Bleach Fantasy Round 8: Orihime Inoue vs. Serah Farron (Fighting for their friends and a future)

VS.

DAYUM! That is one word you'll say if you ever come across these two beauties. One is orange-haired and the other is pink-haired: Who wants Oranges & Strawberries people? These two beautiful, strong, and caring women will do whatever it takes to ensure that their friends have a future and that their lives are protected from harm. Caretakers in their own right, these two will fight for what they believe in order for peace and harmony to reign. Today's BF post is Bleach's very own Orihime Inoue & FF XIII & XIII-2's very own Serah Farron. The following will be compared: Backstory/Role in Story, Powers/Abilities, & Verdict (By MechG2994). FF currently lead 5-2 against Bleach. As said before, my portions will be noted in Blue and MechG2994's in Purple. The titles are noted in Yellow.

Backstory/Role in Story (Orihime Inoue)

Where do I begin with this one? Aside from Orihime being one of the main characters and Ichigo's love interest, Orihime has been a central figure since the beginning of Bleach. Orihime would soon develop her own powers and be spiritually aware thanks to the influence of Ichigo (much like how Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro are now spiritually aware). Orihime, in a nutshell, is a funny gal, but is naive and at times clueless. She is often described as weird, but nurturing and caring. Orihime is a mixed bag of responsibility and childishness. Orihime's upbringing wasn't the best - raised by a drunken father and a prostitute mother, the two parents bickered and constantly abused their children, Sora & Orihime. It wouldn't be long before Sora and Orihime run away together and Sora becomes the paternal figure in Orihime's life. Orihime, however, was far from safe as she was constantly bullied at school for her orange-colored hair. One day, Orihime was given hairpins by her brother, but at first thought they looks childish. However, the same day she got into an argument with her brother about the hairpins, Orihime's brother died. As a result, Orihime wears the hairpins her brother gave her everyday. She wanted to showcase that she'll be happy from now on as she prayed for her brother everyday. However, after meeting Ichigo and making friends at Karakura Town, she suddenly stopped praying to her brother ~ which greatly angered him as Sora was turned into a Hollow and attacked Orihime, nearly killing her in the process. This is where Orihime first was spiritually aware as Ichigo saves her. As a result, she gained her own powers and fended off her first Hollow and managed to save Tatsuki as a result. Since then, Orihime owes Ichigo and remains as one of Ichgo's faithful friends and allies ~ helping him out, tending to his wounds, and being a member of Team Ichigo (alongside Chad & Uryu). 

Orihime first helps out as a member of Team Ichigo when trying to save Rukia. She practiced and trained with Yoruichi to harness and have control of her powers - Shun Shun Rika. She didn't play much of a role since Ichigo, Chad, & Uryu were doing all the heavy-lifting. Excluding the fillers, Orihime plays a pivotal role in the Arrancar & Hueco Mundo Arc, being praised for her "God-like abilities" as well as being used as bait for the Gotei 13 to abandon Ichigo in his hopes to rescue her. Before Orihime was threatened by the 4th Espada to leaving for Las Noches, she paid one last visit to Ichigo and says if she had 5 lives - all would in love for Ichigo (BEST ICHIHIME MOMENT EVER!) Orihime then is held hostage under Lord Aizen and is constantly at ends with various Arrancar including Nnoitra, Loly & Menoly, Grimmjow, & Ulquiorra especially. After seeing Team Ichigo rescue her, she becomes weary of their safety, especially Ichigo. Ichigo found valiantly against Grimmjow & Ulquiorra, but his hollowfication and close-to-death managed to scare Orihime as she warned him to not fight anymore and to protect himself. Listening to the damsel in distress's words, Ichigo calmed down and it wouldn't be long before all the Espada were taken down in Hueco Mundo & Fake Karakura Town. Orihime constantly worries over Ichigo's safety and she herself has proven to be the glue that holds Team Ichigo together. After Aizen's imprisonment, Orihime reappears in the Fullbringer Arc and, alongside Chad, is tricked by Tsukishima into thinking that they've known him for years now ~ implanting fake memories. Aside from not playing much of a role (since her main role was taken up in the Hueco Mundo Arc), she reappears in the current arc as a support and is doing anything she can to assist in the upcoming war. 

