The Grimmjow/Orihime Manifesto~!
Title: The Beautiful Princess and the Not-So-Charming Prince - A Grimmjow/Orihime Manifesto
Author: renegade_raine, but y’all can call me Raine. <3
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Grimmjow Jeagerjaques/Orihime Inoue
Spoilers: I pretty much go through all of their interactions through the entire series so far, so those of you not up to date with the manga might want to avoid this.
Special Thanks: The Grimmjow/Orihime fanclubs at Narutofan AND Bleach Asylum. I <3 you guys~!
Notes: Contains manga scans, so it might take a little while to load everything. Be patient, please!
Also, in the rare chance that any moments come up, I shall update this~!
Introduction:
Bleach, by Kubo Tite, is about the adventures of high-school student, Ichigo Kurosaki, who starts out in the story with the ability to see the souls of the dead. One day, he runs into the Shinigami (or Soul Reaper), Rukia Kuchiki, and is bestowed with the powers of a Shinigami. It’s hard to summarize the story without dishing out spoilers, but I’ll say that his life becomes far more complicated after receiving his new powers.
I started reading Bleach about a year or year and a half ago when I was still hardcore into the Naruto fandom. I kept hearing so much about Bleach, but never bothered to read it. But then when I saw so many people make debates about pairings, I started reading the manga out of curiosity to see where I would stand in the whole pairings frenzy.
It’s a silly reason to start reading, I know, but from there on out, I slowly got more and more absorbed into the story, until I gradually got sucked out of the Naruto fandom and became hyper-obsessed with Bleach. There’s so many diverse characters, there’s so many twists and turns that had me going “WHAT THE SHITTACO?!” a few times, the art is beautiful, and the character designs are AWESOME. Even if most people say that the latest arc in the manga is boring and/or original, I’m still totally hooked, and I’m pretty sure I will be for a long time.
Characters:
Grimmjow Jeagerjaques
Grimmjow is what’s called an Arrancar in Bleach, meaning that he was a Hollow (or in other words, a spirit gone bad), who had his mask removed, and thus giving him Shinigami powers. Although Arrancars vaguely like regular humans, their main identifying marks is that they still have a portion of their mask (for example, Grimmjow’s covers part of his jawline) and also have a hole somewhere on his body (Grimmjow’s is located in the middle of his abs).
Currently, he is the Sexta Espada (or the sixth strongest Arrancar) under Aizen’s command, and seems to be very proud of this fact. Personality-wise, Grimmjow is actually kind of complex. Most of the time when you see him, he’s violent, sadistic, short-tempered, irreverent, rebellious, and very impulsive.
However, later in the manga, he displays an odd and extremely twisted sense of honor when he has his sworn enemy, Ichigo healed, so they can have a fair fight, and also saves Orihime from abuse to repay his debt to her (which will be explained more in detail later). And even though he’s very hotheaded, he’s made some surprisingly insightful remarks about things, and even bested an Arrancar two ranks above him with a surprise attack.
From the very first time I saw this guy, I instantly decided that his appearance was the most intriguing and awesome character design EVER. I was already a fan of the guy after he ran into Ichigo and Rukia, asked which one was stronger. When neither replied, he rammed his hand through Rukia’s stomach and commented “Not you” (to the Rukia fans, I do like her, but the moment was just so hilariously bad ass that my sides were hurting from laughter).
But I really became a huge fan of his character shortly after getting his arm healed and in possibly the most awesomely badass moment ever in manga, proceeded to ram his hand through Luppi (who had been giving him a hard time about losing his arm), and blasted him away. Seriously, the moment was so awesome that it’s STILL the wallpaper for my cell phone. He’s now my favorite male character and second favorite character overall.
Orihime Inoue
Orihime at first seems like your typical damsel-in-distress character, but she is FAR from being anywhere near any kind of stereotype. She is sensitive, kind, friendly, and academically smart. However, we fall in love with characters for their flaws, don’t we? And Orihime has lots of them. Her imagination tends to get the best of her thinking and sees life in a very odd way (for example, when asked in class to draw a picture of how she sees her future self, she draws herself as a super-destructive robot XD), she’s so caring that she doesn’t even want to harm enemies if she can help it (which currently deems her useless on the offensive side of combat), she’s prone to feelings of jealousy and inferiority (but she openly admits this and feels awful for having those feelings), and self-sacrificing to the point where she willingly allows herself to be detained by the enemy in exchange for the safety of her friends.
Her power is the Shun Shun Rikka, whose power comes from the hairpins she wears in her hair. When summoned, she has the power to control six fairy-like creatures who can create a shield, heal wounds, or cut an enemy in half (although I believe she was only able to effectively use the attack once in the entire manga). Later, it’s stated that her power is actually rejecting events. Or in other words, she can reject the will of God. This has led to some people disliking her for such a huge power, but I think it’s awesome coming from a girl such as herself.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for her character in the beginning, I might not have had any motivation to read through the manga and probably would have never made it to the Soul Society arc (which was the point where everything became interesting). Compared to all the other characters at the start of the story, the quirkiness of Orihime made her far more interesting than everybody. I can definitely relate with her over reactive imagination, and she’s a character I can’t help but empathize with. Then after the Soul Society arc, I was extremely happy to see so much development with her inner turmoil in the story, which made her even more real to me, thus securing her spot as my favorite character of EVERYTHING.
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Before you read the next section, as quoted from Last of the Arrancar at Narutoforums:
"About the canon stuff and all the lil hints we interpret the way we want ... off course pro-GrimmHime's will interpret it in their favor, while shippers of other pairings will say we're talking crap. But they should remember that almost ALL so called 'evidence' of pairings is up for interpretation."
Please remember this and keep an open mind, thank you! ^_^
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The moments that make the pairing interesting
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Prologue
Orihime was coming back from Soul Society after training, when Ulquiorra (an Arrancar) suddenly stopped her when he attacked her two escorts. He then threatened to harm the lives of those she cared about, unless she came to serve Aizen in Hueco Mundo. Being the self-sacrificing person she is, she accepts the offer, and after an allowed limited time in the human world, she’s whisked away to Hueco Mundo.
- Love At First Sight? (I wish… T_T) -
The next time we see our heroine, she’s standing in front of Aizen with a few other Arrancar. Aizen, seemingly being impatient, immediately asks Orihime to heal Grimmjow’s left arm (which was earlier cut off and then burned by Tousen in punishment for Grimmjow being disobedient) in order to test out her ability.
Already it’s interesting, as for once Grimmjow doesn’t look angry, arrogant, or sadistically happy, but surprised. The amusing part is that both Grimmjow and Orihime, two completely different people in terms of personality, have nearly the same exact expression. XD
They then look at each other for the first time and already the sparks are FLYING!, before Orihime heals his arm. It’s hard to tell from the scan whether Grimmjow is staring at his arm (which would make more sense) or Orihime (which would be interesting), but either way, we see another new expression from Grimmjow as he stares in seemingly absolute awe.
After examining his fully healed arm with disbelief, he asks Orihime one more favor:
Now, it might seem a little rude just reading it, but keep in mind that this guy is probably the most violent character in Bleach. Grimmjow is a character that’s far more likely to yell or threaten people to get what he wants. But here, he just kind of casually suggests she do him another favor. And really, for Grimmjow, that’s like the equivalent of getting down on one knee, kissing her hand, and saying “Oh fair maiden, would you kindly bestow me the honor of healing just one more spot for me?”.
