I don't think filler episodes are bad and a guy at a con in Baltimore last month made me say it out loud

Kim Murphy · 2026-10-11T21:55:05.42757+00:00

So I was at this small anime con in Baltimore last month, standing in line for a ramen bowl that cost me $14 and tasted like hot salt water, and this guy next to me starts going off about how any show with filler episodes is automatically trash. I said I actually like filler sometimes, and he looked at me like I kicked his dog. He goes, "Name one filler arc that's better than the main story," all smug, and when I said the boat arc in One Piece gave us some of the best crew moments, he just waved his hand and said that doesn't count. Here's my problem with that whole way of thinking: filler is where a lot of shows let the characters just exist. No big bad, no stakes, just the group hanging out and being themselves, and that stuff is what makes me care when the real fights start. If a show rushes from one plot point to the next with zero downtime, I stop feeling anything when someone dies because I barely know them. This guy's rule of "skip anything not in the manga" would turn every show into a highlight reel with no heart. So what filler arcs do you defend, and which ones are genuinely unwatchable to you?

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I don't think filler episodes are bad and a guy at a con in Baltimore last month made me say it out loud | Anime Discussions - Thought Shares