Ulquiorra/Orihime is now officially canon.

[misora]

Bleach Chapter 354.

"Heart".






Oh god. So beautiful. The entire replay, from his POV, as Orihime's reaching for him and she's fading from his view as he turns to dust.

Oh, I get it. This is it. This, here, in my hand.



And his tender expression, as he's looking at her between her splayed fingers -- she's still reaching for him, grasping.

The heart.


He's coming back. He's going to change, he's going to be very different. But he will come back.

It's not enough that Kubo wanted to give him this, this Tin Man without a heart, at the end of his story. His story's not over.

His crowning moment is still ahead -- when he acts with the heart he's been given, by Orihime. Because then his conversion to humanity will finally be complete.




And, to show you why I think this, my darlings, let me now take you back to Chapter 268...and Kaien's words to Rukia. (Remember to read right to left.)









When you and I interact with each other,
A heart is born between us for the first time.

Don't agonize over it.
If you want to be here, with all of your heart,
Then this is where your heart is.

If your heart is here,
Then that is your reason for being here.


Bleach is about hearts -- those who have them, versus those who are without. But Kubo's strongest message isn't that hearts are static -- because Ichigo lost his, for a moment there -- nor is it your enemies are unforgiveable. It's about crossing that barrier between love and mindless, numbing apathy...fear...despair. And with Orihime's help, Ulquiorra has done that.

Thank you, Kubo.

I'm so proud of you, Ulquiorra.


{The sheer fact that I'm saying this about a character, as though he would LISTEN, is retarded in and of itself but I'm going to forgo further psychoanalysis for now.}


...and now I'm crying, so I should probably go. .____.




...not even commenting on the Yammy bit, because that actually made me laugh. Eat your heart out, Stark. XDDD

Comments

[xxerebxx.livejournal.com]

Yes, to stab a fried isn't something you want.... But did that really get the attention, which it deserves? Kubo EVEN FORGOT TO DRAW THE SWORD in Ishida stomach, in some panels!
The whole incident didn't have any negative consequences, for Ichigo. That Ishida got stabbed isn't shown as something really serious or horrible, it was only a shock effekt. Neither Ichigo nor Orihime react like that.

(What's with Nel? Shouldn't she have a heart?)
A heart, the sorrow for friends, love etc. is indeed a strong motivation... but look at Orihime. She is by far the one who's .the niecest, nice to the enemies etc.. but she's mentally weak and has no self-esteem- she hasn't even the will to defend herself, or heal herself, like after the fight with Yammi.

Yup, I want Kubo to adress the topic further. This solution was disappointing!!! I know Orihime and Ulquoirras gesture was nice,
but what's about the dialouge "Are you scared?", anyway?
I don't get it, for me there is no deeper meaning begind it, it is only a repition! I couldn't fomd a explanation anywhere. With such a dump dialouge, I can't bring myself to take the scene serious.

[misora.livejournal.com]

You're right, Ishida's stabbing by Ichibeast really *didn't* get the attention it deserved...and it surprised me that Kubo would gloss over that hugely important detail. But I have a feeling he didn't want to get too much into it for a particular reason, and maybe he's going to revisit the issue again later (hopefully by then, Orihime will have learned that it's wrong to call for Ichigo's help when he's dead D:).

I agree that things could have been handled differently with the preceeding chapter, but I have confidence that Kubo isn't going to leave things hanging. He'll tie things up eventually -- it just might not be right away. (And this is further why I think Ulquiorra is coming back, because Kubo's got all the time in the world apparently to tie these plots together. :/)

I wouldn't say Orihime is "mentally weak". She's physically weak when she's unsure of herself, yes. And she has depended on her friends far too much until now. Ichigo turning into a mindless beast in order to help her was proof of that, and we even got a moment of clarity when Orihime herself realized it: "Why did I want him to help me?" I was pleased that she was finally able to step out of herself for a moment and analyze that, even if it was ill-timed.

But she's not weak. We've seen her show her backbone in other situations, earlier in the series, and then more recently with Ulquiorra. She needs to be with people who encourage those actions of hers, to stand up for herself and believe in her own judgment, more.

The whole "are you scared?" thing has relevence, because of Ulquiorra's earlier conversation wtih her in the tower. It's not dumb dialogue, in my opinion -- it's proof that he really does care what she thinks of him, and her response -- "No, I'm not scared (of you)." -- says that she never really saw him as a truly evil enemy, even when he was blowing a hole in Ichigo's chest. She seems to have known that his actions against her friends -- and particularly against Ichigo -- weren't out of malice, but because he was truly curious about the heart, and convinced that it made people weak.

Ulquiorra "gave up", telling IchiBeast to kill him, when he thought that he really *was* right -- that without a heart, Ichigo was stronger than he was with one. But what made Ulquiorra change his mind and leap to action, severing IchiBeast's horn and effectively bringing Ichigo back to normal? Right before that, we see Orihime screaming for Kurosaki to stop -- and maybe that was when Ulquiorra realized his mistake in wanting to prove the heart made someone weak.


I personally loved the scene. *shrug* To each his own.