FILLER ARCS - Terrible Writing Advice

[@ChessedGamon]

Filler arcs can actually be really emotionally impactful if you consider the existential crisis you get after sitting through the 13th consecutive filler episode in a row and starting to wonder what you could've done with all that time

[@pn2294]

Absolutely nothing would’ve happened. That’s why they filled it in the first place.

[@jimmykedge6650]

I feel like the best example of this is once again.. avatar It has an episode that's just the cast hanging around ba sing say, and it was great

[@starmaker75]

Something something one piece and the endless 8 something

[@Eric6761]

@@jimmykedge6650 Avatar uses filler to actually enhance characters

[@Hanmacx]

I remember Naruto having Filler Arc between Filler Arc's

[@PEPERSTEAK]

So glad that JP was able to buy a chair and desk, can't imagine how tired his legs are from standing all the time.

[@johnynoway9127]

as someone whose job is to sit for 8 hours.... trust me its not a blessing.

[@chimaeraarts]

@@johnynoway9127 yeah, I fear working in offices is mostly sitting down, Im glad I have a part of my job where I can stand a few hours

[@dimamatat5548]

He has a bed at least.

[@RacingSnails64]

LOL

[@johnynoway9127]

@@chimaeraarts i can too just.. my job is weird.... Im usually not needed but its one of those jobs where you never know when youre needed so you are on guard lol (usually end up sleeping untill someone opens the door and asks for something lol)

[@GinHindew110]

What annoys me the most, is the amount of people who cannot understand the difference between *FILLER* and *DOWNTIME* FILLER is stuff thats there to extend the runtime DOWNTIME is stuff where no big action or development happens, and instead we focus on people being people, the development of small stuff, unwinding, dealing with the aftermath of other events, delving into the personal stuff that characters have beyond the direction of the main plot FILLER can be DOWNTIME, but DOWNTIME is not FILLER

[@footlong7980]

You put it the right way honestly

[@SamnissArandeen]

The most frustrating thing about my favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica, was that over time the downtime quickly *became* filler. Entire arcs where the Galactica was out of action or the fleet was waiting around or preparing for the next jump, and we got to focus on the Fleet's issues and the struggles of humanity, were often just as much of a draw as the actual battles with Cylons! ...for the first two seasons. Then we needed to kill episodes between New Caprica and Crossroads, leading to some of the more useless boring time waster episodes in the show's run.

[@Sarahbryson321]

I misread filler as expand the universe

[@personalover249]

Avatar the Last Airbender did this great in my opinion, but then again that show did everything great.

[@Pen_Slinger]

This was very helpful and lifted some concerns off my mind. Thanks.

[@henriquefinger935]

"Oh boy, that new power the hero got sure is nifty, I wonder how it will be used in the following arcs."

[@pn2294]

It gets used. Just in other filler arcs.

[@henriquefinger935]

@@pn2294 now that's big brain.

[@Onewingerdraven]

Jeez, that's sure a lot of dishes I have to wash. Well, here goes nothing. RASENGAN

[@chimp4225]

This video literally describes your average Steven Universe episode

[@thefriendlyallay]

@She - Sucks the bots are alive!?

[@NinjaMan47]

The Bleach Anime blew my tiny little mind whenever their Filler arc characters were just chilling in the background sometimes. It's like they were extras who just never left the set.

[@gabrielandradeferraz386]

I actually expected him to cut to a beach episode mid video

[@Vivi-yw1eu]

yea it was so annoying they left in the Bount arc characters for so long, I'm glad they never attempted integrating filler into canon runs again

[@aaclovern9804]

I wouldn't mind seeing zabimaru(s) back again xD they were good

[@rifter0x0000]

@@Vivi-yw1eu Bounts were the most annoying insertion of anime but the worst thing indeed was how they suddenly became important to the main plot. They're also an example of original characters (that is anime only rather than created by the original manga writers) are often OP and somehow more important than the main villains. DBZ did this too but in movies.

[@michaeltaylor8698]

I'm actually watching through Bleach for the first time right now and I've been skipping some (but not all of the filler). I skipped the bount arc and was really confused why there were suddenly 3 new doll characters hanging out with Kon. They even show up in the OPs for the next few seasons. Still haven't got a clue who they are. I'm now around episode 300 and they just disappeared from the show and I can't even remember when it happened.

[@LendriMujina]

Most filler arcs in anime are because of a problem with Japanese broadcast law. If there's isn't a new episode, you lose your time slot and your show gets cancelled before you get a chance to wrap up your story. And it's not like they *can* set up something with serious stakes - not because they don't care, but because doing something that could affect the status quo could have serious ramifications for the setting and potentially cause a major continuity snarl when the manga picks back up again. A meta time paradox for that universe of sorts. Gintama has a segment explaining/joking about why stalling things with filler is a risky but necessary thing to do.

[@Shrek_es_mi_pastor]

Why can't they *start* making the anime at a time where you could be almost sure there's no filler? It always seems to be a problem with making them too soon

[@LendriMujina]

@@Shrek_es_mi_pastor Very few franchises get that luxury, even in the West. They have to strike the market while interest in the series is at its peak. Otherwise people just... don't care as much. (For a Western example, the Harry Potter movies were made more or less concurrently with the books. They would have been received very differently had they been made after Potter-mania had waned.) There are rare exceptions where enough demand for an adaptation comes long after the original work has concluded, but those _are_ rare exceptions. JJBA is one of these exceptions, but even then, even when they waited 25 years to adapt it, the anime catching up to the manga is a very real possibility because that's how much faster an anime has to be released.

[@Jose04537]

@@LendriMujina Making a Seasonal Anime would solve the mayority of those problems. Starting an anime or a serie with an unfinished work is very risky, a potential disaster even, look at Game of Thrones.

[@nunyabiznes33]

@@Jose04537 Yeah GOT is the best example of this. GRRM is probably gonna die before he finish it. But I guess one of the problems is they cut some material that they could have used to extend the show while waiting for more material. Plus HBO wanted 2 more seasons but D&D wanted to rush things to move on to Star Wars, which they then lost coz of how they botched S8.

[@Shrek_es_mi_pastor]

@@LendriMujina I see

[@planetbob6703]

Don’t forget that flashbacks are also great for the budget. Put a grey filter on some old scenes (if you even bother to do that) and you can recycle an entire arc into existence!

[@Frendlu]

Or just make an flashback about why the heros are fighting in Enies Lobby. I'm pretty sure that a lot of fans gonna enjoy this 2 chapters recap more than just, watching the continuation of this story.

[@bonkorbebonked]

sepia filter is also sometimes applicable

[@racool911]

Hell, even throw in some flashbacks into non filler episodes if you wanna pad out the runtime

[@613aristocrat]

Lost. Fringe. Etc.

[@KPX01]

or just reuse most of the asset like endless 8....

[@ricardoludwig4787]

The tragic thing is that things labeled as "filler" can be some of the best material of a series. Give the characters some time to unwind and actually process some of their emotions on what's going on, or just let then do something fun and weird that can't turn into a bigger arc. Show how the red light district on the magic town is, have the characters complain about actually cleaning their ship, show their routine in more detail or through a different lens, so much that could be done to at least strengthen characterization of a character or world even if it's technically nothing plot essential

[@RacingSnails64]

Agreed!! It can be really good for your characters if you do it right. Use that time and put it to work.

[@lordanubis1458]

Shōnen Anime would especially benefit from this type of filler as most series tend to be "GO! GO! GO!" with their plots, which isn't necessarily a bad thing by itself, but could leave characters, settings and major plot points feel rushed and underdeveloped as a consequence. "My Hero Academia" is a positive example as Horikoshi manages to balance villain-centric plots with more slice-of-life stories, while on the opposite end there's "Bleach", which combined with Kubo's bad habit of introducing, more often than not, entire groups of characters in a single volume (the arcs can get pretty long, yo), often leaves me thinking "wait, who are you again?" when they're re-introduced in the story. I guess that's a consequence of Shueisha's "Fly or Die" mentality on new WSJ manga...

[@justbrowsing9697]

Putting extraordinary characters in relatively mundane situations, seeing them decompress and get downtime? Honestly some of the most beloved episodes can come from that. Just further exploring and expanding on a character is enough for many people

[@lordanubis1458]

@@justbrowsing9697 Kinda like when Ace temporarily joined the Straw Hats during Alabasta or how the anime expands upon Loguetown.

