How to Avoid Anime Filler Episodes ?.
Anime is everywhere these days. Each streaming service has a significant selection of Japanese animation, and some (like Crunchyroll and Funimation) are all about this pop culture phenomenon. If you’re new to anime fandom, you may have noticed something odd while drinking on shows like Naruto or Bleach.
It often seems that the plot is straying on an irrelevant topic. The story stops moving and it seems like everyone has lost the plot. It is not your imagination, you have just encountered anime filler for the first time.
What Is Anime Filler and Why Does It Exist?
Filler is a unique phenomenon resulting from the fact that anime adapted from manga can run out of source material. By the way, “manga” is the name of Japanese comics and graphic novels. It is common practice to adapt popular manga to anime.
With an ongoing anime, it may be that the show is ahead of the manga that provides it with a story. You might think the logical decision would be to take a break and wait for the manga creator to catch up. However, the real solution they often choose is to write their own subplot and keep filming the episodes.
This is filler: a story that is not canonical does not propel the plot forward, and cannot in any way affect the official plot that the manga creator is working on while the filler is playing.
Do All Anime Have Fillers?
No, not all anime have fillers. First, not everything is based on the manga. Although manga titles are the main source of the anime industry, they can also be original animation or adapted from novels. It can also be a “light” novel – another popular literary format in Japan.
In addition, there are anime adaptations of shorter manga episodes that are complete or those that took a break from publishing but ended up in full arc.
Claymore, Outlaw Star and Escaflowne contain no fillers and are complete.
Thus, the filler is usually shonen anime (for boys) or other similar shows that run alongside the weekly manga series published by Weekly Shonen Jump and its competitors.
Should You Always Skip a Filler?
If no one watched anime episodes of popular shows, anime studios would not have filmed them. So, it’s fair to ask if you should be cutting out fillers or not. On the one hand, this way you will not lose the plot. On the other hand, who can say that filler episodes can be boring and interesting on their own?
It is true that the scripts written in the additional episodes do not belong to the original manga writer. This means that the quality and tone may differ from what you liked in the first place.
Extra episodes may not always be of the quality you are used to.
Sometimes secondary episodes are also not purely anime fillers. Some TV shows mix filler and main plots in the same episodes. Finally, there are some anime that are at odds with the original manga material, so while these episodes do not match the source, they are not examples of fillers, but canon for the anime version of the show.
After all, skipping episodes from a show, whether filler or not, is a personal choice and will differ from show to show. All this does not matter if you do not know what series are!
How Can You Skip Anime Filler Episodes?
Filler is a controversial issue in the world of anime shows. There are several websites that are dedicated to keeping track of which episodes are minor and which are canonical. Most of them will also tell you which episodes contain a mixture of filler and canon or differ from the original material.
In addition, filler sites can only retrospectively mark episodes as filler. So, if you are watching the show live, you may not even realize that you are trapped. However, these placeholder list sites are extremely useful if you want to watch the show effectively or don’t want to watch all of Naruto’s 700 episodes to prepare for Boruto’s side project.
When it comes to filler sites, we have two great recommendations:
- Anime Filler List: This site is extremely comprehensive and easy to use.
- Fillerless Anime: A website with great styling and good filler information for beginners.
These sites will lay out everything for you! We recommend opening the corresponding show on your tablet or smartphone while you work on episodes. At the same time, the quality of the story and the development of the plot will remain at the proper level.
If you want something a little more personal, there are often great guides on the anime community forums that also provide a good place to discuss this show with other fans.
Consider Reading the Source Manga
As with Western film and television adaptations of books, anime adaptations of manga do not always match the original material exactly. If you really enjoy a particular show, you can get more out of it by reading the manga on which it is based. Additional information about the story, characters that may have been cut from the anime, and even plot events that are never shown or played out otherwise can be provided in the source material.
It used to be quite difficult to get manga and several volumes were translated into English, but these days the same revolution that brought anime to streaming services has also brought manga to the screen near you.
For example, Shonen Jump has a digital app that gives you almost all of its famous manga for just $ 1.99 a month. You can also buy manga from the Amazon Kindle service. If you subscribe to Amazon Kindle Unlimited, you will also get access to many volumes of manga and even some light novels. While unnoticed, Amazon Kindle Unlimited always seems to only include the first few volumes in the plan.
Tip: Many people may not know this, but if you subscribe to Crunchyroll Premium, you also have access to your manga library through a dedicated manga app. Just install the app and log in using your account details.
Where to Watch Anime Online
Now you know how easy it is to avoid watching anime episodes if you don’t want to. But do you know how to access all the shows you might want to watch?
Many people are discovering anime through major streaming services like Netflix, but there is much more. Check out the 6 Best Places to Stream Anime Online for a more comprehensive list of places where you can get your anime fix.
This is not to say that Netflix is not doing anything interesting in the anime. They invest in original anime shows, and we’ve highlighted famous titles in the top 5 Netflix original anime you can stream right now.
What do you think of anime fillers? Do you always skip it or think there are filler bows worth looking out for? Let us know in the comments and share if you have your own suggestions for filling the site.
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How to Avoid Anime Filler Episodes ?
How to Avoid Anime Filler Episodes ?