Bleach will always be the anime that pushed me over the edge to take anime more seriously, like it satisfied a yearning. If you think this is going to be an expression of fanboyism then you will be gravely mistaken...I'm sure others in the shonen block of works would fare the same. But Bleach will always be my first and I'll always have a love for it because of that.
I jumped into the fray and binged the 180 episodes in existence at the time. The thing that fascinated me most is no matter how overpowered Ichigo seemed to get it was never quite enough for the next arc. But that was one of the great things about being able to binge and the annoyances of waiting week to week is with an extraordinarily large cast of characters it was interesting to look back and see how much everyone grew over time. Perhaps this I can just copy and paste to all the shonen category...and frankly I don't even want to get more specific...it is what it is. I will never declare Bleach is better or worse than a Naruto or One Piece because really...it's just different flavors of the same food. We get to journey with a plethora of characters, discover weaknesses in their strength or character or state of being and see if they overcome. Sometimes it takes too long...sometimes it's like it happens and you wonder, what the hell?!?
The thing that has and will always capture me (*NON SPOILER*) that a certain payoff takes nearly 200 episodes to occur...and it was a powerhouse. That's the thing that will always captivate me with Bleach...you do seem to get just enough time to really understand some very distinct personalities (credit to Tite Kubo for that) and have some solid moments of clarity that make you fall in love with the righteous and the malicious, whether it's Ichigo's determination to protect, or Byakuya's Pride, or Grimmjow's desire to be the best...each person has their fight and it's a lot of fun to see how and if they grow and at what length they'll go to achieve.
Pros:
One of the things that drew me in was a particular fight that took 3 episodes...that combined with the art style of the opening was like a moment of 'where have you been all my life?!?' And yes, if that's not your cup of tea no pop shonen anime is for you.
Cons:
The obvious. You gotta fill 366 episodes, right? Some arcs took way longer to resolve than necessary. I won't even disparage the 'useless' arcs...even with obvious fillers you get to learn a bit more about the world.
It ends suddenly. The zanpakuto arc had 2 arcs...the last arc buttons it up in the last 5 minutes. C'mon, you spend hundreds of episodes giving me overdrawn characters and fights but it's okay to cut the last arc and be all like 'hey, here's the end credits, we're done now, bye bye!' Baka.
