Anime has become increasingly crowded with filler episodes and even entire arcs, and fans continue to push back against the phenomenon online. Viewers are often unsure of why these bridge stories are even made, but there is a point behind it all - really.
If no one was watching anime filler episodes of popular shows, the anime studios wouldn't make them. So,it's fair to ask whether you should skip fillers or not. On the one hand, you'll lose none of the plot by doing so.
Naruto (not shippuuden) has the longest filler arc with episodes 136 - 219 being fillers, which makes a total of 83 fillers in a row. This filler arc ran from 25 May 2005 to 1 February 2007.
14 Best Anime Filler Arcs Fans Need To Watch1 Naruto: Kakashi's Anbu Arc.2 Saint Seiya: Asgard Arc. ... 3 Bleach: Zanpakuto Rebellion. ... 4 Yu-Gi-Oh!: Waking The Dragons. ... 5 Sailor Moon: Makai Tree Arc. ... 6 One Piece: G-8 Arc. ... 7 Haruhi Suzumiya: Endless Eight. ... 8 Dragon Ball Z: Other World Saga. ... More items...•
10 Best Battle Shonen Anime With No Filler Episodes10 My Hero Academia. ... 9 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. ... 8 Attack On Titan. ... 7 Yu Yu Hakusho. ... 6 Hunter X Hunter. ... 5 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. ... 4 Parasyte: The Maxim. ... 3 Jujutsu Kaisen.More items...•
Each of these Ultimate Naruto Kai episodes is about 60 to 90 minutes long. That means Ultimate Naruto Kai is essentially 72 full-length movies that each have a satisfying beginning, middle, and end—all meaningful story, no filler content. Each episode is a separate download hosted on Mega.
Attack on Titan is all giant killer, no episode filler Per Anime Filler List, the episodes that contain non-canon material are Season 1, Episode 22, Season 2, Episode 8, and Season 3, Episodes 1-4 (via IMDb).
Top 50 Most Viewed#titleseen by1Fullmetal Alchemist (TV)237242Death Note (TV)223903Cowboy Bebop (TV)2120248 more rows
The 7 Most Popular Anime SeriesNaruto Shippuden. Masashi Kishimoto/Shippuden/NMP. ... One Piece. Funimation Productions. ... Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima/Funimation Productions. ... Pokemon. The Pokemon Company. ... Dragon Ball Z. Shueisha, Inc./Funimation Productions. ... Sailor Moon Crystal. Toei Animation/PNP. ... of 07. Bleach.
The first part of Naruto consists of 220 episodes, of which 91 are filler episodes (more than 40%). Luckily, most of the "non-canon" episodes pile up in the final stretch, where there are more than 70 in a row, making it quite easy to dodge them.
Over 40 Percent of 'Naruto' Episodes Are Filler.
Even though Naruto took the crown for overall filler material, it's clear from the chart that One Piece tends to drop actually drops in filler material more often, even if it has less filler overall. Bleach also scored a No. 2 spot for overall filler, which shouldn't be all that surprising to fans of that series.
Audiences may lament a lengthy span of filler material, but filler is typically not something that's done unless there's an important reason for it. The primary purpose for anime filler is to allow the corresponding manga to get further ahead in its story and give the anime more material to adapt.
There are plenty of different approaches that can be taken with filler, but it's usually a good opportunity to introduce new and original characters. These new characters can help the anime's universe expand and develop important aspects that don't conflict with the larger narrative.
Filler is prevalent in shonen and shojo series, which contain plenty of dramatic story arcs where the heroes have to overcome tremendous evil. Oftentimes, these arcs experience casualties along the way.
Telling even larger stories through cinematic endeavors has become increasingly common for long-running anime. Anime movies can adapt manga and source material, but they're more frequently an occasion for anime-original content that can't fit within the anime itself.
Filler material sometimes comes in the forms of entirely new story arcs, but it's also an approach that can be used to extend and augment existing elements of the series. Using filler to enhance an important battle sequence is a prime use of anime filler since it can extend the battle and give more depth to the fight.
Not only can filler be used to explore completely new material, but it's also able to serve a more functional purpose and actually cover up the series' previous mistakes. Long-running anime frequently and naturally stumble upon some inconsistencies and plot holes.
