye too? Ichigo, not Tatsuki. I repeat, so to be clear: Orihime prefers to say her final farewell to a boy she has only known for a few months (and who doesn't even see her in a romantic way), instead of her best friend who has been by her side for years.

When Inoue disappears, on the contrary, Tatsuki is really upset, even more so than Ichigo.

Just look at all the pages of Tatsuki going crazy because of Inoue's disappearance, because that's what being a good friend is (and Inoue was never close to that in the whole series, so draw your own conclusions)!!!

Ori, for her part, doesn't even think of Tatsuki even once while in Hueco Mundo.

After that? No more significant interaction between them.

-> Failed friendship.

Now, on with Rukia.

This is their very first interaction. Notice how Orihime already seems jealous? What would those dots and that sad face for, otherwise? She's annoyed at Ichigo and Rukia hanging out together. In any case, I don't see any other possible interpretation.

Their next "interaction" has no hint of "friendliness" in it either. It just all revolves around Ichigo, because it seems Orihime can't think of Rukia without Ichigo too. I don't see Inoue considering Rukia like a friend at this point. She's just jealous of Rukia, a fact that is confirmed time and time again in the series.

Then there's the infamous scene where Hime try to discourage Ichigo from going to save Rukia. And that's pretty much everything for the Agent of the Shinigami arc and Soul Society arc.

During the Arrancar/Hueco Mundo/Fake Karakura arc, we are shown again how jealous of Orihime is of Rukia (during her conversation with Rangiku). From Rukia's side, on the contrary, we are shown how selfless she is by trying to cheer Orihime up (while we know it's true Orihime didn't do much in the Soul Society arc, if we're being honest):

(My heart breaks each time to see Rukia be that gentle while Orihime isn't shown to really care much— when has she ever supported, cheered up or acted nicely with Rukia like the latter did in this scene? It is always Rukia -> Inoue but never the other way round).

And after that, except Rukia thinking about Inoue during the rescue, we got nothing else. There was no other interaction between them. Even if you're counting the time Inoue "panicked" when she felt Rukia's spiritual pressure fading because of the fight with Aaroniero (I hope I typed it correctly), this isn't enough to make their relationship engaging, interesting or healthy.

-> Failed friendship

There's Nel, too, if you consider her to be Inoue's friend. But they have little interactions together during the Hueco Mundo arc, and most of them are Inoue being jealous of her or needing to be encouraged by her (when Ichigo fights Grimmjow), and even in the last arc she's jealous Nel can switch between her child and adult forms, so, yeah, I'll skip this.

~Post-timeskip~

In the Fullbring arc, there's a single interaction between Tatsuki and Inoue, when Tatsuki scolds her because she could have hurt herself exiting the school building by the window, and that's everything. With Rukia, no interaction.

The female "friend" who gets the most focus here is Riruka. Honestly, it could have been interesting, as Orihime genuinely opened up to Riruka and had a significant discussion with her, talking about her childhood and bad parents.

Mind you, that's something she never ever talked about with Rukia? This friendship seemed so promising! Riruka even thanks Orihime for having cried for them at the end. But as usual, it was all disappointing.

Because, when Orihime and Riruka meet again during the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, it's like they've never known each other? No hug, no warm embrace, no real discussion...? While they seem to have create some sort of bond at the end of the last arc ? Okay... I know it's war, but it didn't prevent Inoue from wearing a boob dress, so it shouldn't prevent her from having friendly interactions with the people she previously met.

-> Failed friendship

Also, I noticed she got a "friend" from each race, except that she befriended no female quincy (the Bambies were right there, though, just one of them would have been cool!). Yeah, I find that this sucked so, so much.

SO. All in all, Inoue's friendships with other females are either underdevelopped (Riruka), extremely one-sided (Rukia, Tatsuki), or inexistant (like with the quincies). This is one of the many problems I have with Hime's character, and yet it could have easily been solved.

I had started to write a post about it that I never finished and was rotting in my drafts because I had somehow forgotten about it, but recently I saw on Twitter a tweet about who was Ichigo's best friend (the tweet was asking between Uryu and Chad specifically, but you can include all his other buddies too, I guess), and, I don't know, but that's really a question that annoys me to no end, ugh.

What even is the point of questions like this? Ichigo makes no difference between his friends and protects them all. It is shown time and time again in the manga/anime. Why is some of the fanbase so desperate to make him have a "best friend" when HE LOVES THEM ALL? Tell me, because I genuinely don't understand the point of it. None of his friends was more "deserving" or "better" than the others.

Also, people claiming without a second thought Chad is obviously Ichigo's best friend amongst all his others relationships... Hmm. The Fullbringer arc is the most obvious proof of how weak the friendship between Ichigo, Orihime and Sado is. Because, what do you mean, you have so little faith in Ichigo that you immediately turn your back on him and fight him— because of Tsukushima's spell, okay, but still. Byakuya, who is supposed to be less close to Ichigo than you, manages to resist the influence of Book of the End, while you can't? And the chapter's title "End of Bonds"? I don't know, but it certainly doesn't tell me that Yasutora or Inoue are anywhere close to being "Ichigo's best friend". Rukia or Uryū (by the way funny how HE was specifically the one to not be brainwashed instead of the other two. That sure speaks volume to me) are far more worthy of the title, considering how they were always here at Ichigo's lowest points, and everything they did for him.

"But Ichigo has known Chad the longest" hold on, dude. They only met one year before the start of the series, it's not like they knew each other since kindergarten. Plus, by that logic, Ichigo's best friend should have been Tatsuki, since he has known her years before meeting Chad. Yet, I don't see a lot of people mentioning her, how weird is that? Also, since when having known someone the longest is a golden ticket to be that person's best friend? You are best friends with people you share a lot of common points with. If you have known someone for the longest time but didn't share much with him/her, I don't think that it's enough to call him/her a bestie, not if you have someone you get along better with.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, the human friend Ichigo shares the most similarities with is Uryu. I mean, they are tied by their parents' history, they both lost their powers, Mizuiro himself states that they are similar, they have the same desire to protect others, Uryu's poems are almost all about Ichigo... I don't know what else you need. I never saw Ichigo have a connection so strong or that many similarities with Inoue or Chad. But hey, it's just my take on the subject.