As you can see, Orihime willingly accepted his request and healed his tattoo back, which also restored his position as the Sexta Espada. He then impaled Luppi (the guy who had replaced his rank briefly) with his hand, blew him up, and then laughed hysterically, while Orihime understandably looked disturbed over the whole deal. Keep in mind, if it wasn’t for Orihime, Grimmjow would still be an angry one-armed man with no power in Hueco Mundo. So really, the guy kind of owes his life to her.
Orihime, however is not so happy about the situation as she angsts about it later in her room…
*double take*
Are you people seeing what I’m seeing? After wondering to herself whether or not if it was a good idea to come to Hueco Mundo, she INSTANTLY thinks of Grimmjow! The anime makes it even more hilarious, as they add in moments of him in events that Orihime DIDN’T EVEN SEE. Oh, the power of LOVE!
Sure, even if that panel was put in to show regret or whatever, it’s REALLY oddly placed. ESPECIALLY for the fact that she thinks about Grimmjow BEFORE thinking about her friends! Kubo probably didn’t mean anything by it, but when us GrimmHime shippers are given an inch, you can bet your ass we’re gonna take it a friggin’ mile!
Then for several chapters, there’s no interaction between the two at all, which was sad, as I was already intrigued by the pair and was desperate for any kind of action. When chapter 270 came out and Orihime was begging to be let out of her room, I said to my sister: “Wouldn’t it be awesome if Grimmjow was the one to let Orihime out, just to have her heal Ichigo, so he could fight him?”, because knowing Ichigo (who was in combat with Ulquiorra at the time), I knew he was going to get pwned. Again.
I didn’t seriously think that my prediction come true, as I was just desperate for interaction, but then 273 came out, and my Grimmjow/Orihime interaction FINALLY came. And it was even better than what I had hoped.
-WTF? Grimmjow to the RESCUE?!-
Chapter 273 was a little depressing for me at first, as Loli and Menoli (two Arrancars) decided to enter Orihime’s room and take out their jealousy that Aizen was paying more attention to her than them by basically beating the shit out of her. I knew that Orihime would not even lift her hand against them, so it was sad seeing my favorite girl get abused so badly. Fortunately though, the first signs of her getting rescued finally came up.
HAHA! Someone has finally come to Orihime’s rescue, and boy are they pissed! But if Ichigo, Rukia, and Chad were currently pwned, who the hell is it? Ishida? Was he really that much more competent than the rest of his group?
The smoke clears and it’s…GRIMMJOW?! OMGWTFBBQ?!
At that point, I was vowing bear Kubo’s illegitimate children, as I thought those two would never interact again, and now Grimmjow was saving her from BULLIES?! What the hell?
Anyways, the smoke clears and Loli and Menoli are naturally scared out of their wits as Grimmjow is an Arrancar with far more power than the two combined. Grimmjow, of course, just walks in with his casual cockiness.
That’s a damned good question, Loli. Why the hell DID Grimmjow burst through the door anyways?
Grimmjow doesn’t answer though, and simply kicks her in the stomach, blasts Menoli into little pieces, and then breaks Loli’s leg in an awesomely violent fashion. I should probably mention that I’m a HUGE fan of scenes where guys brutally beat the people who did their girl wrong.
Afterwards, there’s a strange sense of calm between Grimmjow and Orihime…
Anyone else find it kind of curious how Grimmjow just kind of stands there and looks at her? Orihime is of course confused, so Grimmjow finally answers as to why he came there in the first place, albeit a little roughly…
Suuuuuure it is, Grimmjow, suuuuure it is.
To the naysayers who say that Grimmjow was being cruel with her, notice that he only grabs her by the collar. This is a man who just broke a broad’s leg and blasted another to bits. Compared to that, that’s mere child play.
We’ll just ignore the fact that the bottom left panel looks suspiciously like wall sex and move onto the next page…
Well, it sure took ya long enough to ask, Grimmjow. -_-…
Sure, I can understand that he wants a favor out of her, but remember way back in their first interaction that all he had to do is simply ask her to heal the spot in his back, and she did it willingly. But he went through the trouble of bursting through the door, beating the two bitches up, and afterwards, he just kind of stood there and looked at her. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems very odd for Grimmjow’s character.
Also, Grimmjow seems to be doing the stereotypical bad boy speech after doing something good. They don’t want to admit to doing something decent, so they just say they did it for an ulterior motive, and then insults the person for even thinking that way. Even if that’s not the case though, at least this shows that Grimmjow has some sort of code of ethics, even if it’s a REALLY screwed up code.
In the next chapter, the two seemed like they were going to leave for Grimmjow’s “favor”, but Grimmjow has yet another request…
…although he didn’t bother to bring up the fact that he had seemingly no problem with putting his fist through one gal’s stomach, blowing another to smithereens, and breaking the leg of another. Yeah, okay Grimmjow, whatever you say!
Even if it was in his typically rude manner, the fact shows that Grimmjow was either:
A) Was bothered by the fact that Orihime’s was bruised pretty badly.
B) Liked Orihime’s face enough to see it back to normal
C) Both?
I mean, c’mon, what possible reason could he have to want her face healed?
Orihime though, being the overly kind girl she is, is more concerned about the girls that Grimmjow just massacred and goes running to heal them instead. Even if Grimmjow seems a tad bit peeved, he seemingly just stands there and lets her do it.
-Chains of Love-
We then don’t seem them for a few chapters, until Grimmjow finally finds Ichigo’s dead (or close to dead) body lying on the ground. After scoffing about the ordeal, Grimmjow lifts up a cover to reveal this kinky scene:
This only makes Grimmjow’s request to for Orihime to heal her face all the more mystifying, doesn’t it (since he covered it up anyways)? Even if she’s lightly bound and chained, notice that some kind of cloth is wrapped around her hands. This is a guy who doesn’t give a shit about anything besides combat and/or himself, but yet he seemingly found the time to wrap a cloth around her hands so that her skin wouldn’t be irritated by the chains. XD
He then orders Orihime to heal Ichigo, and then sits as he watches her. Nel, a toddler-like Arrancar cries about how she was the cause of Ichigo getting hurt. Getting fed up, Grimmjow threatens to “fucking blow” her away if she wouldn’t shut up, but then calms down, displays his confidence in Orihime’s power, and also shows that he doesn’t take her powers for granted:
Orihime, being the miracle worker she is, manages to heal Ichigo to conciseness, and tears up a little out of happiness. Then somehow, this is the point where Grimmjow gets pissed off.
He was all calm while she took her time healing him, and even ordered Nel to be quiet while she healed him, but when she shows the SLIGHTEST bit of emotion for his enemy, he SUDDENLY gets pissed off? Kubo probably didn’t intend for Grimmjow to look jealous, but he sure is acting as if he really was.