[@vanquese8947]

but it's filler, non Canon and has no bearing on the plot

[@NinjaMan47]

For Bonus Points: First skip significant portions of the original story and then kill time on brand new Filler material of vastly inferior quality.

[@laurocoman]

And then end the season/entire franchise all out of the sudden so that you have almost as many filler as non-filler episodes.

[@TheSpeep]

Ah, the Promised Neverland method, big fan.

[@manicpixiefangirl4189]

Heck, just make an entire show with that! *stares at Amazon’s Rings of Power subtlety*

[@scorpixel1866]

@@manicpixiefangirl4189 What do you mean you don't want to watch Hobbit Erectuses eat raw slugs while watching paint dry for two hours straight?

[@RacingSnails64]

LMAO oh that's so horrible

[@starwarsnewsandmemes8289]

"We need a filler arc." "Hey, you know how we had some throwaway lines of backstory in an earlier arc, and thought it would be interesting to have an arc based on the consequences of that if we have a few episodes of creative freedom without consequences?" "Yeah." "I thought about it, and it's too hard to think of how to resolve it. Let's do something else."

[@floricel_112]

My "favorite" type of filler arcs are those that constantly, and I mean *constantly* , interrupt the main story of the arc every few episodes. I just "love it so much" when we're in the middle of a goddamn war, the main antagonist has nearly killed the heroes, only to have that interrupted to focus on the exam session the side characters went through *before the start of the series*

[@SennaHawx]

I especially love it when the fillers continue to happen, even though the original work that the series is based on, has been completed

[@ASmartNameForMe]

You're thinking of Naruto aren't you?

[@floricel_112]

@@ASmartNameForMe yup

[@majorblitz3846]

Translation: "For fuck sake filler episode, read the atmosphere you asshole!"

[@Mrhellslayerz]

@@ASmartNameForMe I'm actually on that arc now. Naruto's dying and it's a really tense moment. But nah, let's focus on how the exams went in the desert! That's still relevant to the war, right!?

[@4dimensionalcat]

the fact that jp is doing a filler arc video and his videos are usually examples of their topics means something really good is coming up and he just needs more time also tf2 reference

[@ulaznar]

pootis

[@mobi4482]

@@ulaznar pootis

[@alex.g7317]

Omg ever since I started playing tf2 everyone is referencing it. It’s like they play it everyday now!

[@alex.g7317]

I don't get the reference tho

[@blacksun3185]

@@alex.g7317 honestly feel the same way. It's pretty wild

[@thebaldcat6708]

For anime, filler arcs are a way to stall for time so that the Manga can release new issues and the anime can animate them. (This only ever happens if the anime catches up to the manga) For western/European cartoons, filler arcs don’t happen, there are filler episodes which are the lighthearted fun episodes to ease up the tension of the main plot Or They exist for filling space. You have 12 episodes of content but the studio ordered 20, so make 8 filler episodes.

[@DeathDealer_1021]

"They exist for filling space. You have 12 episodes of content but the studio ordered 20, so make 8 filler episodes." well someone just stole a line from lily orchard

[@viewer-of-content]

Both you and JP forgot the most notorious Filler episodes... Quick wardrobe swaps so the Wifus of Anime can have a cannon bikini, sleepwear, and panty alternative wardrobe. Or the Collectible action figures/child dolls can have 10+ variant costumes for the toy line/gatcha game. Can you scream Pokemon cards, Transformers, body pillows, cosplay, legos, SpongeBob, G i Joe, My Little Pony, Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics, Creepy Comic book store figurines, and my Horder basement pile of junk collapsing and crushing me to death with collectibles? All shall be reviled when the plot goes nowhere, but we've introduced 200 new products. Who needs a catalog when we have cartoons, comics, games, tv shows, movies, or other media that has a captive audience to fatten with filler.

[@thebaldcat6708]

@@DeathDealer_1021 … Maybe

[@theTeslaFalcon]

In STNG, it was because they blew the budget on these CGI/SFx heavy episodes so a flashback episode only needs 2 stars to show up for filming which can be completed in 1 day.

[@DeathDealer_1021]

@@thebaldcat6708 eh don't worry, I was going to make a comment making fun of steven bombs that was also going to steal from her.

[@trinaq]

Some bottle episodes can work, if the acting and writers are skilled enough. Friends and Community had their best episodes take place all in one room, in my opinion.

[@alepenagorbe9135]

Blink from Doctor Who is the perfect example of that

[@pedroff_1]

Oh, that Communitt episode about Bottle Episodes. I swear Abed's metatextual commentary never tires me

[@tedioussugar384]

@@pedroff_1 Breaking Bard’s bottle episode was a great one too

[@gratefulcranegames]

Free Churro is a GOAT of a bottle episode

[@WARDEATHFUN]

This is true for all medias. He made sarcastic comments about filler quests, but honestly these can be great. We know we are being stalled, but if the game is good we almost prefer it if anything so we get more playtime. It's just an example of execution is more important than methodology. Mary Sues are fine, villains with no real motive and are cartoonishly evil are fine, fillers are fine, everything this channel rants about is honestly fine, just get good at making it work by compensating in other ways and using these things as a tool rather than a shoveled in bandaid to cover some void that shouldn't exist. While it would absolutely be better that these filler quests are actually just side quests and all side quests are just interesting ones that trigger events that changes the main storyline just subtly like characters referencing changes you caused or newer options being unlocked that impact the game or whatever, it's not necessary for people to enjoy them. Sometimes, even mail delivery missions can be great just because it gives players an excuse to explore and travel but be rewarded to do it; the issue is you need to make sure it's enjoyable such as making sure sight seeing is nice, perhaps random events are exciting, perhaps the rewards both from in game and meta personal satisfaction are fulfilled such as cool items, essential character interactions evolving to develop helpful networks, and learning great and fascinating lore. Otherwise, you'll develop a mission that's stupid like Runescape's shit mail delivery mission that's a lame excuse to travel the city that neither fulfilled its goal or made players feel the game is worth playing. As far as "filler quests" goes, I immediately think of the Grand Theft Auto series which is full of them. Some missions do not have any direct impact on the storyline, they just happened. These missions do not impact the story, do not do anything to the game, they do not get referenced, and they could be removed and nothing in the game is impacted. However, these same missions are enjoyable, so enjoyable in fact most players want more of them if anything. This is what happens when your gameplay is good, fillers are a good thing rather than bad even if all the "bad things" this video covers is present.

[@Wraithfighter]

For the record, a “Bottle” episode isn’t exactly filler. It’s an episode with a low budget, usually because some episodes elsewhere in the season need all of the money, and need to have a few budget-light episodes. So, you use existing sets, existing props, no major guest stars, nothing requiring a lot o feffects work… nothing new and nothing special. But it can absolutely be a key part of the main arc, because sometimes you can advance the main plot without sending any of the major characters to a new location or anything… Filler Arcs tend to be the antithesis of Bottle Episodes, in truth. You’re doing this whole big thing, usually with new settings, new characters, new lots-of-things. That isn’t a budget-conscious decision, it’s done because there’s other pragmatic reasons why you can’t make progress on the main plot fora while, so you need filler in order to buy time, either real-world or in-universe time, for things to happen so that you can get back to the main plot at some point in the future. The biggest problem I tend to have with filler plots is that… people obsess about hating them. A lot of filler episodes in shows are actually quite useful in the grand scheme of things, giving the audience a break during a very tense section of the show. Like, midst of the Dominion War in DS9, there’s an episode about how the main cast has to help a hologram keep his holographic bar… and its done that way because the 9 episodes that would follow it are a non-stop story arc leading to the series finale, high tension, high stakes, everything’s important, so they wanted one last fun episode before kicking things into overdrive. And in the age of streaming? Ye gods, anything that doesn’t immediately have a huge impact on the main plot is called a “Filler Episode” these days, and sneered at by idiots who don’t understand how tv series pacing is. It’s like every show has to be cut to the bone, nothing but super important episodes allowed, and it’s just tiring. Sometimes audiences need a fun break, and that’s when a good filler episode can really hit the spot…

[@switchplayer1016]

Streaming does mess with the pacing of shows. I can't imagine watching the X-Files and having characters blow off the existence of the paranormal every hour or so.

