Why does filler bother people?

[The Myst]

I mean, some people won't even watch filler.

It seems silly to me. Just because a story didn't happen in the manga doesn't make it automatically bad. Naruto has like over 100 episodes of filler right? Are all those episodes bad? Or did nobody watch them because they're filler so they don't know if those episodes are bad or not?

[Swordfish_II]

They're usually of much lower quality and fail to move the story along at any worthy pace, or usually don't at all.

[Hades]

Well Naruto was bad to begin with, so that argument is pointless.

However, filler depends on the series. I thought the filler arcs in Yu-Gi-Oh! were pretty cool for the most part, except the Kaiba Grand Prix. Most problem with filler though is that they have a tendency to start it in the middle of a story arc just because they were too dumb to space out what they had. Another issue is that filler does nothing for the overall story. I don't know how many times they will give us new characters, develop them for many episodes, and then make sure they are killed off before they go back to manga material, just to make sure things fit in again. Oh, and the fact that sometimes, characters will act the total opposite of how they were throughout the rest of the series, but then when they go back to manga material, they are normal again. -_-

Rurouni Kenshin is a good example. The filler had some great story arcs, but it did absolutely nothing to advance the series' story.

[J'onn J'onzz]

People don't like Naruto filler because it doesn't advance the plot at all, leaving people hanging for TWO YEARS before they see what happens next.

EDIT: And Yu-Gi-Oh filler is poorly placed too. Right in the middle of Battle City we get this huge Noah filler arc. Plus, as soon as we're done with the Dartz filler arc, which was actually good, we get even more filler... this time the "Kaiba Corp Grand Prix" or whatever. That was like the worst filler ever.

[Kury Wagner]

I've always wondered this very thing, too. It's still story. Albeit, often rather crappy story... it's still something to watch/read.

[Golgo13]

The problem is that SOME, not all, filler tends to follow a predictable sitcom route. It mainly pisses some people off making them wonder if the show truly wants to be serialized or not.

Can you blame people for not wanting a show to fall into Inu-Yasha writing?

Anyway, most series that don't serialize their story do a much better job with writing stand-alone episodes. It's pretty hard to write filler if you spent your whole time writing screenplays of the manga and then feel bound to reflect it in some singular episode/episodes.

Another reason I hate the fact that 85% of all anime is based on manga.

[purplehairedwonder]

People don't like Naruto filler because it doesn't advance the plot at all, leaving people hanging for TWO YEARS before they see what happens next.Also, just because it wasn't very good. There were a couple of decent arcs, but for the most part they were not nearly to the level of the canon material and it's easy to tell. Had the Naruto fillers taken the route of an entire story arc, then people might not have complained so much, but because the writers didn't know when the fillers were supposed to end, they were left writing the small filler arcs that ended up stretching almost 90 episodes. Simple fact was, people got sick of sub-par material.

[GWOtaku]

Filler is looked down upon because it often treads into formulaic, boring plots. Altering the original story in any way would be considered taboo and a massive strike against the series in question, so filler rarely develops anything and plays it safe by never changing the status quo.

Of course, sometimes filler is put there for its own sake or because of some really awful idea. The constant interruption of Seed Destiny's final arc with clip shows and filler is infamous; for some weird reason Black Cat ended short of 26 episodes with a far out, over the top filler arc that had nothing to do with the manga, nothing to do with the story before the 19th episode, and which generally made very little sense. And so on. There's no real good explanation for that kind of thing aside from calling it a screwup and moving on.

[Hordesman]

It seems to me that it depends on how much you like the original manga.

[Duke]

Also, just because it wasn't very good. There were a couple of decent arcs, but for the most part they were not nearly to the level of the canon material and it's easy to tell. Had the Naruto fillers taken the route of an entire story arc, then people might not have complained so much, but because the writers didn't know when the fillers were supposed to end, they were left writing the small filler arcs that ended up stretching almost 90 episodes. Simple fact was, people got sick of sub-par material.
Quoted for truth.

People didn't mind the Tea Race filler arc earlier in Naruto because after that it went straight back to canon material. Had the filler ended after 3 or 4 arcs, it wouldn't get nearly as much hate as it would have otherwise.

Instead, you get 2 years worth of material that does nothing to develop the main plotline, which ended on a cliffhangar, at all.

It'd be like delaying the release of Return of the Jedi in order to play a "Luke & Leia's Excellent Adventures" TV series after Empire Strikes Back ended.

