Freedom Is The Key To Success: Thoughts On Filler

Oftentimes, filler is just terrible. Bad animation, bad plotlines and absolutely no character development whatsoever. Though most of the time it’s regulated to the long running shounen series, filler can show up in shorter series as well, such as in the case of Endless Eight. (Though I understand that it’s easy to argue Endless Eight wasn’t filler due to the different directors, animation, interpretations etc, I’m still inclined to think that it is, simply because I think that progression and development are key in any series with any sort of a plot.  Without these elements, what’s really left?). But within a genre that I love, it’s harder and harder to stick by shows when they fall from grace into filler hell. When filler is used in a case where viewers would much rather be getting on with the main storyline, it’s even more irritating. For the shows such as Bleach and Naruto, I understand that the point of filler is to give time for the manga author to write further into the story while still cashing in on the success of the series. However, it just doesn’t sit right with me to think the point of an anime adaptation is only to replicate the manga and piggyback off the original’s success. The transition from one medium to the other allows something new to be created – rather than just copying the manga and adding sounds and movement, the anime can build upon the better aspects of the manga, and with a good director/writer at the helm, something better than the original, while still being true to its roots, can be created. In this case, even filler has its place as it gives the chance for that to happen. The writers of the show, clearly having some admiration for the creator of the series, must jump at the chance to express their own interpretations and create something that they can call their own. It’s like a much, much better version of fanfiction which manages to pay respect to the creator by not tampering with the established facts of the series.

Of course with this comes limitation on the parts of the writers. They’re not allowed to mess with the canon of the show in case they annoy the “studio execs” (the quote marks are there because in Bleach the writers broke the fourth wall to point this fact out to the fans. Quite a cool moment). In this case you can end up with the terrible plotlines and (lack of) character development I mentioned before. But even if this is the case that doesn’t justify just how bad some of the filler is. I mean, you have the infamous curry arc in Naruto and more recently in one episode of Bleach there were Anti-Hollow Watermelons. ANTI-HOLLOW WATERMELONS. If you’re going to creat a throwaway comedy episode it could at least contain some actual comedy rather than just fanservice and stupidity. And at the same time if you’re going to write filler, then by god write the best damn filler you can.

Even though I just mentioned Bleach as a bad example, I’ll turn back to the show now as at this moment, the filler arc involving the Zanpakuto rebellion is well-written, engaging and not that badly animated. I think it’s because the writers were allowed a lot more freedom in this case as they were able to create and relate something not yet covered in the manga. As such, it’s turned out great and I eagerly await the conclusion. Also, the original FMA series. Though not filler it (started off with the manga’s beginning) what made it so good is that it took elements of the original, filled in some of the parts that were lacking (i.e character development) and proceeded to improve upon the series in its own unique way. It must’ve gotten to the point where’d they’d changed so much they couldn’t go back – the writers must have though “we have a chance to create something fantastic here, let’s do it completely our own way rather than trampling on the manga’s plotline and linking it back at the end”.  As a result, we have a truly great series.

I think the key to good filler is filling in those little cracks the manga author has left behind, intentional or not, and giving the writers the ability to express their own creativity in relation to the series. The more freedom they have, the more of an urge they have not to mess things up and make the show look bad – instead they create something memorable as an homage to the original series.