Anyone who loves anime can admit that the genre is filled to the brim with content that doesn’t need to be there, often known as filler. This device is something that adaptations will throw into their shows in order to give the manga time to give them more source material to go off of.
Thanks to this, we often get weird or boring side stories featuring our main characters that carry no plot significance whatsoever. Every now and then, though, animes deliver entire arcs of unique and exciting filler stories that actually a waste of time to watch.
Below, we’ve come up with four of those anime filler arcs, going into why we think they shouldn’t be written off as episodes that were created to stall for time. Be sure to let us know what you think about our list, as well as what your favorite filler arcs are, in the comments section.
Rabo’s Arc – Noragami
While Rabo’s inclusion in Noragami may have been brief, lasting only two episodes (11 & 12), it is still one of the more memorable filler arcs in anime.
A God of Calamity that used to work with Yato, Rabo appears near the end of the first season to try and convince the protagonists to give in to his calamitous nature. The interactions between the two, Rabo’s personality, and the test of Yato’s convictions make for some really interesting drama.
This arc is one of the highlights of the show too, helping to set up Yato’s character development while also touching on important themes that would be explored more later in the series. It’s just a shame that we only got to see the God of Calamity for this short time, as his interactions with the gang were always fun to watch.
G8 – One Piece
The G8 arc of One Piece is one of the most creative pieces of filler ever created in anime, proving that original content isn’t always a bad thing.
In this 11 episode arc, the Straw Hats showed off a lot of personality that had yet to be explored so far in the show. This story has Nami displaying her mind for strategy, Sanji showing off his cooking skills, and Luffy facing off against an interesting and unique antagonist in Captain Jonathan.
More than anything, G8 fits in seamlessly between the Skypiea and Long Ring Long Land arcs to the point where people often don’t even realize what they’ve watched is filler. In a show that is as long as One Piece, it is nice to have more casual arcs like this that still manage to be exciting while also fitting in with the dynamic of the series.
Other World Tournament Saga – Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z is known for drawing out its episodes, as it has pretty much become a meme that the majority of the show is just characters powering up their attacks. Due to this, you wouldn’t really think that the show would have any decent filler.
The Other World Tournament Saga proves that theory wrong though. Just like the World Martial Arts Tournament, this event pits the very best against one another to see who is the strongest. The catch? All of the entrants are deceased champions from other quadrants of the universe.
Thanks to this tournament, we get to see a lot of imaginative and cool fighters like Pikkon. This filler also gives us a bit more information on the fact that their are other Kais, something which would become more important in Dragon Ball Super later on.
Kakashi’s Anbu History – Naruto
Naruto is arguably one of the biggest filler offenders in all of anime, with what seems like more than half the show’s arc having no real effect on the main plot. However, there are definitely some diamonds hiding in the rough, especially when it comes to Kakashi Hatake’s time in the Anbu Black Ops.
This arc has almost everything you could ever hope for from filler. It delves more into Kakashi’s life and backstory –explaining why he’s a bit on the odder side of things – and even features younger versions of other prominent characters from the main story like Itachi, Yamato, Hiruzen, Orochimaru, and Shisui.
It is honestly hard to even call this filler. Not only does it contribute to the plot and add depth to characters that are integral to it, but it is also a fascinating and enthralling story.
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