The Flower Princess And The Alchemist / Tropes J to N

Tropes J to N for The Flower Princess and the Alchemist.

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• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Edward. Orihime is well aware that he isn't the sweet or sensitive or touchy-feely type of guy, but still considers him a genuine nice guy and likes him because of that. She always knows exactly what he wants to say, even if he has a rude way of saying it.
• Just Friends: Edward and Orihime started off as strangers, but after everything they have been through together they become really comfortable with each other, and they very much enjoy each other's presence. It becomes quite clear later on that Ed develops feelings for her, though he remains in denial. Although, Orihime's feelings are a bit...ambiguous. But they always tell everyone that they are just friends. Unfortunately, people don't believe it, mostly when it's Ed who says it.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: Most of the time, Orihime feels guilty about keeping Edward and Alphonse in the dark while she goes to fight Hollows or help guide a lost soul to the afterlife having to keep lying to them. This, of course, obviously puts a constant strain on her and Ed's relationship. However, it's not like she's any other choice.
• Killed Offscreen: The death of Sarah, Nina's Cute Ghost Girl friend, is never shown.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Alphonse.
• Kirk Summation: Orihime tries to give this to Lust in Chapter 8. Lust shots her a Shut Up, Kirk! in response.
  • She also lectures Scar in Chapter 22 about why his Roaring Rampage of Revenge is wrong. Just like Lust, he initially brushes her off, but it becomes clear her words affected him somewhat, if only by a minuscule amount.
• Kiss of Death: Amelia's speciality.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • Chapter 16. The first appearance of a Hollow counts as this. As it's the first sign that Orihime should not simply relax and follow Ed and Al around. Some citizens are horrifically killed and eaten right in front of Edward's, Alphonse's, Orihime's, Nina's, Dr. Marcoh's, and Armstrong's eyes. Not to mention, Edward ends up getting mortally wounded, and was only saved thanks to Orihime's healing powers.
  • Chapters 25 and 26. The Mod Souls. Edward, Alphonse, Winry, and Orihime are nearly killed during their first confrontation with them. They are only managed to survive thanks to Orihime's Heroic Second Wind. Even so, all them are left feeling depressed and horrified at the thought of dying as that was the closest they ever came to it, at least, in Ed's, Al's, and especially, Winry's case. Winry sums up in her despairing internal monologue that the Mod Souls could killed them if they really wanted to, and let them survive on a whim. And knowing they only survived because the bad guys got bored was truly terrifying. It's the instance she gets to see first hand at how much danger Ed and Al are put in.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Ed is a smug, rude, sarcastic person who is determined to Set Right What Once Went Wrong, but even he has his bouts of Chronic Hero Syndrome. Only after a couple of weeks of knowing him, Orihime instantly identified this side of him, comparing him to Ichigo once.
• Last Request: When Riku tells the story of how his brother died, he reveals that Reo wanted him to perform a postmortem decapitation. He does not go through with it, leading to some unfortunate consequences down the line.
• Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Orihime's the Light Feminine to Eria's Dark Feminine. Orihime is a gentle, sweet, kind, and caring All-Loving Heroine while Eria, although kind and caring at times, is often a cold and manipulative Byronic Heroine. This is an interesting case as Eria IS Orihime. She's a representation of Orihime's pain and anguish during her time as Aizen's hostage and her love for Ichigo.
• Like Brother and Sister: This is Winry's relationship with the Elric brothers. Invoked by the author themselves admitting they can't see their relationship in a romantic light.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Edward and Alphonse have made several references between Orihime and their mother often drawing parallels between the two. Al wistfully reminisces how Orihime takes care of them by cooking and worrying over their injuries, being reminded about how their mother used to watch over them. He even lampshades it once. And Ed blissfully expresses in his inner monologue that Orihime's gentle and warm disposition is quite comparable to Trisha's on occasions, easily able to calm him down and soothe him. Not to mention, Edward has a massive crush on Orihime.
• Likes Older Women: The author has stated numerous times that Orihime, who Edward has a crush on, is a year older than him. More specifically 14 months older.
