Too Much Filler or Too Little Filler?

[DaemonCorps]

Most anime made don't have their manga counterpart completely finished-- an excuse to add filler to the anime so it won't get too close (or even worse... ahead) of the manga. But after seeing the latest Death Note, I noticed how they're really trying to condense the series into a rumored 37 episodes. Since the manga has already been finished, there's minimal to no filler in the episodes. However, the latest episode just cut out a major chunk from the manga, in order to condense an entire volume's worth into that one episode.

So, my general question is: Do you think it's just as bad to have too little filler (to the point of cutting out large parts from the manga) as well as too much filler?

[Jerseymilk]

Hmmmm, that's a good question.....I guess if the series is cutting out really significant, important scenes from the manga in order to condense, then yes I think that's bad. I really feel that too much of anything isn't good, so I don't have a problem with a series containing a bit of filler personally.^^

[sebastian]

I don't mind alot of filler, as long as it's good. It'd be really nice if the original Manga-ka's pitched in for some ideas too, kinda like how Tite Kubo contributed to that Bleach Wii game.

[Xyex]

I don't have a problem with filler so long as it's good. As for cutting out stuff from the manga, so long as it's not important stuff I don't see an issue there either. If it's important to the plot, though, then that's another matter.

[DaemonCorps]

What about anime that's loosely related to their manga counterpart, like YYH or Sailor Moon? In terms of YYH, I found that the anime does a really good job of adding on to the manga, which seems more like a skeleton for what the series should really be.

[TripleRach]

I haven't read the YYH manga yet, but as far as Sailor Moon goes, there was an inevitable fuckton of filler and changes due to the fact that the manga was monthly and the anime was weekly. While I liked the anime overall, and some of the anime-original events were quite powerful, I felt it was a shame that some of the best elements of the manga were changed or left out. The way it was done initially, with Moon, Mercury, and Mars's debut episodes being almost identical to their manga counterparts, with filler in between, seemed a lot better.

I think the filler in the Dragon Ball series was handled really well, though. Everything is there, just with some extra stuff thrown in between.

[sebastian]

WORST FILLER EVAR.......Naruto nuff' said. At first it was......okay, but then after a while you could really tell the writers were running out of ideas. What REALLY did for me was the whole Star Village filler arc. At first it seemed like your generic build up in any filler arc (Naruto, Neji, & I forgot the other person's name visit the village to see what's the problem). It had a badass villain, good backstory for a filler character (believes mother died, has a catchy song that proves relevant to the story). Then a steaming pile of crap conclusion comes (with really bad animation to boot). Filler character finds out mother is still alive, she gets killed off by villain, Naruto saves the day with the spirit of the filler character's mother, completely making the villain utterly useless & irrelevant for the sole purpose to come to a hasty conclusion. In short.... GT style conclusion. I could go on, but for those that have seen the arc know what I'm talking about.

Naruto & Rurouni Kenshin are two examples of why having too much filler is a bad thing. Instead, I prefer how it's done with Dragon Ball & One Piece. Spreading the filler conveniently in order to give time for the main story to develop in its weekly counterparts.

[Xyex]

Agreed with Dragonball. Toei did a damn good job keeping the filler paced out for such a long series. The Garlic Jr. saga was the largest single collection of filler in the entire series but it was entertaining (to me, anyway). And I believe the only reason it existed was Toei knew Toriyama had wanted to end with Freeza and quit trying to stay back. Then when the editors made him continue they had to back off again.

[pedrothehutt]

There is no such thing as too little filler! Is it honestly that much of a popularity suicide to halt the series for a season so the manga can gain a healthy head start again?

[Xyex]

pedrothehutt said:

There is no such thing as too little filler! Is it honestly that much of a popularity suicide to halt the series for a season so the manga can gain a healthy head start again?

About the same as waiting until the manga's close to finished or finished before even starting on the anime. >>

[Jerseymilk]

pedrothehutt said:

There is no such thing as too little filler! Is it honestly that much of a popularity suicide to halt the series for a season so the manga can gain a healthy head start again?

It is indeed an odd thing about anime and something I hear many North American fans state. It just appears that things are done differently in Japan and they seem to be of the belief that they shouldn't air reruns of a series, but instead only ever air an ep of a show once.

I really don't know enough about Japanese fandom to say whether or not they have less of a problem with filler than we do. Though the cancellation of the Kenshin series due to too much filler for too long, shows that there can be dissatisfaction amongst Japanese viewers as well.

Perhaps it's the fact that so much more anime airs all the time there, that they view it as more of a "throwaway" type of entertainment, much like manga? Hence they don't care as much about issues like filler.

[Eclipse]

Since the manga has already been finished, there's minimal to no filler in the episodes. However, the latest episode just cut out a major chunk from the manga, in order to condense an entire volume's worth into that one episode.

Which episode was this?

I myself prefer too little filler. As we all know, too much can be a bad thing (Naruto >.>). But there are some times when deviating from the original material can be quite cool (Death Note episode 25, for starters. )

[DaemonCorps]

eclipse said:

Since the manga has already been finished, there's minimal to no filler in the episodes. However, the latest episode just cut out a major chunk from the manga, in order to condense an entire volume's worth into that one episode.

Which episode was this?

Death Note 29. They removed the part where they first try and get into Mello's hideout with the President's troops. They basically removed everything with the President involved, but still having the VP as president when he's shown in one of the later episodes.

That's a pretty interesting point about the Japanese never airing reruns of things. I guess one could consider that they're treated the same way as game shows are to us in the US.