Naruto is being aimed for

[cranitaa]

Naruto and Bleach are like Lemon and Lime, practically. Naruto is being aimed for the younger Toonami audience and Bleach for the older Adult Swim viewers, in the U.S. But, I'm going to have to go with Bleach. I lost all respect for the Naruto anime after "filler hell", so the manga is the only thing that can really compete in my mind.
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video library ~ commercial video ~ supplies garden

[zerogradius]

I had not been keeping up with Naruto for years until I watched a couple episodes yesterday. And yeah, the filler in Naruto is ludicrous. It makes DBZ seem rational in that respect.

For Naruto, I looked up what arcs are filler and just avoid them. I did the same thing for the first Naruto series.

[Kratos]

Any opinion I have on this is speaking from the manga. Both anime are plagued enough by filler that it's hard to separate the bad "story" bits from the bad "filler" bits and it all kind of becomes a big headache; that said, though, pre-Shippuden Naruto has the decency to put almost all of its filler after the entire pre-timsekip story ends, so you can just stop watching after 133 or so. Some of the battles are cool to see animated (although this is balanced by inconsistent animation and a few absolutely GLACIAL fights in a deeply ironic attempt to avoid filler by making the manga plot last longer), and Naruto has one of the best soundtracks in anime. Not only is it incredibly listenable, it really captures the character of the series perfectly in a way that few non-Yoko Kanno OSTs do (the Hellsing anime OST is another that does this). Shippuden's does too, despite being a different composer. Great stuff.

Anyways. Bleach, when it was good, was better. I still have fond memories of the intro arc (which felt like a really neat action-horror high school series - and which I feel the anime kinda botched) and the SOUL SOCIETY arc (which expertly balanced character introduction/development, plot, and battles in a way that few Shonen ever manage). However, I remember the exact moment I fell out of love with the manga: the beginning of the HUECO MUNDO arc, which felt like a contrived rehash of SOUL SOCIETY from the beginning and really just got worse from there. It had a brief respite with the whole flashback Vizard stuff, but the minute Aizen did his fake-Karakura-battle-royal-setup, I knew I was probably out for good.

I've heard it's gotten better, but it's too late, I've already been spurned.

Naruto, on the other hand, has only occasionally hit the heights that Bleach was hitting at its best, but it consistently maintained its quality for much longer. In fact, I think it's much thematically stronger than Bleach as well; you mention that you feel Naruto is for a younger audience, cranitaa, but whether that's true or not I think there's quite a bit more meat to chew on, so to speak. Everything pre-timeskip holds up really well, with the RESCUE SASUKE arc arguably being the best the series has to offer. Post-timsekip/Shippuden starts strong but slowly has longer and longer stretches between the good stuff, and I'm not big on where the series is at right now. It gets points for at least TRYING to tell a coherent, ongoing story, which is more than I can say for Bleach right now.

[Dark Duel]

I've heard it's gotten better, but it's too late, I've already been spurned.

No, it really didn't. It got progressively more stupid and contrived, and there was a couple of chapters at the very end when Ichigo unleashed a holy beatdown on Aizen that was waaay too long in coming.
And then it turned to crap again. And got worse.
The current arc of Bleach is garbage, other than a brief flashback arc into Ichigo's dad's backstory, which was mildly interesting, but utterly predictable for the most part.
There have been occasional stretches of 1-2 chapters at a time that have been pretty good, but they are few and far between.
Beyond that, the current arc, IMO, is the absolute worst Bleach has ever been. And it does NOT look like it's going to get better any time soon.

[HellCat]

I gave up on Naruto pretty much when Sasuke turned traitor for revenge. I tried reading parts of Part 2 (why did they call it Shippuden overseas too when it apparently can be translated into English?) but it just became a series of drawn out fights and lazy reveals. The fact that Naruto basically gained nothing from his training and was lied to by everyone else for 'his own protection' is where I quit. It's a bit like the Ben 10 sequels in that you get the sense the writer suddenly begrudged the main character and decided to focus on secondary characters and ship tease.

[Kratos]

While I can't say I disagree with all (or even most) of that, Sasuke was one of my favourite anime villains for a long time, and I found his turn to antagonist downright subversive for the genre - how many Shonen rival characters start out antagonistic, but become protagonists once the hero beats them and are then slowly neutered from there? I like how his lust for vengeance is dealt with, and I find his decisions make sense in the context of the character (while still being utterly petulant and childish - witness how some of the more level-headed characters in the series call him out on the idiocy of his "quest").

Of course, he did get an awful lot of focus, to the point where fans used to joke that the series may as well be retitled "Sasuke". That's likely because Kishimoto realized that so much more could be done with him, versus Naruto, and that kinda feeds into your issues with the supporting cast, HellCat - they were a great deal stronger than the Orange Wizard himself, and instead of working on the main character Kishimoto eventually turned to them. That's sort of a mixed blessing; on the one hand, there are some DAMN good supporting characters (amongst more than a few duds - part of the reason that Part 2 can feel so flat at times is its comparative lack of great new characters compared to Part 1), and they fuel some of the best storytelling in the series. On the other hand, the end result is our hero being one-note to the point of absurdity.

[JulieYBM]

Begrudging episodes from a half dozen years ago is a bit much, don't you think? You don't have to watch them if you don't like and Shippuuden has done a great job of adapting more then one chapter an episode to create compact storytelling for the episodes that do adapt the comic chapters.

The cartoon-original episodes of Bleach are some of the best. New characters and stories in the same mold set-up by the comic, great performances from actors, great music from Sagisu Shirou, tight use of limited drawings, and the occasional battle scene from a highly talented freelance animator.

I gave up on Naruto pretty much when Sasuke turned traitor for revenge. I tried reading parts of Part 2 (why did they call it Shippuden overseas too when it apparently can be translated into English?) but it just became a series of drawn out fights and lazy reveals. The fact that Naruto basically gained nothing from his training and was lied to by everyone else for 'his own protection' is where I quit. It's a bit like the Ben 10 sequels in that you get the sense the writer suddenly begrudged the main character and decided to focus on secondary characters and ship tease.

His training did matter, though. He continually built upon what he learned throughout the second half of the series to the point that he now has two or three different styles he can battle with depending on how much stamina he has on hand. The current story arc has Naruto switching between his different teachings to fight different foes or conserve energy. This is the same kid who mastered a forbidden jutsu in one night during the course of the first chapter and made an S-class jutsu combat ready in something like a week during the San'nin story arc, after all.

I don't get the sense Kishimoto begrudges Naruto at all. Naruto's received the most focus of any of the characters throughout the forty-plus volumes in Part II. He's gained the bigger picture perspective of a government's leader, learned to negotiate without violence, and taken the time to examine history to help prevent repeating the mistakes of his forefathers.

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

I only just got back more interest in the manga based on the recent chapters (won't spoil anything), but aside from that, it feels like it was going downhill and slowly picking up the pace after the Kakuzu/Hidan Arc...

[Mythgarr]

has Bleach anime ended?

[Dark Duel]

Yes. The Fullbring arc was the last arc animated.