With the ever growing popularity of Anime, long running classics such as Dragonball, One Piece and Bleach continue to gain new viewers daily. The number of anime available is at such an all time high, it is nearly impossible to keep up, let alone catch up for those who have just entered the fandom. In an attempt to avoid the risk of spoilers, people are binge watching these anime with over a hundred episodes at an astounding rate. For many, this can be considered a wonderful thing. To find anime you love with such a large number of episodes should be a good thing, but what happens when that show is packed with fillers?
What are Filler Episodes?
Fillers are episodes that do not further plot in any way and are essentially thrown into an anime to lengthen the story. This is more common in long running anime such as Bleach or Naruto. These anime tend to have lengthy story arcs. Essentially skipping filler episodes would not take away a viewer's experience of an anime, but are they worth watching? This is one of the many long standing debates amongst fans, and there are negative and positive arguments in favor of both sides.
Reasons to Watch Filler Episodes
They Can Be Entertaining
As straightforward as it may sound, filler episodes can be entertaining. From my experience, fillers tend to be light hearted and humorous. This can paint typically hard and serious characters in a completely unexpected light, which in my opinion is sometimes worth watching. Getting to see your favorite character who’s usually fighting for their life or slashing up demons play an action packed game of baseball is pretty entertaining. When binge watching lengthy series, it is easy to lose interest in an arc. Depending on what specific story is playing out, you may need an episode to mix things up and brighten up your viewing experience. A filler is the perfect thing to do this as although they are usually unrelated to the story, they are often
entertaining to watch.
They Can Give Viewers a Break
When watching an anime with 100+ episodes nonstop, it is very easy to lose focus. Some story arcs might be a little too heavy to watch back to back, and I believe throwing in a filler every now and then can help alleviate some of these problems. It is very common for a filler episode to be thrown in not just at the end of an arc, but sometimes right in the middle. A filler will give viewers a chance to take a step back and process the possibly sad or stressful chunk of episodes they might have been ] watching for a week straight. Anime arcs can sometimes be pretty lengthy, sometimes lasting over 50 episodes. With this in mind, a comical filler thrown in the mix could be considered a good thing.
Reasons to Skip Filler Episodes
Fillers Are a Waste of Time
As many popular anime continue to release episodes on a weekly basis, new fans are having a hard time catching up partly because of the large number of filler episodes. An example of a show with an extreme amount of fillers is Naruto. The first part of Naruto has 220 episodes and 91 of those are filler. Essentially as this is nearly half of the show, a viewer could finish watching this in half the time if they were to skip the filler episodes. With so many different anime available, finding time to watch everything is important. Skipping these filler episodes could save viewers a huge amount of time giving them a chance to catch up on other shows on their watch list.
The Filler Episodes are Irrelevant
One of the main arguments on the side of skipping fillers is the simple fact that they have nothing to do with the main plot of the story. There are sometimes instances where you may learn something unexpected about a character or even just something interesting but this does not change the fact that these episodes are simply padding and have no actual purpose other than to stretch out the show. For those who are interested in strictly the story that derived from the manga, it makes no sense to watch the filler episodes. Although they can be fun and entertaining, they are essentially created to stretch the story and are not a part of the original source material. Some would call these episodes a waste of time but essentially the episodes are irrelevant.
Ultimately the choice of whether to watch the filler episodes or skip them remains up to the viewer. There are definitely pros and cons for each side of the argument, and I think it is safe to say fillers are not going anywhere anytime soon. For those who decide to skip over these added episodes, there are sites available that provide a full list of filler episodes to help viewers know exactly which to skip including Anime Filler List and Anime Filler Guide just to name a few. For those who enjoy the extra padding thrown into the mix and watch every single filler, enjoy the journey and appreciate the laughs.
