Naruto is a legendary anime in part because of its filler. That much is absolutely undeniable. Storylines like the “Kakashi’s Anbu” arc show the incredible work that Naruto‘s filler does in expanding the series’ most critical characters, not to mention drawing attention to elements of its narrative and world-building that otherwise easily fall into the background. Some of Naruto‘s most endearing moments—those which really cement and showcase its identity—are 100% filler.
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Filler is an indelible part of Naruto to the point that, if the anime were ever remade, fans would consider a fair amount of its filler to be an essential inclusion. But that raises the question: what about the disposable filler? The really bad filler? Unfortunately, Naruto has that in spades, too. Here, we’re going over the worst of the worst of Naruto‘s filler and figuring out the moments that absolutely must be left behind.
1) “Ino Screams! Chubby Paradise!” (Naruto Episode 192)
Love it or hate it, “Ino Screams! Chubby Paradise!” is one of the most controversial Naruto filler episodes of all time—if not the most. In it, Ino is contracted to basically catfish a fella. Her overweight princess doppelganger, Fuku, feels too unsightly to show her face to her fiancé for the first time, and Ino’s job is to win the fiancé over. Meanwhile, Naruto eventually comes into the fray, transforming into the princess and sowing confusion as he’s wont to do.
The episode has some really funny moments, as long as you’re not too much of a prude for a little toilet humor. But all told, “Chubby Paradise” is just outdated; a lot of it falls flat. It really just serves to make Ino look like a worse person, especially when it turns out that the Elvis-lite fiancé prefers bigger women and Ino can’t compute that. The problem with “Ino Screams! Chubby Paradise!” isn’t that it’s offensive (although to some, it definitely would be)—it’s that its particular brand of anti-tubby humor is suffocatingly boring by now, feeling more like a relic than anything worth watching. Unless you’re just superbly bored.
2) “The Allied Mom Force!!” (Naruto Shippuden Episode 281)
Some people genuinely love “The Allied Mom Force!!”, but they’re few and far between. In “The Allied Mom Force!!”, the mothers of Konoha band together in anticipation of an attack; the attacking group turns out to be a bunch of sumo wrestlers. In the meantime, Konohamaru gathers up the Konoha children to stay alert to an impending attack, and they’re thrown off by a circus.
Konohamaru has a split reception within the Naruto fandom; to get a read on the general perception, Konohamaru is a character with a lot of potential who is over-and-over wasted by Naruto, the salt in the wound being his relegation to dull filler in the anime. The episode isn’t exactly Konohamaru-centered, but he certainly plays a major role. Meanwhile, your take on the episode will be subject to how outrageous you’re willing to let Naruto‘s antics get. For most viewers, though, we can safely say that “The Allied Mom Force!!” comes down to a half-hour much better spent doing anything else.
3) “Rain Followed by Snow, with Some Lightning” (Naruto Shippuden Episode 313)
Yota is by and large one of the most annoying, outright creepy characters Naruto has ever introduced. Granted, Yota’s story is quite sad; he died young, was eventually reincarnated by Orochimaru as an experiment, and made a handful of friends in Konoha before leaving due to a misunderstanding with Naruto during a game of hide-and-seek. Years later, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he makes a reappearance: that’s where this episode comes in.
It kicks off a short mini-arc of Yota-themed filler episodes, as White Zetsu clones of Yota confront shinobi in three locations (and later, the real Yota joins the fray). These episodes involve a bit of backstory expansion and reminiscence, plus Yota’s intriguing weather manipulation. The problem is that Yota simply isn’t charming enough to justify them—not even remotely. Like a lot of Naruto filler, Yota’s arc also comes at absolutely the wrong time; unlike a lot of it, Yota’s arc veers into being genuinely painful to watch.
4) “Impossible! Celebrity Ninja Art: Money Style Jutsu!” (Naruto Episode 174)
In this filler, Naruto is tasked with looking after a rich kid whose “jutsu” is just buying things with his father’s money. The premise is classic: a person who’s never had to work for anything meets someone with an alpha grindset who steers them in the right direction, or something. The episode ends on a sweet note and a minor redemption arc before the kid in question, Kunihisa, disappears into the void of filler characters never to be seen again.
Naruto finds the rich kid annoying and bratty, if that wasn’t clear already. Now, the ideal relationship between the viewer and Naruto would be one where the viewer projects themselves onto Naruto by way of a shared annoyance with Kunihisa, making the payoff of his redemption delight the viewer just as much as it delights Naruto. No such luck, in this case! Kunihisa is repulsively annoying, and the episode just isn’t engaging enough (nor is its payoff worthwhile enough) to make up for that fact. Sorry, Naruto.
5) “The Appearance of Strange Visitors” (Naruto Episode 161)
Setting the stage: Naruto wants to become stronger in anticipation of his years of training with Jiraiya, and nobody could be a better help to him than Rock Lee and Might Guy, Konoha’s disciplined taijutsu masters. But oh no! When Naruto goes to seek them out, they’re out of town on a mission. Instead, he finds two impostors masquerading as Lee and Guy: Potcha and Mondai, respectively, who wanted to infiltrate Konoha and gather secrets to gain notoriety in their own village.