And Grimmjow, if you’re so damned concerned about time, why, oh why, did you stand there and look at her after beating the two bitches up, and then just sat there and let her heal them right back to full health! Not to mention you seemingly took the time to wrap her hands in cloth so that her skin wouldn’t get irritated! But nooooo, right when she shows concern for Ichigo, you SUDDENLY start worrying about time! XD
However, as if on cue, Ulquiorra shows up right behind them. In his typically cold demeanor, he wants to know what’s going on, and then demands that Grimmjow hand Orihime back over to him. Grimmjow refuses:
The two get into a fight, and in one of the more awesome twists in the story, Grimmjow does a surprise attack on Ulquiorra, causing him to temporarily be transported to another dimension. Orihime, like any other normal person, is confused, so Grimmjow explains it to her, showing that he has no problem with divulging information with her:
It might seem like a minor detail, but at the bottom of the page, Orihime shows that she has enough of a backbone to stand up to his demands. Not being afraid of the male in the relationship is a VERY good start, don’t you think? XD
Grimmjow isn’t pleased though.
Some may say that Grimmjow wasn’t being too nice at her at this point, but although I know I sound like I’m being redundant here, this guy put his hand through a chick’s stomach, broke another girl’s leg, blasted one away, and threatened to blow a toddler away. What he’s doing now to Orihime is EXTREMELY tame in comparison, especially since it’s apparent that his grip on her isn’t that tight, as she’s seemingly still able to still protest against him without too much of a problem.
Before the two can finish their lover’s quarrel though, Ichigo intervenes and tells Orihime to heal both him and Grimmjow (who denies it, but Ichigo seemingly convinces him to let her do it). Grimmjow and Ichigo then fight, which pretty much halted any more Grimmjow/Orihime interaction in the manga. Later on in the fight though, Grimmjow asks a damned good question, and also says some things that seem just a little odd…
Perhaps the better question is what DIDN’T he do to Orihime~! 8D *is shot*
But seriously, what the hell IS going on inside Orihime? More importantly, how would Grimmjow know? I’d like to think that Grimmjow suddenly became Mr. Sensitivity and noticed that Orihime was being all angsty and stuff, but that’s doubtful and we’ll probably never get an explanation as to why Grimmjow seemingly understands “what’s going on inside her”. Although Grimmjow has shown a very keen sense of understanding people a couple of different times in the manga, so it might have something to do with that. Other than that though, I find it a little interesting that he scowls while telling Ichigo that he should have just ran away with Orihime. Hmm…
Later on, he aims an attack at Orihime and Nel, but it’s apparent that he only did that to draw out Ichigo’s true strength, as Ichigo successfully blocks the attack. After the fight though, Grimmjow is taken down and no further Grimmjow/Orihime interaction has been made so far. Although with Grimmjow injured/passed out, him having a possibility of turning to the good or neutral side (as some fans speculate), and Orihime being in his general vicinity, it may be possible that Orihime will heal him, although no allusions have been made in the manga to support that theory yet.
Another thing to consider for possible future interaction between the two is that Grimmjow said that he saved Orihime from Loli and Menoli to repay the debt for healing his arm, but how will he repay her for restoring the tattoo on his back (which also restored his position of power)? Healing his arm was more of an order by Aizen, but healing his tattoo was actually more of a favor, so I would expect him to pay that favor back as well. Also, how will he repay her for healing Ichigo? Although he MAY figure that having Ichigo alive is enough of a payback for Orihime.
Perhaps there will be no further Grimmjow/Orihime interaction in the manga ever, but the Grimmjow/Orihime fandom is all based on speculation and daydreams anyways, so we’ll daydream, dammit!
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Why I, and others, like this pairing…
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Personally, I didn’t even think of the possibility of the pairing until chapter 240 of the manga, where Orihime healed Grimmjow’s arm. I was instantly intrigued with how calm the normally very NOT calm Grimmjow was with her, and how she healed him with no sign of fear. Since there was a lack of interaction with my former OrihimeTP of IshiHime, I resorted to pretty much pairing her with everyone in the manga (and I still do), but when I saw this event in the manga, I IMMEDIATELY started looking for fanfiction of the pairing, which there was very little of at the time and I was sad that I couldn’t find any fanart for the pairing.
Nevertheless, it was still my guilty pleasure, although I only had the one scene to go off from. But then, the miracle came in the form of Grimmjow saving Orihime, and I then fell deep into the GrimmHime fandom, and still haven’t recovered from it.
Why do I like it so much? Well, the dynamic of Grimmjow and Orihime’s nearly exact opposite of personalities is intriguing, as well as the fact that they’re both on different sides of the battlefield, and aren’t even the same classification of living beings. So naturally, the two are a goldmine of inspiration for a fanfiction writer, such as myself, who favors writing the more angsty and dark side of fiction.
Unlike several of the pairings I do ship though, this one has a little bit of canon evidence to support it. I know I’m stretching things at this point, but bear with me. When you think of the requirements of a good relationship, what do you think of? Good communication, honesty, trust, understanding, and loyalty, right? It might not seem like it, but in an extremely twisted way, this pairing displays ALL of those qualities.
Good communication - Whenever Orihime was curious about ANYTHING, Grimmjow completely informed her on the matter.
Honesty - Grimmjow pretty much never tries to hide his intentions from her, no matter how bad they are. XD
Trust - Orihime is naturally a trusting person, so no argument there. Grimmjow also displays trust in her powers, as he silenced a wailing child by showing his confidence in her power.
Understanding - Hey, Grimmjow claims he understands Orihime better than Ichigo. Considering that Ichigo went to school with Orihime, and Grimmjow only interacted with Orihime a couple times in the manga, that’s pretty amazing. XD
Loyalty - Even if she was ordered to heal his arm, Grimmjow still took it upon himself to burst through a locked door and beat up two women that were abusing Orihime in repayment in the most brutal way possible. That’s hardcore dedication right there.
I’m not naïve enough to think that the pairing has a large chance of becoming canon (although I go by the “Never say never” motto), and I’m fine with that. Their interaction though in the manga, has been very interesting, and I could certainly see the potential of them being a couple.
Grimmjow, the normally violent person, seemingly takes it easy on Orihime and is a lot more patient with her than he is with others. Another interesting note is that Orihime is the ONLY person he’s interacted with in the entire manga that he’s done ANYTHING nice for, despite the fact he wanted a favor from her in return.
Some say that he’s only being nice to her, since he doesn’t want to piss off Aizen. I’m pretty sure that Aizen would be pretty pissed off though that he plucked her out of her room to heal an enemy that stepped foot on his turf and then refused to give her back to the person that Aizen appointed as her caretaker. Then why is he nicer to her then, you ask? Honestly, I don’t know. I doubt it’s actually love or anything like that, but perhaps it stems from the fact that he hates anyone who looks upon him with a condescending look, and Orihime is about one of the least condescending people ever, who also did a couple of nice things for him.
On Orihime’s side of the relationship, she also presents an interesting aspect to the relationship. Even if she knows how destructive and insane Grimmjow is, she’s still courageous enough to stand up to him, as seen when she healed Loli and Menoli when told to heal her face and when refusing to heal Ichigo, when she knew he wanted to fight him. Perhaps that would seem detrimental to a relationship, but I think it actually would do Grimmjow a little good to be with someone who wouldn’t cave into to his every command.