Completely changing up the series' genre for a brief experiment is one of many approaches that anime filler can take. Filler carries a level of independence that allows it to take stylistic risks that would otherwise not happen in the series. This can cause tonal misfires, but it also provides some of the biggest unexpected delights from a series.
Anime series can be full of such twists and turns when it comes to plotting and characters that audiences have enough to keep track of without also needing to question the canon of what takes place in the series.
Pacing is a fundamental aspect in any piece of storytelling, but there are anime series that play seriously fast and loose with this element. A manga can work incredibly hard to determine the proper length of a story so that it doesn’t feel too sudden or drag its feet.
Filler additions can come across as innocuous at the time, but once a series is finally over they can accumulate in a debilitating manner. Certain series even decide that they’re bogged down so much with filler that it’s worthwhile to release a remastered and revamped version of the show that sheds this baggage.
Filler can disrupt the pacing when it comes to a story’s narrative, but it’s also an easy way to completely remove any suspense from a fight sequence. Shonen series are some of the most filler-filled anime, and they’re also programs that focus on kinetic combat.
It’s easy to criticize an anime series that’s ripe with filler when it’s already concluded, but this process can be even more painful when a series is still airing. Filler doesn’t just affect an anime’s story and narrative trajectory, but if it suffers too much while it’s airing, then it can negatively affect the anime’s production.
A natural aspect of filler material is that it’s something that the anime’s production staff creates on their own. This can occasionally have input from the original creator, but it also frequently doesn’t.
Filler episodes can yield big results or turn into their own serialized stories, but it’s more common for filler detours to feel extraneous and ultimately unimportant to the anime’s larger story. An anime series with barely any filler turns every entry into appointment television and not a single installment can be missed.
Dragon Ball Z is an interesting case when it comes to its filler because there are certain episodes that are completely original, but events from the manga are also stretched out over an excessive amount of episodes.
With almost 1000 episodes under its belt, One Piece is still running strong and far enough away from its endgame. Any anime that lasts this long needs to find a way to prolong its material and be confident with its own original content and how to extend the manga’s conflicts in a sustainable way.
Bleach is still often heralded as one of the major shonen anime series of its time, and there's a great deal of nostalgia associated with the action series even if it doesn't exactly end on the strongest note.
Pokémon’s anime has become just as popular as the video games the franchise originated from, but at this point, there are well over 1000 episodes and dozens of feature films that celebrate the magic of Pokémon.
Sailor Moon is one of the most iconic anime of its time, and even now, the franchise continues to grow. Sailor Moon reaches some exaggerated heights with the later series in the franchise, and so there’s a quaint quality to the nature of the original 200 episodes.
Even with 806 episodes across five series, Dragon Ball only has a total of 141 reported filler episodes. It still has fewer filler arcs than Naruto and its Shippuden sequel, despite having more episodes altogether.
Compared to other anime that aired in the 2010s, Fairy Tail had only 61 filler episodes out of its entire series. It began airing in 2009 and ran until 2019, with a 9-episode OVA series and two movies released during its runtime.
One Piece has the least amount of fillers out of the Big Three, with only 94 filler episodes in total. Considering that it's still running, it now has more episodes than Naruto and Bleach combined.
Since its debut in 2016, My Hero Academia has established itself amongst modern-day battle anime. The anime has a highly dedicated fanbase and continues to grow more popular with each season. Fans are excited to see Deku and his 1-A classmates during their journey to become professional heroes.
Most anime fans may not know Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter x Hunter has two anime adaptations. The first one aired in 1999, five years after the creator's other popular anime, YuYu Hakusho. It only had 62 episodes and faithfully adapted its manga source, but its distributor reduced the violence to appeal to younger audiences.
Debuting in 2012, Kuroko's Basketball blew up in the anime community, adding a unique aspect to basketball-themed sports anime.
JoJo's Bizzare Adventure began airing in 1993 as a 13-part OVA series, including its 2000 prequel, an official adaptation airing almost twenty years later. Since 2012, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure continued to charm fans with its lengthy but action-packed episodes and colorful characters.