‘Bleach’: Did Uryu Ishida Like Orihime? Relationship Explained!

Uryū Ishida is a character from Bleach that we have not written a lot about, even though he is actually one of the main characters in the series, but there is enough time to remedy that, which is why this article is here. The term “ship” in terms of anime is actually a shortened version of the word “relationship” and represents fan-based relationships between the characters in the series. So, if you think that two characters would be great as a couple, you’re “shipping” them together. Bleach has provided us with numerous ships over the course of its run, and we have already discussed some of them, but this article will present you with a new one, as we are going to explore the nature of the relationship between Ishida and Orihime Inoue.

Ishida and Orihime were never in love. Ishida cared deeply about Orihime, and Orihime cared deeply about Ishida as well, but they were never a couple. Although it was implied that Ishida had some feelings for Orihime, it has to be said that he was very gentleman-like towards women (e.g., towards Nemu), so his behavior towards her could be interpreted as being a manifestation of that. On the other hand, Orihime liked Ichigo from the start, and while she undoubtedly cared a lot about Ishida, it was only friendly, and she never liked him romantically.

The rest of this article will explore the nature of the relationship between Uryu Ishida and Orihime Inoue, two of the series’ main characters, and Ichigo’s close friends. We will explore Ishida’s and Orihime’s personalities in more detail, as well as the nature of their relationship in the world of Bleach. This article won’t contain too many spoilers, but still, be careful how you approach it if you don’t know the whole story.

Orihime and Ishida cared for each other, but there wasn’t any romance between them

Ishida and Orihime were classmates, so there’s really no special story behind their meeting for the first time. They were in the same class as Ichigo and the same generation as Chad, so they knew each other from school, although Ishida did not hang out with them outside of school before the start of the series.

Uryū actually seems rather arrogant at first but tries to appear cool in front of others. An example of this can be found in the Soul Society saga, where Uryū wears a cloak to make him look cooler, even if it restricts his movement. In addition, Uryū tends to address things in a particularly dramatic fashion.

Uryū’s actions conform to the Code of Quincy (Quincy Pride), and he has a strong sense of justice. He also acts very chivalrous, saying that he will hold accountable any man who harms women; this explains his behavior towards female characters such as Orihime and even Nemu, who was initially his enemy (he despised Mayuri, in part, because of the way he treated Nemu).

He has openly proven this several times, for example, when Rukia is attacked by her big brother Byakuya and his vice-commander Renji Abarai to kidnap her from the real world to Soul Society or when Jirōbō Ikkanzaka attacks Orihime.

Also, Uryū tends to use non-lethal attacks unless forced to do so. Instead, he simply incapacitates his opponent. Furthermore, he values tactics and speeds more than pure physical strength. He analyzes his opponents before and during fights to find even the smallest gaps in their defenses.

Also, Uryū doesn’t seem to have much respect for his father since he calls him by his first name, which is considered very rude in Japan. Despite this, Uryū is slightly offended when Rukia says that the hospital has fallen into disrepair since his father is the current hospital director.

On the other hand, Orihime seems to be the complete opposite of him. Orihime is very polite, kind, compassionate, and often odd. She often appears naïve, aimless, and forgetful, contrasting with her excellent school grades. She achieves this through diligent study, earning her 3rd place overall in the top exam results list, only nine points behind first-place finisher Uryū Ishida.

However, she seems lost when it comes to technology. A craft club member once said that she didn’t have a cell phone because she didn’t know how to use one. Orihime also has very strange tastes in food. She often eats very sweet and high-calorie things in unusual combinations. She only seems to share this taste with Rangiku Matsumoto.

Although Orihime was initially presented as a rather simple character, the reader gets a deeper insight into her emotional world over time. She often worries about her friends, and when she is locked up in Las Noches, she hopes that her friends will not come to her rescue because she doesn’t want to endanger them. However, she later loses these worries as she thinks that if one of her friends were in such a situation, she would do exactly the same thing.

Another important fact about Orihime’s personality is that she hates killing. Even if an opponent attacks her who wants to kill her, she wouldn’t want to kill him. This is shown very well by the fact that Orihime’s attack ability, Koten Zanshun, has almost never hit, let alone killed anyone except for the Hollow Numb Chandelier.

Probably Orihime was able to kill Numb Chandelier since the hollow was relatively weak, and Orihime had to protect Tatsuki. This trait of hers goes so far that she even seems to hate injuries. She heals almost anyone who is injured without hesitation, as she did with the two shinigami who accompanied her to the human world and were injured by Ulquiorra Cifer.

In fact, her caring nature is so great that she even healed Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia, who tormented her before and were then defeated by Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, and in a filler Muramasa, even though she already suspected that he was an enemy of Ichigo.

She wanted to help Muramasa even after he became a Hollow, as she understood and felt sorry for his loneliness. Her gentle nature makes her difficult to face off against enemies, so she mostly defends herself and “self-weakens” her own attacks, which often ends up causing her to get hurt.

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As you can see, Orihime and Ishida have very different personalities but complement each other. They are close friends and allies, and while Ishida was always a loner, he always respected Orihime and the others, and they always respected him.

Orihime has been kind to Ishida throughout the series, even when some others aren’t, and she cares a lot about him; when she finds out that he had not betrayed them during Yhwach’s invasion, she cries tears of joy (although she knew he hadn’t, she said it was nice to hear him say it). She was also by his side each time when he needed help and/or healing.

On the other hand, Ishida was always very protective of Orihime, both during a fight and in everyday situations; he seemed to be much more attentive to her than Ichigo, for example, and he would sometimes blush or be embarrassed when Orihime would thank him or show kindness.

Some scenes showed he genuinely cared for her, implying that there was more than just friendship between them.

But there wasn’t, really. Orihime liked Ichigo from the start, and Ishida’s behavior can be explained by his chivalrous and protective nature, so we really do not think that there was any romance between them and that the two of them were just friends.