some anime starts off slow and may get really good after say 13 episodes? and totally throw you off after one episode if you think it was just OK. AND what if you liked 13 episodes but the anime starts to suck afterwards? i bet you wouldn't like the series afterwards either. we know this woulnd't end soon... because you guys have already seen the numbers in the manga, and we can probably expect this to be naruto long.
anyways to answer mae, the way i see it is that the two people are munch like the quincys. there had to be a first person that got the quincy powers and i guess its just the same for chad and orihime with their own kind of power. it was just kind of sudden though when they got their powers, probably writer wanted to give us the WTF effect. its kind of weird to see her powers activated from the hairpin?? .. wasn't it.....a gift?