Various anime's (and some examples) that bleach copies

 I love bleach.  It is my top 2 favorite anime's of all time.  In fact it is the anime that brought me back into anime (and pretty much kept me in) after a long period of being out of it.  

It is also the first manga Ive ever read and completed.  With all that said it is not without its cliche's and imitations of other shows.  

SPOILERS TAG FOR THE PUSSIES

Some examples of this are

1.  Renji Abarai's Shikai Zabimaru-I feel like this is copied from Kenshin.  Zabimaru in its shikai is basically like a whip.  (Actually come to think of it the bankai is also like that too but I digress).  Renji can use this shikai and attack and slash people from a distance.  I feel like this is a copy of the sword that the juppongtana member Cho has and is using against kenshin in his fight to save the baby Iori.  

2.  The soul society arc/hueco mundo arc- is an imitation from Yu Yu hakusho Tarukane's mansion arc.  Both include heroes invading an area and doing battles with opposing forces in effort to save a damsel in distress (yukina/rukia/orihime).  Matter of fact flame of recca copies it more blatantly by featuring a mansion being invaded.  In the hueco mundo arc bleach basically copies itself by doing this again. 

3. Any elemental Shikai in bleach-  I feel like this is a copy of Shisio's flame sword from kenshin.  Kenshin is a more down to earth anime in that there is no magic or demons etc.  So for Shisio to have a sword that has flames emanating from it is a big deal.  So much so that I feel like it was used as an inspiration for a handful of Shikai's in bleach.  

4.  Substitute Deathgod arc-  This is an imitation of the first spirit realm detective arc in yu yu hakusho.  A boy acquires powers (Yusuke/Ichigo).  The boy's handler (botan/rukia) assists in guiding him to missions of defeating monsters (yokai in yu yu/hollows in bleach).  Boy defeats a bunch of monsters almost in a monter of the week type fashion to try to maintain the peace.  

5.  Bankai-At a certain point Bleach becomes DBZ with swords and is all about fighting.  I love the whole concept but this is clearly going super saiyajin.  Lets be realistic here.  

6.  Ichigo dying against Ulquiorra and coming back as a hollow-  When this happens Ichigo mops the floor with Ulquiorra after having no chance almost the whole fight.  This is exactly like when Yusuke died and came back as a demonkin and beat the shit out of Sensui.  Complete with the whole being taken possession of (Raizen/Hollow Ichigo).  

In conclusion,  these are some similatirites to other shows with bleach.  These are my opinions.  Idk if this is what the author did purposely or by accident.  Idk where the author got his inspiration from.  In fact all the shows I mentioned could be copying things from other shows I have not seen or heard of.