That's what happens when you lose track of a persistent and telling theme. The SS arc wasn't great because of just the battles. It was the progression, drama, and mystery surrounding Rukia's imprisonment. HM was similar in some regard with the unveiling of Aizen's plan, the adventuring, and learning of how HM works along with the espada. FKT, this arc, and others are just battle royales. There was tension in FKT with known antagonists and their surprise visits. But the central theme was completely empty. Same with this arc. It's just hollow, where revelations to the quincy will be like an "oh cool, that's how that works." Anybody who thinks this arc's untold stories matches up to the mystery of say the SS arc, would be clearly certifiably insane.
Kubo hit a high note early and got a near pitch later in the manga. And that's how Bleach will end.
I can relate to what you're saying, hell, I agree with most of it.
A lot of what Bleach relies on is
intrigue, and since Bleach is character based, intrigue towards the characters and how they meld with the plot. As you said, the intrigue was at its highest in the Soul Society arc because Kubo introduced a slew of new, interesting characters that were not only integrated into the central plot, but brought exciting battles.
As such, with intrigue, it can be subjective. Some people can be intrigued by certain things or characters and others won't be intrigued by those same characters. Even you said that the Espada (and the intrigue behind them) played a part in what made HM good. I know that there were some people who weren't intrigued at all by the Espada, and as a result, were not thrilled by HM because of that.
FKT was, as you said, a Battle Royale, there was no intrigue to be had because it was good vs bad or whatever. And this basically meant Kubo had to live off of the fights and pacing. Fights were great, pacing was bad.
Fullbring, yet another arc that relies on intrigue. If one is intrigued by the Fullbringers and how they intermingle with the plot, they will like the arc. I, personally, didn't give a fuck about any Fullbringer except for Tsukishima, and I didn't really like the arc. I wasn't intrigued by their story or any of them individually. This was capped off by the bad ending to their arc which I believe even the most ravenous of Bleach fans would have to admit was inexcusable.
This arc relies heavily on intrigue once again. The intrigue in the Quincy, and the particular Quincy in this arc along with how they will eventually mix with the plot. I know that you've personally said that you are not impressed by these particular Quincy.
I am, and I know a lot of others are. I really want to know more about the Quincy backstory, and definitely want to know about how Ishida (and his father), one of the mainstays, will fit into all of this. Sure, this is another "war" just like FKT, but there are two main differences: 1) This time there is intrigue behind the overarching plotline. Who are these characters/Where did they come from/What are their motives/How will this all tie in to the main plot/What is Ichigo's relation to this/...these are all things that were answered in the FKT arc before it happened, or at least while it happened. In this case, we'll still find out. I'm intrigued and there are questions to be answered, not just fighting. 2) Kubo has apparently improved his pacing compared to the FKT arc, but we'll be able to tell that for sure once the fighting starts.
Combine that with the fact that this is the final arc, where Kubo has made some promises on tying up some plotlines, and that he may have more liberty with what to do as far as making decisions with finality...and I'm interested.
Of course, if you don't care about the Quincy...that will fall through immensely. I can understand.
