Fillers and Feelings

Last night I finally settled down to start watching Naruto: Shippuden again. I had thrown up my hands in defeat somewhere around Episode 229, entitled “Eat or Die! Mushrooms from Hell!,” which is all you need to know to draw the appropriate conclusion as to the quality of that episode.

There were a few gems in this particularly random filler arc, namely “Sai’s Day Off” and “Kakashi, My Eternal Rival!” but all in all I find fillers incredibly frustrating.

So today’s lesson will be about “fillers.” What are they exactly? Fillers are episodes with no expository substance which are used as “place-keepers” or “time-wasters” as the animators wait for the original manga to catch up and/or work on the next Canon* Arc** of the story.

Most anime series are based off a best-selling manga. Blockbuster manga like Naruto and Bleach run concurrently with their anime counterparts, as both series are unfinished and new chapters are published monthly. However, the animators can move through the story and animate it faster than the creator of the manga can create and publish his work. This would leave gaps in the anime, so filler episodes are used to keep the show going while the publication of the manga catches up with the anime, and vice versa.

(A Western example of this is when Warner Bros began to film and produce the Harry Potter films before the series was concluded. Warner Bros could shoot, produce and release the films faster than Rowling would write them, so I think they approached their schedules carefully so there wouldn’t be a four year gap between the third and fourth film, etc).

Here are the top three reasons I dislike filler-episodes:

1.       Fillers are not canon.

I’m sure there’s a rare exception here, but for the most part, filler episodes are not based on anything written by the creator of the series. Essentially, the animators and writers from somewhere take the characters and create their own separate story for them. Often, this distorts the true and original characters as they’re manipulated into a weird side-story that doesn’t quite seem to fit with the original storyline.

2.       Fillers are always a low point.

Filler-Arcs always seem to slide in after an amazingly awesome Canon-Arc, so fillers are such a dramatic let down after the heart-stopping, gut wrenching, pulse-pounding, smile and tear inducing flood of emotions the previous arc brought you. You also know that the canon arc coming after the fillers will be just as amazing (if not more so) than the previous canon arc, and the agony of waiting week after week through who knows how many filler episodes has caused many an anime fan to go insane, or simply give up on a series completely.

3.       Filler quality is awful.

Compare the quality of the characters in filler-episode 227 "The Forgotten Island" to canon-episode 163 "Explosion! Sage Mode." I'll let you draw your own conclusions. :)

But the worst thing about fillers is you know that an awesome new Canon-Arc is in the works…and I have never been a patient girl.

HOWEVER, despite this, the series has redeemed itself—the series has officially returned to canon material and the last ten episodes of Naruto: Shippuden have been so refreshing after sludging our way through fillers for an entire season!

The newest Canon-Arc heralds the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War, follows Naruto’s further training into taming the chakra (e.g. “life-force”) of the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit he is host to, and sees the final steps of super-ninja-villain Madara’s long-laid and intricate plans accomplished to dominate the world of the ninja.

This Arc also provides an emotionally stirring glimpse into the story of Naruto’s parents, who have remained enigmas through the entire series. We knew they died protecting their son, and that it was their painful decision to make their infant son a vessel in which to bind the Nine-Tails. As they died, they locked small amounts of their chakra into their son, so that they could offer assistance at the right time.

And the highlight of the series for me was when Naruto is able to “meet” his mother and hear of his parents’ romance, his birth and their love for him. It made me so happy to see how tickled Naruto was by his mother’s affection.
Finally…just finally. Finally, he is able to feel their love for him. Finally, he is able to tell them he loves then and to know they love him, too. Finally. Finally. I bawled through about three episodes while mentally cursing Kishimoto for making me love his characters so deeply. Gah! TT__TT

This is why I love Naruto. I tolerate fillers so I can treasure these moments that transcend the series, the genre and the culture. This is what I wait patiently for…and this is why I have fallen so deeply in love with Japanese storytelling. It resonates with me in a way nothing else does.

Naruto Forever….dattebayo!

<3

*Canon (def.): The original, unedited vision and story as seen and written by the creator of the series.

**Arc (def.): A term used by anime fans to split long series into definable story "chunks," or chapters.