User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 683 - The Dark Side of Two World Ends/@comment-29517168-20160721132706/@comment-1351982-20160721141014

I read an article years ago that the main reason Kubo goes for arms is because of Shonen Jump Censorship. After the incredibly graphic manga of the late 80s through the mid 90s, Shonen Jump has noticeably toned down a lot of the detailed violence in their series. I can't post any of the images as they are NSFW, but a quick Google search will prove my point. The supposed reason why he uses arms, is so that he can show characters really getting hurt, without making it ultra violent. Notice how you never see bone or tissue and most of the time the arm detachment point is covered by fabric, case in point Grimmjow. While there is occasionally gory violence, like Askin's death, it's few and far and likely Kubo goes to his editor first.