Given how the Official Couple panned out, these two pairings need to be assessed. Were they more popular than Ichigo/Orihime? And can having both pairings on the page be justified? It's very unusual for one character to have two ships be eligible for the trope. Lesser ships shouldn't be on the page, only the most preferred one.
Uryuu/Orihime took off in the Soul Society arc once they teamed up for their journey through the Seireitei, liberally aided by Innocent Fanservice Girl jokes to embarrass The Stoic Uryuu. This continues into the Arrancar Arc, especially after Ichigo leaves Orihime in Uryuu's care while he fights Ulquiorra. Orihime's canonical Love Confession to an unconscious Ichigo was not popular with these shippers, although Orihime never expressed any romantic interested in Uryuu before that either.
The Arrancar Arc kicked off an extremely controversial but popular Ulquiorra/Orihime ship. As her kidnapper and captor, Ulquiorra's scenes with her are interpreted by shippers as Mind Game Ship due to the canon plot line being based on using Orihime's gentleness to teach Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Ulquiorra the value of human emotion and compassion.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Bleach
Given how the Official Couple panned out, these two pairings need to be assessed. Were they more popular than Ichigo/Orihime? And can having both pairings on the page be justified? It's very unusual for one character to have two ships be eligible for the trope. Lesser ships shouldn't be on the page, only the most preferred one.
- Uryuu/Orihime took off in the Soul Society arc once they teamed up for their journey through the Seireitei, liberally aided by Innocent Fanservice Girl jokes to embarrass The Stoic Uryuu. This continues into the Arrancar Arc, especially after Ichigo leaves Orihime in Uryuu's care while he fights Ulquiorra. Orihime's canonical Love Confession to an unconscious Ichigo was not popular with these shippers, although Orihime never expressed any romantic interested in Uryuu before that either.
- The Arrancar Arc kicked off an extremely controversial but popular Ulquiorra/Orihime ship. As her kidnapper and captor, Ulquiorra's scenes with her are interpreted by shippers as Mind Game Ship due to the canon plot line being based on using Orihime's gentleness to teach Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Ulquiorra the value of human emotion and compassion.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.