Bleach Fantasy II Round 18: Orihime Inoue vs. Yuna

Welcome back to another installment of Bleach Fantasy II where MechG & I once again collaborate on pitting the world of Bleach & the various installments of the Final Fantasy franchise. On Monday, FF once again snatched another victory against Bleach (FF still leads 11-6 against Bleach), but many things can happen. Like MechG said, Bleach Fantasy II posts will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. My daily schedule of Affinity, Watch-list, WBCR, & Throwback posts will be the same as always (if delayed, posts will be on weekends). Without further ado, let's get started on Bleach Fantasy II Round 18 ~ Orihime Inoue vs. Yuna. Take into account that Storyline and Powers/Abilities are the deciding factors. MechG & I will switch-off ever 3 rounds in giving the verdict. Let's jam!

Storyline (Orihime)

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 Ichigo'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.

Storyline (Yuna)

Born in Bevelle to Braska and an unnamed Al Bhed mother (hence why Rikku is a distant cousin), Yuna didn’t get to know that much about both her mother and father in person. When Yuna was just four years old, her mother journeyed on a ship back to the Al Bhed Home to make amends with her older brother Cid, but tragically, the ship was attacked by the whale-like behemoth, Sin, who is believed to be created by Spira’s ancestors as punishment for relying too much on machina technology, a practice that is heavily against the teachings of Yevon. When Yuna was seven, her father, Braska, became a summoner as a result of the mother’s death and he left Yuna behind in Bevelle for the pilgrimage to Zanarkand along with his guardians, Auron and Jecht (Tidus’ father) in the quest to defeat Sin. Braska eventually defeats Sin, but sacrifices his own life and Jecht’s life in the process. On one final request, Braska asked Auron to bring Yuna to Besaid Island to spend the rest of her life living there in which Auron agreed to do but upon returning to Bevelle, he was attacked by Lady Yunalesca, a strict enforcer on the teachings of Yevon. Auron passed on Braska’s request to Kimahri. Kimahri then successfully took Yuna to Besaid where Yuna was raised in the island’s temple and grew up under the care of Kimahri, Wakka, Lulu, and Wakka’s brother, Chappu.

By the time, she’s all grown up, Yuna decided to be a summoner just like her father. In the Besaid temple, she, along with her fellow guardians, Kimahri and Lulu, went through temple’s Cloister of Trials, to get into the Chamber of the Fayth. In the chamber alone, she stayed there for one day in prayer to the Fayth to obtain her first Aeon, Valefor. Along with Wakka, Kimahri, Lulu, and Tidus, Yuna departed for her pilgrimage journeying to Kilika via ship. There, Yuna performed her first sending, a dance rite for the deceased to guide the souls to rest in the Farplane after Sin laid waste to Kilika. Basically throughout her journey, she’s doing sendings, collecting new Aeons as well meeting with rival summoners and then her role becomes relevant again storyline-wise when she reunites with Auron in Luca, establishes a connection with Tidus, getting “kidnapped” by the Al Bhed, and encountering Seymour during the events of Operation Mi’Hen. Particularly, after the event with the forced marriage with Seymour is where Yuna starts to question Yevon’s beliefs, which helps her relationship with Tidus grow because Tidus taught her just to believe in herself. She ultimately decides to carry on with her pilgrimage with her guardians and in a sequence of order, they fought Seymour many times, breaking the Final Summoning rite by defeating Lady Yunalesca in Zanarkand, fought Sin and traveled inside the beast, defeating Seymour a final time, defeating Jecht in the form of Braska’s Final Aeon, and finally defeating Yu Yevon all inside, ending Spira’s cycle of death at the hands of Sin, granting her the title as High Summoner, but losing the Fayth, Aeons, Auron, and Tidus. As the main heroine in X-2, she is a spherehunter along with Rikku and Paine collecting spheres around Spira after seeing a Tidus look-a-like in Shuyin in a sphere movie. After uncovering so many spheres, she finds out about Shuyin’s love interest in Lenne. During the battle against the ancient machina weapon, Vegnagun, Yuna channels Lenne’s spirit to ease Shuyin’s soul, in which she successfully does after besting Shuyin in battle. Then there’s the alternate ending after beating X-2 100% where Yuna reunites with Tidus in Besaid and they venture off into the Zanarkand ruins wondering if Tidus is still a dream.

Powers/Abilities (Orihime)

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 were 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. The names of her Shun Shun Rika are: Ayame, Baigon, Hinagiku, Lily, Shun'o, & Tsubaki. Honestly, Aizen's explanation of Orihime's power sum her up.