To those of you who say that Orihime declared her love for Ichigo in five lifetimes, and thus can’t possibly fall in love with anyone else, have a sense of imagination! Orihime having feelings for Ichigo is part of the reason why I think she COULD also develop feelings for Grimmjow, as the two share a lot of personality traits. Both are impulsive, outspoken, and hotheaded, just to name a few similarities. Orihime also seemingly gets a kick out of Ichigo’s perma-scowl, and Grimmjow almost always has a scowl on his face too (when he’s not in battle, that is). Sure, Grimmjow might not have the sense of righteousness that Ichigo has, but he’s shown the potential to evolve. Also, I think if given the chance, Orihime could put up with him.
What’s also interesting about this pair is that the relationship could go two different ways. As a writer of stuff that’s usually pretty dark-themed, I personally am more inspired by the possibility of Orihime having to sort through her darker emotions, while being held captive in Hueco Mundo, which would thus lead to more of a dark and sort of taboo-like relationship. Grimmjow did mention that something was “going on” inside of Orihime, so I don’t think the dark emotions part, at least, is too far-fetched.
The other possibility, in an almost entirely opposite scenario, is that Grimmjow finally stands up to Aizen (but knowing Grimmjow, he still probably wouldn’t necessarily join Ichigo’s side), does something half-ass heroic, and Orihime realizes that Grimmjow isn’t such a bad guy after all, and it’s happily ever after for the two. Okay, so maybe the last part is way beyond the possibility of canon, but Grimmjow has saved Orihime once before (no matter what lame excuse he uses), and he for sure hates Aizen with a passion. So I think the possibility of Orihime MAYBE seeing Grimmjow in a better light is there.
In a more shallow reason, I also like the pair because they look great together. Sure, Grimmjow is like two feet taller than her, but I still think that his buff, punk-like, and rough image contrasts nicely with Orihime’s dainty, soft, and classically pretty one. And for you art students, orange (Orihime’s hair color) is the opposite color of blue (Grimmjow’s hair color), which adds even more to the contrasting imagery between the two. And in an even more shallow way of looking at the pairing, Orihime is hot, Grimmjow is hot, so in that way, naturally it’s a hot pairing. XD
However, I’m not the only fan of this pairing, so I asked a few other fans of the pairing for their reasons as to why they like it, and managed to get a couple of responses. So without further ado, here’s some additional responses!
Sayo from the Narutofan forums writes: “Well just spit out my opinion on this pairing is that it has a believable darker side to it, go figure. What if Orihime was kidnapped, and a year or longer passed, she could have chosen to stay with the Arrancar and fall for Grimmi. Then when the inevitable battle comes between Ichigo and Grimmjow on a certain moment in the end when Grimm is down, Orihime steps in to defend him facing Ichigo!!! hdfshjdgfjf
Anyway, They’re both really cute and among my favorite characters…well mainly Grimmjow is, but put 'em together and they could be incredibly interesting ^^';”
Last of the Arrancar, also from the Narutofan forums writes: “I first started out with being an obsessed Grimmjow fan. He reminded me a bit of Vegeta from DBZ, he's basically the type of character that gets my attention. The hot, bad guy with an aggressive touch. As for GrimmHime, I started thinking about them when Orihime got abducted. When she healed Grimm's arm, that scene, with his look and 'gentle' (for him) request to heal his number was what got my attention. Then I realized I again had fallen for the stereotype of Vegeta and Bulma, and I do see similarities between Bulma and Orihime. The bad guy and the cute good girl defying all logic and falling for each other. Grimmjow being Grimmjow makes the pairing interesting imo, he's unpredictable, volatile, rude, and who knows what lies beneath the surface. He can play the dominating, abusive lover or the insensitive discovering his feelings.”
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Fandom
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The fandom for the pairing was surprisingly small for a while, until about the time when Grimmjow rescued Orihime. It’s still only a moderately popular pairing, but I’m happy to see it growing though as more interactions between the two occur. Sure, the Grimmjow/Orihime popularity doesn’t stack up to the popularity of the Ichigo/Orihime, Ishida/Orihime, or Ulquiorra/Orihime fandoms, but we know that our pairing probably isn’t going to become canon, so our fandom is a peaceful one and we all get along with the listed fandoms (and others) quite well!
The Japanese art sites seem to favor Ulquiorra/Orihime, at the moment, but there are a few sites that have Grimmjow/Orihime art. And although it took a really long time to catch on in Deviantart, it seems that the pairing is finally starting to make a wave for English speaking audiences (which I suspect has something to do with the arm healing being made in anime form).
The fanfiction side is a little barren at the moment, which sucks a little, since I feel like I’m the only person that consistently writes the pairing, but I think more fanfiction will start to show up when more Grimmjow/Orihime moments show up in the anime.
So without anymore rambling, here’s my recommended sites for the pairing.
Fanart recs:
http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa200/GrimmHimeIsReallyHotSmex/ - I complied just about every GrimmHime pic I could find off of Japanese art sites here, so for you that don’t like trying to figure those sites out, check this out!
http://grimmhime.deviantart.com/ - The DA club for all things Grimmjow/Orihime related~!
http://www5.pf-x.net/~funnydevil/ - The first GrimmHime art site I stumbled onto. She also makes very nice doujinshi, featuring the pair. <3
http://osm.icca.jp/ - This site has both GrimmHime and UlquiHime art, most of it very cute.
http://mugiwara.hacca.jp/bleach/index.html#bl_cp - The site might not navigate easy on some computers, but this site also has very pretty art.
http://www.geocities.jp/medakanegi/page119.html - Most of the art is very sketchy, but I still check this site out a lot.
http://www.geocities.jp/amaguri0622/top.html - Another one of the first sites I stumbled upon. <3
http://happyswing.himegimi.jp/index_2.htm - Another site that I rather like. :D
http://www.off-record.net - There’s only a couple of GrimmHime pics on here, but this site is by far my favorite art site of them all. <3
Fanfic recs:
By Kageisuke: http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/57852.html
http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/57852.html
http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/62383.html
http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/67968.html - Mature warning for all of these!
By Pink Rapid: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3412028/1/
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3415188/1/ - Mature warning for both~!
And I REALLY don’t like tooting my own horn, but without any ego, I’m pretty sure I can say that I’ve written GrimmHime fics the most. I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to promote myself here, but I also don’t want to sell myself short. So here’s my collection of the oneshots I wrote for the 30_angsts community so far:
http://bleach.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=600010411 (Most of these are M rated, so beware!)
And this one is somewhat popular too (and the very first time I experimented with the pairing): http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3369343/1/ (Mature warning on this one too)
And if I missed a fanfic (which I’m very sure I did), let me know and I’ll add it. <3
Communities:
grimm_hime - The Grimmjow/Orihime LJ community
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=209209 - The Grimmjow/Orihime fanclub I created on the Narutofan forums~!
http://www.bleachasylum.com/showthread.php?t=140 - The Grimmjow/Orihime fanclub at the Bleach Asylum forums. Probably the most active community of people you’ll find for the pairing. :)
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In conclusion, the possibility for the pairing exists more in fandom, rather than canon, but it’s all good, since beautiful art and wonderful writings have come from the couple.
Even if the two haven’t interacted a whole lot in the actual manga, the interactions that have occurred have been the most significant source of creative inspiration I’ve had from a pairing ever. I was in a dry spell for writing before coming across the idea of GrimmHime, so I have this pairing to thank for giving me what I needed to be able to write again. And for that, even after everything has been said and done, I will always love this pairing, and I hope that others will too.
