I really liked Bleach, maybe because I have tremendous tolerance for arc-fatigue, but during the soul-society arc it was my favorite thing to watch. That said, its bad, really bad. But its bad in a way that I feel is worth discussing. I feel like many anime have similar problems to Bleach, but Bleach turns them all Up to eleven, and that really disappointing because even now I see flashes of awesome in the middle of the mess that is Bleach.
1) Scatter-shot focus: This is largely a function of the characters, mainly that there are far too many of them, and they continually show up way after their relevance has come and gone. Namely the Gotei 13, they are more or less pointless after the Soul Society arc. There are some that are important enough to warrant further appearances. However the story continually invents reasons to drag the ENTIRE Gotei 13 EVERYWHERE, which means that screen time gets spread so thin no one really gets a chance to shine. The main cast really should be reduced to Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Orihime, Ishida, and Renji. With Yoruichi because I like her.
2) New powers invented for the purpose of not having a point: New Powersasthe Plot Demands isn't really a new phenomenon, but this is particularly weird. Kisuke has an ability that lets him put his spirit energy in his opponents and ignite it if they touch him, causing massive internal damage. This is actually a cool ability, and in a better manga it would have involved characters thinking and planning their way around it. In Bleach it was brought up and used against Aizen, just so he could shrug it off. That's the main problem with Bleach's fight scenes, they suffer from DBZ syndrome, where certain people are just more powerful than others and that's the end.
It also shares the problem with DBZ where a lot of abilities are just the same generic energy beam with a different appearance and name, but no distinguishable functionality differences. Some abilities like Kira's Wabisuke, and Gin's bankai are notable and refreshing exceptions.
3) A never ending Climax sounds nice but: It honestly gets really bland, most fights are dull because they just don't stop fighting EVER. There are no puzzles or really any breathing room in the story at all.
If Bleach exists solely to make money, then it needs to address these issues anyway, good stories also sell.
Its bad, but there are parts I like
I really liked Bleach, maybe because I have tremendous tolerance for arc-fatigue, but during the soul-society arc it was my favorite thing to watch. That said, its bad, really bad. But its bad in a way that I feel is worth discussing. I feel like many anime have similar problems to Bleach, but Bleach turns them all Up to eleven, and that really disappointing because even now I see flashes of awesome in the middle of the mess that is Bleach.
1) Scatter-shot focus: This is largely a function of the characters, mainly that there are far too many of them, and they continually show up way after their relevance has come and gone. Namely the Gotei 13, they are more or less pointless after the Soul Society arc. There are some that are important enough to warrant further appearances. However the story continually invents reasons to drag the ENTIRE Gotei 13 EVERYWHERE, which means that screen time gets spread so thin no one really gets a chance to shine. The main cast really should be reduced to Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Orihime, Ishida, and Renji. With Yoruichi because I like her.
2) New powers invented for the purpose of not having a point: New Powersasthe Plot Demands isn't really a new phenomenon, but this is particularly weird. Kisuke has an ability that lets him put his spirit energy in his opponents and ignite it if they touch him, causing massive internal damage. This is actually a cool ability, and in a better manga it would have involved characters thinking and planning their way around it. In Bleach it was brought up and used against Aizen, just so he could shrug it off. That's the main problem with Bleach's fight scenes, they suffer from DBZ syndrome, where certain people are just more powerful than others and that's the end.
It also shares the problem with DBZ where a lot of abilities are just the same generic energy beam with a different appearance and name, but no distinguishable functionality differences. Some abilities like Kira's Wabisuke, and Gin's bankai are notable and refreshing exceptions.
3) A never ending Climax sounds nice but: It honestly gets really bland, most fights are dull because they just don't stop fighting EVER. There are no puzzles or really any breathing room in the story at all.
If Bleach exists solely to make money, then it needs to address these issues anyway, good stories also sell.