[HEATXZ]

I don't hate the Fillers i like the Fillers:anime:

[Funkmasta Zeph]

They aren't devised by the creator of the series and thus come off odd, messing ever so slightly with the established world and characters in a very off color way.

[Kurokawa41]

It's usually boring, unimaginitive, and/or generally lower quality than the canon.

[Ahiru-kun]

I'm a fan of filler that's just a bunch of self-contained stories and not one big useless arch. Most filler is bad because the anime writers have to rush to come up with new stories to give the manga time to get ahead, but not too far ahead.

[Zilch]

I really don't mind filler. With a series like Naruto where there's a pretty large cast of reoccurring characters, I enjoy watching filler episodes that involve the secondary characters who we don't get to see as much during the actual story. It's cool to see the potential these characters could've had if it was actually incorporated into the canon material. I'm not the type to dislike a character in any show over how "bad" they might have lost or how an attack they use "is teh suck" or anything like that, so for me, the more secondary characters I see in action, the better I'll like a series.

Another thing I like about filler is that in most series these episodes are pretty comical. It's always fun to see the characters in a series goof off and whatnot once in a while, instead of being serious most of the time. Comic relief is good.

[Captain Highwind]

Strangely enough, Inuyasha's filler really shined when the writers knew they weren't going into canon material for awhile. They just had fun with the characters.

But for the most part in shows, no matter how hard they try, it just feels like fanfiction has worked its way into the script.

Honestly, I wonder how hard it would be for the mangaka to give out a few loose scripts for the writers to chew on in case the anime does catch up too fast to the manga...

[Gokou Ruri]

I tend to not watch anime based off manga, because filler and pacing are an extreme turn off. They'll slow things down to a snail's pace and when that still doesn't work they throw in some random story that for the most part never takes creative liberties.

I wish more anime wouldn't be shackled to a manga counterpart, all it does is bring the potential and creativity of the series down.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Filler is annoying in Naruto because you got 84 episodes of filler that did nothing, and were mostly pretty bad.

Now, not all filler is bad. PoT had some good filler(although it had some weaker ones), Eyeshield 21 filler has been good so far. Bleach's filler arc was good, although it was too stretched out.


I tend to not watch anime based off manga, because filler and pacing are an extreme turn off. They'll slow things down to a snail's pace and when that still doesn't work they throw in some random story that for the most part never takes creative liberties.

I wish more anime wouldn't be shackled to a manga counterpart, all it does is bring the potential and creativity of the series down.

Of course, the baseless, broad sweeping statement. A Galentone specialty.

Seriously, you shouldn't make such incorrect statements. It is true that some anime that are based off of manga wind up being too dragged out or messed up, but you could say that for anything.

Many of the best anime find their roots in manga, and to try and deny that there's some merit there is silly. Additionally, many anime can imporve up on manga and create a richer overall experience.

[Jave]

Shaman King has GREAT filler. It was used to either build up a character or to simply make the audience laugh (the episode where Milly's oracle gets stolen comes to mind)

Magical Doremi has some nice filler too. They're normally used to get to know the secondary characters.

[Duke]

I tend to not watch anime based off manga, because filler and pacing are an extreme turn off. They'll slow things down to a snail's pace and when that still doesn't work they throw in some random story that for the most part never takes creative liberties.
OK, I'm going to assume you're just talking about the long-running Shonen Jump anime and its ilk, and not ALL anime based off of manga, since the vast majority of anime based off of manga rarely go past 26 episodes.

[Classic Speedy]

I tend to not watch anime based off manga, because filler and pacing are an extreme turn off. And by that you mean long-running shounen anime, right? Because to avoid -any- anime based off a manga eliminates, probably, over 95% of anime. And there are a ton of 12 or 24-26 episode series with no filler because they're not long enough to catch up to the manga.

[Jave]

And by that you mean long-running shounen anime, right? Because to avoid -any- anime based off a manga eliminates, probably, over 95% of anime. And there are a ton of 12 or 24-26 episode series with no filler because they're not long enough to catch up to the manga.What current animes are not based off manga anyway? Digimon Savers is the only one that comes to mind.

[Classic Speedy]

What current animes are not based off manga anyway? Digimon Savers is the only one that comes to mind. I believe Soukou No Strain was an original show by Studio Fantasia, though a manga adaption soon followed it. BTW, SnS is a great show.

[Gokou Ruri]

And by that you mean long-running shounen anime, right? Because to avoid -any- anime based off a manga eliminates, probably, over 95% of anime. And there are a ton of 12 or 24-26 episode series with no filler because they're not long enough to catch up to the manga. Guess I should have been more specific. The first part of my statement was for the long-running stuff, regarding the filler and dragging things out. The last part I meant stuff like Berserk, Pilot Candidate, Narutaru, and Twelve Kingdoms (based on a book series, but still feels appropriate), which also take no creative liberties and essentially have no endings because of it. Overall, I dislike most series based on manga because of those reasons. If they only took the basic idea of the comic and turned it into a show, like America and Europe does, It'd help the pacing and remove filler from the long running series, and give the shorter series more complete endings.

[Duke]

What current animes are not based off manga anyway? Digimon Savers is the only one that comes to mind.
Pokémon's an obvious choice. And anything Gundam, I believe.

[Hanshotfirst113]

Well Naruto was bad to begin with, so that argument is pointless.

You have something against Naruto?

[Jave]

If they only took the basic idea of the comic and turned it into a show, like America and Europe does, It'd help the pacing and remove filler from the long running series, and give the shorter series more complete endings.But that IS what most animes do. If you made a complete list of anime based off manga, you'll see that the percentage of animes that tend to use ridiculously long filler is quite low. I doubt it goes past 10%.


Pokémon's an obvious choice. And anything Gundam, I believe.Oh yeah, forgot about Pokemon. Although the "bad filler" thing still applies to it, as they are forced to tie-in with the games to change the story arcs.

[Wounded_Dragon]

There's also the small fear that filler may stretch out too long and kill a series before all of the manga can be animated (Rurouni Kenshin)

[Duke]

Guess I should have been more specific. The first part of my statement was for the long-running stuff, regarding the filler and dragging things out. The last part I meant stuff like Berserk, Pilot Candidate, Narutaru, and Twelve Kingdoms (based on a book series, but still feels appropriate), which also take no creative liberties and essentially have no endings because of it. Overall, I dislike most series based on manga because of those reasons. If they only took the basic idea of the comic and turned it into a show, like America and Europe does, It'd help the pacing and remove filler from the long running series, and give the shorter series more complete endings.
Just to list series that do this that have been released in the US in the past few months:
- Black Cat
- Trinity Blood (well, novels)
- Moon Phase
- Basilisk
- Elemental Gelade
- Fate/Stay Night
- Negima
- Planetes
- Scrapped Princess
- Paradise Kiss
- Full Moon
- Full Metal Panic!
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Ghost in the Shell
- Hellsing
- Pani Poni Dash
- Trigun
- Magic Knights Rayearth
- Kamichu
- Taruto

There's a ton more examples, but I'm getting a bit tired and it's annoying go through DVD releases week by week (and I only made it through half of December!)

[Hanshotfirst113]

Pokémon's an obvious choice. And anything Gundam, I believe.

Not current, but Cowboy Bebop and EVA.

[Dark Fact]

I suggest checking out D.Gray-Man episodes 14-18 for an example of filler done right! Not only did those episodes really stick with the main objectives of the character's missions, but helped incorporate small bits of manga canon as well as ending each arc after two episodes to keep the story fresh and expand on specific character abilities and relationships. Episode 18 is one of the greatest standalone filler episodes I've ever seen. :D

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I suggest checking out D.Gray-Man episodes 14-18 for an example of filler done right! Not only did those episodes really stick with the main objectives of the character's missions, but helped incorporate small bits of manga canon as well as ending each arc after two episodes to keep the story fresh and expand on specific character abilities and relationships. Episode 18 is one of the greatest standalone filler episodes I've ever seen. :D

Yeah, D.Gray-man's filler was pretty enjoyable. It gave some good moments for each of the 4 characters, and also provided nice stories(and great comedy for 18, although it pales in comparison to the PoT filler episode "It's a date").

[FidoMcCokefiend]

Don't forget filler that contradicts the manga (and therefore, later episodes of the anime) at one point in Draon Ball, they had a filler story involving the 'creator' of Red Ribbon's androids, years before Gero was introduced.

[EroSennin]

Narutos filler is a big problem for most because it went for 80+ episodes where absolutly nothing happened to the overall story nor the characters. No one got stronger, had any sort of progression of thier character. You could stop watching and miss absolutly nothing when it started back to canon.

[AstroNerdBoy]

There are two kinds of filler as I see it for anime adaptations of manga titles (or even novels I suppose). The first is "filler episodes" where a unique story not in the source material is created by the anime writers. Depending on how much the anime writers are wanting to respect the source material story-arcs determines what kind of filler is used. So you might have a comedy episode or the like where nothing could happen to alter where the main story might go.

In Inuyasha, this was followed as well (sometimes using Takahashi-sensei's own filler stories). But the "Neko Youkai" arc in the anime was never in the manga from what I understand, yet that ended up being pretty good filler (if indeed you can call it filler).

xxxHOLiC did filler episodes too, but because they had scrapped any story arcs from the manga, the way to see the filler is to 1) see characters go out of character (specifically Yuuko-san) or 2) see a "repeat story" with different settings and characters.

The other kind of filler is the episode expander. So the anime writers might take a single chapter from a manga and turn it into a complete episode (roughly three chapters of manga equate to a single anime episode, depending on the number of pages per chapter of course). Fruits Basket made good use of this, because the extra stuff ended up enhancing the experience. Inuyasha made poor use of this as was seen in the 5th season where fights went on and on with no progress, the contestants bloviating, and a lot of "Inuyasha" coming from Kagome and the others (while they don't bother to help). That's some BORING filler to be sure.

But then manga-ka have filler too. Takahashi-sensei does it from time to time (though she tries to make the filler have a point so as not to be pure filler). CLAMP had filler with Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC. In fact, in Tsubasa, nearly 2.5 volumes are filler staring about volume 10 (though to be fair, one of their members had been injured and couldn't work). With xxxHOLiC, there will be those short chapters here and there that don't really advance the story

[The Myst]

Well this all is basically how I feel about filler. I don't see why people outright boycott it because despite there being bad examples of filler, there are other filler episodes that can be really good.

[FidoMcCokefiend]

The filler episodes of Ranma 1/2 basically killed the series, because it just wasn't as good a the manga based material.

Also, there is one filler episode of Love Hina that makes me CRINGE. The episode where Naru becomes a pop idol (and later, so do Mokoto and Shinobu) not only does it seem out of character for all 3 of them, but they show Naru as being wildly popular, but for the rest of the series, Nobody says "Arent't you Naru Narusegawa?" or "Hey, you're that singer!" or anything. This is just one of many reasons I prefer the manga,

[Duke]

Actually, IIRC, she does get reconized in the Christmas movie, but it's more subtle.

[Temple Fugate]

I've seen about 80% of Naruto's first hundred episodes.

Is it wrong for me to consider episode 101 to be the best of the series?

:D

(At least Naruto doesn't have Garlic Jr.)

[Jacob T. Paschal]

The best filler that Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Mosnters had was the Noa story arc.


Then again...I'm begining to dislike YGODM! because the Manga was just so much better...Bakura's introduction was better, Kaiba's Death-T, Shaadi's original introduction, and of course the character build up chapters were great, as well as the different games (Yo-yos of doom > all).

[Zechs]

Becase most of the time it's useless and just drags the story down or on. I like watching Law and order. Now if they all of a sudden choose to make an ep where the cast sits around at the beach or took a break it would be dull and I wouldn't watch. It's the same with anime. I don't mind a little filler but some shows have so much it's shameful. I mean really I want my sories to move at a good pace. Not drag on with crap in the middle.

[Ishtar]

Filler annoys me because I am intered in the current plot of the show, and it can be very frustrating when it delays anything canon. Filler can still be good, when it's done in between story arcs and is well written.

[RAINMAN]

Not current, but Cowboy Bebop and EVA.


and Ronin Warriors.

[Hanshotfirst113]

There are two kinds of filler as I see it for anime adaptations of manga titles (or even novels I suppose). The first is "filler episodes" where a unique story not in the source material is created by the anime writers. Depending on how much the anime writers are wanting to respect the source material story-arcs determines what kind of filler is used. So you might have a comedy episode or the like where nothing could happen to alter where the main story might go.

In Inuyasha, this was followed as well (sometimes using Takahashi-sensei's own filler stories). But the "Neko Youkai" arc in the anime was never in the manga from what I understand, yet that ended up being pretty good filler (if indeed you can call it filler).

xxxHOLiC did filler episodes too, but because they had scrapped any story arcs from the manga, the way to see the filler is to 1) see characters go out of character (specifically Yuuko-san) or 2) see a "repeat story" with different settings and characters.

The other kind of filler is the episode expander. So the anime writers might take a single chapter from a manga and turn it into a complete episode (roughly three chapters of manga equate to a single anime episode, depending on the number of pages per chapter of course). Fruits Basket made good use of this, because the extra stuff ended up enhancing the experience. Inuyasha made poor use of this as was seen in the 5th season where fights went on and on with no progress, the contestants bloviating, and a lot of "Inuyasha" coming from Kagome and the others (while they don't bother to help). That's some BORING filler to be sure.

But then manga-ka have filler too. Takahashi-sensei does it from time to time (though she tries to make the filler have a point so as not to be pure filler). CLAMP had filler with Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC. In fact, in Tsubasa, nearly 2.5 volumes are filler staring about volume 10 (though to be fair, one of their members had been injured and couldn't work). With xxxHOLiC, there will be those short chapters here and there that don't really advance the story

There was filler in IY? I thought that the show ended because they caught up with the Manga and didn't want filler. For me, the most obvious "episode expander" filler would be Dragon Ball Z dragging out the fights. Namek will explode in five minutes, which are actually three hours. A good bit of filler from that particular series would be, say, the showdown with the Saiya-jin in the past or some of things like the Panet Vegeta sequences which expanded the mythology a bit. Crap would be, say, the "illusionary Namek" thing. That sucked like an industrial carpet cleaner.

[AstroNerdBoy]

There was filler in IY? I thought that the show ended because they caught up with the Manga and didn't want filler.

There was a lot of filler in Inuyasha. I think the first two seasons had only limited filler, but after that, more and more filler got injected, and as I said, the 5th has the stretched filler. At the moment, I can't remember what season had the neko-youkai (cat youkai). But yeah, there was a lot of filler because ~3-chapters of manga go into a single anime episode. As such, it didn't take that long to catch up to the manga stories.

[Golgo13]

I just thought of a series with filler that really pissed me off: Peacemaker.

It's a 24 episode series with 20 episodes of filler (the last four episodes have continuity). Even more irritating, the 20 filler episodes have maybe about a few seconds each of a serialized sub-story, but it's so microscopic and so out of the blue that you don't notice it. And by the time it actually pays off around the last four episodes that actually have continuity, you barely notice nor do you care.

In my opinion, one of the worst Gonzo series ever. Doesn't even match up to their quality animation standards.

[Violt]

There was filler in IY? I thought that the show ended because they caught up with the Manga and didn't want filler. For me, the most obvious "episode expander" filler would be Dragon Ball Z dragging out the fights. Namek will explode in five minutes, which are actually three hours. A good bit of filler from that particular series would be, say, the showdown with the Saiya-jin in the past or some of things like the Panet Vegeta sequences which expanded the mythology a bit. Crap would be, say, the "illusionary Namek" thing. That sucked like an industrial carpet cleaner.
I'll take the "episode expander" over the "filler episodes". But the thing in DBZ was that they were able to intertwine non-canon material with canon material. The episodes also didn't rely filler lasting or happening for an entire episode. They can make parts of the episode filler and not the whole thing. Others do this too but Dragon Ball does it primarily which I liked.


(At least Naruto doesn't have Garlic Jr.)
At least Dragon Ball doesn't have the curry of life.


The best filler that Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Mosnters had was the Noa story arc.


Then again...I'm begining to dislike YGODM! because the Manga was just so much better...Bakura's introduction was better, Kaiba's Death-T, Shaadi's original introduction, and of course the character build up chapters were great, as well as the different games (Yo-yos of doom > all).
A lot of things in the anime had to be changed. But yeah, the manga was cool compared to the anime. Parts of the Noah arc was good but I didn't like when the gang were battling the big five.


EDIT: And Yu-Gi-Oh filler is poorly placed too. Right in the middle of Battle City we get this huge Noah filler arc. Plus, as soon as we're done with the Dartz filler arc, which was actually good, we get even more filler... this time the "Kaiba Corp Grand Prix" or whatever. That was like the worst filler ever.
I thought Grand Prix was part of the manga.


I don't mind fillers. When they make an entire episode filler I'll decide if I can let it slide depending on what I'm seeing. But when they go on consecitively then that's when it can get nasty.

The fillers in Dragon Ball is what I like for how they did theirs. The reasons being is what I said above. They seem to know how to time and plan events for the fillers and keep the anime behind.

[Hordesman]

A lot of things in the anime had to be changed. But yeah, the manga was cool compared to the anime. Parts of the Noah arc was good but I didn't like when the gang were battling the big five.

