The first season of Bleach was great. It had school life, it had an interesting supernatural story going on, humour, short battles with good animation, and music unlike anything I've heard in other anime - stuff that sends chills down your spine and really fits the series.
Really, it was just amazing. The opening theme was also just above standards. Words can't describe how unique and enjoyable it was, plus it was a good song. That red/white/blue theme they had Ichigo dressed in... Really, just an outstanding fashion statement. People today wear dark colours that kinda blend together, but that stuff really stood out just like Ichigo's orange hair and HUGE sword. All that AND this was a sweet samurai-type show? Awesome!
Most of the other opening themes are also pretty cool, but not in the same way the first opening was.
When a menos showed up, that was some creepy stuff, had my hairs standing up. Everything was just perfect and the series looked promising. Anyhow, that stuff was off the hook. Then Rukia got taken away and things started going downhill from there... We lost the school life and supernatural parts of the show forever, and those were some of my favourite parts. Season 2 introduced many interesting characters to us and had some cool stuff, but it was kinda getting dull and straying from a story to just senseless fighting. By the time it was over, the show was still alright, but nowhere near as kickass as the first season.
... And things continued to go downhill. Worse than that, we got fillers. Fillers that were exact copies of YuYu Hakusho. Seriously, that thing where Ichigo and friends went up against Nova (he looked cool) and those other two doll things... It was exactly like when Yusuke and friends went up against those other supernatural kids in town. In the end, it was Urahara's idea of training them, just like in YuYu Hakusho how it was Genkai's plan.
The show became dull... it became a copy of Dragonball Z. It's just pointless, dragged on fighting in wastelands and deserts. The enemy will have a clear advantage, the Ichigo will have a huge opening, what will the enemy do? Kick Ichigo into a nearby mountain, crumbling it and leaving Ichigo to push a boulder off of his body and have some blood running down his forehead over his eye.
In season 2 when Ichigo fought Madarame, they actually made a fuss about that blood, and I thought that was kinda cool, but now it's just the same ol' DBZ shit.
This show has become a total joke. The swords they use are merely for show. They never cut each other; only kick each other. You can't even cut someone like Kenpachi just because he has a strong will; it's ridiculous. Why do they use swords at all?
They occasionally stab through or slice each other a little, fine... they could probably do that without the swords, though. It's not even the sword so much that does anything; it's the characters themselves. Speaking of which, what's with Ichigo's bankai? He gets a swastika guard on his sword and it turns small and black... Yeah, great. It looks kinda cool, but it doesn't do anything.
Anyhow, it's just boring. It's a series that heavily relies on the battle scenes, but even those are dull since the swords are useless. There are rare occasions when the show is funny or interesting, but it's really not worth it. There are loads of amazing anime series that are only 13 or 24 episodes. Those series can actually make you feel some emotion and make you really laugh, but Bleach is just lame. The Bleach movies also suck and use the same storyline that the fillers use (a long lost shinagami wants revenge!). The show should've stayed like how it was in season 1.
