Bleach's story is generic shonen tripe. Boy lives a normal high school life, girl pops up out of nowhere, turns out the boy has a special ability(how original), some funny meeting occurs, girl gives boy supernatural powers to defeat some monster that conveniently appears, then aptly gives the boy some new mission in life. There, not so complicated now , is it? People keep comparing Bleach to Yu Yu Hakusho, which is rightfully so, what with the almost carbon copy formula of shinigami and evil monsters(at least YYH was many leagues better than Bleach--even for a power level fighting manga). The story moves too slowly and sometimes loses focus. One time it tries to be a slice-of-life action comedy, and another it gives the illusion of actual depth through snappy one-liners and meaningless monologues. At times it almost feels like it's just going with the motions, delivering the occasional plot twist here and the eye candy fight there.
And now it's like watching a marathon of a pro wrestling show with its never ending choreographed fights. What's worse is, Bleach just doesn't want to end--despite reaching its peak a long long time ago(SS arc, anyone?).
Its art though is what's keeping it afloat. Kubo designs some good monsters--not too grotesque and not too cartoon y. While swords can look bland after a while, Kubo's design of their special abilities help prevent that. Clothing design is also good although it can only be found in color pages, calendars and posters. Character design is unique, his style is distinctly different from many shonen mangaka--although many characters look alike. One major flaw, however, is the background art. There is such a thing as too much white and too much black. Many panels follow the same structure. Character posing in the middle or in the corner with either a black background or none at all. Even if it's a black and white manga, those spots of laziness is just plain inexcusable.
What Kubo lacks in backgrounds he makes up in characters. And not in a good way. There's just too many characters that anyone could write a spin-off series with any one of them--and it would still be better than the main story. It would have been fine if most of them have a purpose in the main plot, but sadly they don't. They're just there to make the other, more popular characters shine while they themselves rot into obscurity. Almost all of them are one-dimensional, too. It's like Kubo just took different shonen archetypes then copy-pasted them to different characters. Character development in Bleach consists of looking cool one moment, getting beaten the next, then winning through some ridiculous plot device. Rinse and repeat. Also, Kubo's characters seem to have some magic armor protecting them from certain death, like getting cut in half. "No one dies in Bleach", indeed.
Bleach, as terrible as it is, works great as a gateway for people who want to get into the manga and anime fandom. Simple characters, easy-to-digest plot lines and good-looking action sequences should be fine for a newbie. Just because it takes itself too seriously doesn't mean you should, too. Soak in all the eye-candy, turn off your brain and revel in its mediocrity for a quick dose of mindless entertainment--that is, if you CAN be entertained. With mediocrity as its middle name, Bleach is only good for 2 minutes of pretty pictures, snappy one-liners, Kubo-styled plot twists, and ridiculous amounts of plot devices. And coming from a once avid Bleach fan, that's already saying something.
