Forum - View topicWhy Filler is a good thing
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Maccers
Posts: 87 Location: England |
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Filler is a good thing because if there were to be say a....26 episode series and every single episode was linked to the other then the viewer would get bored. Also Episodes which acctually make up the main storyline tend to have little or no comedy with a few exceptions (i.e Excel saga), if there were to be a whole series with little or no comedy would it really be enjoyable?.
This is why i sometimes get annoyed when some people bi*ch about how filler episodes are pointless and a waste of production budget. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11433 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Heh, well I guess it just depends on what kind of anime you like, the pointless and laughs-a-lot comedy titles (like Excel Saga and Ranma), or the serious plot/character-driven dramas (like X (TV) and Rurouni Kenshin).
Filler is what brought Kenshin to its demise before the manga was finished, thus leading only to the OAV productions of Tsuioku-hen and Seisouhen instead of a possible TV run. I personally don't mind filler all that much, so long as it has some kind of relavence. It doesn't necessarliy have to connect to the story, but if it does a good job exposing the characters to me or something (a la Cowboy Bebop), then I'm all for it. In most cases though, I suppose it just depends on the person watching the title. 
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v1cious
 Posts: 6223 Location: Houston, TX |
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it really depends on the filler. it works if you can make the episodes memorable(Paranoia Agent), but if you have too much of it without any real indication of a storyline(Samurai Champloo), it just starts to drag the show down.
i also hate fan episodes(the beach, the hot springs, etc.)it's a really cheesy practice that drags down the worth of a show. Last edited by v1cious on Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Perfectsword
 Posts: 527 Location: Somewhere in NY |
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Im still not sure what your saying a "filler" is. do you mean a random episode that has nothing to do with the over all epic/journey in an anime?
i think, if thats what you mean by "filler", its ok to have some fillers. linking episodes need to have a filler every once and a while. but the anime that dosn't have fillers mostly have movies for that anime. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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I disagree that filler is good in a 26 episode series. If you can't write 26 episodes that stay on task then your story isn't good enough.
On the other hand, I do support filler in "ongoing" series, such as Naruto, because otherwise they catch up to the manga and all manner of bad things can happen when they do. I prefer "filler arcs" though, stories which are not in the manga, and which do not really "advance" the main plot, but which fit perfectly within the framework of the manga, tell a good story, and expand development of the characters. These are few and far betweeen though, for some reason. |
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jsyxx
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Theres points where the Japanese school kids will be on vacation and not watching tv, thats generally the time frame when filler episodes are aired. Its objective is to keep the show going without loosing the viewers by having the plot progress too much when they are gone. You can not blame the writers of the series for this, so just deal with it. Of course this doesn't explain every occurance of filler, but it explains a decent chunk of it.
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Animefreak08
 Posts: 882 Location: Michigan ftw. |
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Even though we don't have much of a storyline in Champloo(
 )the filler is still entertaining!
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jfrog
 Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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The filler episodes of Paranoia Agent were brilliant.
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Well Full Metal Panic, or should I say Filler Metal Panic, had way too many. For the first series they should have made up their minds on weither to do an action or comedy series, because both aspects of the show hurt the other. The second series was all comedy, and that was great. I'm guessing the third series will be mostly action oriented, and if they can develop the characters some, then they could have a winner.
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ShellBullet
 Posts: 1051 Location: I hit things, with my fist. |
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It seems that there are a few shows that are very light on filler, and instead of being boring they are usually quite good. Vision of Escaflowne comes to mind as a filler-free series; the plot has plenty of twists and turns, but it plays out very much like a 13-hour movie with each new episode building on the one that came before it.
One thing thing that we need to clarify though is that filler is not without its place. It can be useful for fleshing out the characters; no one wants to watch a series that never bothers to let you understand the protaganists. Also, for most comedies the story is not all that important, making more room for filler. And if the filler is funny, why complain? The only complaint is when a show has excessive filler, i.e. rehashing the same jokes long past the point when they stopped being funny. |
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Nani?
 Posts: 632 |
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Some filler episodes are O.K. but in general there are usually too many rather then too few.
Take Noir, decent show but not a masterpiece.It had a lot of filler episodes (assaination of the week). If they had instead paired it down to 13 episodes they likely would have a better show. Another one is Wolf's Reign. The largest knock on it is that it has four flashback episodes. On the other hand, look at Haibane Renmei which is certainly edgeing toward masterpiece status in many fans eyes. Argueably, it has no filler what so ever. Eva, also has no purely filler episodesspoiler[not counting the ending]. All the Best, Nani? |
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Mitsuhide A.
Posts: 200 Location: somewhere where you aren't |
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Im not going to argue and say that filler is a bad thing but i do have a bit of a problem with what you've said. First, it may be your opinion that shows with continuous plot driven episodes can become boring, but please dont generalize that a say "viewers". I, for one, think that continuous plot episodes keep my attention and draw me to the show every episode through the use of cliff hangers. For example, there are certain times when i watch Inuyasha intensely. As of right now, im not watching it on CN because there is a large amount of filler air and after a while it becomes distracting from the overall plot that the writers have worked so hard to develope. Actually, this is how an excessive use of fillers can hurt the show, without a heathly dosage of plot, i feel, that the audience begins to forget about the storyline and gets bored with the filler
Dont get me wrong, i like filler every once in a while, but only when the time calls for it. |
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Ken Hayashi
 Posts: 752 Location: Singapore |
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I find that sometimes, filler episodes do more than just take up time. For example, Noir, where you get the assasination-of-the-week fillers. It's not really that bad because yoe get to see the characters in their natural environment, doing what they do for a living. It helps to show the viewers that this is their kind of life, they have to do this regularly for a living. That's how good they are at doing what they do (with their different methods and tactics for accomplishing a task/assasination). It helps to flesh out the characters more as we get to see them in their natural environment more. Instead of launching right into the meat of the plot, without fleshing out the characters more, we're left alienated from the characters, not knowing about them, wondering how they got to be where they are now.
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True_Knight_Blue
Posts: 29 |
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Do more than just take up time? I never thought of it that way.
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Acolyte
 Posts: 100 Location: Searching high and low for my missing waist line. |
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It could be the way in which it's used.
Where filler expands on a character(s) life/back-ground, it can give you a better feel for what he or she is doing and/or why. Some anime could use some; Witch Hunter Robin for example: I for one would have loved more back ground on Amon, the main male lead. Some could use less; The Twelve Kingdoms for instance: there are a couple of episodes that left me wondering why I was watching *yawn*. And while it doesn't technically count as "filler" because it was a separate entity by itself, Zone of the Enders; Idolo, was great. It expanded on the main antagonist and gave a depth that was lacking in the series: instead of just intensely dis-liking him, which I did in the series, the "filler" actually had me filling sympathy for him. |
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