Real Talk: WTF happened to "Bleach"?

I'm not afraid to admit that the beginning of Bleach (pretty much everything up to the conclusion of rescuing Rukia) was in my honest opinion one of the best forms of entertainment I had ever experienced. There was so much energy, great plot devices, characters and visual elements that had me so glued to the series. I remember when I first started watching it I just couldn't let myself get away. In my first sitting, I think I watched at least twenty episodes with out skipping any parts. I was just so engrossed in what was going on that I even convinced my friend (who had no desires to watch anime) to watch a good chunk of the show with me. I had never been so attracted to a series with so much promise.

Then...it started going downhill (in my opinion). The next arcs (both fillers and faithful content) just seemed to keep dragging on and on. Yes there were some epic moments such as Ichigo going Bankai a couple times but that was really it. All the excitement of taking on the entire Soul Society to save Rukia just diminished. The saving grace that almost brought me back to an acceptable amount of interest was the Arrancar and Hueco Mundo arcs which, once again had so much promise that eventually led to an anti-climatic conclusion. It just felt like there were so many unanswered questions and plot holes left behind every arc.

I'm complaining a lot; the show is decent but it should of been amazing. I haven't really read the manga so I cannot say it also follows suit but there is just way too much dragging down this anime for me to say its a masterpiece. If you want to watch something really amazing, watch the first 63 episodes of Bleach then STOP.