ANIME filler: Love it or hate it?
Hello Gym n Japan Fam!!! Filler, deep down we all hate it...or do we? Some filler, for example fairy tail and some dragon ball Z episodes are actually quite funny or entertaining. But there comes a point when enough is enough. We all understand filler and why it’s there, but we still wish our anime follow the manga/canon the entire way through.
Something that is often confused with filler is anime canon which is a completely different kettle of fish. Anime canon is considered filler for some people but in actual fact we wouldn’t consider it to be filler because it is events/ arcs that are approved by the original manga creator and are considered to be part of the overall story. They also may never make reference to these events because they are usually really small in comparison to the main story and just a bit extra. These episodes sometimes play a great role in showcasing some side characters, world building and getting extra background information you wouldn't know about unless they animated it.
Haydon
A LOT of anime have missed the mark when it comes to filler and I honestly think that some improvement is needed when it comes to filler. I am not completely against filler but there are a lot out there that I honestly just get bored with or notice that its filler straight away. Filler will generally have a massive recap followed by 15 mins of some random crap that means nothing to the story… This is why I am a big fan of filler arcs that have some substance to it and are not noticeable because they keep you entertained while also buying time for the manga. Also fillers generally don't have much of a budget so are usually slapped together to fill their weekly quota…
Obviously filler has a vital purpose in buying time for the manga to have more content to adapt so it basically has to occur if they want to make money weekly as well as build their fan base. Some anime have chosen to do smaller seasons instead of airing weekly which in my opinion is the better way of going because they will have more production time, less filler and better quality anime. Look at My Hero Academia for example, this probably could have been adapted weekly and 52 eps a year but would catch up to the manga quickly. It has opted for 24 episodes per year (Roughly) and allows them to have a decent buffer from the manga. Then you have something like bleach which decided to keep going when it caught up to the manga and had fillers for almost a year. Obviously it doesn't affect me because I watched it way after it aired and I skipped it but still.. My solution is to have a consistent schedule yearly say 24 eps of quality, maybe some anime canon (with the same budget) and this will keep the consistent watchers happy with only 6 months to wait everytime a season ends. Definitely don't want to have too much useless filler…
Final thoughts: Hate actual filler episodes but can tolerate anime canon/multiple episodes that are filler but have actual story to it.
Jake
My thoughts on filler? Well they aren’t great. There are so many amazing shows out there ruined by the accursed filler episodes. For example…the notorious Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. If these shows didn’t have so much of these filler episodes, more people would watch the show.
Now I don’t know why studios do it, whether it’s for the profit margins or to keep the views up, I don’t know. If I could have it my way, I would say, do what most good animes do - release 12-24 episodes per year, make those episodes FUCKING UNREAL, and leave us hanging for months on end for the new season to come out.
In saying all of this, filler episodes in the last 5 years have started to become less and less in the big mainstream shows. More time and effort seems to be put into the canon episodes, and I think a lot of big companies are realising this is a better way to build a better fan base, rather than smashing out shitty pointless episodes *cough Boruto cough* each week.
Yes the manga isn’t produced as fast as the anime can be, and a few pages of manga can be illustrated in about 2 minutes, but that’s why having seasonal breaks would be a good idea. I know there are going to be some of you nerds out there saying no I want to see more Lucy Heartfilia (Fairy Tail Character) or no I love seeing Boruto chase a cat around the Hidden Leaf Village for 12 episodes. But I am sorry, weeb and weebetes, most of us are sick and tired of it.
So, my final thoughts on the matter, I hate it. But at the end of the day if I am watching a show weekly, and that week happens to be filler, then I will unhappily watch it for the sake of watching it and saying I have watched every episode...unlike Haydon who says he has “watched” all of Naruto and Shippuden…when he actually didn’t, he skipped the filler. I on the other hand watched every god damn episode, and would I do it again, FUCK NO!
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