Orihime Inoue

Orihime Inoue
Bleach character
Orihime Inoue as depicted in the anime
First appearance	Bleach manga chapter 2
Created by	Tite Kubo
Voiced by	Japanese Yuki Matsuoka English Stephanie Sheh
Profile
Relatives	Sora Inoue (brother, deceased) Ichigo Kurosaki (spouse) Kazui Kurosaki (son)

Orihime Inoue (Japanese: 井上 織姫, Hepburn: Inoue Orihime^?) is a fictional character in the Bleach manga series and its adaptations created by Tite Kubo. She is a classmate of Ichigo Kurosaki, the main character of the series. Like many other friends of Ichigo, she quickly develops spiritual powers of her own after Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper. Through the series, Orihime learns about Ichigo's duties as a Soul Reaper and decides to accompany him when he goes to Soul Society to save Rukia Kuchiki.

Besides the manga series, Orihime has also appeared in other media from Bleach franchise, including anime series, animated films, video games and rock musicals. Orihime's character has been highly popular between readers of the manga since her introduction, having ranked high in all of the characters popularity polls of the series. Additionally, various pieces of merchandising have been developed based on her appearance such as figurines and key chains. Publications from manga, anime and other media have also commented on her character with most praising her traits and development. In the animated adaptations of Bleach, Orihime is voiced by Yuki Matsuoka in Japanese. In the English adaptations, she is voiced by Stephanie Sheh.

Along with Ichigo Kurosaki, Orihime has the hardest face to draw according to Tite Kubo. Due to her importance in the manga, Kubo wanted more practice drawing her so that it would be easier to do so. When Kubo was asked to make a cover with a female character during Christmas, Kubo initially thought of using Rukia Kuchiki; However, he later changed to use Orihime as he thought Orihime was more suitable for such a role. She becomes the true female lead of the Bleach manga after the second arc, which was recognized when her character depth and importance raised drastically after she came back from the Soul Society and started to become a prominent plot device for Ichigo's character development and for the story itself, consequently Orihime was featured along with female leads from other Weekly Shonen Jump series on a special Shonen Jump cover.Stephanie Sheh, Orihime's English voice actress, found Orihime to be a "tricky" character as she noted a challenge to find a balance with her voice as although she sometimes seems ditzy, in other times she is very strong.