There's something amusing about corporate takeovers involving gaming but the anime probably pushed it a bit too far. YGO GX basically follows up on the Filler (Chazz's family seeking dominance in gaming is bizarre) and really, it's like watching a spinoff of Cromartie High School. Did Kaiba really have that much trouble finding teachers for Duel Academy? :anime:

[Elven Moon]

I generally tolerate filler as sometimes they can be cute/good. But when it throws things off completely or drags what shouldn't be dragged, then I get annoyed.

For instance, in Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, Jean, Nadia, and Marie get stuck on a deserted island. Which would be fine, if it were only an episode or so while they sorted things out (the previous episode ended on a cliffhanger). But no, they kept going, even had a robot race (never mind that it was the 1800s, and never mind that you couldn't even get the parts needed for a robot on a DESERTED ISLAND) and moved from one island to yet another island. By the time the story picked up again you almost forgot what the story originally was!

But in Slayers TRY, there was an episode where Lina got caught up in an Alice in Wonderland-esque trap, and had to try to find her way out. It was cute and fun, even though it was at a rather awkward part of the series to do it.

[K-S-O]

I don't have anything against filler, though I've seen more bad filler than good. It all depends on entertainment value in my view.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

I'll take the "episode expander" over the "filler episodes". But the thing in DBZ was that they were able to intertwine non-canon material with canon material. The episodes also didn't rely filler lasting or happening for an entire episode. They can make parts of the episode filler and not the whole thing. Others do this too but Dragon Ball does it primarily which I liked.


At least Dragon Ball doesn't have the curry of life.


A lot of things in the anime had to be changed. But yeah, the manga was cool compared to the anime. Parts of the Noah arc was good but I didn't like when the gang were battling the big five.


I thought Grand Prix was part of the manga.


I don't mind fillers. When they make an entire episode filler I'll decide if I can let it slide depending on what I'm seeing. But when they go on consecitively then that's when it can get nasty.

The fillers in Dragon Ball is what I like for how they did theirs. The reasons being is what I said above. They seem to know how to time and plan events for the fillers and keep the anime behind.

You can blame Toriyama for fillers in Dragonball. He only did about thirteen pages a week.

[Hordesman]

How often does an anime production staff get wind of where the story is headed? I know Toei knows enough about the direction of One Piece to estimate how many more episodes until the series wraps up. While a closed canon is always going to be preferable when adapting a series, any future info from the creator will help the anime from producing filler that contradicts later canon. Of course, this could always fall into a creator not allowing a character to show his or her stuff in filler because it's part of an upcoming manga arc or something.

[JTurner954]

I mean, some people won't even watch filler.

It seems silly to me. Just because a story didn't happen in the manga doesn't make it automatically bad. Naruto has like over 100 episodes of filler right? Are all those episodes bad? Or did nobody watch them because they're filler so they don't know if those episodes are bad or not?

That word is so negative to me (and in this case, unfair to the anime crew) so I always write it inside quotation marks. After watching Naruto ,however, I describe it as "fillerific" because it seems like it moves so slowly (another nickname: Show of a thousand flashbacks). I would be interested in knowing how much of the anime is "filler" because I see there is something to it; it just takes a long time to get good.

To me, "filler" is more of a sequence to take up time ("Can you take us to Mount Splashmore?").

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Some people misunderstand just what a filler is. If an episode does not develop or cast spotlight on a character, or have a self-contained story within an episode, it is filler. Thus, an episode where Goku is standing around for 25 minutes thinking of how to charge back up is a filler episode, because it does not advance the main plot, have a self-contained story, or develop a character (unless you count Goku thinking of how to charge into super saiyan as 'character development')

Therefore, a Sailor Moon episode on Sailor Mercury learning how to beat someone in a swimming contest shouldn't be filler, as it tells a story and develops a character. Just because an episode does not advance the "main plot" does not mean it is worthless.

A One Piece episode of Nami taking a personal sidetrip into a wooden hut and going into a dreamland shouldn't be called a filler either, as it would be a self-contained character spotlight episode. (BTW--this episode does not exist. I was just making an example).

[laactor101]

Filler is annoying in Naruto because you got 84 episodes of filler that did nothing, and were mostly pretty bad.

Now, not all filler is bad. PoT had some good filler(although it had some weaker ones), Eyeshield 21 filler has been good so far. Bleach's filler arc was good, although it was too stretched out.