[@jeromealday614]

@@switchplayer1016yeah , tried watching Supernatural that way. got bored and moved on

[@Stephillpotten]

I'm also tired of filler episodes getting unnecessary hate. Don't get me wrong I've seen bad filler episodes. But I feel they often match the quality of the rest of the series more often than not. I've even quit a few shows when I realized I enjoyed and looked towards the filler more than the "main story".

[@boobah5643]

There's a difference, though, between 'breather' episodes which take you away from the main plot and/or tone of the series and 'filler' episodes which accomplish nothing beyond wasting the audience's time. An episode isn't 'filler' because it fails to advance the main plot; it's filler because it doesn't add anything to the story. Adding characterization (and character growth), back story, world building... there's lots of ways to add to the story without advancing the main plot. The best thing about filler episodes, though, is that that means the filler is, to a degree, quarantined. You can just pretend the episode doesn't exist on later viewings. As opposed to many modern shows for streaming where they stretch their three-hour 'series' across six episodes, stuffing filler content in and around the actual story to make up their runtime.

[@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist]

Like that Fly episode of Breaking Bad.

[@mariostoynov]

Well written filler arcs and episodes can be amazing, especially if they switch up the formula. You have a battle shonen anime? Throw in a couple of cooking related episodes to let the group's cook shine outside of battle and showcase their dedication to the craft. Make the doctor of the group display their selflessness and compassion by showing how they place saving the lives of complete strangers over their own safety. Show different members of the group interact outside of battles and tense situation, highlight the things they have in common and their differences to show why they get along or why they don't, mabye even let a character show a completely different side of themselves that couldn't be observed very well in a more ordinary episode.

[@pedroff_1]

Tales of Ba Sing Se is an amazing example of this. Of course, all stories but the last are pretty forgettable, but, damn, that last one makes this more impactful than many "actual story" episodes

[@kohaiame2691]

As much flak as naruto gets for it's filler I can actually remember some that were pretty emotional. The natuhiboshi arc or star village arc actually made me tear up toward the end, and sometimes I still look up that song and get emotional. Raiga and Ranmaru also reminded me so much of Haku and Zabuza so I got attached to them, and it was nice to see a somewhat lighter end than in the wave arc. Naruto also forgets about a lot of the side characters with most of the konoha 12 getting shafted so it's also nice to see them get to shine once in awhile.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

No, no! This is "Terrible writing advice", you need filler? You must prolong the battles to ridiculous ends by any means. Flashbacks, interminable time limits and monologues.

[@TKG785]

Pretty much. The last thing any story needs is the constant shift from plot to plot. As seen with Korra. Love it, but that aspect is still a major flaw to me.

[@azurai3934]

One of my favourite instances of this is Dragon Ball Super Episode 43 where Goku is sick after the Universe 6 arc from SSBKK and Pan goes missing in the middle of it, aside from being a nice way to relax it also has something carry over from a previous arc. Plus it made Pan in Super a much better character after her poor showing in GT.

[@saffi_taffi]

If you're writing a filler arc, I ask of you just one thing: make it matter Show important aspects of the characters that aren't able to be shown in a plot heavy setting, set up future conflicts, introduce characters that will be important later. Develop your characters personalities, have them figure out a new power that they were only able to unlock due to everything being so chill. Show the dynamics between the main characters and develop them. At least provide a believable reason in the context of the show that everything has halted, please at least do that.

[@uanime1]

The problem is that if you're making a filler arc based on an existing story you can't make it matter without screwing up this story. For example once a character has a new power you have to explain why they didn't use it, so you can't have them unlock it the not use it after that point. Setting up future conflicts is also difficult because they often don't mesh well with the current story. For example in Dragon Ball during the Red Ribbon arc you could have Pilaf look for the rice cooker Picolo is sealed in but that would detract from the current arc. Developing the characters can work but can create problems if the character dynamic changes during the filler, then has to change back to the current dynamic in the story.

[@willofthewinds3222]

@@uanime1 You can make it matter without screwing up the story. There's other ways to build on the story without giving them new powers, like utilizing the themes of a story in more minor ways such as the day-to-day, build on relationships that are rarely expanded on in the story, etc.

[@saffi_taffi]

@@uanime1 then exercise the dynamics between all the characters and how they work in a chill setting, establishing to your audience how they view each other and stuff. Character dynamics can be different based on the setting so that wouldn’t be a problem for going back to the status quo

[@justbrowsing9697]

It's almost like people enjoy exploring a character in depth, under different situations and circumstances 🤔

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

@@uanime1 i would say a good example of decent filler would be in yugioh- specifically the first virtual world arc (not the one with noah) and the rebecca hawkins one off episode. The first virtual world arc follows up on the big 5 of kaiba corp as well as kaiba's relationship with his brother mokuba. The big 5 are minor villains that in the manga just kind of stop being relevant after duelist kingdom, so this gives them a bit more to do other than being throw away evil businessmen (the noah arc does this too but the noah arc has the issue of being placed in the middle of a canon arc's climax). The virtual world arc also gives mai some more screentime and makes her useful in the plot. Something that is desperately needed. On top of everything, the virtual world arc also is placed in a sort of "down time" portion of the plot where you have a lot of one off stories and set up for the next canon arc, so it doesn't feel out of place any while also being a nice change of pace. The rebecca hawkins one off is also slot in around here. Her and her grandfather are based on characters that go unnamed in the manga and the 2 parter she's in takes a bit of backstory regarding how yugi's grandpa got his copy of blue eyes white dragon, and expands it into a fully fleshed out backstory that also expands the world building. Rebecca also isn't wasted as she returns in more prominent roles in later filler, albeit those later filler arcs aren't great. Overall, both examples of filler feel as if they jumped straight out of the manga even though they're anime originals. They don't have any awkward story placement issues nor do the characters forget them after they've concluded, and are natural expansions of the original material as they use concepts and characters from the source material and fleshes them out immensely.

[@MGDrzyzga]

Pitch for a twist on the filler arc: Do the country or continent that just pops up out of nowhere for the filler and vanishes afterward. But then start dropping hints that something isn't right. Build up to the twist that this was an actual blip in the fabric of reality. A whole country's existence was some sort of Mandella effect.

[@Newfiecat]

That's an AMAZING idea. Why can't filler arcs be creative like this? I really want to see this idea now! I love the idea that filler arcs could have their own continuity, like maybe there could be a filler villain who has the power to either make people forget things or to rewrite reality, so the characters don't remember the filler arc and the arc's events don't impact the main plot. But during each filler arc, the villain returns, and it's a whole seperate storyline that finally ends in a filler movie (airing after the series finale) where they defeat the filler villain once and for all. Or something. There's gotta be a better way to deal with filler episodes than: "And they never speak of this particular adventure/country/villain/whatever filler content again... for reasons."

[@tobysinbad]

Star Trek Next Gen did this a few times

[@matthewbergman6803]

Clone Wars essentially did this.

[@zappodude7591]

@@Newfiecat Basically Stargate: Continuum

[@taipeijoey101]

Gumball did this with a character

[@RacingSnails64]

"Coasting by on momentum." Ugh, that's so true. Avatar: TLA has this special quality where even its filler-feeling episodes usually have scenes showing what Zuko and Iroh (the initial antagonists) are up to, or bring up genuine emotional points that flesh out the characters more and make them more three-dimensional, like the Tales of Ba Sing Se episode showing Toph grappling with not being "girly" enough, or Zuko nearly getting a girlfriend but retracting from her at the last minute, or Iroh mourning his late son. Even in my old fanfiction, even in my humdrum feel-good "fluff" I usually ended up having a small emotional conflict that gets resolved, like a character being embarrassed about something or learning to take breaks. Something small but cozy that fleshes out the characters in question. Y'know, the basic writing principle of conflict being the heart of an engaging story. Leave off with a little moral, even.

[@Xo-3130]

Thats not really Filler. American animation never suffers that issue.

[@Aredel]

@@Xo-3130 It definitely can suffer from that issue. A lot of cartoons and animated series suffer from bad filler. It's just that Avatar is paced so perfectly that there's rarely any actual "filler", and when there is, it can sometimes outclass some of the major plot episodes. Let's be real here. None of us will ever forget "Leaves From the Vines". Not even on our death beds.

