Yes that is true! he prefers minimalist style and prefers to focus on the characters because he feels backgrounds distract from what's going on. I appreciate his style a lot and it makes him standout from other magaka.
Yeah I definitely gotta agree with that sentiment too! I love vibrant backgrounds, Oda is AMAZING at those especially post TS with these incredible islands but I can understand why Kubo does that too, as you said. It really is a unique, sharp, iconic, powerful style and it always made Kubo and Bleach stand out for me.
Even Kishimoto was great at them from what I remember, the scene of Pain above Konoha in the manga was AMAZING to me too! Really powerful moment and drawn so detailed, so immensely!
:cheers: