Honestly the first story arc did kind of suck. Things didn't really get interesting until rukia got kidnapped kicking off the whole soul society arc. I mean think about there really wasn't anything special about the first few episodes. They were just generic anime. Samurai dude with orange hair slices generic monsters (the first few hollow designs reminded me off angels from evangelion). I still think that as villain the hollows really arn't very compelling. Although I have to admit that the author addresses this issue quite nicely later on in the manga. I like many of you saw the first two episodes and considered bleach not to really worth watching. Although now with the draught of quality naruto bleach is serving as my weekly anime fix. I find the series quite entertaining but I still think it's lacking truly poigant momments which got me really hooked on naruto (rock lee garra fight, Haku, Garra's past, Sasuke's past). Granted bleach is extremely entertaining but there isn't really much else to it beyond the hyped up fights.