Author: renegade_raine, but y’all can call me Raine. <3
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Grimmjow Jeagerjaques/Orihime Inoue
Spoilers: I pretty much go through all of their interactions through the entire series so far, so those of you not up to date with the manga might want to avoid this.
Special Thanks: The Grimmjow/Orihime fanclubs at Narutofan AND Bleach Asylum. I <3 you guys~!
Notes: Contains manga scans, so it might take a little while to load everything. Be patient, please!
Also, in the rare chance that any moments come up, I shall update this~!
Introduction:
Bleach, by Kubo Tite, is about the adventures of high-school student, Ichigo Kurosaki, who starts out in the story with the ability to see the souls of the dead. One day, he runs into the Shinigami (or Soul Reaper), Rukia Kuchiki, and is bestowed with the powers of a Shinigami. It’s hard to summarize the story without dishing out spoilers, but I’ll say that his life becomes far more complicated after receiving his new powers.
I started reading Bleach about a year or year and a half ago when I was still hardcore into the Naruto fandom. I kept hearing so much about Bleach, but never bothered to read it. But then when I saw so many people make debates about pairings, I started reading the manga out of curiosity to see where I would stand in the whole pairings frenzy.
It’s a silly reason to start reading, I know, but from there on out, I slowly got more and more absorbed into the story, until I gradually got sucked out of the Naruto fandom and became hyper-obsessed with Bleach. There’s so many diverse characters, there’s so many twists and turns that had me going “WHAT THE SHITTACO?!” a few times, the art is beautiful, and the character designs are AWESOME. Even if most people say that the latest arc in the manga is boring and/or original, I’m still totally hooked, and I’m pretty sure I will be for a long time.
Characters:
Grimmjow Jeagerjaques
Grimmjow is what’s called an Arrancar in Bleach, meaning that he was a Hollow (or in other words, a spirit gone bad), who had his mask removed, and thus giving him Shinigami powers. Although Arrancars vaguely like regular humans, their main identifying marks is that they still have a portion of their mask (for example, Grimmjow’s covers part of his jawline) and also have a hole somewhere on his body (Grimmjow’s is located in the middle of his abs).
Currently, he is the Sexta Espada (or the sixth strongest Arrancar) under Aizen’s command, and seems to be very proud of this fact. Personality-wise, Grimmjow is actually kind of complex. Most of the time when you see him, he’s violent, sadistic, short-tempered, irreverent, rebellious, and very impulsive.
However, later in the manga, he displays an odd and extremely twisted sense of honor when he has his sworn enemy, Ichigo healed, so they can have a fair fight, and also saves Orihime from abuse to repay his debt to her (which will be explained more in detail later). And even though he’s very hotheaded, he’s made some surprisingly insightful remarks about things, and even bested an Arrancar two ranks above him with a surprise attack.
From the very first time I saw this guy, I instantly decided that his appearance was the most intriguing and awesome character design EVER. I was already a fan of the guy after he ran into Ichigo and Rukia, asked which one was stronger. When neither replied, he rammed his hand through Rukia’s stomach and commented “Not you” (to the Rukia fans, I do like her, but the moment was just so hilariously bad ass that my sides were hurting from laughter).
But I really became a huge fan of his character shortly after getting his arm healed and in possibly the most awesomely badass moment ever in manga, proceeded to ram his hand through Luppi (who had been giving him a hard time about losing his arm), and blasted him away. Seriously, the moment was so awesome that it’s STILL the wallpaper for my cell phone. He’s now my favorite male character and second favorite character overall.
Orihime Inoue
Orihime at first seems like your typical damsel-in-distress character, but she is FAR from being anywhere near any kind of stereotype. She is sensitive, kind, friendly, and academically smart. However, we fall in love with characters for their flaws, don’t we? And Orihime has lots of them. Her imagination tends to get the best of her thinking and sees life in a very odd way (for example, when asked in class to draw a picture of how she sees her future self, she draws herself as a super-destructive robot XD), she’s so caring that she doesn’t even want to harm enemies if she can help it (which currently deems her useless on the offensive side of combat), she’s prone to feelings of jealousy and inferiority (but she openly admits this and feels awful for having those feelings), and self-sacrificing to the point where she willingly allows herself to be detained by the enemy in exchange for the safety of her friends.
Her power is the Shun Shun Rikka, whose power comes from the hairpins she wears in her hair. When summoned, she has the power to control six fairy-like creatures who can create a shield, heal wounds, or cut an enemy in half (although I believe she was only able to effectively use the attack once in the entire manga). Later, it’s stated that her power is actually rejecting events. Or in other words, she can reject the will of God. This has led to some people disliking her for such a huge power, but I think it’s awesome coming from a girl such as herself.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for her character in the beginning, I might not have had any motivation to read through the manga and probably would have never made it to the Soul Society arc (which was the point where everything became interesting). Compared to all the other characters at the start of the story, the quirkiness of Orihime made her far more interesting than everybody. I can definitely relate with her over reactive imagination, and she’s a character I can’t help but empathize with. Then after the Soul Society arc, I was extremely happy to see so much development with her inner turmoil in the story, which made her even more real to me, thus securing her spot as my favorite character of EVERYTHING.
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Before you read the next section, as quoted from Last of the Arrancar at Narutoforums:
"About the canon stuff and all the lil hints we interpret the way we want ... off course pro-GrimmHime's will interpret it in their favor, while shippers of other pairings will say we're talking crap. But they should remember that almost ALL so called 'evidence' of pairings is up for interpretation."
Please remember this and keep an open mind, thank you! ^_^
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The moments that make the pairing interesting
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Prologue
Orihime was coming back from Soul Society after training, when Ulquiorra (an Arrancar) suddenly stopped her when he attacked her two escorts. He then threatened to harm the lives of those she cared about, unless she came to serve Aizen in Hueco Mundo. Being the self-sacrificing person she is, she accepts the offer, and after an allowed limited time in the human world, she’s whisked away to Hueco Mundo.
- Love At First Sight? (I wish… T_T) -
The next time we see our heroine, she’s standing in front of Aizen with a few other Arrancar. Aizen, seemingly being impatient, immediately asks Orihime to heal Grimmjow’s left arm (which was earlier cut off and then burned by Tousen in punishment for Grimmjow being disobedient) in order to test out her ability.
Already it’s interesting, as for once Grimmjow doesn’t look angry, arrogant, or sadistically happy, but surprised. The amusing part is that both Grimmjow and Orihime, two completely different people in terms of personality, have nearly the same exact expression. XD
They then look at each other for the first time and already the sparks are FLYING!, before Orihime heals his arm. It’s hard to tell from the scan whether Grimmjow is staring at his arm (which would make more sense) or Orihime (which would be interesting), but either way, we see another new expression from Grimmjow as he stares in seemingly absolute awe.
After examining his fully healed arm with disbelief, he asks Orihime one more favor:
Now, it might seem a little rude just reading it, but keep in mind that this guy is probably the most violent character in Bleach. Grimmjow is a character that’s far more likely to yell or threaten people to get what he wants. But here, he just kind of casually suggests she do him another favor. And really, for Grimmjow, that’s like the equivalent of getting down on one knee, kissing her hand, and saying “Oh fair maiden, would you kindly bestow me the honor of healing just one more spot for me?”.
