I finally read all 74 volumes of Bleach this year because my bestie's a huge fan. I ended up getting hooked and I loved the reading experience. I have some light criticism but other than that it's a really solid story.
Art style: The character design in Bleach is SO cool!!!!! There are a ton of characters and they all look interesting, especially their clothes. And I like how distinct they all look according to their groups (Shinigami, Arrancar, Quincy, etc). I read the physical copies of the manga and I have to say that Kubo is so good at using double pages to make an impact. The battles also look dynamic and I was never confused as it happens sometimes in other action mangas. I'd say Kubo's style is somewhat simple but also really elegant.
Characters: I love them all, except the annoying ones like
Plot: In general, I wouldn't say that I ever got bored while reading Bleach. The story is coherent, but I was often confused by some stuff and I would find answers only much later in the manga (which can be frustrating). I'm going to write my thoughts on each arc so mind the spoilers!
Soul Society arc: This part of the manga reminded me a lot of the Sanctuary arc from Saint Seiya!!! The twist at the end gagged me tbh like I did not except the reveal at all (I'm gullible okay, I trust people and then I get stabbed in the back). I'm not a fan of the whole rescuing thing but I didn't mind when it came to Bleach.
Arrancar arc: This arc gifted us the iconic scene with Orihime confessing her feelings to Ichigo. Ngl I got teary bc she literally loves him sm and he was the person she wanted to say goodbye to like???? Anyway very fun arc with fun battles and characters.
Lost Agent arc: This one was short but I liked it nonetheless. It was just really frustrating for one volume lol. The slice-of-life scenes we got in the beginning were nice.
Thousand Year Blood War arc: Tore my heart into tiny pieces. I have so many feelings about this arc, some of them r lust (Hitsugaya's double page) but also sorrow (the grandpa T_T). I thought the final battle was really good even though I'm confused about some stuff. It's pretty hard to nail a final battle so I didn't mind that much. It was a really good way to tie things together (although I wish Rukia had more of a role in all of this).
Bleach is just a shonen. It's just a shonen but it shonens better than other shonens. I don't think that it's original or that Kubo does anything that his predecessors (Toriyama, Kurumada for example) haven't done before. I'd like to compare it to Kimi ni Todoke by Karuho Shiina: Kimi ni Todoke is a shojo that follows almost every cliché of the genre, but it does it in a way that's genuine and engaging. Every standard plot device is used in a way that's meaningful to the story. I think Bleach is the same. Kubo knows how to write and his manga almost feels like a love letter to the shonen tradition itself.
Actually, there is something that sets Bleach apart from other shonens: the poems at the beginning of every volume. They're often very enlightening and help understand the character on the cover better. Sometimes, they're way more obscure but still nice to read. Some of my fave ones are "If I were the rain, / That joins sky and earth that otherwise never touch, /Could I join two hearts as well?" (vol. 3) and "I just keep practicing saying goodbye to you" (vol. 15).
I would actually recommend Bleach to people, even though it's so long. I think the journey's worth it. If you want to read a shonen that is good, you know what to do.
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