I was first exposed to Bleach via adult swim, after which I quickly moved towards fansubs, and found that I really enjoyed the series, so I turned to the manga to feed my addiction. Bad idea.
As the series wears on, things become both hectic and boring. By hectic I mean that several things are going on at once. And by boring I mean that you will find VERY little story progress within a single chapter, or even 10.
I certainly like many of the characters, but unlike One Piece and Naruto, the tv series has far more flavor than the comic. The characters don't really leap out and grab you as they do in other shounen works. Very few of the characters are well-developed, since there are so goddamn many. Unlike most other manga, the protagonist does not have a clear goal or ambition in mind; the plot is driven entirely by 'the bad guys', and the protagonist just follows along like a good little sheep. The main villain in the series is so unimaginably powerful and 'clever' that it is just irritating. There are quite a few 'villains' that I liked, but some never ceased to piss me off; how stupid can you get? Twisted ideologies are a trademark of bad guys, but Tousen makes Kefka look like a perfectly logical being.
I will say that out of all shounen works I've read, Kubo's artistic style and creativity in costume and character design is unrivaled. Clean lines, detailed spells and characters; the combat is drawn very well. What I don't like is the lack of detail in the backdrop, and the fact that youwill find many pages filled with a single panel of action. Detail is nice, but progression is better.
I loved the concept of shinigami and hollows, but things just fell apart as the story wore on. This series is without a doubt full of 'cool' characters, but they don't really get anything done most of the time.
Stick with the tv series, and go read One Piece instead.
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