When it comes to fillers, Naruto is one of the first anime series that comes to mind. Naruto Uzumaki’s journey from an outcast to becoming the world’s greatest ninja was legendary, but it was often interrupted by excessive fillers that were poorly written and badly placed. While these fillers expand the world of Naruto, they still disrupted the overall viewing experience of the audience.
Naruto is not the only anime infamous for excessive fillers. There are a lot of anime out there that contain terrible fillers so bad they make Naruto seem restrained by comparison. Most of these anime are long-running shonen that rely on fillers to not only stretch their stories but also to buy time for the source material.
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The Prince of Tennis
This list would not be complete without mentioning The Prince of Tennis. It is a long-running sports anime that revolves around a genius tennis player named Ryoma Echizen, who defeats opponents one after another with his overpowered attacks. Nowadays, the series could pass as a fantasy anime due to how exaggerated and impossible some of the techniques have become.
Like most long-running shonen, The Prince of Tennis relies on fillers to stretch out its matches, trainings, and tournaments. A single episode contains the same scene replayed multiple times, with slow-motion shots and unnecessary commentary. While there are some occasional fun fillers, many episodes feel like they’re turning a five-minute rally into a full-blown marathon.
The Prince of Tennis
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- 2001 - 2005
- Network
- TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- Directors
- Takayuki Hamana
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is part of this list only because of the infamous “Endless Eight” story arc that most fans consider as filler, despite it not being filler in the traditional sense because it contributes to the main plot in a very drawn-out way.
For context, the Endless Eight arc consists of episodes that are nearly identical, with very little variation between them. It lasted for eight episodes, where the characters are doing the same thing over and over again with little tweaks here and there. Watching them all is a grueling task, almost as if it were a psychological punishment for the fans.
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya
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- 2006 - 2009
Detective Conan (Case Closed)
The amount of fillers in Naruto pales in comparison to the number of fillers in Detective Conan. It has more than 500 filler episodes that slow down the main story with standalone cases, comedic slice-of-life stories, character-focused arcs, and more.
It’s a mixed bag, but fans often find them repetitive and tedious due to the lack of meaningful impact on the main plot involving the Black Organization and Shinichi Kudo. Unless you’re a fan of detective stories, watching 500 filler episodes is a commitment that many fans aren’t prepared for.
Case Closed
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- January 8, 1996
One Piece
Fillers are an unavoidable part of the One Piece viewing experience. While there are good and entertaining ones, they can’t make up for the long stretches of episodes that add little to the main story.
In a single episode of One Piece, fans usually get less than half of an actual adaptation due to the number of fillers mixed into the story. That includes recaps, OPs and EDs, and other unnecessary elements that disrupt the flow of the main plot.
Thankfully, One Piece is switching to seasonal broadcast not only to avoid fillers, fix the pacing, and improve the animation. Had Naruto followed this approach, it might have reduced the number of unnecessary fillers.
One Piece
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- October 20, 1999
Dragon Ball Z
As much as we love Son Goku and his crew, Dragon Ball Z contains fillers that are difficult to skip due to their bad placement. Most of these happen between fights, where Goku, Vegeta, and other Earth warriors have extended stare-downs with the villains. Not to mention, their ultimate moves and signature attacks usually consume more runtime than necessary to charge just to stretch the fight.
While most of Naruto’s fillers offer something new to the audience, the fillers in Dragon Ball Z usually add nothing to the world. There are some comedic fillers that are worth watching, like the episode where Goku and Piccolo took driving lessons, but fans usually find themselves watching Goku power up for 10 episodes straight with little to no progression.
Dragon Ball Z
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- 1989 - 1996
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Boruto has big shoes to fill after the success of Naruto, but that did not stop the series from using unnecessary fillers to test the patience of long-time fans. Unsurprisingly, many fans felt like they aged a decade waiting for anything meaningful to happen in the Boruto anime due to the amount of original content, which is more frustrating than entertaining to watch.
Fortunately, fans can simply turn the pages of the Boruto manga to avoid fillers. There’s little to no irrelevant content in the manga, making it easier for readers to catch up to the main story in no time. Instead of being sidetracked by forgettable arcs, repetitive missions, and forgettable villains, readers can enjoy the story as it was meant to be in the manga.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
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- 2017 - 2023-00-00
Bleach
Just like Naruto, Bleach is notorious for filler episodes that usually kill the momentum of the main story, especially in its most intense arcs. Just when you thought Ichigo Kurosaki was about to achieve a breakthrough, the next episode will switch to a bright and sunny beach setting where nothing of importance to the main story happens.
Bleach has a reported total of 163 fillers, nearly doubling the number of Naruto’s fillers. Among these irrelevant episodes, the Bount Arc overstayed its welcome by containing 28 episodes. Worse, this arc boasts nothing but forgettable villains that will never matter again in the series.
Bleach
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- 2004 - 2012-00-00