Of course, the baseless, broad sweeping statement. A Galentone specialty.

Seriously, you shouldn't make such incorrect statements. It is true that some anime that are based off of manga wind up being too dragged out or messed up, but you could say that for anything.

Many of the best anime find their roots in manga, and to try and deny that there's some merit there is silly. Additionally, many anime can imporve up on manga and create a richer overall experience.
I agree with the Bleach I mean 46 episodes that's like half the series right there but I never bother to watch Naruto's filler

[Hordesman]

Isn't filler the fanon word for material animated while waiting for new manga chapters (or in the case of something like Pokemon, new video games).

[Vallen Valiant]

I generally tolerate filler as sometimes they can be cute/good. But when it throws things off completely or drags what shouldn't be dragged, then I get annoyed.

For instance, in Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, Jean, Nadia, and Marie get stuck on a deserted island. Which would be fine, if it were only an episode or so while they sorted things out (the previous episode ended on a cliffhanger). But no, they kept going, even had a robot race (never mind that it was the 1800s, and never mind that you couldn't even get the parts needed for a robot on a DESERTED ISLAND) and moved from one island to yet another island. By the time the story picked up again you almost forgot what the story originally was!

Just for the record, the deserted island arc was never in the script. Gainax was forced into extending the episode count, so it is the classic case of a filler for filler's sake. At least you can literally act like it never existed because it can be removed without harming the story.

[Hanshotfirst113]

You can blame Toriyama for fillers in Dragonball. He only did about thirteen pages a week.

Fourteen plus a title page. How is that his fault? He was making the Manga. That's it. Beyond some notes and deesigns, he didn't involve himself directly with the filler. He did design some stuff for the movie though.

[Dark Fact]

I know I'm sounding like a broken record here but I just want to get back into D.Gray-Man and its example of fillers. For D.Gray-Man, the writers decided to wisely incorporate tidbits of manga canon into each filler arc so that even though the arc itself is filler, you're still getting canon developments for the character. In addition, the episodes themselves were no longer than 2 for the arcs. This is how you suppress boredom for filler: keep the stories fresh and short and incorporate bits of canon elements vital to the story continuity.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Fourteen plus a title page. How is that his fault? He was making the Manga. That's it. Beyond some notes and deesigns, he didn't involve himself directly with the filler. He did design some stuff for the movie though.

Wasn't that minute for the time though? I mean, thirteen pages? One episode could eat three chapters!

[Will Sturnick]

Fourteen plus a title page. How is that his fault?

The average manga chapter is about 18 or so pages, so the anime crew had 5 less pages a week to work with than other anime-from-manga adaptators. Sure five pages may not seem like a lot, but the average anime can fit about 3 18-paged chapters into an episode. Three DBZ chapters deprieves them of 15 of those, which is close to another chapter.

[kempobot]

my two cents:

A.) it's unnecessary.

B.) it's proof that the japanese need to wait until a manga has completed or at least is radically ahead before they make an animated adaption of it.

[Duke]

B.) it's proof that the japanese need to wait until a manga has completed
You mean TV Tokyo shouldn't have even attempted a long-running Naruto anime until the manga ended (which, at this point, looks to be at least until the year 2010)? By that point, any market potential the series once had is long gone.

Remember that most of the popular manga (especially stuff in Shonen Jump) lasts for years and years and years and many of them have a few dozen volumes. Waiting until it ends means losing potential profits, which television companies are not willing to do.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

YGO had about eight or nine volumes on the second TV series, but the producers just had to mess with that, didn't they?

[Scirel]

If they aired 26 eps a year and took season breaks(as well as reruns) then they could avoid the filler problem, have better pacing, and better animation.

Everyone wins!

[Duke]

If they aired 26 eps a year and took season breaks(as well as reruns) then they could avoid the filler problem, have better pacing, and better animation.

Everyone wins!
Then the entire Japanese television system (at least for anime) would collapse.

I predict the end of Nielsen ratings before Japan switches its entire anime ecnomical structure.

