Saw a guy defend filler arcs for 20 minutes and it actually made sense

I always thought filler episodes were just lazy padding to stretch out a series. But a friend broke it down for me last week using Naruto as an example. He pointed out that the early filler arcs gave side characters like Shikamaru and Rock Lee actual screen time they never got in the manga. I checked and yeah, some of those episodes added depth to characters I barely remembered from the main story. He also mentioned that filler can help the anime studio avoid catching up too fast, which keeps the quality from dropping mid-arc. Has anyone else found filler that they actually liked more than some canon episodes?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam1726d ago

Wait, have you actually watched the filler arcs you're talking about or just heard about them? Because I used to feel the same way until I sat down with some of the old Naruto filler, and the G-8 arc in One Piece totally changed my mind. That arc got the crew's dynamic perfect and had some genuinely funny moments that fit right in with the main story. I get what you're saying about momentum, but not every show needs to be a nonstop sprint from start to finish. Sometimes letting the story breathe makes the big canon moments hit harder when they finally come back around. And honestly, if the pacing in the manga is already fast, filler can give the anime room to stay faithful instead of rushing through great material. I'd rather have a few slower episodes than a rushed adaptation that skips important stuff to keep the pace up.

iris_davis9026d ago

Honestly, I gotta push back on this. Filler is still filler at the end of the day, no matter how you dress it up. Sure, side characters get screen time, but half the time it's just meaningless fluff that pads out episodes and kills the momentum. One Piece is a perfect example, you watch an episode of filler and it's like the story forgot what it was doing for the last 20 minutes. Plus, the pacing argument falls flat for me because studios could just, you know, adapt the manga better instead of making up random arcs nobody asked for. Rock Lee's development in the manga was already fine without needing a whole stretch of episodes about him chasing a cat or whatever. I'd rather have a tight, focused story than sit through 10 hours of "character building" that doesn't even matter later.

rileyellis26d ago

Ngl, the "chasing a cat" example is killing me because it’s so specific it feels personal. Like did Rock Lee actually chase a cat in some filler episode because if so that is genuinely hilarious and also kind of proves your point. But honestly, I think calling all filler "meaningless fluff" is a bit much when stuff like the G-8 arc in One Piece exists. That arc is literally more beloved than some canon arcs and nobody even thinks of it as filler because it works that well. I get wanting a tight story but sometimes "tight" just means the anime catches up to the manga and then we get a 6 month hiatus which is its own kind of torture. At least with filler you can just skip it if you hate it, not like the author writes the canon arcs with your personal timeline in mind.