[@owlismyfavouritecolorflame2325]

"This is such bad writing, I am such a better writer" 😂😂😂😮😮😮😢😢😢🥵🥵🥵🥶🥶🥶💀

[@sebastianfranasovic7005]

I love how this episode refers to filler arcs often having a big drop in quality, yet JP goes out of his way to upgrade his visuals and make his character more expressive while moving his arms and changing the posture of his back mid sentence.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Avatar The Last Airbender's 'Ember Island Show' is one of the best filler/recap episodes ever created. It gets the audience up to speed on what happened over three years of episodes/seasons and is a nice break with some intimate character moments before the climatic multi-episode long final showdown with the Big Bad (Fire Lord Ozi). Can you please do a video on video game adaptations next?

[@a.p907]

Not to mention, because the episode is framed as a Fire Nation propaganda play about their lives it goes over what people in the Fire Nation (and other enemies) think of them. And how the ending reminds everyone in and out of universe what's at stake *chief's kiss*

[@WARDEATHFUN]

That show had a handful of filler moments that were welcomed. Some of the show that could be called filler would even be utilized as an excuse to introduce a tad bit of lore not needed to get to know the universe. The Beach is an example of this where the whole episode was pretty much unnecessary and yet has one of the most memorable scenes in it, specifically Azula talking about her childhood. In spite the episode being unnecessary, it was enjoyable and was used as a tool to shoe in lore that otherwise wouldn't fit in the series anywhere else.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Yeah. After "The great divide" is certainly good to have good filler.

[@boobah5643]

"The Ember Island Players" isn't filler. It's a breather episode with some character moments and world building.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@boobah5643 I did put 'recap' on my comment too, since it's technically a recap episode

[@WikiHL]

If this whole video was nothing but filler without any explanation at all, it would be peak content

[@thecultofcaged]

It would be funny if he was talking like Kamala Harris just saying so much shit but not actually making a point I feel like that woman is a living thesaurus

[@BagelBoyboss]

I agree with this message, and by the ways, F I L L E R ! Oranges are apples. We can solve this paradox by multiplying π by 26, which equals purple! But wait, we have a new problem! DoveWing from Warrior Cats' marriage is on the ROCKS! What shall we do? Simple! Arson! (Continue?)

[@wolfgod6443]

I remember Bleach had a filler arc about sword spirits. Most characters always had one in "lore" but we barely ever saw them. Suddenly, filler showed ALL OF THEM and it actually worked out really well, some of those spirits even became canon. I think the most dangerous filler to make, but also the most rewarding, is when it covers ideas or lore that we know exists in the canon but isn't really explored at all. The problem, obviously, is if the original creator decides for no apparent reason to bring those same ideas back but with his own version, wasting your efforts and confusing fans.

[@Okada_Caelun]

Filler, by it's nature, cannot change the status quo. Expecially in situations when an adaptation passes it's source material, and is padding until the author catches up. Thus, the best idea for filler would be to expand and flush out existing things. Do some worldbuilding, show how characters who don't get a lot of screentime together get along, maybe have the maib character practicing to become familiar with using the technique he just learned. Take what would be done off-screen and do it on-screen.

[@Jose04537]

The worst is when the anime cuts things, specifically foreshadowing, that would be important for the story in the future or to explain stuff so it makes sense. And then they complain they have to do filler because they ran out of source material 🤦

[@prinnynaito]

D.Gray-man had a really good filler arc working with the background of one character that was unceremoniously killed on the manga

[@jasonreed7522]

Naruto for all its filler has 1 filler arc thats genuinely good. The arc at the beginning of season 2 of Shippuden with the fire temple makes you care about Asuma and generally like him, and then in the next arc with the immortal dude Asuma gets killed and without that filler arc it would have been less impactful. But generally the show suffers for all the filler because it is either nothing content, recaps, or worst of all genuinely good character development that gets forgotten to maintain parity with the manga.

[@princesscrystal6410]

If I was in charge of a show I would make a filler arc do a meanwhile sorta deal and focus on characters we left behind and the aftermath of our hero’s actions in places

[@JustAFewTurtles]

Filler arcs honestly can be good, but if you’re making one, you have to be very careful with what you do. Everything has to be just about right in order for the filler to fit in nicely with the actual canon story.

[@Pm3m_Dia]

That takes effort and defeats the purpose of the filler. Which means that no matter what a filler is bad and the more consequtive filler the worse it gets.

[@willofthewinds3222]

And watch people still shit on it because "filler" is automatically crap and can always be safely skipped by chortling neckbeards slathering on and on about canon.

[@aiiiia9971]

I disagree a bit, because filler also gives an opportunity to bend canon or to escape the weight and continuity of the main plot. Which can actually be made into an advantage

[@jasonreed7522]

I tend to describe filler as existing on a quality spectrum ranging from "it's not manga REEEE!!!!" to "genuine filler" with "recap" being between the two. The video got it wrong in that filler ≠ bottle episode, the point of filler is to delay in time until the source material catches up or to avoid an irl holiday or other event (like the superbowl, or grammies) where as a bottle episode is just saving the budget for better special effects in a later episode. (So you reuse sets, props, ect and have no guests) Basically some arcs are genuinely well written and without a list to tell you which arcs are from the manga you would never know, and these can be great but are defined by being forgotten bc the manga didn't have them and the show can't risk changing away from the manga's plot. Then you have the recap episode which is super obvious but is tollerable in certain situations like the start of a season or right before the season finale, but only if the show has weekly releases. (If its made for streaming you have to assume it's getting binged and the audience remember everything because they litterally watched it that morning) And finally at the bottom is genuine filler, its obvious, its boring, it doesn't even pretend to have character development just picture a "hot springs episode" from Naruto. (The show actually has all of the above, but its irritating that the second half of the first series and a shocking number of arcs in Shippuden are filler forgotten by the show they are in. And some are retrospectively just their to make you care about a character who's going to die in the next manga cannon arc, like Asuma who by the end of the arc with the fire temple was really likable, and then he showed up immediately im the next arc and died, which is probably as much impact as filler can have on a story, add a bit more appeal to characters so you like them more.)

[@mellmellody]

It's done correctly sometimes. One Piece fillers are hit or miss in my experience but they tend to usually be pretty good (I love G8). I remembering disliking all the filler arcs in Bleach except for the Zanpakuto arc, and HXH (1999 ver) has amazing fillers that make the series much better imo.

[@trinaq]

One type of filler arc I hate is the Romantic Plot Tumour. That's when a love story eclipses the more interesting action story, as exhibited in Pearl Harbour or The Hobbit movies.

[@ryannathaniel9296]

The love triangle in The Hobbit shouldn't have been there in the first place

[@dakat5131]

Ugh yes. I'm not sure if that counts as a filler arc but it's definitely something I dislike in movies. "The whole world will be destroyed, but that's nothing compared to this love triangle!" It doesn't make the romance better, it just makes everything else a limp, underwhelming background.

[@ryannathaniel9296]

@@dakat5131 Yeah. It would be so much better if Tauriel was repurposed only to be as someone to challenge Thranduil's unwillingness to help the dwarves in particular (and the outside world in general), instead of creating her primarily for a pointless love triangle (we already know that Legolas wouldn't get together with her eventually, which removed most of it's already-contrived tension)

[@conradojavier7547]

THE Hobbit supposed to be about Bilbo & the 13 Other Main Character wanting to get that Dragon Out of their Home.

[@smajet5640]

There was a romantic episode of Star Trek: TNG that I absolutely hated.

[@redundantfridge9764]

Then you get the rare occasion where a filler arc gets utilized to emphasize the power of a villain. A fictional character so powerful that he affected people in real life. An infinite filler. Truly a diabolical and powerful character.

[@NIkonEX-]

Madara was so powerful that he gave us 6 months of filler just cause

[@sxwriter8569]

A guide on how to do filler good: 1. Take ideas or concepts the original creators (or if that's you) didn't have time for in the main series and find a good place in the story where that could be fit in. 2. Use some underused characters in the story to flesh them out or give them development (i.e. some of the Jinchuriki ala Fu and Utakata got something in filler addressed latter) 3. Explore some settings and locations the canon only gave vague details about and had no time for. 4. If your series is still ongoing, use the adaptation to help build up or set up something for later so that it doesn't feel out of place and properly immigrate it into the story. 5. Use it to add to arcs instead of wasting time. If two characters are having friction because of one's animosity towards another, do a two-three episode arc where the other character shows them up in an intense situation and further the divide between them that adds more fuel to the conflict. 6. Establish some side character's growth if the main characters are overshadowing literally everyone else.

