When i first started watching Bleach i had no idea what it was about or why it was so popular and wanted to see what it was like for myself, About ten episodes in i decided to drop the anime because of how slow paced it was (silly i know) cut to a couple of months later i actually wanted to give it a fair shot and this time around found myself getting really attached to the world and characters. At some point i became for a lack of a better term hooked and binge watched all of the episodes (yes i had nothing better to do).
Now to start with the main complaint i see about Bleach, its arc quality, arc quality complaints usually arise when there is a good arc then a bad arc then an ok one etc, This is 100 percent a problem with Bleach let me elaborate, the first arc of the show the agent of the shinigami (episodes 1-20) Is there to introduce us to the world and characters, While it can be slow to get going it is justified because 1. it is a 366 episode show and 2. it is the start of said show. As introduction arcs go it is pretty average as nothing too crazy happens (minus one or two particular events which i wont spoil) but it does do its job well, that job being introducing the characters and world as i mentioned before.
The second arc known as the soul society arc (episodes 21-63) is the anime's most popular arc and is often said to be the best arc of Bleach which i do agree with. This arc has it all: great character development,world building, epic battles (alongside some kick ass music) and high stakes. This arc is what made Bleach as popular as it was and for good reason. However after this arc ended is when things started going downhill as the next arc we got was the dreaded Bount arc, (Episodes 64-109) which was a huge and i mean HUGE step down from the soul society arc and not only that it had MORE episodes than the soul society arc to boot. Let me explain why this arc was so bad, Firstly it was a filler arc meaning it didn't mean too much in the overarching story of bleach, Secondly it was a whopping 45 episodes of filler that many watchers just didn't care about and for good reason as the fights were uneventful ,many characters are just nowhere to be seen throwing their character development that was so good from last arc out of the window while also having a somewhat sluggish pace akin to that of the introduction arc except here it serves no purpose other than to bore you.
Things were looking bad for bleach as the Bount arc had either left viewers who watched it drained or viewers who had skipped it disinterested in the series, But Bleach fans were eventually saved by the Arrancar arc the longest arc in bleach (episodes 110-316). The Arrancar arc provides us with the same positives as the soul society arc more character development (which is extremely important in a long running anime) an interesting take on the story with a unique group of villains and some of the series best fights if not the best, we even get introduced to one of the best characters in the series Aizen, but with all of these positives does come some negatives mainly how inconsistent this arc can be some episodes are great but then there are just some that are overall bad, The pacing of the arc was just all over the place and the fillers didn't help oh my god the fillers just when the story starts getting somewhere BOOM filler episode and just to let you know Bleach fillers are not good fillers not even close. But all of this being said the arrancar arc in general was really good and the second best arc in the Bleach anime easily. Unfortunately the same can not be said for the next arc (see what i mean about the arc quality) The final arc of Bleach was the the lost substitute shinigami arc (episodes 343-366) episodes 316-343 were mini filler arcs essentially and in my opinion not worth mentioning. This final arc was very unnecessary in my opinion and the anime version of Bleach should have just ended at the end of the arrancar arc as it would have been held in higher regard. Its hard for me to explain why this was arc was bad i guess to me it just felt forced and rushed and i was not interested in the slightest, to put it simply the anime did not end in a good way.
And now that i have discussed all of the main arcs of Bleach i will give my positives and negatives as well as my overall thoughts.
Positives:
Great Character development for the most part.
Awesome Opening and endings (Seriously listen to them).
Hype Music and Soundtrack.
Insane and intense fights with many unique abilities and powers.
Animation was very consistent and improved as the show went on.
Negatives:
Too many Boring and Uninteresting Arcs
Too many Characters (You cant develop them all you know)
Annoying fillers that constantly break immersion and tension.
Overall thoughts: Remove the filler episodes and Unnecessary arcs and you have a Solid 8 out of 10 in my books. But if you watch every episode you will be most likely giving it a 6 or 7 out of 10 depending on how invested you are in the series.
If the Anime had no fillers, no random arcs (looking at you Bount arc) and ended at the end of the Arrancar arc Bleach would definitely be looked at differently but sadly that is not the case and what we are left with is an inconsistent anime that has Very high highs Aswell as Very low lows.
Bleach is a good anime when its not held back by bad pacing,unnecessary arcs and horrible fillers.
If you are going to skip past all of the aforementioned negatives (which you can do with a bit of research) Give it a watch for sure.
