Anime is becoming a massive medium with each passing year and the amount of content seems to just grow exponentially, with hundreds of anime released every year and thousands of episodes being produced. There are even anime that have been continuously releasing episodes for many years, but where does this endless supply of content come from? Well major credit goes to the amazing talent of the creators but there is one such important thing that keeps these long-running anime from taking breaks and that is filler episodes.
What is filler you may ask?
Well, filler or non-canon refers to a story or a part of the story that was not in the source like in the manga or novel but was introduced as a part of anime production. Fillers usually tend to be of lower quality both in terms of story or visually compared to the rest of the anime but there are several exceptions too.
There are many kinds of reasons production studios choose to implement filler :
As in Gintoki's words ... Sometimes the anime episodes catch up to the current manga story and if they continue to do so the anime will overtake the manga with no material to adapt, hence studios insert some filler episodes to let the anime story take a roundabout giving manga time to go ahead and anime continues with manga soon after. There can be many complications too, like what if the roundabout is too big and anime cannot continue to rejoin the manga well that's another story. Long-running shonen is notorious for inserting a lot of filler episodes and sometimes it can be annoying for the fans to wait another week for an episode will little progression in the story.
1. Detective Conan: Case Closed
Case Closed/Detective Conan is an ongoing anime series that started in 1996. So far 1077 episodes of Case Closed have been aired. With 482 reported filler episodes, Case Closed has a high filler percentage of 45%. Its creator Aoyama started having major health issues a few years back and hence the number of hiatuses increased, now the manga chapter doesn't come out as often as before but the anime continues, the pandemic is to blame for this too.
Case closed is about a detective named Shinichi Kudo who gets captured while investigating a certain Black Organisation and is forced to eat a pill that is meant to kill him however Kudo suddenly turns into a child instead, now he goes into hiding but continues his investigation.
2. Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden
Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden are among one the most popular anime they were aired from 2002 to 2017 with a total of 720 episodes combined, it had around 293 filler episodes and a high filler percentage of 41%. Long-running series, commonly have a lot of filler episodes and Naruto is no different.
Naruto is a series about our young ninja Naruto and his adventures that follow as he goes on his path to becoming the Hokage, the greatest ninja of the village. He wants to get the respect of everyone in the village since as a child he was rejected by everyone for having a demon fox sealed inside him.
3. Pokémon
Pokémon is another popular series and it's still ongoing since 1997. Around 1109 episodes of Pokemon have aired so far with a total of 233 filler episodes, yet it has a moderate filler percentage of 21%. Pokemon has been going on for years and it has many adventure-filled episodes.
Pokemon is a story about Ash Ketchum as he sets out to travel around the world catching pokemon with his partner Pikachu, making friends, training, and competing to become the very best pokemon trainer, The Pokemon Master.
4. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is another ongoing anime on the list that started in 2017 as a successor of the Naruto franchise. it has 293 episodes with a total of 182 filler episodes that can be debated to be anime canon but it is still filler. Boruto has a high filler percentage of around 62%, continuing the legacy of Naruto, the studios did not want the hype to end hence Boruto anime continued with fillers.
Naruto achieved his dream to become the Hokage and the greatest ninja in the village but Boruto is a story of the new generation of ninjas that are ready to take over and this generation is led by no other but Boruto, Naruto's very own son.
5. Bleach
Another one of the big 3 is here with Bleach. Bleach started airing in 2004 and ran from 2004 to 2012. In total it had 366 episodes with a whooping 163 filler episodes which had a high filler percentage of 45%. While Bleach is back again with a Thousand-year blood war but this time it does not seem to have fillers and is following the seasonal pattern. Bleach had very long filler arcs and was made to blend into the story very well.
Bleach follows the story of Ichigo Kurosaki and how his life changed just after a fateful encounter with a soul reaper named Kuchiki Rukia.
6. To Love Ru
Case Closed/Detective Conan is an ongoing anime series that started in 1996. So far 1077 episodes of Case Closed have been aired. With 482 reported filler episodes, Case Closed has a high filler percentage of 45%. Its creator Aoyama started having major health issues a few years back and hence the number of hiatuses increased, now the manga chapter doesn't come out as often as before but the anime continues, the pandemic is to blame for this too.
Case closed is about a detective named Shinichi Kudo who gets captured while investigating a certain Black Organisation and is forced to eat a pill that is meant to kill him however Kudo suddenly turns into a child instead, now he goes into hiding but continues his investigation.
7. Kuroshitsuji: Black Butler
Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden are among one the most popular anime they were aired from 2002 to 2017 with a total of 720 episodes combined, it had around 293 filler episodes and a high filler percentage of 41%. Long-running series, commonly have a lot of filler episodes and Naruto is no different.
Naruto is a series about our young ninja Naruto and his adventures that follow as he goes on his path to becoming the Hokage, the greatest ninja of the village. He wants to get the respect of everyone in the village since as a child he was rejected by everyone for having a demon fox sealed inside him.
8. Trigun & Trigun Stampede
Pokémon is another popular series and it's still ongoing since 1997. Around 1109 episodes of Pokemon have aired so far with a total of 233 filler episodes, yet it has a moderate filler percentage of 21%. Pokemon has been going on for years and it has many adventure-filled episodes.
Pokemon is a story about Ash Ketchum as he sets out to travel around the world catching pokemon with his partner Pikachu, making friends, training, and competing to become the very best pokemon trainer, The Pokemon Master.