[@frankwest5388]

Reminds me of what I think is best filler arc has to be G7 from One piece. One thing that makes it work, is that the concept for the transition from normal storyline to filler was done genially. Basically the last arc ended, with our heros parachuting down from the sky in their pirate ship into the vast ocean. So, the writers for the filler used that cut off point and added in a simple question. “What if our main characters were trapped in an enemy base with seemingly no way out?” Which allowed them to slightly change the ending of the last arc’s cannon and have the Strawhats land in the middle of an army base. This feels like a logical and comedic way to continue the story and allowed us to see some character interactions that otherwise we never get to see in the normal storyline because there just isn’t time for that. Like another rare chance to see Sanji’s compulsive need to feed people and not waste food or two of the most tricky Strawhats trying to impersonate high ranking Navy personnel, one failing to do so due to a lack of understanding of the Navy structure and the other succeeding due to her history of a spy. It even has one of the best jokes in the series, where two of the captured Strawhats, help the one undercover by claiming that the person, who’s identity she stole, was actually a pirate as well.

[@lordanubis1458]

@@frankwest5388 **Sees "G-7"** Dude, it's not Tuesday!

[@hexnight]

make the filler arcs about 20x the length of the other arcs and have the characters do literally nothing aside from standing & staring at the camera blankly

[@cornesalvo9366]

We know that filler arcs are bad, but... standing and staring at the camera blankly?? This is overblowing it. It never happened and you never saw it. Frankly, characters staring dead straight at the camera doing and saying nothing for minutes would honestly just be creepy.

[@hexnight]

@@cornesalvo9366 exactly why it's terrible writing advice haha

[@hexnight]

@Rick and Morty clip go away bot

[@richardgibson8403]

@@cornesalvo9366 lost episode mfers be like: ¡_¡

[@Newfiecat]

@@cornesalvo9366 I have actually seen this in anime. Except the characters aren't staring at the camera, but it's something like two enemies facing off staring at each other wordlessly.... back and forth... loooooong shot of the protagonist glaring... loooooong shot of the villain glaring... no one moving or saying anything... And then several loooooong shots of various side character bystanders looking worriedly at the protagonist and the villain... then another shot of the protagonist glaring... for what feels like a freaking eternity. I swear there's an episode of Naruto where MOST of the episode is Naruto and Sasuke staring at each other.

[@stevemc01]

Most common filler arc we see in modern media: "But before we continue, I would like to present this video's sponsor: [obligatory company]"

[@cornesalvo9366]

Yeah because who NEEDS money to pay their bills, right?

[@berto17]

@@cornesalvo9366 why steal precious seconds of my life that i take to skip the sponsored section when you can just walk up to the closest tree and grab a ripe dollar bill? thats where money comes from, right?

[@josecarlosmoreno9731]

@@berto17 Money comes from flax and cotton plants.

[@asianjackass237]

Ironically, yes this IS by definition a filler arc. Due to Japanese law about losing your time slot and risk having your show canceled if you dont have an episode released in time, its important to the MAKER of the show, not us the audience, to make a filler episode if they are stuck for whatever reason (caught up with source of adaptation, some actors call in sick, etc...) So sponsored content IS the filler arc of KZbin. They are important to the creators life but not the viewers. Not that its a bad thing but it is technically correct

[@vistagreat9994]

@@josecarlosmoreno9731 The reply has been sent with good strength, honor, and sense. Praise has been bestowed upon you. I am very serious in this comment-reply

[@adnanhammaoui6814]

This video literally sums up every bleach and Naruto filler arc ever

[@JorneDeSmedt]

At the end of the beach episode/filler arc, the filler character/love interest who the main cast and audience has gotten somewhat attached to, finally alone is shown putting on some armour. But not just any armour. It's the main villain's armour. Nobody in the main cast, their own minion's, or the audience recognized them without them without the armour, or the voice changer. It's just filler, but don't forget your plot twist. "Why do you have this?" Might reference the filler episode at a later date with a picture they made together, showing up at the villain's inner sanctum.

[@Daniel-xm4mq]

I like "specials" that are entirely apart from the main series. For example, Murdoch Mysteries is a series set in the 1800s about a detective. All fairly realistic and fun, but they had an episode set apart from the main series where aliens invade and literally kill everybody.

[@meh.5645]

Bleach had possibly the worst handling of filler I've ever seen. After its first major story arc concluded, they had a 40-ish episode filler arc to pad out the time until they could continue adapting... but then afterwards they shoved *three whole filler characters* into the canon material! It becomes confusing for people who skipped the fillers and now have these three characters treated like they were always there, and annoying for people who didn't skip them and were already sick of those characters. On top of that it hurts the pacing considerably as canon scenes are stretched out with the forced intrusion of these losers. They were eventually just totally forgotten anyways so in the end it amounted to nothing.

[@sianais]

I never had a problem with filler arcs (when they were short) but Bleach frustrated me then angered me. I rather get nothing for years than nothing disguised as something.

[@toko90s9]

For filler episodes of anime, remember the single best thing you can do to save on budget; reuse clips made for this filler arc over and over again every other episode ad nauseum! There's nothing more my banking acc- the viewers love more than watching the same scene that's been brought up twenty times already!

[@dbsommers1]

I once created a police department that specialized in manga/anime crimes. There was the Filler Arc Buster Division, the Excessive Use of Flashbacks Division, and their Isekai Buster Division (since isekai rings abduct minors and use them as child labor with no regard towards safety regulations. ) Yes it was humor oriented.

[@Hanmacx]

Isekai Buster vs Truck-Kun

[@michaelpolinsky4611]

Where can we see this VERY needed manga/anime?

[@michaelpolinsky4611]

@@Hanmacx My Police Department in Another World

[@FainthedCherry]

Lnk to your story please??? :O

[@lordanubis1458]

If there's ever a "Roger Rabbit" inspired movie that uses anime characters rather than cartoon ones, this has to be one of the jokes there or you just lost yourself a ticket!

[@caswellweird]

I know this is a catch all for the concept of filler, but everything in this is so accurate to how bad Yugioh’s filler arc are that it felt like parody.

[@turcumircea5816]

Seal of orichalcos was pretty fun

[@guntherhermann4225]

I find a pretty good use for filler is to give a side character a day in the limelight by following them around their menial day to day life for a bit, give them some forgettable villain of the day to beat up and generally remind the audience that the character exists and not much else. Don't worry if you should happen to accidentally do something dumb like, give this character actual character growth, establish a new trait/ability that may potentially make them more useful in a later arc, or may Jesus forgive me for even suggesting this, potentially correct/give context to any character flaws that might have made this character unpopular with viewers, as filler arcs never have any bearing on the plot and the character can happily throw any growth in the trash can and return to the status quo once Protagonist-kun and his gaggle of morons and sex slaves (both in the metaphorical and possibly literal sense) are onscreen again.

[@ZannacrossG1]

Man...this screams someone who suffered all the filler in Naruto lol.

[@ScaryBaldMan]

I miss the days when TV shows had seasons of around 24 episodes. In those days a show had a chance to breathe and had a chance to explore different characters or story ideas without the crunch of having to rush through an arc.

[@hunterlawrence3573]

Disney+ shows really better listen to this

[@Newfiecat]

SO TRUE. Are the producers being stingy with resources or what? "Guess what? Instead of 24 episodes, you get to cram an entire season's worth of content into 8 episodes!" Animated shows especially seem to be suffering from this. Why are we only getting a measly 10 episodes (each only 11 minutes long) for shows like Infinity Train which have super interesting concepts that can be explored in hundreds of ways?