As you can see, Orihime willingly accepted his request and healed his tattoo back, which also restored his position as the Sexta Espada. He then impaled Luppi (the guy who had replaced his rank briefly) with his hand, blew him up, and then laughed hysterically, while Orihime understandably looked disturbed over the whole deal. Keep in mind, if it wasn’t for Orihime, Grimmjow would still be an angry one-armed man with no power in Hueco Mundo. So really, the guy kind of owes his life to her.
Orihime, however is not so happy about the situation as she angsts about it later in her room…
*double take*
Are you people seeing what I’m seeing? After wondering to herself whether or not if it was a good idea to come to Hueco Mundo, she INSTANTLY thinks of Grimmjow! The anime makes it even more hilarious, as they add in moments of him in events that Orihime DIDN’T EVEN SEE. Oh, the power of LOVE!
Sure, even if that panel was put in to show regret or whatever, it’s REALLY oddly placed. ESPECIALLY for the fact that she thinks about Grimmjow BEFORE thinking about her friends! Kubo probably didn’t mean anything by it, but when us GrimmHime shippers are given an inch, you can bet your ass we’re gonna take it a friggin’ mile!
Then for several chapters, there’s no interaction between the two at all, which was sad, as I was already intrigued by the pair and was desperate for any kind of action. When chapter 270 came out and Orihime was begging to be let out of her room, I said to my sister: “Wouldn’t it be awesome if Grimmjow was the one to let Orihime out, just to have her heal Ichigo, so he could fight him?”, because knowing Ichigo (who was in combat with Ulquiorra at the time), I knew he was going to get pwned. Again.
I didn’t seriously think that my prediction come true, as I was just desperate for interaction, but then 273 came out, and my Grimmjow/Orihime interaction FINALLY came. And it was even better than what I had hoped.
-WTF? Grimmjow to the RESCUE?!-
Chapter 273 was a little depressing for me at first, as Loli and Menoli (two Arrancars) decided to enter Orihime’s room and take out their jealousy that Aizen was paying more attention to her than them by basically beating the shit out of her. I knew that Orihime would not even lift her hand against them, so it was sad seeing my favorite girl get abused so badly. Fortunately though, the first signs of her getting rescued finally came up.
HAHA! Someone has finally come to Orihime’s rescue, and boy are they pissed! But if Ichigo, Rukia, and Chad were currently pwned, who the hell is it? Ishida? Was he really that much more competent than the rest of his group?
The smoke clears and it’s…GRIMMJOW?! OMGWTFBBQ?!
At that point, I was vowing bear Kubo’s illegitimate children, as I thought those two would never interact again, and now Grimmjow was saving her from BULLIES?! What the hell?
Anyways, the smoke clears and Loli and Menoli are naturally scared out of their wits as Grimmjow is an Arrancar with far more power than the two combined. Grimmjow, of course, just walks in with his casual cockiness.
That’s a damned good question, Loli. Why the hell DID Grimmjow burst through the door anyways?
Grimmjow doesn’t answer though, and simply kicks her in the stomach, blasts Menoli into little pieces, and then breaks Loli’s leg in an awesomely violent fashion. I should probably mention that I’m a HUGE fan of scenes where guys brutally beat the people who did their girl wrong.
Afterwards, there’s a strange sense of calm between Grimmjow and Orihime…
Anyone else find it kind of curious how Grimmjow just kind of stands there and looks at her? Orihime is of course confused, so Grimmjow finally answers as to why he came there in the first place, albeit a little roughly…
Suuuuuure it is, Grimmjow, suuuuure it is.
To the naysayers who say that Grimmjow was being cruel with her, notice that he only grabs her by the collar. This is a man who just broke a broad’s leg and blasted another to bits. Compared to that, that’s mere child play.
We’ll just ignore the fact that the bottom left panel looks suspiciously like wall sex and move onto the next page…
Well, it sure took ya long enough to ask, Grimmjow. -_-…
Sure, I can understand that he wants a favor out of her, but remember way back in their first interaction that all he had to do is simply ask her to heal the spot in his back, and she did it willingly. But he went through the trouble of bursting through the door, beating the two bitches up, and afterwards, he just kind of stood there and looked at her. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems very odd for Grimmjow’s character.
Also, Grimmjow seems to be doing the stereotypical bad boy speech after doing something good. They don’t want to admit to doing something decent, so they just say they did it for an ulterior motive, and then insults the person for even thinking that way. Even if that’s not the case though, at least this shows that Grimmjow has some sort of code of ethics, even if it’s a REALLY screwed up code.
In the next chapter, the two seemed like they were going to leave for Grimmjow’s “favor”, but Grimmjow has yet another request…
…although he didn’t bother to bring up the fact that he had seemingly no problem with putting his fist through one gal’s stomach, blowing another to smithereens, and breaking the leg of another. Yeah, okay Grimmjow, whatever you say!
Even if it was in his typically rude manner, the fact shows that Grimmjow was either:
A) Was bothered by the fact that Orihime’s was bruised pretty badly.
B) Liked Orihime’s face enough to see it back to normal
C) Both?
I mean, c’mon, what possible reason could he have to want her face healed?
Orihime though, being the overly kind girl she is, is more concerned about the girls that Grimmjow just massacred and goes running to heal them instead. Even if Grimmjow seems a tad bit peeved, he seemingly just stands there and lets her do it.
-Chains of Love-
We then don’t seem them for a few chapters, until Grimmjow finally finds Ichigo’s dead (or close to dead) body lying on the ground. After scoffing about the ordeal, Grimmjow lifts up a cover to reveal this kinky scene:
This only makes Grimmjow’s request to for Orihime to heal her face all the more mystifying, doesn’t it (since he covered it up anyways)? Even if she’s lightly bound and chained, notice that some kind of cloth is wrapped around her hands. This is a guy who doesn’t give a shit about anything besides combat and/or himself, but yet he seemingly found the time to wrap a cloth around her hands so that her skin wouldn’t be irritated by the chains. XD
He then orders Orihime to heal Ichigo, and then sits as he watches her. Nel, a toddler-like Arrancar cries about how she was the cause of Ichigo getting hurt. Getting fed up, Grimmjow threatens to “fucking blow” her away if she wouldn’t shut up, but then calms down, displays his confidence in Orihime’s power, and also shows that he doesn’t take her powers for granted:
Orihime, being the miracle worker she is, manages to heal Ichigo to conciseness, and tears up a little out of happiness. Then somehow, this is the point where Grimmjow gets pissed off.
He was all calm while she took her time healing him, and even ordered Nel to be quiet while she healed him, but when she shows the SLIGHTEST bit of emotion for his enemy, he SUDDENLY gets pissed off? Kubo probably didn’t intend for Grimmjow to look jealous, but he sure is acting as if he really was.