• Literally Falling in Love: Subverted. This happens between Orihime and Edward in Chapter 32. It leads to an Almost Kiss. However, Orihime was just messing with Ed (unintentional).
• Living Emotional Crutch: It's been monologued a number of times by Orihime that Ichigo is this for her, saying that she feels happier and calmer and less homesick whenever she could sense his spirit energy. Even more prominent the moment she thinks he might be dead. See Heroic BSoD for more details.
  • Of course, Ed and Al are this for each other.
  • To a lesser extent, Orihime is slowly becoming this for Ed. Edward and a few characters have commented how much calmer Ed seems when she's around. She also serves of somewhat of a confidant for him because of her kind, patient, and open-minded nature. He could easily talk to her without fear of being judged. She cheers him up in his moments of self-doubt.
    • This says a lot about how much Orihime means to Edward because when she rejects him the first time, he immediately falls into a deep depression and despair, which everyone takes note of, friends and foes alike. It takes the machinations of a Monster of the Week for him to snap out of it. In the end, it's his strong feelings of protection of her that allows him to start gaining the ability to see ghost and Hollows. It still a slow process though as he could only hear them at the moment.
  • The feeling may be mutual because Ed was the only one to pull Orihime out of her Freak Out with a Cooldown Hug.
• Living Is More than Surviving: Riku basically tells Ed that living without a purpose is the same as being dead.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Edward and Alphonse continue to remain unaware of the supernatural world. And Orihime is determined to keep it that way.
  • Deconstructed: Ed and Al are so unaware of what's going on, most of the time, they always end up badly injured. Edward is understandably angry when Orihime refuses to tell him anything regarding what happened. It makes you wonder why she won't just tell them. Then you realize it would be pointless because they can't see them anyway. So if she were to tell them and try to explain, she would probably come off as being delusional. As Ed quoted once: He doesn't believe in anything he can't see.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Orihime's hair reaches down past her hips, and she is the one of the most girliest female characters in the story.
  • Winry’s long hair represents her sensitivity and femininity.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Edward. Orihime first describes him as this when comparing him to Ichigo's rugged looks.
• Longing Look: Ed often looks at Orihime this way. He often gets caught and teased, much to his embarrassment.
• Love Before First Sight: Chapters 27, 28, and 29. Played for Drama and Love Makes You Evil. Reo has been in love with Orihime even before he met her. This leads a homunculus to corrupt his heart and kill him. After his death, he makes a Deal with the Devil with it, offering his soul in exchange for creating an imaginary world where he could live together with a kidnapped Orihime. Luckily, Orihime manages to save him and free his soul, so that he could finally rest in peace.
• Love Confessor: Chapter 17. Orihime tells Winry of how madly in love she is with Ichigo. Although, this prompts her to admit her jealousy towards Ichigo's and Rukia's relationship, making her feel even more horrible when she declares that Rukia is a wonderful person, and that she has no right to get in the way of their relationship. This leads Winry to pull a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech to her.
  • Chapter 31. Another, unintentional, one on Orihime's part. After a sick Orihime accidentally lets out a small hint that she really likes someone, Edward can not seem to let it go. He tries hard not to think about it too much, fearing that he was just overthinking things and misheard her. But, no matter how hard he tries, he can't ignore the pain and jealousy in his heart. He reasons that he just doesn't want her to break The Promise and resolves to find out for himself if Orihime really is in love with another guy or not by tricking a sick and delirious Orihime into confessing (although, she doesn't tell him she's in love with Ichigo). He may not admit it, but this leaves him feeling deeply crushed. He has yet to realize his own Green-Eyed Epiphany about why he cares so much that Orihime is in love with someone else.
    • In Chapter 34, Edward realizes Orihime is in love with Ichigo after he bluntly states it out loud and she freely admits it. He uses the Just Friends justification trying to pacify the pain in his heart.
• Love Epiphany:
  • Green-Eyed Epiphany: Edward comes so close to realizing his true feelings for Orihime when he jealously admits he doesn't want her to end up with Ichigo or any other guy. He wants her to stick by his side. According to him, he's just naturally possessive of her. He never outright comments he's in love with her, nor does he take notice of how deep his feelings run for her, but this is the closest to an confession that he's ever gotten.
