Your description of Orihime clears that up for me.
Some people chalk that up to shonen anime's lack of appeal or oversight in developing the female characters in them, and I guess there is some validity to that.
At least for Hinata in Naruto, there was an arc at least explaining her circumstances and attempting to make that aspect of her character more dynamic.
Every character when they are created has it's own design blueprint that the writer before they've even picked up a pencil, has already determined what their story is going to be.
When you first meet Orihime, she's a book smart girl who looks ditzy and airheaded, she's got weird ideas on food, drew herself as a robot when asked about her future and can't read the room.
When she discovered her powers, she had to have a tutorial in the middle of a fight to succeed, even afterwards she still couldn't use it properly and took until the last arc to be even remotely useful.
A better power for her would be to materialise her unique imagination into reality.
Bleach is designed as a shonen where everyone can fight, Naruto and One Piece are the same, so when you see someone who can't fight, you start to question if they belong in the anime at all, it was the same with Hinata Hyuuga in early Naruto.
I gotta ask what you mean when you say that her "design" doesn't support that being her powerset.
Like her character design and look or her design as in her plot significance?
I'd tend to think that "emotion-based" powers has a lot of malleability and can work for a lot of characters, but I can see why you don't like it for Orihime.
Whether my theory on Orihime is accurate or not, her design does not support her using emotion controlled powers, she's completely out of her depth in Bleach, that's why the audience never liked her.
While I'm not too partial about the autism point, the trope of powers being derived from emotional control is pretty common in a lot of fantasy/sci-fi media.
Take Raven and Starfire from Teen Titans as an example.
It is really interesting to see the writers delve into that aspect of the character, but from what little I know about "Bleach," a lot of people really dislike Orihime.
Kazamas-Keyblade
Otaku Legend | Posted 10/13/22 | Reply
@Dranzerstorm:
Your description of Orihime clears that up for me.
Some people chalk that up to shonen anime's lack of appeal or oversight in developing the female characters in them, and I guess there is some validity to that.
At least for Hinata in Naruto, there was an arc at least explaining her circumstances and attempting to make that aspect of her character more dynamic.
Dranzerstorm
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 10/13/22 | Reply
@Kazamas-Keyblade:
Every character when they are created has it's own design blueprint that the writer before they've even picked up a pencil, has already determined what their story is going to be.
When you first meet Orihime, she's a book smart girl who looks ditzy and airheaded, she's got weird ideas on food, drew herself as a robot when asked about her future and can't read the room.
When she discovered her powers, she had to have a tutorial in the middle of a fight to succeed, even afterwards she still couldn't use it properly and took until the last arc to be even remotely useful.
A better power for her would be to materialise her unique imagination into reality.
Bleach is designed as a shonen where everyone can fight, Naruto and One Piece are the same, so when you see someone who can't fight, you start to question if they belong in the anime at all, it was the same with Hinata Hyuuga in early Naruto.
Kazamas-Keyblade
Otaku Legend | Posted 10/12/22 | Reply
@Dranzerstorm:
I gotta ask what you mean when you say that her "design" doesn't support that being her powerset.
Like her character design and look or her design as in her plot significance?
I'd tend to think that "emotion-based" powers has a lot of malleability and can work for a lot of characters, but I can see why you don't like it for Orihime.
Dranzerstorm
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 10/12/22 | Reply
@Kazamas-Keyblade:
Whether my theory on Orihime is accurate or not, her design does not support her using emotion controlled powers, she's completely out of her depth in Bleach, that's why the audience never liked her.
Kazamas-Keyblade
Otaku Legend | Posted 10/12/22 | Reply
While I'm not too partial about the autism point, the trope of powers being derived from emotional control is pretty common in a lot of fantasy/sci-fi media.
Take Raven and Starfire from Teen Titans as an example.
It is really interesting to see the writers delve into that aspect of the character, but from what little I know about "Bleach," a lot of people really dislike Orihime.