[kempobot]

You mean TV Tokyo shouldn't have even attempted a long-running Naruto anime until the manga ended (which, at this point, looks to be at least until the year 2010)? By that point, any market potential the series once had is long gone.

i love how you excluded
or at least is radically ahead before they make an animated adaption of it. from your response. ;)

in a place like japan, where practically every remotely popular manga is almost garunteed some form of animated adaption, i would think that five years is a fair enough time (unless it finishes up beforehand) for these ambitious and "epic" manga to flesh out and establish themselves. you can tell that eichiro oda's direction for one piece has changed since he first started it.

there's no shame in having the most popular comic running for five years, and then be granted an an animated adaption for television right after. and if your stuff is actually good, then you shouldn't worry about "market potential," for your work would be considered "timeless," and deserves every right to be a big time tv show.

the naruto manga debut in 2000. now, had the anime premired in 2005 instead of 2002, not only would they have five years worth of material to work on, but it will save the producers from the stress and headache that would become irritated fans and disposable filler.

but then again, this could only work in one of those "in a perfect world," scenarios. i am also aware that in japan, studios fight over the rights of who gets to animate what, so this would be tough to do.


If they aired 26 eps a year and took season breaks(as well as reruns) then they could avoid the filler problem, have better pacing, and better animation.

that would be a great idea, seeing how there's 52 weeks in a year, if they were to actually air reruns (God forbid the japanese having to deal with reruns), at worse they would only get to see the same episode twice that year.


the entire Japanese television system (at least for anime) would collapse.

i seriously doubt that the ratings for a batch of "first time reruns" versus a long string of hamfisted-but-"new" episode nonsense (seriously, over a years worth of non-canon filler should be a ratings suicide). on top of that it's much more cost effective, as the producers can either take a break or spend more of their budget on making the next batch of episodes that much better.

having too much "new" stuff not only kills the integrity of a series, but it kills the interest or drive of those who wish to see the conclusion of the series, and kills any chance or potential of gaining any new viewers, for they're obviously left in the dark with this ongoing mesh of "new" stuff that won't stop coming out. i've known plenty of people, who are put off and won't give an anime a chance or completely drop it solely based on its excessive number of episodes.

fortunately, we are starting to see more japanese studios taking the western route, and are giving their shows periodic breaks or the occasional "no new episode this week" route, much like they're starting to use korean studios to subcontract their animation (check out the Shippuuden credits).

[Duke]

having too much "new" stuff not only kills the integrity of a series, but it kills the interest or drive of those who wish to see the conclusion of the series, and kills any chance or potential of gaining any new viewers, for they're obviously left in the dark with this ongoing mesh of "new" stuff that won't stop coming out. i've known plenty of people, who are put off and won't give an anime a chance or completely drop it solely based on its excessive number of episodes.
How many of those friends are American and how many are Japanese?


fortunately, we are starting to see more japanese studios taking the western route, and are giving their shows periodic breaks or the occasional "no new episode this week" route, much like they're starting to use korean studios to subcontract their animation (check out the Shippuuden credits).
Most of the "no new episode this week" stuff is then replaced by a one-hour special of another show (i.e. Pocket Monsters would take a one-week break for a one-hour Naruto special), not a rerun or anything.

[Hanshotfirst113]

You mean TV Tokyo shouldn't have even attempted a long-running Naruto anime until the manga ended (which, at this point, looks to be at least until the year 2010)? By that point, any market potential the series once had is long gone.

Remember that most of the popular manga (especially stuff in Shonen Jump) lasts for years and years and years and many of them have a few dozen volumes. Waiting until it ends means losing potential profits, which television companies are not willing to do.

...Which is paradoxical problem which shall plague Shonen stuff until the sun burns out.

[kempobot]

How many of those friends are American and how many are Japanese?

why on earth would that even matter? it's not like any certain kind of people have a particular mindset. i've known some americans who appear to have a "japanese" mindset, and some asians (not so much japanese, there really aren't as many here in the states) who happen to have the typical american "hillbilly" or "ghetto" mindset.


Most of the "no new episode this week" stuff is then replaced by a one-hour special of another show (i.e. Pocket Monsters would take a one-week break for a one-hour Naruto special), not a rerun or anything.very true.

[Mynd Hed]

why on earth would that even matter? it's not like any certain kind of people have a particular mindset. i've known some americans who appear to have a "japanese" mindset, and some asians (not so much japanese, there really aren't as many here in the states) who happen to have the typical american "hillbilly" or "ghetto" mindset.

It matters because most anime (with a few notable exceptions) is created with a Japanese audience in mind, with American appeal an afterthought. So whether we on this side of the Pacific would rather sit through a rerun or a filler episode, or whether some of your American friends are turned off from certain series because of excessive filler / long episode count, is largely irrelevant to the people who make decisions about such things.