[@Jose04537]

@@Newfiecat I notice that. That's why adapting light novels is very popular now, because they are the perfect length for an (almost) self contained season of 12 episodes each.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

@@Newfiecat It's actually the complete opposite reason, funnily enough. Basically, the whole reason old TV shows were 22-24 episodes long in the past was because they had smaller budgets. You built a big series of sets and then you used those sets for 50% + of every episode, building new specific sets (or finding new locations on shows that shot on location) for specific episodes. And with SFX, you tried to be as economical as possible and save as much budget for it as possible for the big episodes - season premiere, season finale, sweeps week, specials - and rely on the already built stuff for the bulk of the episodes. The main thing was that a TV show had a MUCH smaller budget than a film and the creatives on the show had to figure out to stretch that budget as much as possible whenever possible. This led to a style where they would get actually creative in a broader sense, and it's what's led to stuff like bottle episodes, where 90% + of the episode is using already existing pre-built sets, props, SFX etc. And a team that's aligned to that sort of creativity can usually end up producing more episodes more cheaply than one that's in a movie or serialized mindset. You can really notice this trend the further back you go in TV history. Because the older the show, the more likely it is that the episode count per season goes up and up and up while the re-use of sets and props etc goes higher and higher too. Old TV westerns for example, would have like, 40-50 episodes a season and re-use every set and costume for every danged episode, just coming up with new plots every week. Sitcoms were built around this principle, with many if not most re-using a very small number of the same sets every episode only very rarely spending any money on anything new (since those shows are mostly about coming up with funny ways for the characters to interact with each other and don't require lots of new locations, guest stars or SFX). But as time went forward, enterprising creators got more cinematic with their shows and tried to make them more film-like, and budgets expanded while episode counts dropped. Stuff like The X-Files being a perfect example of the transition, where it was more cinematic and film-like and had a shorter run per season than older shows from the 50's-80's, but not nearly as much as the modern streaming show, which might be 6-8 episodes a season but each episode has the budget of a decently budgeted cinematic experience.

[@jackson4672]

For using filler characters I like using what I called the "Shadow Method" after one of the FFVI optional characters. Introduce the character and have them frequently reappear and be of use, then have the filler character join alongside the protagonist when it reaches a filler arc.

[@erwinbogumil207]

2:01 you gravely forgot to mention that the movie version should ALWAYS scootch uncomfortably close to what the main plot was and there should always be a point when characers, who have canonically encountered this specific or these types of threat before, comment heavily on how this is a totally unknown, unforeseen threat. This is also a nice place to break the lore of the main piece and lower expectations by making fans think you forgot previous installments and spinoffs you declared canon.

[@TheInvisibleCanadia]

Hey, could you do an episode on writing child characters? Should we make them super geniuses? Functionally adults in a small body? Or total dummies who can't even understand things on their own grade-level? Should they have love interests? Should their seemingly simplistic interactions be allegorically representative of more serious issues faced by adults?

[@ligtningdog6399]

That's good idea for an episode.

[@Yummyumchan]

Especially in children's books we definitely make children as dumb as rocks. That will totally appeal to the audience.

[@Angela.Perkins]

Or they could just be obnoxious brats who do nothing but be rude to everyone and mess things up.

[@talithakoum3922]

Make sure the child protagonist is always right. All the good characters must love the protagonist and all the bad characters must hate him/her. The protagonist should always be the center of attention, and get gifts and accolades all the time despite doing nothing good or useful. This will give the children reading the book realistic expectations of what the world is like and how adults should treat them. It worked for Harry Potter! 🙄

[@vka4598]

My favorite “Filler” comes from Gintama. While wether or not it qualifies, that’s up for debate. There are story arcs that are separated by like 20 -40 episodes of comedy. And it works, Becuase both build up the characters, and especially the comedy episodes make us love the main cast, which makes all the actual action focuses arcs more impactful. Simply by sheer volume, after spending 357 episodes with the bunch of weirdos it almost felt like I was losing some friends when the movie finally came out

[@gratefulcranegames]

Dark Lord’s beach alt is something I never knew I needed til now

[@RynKen]

Defeating the villain that also happens to fix all of the destruction caused up until that point sure is handy; so much, in fact, that we will never speak of anything that happened here ever again. _Right!?_

[@bretttracy8564]

His animation is getting smoother, HIS POWERS ARE GROWING

[@tonyzed9123]

love the video! would like to throw out, though, that a bottle episode in american televesion is specifically an episode that takes place in one location, commonly used as filler or because of budget constraints. bottle episodes are not necessarily filler, and not all filler is a bottle episode.

[@cosmicspacething3474]

6:19 Damn, the filler arc was so filler that even the artist stopped caring about keeping a consistent style

[@dovakiin296]

For real though, I'd love to see a filler beach episode where the villain shows up and everyone has fun for a 30 minute segment ala WW1 Christmas.

[@ericwijaya2119]

We gamers already have that they're called spinoffs

[@byrdqamar36]

Filler movies are truly odd, how do go on a truly world changing adventure and pretend it's non-canon, like whats even the point?

[@atomic747]

It's even more annoying when the mc gets a new power from the non-canon movie and it never heard of after.

[@Newfiecat]

I can never watch non-canon movies, I just can't. There's no point to them. 😢

[@sirkillalot9892]

They are just there to get new fans/casuals through some pretty visuals.

[@Jose04537]

@@sirkillalot9892 That did wonders for demon slayer. It's movie is the current most successful anime movie of all time, debunking spirited away which held the title for 20 years. And with a budget of just 6 millions, that's impressive.

[@floricel_112]

@@Jose04537 the demon slayer movie isn't filler though. It's an adaptation of a canon arc

[@jamez6398]

I like when an episode seems like filler but then something devastating happens at the end of the episode that recontextualises the entire show up that point and changes up the formula going forwards. I may be mistaken, but I do believe there were some Better Call Saul episodes that did that, whereby the episode starts off inoccuously enough, and then ends up becoming extremely important either by the end of the episode or later on. Like, "Oh we have this cool filler episode whereby he goes back to his hometown and chills with his friend all episode, nice breather. Oh, his friend just died, breaking his spirit and starting him on his path towards darkness that will have ramifications for both Better Call Saul going forwards and for Breaking Bad that's come before, and is a foreshock to the darker tone later on in the series? Huh... Well then. Hey, this legal case against the nursing home seems like an interesting side plot. Oh, it turned out to have massive ramifications for the entire show, coming back to affect the plot when you least expect it to, even seasons later, and it leads to Jimmy finding out Chuck was stabbing him in the back all these years, causing Jimmy to get back at Chuck, precipitating Chuck's suicide and causing Jimmy to descend into darkness, immoral behaviour, and crime that eventually lands him in prison over the course of the next several seasons? Huh... Did not expect that."

[@pink-roses-and-scarlet-skies]

Unrelated, but JP should do a video on redemption arcs. I see a lot of shows mess those up.

[@kingsleycy3450]

Forget to mention how the filler characters’ art styles are completely inconsistent with the main series’ and the story doesn’t justify their power levels.

[@BlackfangDragon]

My favorite thing was when Naruto made filler arcs canon in its sequel Boruto, and you can’t ever be sure which ones are. Ninja Ostrich? Ninja turns himself into a Weretiger? All possibly canon now! Bleach referencing the first movie due to Ichigo going there once in the past and he was the only one whose memory wasn’t erased of said movie.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

I'm glad that straight-up recap episodes are rarely done in anime television series anymore. Back when shows were released one two-to-four episode tape or DVD at a time, I always felt cheated when I bought the latest volume and found out it had one (which seemed to be a regular occurrence, although most shows at least kept it to one per run instead of pulling a Wolf's Rain). Now studios tend to just admit they screwed up and delay the next episode's release, which I prefer as at least it's honest and only really affects the original airing.

[@SalsaSeth]

Fill my shelf with your book? I did that three years ago and I'm waiting for the sequel to fill more shelf space!

[@alexmason668]

This video is actually filled with a lot of filler moment. Well done.

[@kyrudo]

Someone please correct me if Im wrong, but I remember hearing long ago, that in Japan and Anime’s case. The second biggest reason for filler apart from the manga to get distance is that in Japan its a royal rumble brawl for prime time TV slots. So anime like Naruto that had prime time, if they left the time slot instead of doing filler would lose that time slot to another show and getting those back was really really hard. So instead anime would just make filler to guarantee they wouldnt lose that very important prime time slot.

[@thefanficdinosaur7621]

Yeah, but Naruto had literally 1/3 of its episodes as filler. It’s so bad that they have skip lists online.

[@sileikalaimonas]

Honestly, I enjoyed how Avatar TLA approached filler. They threw in a lot of world exploration and character development, especially for characters like Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. It made the conflicts that much more interesting.

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

We need to keep beating up the flashback joke as much as possible. All hail infinity flashbacks!

