Story:
The anime was terribly directed. The constant fillers were distracting and were inserted randomly in the middle of important story arcs. Whoever directed this anime needs to be fired. The fight scenes were terribly drawn out with unnecessary dramatic dialogue. There were also so many unnecessary recap episodes. This anime didn't even need that many recap episodes because the first 4-7 minutes of every single freaking episode they have is pretty much a recap of either the last episode or that entire arc. You can literally go run a mile outside and come back and be just in time for the main part of the episode. This anime took 366 episodes to get to the point when it could have done it in half the number of episodes. Actually, Bleach never got to the end because they decided to cancel it because it wasn't doing well. Gee, I wonder why. When you destroy your own anime by inserting a bunch of poorly executed fillers, you're bound to turn away viewers.
The comedy was also poorly timed. The jokes in themselves are trite. At first, they were bearable, but after 100 episodes of the same thing, it gets tiresome. The anime just tries way too hard to lighten up all the serious scenes by injecting unnecessary gags and comic relief. Well, needless to say, it didn't work. Rather, I think it had the opposite effect. I felt irritated if anything.
Characters:
The characters were all irritating too. They always talk too much during the battles. They don't strategize very well. Even the smart characters are terrible at critical thinking. Character development focuses mainly on Ichigo, while everyone is pretty much an extra. The female characters' development were especially horrible. For the entire 300 something show, Rukia and Orihime never grow stronger. They remained useless compared to Ichigo. I get that this show is a shounen, but is it necessary to diminish the female characters' capabilities in order for the main male protagonist to be strong? Can they not grow together emotionally, mentally, and physically? Can men only be strong when women are weak? Would strong female characters make the male characters weak? Completely irritating to see how useless the female characters turned out.
Furthermore, Ichigo as a character became way too OP. His weaknesses only show up when he's insecure. Most of the time, he's just a reckless, arrogant dumbass who somehow thinks he can take care of everything. The internal dialogue of the characters did nothing to make them three dimensional. It was really just poor writing and execution.
Art:
The art was okay. Nothing special. There are anime out there that rival Bleach's art, and there are plenty anime out there that are way better drawn than Bleach.
Enjoyment:
My enjoyment of the anime was negatively impacted by the poorly executed story and poorly written character development. Rather than something relaxing to watch during my break, I ended up feeling immense frustration at the characters and the story's direction.
Overall:
Don't waste your time watching this anime. If anything, I would only watch the first 50 episodes or so of the Rukia arc, and take my leave. (But skip the fillers!!!) Otherwise you're just wasting your time. Just go watch another anime.