• Love Hurts: Edward undergoes so much emotional anguish and pain due to that fact that Orihime is in love with Ichigo. This all culminates in Chapter 40 where Orihime rejects him and he experiences his first heartbreak. Even everyone comments that Ed looks crushed and defeated after the rejection.
  • Orihime's love for Ichigo causes a whole lot of emotional pain for both herself and Edward.
    • In fact, Ed and Orihime seemed to go through copious amounts of this before and during their relationship. You know what they say. There is nothing more painful than falling in love.
• Love Interest: Starting Chapter 15, Orihime gradually becomes this for Edward. Too bad she has eyes for someone else.
• Love Makes You Evil: As it is revealed in Morgan backstory, the lost of his Implied Love Interest is what ultimately caused him to become the remorseless serial rapist and murderer he is today.
• Love Potion: Amelia attempts to give Edward one of these in order for him to gain "Orihime's love" for one night. Ed vehemently and disgustingly refuses her offer furiously knowing what she's implying.
• Love Triangle:
  • There definitely is one between Orihime, Edward, and Ichigo. Although, this is special case since Ichigo isn't in the main plot of the story nor is he in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist. Later gets more complicated due to Orihime's feelings for Edward becoming more and more ambiguous.
  • Orihime, Eria, and Ichigo.
• Loving a Shadow: In hindsight, this is basically what Reo's feelings for Orihime boils down to. Reo falls for her because her name and personality is similar to the heroine in one of his favorite childhood fairy tales. Although, after the short time they spent together, he may or may not have fallen for her for real.
• Loving Details: When thinking or discussing about Edward's character and personality, Orihime often goes on a passionate tangent about all the things she likes about him. From noteworthy details of how kind and caring he is to small, mundane details of how she finds his nose twitching cute whenever he is concentrating on something. When other characters point how she must be in love with him, she becomes confused and embarrassed and vehemently denies having any sort of romantic interest in Ed.
• Luminescent Blush: Edward sports this in Chapter 15 during his Declaration of Protection speech to Orihime.
  • Lately, Ed wears this sometimes when around Orihime, mostly when his feelings for her is questioned and teased by others. It just adds to his charm.
  • Orihime is not freed from this either, wearing this during her Ship Tease moments with Ed.
• Lust Object: Orihime is basically this for Morgan. As he's having sex with a random woman, he fantasizes the woman as her, even screaming out her name while climaxing. Even stated that he wouldn't mind doing her dead or alive just as long as her body's intact. When the woman complains, he kills her.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Orihime constantly lies to Ed and Al about Hollow attacks and anything that has to do with the supernatural world. Although, she does feel awful about it, it's the only thing she could think of to protect the boys and to keep their mind on their personal goals. However, this sometimes puts a damper on Orihime's and Edward's growing friendship when Ed comes to the conclusion that Orihime is keeping secrets from him.
• Mad Scientist: Shou Tucker. He was a despicable, irredemable monster who turned his own daughter into human chimera. If it wasn't for Orihime, then Nina would've been dead.
  • Dr. Styles. It's heavily implied that whatever horrific experiments Zero underwent during his care made him the Enfant Terrible he is today.
• Madness Mantra: Chapter 41 is full with a few of these due everyone's Mind Rape-y illusions.
  • Orihime ends up having a massive breakdown at the end of hers leading to a Stress Vomit.
  "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
  • Alphonse mets a failed Human Transmutation of his mother, who furiously and hatefully yells at him to get out.
  "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
• Making a Splash: Zero's powers. He can create water from any nearby water source, and use them to devestating effects.
• Male Gaze: Orihime tends to receive this from other men, much to Edward's chagrin. However, she remains completely unaware. Became worse after she became a one-time model. Now, even girls are fascinated by her beauty.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Over time, it becomes more and more apparent that Orihime is this for Edward, and, to lesser extent, Alphonse as well, causing Ed, especially, to take a few levels of cheerfulness. With her upbeat, air-headed, and optimistic disposition, she slowly opens the boys' eyes to all the little things the world has to offer. The simple and almost fleeting pleasures of life. In short, it's okay to have a goal, but don't let that goal consume you or you would miss out on life. If you don't count them becoming more and more intoned with the spiritual world.
