Anime Fillers โ The Unfairly Maligned Stepchildren of the Anime World
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If you’re an anime fan, you’ve likely come across the term "filler arc" or "filler episode" at some point. Filler refers to original content that isn’t part of the original manga or source material, often developed by anime studios to pad out the series or give manga authors a bit of breathing room to create more content.
More often than not, filler arcs are viewed as inferior to the canonical storyline, with some fans opting to skip them altogether in favor of sticking to the "real" story. However, this approach can sometimes lead to missing out on some amazing, imaginative, and occasionally even game-changing content that adds depth, richness, and unexpected surprises to the original narrative.
With that in mind, let’s highlight the top 5 anime filler arcs that are definitely worth a watch โ a lineup that showcases these "bonus" storylines at their very best:
Filler Arc 1: Naruto’s ‘Inari Scrolls’ Arc (Episodes 107-110, 136, 171-173)
A humorous detour during the Naruto Shippuden Series, the Inari Scrolls Arc provides valuable insight into the often eccentric Naruto cast through unrelated-yet-vigilant narrative explorations. Featuring the animated shorts of Inoichi Yamanaka from an old anime film, several unique adventures are shared, a testament to the storytelling potential lying outside the core storyline.
Filler Arc 2: One Piece’s ‘Water 7’ Arc Filler Episodes (Episodes 54-59, Part of 60, 61, and 366-367)
A beautiful take on well-delineated side stories is provided by One Piece. Within the impressive Luffy-centric ‘Sky Island Arcs,’ several separate sagas delve deeper into this rich fantasy realm. Many memorable side narratives weave compelling depth around beloved supporting characters during epic moments of intense emotional trials.
Filler Arc 3: Bleach’s ‘Zanpakuto’ Arc (Episodes 113-118)
Who wouldn’t want to see their beloved characters dealing with inanimate manifestations of their powerful zanpakuto? It gets pretty thrilling as you watch beloved bleach characters engage battle through their unique manifestation against their wielders in order to solve compelling scenarios through bonding while providing in-depth resolutions to some side storylines.
Filler Arc 4: Fairy Tail’s ‘Daphne’ Arc (Episodes 49-51, Part of episode 119)
The Daphne storyline is something else in how cunningly put together by the Fairy Tail creators. Beautiful landscapes and mystical music get reflected by this storyline through ingenious creative arrangements in Daphne’s twisted story as further layers create this enchanting story and great relationships shared amidst one of Fairy Tail’s most notable enemies in the dark Daphne Story.
Filler Arc 5: Blue Exorcist’s ‘The Time Jumper’s Tale’ (Episode 16 and parts of episode 1)
Here’s a fun trip through time with an encounter between a powerful antagonist of the future that showcases Rin Okumura on his critical first adventure. The result showcases yet another display of pure storytelling to the power โ highlighting complex narrative relationships on different dimensions as you watch young 15-year-old Okumura unleash at true blue’s unending heroism before and beyond canon boundaries.
These well-crafted and exceptionally clever stories add exciting little detours that could very well provide some of the most captivating hours of screen time within their relevant shows โ some will even catch viewers completely by surprise with just out how substantial their actual interplay is within what unfolds in the greater ‘Core Story’.