And Grimmjow, if you’re so damned concerned about time, why, oh why, did you stand there and look at her after beating the two bitches up, and then just sat there and let her heal them right back to full health! Not to mention you seemingly took the time to wrap her hands in cloth so that her skin wouldn’t get irritated! But nooooo, right when she shows concern for Ichigo, you SUDDENLY start worrying about time! XD
However, as if on cue, Ulquiorra shows up right behind them. In his typically cold demeanor, he wants to know what’s going on, and then demands that Grimmjow hand Orihime back over to him. Grimmjow refuses:
The two get into a fight, and in one of the more awesome twists in the story, Grimmjow does a surprise attack on Ulquiorra, causing him to temporarily be transported to another dimension. Orihime, like any other normal person, is confused, so Grimmjow explains it to her, showing that he has no problem with divulging information with her:
It might seem like a minor detail, but at the bottom of the page, Orihime shows that she has enough of a backbone to stand up to his demands. Not being afraid of the male in the relationship is a VERY good start, don’t you think? XD
Grimmjow isn’t pleased though.
Some may say that Grimmjow wasn’t being too nice at her at this point, but although I know I sound like I’m being redundant here, this guy put his hand through a chick’s stomach, broke another girl’s leg, blasted one away, and threatened to blow a toddler away. What he’s doing now to Orihime is EXTREMELY tame in comparison, especially since it’s apparent that his grip on her isn’t that tight, as she’s seemingly still able to still protest against him without too much of a problem.
Before the two can finish their lover’s quarrel though, Ichigo intervenes and tells Orihime to heal both him and Grimmjow (who denies it, but Ichigo seemingly convinces him to let her do it). Grimmjow and Ichigo then fight, which pretty much halted any more Grimmjow/Orihime interaction in the manga. Later on in the fight though, Grimmjow asks a damned good question, and also says some things that seem just a little odd…
Perhaps the better question is what DIDN’T he do to Orihime~! 8D *is shot*
But seriously, what the hell IS going on inside Orihime? More importantly, how would Grimmjow know? I’d like to think that Grimmjow suddenly became Mr. Sensitivity and noticed that Orihime was being all angsty and stuff, but that’s doubtful and we’ll probably never get an explanation as to why Grimmjow seemingly understands “what’s going on inside her”. Although Grimmjow has shown a very keen sense of understanding people a couple of different times in the manga, so it might have something to do with that. Other than that though, I find it a little interesting that he scowls while telling Ichigo that he should have just ran away with Orihime. Hmm…
Later on, he aims an attack at Orihime and Nel, but it’s apparent that he only did that to draw out Ichigo’s true strength, as Ichigo successfully blocks the attack. After the fight though, Grimmjow is taken down and no further Grimmjow/Orihime interaction has been made so far. Although with Grimmjow injured/passed out, him having a possibility of turning to the good or neutral side (as some fans speculate), and Orihime being in his general vicinity, it may be possible that Orihime will heal him, although no allusions have been made in the manga to support that theory yet.
Another thing to consider for possible future interaction between the two is that Grimmjow said that he saved Orihime from Loli and Menoli to repay the debt for healing his arm, but how will he repay her for restoring the tattoo on his back (which also restored his position of power)? Healing his arm was more of an order by Aizen, but healing his tattoo was actually more of a favor, so I would expect him to pay that favor back as well. Also, how will he repay her for healing Ichigo? Although he MAY figure that having Ichigo alive is enough of a payback for Orihime.
Perhaps there will be no further Grimmjow/Orihime interaction in the manga ever, but the Grimmjow/Orihime fandom is all based on speculation and daydreams anyways, so we’ll daydream, dammit!
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Why I, and others, like this pairing…
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Personally, I didn’t even think of the possibility of the pairing until chapter 240 of the manga, where Orihime healed Grimmjow’s arm. I was instantly intrigued with how calm the normally very NOT calm Grimmjow was with her, and how she healed him with no sign of fear. Since there was a lack of interaction with my former OrihimeTP of IshiHime, I resorted to pretty much pairing her with everyone in the manga (and I still do), but when I saw this event in the manga, I IMMEDIATELY started looking for fanfiction of the pairing, which there was very little of at the time and I was sad that I couldn’t find any fanart for the pairing.
Nevertheless, it was still my guilty pleasure, although I only had the one scene to go off from. But then, the miracle came in the form of Grimmjow saving Orihime, and I then fell deep into the GrimmHime fandom, and still haven’t recovered from it.
Why do I like it so much? Well, the dynamic of Grimmjow and Orihime’s nearly exact opposite of personalities is intriguing, as well as the fact that they’re both on different sides of the battlefield, and aren’t even the same classification of living beings. So naturally, the two are a goldmine of inspiration for a fanfiction writer, such as myself, who favors writing the more angsty and dark side of fiction.
Unlike several of the pairings I do ship though, this one has a little bit of canon evidence to support it. I know I’m stretching things at this point, but bear with me. When you think of the requirements of a good relationship, what do you think of? Good communication, honesty, trust, understanding, and loyalty, right? It might not seem like it, but in an extremely twisted way, this pairing displays ALL of those qualities.
Good communication - Whenever Orihime was curious about ANYTHING, Grimmjow completely informed her on the matter.
Honesty - Grimmjow pretty much never tries to hide his intentions from her, no matter how bad they are. XD
Trust - Orihime is naturally a trusting person, so no argument there. Grimmjow also displays trust in her powers, as he silenced a wailing child by showing his confidence in her power.
Understanding - Hey, Grimmjow claims he understands Orihime better than Ichigo. Considering that Ichigo went to school with Orihime, and Grimmjow only interacted with Orihime a couple times in the manga, that’s pretty amazing. XD
Loyalty - Even if she was ordered to heal his arm, Grimmjow still took it upon himself to burst through a locked door and beat up two women that were abusing Orihime in repayment in the most brutal way possible. That’s hardcore dedication right there.
I’m not naïve enough to think that the pairing has a large chance of becoming canon (although I go by the “Never say never” motto), and I’m fine with that. Their interaction though in the manga, has been very interesting, and I could certainly see the potential of them being a couple.
Grimmjow, the normally violent person, seemingly takes it easy on Orihime and is a lot more patient with her than he is with others. Another interesting note is that Orihime is the ONLY person he’s interacted with in the entire manga that he’s done ANYTHING nice for, despite the fact he wanted a favor from her in return.
Some say that he’s only being nice to her, since he doesn’t want to piss off Aizen. I’m pretty sure that Aizen would be pretty pissed off though that he plucked her out of her room to heal an enemy that stepped foot on his turf and then refused to give her back to the person that Aizen appointed as her caretaker. Then why is he nicer to her then, you ask? Honestly, I don’t know. I doubt it’s actually love or anything like that, but perhaps it stems from the fact that he hates anyone who looks upon him with a condescending look, and Orihime is about one of the least condescending people ever, who also did a couple of nice things for him.
On Orihime’s side of the relationship, she also presents an interesting aspect to the relationship. Even if she knows how destructive and insane Grimmjow is, she’s still courageous enough to stand up to him, as seen when she healed Loli and Menoli when told to heal her face and when refusing to heal Ichigo, when she knew he wanted to fight him. Perhaps that would seem detrimental to a relationship, but I think it actually would do Grimmjow a little good to be with someone who wouldn’t cave into to his every command.
