>>282154428
>but everyone and their mother touted this series as being edgy and 2serious4me
Who told you that? That's just a narrative nubleach fans came up with, older fans didn't claim such nonsense. It's a shonen, meaning it's for young boys. And yes the worldbuilding is ass and has too many characters for such a small setting.
> Does it ever get more serious or will I get all the way to TYBW and still have joke characters like Ganju and the spirit medium guy?
Lol yes. Arrancar arc takes itself more seriously but you will still get comedic characters.
TYBW, uh yeah. If you hate any aspect of Bleach early on, imagine that but ramped up by 100x with some of the worst battles in any shonen. It's a skip unless all you care about it pretty colors and good music.