Backstory/Role in Story (Serrah Farron)

Born three years younger than her older sister Claire (Lightning), Serah shared the same tragic fate as her sister as their parents died from unknown circumstances when they were little. Serah spent the majority of her childhood life being raised by Claire, who later changed her name to “Lightning” as she got older. However, after enlisting in the Guardian Corps to try and support for herself and her sister, Lightning started to spend little time with Serah, leaving Serah to try and step up in her life without Lightning to guider her all the time. She did exactly that, excelling in her academics and enrolling in the University of Eden to study history, while balancing her social life falling in love with a hunk in Snow. While intrigued by the Vestige in the seaside shore of Bodhum, Serah accidentally opened the entrance leading her to the fal’Cie, Anima, who branded her as a Pulse l’Cie. Knowing that becoming a l’Cie makes her an enemy of Cocoon and not completing her Focus turns her into a Cieth, Serah went into full panic mode, attempting to break up with Snow, but Snow insists on staying with her to protect her to figure out her Focus together. One night before Lightning’s 21^st birthday, Serah received a proposal necklace from Snow to be his spouse, which she gladly accepted without Lightning’s approval and again, Snow would promise to protect her at all costs, no matter what happens. The next day, Serah showed her l’Cie mark and revealed her marriage plans with Snow to Lightning, but Light was fueled with anger on her sister and caused a disagreement with Snow. Later the same day, Snow and Serah were caught by PSICOM soldiers, after they quarantined Bodhum in the midst of the presence of the Vestige and Serah, after getting from Snow to get on the Vestige’s ledge during the chase, was suckered inside.

At the start of FFXIII, when Snow and Lightning reached deep into Anima’s Vestige in the Hanging Edge, Serah pretty much fulfilled her Focus to bring Snow, Lightning, Vanille, Hope, and Sazh together by fate to save Cocoon, crystallizing her and that build up the fact that the five heroes would also be branded by the same fal’Cie. Though Serah didn’t play too much of a role after that, her reference is still a framing device for the struggle of Lightning and Snow to get along, as well as handling a majority of both their character development. After Lightning, Snow, and the rest defeated the Cocoon fal’Cie, Barthandelus, the creator of Cocoon itself, Orphan, and when Fang and Vanille turned into Ragnarok to save Cocoon from total destruction, Serah was awaken from her crystal sleep along with Sazh’s son, Dajh, to reunite with Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Sazh to live happily ever after. Or did they? Well turns out that in FFXIII-2, Serah didn’t share a happy moment with her sister as Lightning was dragged into Valhalla to be Etro’s champion, erasing her from history and that left Serah to break down and cry considering she just saw her for a split second and the party didn’t even know about it. Years went by since Lightning disappeared and Serah still carried on with her aspirations, becoming a grade school teacher. XIII-2 is when we actually see Serah’s involvement in the XIII story arc under the guidance of a young man in Noel Kreiss and a moogle, Mog in an attempt to find her sister as well as to find Snow since Snow left her hanging to find Lightning for her by himself. She finds herself traveling across the timeline with Noel to restore the timeline that was messed up by Yeul, a seeress that see the future until the end of the world and her guardian, Caius, the immortal who’s Yeul’s protector who fights Lightning in an infinite loop in Valhalla. I really don’t want to go in depth considering how XIII-2’s plot is so convoluted; in short: Serah, along with Noel travel across time via the Historia Crux to resolve paradoxes, they briefly help Hope to get some artifacts to know more about the paradoxes and to benefit Hope’s purpose of creating a new Cocoon, they fight Caius and encounter Yeul across the timeline, Serah eventually reunites with Snow and Lightning for a brief moment, and she fights and defeats Caius in Valhalla with Noel’s help, restoring the timeline to its normal and ensuring the birth of the new Cocoon. However, it was revealed that Serah also has abilities as a seeress and by messing with the timeline like Yeul before her, she dies and the worlds of Gran Pulse and the resurrected Cocoon is swallowed in by Chaos. In LR (short for Lightning Returns), she reverts back to a framing device again for the plot as Bhunivelze’s bargaining chip for Lightning to become the Savior and save the souls in Nova Chrysalia within 13 days in order to save Serah. During Lightning’s battle with Bhunivelze, Serah’s soul was eventually freed and participated along with Hope, Fang, Vanille, Snow, and Noel to help Lightning take down the almighty god and bring the souls to a new world without the intervention of gods.