Powers/Abilities (Yuna)

In FFX, Yuna wields a rod and in X-2, she wields two guns, still looking at that, it still boggles my mind how a transition like that happens so here, I’m going to emphasize on her abilities in FFX more. By investing more time playing FFX since the last BF series, I got a better understanding of Yuna’s abilities more. In X, she has one of the highest Magic and Agility stats in the game. Most of her magic abilities emphasize on white magic abilities, such as magic defense, a whole lot of healing, and casting Holy on the opposition for a good amount of non-elemental damage. She has four magic nullifying abilities that protect herself or her party that resists elemental damage from the opposition for a short period time: Nul-Blaze (nullifies fire attacks), Nul-Tide (nullifies water attacks), Nul-Frost (nullifies ice attacks), and Nul-Shock (nullifies lightning attacks). As she progresses throughout her pilgrimage, she obtains Aeons (summons that resemble the Fayth to establish a deep connection with the summoner through the summoner’s prayer) under her wing to summon and there’s a total of 8 Aeons, dividing them into two groups. The first group of Aeons are four Aeons that each represent at least one elemental aspect, but are less powerful: Valefor (air) (Overdrives: Energy Ray and Energy Blast), Ifrit (fire) (Overdrive: Hellfire), Ixion (lightning) (Overdrive: Thor’s Hammer), and Shiva (ice) (Overdrive: Diamond Dust). The second group of Aeons are four immensely powerful Aeons, capable of doing 9,999 or more damage to opponents, especially when executing their respective overdrives: Bahamut (Mega Flare), Anima (Oblivion), the trio of the Magus Sisters, Cindy, Mindy, and Sandy (Delta Attack), and Yojimbo (the only exception of a powerful Aeon without an Overdrive, but his attacks become more powerful if paid a large amount of gil). Yuna’s Overdrive is Grand Summon, which is basically a rehash of the Summon command but the Aeon’s Overdrive is all maxed out and ready for execution.

Verdict (By Stillmattic)
And the winner is...

So where do I begin with this one? Both respectable heroines of their own ~ Orihime Inoue of Bleach & Yuna of FF X/X-2. Both are pivotal members of Team Ichigo/Team Tidus, have supernatural powers, and to top if off, are the primary love interest for Ichigo/Tidus. However, it boils down to one word in particular ~ relevance. As I've explicated before, Orihime's role diminishes largely because she played a key role in the Arrancar, Hueco Mundo, & Fake Karakura Town Arc. She now plays a secondary character while everybody else gets screen-time. A large chunk of her story doesn't progress aftrer ~ she's madly in love with Ichigo, but doesn't really act on it. She's still the clumsy & ditzy girl we all love, but her usage of Shun Shun Rika is very VERY minimal to say the least. Orihime Inoue may be part of Team Ichigo & possess God-like abilities, but at the end of the day, Yuna from FF X/X-2 had more relevance in the story than Orihime Inoue. I think Yuna's abilities offer more variety and she can be utilized more in the games whereas Orihime Inoue uses to heal/regenerate wounds and....yup, that's about it. Orihime's projectiles don't do sh*t whereas Yuna has ~ Aeons, 4 magic nullifying abilities, and is said to possess one of the highest stats in Magic & Agility. Now tell me, if these two lovely ladies ended up in a fight, who'd win? Personally, Orihime doesn't utilize Shun Shun Rika offensively so she lacks in the Offense department whereas Yuna is powerful Defensively. So tell me, between a battle of offense and defense, which is considerably stronger? In this man's opinion, defense ALWAYS wins. Yuna is a videogame character and as such, the gamer can always utilize her to the best of her abilities. Orihime Inoue is a one-dimensional Anime/Manga character that is seen more as the damsel and comic relief with Big Ol' Beebiez. Storywise & I think abilities wise, Yuna conquerors in all departments. Orihime, you know I still loves you, but the lovely Yuna takes the cake. Tidus, you a lucky lucky man to have Yuna by your side. Take good care of her. Orihime, better step yo game before Ichigo's taken by Rukia or perhaps Nelliel. Yuna acts while Orihime is on the sidelines.

So who do you think won this matchup? Orihime Inoue from Bleach or Yuna from Final Fantasy X? Comment below and let us know. Reiterating again, Bleach Fantasy Round II posts will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays w/MechG & I interchanging every 3rd matchups on giving the verdict. Bleach Fantasy Round II standings (12-6):

1) Yoruichi Shihoin vs. Prishe ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
2) Uryu Ishida vs. Hope Estheim ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
3) As Nodt vs. Vincent Valentine ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
4) Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Jecht ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
5) Shunsui Kyoraku vs. Auron ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
6) Sui-Feng vs. Tifa Lockhart ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic) 
7) Mayuri Kurotsuchi vs. Barthandelus ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
8) Sajin Komamura vs. Sin ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)

9) Toshiro Hitsugaya vs. Kuja ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
10) Tia Harribel vs. Tidus ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
11) Bambietta Basterbine vs. Rinoa Heartilly ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
12) Riruka Dokugamine vs. Ultimecia ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
13) Baraggan Louisenbairn vs. Exdeath ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
14) Ginjo Kugo vs. Caius Ballad ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
15) Coyote Starrk vs. Cloud Strife ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)
16) Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck vs. Kefka Palazzo ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
17) Shinji Hirako vs. Emperor Mateus ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
18) Orihime Inoue vs. Yuna ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)