Yeah, it does. In fact, the manga only recently got back to the original idea (highschool student, not roaming warrior, who can see ghosts gets involved with something worse and ends up having to protect his city, and even now it's questionable if that will stay the main focus or not), having gone through only a few arcs (which were long as hell due to the creator not wanting any character to be less than a side character. This would have worked if he didn't keep adding large amounts of characters every arc). Plus, the anime goes into LONG filler arcs, which are always weaker than the main arcs, which drag on enough as is.
Ok, to fully clarify everything, Bleach frequently takes time to go off on tangents about small details, and the story is full of them. Sometimes this turns out to be interesting (such as the flashback arc that's only problem was it took place literally right before a climatic battle), while other times you just want it to get on with its business (especially bad in the manga where even a one-sided fight takes up around 5 chapters).
On the other hand, the fights can turn out to be rather fun to watch, and it certainly does keep things interesting by using the threat of death (it barely follows through on this though).
My recommendation is to do one of two things: Read the manga, as things will go much quicker due to the format (it's able to explain things with asides rather than monologues), it skips a rather horrible and long filler, given that the major arcs have been completed, you can go through them at a quicker pace, and as always, censorship is cut down.
Alternatively, if you want a shounen series that avoids a lot of pitholes bleach falls into, check out Fairy Tail (recommendation based on the manga, so the anime may be different). It plays with action tropes, keeps the arcs short (for the manga, it's around 25-30 chapters per arc, which on a chapter a week release means you'll get around 2 arcs done in a year, compared to 1 in 2 or more years for Bleach) but very interesting (the characters use magic in a way that makes fights flow together while having a lot going on. My best comparison is they're a bit more extreme and a tad less elegant while equally as inventive as those of Avatar: The Last Airbender). It also keeps the comedy that Bleach keeps forgetting about, as well as carefully introduces its large cast over time, only focusing on side characters when appropriate.
(There's also D. Gray-man, but I can't honestly tell you if you should check out the manga or the anime, as the first goes past where the second ended, but the second expands more on important side characters in interesting filler episodes)
I'm continuing reading Bleach for the same reason I'm still reading Naruto (and only part of the reason I'm continuing reading One Piece): I've invested enough time into it that I'd rather see the conclusion at this point than give up and wonder about it.
If you really want to not do the same, I'm pretty sure that the 20s is a good place to stop.
