Bleach has an lengthy list of characters for fans to memorize, but Orihime is one heroine that is hard to forget. The girl acts as one of Bleach‘s most prominent characters thanks to his powers and undying crush on Ichigo Kurosaki. But, if you have never read the Bleach manga, then you probably don’t know how dark the girl’s past is.
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In the anime, fans learn that Orihime had an older brother who died before she entered high school. The boy, who was named Sora, wound up opening Orihime’s eyes to the spiritual world all around her after his soul turned into a Hollow and attack her. Ichigo was able to save his classmate, giving Orihime enough time to set Sora at peace and freeing him from his Hollow bonds.
However, in the manga, the two have a far more complicated relationship.
When Tite Kubo created the Inoue family, it didn’t come out nearly as bubbly as Orihime did. The girl and her brother were raised by a drunkard father and a mother who prostituted herself out. The siblings were beat regularly, and it was because of Sora that Orihime wasn’t killed by her parents. As soon as the boy turned eighteen, he ran away with his sister who was just three at the time in hopes of giving her a better life.
The duo lived together for nine easy years as Orihime blossomed into a happy child. Things soured after Sora died in an accident, leaving Orihime to mourn and pray for the boy everyday until she began to socialize with new friends. Eventually, Orihime made the decision to not pray to Sora everyday to let him know she was happy and able to move on – but the choice backfired. Anime fans learned this when Sora turned into a Hollow because his spirit was corrupted since he had felt abandoned by his younger sister.
There’s no explicit details about Orihime’s father and mother in Bleach, but fans are still surprised to learn about his abusive past. The heroine managed to overcome her childhood trials because of her older brother’s self-sacrificing love, and fans cannot imagine Orihime turning out any other way that she did.
