Naruto Fan Removes The Filler From The Anime Series

The world of Naruto has only continued to expand over the decades, with the current story of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations following the latest batch of ninjas born from the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha. The anime adaptation of the series gives fans more content via original content which exists outside of the manga, but one fan has decided to give their partner a gift that strikes the “filler content” from the series overall, which is a hefty task considering how large a percentage original content is for the television series.       

If you aren’t aware, a “filler episode” is an anime episode that was created specifically for television, not having been told in the original source material of either a show’s manga or light novel origins. Naruto itself reportedly has around forty percent of original content over the course of these first two series, and continues to release original episodes in its latest series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. In the case of Boruto, the series is effectively allowing the manga to create new stories, with the anime sequel series catching up quite quickly as it recently finished the story of the fight against Jigen of the Kara Organization, which is dangerously close to the manga’s current arc. 

Youtuber Oceaniz broke down the process of editing out all the “Filler” material from the two original series of Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden respectively, which is quite a task unto itself considering the original anime content rounded out to hundreds of episodes of material when all is said and done:

Typically, the response to filler material in anime isn’t received with open arms in the fan community, with said material often giving fans stories that some viewers still can’t wrap their heads around to this day, including ninja ostriches and a robotic doppelganger of Naruto that Orochimaru apparently made in his spare time. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is currently taking the opportunity to use its filler material to highlight characters that didn’t get as much of the spotlight in the manga, while also introducing new characters to the lore of Konoha.

What do you think of filler material in the world of anime? What’s the best example fo filler that you can recall? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Hidden Leaf Village.