• Meaningful Name: Orihime. See Tanabata below.
• Meanwhile, Back at the…: The Bleach snippets. They focus on what's happening in the Bleach world while Orihime is gone.
• The Medic: Orihime.
• Mercy Kill: Eria coolly destroys a Philosopher's Stone right in front of Ed. He angrily yells at her for killing human lives. Her response is to coldly rebuff him for his naivete, declaring that even if the souls trapped inside were human, they could never regain their human form. Destroying the stone is the greatest form of mercy she could give them.
  • It turns out that Orihime considers fighting and exterminating Hollows as this.
• Messianic Archetype: The author's intention is for Orihime to become this due pacifistic nature and status as The Heart and All-Loving Heroine.
• Metaphorically True: Orihime never outright lies about to Ed and Al about what she's doing (hunting Hollows and helping spirits), she just never confesses the whole truth.
• Mind Rape: In Chapter 41, the main cast, except for Winry, all go through this in one way or another. However, while the short term effect was traumatic as per the trope, the long term effect leaves a rather positive effect on the characters. All but one.
  • Edward snaps out his funk and finally faces his feelings for Orihime, and the whole event causes him to start becoming more spiritually aware. Enough to start hearing ghosts.
  • Nina remembers her entire past, which leads her to getting some closure.
  • Alponse experiences the horrible day of his and Ed's failed Human Transmutation of their mother, and what caused them to go on their journey in the first place. He admits that, although the experience was terrible, it felt great to feel human again, and he likens the terrible vision to a nightmare.
  • The only person this trope was played straight with was Orihime. She's forced to relive her nightmare in Hueco Mundo, and endure the harsh criticisms of her "friends" for being so "weak", culminating in "Ichigo" blaming her for the lost of his powers. The whole ordeal greatly affected Orihime's mental and emotional state, causing her guilt ridden conscience to increase about tenfold, to question her sense of self worth, and develop a crippling fear of the color white. You know it's bad when Edward and Nina are starting to notice how fake her smiles are and have been lately, something she's ridiculously good at hiding.
• Mistaken for Romance: Because of some illicit, Not What It Looks Like photos, half of the populace of Central believe Edward and Orihime to be a couple. Although, they do have feelings for each other, they aren't official. Yet.
  • Amusingly enough, it immediately becomes averted a chapter or two later when Ed and Orihime have their Relationship Upgrade.
• Monster of the Week: Hollows.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: The morality of the story is all over the place. Let's see... The Elric brothers, Orihime, Nina, and Winry are the only purely heroic characters in the story so far. Mustang and his crew belong in the A Lighter Shade of Grey catagory. They dislike killing unnecessary, but would do it if given no other choice. Characters like Scar and Eria are morally ambiguous. Then there are the homunculi and mod souls who are clearly evil, with the possible exception of Lust who is slowly slipping into the Lighter Shade of Black side. Chloe, for her part, could be considered the Token Good Teammate on the villians' side.
• Morality Pet:
  • Chloe is slowly becoming this for Lust.
  • Orihime seems to be the only person Edward rarely gets angry with. And in the off chance he does, it's Played for Drama rather than being Played for Laughs because it's Anger Born of Worry than anything else.
• Muggle and Magical Love Triangle: A variation. Edward, despite being an alchemic prodigy (and alchemy is considered a form of science), is still a human while Ichigo is a part human, part Soul Reaper, part Hollow, and part Quincy hybrid, and they are both Love Interests for Orihime.
• Muggle–Mage Romance: Orihime's and Edward's relationship could be considered a variation of this. Besides his alchemic prowess, he is nothing more than an ordinary human, and she, while also human, is essentially a Reality Warping spiritualist who can see ghosts and hunts Hollows. Because of this, he remains very much Locked Out of the Loop of her... spiritual activities.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Considering that Orihime was able to beat both Ed and Al in martial arts, she's definitely this. Comes with a little bit of Fridge Brilliance once you realize that Orihime, not withstanding her being trained by Tatsuki in martial arts, has been fighting supernatural monsters with superhuman strengths and abilities for over a year now compared to Ed and Al who deal with ordinary humans, petty alchemists and criminals. Of couse she may have developed very above average instincts and reflexes.