Powers/Abilities (Orihime Inoue)

Stated by Aizen himself, Orihime's power is considered a phenomenon rejection ~ limiting, rejecting, and denying things that happen to certain objects. In other words, it allows things to go back to the way they wee before it happens. Aizen went so far as to say that Orihime's power - Shun Shun Rika is greater than turning back time or reverting space, having the ability to overturn the events set by GOD himself, and finally ~ her power "impinges upon God's territory." Before, however, Shun Shun Rika were 6 manifestations of Orihime's spirit that allows her to fire projectiles, form shields, and, as Aizen said it best, allows things to go back to the way they once were. Honestly, Aizen's explanation of Orihime's power sum her up. 

Powers/Abilities (Serah Farron)

Considering the majority of this section is emphasized on her XIII-2 abilities, Serah shows that she is more than just a pretty face. Despite having no prior experience in combat, she has a tremendous amount of agility and speed, which is why the majority of her fighting style is similar to or modified from Lightning’s agile fighting style in XIII (it runs in the family, boy those Farron parents might have had some crazy @$$ genes). Her strong paradigm roles are Commando, Ravager, and Sentinel and her stats put heavy emphasis on magic abilities. She can summon and command monsters as she defeats them along the way. Her weapon is a bowsword that transform into a sword for close combat personnel or into a bow for long range opponents. Her ATB skill is Ultima Arrow, a Ravager-type skill, in which she fires multiple arrows simultaneously at her opponents, increasing their stagger gauge for even more damage. For a little miscellaneous icing on the cake, just like Lightning, she can throw a hissy fit when things don’t go her way or when some people don’t take her seriously, but she is also decisive when it comes to choosing her own path (like I said, it runs in the family).

Verict (By MechG2994)

And the winner is..

After quickly evaluating the two, there is no doubt that both characters had tragic upbringings, protected under the care of their siblings, and they are devoted to their men in shining armor, but in terms of story, powers/abilities, Orihime takes the cake in this matchup. Like I said, Serah didn’t play too much of a role in the XIII story arc until part 2 and XIII-2 was pretty much a fan service to develop her character more so that she doesn’t up being a waste of space in terms of FF characters. For Orihime, I feel that she has done more to the Bleach story arc and I find her backstory to be more tragic. However, equivalently both backstories are tragic because losing parents or being raised by abusive parents are both tragic, like 1A and 1B, but by assumption, I could tell the Farron sisters have been raised very well before their parents’ death, but for the Inoue siblings, not really considering they were raised by an abusive father and a prostitute and Serah didn’t lose Lightning at all whereas Orihime lost Sora in a tragic hit-and-run leading him to become a Hollow because Orihime stopped praying to him for guidance and Orihime has been bullied in school whereas Serah, not so much because she was the smart girl and fell in love with a hottie in Snow (tell me I did not just say hottie). In terms of abilities, Orihime may not be as agile as Serah, but since she has god-like powers, checkmate. Another thing is that, Orihime has concern for her lover, Ichigo and a thing what makes a video game/anime couple organic is the concern for each other and it is apparent that Orihime has concern for Ichigo and Ichigo with Orihime. For Snow X Serah, I won’t deny that they are one of the premiere couples of the FF franchise, but I really didn’t find their love story to be that organic. Snow was willing to protect Serah, do everything for her, but he left Serah hanging just to find Lightning for her. The thing that boggles my mind is that Serah didn’t even protest to Snow’s decision to find Lightning by himself and she could’ve just tagged along saying like “let’s find my sister together, sure I have my aspirations to educate kids, but family is more important to me than my occupation”, but NO, didn’t happen, just went along in her life until Noel arrived to finally get her involved. Repeating in short, in terms or story, abilities, and as a lover: Orihime Inoue is the victor in my opinion.

So who do you think would win a fight? Orihime Inoue from Bleach or Serah Farron from FF XIII/XIII-2? Comment below and let us know. As always, look forward to Bleach Fantasy posts every Monday & Friday all throughout May posted between 8am-11:59pm. Stay classy Bleach fans! FF leads 5-3 against Bleach (As of May 5th, 2014).