If there’s one thing anime fans hate, it’s padding. Sometimes it can be a great addition to a series, bringing more character development, adding some interesting new storylines for the audience to enjoy. However, there can be too much of a good thing.
Many anime series tend to pile on a lot of filler, which slows down the main plot or even stops it. Because of this, most fans can’t stand it when a series throws in a filler arc, and many try to skip these episodes. Padding can really drag a show down, sometimes causing it to lose its momentum and popularity. Padding isn’t always bad, but it can make or break an anime series.
10 Fans get bored with the many filler arcs in Inuyasha
inuyasha is one of the most popular shonen anime, even years after its conclusion. Despite that, he is infamous among fans for his padding. Only a small percentage of the series’ episodes count as pure filler. However, many others only have a small part of the plot included. There are entire arcs devoted to this filler, often focusing on unsuccessful efforts to defeat Naraku or Inuyasha’s unresolved feelings for Kikyo. While the series is legendary and loved by anime fans everywhere, many still find the filler very exhausting.
9 Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Filler Episodes Are Some Of The Worst In The Series
avatar the last airbender It has almost no padding. Most of the episodes are completely plot-driven, keeping the story very simple for fans. However, the little padding present in Avatar he is one of the most hated, he often has very useless or boring stories that go nowhere. The most infamous example is “The Great Divide”, in which Aang tries to mend the relationship between two feuding tribes. To this day, it is considered one of the worst episodes of the series, with many feeling that it could have been easily removed without changing anything in the plot.
8 The filler in Sailor Moon are some of the best and worst episodes
Many still have the 90s sailor moon near and dear to their hearts, but it’s no secret that the adaptation changed a lot about the original story. One of the biggest changes came in the form of filler that added unnecessary drama and pointless plotlines. The filler strayed far from the original vision of sailor moon, and many fans criticize the 90s series for them. However, the padding sailor moon It’s not all bad, and in some cases, it’s a great addition. Thanks to the filler, the characters had more personality than ever before, giving fans even more reason to care about each of the Sailor Scouts.
7 Naruto filler makes it hard to finish
naruto is one of the most popular anime series of all time. With a total of 720 episodes between the two series, it’s a daunting task trying to see it all for what it is. But when you factor in the numerous filler episodes and arcs, it seems to some that it’s not worth even trying.
There are 89 filler episodes in the original series and 210 in naruto shippuden, so trying to top them all is a very difficult task for even the most loyal of fans. Some fillers are great, they add incredible development to otherwise overlooked characters, and they’re downright funny. Despite that, most of the episodes are boring and monotonous for the fans.
6 Black Butler has infamously bad padding
black butler it’s amazing when it adheres to the original material. During his run, he skyrocketed in popularity and there seemed to be no stopping his success. Unfortunately, that all changed when the first season ended and moved further away from the plot of the manga. However, it wasn’t until the second season that fans almost gave up on the series. Black Butler II it’s nothing but filler, with characters never seen in the manga that no one seemed to like, and a derailed plot. After this disastrous season, black butler it has stayed true to the original story ever since, probably forever.
5 Yu-Gi-Oh! Has filler arcs that occur in the middle of another arc
It is true that much of the padding in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! the series is pretty good. Despite that, there’s so much bad padding that it unfortunately tends to stick out like a sore thumb. Yu-Gi-Oh! The filler can sometimes feel like a completely different show, especially with its added characters and new worlds that don’t quite match the initial plot. Oddly enough, filler often happens right in the middle of a major story arc. One of the most infamous examples is the virtual world arc that takes place within the Battle City arc. Battle City is one of the most beloved arcs in the series, and the addition of this unnecessary filler ended up dragging it down.
4 Shugo Chara’s filler goes beyond the conclusion of the original story
sugo chara was very popular during its original run, but even back then, fans had a big problem with the amount of filler in the anime series. There were entire seasons devoted to nothing more than filler, adding new anime-only characters while fan-favorites disappeared from the plot altogether. Like many other previous animes, sugo chara was unlucky enough to catch up with the manga before the story ended, so like other anime, it made up its own stories to kill time.
However, he took this one step further, continuing the anime even after the manga’s story ended with a new arc and a new protagonist. It’s unclear why exactly the anime continued with this anime-only character replacing Amu, but few remember this season or the new generation of characters.
3 Boruto’s padding gives him a bad start
naruto Fans were disappointed when Boruto: Naruto Next Generations came out first. He didn’t cover any of the manga, but made up his own new story. Because of this, an overwhelming part of boruto is a filler that focuses on children and their family lives.
While it’s honestly nice to see the original characters enjoy the peace they created, many find these first few episodes boring compared to the action they were used to in the first series. Fortunately, boruto has been gaining some momentum lately, finally following the plot of the manga more closely.
two Rurouni Kenshin filler is so bad it was canceled
It’s surprising that such a beloved series has such infamous filler, but few others can rival it. Rurouni Kenshin when it comes to underwhelming filler bows. The entirety of Season 3 is nothing but filler and underfill. Each episode is just a pointless mini-plot that has no effect on the main story. In fact, the main story itself is dropped entirely in lieu of this hodgepodge of episodes. Season 3 of Rurouni Kenshin it’s so bad that it actually canceled the entire series. While many anime have horrible filler, few can say that they ultimately ruined their series.
1 Haruhi Suzumiya’s The Endless Eight made many leave the series
No one could have expected what The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya had in store for its fans in season 2. Endless Eight is one of the most infamous filler arcs in any anime, and many still cringe at its mere mention to this day. It’s essentially the same episode over and over again, with very minor differences in each iteration. The premise of the arc is that Haruhi and the gang are stuck repeating the same summer vacation over and over, and Kyon must figure out how to break this cycle. It’s a pretty good story, and it wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t go on for a full eight episodes, but because fans were forced to go through this hard work, many left the series and never looked back.
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