• My Girl Is Not a Slut: Ultimately, Ed's reaction when confronting Orihime about her modeling.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Several characters go through this.
  • Orihime has a brief moment of this when she realizes Nina is becoming more and more spiritually aware after she saves her from her fate as a chimera. This all culminates when Nina has enough spirit energy to attract a Hollow.
  • In Chapter 40, Orihime through this during her Sacred First Kiss scene.
  • Orihime, again in Chapter 41 when she inadvertently slaps Ed during her Freak Out. Fortunately, Edward was able to calm her down with a Cooldown Hug. Helped further by the fact that she was able to snap out of it because she recognizes his scent.
    • Orihime seems to go through these more than most. Makes sense to surmise how much of a Stepford Smiler she is.
  • In Chapter 43, Hughes experiences this when he discovers that a woman he had killed during the Ishvalan Civil War turned into a Hollow. He despairingly laments how many others he killed have also turned into the same monsters that tried to kill him, and how many are yet to come? He even remarks that the Awful Truth about Hollows makes the war much, much more darker and tragic in hindsight. Then nearly vomits when he realizes he may suffer the same fate. Luckily, he doesn't, and he's able to pass on peacefully.
• Near-Villain Victory: Ritsuko comes close to killing Ed and Al during their one-sided match. It's only Orihime's last minute Big Damn Heroes moment that saves the day, despite having most of her soul sucked out by Kyuko earlier.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Part of Orihime's angst over the first few chapters of the story is that she never got to say goodbye to Ichigo, unlike the time she was forced to go to Hueco Mundo.
• Nice Girl: Orihime is one of the most nicest, compassionate, and kindhearted characters in the whole story. It's her kindness that draws others to her and easily allows her to befriend anybody. Her niceness is like a contagious disease. She's so nice that even Edward has a hard time staying mad at her and he rarely yells at her. If he does, then it must be serious.
• The Nicknamer: After Edward tells Orihime of his Dark and Troubled Past, he prompts her to start calling him 'Ed' since they have known each other for quite a while and are pretty close. However, due to her politeness, she finds it her hard to call him that. She instead calls him 'Eddie'. Ed obviously disapproves at first, but yields when she feels happier and more comfortable calling him that. Ironically, Orihime has no trouble calling Alphonse 'Al'.
  • It later becomes an Affectionate Nickname.
• No Badass to His Valet: Despite his hot-tempered and immature personality, Edward often has a hard time staying mad at Orihime. He's also somewhat more... considerate towards her and often worries about her safety and well-being. Likewise, Orihime doesn't find Edward's short rants to be intimidating, but rather funny. She describes it as a puppy barking. Edward is comically offended by this analogy.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, Edward and Alphonse have battled Lust and Gluttony once and Mustang and Hawkeye seem to be aware of the existence of homunculi. But it's never explained how or when they met the homunculi.
• Not a Date: Chapter 34. When Edward and Orihime go out to have lunch together, bystanders assume they are dating, much to their embarrassment. Edward irritably laments why people always think when a boy and a girl go out alone together that automatically means they are dating.
  • The entire premise of Chapter 39.
• Not So Similar: Edward and Ichigo. They are both very short tempered, brash, and Prideful Jerks with Hearts of Gold, who are more than often prone to bouts of heroism, both have comparable tragic pasts, and younger siblings they are protective of. They even have characteristics that other characters pick on them for (Ed's short height and Ichigo's orange hair). But that's where the similarities ends. Ed is a skilled genius in alchemy, while Ichigo, not exactly Book Dumb but not as smart as Ed, is Unskilled Yet Strong. Not to mention, their fighting styles are different. Ed's a Combat Pragmatist with a Thou Shall Not Kill policy. Ichigo, on the other hand, has a principle of Honor Before Reason when it comes to fights, and, although he doesn't kill, he has no quarrels with doing so.