[@axios4702]

If you ask me, the secret to filler is allowing the audience to see your characters in different enviroments or situations than what we are used to. Perhaps your group of adventurers that are always in some dark, wet dungeon get to have a day off and you see more of their day to day lives, which humanizes them and shows there is more to their characters than adventuring and killing goblins. Maybe the protagonists of your horror story get to have a happy and peacefull day on which nobody dies horribly and it just feels nice to see them enjoying themselves instead of suffering. This also allows for character development that couldnt happen otherwise because everyone is too busy screaming and killing each other in the main story. Popular side characters can get more development and time to shine, on their own or with more interactions with the cast. You can make up an entire mini story happening on the side or background to have fun with a heist or some crazy shit and a new cast. Or you can say fuck it and make 2 demi gods with the power of flight learn how to drive. That was the best episode of Dragon Ball and I will die on that hill.

[@snowflowersuna]

Some of the only good filler episodes were “The Tales of Ba Sing Sei” from Avatar and the episode from Winx Club season two that focuses on Musa, her dreams, and her late mother.

[@secondBAR]

your art's seeming to be improving quite a lot, good job!

[@fenistereinc.5797]

One of the best filler arcs is Asgard Arc in Saint Seiya. They extend a lot some fights but doing it they explain in a pretty good way the story of every enemy making them very simpathetic.

[@carloshenriquezimmer7543]

Also the filler arc "The Sanbi" from Naruto Shippuden. It makes sense, given the main plot, and even beying self contained the "later dissapearing characters" and "new awesome powers, never to be used again" had reasons to be left behind explained.

[@Danahell]

Came to post this, honestly I even liked the Asgard saga more than the actual canonical follow up saga of Poseidon.

[@michaeltaylor8698]

For me, (good) filler presents an opportunity to flesh out popular characters that don't get a lot of screentime in the main story. For example Naruto and Bleach have amazing extended casts with fun characters, but if you watch only the main story you'll mostly be confined to a core group of characters. For example, Naruto's main story is mostly centered on team 7 with Naruto, Sakura, sasuke and Kakashi, and depending on the arc/season they will interact with one of the other ninja teams and/or work with a foreign village like the Sand. It's a similar story with Bleach where you have all of the soul reapers of soul society, including the lieutenants and captains, but much of the story just focuses on the initial group of ichigo, rukia, inoue, Chad and Ishida. My favorite filler and indeed some of my favorite moments from these shows are the times when we get to see more of the extended cast - it doesn't even have to be an action sequence. It's just really fun to see some of these characters in their everyday life. In Bleach I always loved it when I got to see more of characters like Matsumoto and yoruichi who are fun and quirky but also badass when they need to be. In Naruto some of my favorite moments were the cute characters interactions - seeing more of tsunade and her assistant shizune, or seeing more of team guy with Lee, neji and tenten etc. I would much rather have more "character moment" filler instead of an action filler season with no stakes, an inconsequential plot and forgettable villain.

[@sirkillalot9892]

The general issue behind using filler to flesh out popular/supporting characters is the idea that that they can't go too far no matter what, because the risk of the original author eventually choosing to flesh things out. Even as simple as Tenten being an unsuccessful weapon seller. Like imagine if the anime gave her a new passion/hobby. But I guess fluff is better than artificial tension. It seems a safer option is to build on existing concepts like 'Team 7 are good friends' so maybe a few more missions set between moments of time could help make later emotional moments look more convincing (if they aren't skipped). or that anime creators get a sample about what are locked future traits by the mangaka. Another example is Sailor Moon with the Senshi. The original manga is too fastpaced and doesn't give time to flesh out these many main characters, so the anime took a monster of the week approach to at least show the girls' quirks and that they have friendly relations. But this basically relies on the original source having undeveloped areas for later plot points.

[@Talenel]

The events of filler episodes never being mentioned again is actually the best thing about filler. It means I don't actually miss anything when I skip the entire filler arc.

[@Jose04537]

Naruto *cough*

[@WhiteFangofWar]

Confession time: I actually rather enjoyed the Virtual World filler arc back when I was watching YuGiOh. It's not like the animation quality dropped noticably and the plot was still just bombastic and as ridiculous as ever. Also we get six different villains instead of dealing with Marik/Melvin all the time and people other than the main trio got to duel.

[@emblemblade9245]

So glad people call him Melvin still

[@jordanread5829]

I feel like the Virtual World and Waking the Dragons filler arcs are probably some of the best as filler arcs go. Also the conflicts in those for the most part stay throughout the rest of the anime. Making the anime feel like it's own continuity. So it feels more than just a simple adaptation. The Grand Prix arc though is garbage no doubt about that.

[@supermysterious66]

the big issue was it was a filler arc IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ARC, and that arc was just about to reach it's CLIMATIC POINT.

[@WhiteFangofWar]

@@emblemblade9245 'Well it's the Melvin show! Starring me; I'm Melvin! It's the Melvin show, and I've murdered all my guests! Dun dun duh!'

[@genyakozlov1316]

Dark Marik is such a garbage villain that I'm glad to spend as much time away from him as possible. Joey vs Marik is the last duel of Battle City for me anyway. Both duels afterwards are so predictable that you won't miss anything by guessing what happened, in fact Yugi vs Kaiba will probably be less boring in your head anyway.

[@prodigygaming1512]

Terrible writing advice AND overly sarcastic productions trope talk? This day is blessed.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Hot take here, but I sort of miss back when I didn't even know what a filler episode was, because I used to not mind them so much in anime. Then once I did learn what they were, understanding exactly what I was watching began to irk me. Now, I'm ambivalent about them. The writer doesn't have anything yet but animators, who work tirelessly, still need a paycheck. If a filler arc is going to ensure they can still get a paycheck while the writer gets their story together, well...it's hard for me to just 100% hate them. And sometimes, they can be hilarious. I enjoyed the Robot Naruto arc and when Naruto's clones went autonomous and decided to disobey him. And did we really need a whole episode about little Itachi going on a mission to chase a ninja cat? No, but damnit, it was worth it to see toddler Sasuke being frickin' adorable as he put on the cat ears Itachi wore. And there are times when I do skip the filler (looking at you, My Hero Academia and your tournament arcs. Maybe they're not filler, but they're prevelant and grating after the third one), so it just depends.

[@sarahvunkannon7336]

The episode where Naruto's clones disobeyed him was absolutely genius. That was the only time in the show where the clones were kept around for a long time, long enough to exist as people and not just as temporary tools. It was super interesting to find out how they thought and felt about themselves. Like, they never confuse themselves with their original and always know that they are clones? I never would have expected that. I mean, they act just like Naruto. The idea that they see themselves as being different from their original brings up so many questions about the nature of clones, how are they formed, etc. And all that's before you consider the exploration of Naruto's character that happened. I would call this episode an example of filler done right. Where else in the show would we have time to explore whether clones have self awareness? It was interesting, fun, and didn't ruin the main plot. In fact, you could even say that it meshed with the main plot perfectly. No character ever references the episode again, but the same problems Naruto faces with accepting certain parts of himself come up again in the main plot when he meditates at that special waterfall. This is how filler should be.

[@asianjackass237]

MHA tournament arcs all helps establish Deku new found powers. You are thinking of the movie which have zero canonicity

[@Marlin123]

It's even harder when you've added so many characters that need to be occupied with something. Or you could just put them in a disgustingly large group who would somehow each clutch the same obsticles, swim to the same hole, and escape the lava all together and nobody by any singular molicule of a chance would get hurt. Don't worry, it's still memorable and exciting! (I think)

[@GremlinScribe]

For my first book, I wrote a couple chapters after the second arc involving a dance and a snowstorm that I would consider filler. They didn't advance the plot all that much but they did help me account for the time between book-November and book-March, and there was some nice romantic fluff in them that I felt raised the relationship stakes a tiny bit. It physically hurts me to bring my C game so I think those chapters were my A-/B+ game at worst

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Well, not all chapters need to advance the plot: If it doesn't advance the plot, it has to reveal character. If you managed to do that, then it can be considered as important as the main thing.

[@DanielGoldhorn]

These TWAs always inspire me to write! Thanks for these videos!

[@ovakak9267]

Reminds me of my "favorite" filler arc from One Piece: THE ONLY CANONICAL ONE (foxy pirate arc). I can typically stand filler, but when Luffy fired that stupid gun for what feels like the 5th time, it was immediately catapulted to my least favorite filler arc ever.