To those of you who say that Orihime declared her love for Ichigo in five lifetimes, and thus can’t possibly fall in love with anyone else, have a sense of imagination! Orihime having feelings for Ichigo is part of the reason why I think she COULD also develop feelings for Grimmjow, as the two share a lot of personality traits. Both are impulsive, outspoken, and hotheaded, just to name a few similarities. Orihime also seemingly gets a kick out of Ichigo’s perma-scowl, and Grimmjow almost always has a scowl on his face too (when he’s not in battle, that is). Sure, Grimmjow might not have the sense of righteousness that Ichigo has, but he’s shown the potential to evolve. Also, I think if given the chance, Orihime could put up with him.
What’s also interesting about this pair is that the relationship could go two different ways. As a writer of stuff that’s usually pretty dark-themed, I personally am more inspired by the possibility of Orihime having to sort through her darker emotions, while being held captive in Hueco Mundo, which would thus lead to more of a dark and sort of taboo-like relationship. Grimmjow did mention that something was “going on” inside of Orihime, so I don’t think the dark emotions part, at least, is too far-fetched.
The other possibility, in an almost entirely opposite scenario, is that Grimmjow finally stands up to Aizen (but knowing Grimmjow, he still probably wouldn’t necessarily join Ichigo’s side), does something half-ass heroic, and Orihime realizes that Grimmjow isn’t such a bad guy after all, and it’s happily ever after for the two. Okay, so maybe the last part is way beyond the possibility of canon, but Grimmjow has saved Orihime once before (no matter what lame excuse he uses), and he for sure hates Aizen with a passion. So I think the possibility of Orihime MAYBE seeing Grimmjow in a better light is there.
In a more shallow reason, I also like the pair because they look great together. Sure, Grimmjow is like two feet taller than her, but I still think that his buff, punk-like, and rough image contrasts nicely with Orihime’s dainty, soft, and classically pretty one. And for you art students, orange (Orihime’s hair color) is the opposite color of blue (Grimmjow’s hair color), which adds even more to the contrasting imagery between the two. And in an even more shallow way of looking at the pairing, Orihime is hot, Grimmjow is hot, so in that way, naturally it’s a hot pairing. XD
However, I’m not the only fan of this pairing, so I asked a few other fans of the pairing for their reasons as to why they like it, and managed to get a couple of responses. So without further ado, here’s some additional responses!
Sayo from the Narutofan forums writes: “Well just spit out my opinion on this pairing is that it has a believable darker side to it, go figure. What if Orihime was kidnapped, and a year or longer passed, she could have chosen to stay with the Arrancar and fall for Grimmi. Then when the inevitable battle comes between Ichigo and Grimmjow on a certain moment in the end when Grimm is down, Orihime steps in to defend him facing Ichigo!!! hdfshjdgfjf
Anyway, They’re both really cute and among my favorite characters…well mainly Grimmjow is, but put 'em together and they could be incredibly interesting ^^';”
Last of the Arrancar, also from the Narutofan forums writes: “I first started out with being an obsessed Grimmjow fan. He reminded me a bit of Vegeta from DBZ, he's basically the type of character that gets my attention. The hot, bad guy with an aggressive touch. As for GrimmHime, I started thinking about them when Orihime got abducted. When she healed Grimm's arm, that scene, with his look and 'gentle' (for him) request to heal his number was what got my attention. Then I realized I again had fallen for the stereotype of Vegeta and Bulma, and I do see similarities between Bulma and Orihime. The bad guy and the cute good girl defying all logic and falling for each other. Grimmjow being Grimmjow makes the pairing interesting imo, he's unpredictable, volatile, rude, and who knows what lies beneath the surface. He can play the dominating, abusive lover or the insensitive discovering his feelings.”
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Fandom
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The fandom for the pairing was surprisingly small for a while, until about the time when Grimmjow rescued Orihime. It’s still only a moderately popular pairing, but I’m happy to see it growing though as more interactions between the two occur. Sure, the Grimmjow/Orihime popularity doesn’t stack up to the popularity of the Ichigo/Orihime, Ishida/Orihime, or Ulquiorra/Orihime fandoms, but we know that our pairing probably isn’t going to become canon, so our fandom is a peaceful one and we all get along with the listed fandoms (and others) quite well!
The Japanese art sites seem to favor Ulquiorra/Orihime, at the moment, but there are a few sites that have Grimmjow/Orihime art. And although it took a really long time to catch on in Deviantart, it seems that the pairing is finally starting to make a wave for English speaking audiences (which I suspect has something to do with the arm healing being made in anime form).
The fanfiction side is a little barren at the moment, which sucks a little, since I feel like I’m the only person that consistently writes the pairing, but I think more fanfiction will start to show up when more Grimmjow/Orihime moments show up in the anime.
So without anymore rambling, here’s my recommended sites for the pairing.
Fanart recs:
http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa200/GrimmHimeIsReallyHotSmex/ - I complied just about every GrimmHime pic I could find off of Japanese art sites here, so for you that don’t like trying to figure those sites out, check this out!
http://grimmhime.deviantart.com/ - The DA club for all things Grimmjow/Orihime related~!
http://www5.pf-x.net/~funnydevil/ - The first GrimmHime art site I stumbled onto. She also makes very nice doujinshi, featuring the pair. <3
http://osm.icca.jp/ - This site has both GrimmHime and UlquiHime art, most of it very cute.
http://mugiwara.hacca.jp/bleach/index.html#bl_cp - The site might not navigate easy on some computers, but this site also has very pretty art.
http://www.geocities.jp/medakanegi/page119.html - Most of the art is very sketchy, but I still check this site out a lot.
http://www.geocities.jp/amaguri0622/top.html - Another one of the first sites I stumbled upon. <3
http://happyswing.himegimi.jp/index_2.htm - Another site that I rather like. :D
http://www.off-record.net - There’s only a couple of GrimmHime pics on here, but this site is by far my favorite art site of them all. <3
Fanfic recs:
By Kageisuke: http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/57852.html
http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/57852.html
http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/62383.html
http://kageisuke.livejournal.com/67968.html - Mature warning for all of these!
By Pink Rapid: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3412028/1/
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3415188/1/ - Mature warning for both~!
And I REALLY don’t like tooting my own horn, but without any ego, I’m pretty sure I can say that I’ve written GrimmHime fics the most. I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to promote myself here, but I also don’t want to sell myself short. So here’s my collection of the oneshots I wrote for the 30_angsts community so far:
http://bleach.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=600010411 (Most of these are M rated, so beware!)
And this one is somewhat popular too (and the very first time I experimented with the pairing): http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3369343/1/ (Mature warning on this one too)
And if I missed a fanfic (which I’m very sure I did), let me know and I’ll add it. <3
Communities:
grimm_hime - The Grimmjow/Orihime LJ community
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=209209 - The Grimmjow/Orihime fanclub I created on the Narutofan forums~!
http://www.bleachasylum.com/showthread.php?t=140 - The Grimmjow/Orihime fanclub at the Bleach Asylum forums. Probably the most active community of people you’ll find for the pairing. :)
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In conclusion, the possibility for the pairing exists more in fandom, rather than canon, but it’s all good, since beautiful art and wonderful writings have come from the couple.
Even if the two haven’t interacted a whole lot in the actual manga, the interactions that have occurred have been the most significant source of creative inspiration I’ve had from a pairing ever. I was in a dry spell for writing before coming across the idea of GrimmHime, so I have this pairing to thank for giving me what I needed to be able to write again. And for that, even after everything has been said and done, I will always love this pairing, and I hope that others will too.