I think i would be valid to break down "bloat" somewhat like this:
1. Bloat that results from bad design (ie pointless redundancy that could be removed without losing any functionality). This bad bloat.
2. Bloat that results from lack of modularity (ie feature X is not generally needed to make Y work as intended by you but you have to option to avoid it or at least no practical one). This might be bad bloat depending on what level of modularity is deemed reasonable possible.
3. Bloat that results from trying to be technological advanced. This is subjective bloat as it depends entirely on the taste of the person judging. One persons perfectly sufficient is the other persons stone age.
Also maybe:
2a) Bloat that results from using component X that in theory could be modular enough to lose any kind of bloat but where the extend of said modularity would have to be so huge that using it would mean stripping the component down to practically nothing or stripping down would make it equivalent to component Y. This is bad bloat.
2a is what i'd invoke on Debians minimal install (minimal + no package sets selected). In theory systemd could be modular enough to be stripped down the point where it wouldn't be bloat anymore but at that point it would be identical to sysv (or really any kind of simple init system).