[@Fordo007]

Filler arcs have been some of my favorite as it lets you see a fuller picture of a character. Who a character is when things are going 90mph and it's life and death is one thing... getting to see who they are and how they act when there isn't a life and death struggle but some low key issue or even no issue and just relaxing... that's really interesting and lets you see a side of a character you never would when stories are just 100% about plot.

[@stevenbyrd8487]

JP you had a lot of fun writing this one! Thank you for the laughs!

[@1597B]

Avatar did a great job with 'filler' content with their Ba Sing Se episodes, for example. They weren't majorly relevant to the plot, and there were no revelations that changed the course of the story, but they still added to the worldbuilding of the Avatar environment and showed how the regular denizens of the city gone about their lives, it gave the main characters that 'break' before the coup and all.

[@kieranc9803]

JP has returned!! When is your second book coming?

[@4niasomnia573]

When you look at the Anime Filler List for Sailor Moon and realize that most of your favorite episodes are actually filler... But what I feel worked about them in that series is that they further informed us of the characters and what they were like outside of being sailor guardians and one thing I feel lacking about the manga canon, is we actually got a chance to see them fumble and go hey idk what I'm doing. They were, for the most part, a good way for us to get to know the characters outside of the seriousness and the breather almost added to the deviousness of the villains because there was that sense of time for their larger schemes. Although, I'm not sure that filler diet episode aged well at all.

[@conradojavier7547]

The Sailor Moon Manga was a Short binge read, so the Anime expends it as a Monster of the Week show that Precure emulates.

[@xylonpesquera8605]

One Piece G-8 filler arc was amazing. Although it couldn't move the plot forward, it found creative ways to test and express the characters. Mix that with an interesting puzzle of a location, clever planning antagonist, and a satisfying win-win conclusion and you get my favorite filler arc ever.

[@JujuLand0]

Sitting at a desk and just talking with no animation. Perfect for this episode.

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

"Filler"? Oh, you mean "anime-canon", a term used by a lot of angry fans whenever I describe an arc about delivering mail in this ninja story.

[@Rokushi_ftw]

You didn't have to make an episode about Naruto, JP

[@lilyofluck371]

While a bottle episode is very similar to a filler episode, they are inherently different. A bottle episode is in a single room, that is all a bottle episode is. There are some really good bottle movies (movies that take place in a single room). Bottle episodes are used to cut costs, but that doesn't mean it is written poorly. A bottle episode could have something to do with the plot (or even BE the plot)

[@nitrocharge2404]

Filler arcs can be good for character development. Then again, who needs that when we can just do another beach episode?

[@gabrielz4698]

but if its really filler all of that character development wont matter next arc.

[@Doctorgeo7]

Haven't watched yet, and I want to make some predictions on what JP covers 1. All the main characters doing something trivial, like finding a place to eat, but it becomes extremely complicated 2. How you could use filler to explore and develop a background character 3. How filler should take up so many episodes, to the point everyone forgets what the main plot is.

[@ProjSHiNKiROU]

My most memorable case of fillers: In Naruto Shippuden, Infinite Tsukuyomi is basically putting everyone (except a few main characters) into a dream. The dreams were shown for a few pages in the manga but there are like 50 episodes of fillers about what happens in the dream. There's even an arc about Tsunade reading a book about what if Naruto's parents didn't die. The best filler arc to me was Indra and Asura's backstories.

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

I feel like a filler episode and a bottle episode are totally different. Bottle episodes are almost always episodes confined to a couple of readily available sets and a small amount of characters to help with the budget (think Fly from Breaking Bad). Filler episodes can still have all the sets and characters and action, they just don't advance the story in any way

[@resultedchutoy3353]

JP, you *had* to have been sitting on that 'flashbacks within flashbacks' for years and it finally paid off!! ..... shame that it was literally a minute long section, but that's okay!! Just the fact that you used it, and remembered something from your earlier material, makes it pure, 24k gold!

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Like TWA? Try Hello Future Me, Krimson Rogue (at least his Roasts of Onision and Empress-Theresa) and Hbomberguy.

[@Navek15]

You know, you can consider most Ultraman shows filler (at least by the way most media illiterate people define filler) because most of them don't really have an ongoing narrative, but the individual episodes tend to be so good that no one ever considers them 'filler'. Actually, could you do a monster of the week episode? That could be interesting.

[@conradojavier7547]

Most Rider, Sentai, or Precure Episodes that dosen't introduce a New Power Up, Armor, Dress, or Toy.

[@FurnaxIkki]

If you want to see a great filler arc, refer to the Crashtown arc in Yugioh 5Ds. Seven episodes that have absolutely no connection to the over-arching plot of season 2, but serve as an excellent resolution to a character who never really got his arc resolved in season 1. All while dropping the cyberpunk aesthetic the rest of the series goes for in favor of full-blown Spaghetti Western goodness.

[@penofwildfire]

Fun fact, you can absolutely use these methods in the main plot! Adding new powers/characters/locations that are rarely, if ever, seen again? Why, you've just written a season of Ninjago!

[@crazyeeveelady3636]

Erin Hunter called. They're asking how you figured out the entire writing process behind Warriors

[@kamenrider5ds60]

i know of some filler arcs in anime that is just as good of a story to the canon stuff. One example is the Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc done in Bleach, the story of it was as good as the canon story that even the manga author Tite Kubo was actually impressed with it and I heard that he quoted saying he wish he actually thought of it for the manga. If a filler arc can make the series creator wish they thought of the story for the canon material, something must of been done right. EDIT: As for the filler as movies that are never brought up there are a few examples where some are brought up again. 2 examples are the DBZ films Battle of gods and Resurrection F, both which were adapted and expanded upon in DBZ Super and then there is the Super Broly movie that is listed as Canon to the main story and brought up in Super: Superhero. Another example of an anime film brought up in canon with its series surprisingly is Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, where in the Not dubbed Season 5, when they face for the first time the final antagonist of the series Z-One, they actually reference the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond time. Sometimes Filler films can be canon in their series, if done correctly.

[@sirkillalot9892]

'The Last' for Naruto is canon since it actually shows how Naruto and Hinata get together. Same with Toneri being referenced in Boruto. Or how the first MHA movie is canon to the series, but only a minor detail through Melissa's gauntlet.

[@ariespisces7965]

This episode was a nice change of pace actually! TWA is one of my favorite series, and I really appreciate the amount of effort put into it.

[@StrawberryNUKE]

This perfectly explains every Naruto movie

[@Galimeer5]

At this point, I'm more invested in the ad segments than the main episodes

[@slitherthewizardofwither6959]

Okay thank you very much for all your videos it's been very helpful with starting me off with writing. And has been help pushing me through it. Even if sometimes I find it hard. Also your videos are very entertaining and funny so it's a good way to pass the time as well

[@spiderdude2099]

Fun fact: In the anime Boruto, there is a minor villain character in the Village hidden in the mist arc, where she states she is the daughter of a character that originally was a Naruto filler exclusive. This is a rare example of a non-canon filler character being brought into canon relevance

[@Petrico94]

Got here early. So ya, Filler arcs can be good for worldbuilding, theme expansion or delay for time when you're on a weekly/monthly schedule. Some series have fair filler or are enjoyable no matter what, but it seems a lot of secondary writers can't help but make bad filler. Movie fillers are also awful if they're right in the middle of an arc, you gotta make a big story to justify the movie but it's basically not canon and can't have any impact. And there's also a list of tropes like beach episode that are decent and expected but if you do literally nothing with it then it's still a waste of an episode. I don't mind Steven Universe's odd episodes, it's the bomb like release schedule that annoyed people. Dragonball has evenly spread filler and generally doesn't stick it in the middle of an important mini-arc. Sometimes it can be as bad as Naruto where you need a guide to skip full arcs that just don't matter, or One Piece where you need another list for 'good' filler and speeds up dragged out fights. NO ONE likes clip shows, recaps and flashbacks are bad enough, I'd even take a dream that doesn't matter than just rewatch old clips based on a misc theme. If you want to waste time, make new footage and events that don't fit anywhere, Ed Edd n Eddy made it fun to remember old events but also provide new content when they couldn't write a 100% new episode. In short, filler has a purpose in serials and can be done in clever ways or make the most of how stock it is. If people can have fun and the tone/pacing isn't just shot out back it can work. Otherwise people generally respect a continuous story or something relevant to the story.