Naruto Filler Episodes
I’m here to talk about fillers, and why they frustrate so many anime, manga and television fans such as myself.
I want to talk specifically about this in relation to the anime and manga, Naruto.
In Naruto filler episodes have been taken to a whole new level and, quite frankly, I’ve had enough.
However, I still won’t stop watching it.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a filler episode is basically an episode where nothing happens in relation to the main plot and the show would still make perfect sense without it (unless it’s Neon Genesis Evangelion, and if you understand that plot completely, you’re lying).
Naruto’s filler episodes are practically legendary within the anime community. The series has been known to have a single fight in the last 13 episodes and more. The fight will quite literally go something like this:
Episode 1: Characters exchange brooding glares
Episode 2: Protagonist tries a basic move which fails
Episode 3: Protagonist panics because enemy seems strong
Episode 4: Flashback
Episode 5: Protagonist gives a speech about why they have to win, for more details see Episode 4
Episode 6: Characters re-exchange brooding glares
Episode 7: Protagonist considers a strong move which could make him win
Episode 8: Protagonist thinks about how the move could go wrong
Episode 9: Protagonist begins to do the move anyway
Episode 10: Flashback
Episode 11: Protagonist uses the move, and wins
Episode 12: Enemy flashback of why they had to win and how sad it is that they lost
Episode 13: General flashback/overview of the battle
In the often likely event that the move stated in episode 11 fails, it continues as this:
Episode 11: Protagonist uses the move, but the move fails
Episode 12: Enemy uses a stronger move that severely injures the protagonist
Episode 13: Flashback
Episode 14: Protagonist, fuelled by emotion flashback-power, decides to use an even stronger move (why they don’t just use this in the first place is beyond me)
Episode 15: Protagonist’s move hands them the victory (we hope)
Episode 16: Enemy flashback of why they had to win and how sad it is that they lost
Episode 17: General flashback/overview of the battle
As you can see this is incredibly tedious to watch, especially if you only watch one episode a week. That single battle could take you three to four months to complete!
And that, my readers, is nothing when you reach the middle of series six when one of the main characters decides to run off. It’s almost like he’s divorcing the series, “I’m leaving you and I’m taking the plot with me! You can keep the tedious fight scenes and obscene amounts of flashbacks!”
You can seriously stop watching when that happens. Take it from someone who watched every single soul-sucking episode after that event: nothing happens. All you need to know is there is 2½ series of emotional baggage mixed with a few fight scenes and that is all. Don’t put yourself through it.
You can skip straight onto Naruto Shippuden, where the plot supposedly returns! Where there’s no filler! Where the world makes sense again! Wrong. Shippuden is supposed to be the re-awakening of the Naruto franchise. Two years have passed, they’ve all got new clothes (kind of) and they all have super cool new moves to show off in fights.
Unfortunately, after the first few episodes, the fights return to their tedious length and it turns out that the super cool new moves take even longer to use.
The series is still ongoing and I’m currently ahead of the anime by reading the manga. They’re currently on chapter 560(ish) and are locked in a 'Shinobi War' that had TEDIOUS FIGHT SCENES tattooed across its forehead. I’ve completely lost the plot.
I mean, I understand that in a war there will be many fight scenes and flashbacks but this is just insane. Where has the plot gone? There have been plenty of opportunities in the last 150 chapters to end the series but the author seems to be making the fans wait. And wait. Then wait some more.
It shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. There are currently nine seasons of Naruto with 220 episodes, followed by ten series of Shippuden with 236 episodes and ongoing.
However I have to mention that despite the incredibly annoying fillers, Naruto really is a great series and I recommend it to anyone with time and money. You will learn to love each of the characters and be emotionally moved by it in many places.
Please, watch it if you can. It’s very unlikely you’ll be disappointed. Just be patient.
So, to end, some advice for people thinking of having their own action series: keep to the plot and keep fights under ten episodes to keep viewers moderately happy and willing to pay for all the DVDs / books etc that will, in the end, be worth a small fortune on eBay.
And as a small side note, Naruto is actually a Japanese fishcake. Watch the series and try to stop yourself from giggling whenever they say it.
1 Comment – Postiwch sylw
MrDave
Rhoddwyd sylw 7 mis yn ôl - 18th October 2011 - 11:24am
I fully understand this although I not as far in as you are there have already been many overly long fights in shippuden and the last 100 odd episodes of naruto were totally pointless as well but it is deffinately not just naruto that has these fillers and long fights. I think the rule in anime and manga these days is once the series gets past 100 episodes there must be some extravigent loss of the plot and it must go on wilde over the top tangents