Ichigo/Orihime

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Pairing
Pairing: Kurosaki Ichigo/Inoue Orihime
Alternative name(s): IchiHime
Gender category: M/F
Fandom: Bleach
Canonical?: canon
Prevalence: common
Archives: http://ichixhime.actifforum.com/
Other:
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IchiHime is a pairing between Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime in Kubo Tite's Bleach manga and anime. It is the fifth-most-common pairing in the fandom at AO3, and the second-most-popular m/f pairing.

Canon

In the manga, Ichigo and Orihime are classmates who first met in early childhood. Orihime has a crush on Ichigo that develops into love as the story progresses. The theme of protecting one another comes up again and again throughout the canon, signifying the characters' mutual importance to one another. The manga ends with the two of them happily married and raising a son, Kurosaki Kazui.

A full list of Ichigo/Orihime moments from the manga and the anime can be found here.

Fandom

Initially, the fandom had the strongest presence in the IchiHime FC on the original (now defunct) BleachAsylum forums. It migrated to the Five Lifetimes, One Love forum in 2007 due to constant shipwars.

Fests and Events

The most important IchiHime event was the annual Tanabata Festival. The Tanabata myth's relation to Ichigo/Orihime was explained as such:

Orihime's name and Kubo associating her with 7/7 (for seventh day of seventh month) as well as naming her after the star "Vega" in one of the title pages (Bleach chapter #5) is based on the Tanabata. Ichigo would be her Kengyu/Hikoboshi. [...] Tanabata is also related to Obon holiday. And Ichigo's birthday of July 15 happens to be farewell Obon celebration. So those two holidays intertwine much like Ichigo and Orihime's story does. On another note, the Tanabata's date of 7/7 is associated with the importance of Time and the hope of being together in the future.

The Tanabata Festival, unlike other IchiHime events, was held every year since the creation of the Five Lifetimes, One Love forum. It was eventually discontinued due to Bleach fandom's decline in the previous decade.

IchiHime Fests, Exchanges, Contests, and Challenges
Fest 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Tanabata Festival x x x x x x
FLOL Holiday Exchange x x x x
Halloween Contest x x x
Winter Wonderland Contest x
Spring/Sakura Contest x
The Ultimate Hali Challenge x
FLOL Fanwork Challenge 1 2

Fanworks

Meta

Fanfic

Fanart

Fanmixes

2nd IchixHime FST

Vids

Resources

Archives & Fannish Links