In regards to the title, Kubo explains it in an interview I remember reading in the back of a particular volume. But I don't remember the reason, and I don't remember the volume it was in. =P I do know, however, that it is NOT something specific to a story moment- it has nothing to do with Chad or Rukia. It's symbolic of something, an idea that he had that has something to do with the color white.
In regards to @mrjonzap, bro you were bashing it. =P Plain and simple. I don't think you've ever seen something be critiqued before, because that was not criticizing. That was 100% bashing. The story isn't "shit", his character development isn't "shit", they were not good enough. They were not nearly as bad as you're painting them to be. Kubo isn't the worst author in the world, he just didn't plan the last few arcs very well.
The first two arcs were well done, and that's why people hopped on. The Hueco Mundo arc was not well done, the arc where Ichigo gets his powers back was honestly not bad, it just... it wasn't as shocking as he was trying to make it. He was trying to make it a big deal, and it wasn't. It should have stayed a little more lax, like the beginning. As for the last arc, I'm not finished it, I stopped where Zaraki releases his Zanpakutou for the first time. Honestly, I'm digging the arc so far. It's not fantastical yet, it's not super edgy or exciting, but I want to see more, I want to see what happens.
This is the difference between Naruto and Bleach for me. In Naruto, I stopped towards the beginning of the ninja war. I simply did not and still have not had the desire to pick it back up again. Naruto's value dropped as soon as he started filling up the empty spaces of his lore so fast, and as soon as he started drawing "more realistically", which he thought was better, and I do not. I don't know if anybody else liked the change from Naruto to Shippuden, but I did not. Art style got wrecked. Bleach, on the other hand, has only gotten better with it's art style. And not only that, but the characters are like-able enough that you want to know what happens to them- especially in this last arc, where things regarding Quincy's and Soul Reapers are finally wrapping up. There's a little bit more of Kubo's world to explore.
This is also the difference between One Piece and Bleach. Bleach's power succession was a lot slower in progression. One Piece went from 0-1000 in like... 3 arcs. And how many arcs are there now? I don't even remember where I stopped in One Piece, cuz I didn't care. It was getting too convoluted too fast, and the ending nowhere in sight. I was learning little to nothing about his world, and that which I learned I didn't care about. Of course, this is subjective- but the pacing was SUPER fast in One Piece, where I think Kubo was taking his time. He was kinda strolling along, and I was strolling along with him. I liked the little things I was learning about his world, I liked the questions raised by each new piece of information. I liked that there was more to explore, and you could FEEL like there was more to explore.
That's why Bleach didn't end with Aizen. There was so much to do! So much to reach out and feel for, and what we already knew about was interesting enough. Aizen's ending was not satisfying, there must have been more. The world of Bleach is what was beautiful about Bleach, not the story. Some of the story really worked out, and a lot of it didn't- which is why Bleach in it's entirety is just a shame !
Think of all the legit characters, the legit world ideas like spell casting and stuff, or the ribbons, or just interesting zanpakutou that were just dropped! Kubo created such awesome things in his world, and he didn't use it! He didn't use it, why Kubo?! He kept creating things, and while some were just as interesting, others were not at all. Hueco Mundo was so dull to me. And the worst part is, he fell for the DBZ power plot, which is ultimately why Bleach was so frustrating. Even though Ichigo honestly was not the strongest at many a time, he won with strength. He powered up to get to that point. Y'see, there's stories like Bleach, and then there's stories like One Punch Man- which is a satire, but still manages to be interesting with the power of it's characters. His main character is the strongest man in existence from the beginning, and it's still interesting. How? Or take Hunter X Hunter for example. Gon is not and does not ever become the strongest character, and often wins his battles as the weaker contestant, typically with wit and sometimes just will power- which sounds corny, but the way Yoshihiro does it, it really isn't. These guys know what they're doing.
Dragon Ball Z was just as frustrating to read because the only thing happening was stronger and stronger beings were showing up. ...That's it. That's the plot. Save the world from someone EVEN STRONGER! Oh my! And while Bleach's plot wasn't solely driven by this, it was still influenced by this "get stronger, beat the bad guy, save the day" mentality, and it sucked. Imagine if Bleach didn't have this plot point- how much greater it would have been? Or, imagine if Kubo explored his world at the same pace, but didn't leave old characters and concepts behind? Bleach would be a freaking titan of a series, classic even. But it's not. = P It simply is not that.
TL;DR
Bleach was was a product of bad story arc planning, his world exploration pace was fine but he was only exploring and wasn't planning at all. The difference between Bleach, Naruto and One Piece is that Naruto used up it's potential too quickly and left too much to be desired, with slightly interesting characters at best, and One Piece went from 0-1000 in 3 story arcs, and was filling up too quickly and is some how magically still going- I imagine it's a headache to drag through. Bleach's story wasn't good, but that's because Kubo took his time to mosey along, and didn't think about where he was going with everything. He also fell victim to the dreaded "DBZ effect", which is always- always- a killer of a story. I think Bleach beats out Naruto and One Piece, but still left something to be desired. ;u;
(also the troll is strong in these ones)
