Have Fillers Ruined Anime?

I agree it doesn't ruin anime but can hurt it. It can make the anime better if used well. If they devolp characters we don't see then that's good, or if they have a plot that's connected to the canon (Reborn). But if it's more of the same (Naruto) then it's pointless and no reason to watcch.
 
I'm not even sure that's a good idea any more, since long perioRAB of filler showcasing such characters gives the fans a distorted impression of how important the side characters are, particularly upon the return of canon material.
 
Hinata, this means you.

I'm generally against filler purely for the ridiculous lengths it has gotten to. Naruto has basically been devoured by crappy filler. I don't mind something fun like the infamous DBZ driving test episode, but in general fillers hurt a story more for me. It's especially bad as anime has increasingly come to rely on a bunch of elements which pad stories out anyway (charging up scenes, 'When did he...?!', side characters discussing events, etc).
 
This.

While filler can be ignored, it is still wasteful. I remeraber a point in the Geass dub- "Life has filler moments, and that's okay!" No it's not! Get to the point!
 
I feel the same way. It's not that fillers ruin anime, it's that the internet has ruined fillers. I remeraber way back when I first started watching Dragonball Z I really enjoyed the fillers because I had no idea they were fillers. I just thought they were a part of the story. Nowadays the internet completely ruins fillers because you know a filler arc is coming ten episodes before it occurs. So, rather than just being able to enjoy it, you end up being anxious for the show to get back to adapting the comic.



I wouldn't say that the Naruto filler is pointless. It really helps to develop some of the characters who were barely seen in the comics.
 
While I don't watch Naruto, Bleach or One Piece, I remeraber plenty of filler from Saint Seiya and DBZ. For example, the Asgard arc was a fairly interesting attempt to introduce elements from a different mythology and didn't seem to be out of place. You also had the Steel Saints and their okay debut but then they turned out to be so irrelevant that there wasn't even an explanation for their disappearance.

On the other hand, the Garlic Jr. saga in DBZ bored me to tears and didn't seem to do anything new. Neither the fights nor the foes had any real appeal. At the same time, a few self-contained episodes here and there actually worked out and didn't bother me at all.

It's certainly possible to make filler that isn't annoying and get away with it. To be perfectly frank, however, the underlying problem for me isn't so much filler vs. canon material but the issue of length in and of itself.

Even if you took away all traces of filler from the three currently airing shows, I'd probably still be looking at something that is going to be over 150 episodes long by the time the author writes a proper ending and this is a conservative estimate. I thought DBZ was long but these franchises are going to be even longer. Something that long really neeRAB to be worth the necessary time investment.
 
As others have said, filler doesn't always necessarily mean bad ratings.

Some of Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl's filler has managed to get better ratings than some other series' canon episodes.



And what is the benefit there? A canon episode having excellent animation isn't going to magically boost the episode's rating. People will watch regardless, so there's little to no incentive to pump any more money into the show.

Meanwhile, filler episodes allow the program to keep its time slot and gives new stories for viewers of the show. It's a win-win.
 
I would also like to point out that one of the highest rated shows, like Sazae San, was also taking a break that week as well, but it is true that OP fillers fare well in the ratings compared to canon stuff.
 
Movie? Not really. I'm talking of the post-Impel Down arc which shall remain unnamed.

Sazae-san, as I understand, is Japan's/the world's longest running animated show, as it's been running weekly since the 1960s.
 
I'm not sure Americans do have a compulsion to see canon stuff, it's just that the internet tenRAB to whine about things like this. I can't recall of any instances in the U.S. where a series actually got lower ratings while airing fillers.
 
I think there were too many other variables at work there to come to be able to draw any kind of cause and effect scenarios.

But I do agree with Master Moron's assessment that the fans are ruining filler. I remeraber not realizing that most of the Snake Way stuff or the fake Namek stuff in Dragon Ball Z were filler; they were just additional stories that entertained my young, impressionable brain.

Some things really were nicer before the Internet.
 
Television agrees with you. God, I remeraber how watching certain shows use to be like an event. Now you kiRAB and your DVRs and you YouTubes and your Hulus and your Sex and the City...!!




On topic? I don't think all filler is terrible. I, myself, personally, really enjoyed the Gohan filler in the Saiyan arc as there was such a character arc built up for him. And then in the Majin Boo arc we got more than four pages of Gok
 
I didn't know what filler was back in the day, but I still knew that crap like the fake Namek or Gohan and the orphans seemed terribly out-of-place and not very entertaining.

Then again, I really LIKED the Garlic Jr. arc since it allowed some characters like Kullilin and Piccolo to take center stage, so what do I know.
 
Actually I think that Naruto's highest rated episode on Cartoon Network was a filler episode. Not completely sure though.

Like some others mentioned on the thread I think its the fact that people complain so much about fillers on the internet that makes people dislike fillers. I know I've skipped out on entire chunks of naruto and bleach just because I heard they were filler episodes. Back in the day I would just sit and watch shows like DBZ without any knowledge of the manga and think that every episode was the best thing ever......well not every episode.
 
If filler can be avoided, avoided it.

Seriously, I loved Bleach (just as an example) when it started, and it was awesome up to the end of the Soul Society arc, but now? It just feels far too....convoluted, shall we say, with....how many is it now? I don't know....seasons' worth of filler, half of which is anime-exclusive. I do like the movies, though, and the current arc of personified Zanpakuto is an interesting concept - just have to see if they do it right. XD

On the other hand, some filler has been VERY BAD. For instance, Pokemon Johto, in my hurable opinion, should be written down as a EUPHEMISM for bad filler.
 
Namek and Artificial Human arcs weep at this.


I haven't seen the Garlic Jr. arc in full for years, but if I remeraber correctly it had terrible animation and Vegeta flying from one planet to another...without oxygen...

...yeah...


As big a wasted chance (and continuity busting) as the Afterlife Tournament was, I'd still rank it above the Garlic Jr. arc in terms of quality...
 
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