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With the recent conclusion of the first part of the Bleach: TYBW anime, many fans have found themselves digging back into the series at large, including many of its spinoffs. Resultantly, a major debate from the time of the original anime series’ airing has resurfaced, centered around none other than fan-favorite Orihime Inoue.
Although Orihime’s powers have always been somewhat mysterious throughout Bleach, there were often many theories created to explain them. One of the most popular, and controversial, was the theory that Orihime was a Fullbringer, and her powers stem from her being one of their kind.
While the debate over this is raging once more amongst fans, there is indeed a clear answer which comes from a canonical source within the franchise’s body of work.
Explanation for some of Orihime’s powers in Bleach could leave some fans disappointed
Within the Bleach canon, Fullbringers are qualified as humans whose mothers were attacked by Hollows while having a fetus in their wombs. Should the mother survive this attack, a fraction of the Hollow’s Spiritual pressure stays in the baby.
Eventually, this will develop into their Fullbring powers, which can manifest in unique ways and abilities.
While it’s never discussed in the mainline series, the Can’t Fear Your Own World spinoff manga does indeed confirm that Orihime is classified as a Fullbringer. The mainline series hints at this several times, but never outright confirms it. The aforementioned spinoff series sees Kisuke Urahara himself confirm it, inarguably marking Orihime as a true Fullbringer.
However, he specifies that she is one who was empowered by the Hogyoku, rather than in the aforementioned conventional way. This empowerment would’ve been a result of her coming into contact with Rukia Kuchiki during the Substitute Soul Reaper arc.
During this time, Rukia was acting as the human host for the Hogyoku, which allowed it to influence Orihime.
Can’t Fear Your Own World actually expands on this conventional method of becoming a Fullbringer. It specifies that children with Fullbring potential have pieces of the Soul King inside of them. This piece of the Soul King then attracts the Hollow to attack the fetus and mother, resulting in them becoming Fullbringers.
Thus, while Orihime is confirmed as a Fullbringer, the exact way in which she became one isn’t specified in the series. As a result, there are two predominant theories that Bleach fans argue over as to how and why she became a Fullbringer.
The first theory claims that Orihime only became a Fullbringer because of the Hogyoku inside Rukia Kuchiki, and was not one until she came into contact with it.
This would imply that she doesn’t have a piece of the Soul King inside of her and her mother wasn’t attacked by a Hollow. In other words, she didn’t get the Hollow Spiritual Pressure needed to jumpstart her power, but got it from the Hogyoku instead.
Another predominant theory is that Orihime was always a Fullbringer, and the Hogyoku simply helps her realize how to use her power. This would imply that Orihime does have a piece of the Soul King inside of her, and that her mother was indeed attacked by a Hollow as a child.
Unfortunately, there is no confirmation on this one way or the other in all currently available canonical Bleach works.
It’s also stated that the few Fullbringers who are shown to realize their powers do so at different ages. Assuming the second theory to be true, this would imply that Orihime might have realized her powers even without the Hogyoku, but was able to do so earlier due to the Hogyoku’s influence.
Unfortunately, this is all speculative, with no exact confirmation on how Orihime became a Fullbringer.
In summation
While it may be shocking to many fans, Bleach’s Orihime Inoue is indeed a Fullbringer, influenced by the Hogyoku to a certain degree. While it’s unclear whether the Hogyoku merely helped awaken the powers she already had or is responsible for giving her said powers in the first place, it’s at least confirmed that the Hogyoku is involved in the process.
Be sure to keep up with all Bleach anime news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.
