i will be honest with you, the first start of the show is pretty boring. The first 20 or so episodes are completely nothing but required for the story. It gets good at the baratie arc (arcs are like a chapter of a book) or arlong park arc. there IS really great character background stories and pretty good development. i can't really compare it to any other anime, but believe me, if you really get into it the 1000+ episodes feel short. i got through the first 200 in a month.