i think the information given about post timeskip bleach and ichigo and orihime’s relationship leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
i dislike already ichihime. a lot. not because i hate orihime (i don’t), and not because i ship ichiruki (i don’t). but purely because the writing of their relationship was never what it was intended to be read as. they were friends. somewhat. and thats that. i don’t think orihime had a particularly strong bond or purpose to ichigo asides from being his friend. and orihime felt too much towards ichigo despite the fact that there wasn’t much going on that should’ve led to that. and it’s led her do questionable and reckless things.
i’m not gonna get too into that because that’s gonna make this 10x longer and i’m going to get off topic.
i still do not understand what was so strong about their relationship that made them have to be canon. if anything, what happens post tybw makes their relationship much worse for me.
we can start with speaking about wdkaly. as much as i don’t even like to acknowledge the existence of this novel. and i’m also unsure as to whether or not this is actually canon or not. either way.
renji asking ichigo if he was in love with orihime so suddenly felt so odd. where exactly was there any indications throughout the entirety of bleach that ichigo was in love with her? especially anything that renji of all people wouldve witnessed. and ichigo doesn’t even really get a chance to respond to that either.
and then telling him that he ‘shouldn’t leave such a nice girl waiting’ and ichigo’s response being that he knows that yet he says it in a voice that ‘seems to disappear’
what exactly does that mean? was he guilted into asking orihime out? it seems like it. if he’s saying something in a voice that ‘seems to disappear’, i really doubt its supposed to imply something like shyness or embarrassment or something along those lines. would ichigo had even have approached orihime at all or even thought about her in that manner had renji not interfered and said such a thing? i’m thinking no. and in a way, this implies or rather confirms ichigo was fully aware of orihime’s feelings towards him for a while before this and did nothing with that information. if he wanted to do something, if he had actually been in love with her, would he have not acted on it sooner? anyways, being set up while at a wedding would probably feel like a lot more pressure.
and then you move onto the fact that according to kubo, ichigo and orihime didn’t even start dating until several months to a year after this interaction because ichigo went to study abroad in england and etc etc….how exactly did these two survive a long distance relationship? that’s my question. it’s not like they ever had that good connection or i guess that strong of a connection with eachother that something like this would be able to suffice. and you’re telling me that orihime waited even longer just to be with ichigo romantically? it doesn’t even feel cute or dedicated or loyal at this point (not that it ever really did if i’m being blunt), it feels desperate. orihime was in love with ichigo for years. someone who didn’t even really acknowledge her in that way at all despite apparently being aware of her feelings. and the fact she never got over it makes even less sense than the fact she ended up with him.
and focusing on orihime, the fact she married ichigo is just even more severe character assassination than she had in the first place. she doesn’t get to go to college. she ends up working at a bakery or i guess the same one she was already working at straight away after highschool. sure you could say this was one of the jobs she dreamed of having, but do you really think THIS was the way she envisioned it happening? to make it worse, she likely just ends up working there part time due to the fact she got pregnant at (what is calculated to be) 23 years old. twenty three. that is incredibly young. if you really think about it, the only thing that orihime wanted that she actually got was being in a romantic relationship with ichigo. that is incredibly sad. why was orihime not allowed to have something unrelated to ichigo? she’s basically tied to him, someone that she never fully understood despite wanting to. someone who she didn’t always act fully herself near. the one character that is the sole cause of her lack of development (not intentionally so. i think my point here was clear, though).
i have no idea what i’m supposed to be seeing when it comes to these two. what i see is a marriage between two people who never actually understood eachother, who were never actually that close, who never had an honest conversation in the entirety of the series because ichigo is incapable of being honest of vulnerable near people he knows rely on him and expect him to be strong, and orihime has been shown to be uncomfortable when helpless when ichigo shows any form of ‘weakness’ or emotions like sadness.
whether people want to admit it or not, there is an imbalance in their relationship. someone who’s too interested with someone who was never interested at all.
and relationships, if to be developed romantically, need a very strong platonic core. especially with a character like ichigo, who’s written in a fairly particular way. he has deep bonds with people in a way that’s platonic or you could say in a deeper/greater than platonic way but just not romantic. those people are those he’s willing to be honest near and show when he’s upset. people he can likely trust fully. the greatest examples of this would be rukia and uryu. if ichigo can have deep and strong bonds and connections with them, why does he not have one with his ‘love interest’? why does he have such a flat and lacklustre relationship with orihime if he’s supposed to ‘be in love with her’? it doesn’t make sense, not really.
none of it does. the need to make any relationship canon was completely unnecessary. i truly despise when shounen manga do things like this. we know you’re just looking for a chance to make a spin off but it’s unnecessary and nobody asked for it.
