Filler Episodes - Are they important?

[CliveKoopa]

Wow, I didn't even think this topic would still be active after all this time. IMO, there is no such thing as a filler as virtually all episodes have some kind of character development no matter how little and we get to see more of the expanded Pokemon Universe in each and every episode.

 

[jda95]

The very definition of filler pretty much answers that question. No. Filler is designed to take up space, plain and simple. Whether or not filler can be enjoyable, however, is a completely different question. (The answer to that is yes, by the way. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.)

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Wow, I didn't even think this topic would still be active after all this time. IMO, there is no such thing as a filler as virtually all episodes have some kind of character development no matter how little and we get to see more of the expanded Pokemon Universe in each and every episode.

Do we really have to know that ribbon twirling shows with pokemon exist. No it's boring as hell. They can show and develop characters in the main story and they can easy add more story. Give Ash like ten rivals make more evil groups and have Ash go on mini quest to make him stronger. There boom plenty of stuff to do every episode.

 

[Almonds]

I don't find them overly entertaining unless they were based on the games.

 

[Iteru]

I think fillers are very important in padding out the time between important events in the show for a number of reasons.

The first in my opinion is the timing of a saga. As we know a new episode tends to air every week and I don't think there is simply enough "non-filler" to be able to be the subject of all of those episode. Satoshi's quest involves earning 8 badges (which is definitely not enough, not even if he lost against every gym leader and had training episodes before challenging them again). This could be rectified by say, expanding the gym quest so that it requires more effort than in the games but then that defeats the purpose of the anime altogther: being an advertisement.

The second is that fillers actually give us a chance to see the character's personalities more. I do think personality can be shown in non-fillers but I think in a more "relaxed" episode you can see the characters in a more casual sense. It's also nice to see them not always "on" in regard to their goals, like Saotshi being fired up for a match or something.

Thirdly, non-fillers can get tiring after a while. Honestly, I think they'd lose some meaning if they were on constantly. Satoshi saving some people from TP nearly everyweek would cause people to resent them (the same way some resent fillers in fact). Variety is a good thing, in my opinion.

And last, they can be pretty damn entertaining when done right. This one always gets mentioned, but the Togepy DP episode. That's pretty much universally praised across the fandom.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I agree that filler is needed because there isn't enough plot it would do them much benefit to add more. One suggestion make the league longer. Seriously the entire anime is build up to the league so 7 episodes really isn't enough.

 

[Caseydia]

Fillers can be done right if you take stuff from the game, add a new character and some Pokemon development. It's just that I don't really feel that the BW fillers aren't important because Oshawott is is mostly all of them, there is no better character development from the villians and the plots of the stories have toned down a lot from DP standards.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

They are boring as hell and they can make the plot more complex to avoid them. Also a tournament in yu gi oh is an entire half of a season a tourney in Pokemon 7 eps. Really?

 

[Zexy]

Fillers are mostly a waste of space. They are there mostly for marketing purposes, and even though they are sometimes fun, they tend to be more of a chore, while leaving less episodes for Leagues and/or post-League arcs. What can be more annyoning though, are the 4-episode-arcs that are fillers outside each other! I mean, things like the Summer Academy, Twinleaf Festival, Larvitar eps. The main reason Johto/Sinnoh did not get second arcs is fillers or 4-part-fillerish-plots.

EDIT: Not to mention that 6-string at the start of Battle Frontier... The main reason the rest of the saga was rushed.

 

[megaevolvedmushroom]

Sometimes filler can be important *points at The Path to the Pokemon League*

 

[Cybersai]

When they take up 60-70% of a saga like in Johto, yes they're a waste of time and unimportant. You could literally skip more than half of Johto's episodes and you wouldn't miss anything important.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think that they are important in a few ways. Filler episodes can act as a nice breather between battle heavy episodes like Gym Battles, Contests and Leagues to let the audience relax. They are also important in padding out the series so that they don't go through all of the important events before the new series is ready. Filler episodes can also be a nice way of showing off the group dynamics, fleshing out the characters' personalities and doing something different with the characters and their Pokemon that doesn't necessarily have to be focused on battling someone else.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

When they take up 60-70% of a saga like in Johto, yes they're a waste of time and unimportant. You could literally skip more than half of Johto's episodes and you wouldn't miss anything important.

Out of 158 episodes, around 50 to max 60 episodes (give or take)were truly ones where nothing significant to characters or plot happened(in other words fillers). Why people act like more than half of Johto was filler based is beyond me.
Johto had more to it than only gyms and fillers such as episodes focusing on development of Misty and Brock, episodes focusing on pokemon capture or its development, arcs about TR organization or Whirl Cup, return of several recurring characters but apparently for Johto different rules apply with plot related episodes being "fillers" too.

On topic itself:Fundamentally its mistake imo to skip on "fillers" automatically discarding them as "irrelevant". Because such episodes often explored more on character personalities making viewer understand protagonists better, it often served as bedstead for future development giving viewer chance to get whole picture of his history and allowed to build up on friendship between characters.

I saw people saying how show should only include gym battles, episodes about pokemon captures and character development but that would be disaster turning anime into game. Relaxing non obligatory nature of content in some episodes based on humor and lighthearted side adventures often adds extra appeal to TV series balancing things out preventing viewers from ending tired with plot related episodes, it often get us familiar more with main heroes of some story and provides vibe of anime feeling adventurous where friends explore world making it more human like and easier to relate to.

 

[Fandango]

I don't really have a problem with filler episodes. Formulaic episodes is where I have problems.

 

[Caseydia]

Filler episodes are important to a degreee. If there hasn't been any plot driven episodes in atleast five episode gap, then I think it should be thought about when using too much of them.

 

[blowsave]

If they were used for character development they would be. Instead they're Pokemon of the week ads, so no.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

If they were used for character development they would be. Instead they're Pokemon of the week ads, so no.

If episodes had character development, they wouldn't even be fillers.

 

[blowsave]

If they were used for character development they would be. Instead they're Pokemon of the week ads, so no.

If episodes had character development, they wouldn't even be fillers.

Seems like we have very different ideas about what counts as filler.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

Seems like we have very different ideas about what counts as filler.

It would appear that we do.

Allow me to explain what really constitutes as a filler: an episode that contains no important events in any way, whatsoever. This includes gym challenges/Contests, Pokemon captures/evolutions, and, yes, this does also certainly include character development, because the characters are the driving force of the plotlines behind this show. Without episodes that develop a character's skills, problems, etc., said character's growth will seemingly come from nowhere without reason. It's important that we have trainers and Pokemon learning new things, training to get stronger, bonding to get closer - because all of those things are a big part of what the anime is all about.

If an episode can be skipped without missing a thing, then it is truly a filler. Perhaps there are some that can be argued one way or another, but otherwise, a filler is a filler and vice versa.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

Not really, but sometimes they do offer a bit of development.