Serious question, did anyone else's view on filler arcs change after that one panel at Anime Expo last year?

A creator at the 'Story Pacing' panel said, 'Sometimes a filler arc is just a production team buying time,' and now I can't watch those episodes the same way.

3 comments

3 Comments

martinez.max1mo ago

Right? @the_faith nailed that wheel-spinning feeling.

the_elliot1mo ago

Yeah, that "buying time" line hit me hard. I used to defend filler as extra character time, like the G-8 arc in One Piece. But after hearing that, I rewatched some Naruto fillers and you can just feel the wheel-spinning. Scenes drag, plots go nowhere. It totally changed how I see those episodes now.

the_faith1mo ago

That "wheel-spinning" feeling is exactly it. It makes you wonder how much better some shows could be if they just took a break instead. Like, what if they spent that filler budget on making the canon episodes look amazing, or just let the manga get ahead. The filler doesn't just waste our time, it wastes the animators' time too.