Is this the most modern thing in this list so far? I think so.
Until it hits it's filler Bleach is arguably the best Shonen Jump anime adaptation in terms of pace. Clearing a number of pages of manga in half the number of episodes that say Naruto or One Piece took, the first 60 or so episodes of this show are a breathless, fast paced action show.
There's obvious deficits in terms of plot that it inherits from his manga progenitor. First among them is the sudden gear change after the first few story arcs, but this this is evident in many Jump stories where the first few stories are written to test the water. Compare the change to the Soul Society arc to the change you see in Naruto after the Haku/Zabuza arc.
The other main flaw is it's sudden introduction of so many characters in such a short time (something else Naruto does). As later manga chapters reveal, this seems to be creator Kubotite's way of moving the story forward, rather actual plot development. It's like Chandler's claim that whenever he ran out ideas he had a man walk into the room with a gun. Kubotite seems to create another 5 or more characters every time he runs out of ideas.
After the storyline based on the manga, the anime falls into a dull holding pattern as it needs to allow the manga to get ahead of it again. While it doesn't reduce itself to the juvenile stupidity of much of Naruto's filler, it doesn't have One Piece's luck in having a storytelling device that allows filler to be paced out through the series.
The whole filler issue is emblematic of the problem with animation in general. Too much animation produced today, in particular TV animation, is enslaved to script. And Japanese animation, where a large percentage is literary adaptation of one form or another, often suffers for this. Too often the actual animation of a show comes in second to the story when a viewer approaches it. Sometimes it comes in third or fouth, to the soundtrack or cast… And the makers of shows based on existing material are always going to be judged against that material rather than just on their own merits.
So lets do that!
Bleach is a good adaptation of the manga of the same name.
And now let's judge it on it's own merits!
Bleach is a solid, workmanlike anime series with a good sense of pace for the bulk of it's first 60 episodes, but little in the way of visual flair.