Its a traditional story type, repeated again and again ,not just in shounen works- look at star wars, the martix, or just about any fantasy series like the lord of the rings or harry potter even- same basic plot development. Its an archetype- young hero with hidden powers and a dark past vs the universe. Heck, you could continue with that list to include the bible and the tales of king arthur. I think the japanese manga/anime writers are just much more open about admiting the type of story they are telling, no pretext to having a greater meaning or other enrichment, just balls to the wall story telling. By giving that type of story a name like "shounen manga" just eliminates a need to waste page space on describing the setting- you allready know what to expect, they just skip right to the good parts.

And yes, I know the matrx was based on anime and hong kong gun opera's, so that wasnt he best example, but you get the point.

On topic, yes, bleach rocks. Sooner or later Ichigo will have to meat someone who hands his ass to him, but it sure is fun watching him bull his way through his fights. its like a thin red haired japanese shaq with a sword.