Naruto follows the pair around, unable to tell them apart from the real deal, while Konoha’s citizens see right through them and subject them to miserable chores. Naruto sees this as training and joins in on the “fun”. It’s a cute episode in theory, and it performs one of filler’s most critical roles in Naruto—building out its woefully underserved world—but it’s just not fun to watch. The focus on Mondai and Potcha feels pointless when they disappear after the fact, and it’s ultimately just gag filler for the sake of gag filler. Great if you’re in the mood for it—pretty bad otherwise.
7) “Eat or Die! Mushrooms from Hell” (Naruto Shippuden Episode 229)
The “Paradise Life on a Boat” arc is divisive. It’s long, it’s ill-timed, and it’s essentially all non-canonical (to the extent that matters). The arc isn’t all bad, but it always threatens viewers with a breaking point that, for most people, always comes eventually. There are a few particularly unfortunate moments in this arc, though. This episode is arguably the lowest of the low.
In “Eat or Die! Mushrooms from Hell”, Naruto and Guy chow down on poisonous mushrooms, lose control, and end up fighting. There are some accessory moments around that, but that’s the core of the episode, and it just doesn’t have a point. It’s not very fun to watch, and it doesn’t serve a greater purpose; compare to “The Cursed Ghost Ship” (Episode 225) which at least charms with a tragic ghost boy and teases some interesting ghost mechanics, or “Revenge of the Shadow Clones” (Episode 230) which is endearingly goofy and beloved by many fans.
6) “Animal District” (Naruto Shippuden Episode 185)
The meme, the myth, the legend: Naruto Shippuden‘s infamous ninja ostrich episode. This episode takes place in the aftermath of Pain’s assault on Konoha, and it reflects on another filler installment only a few episodes before, “Naruto’s School of Revenge” (Episode 181). For context, the aforementioned filler featured a flashback to a time long before, when Team 7 had been charged with taking care of an ostrich named Condor. In “Animal District”, Condor is back with a vengeance, having learned to speak and honed its ninja skills.
If it sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. Condor comes as the leader of a team called the Four Ninja Animal Warriors, and to be fair, they’re pretty strong. But the episode itself is a drag, and it’s the epitome of cheap distraction while viewers and Konoha itself are dealing with the fallout of Konoha’s most significant direct threat ever. Some fans enjoy the running gag set up here with the ostrich, but a good chuckle or two doesn’t give 20 minutes of your life back.
8) “Meeting” (Naruto Shippuden Episode 257)
Did you know that Naruto really wanted to be Sasuke’s friend for a while? If, somewhere along the line while watching Naruto, you somehow miss the, uh, everything happening, you’ll love the four-episode recap right before the Fourth Great Ninja War kicks off. Starting in Episode 257 and lasting through to Episode 260, “Meeting” initiates a divisive run of filler that most fans recommend skipping thanks to its total disruption of momentum.
Like everything, “Meeting” and crew have their merits and their place. While most Naruto fans wouldn’t recommend starting with Naruto Shippuden, let’s be honest: a lot of people do. For those fans, there’s some benefit behind the recap. Many fans also like seeing Naruto and Sasuke’s early days revised in Shippuden‘s art style and modern production quality, plus there’s a little expansion of context and peripheral characters. For most fans, though, “Meeting” and the rest of its arc is a skip.
9) “The Weight of the Prized Artifact!” (Naruto Episode 208)
“The Weight of the Prized Artifact!” isn’t just yawn-inducing; it’s also an unfortunate reflection of how low-effort and frustrating filler can be. One of Naruto‘s lowest-rated episodes ever, “The Weight of the Prized Artifact!” is based around Naruto and Kiba’s mission to escort a man, Shin’emon, and protect the titular prized artifact at any cost. Shin’emon is just insufferable, insisting that Naruto and Kiba be willing to die to protect his little tea bowl.
The big comic relief twist of the episode, after the bowl breaks, is that Shin’emon was the potter who made it, and he could easily just make another. The insult this adds to the injury of such a grating watch propels this episode so far into “skip” territory that it’s unlikely to ever be recovered. Oh well—at least Studio Pierrot can easily just make another.
10) “Naruto vs. Mecha-Naruto” (Naruto Shippuden Episode 377)
Fun fact: the Fourth Great Ninja War happens over the course of two days. Despite that, it consumes over 200 episodes. That’s already a pretty sizable chunk, even leaving its sizable portion of filler aside. Time moves very slowly throughout those 200 episodes. Now, Episode 375 of Shippuden had one of Naruto‘s most legendary fights—Kakashi vs. Obito—and ended with Obito transforming into the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki. Pretty hype, right?
Then come two filler episodes based on a flashback centered around a Mecha-Naruto. If the premise sounds ridiculous, rest assured: things only get worse from there as the filler turns the absurdity up with more gimmicks like Mecha-Kurama. While it’s fun to see all hands on deck trying to take down Mecha-Naruto, it’s not enough to change this hated filler’s fate. Not only are these episodes tedious, but they also divert attention during a peak flash point of the Fourth Great Ninja War.
We want to make clear: we at ComicBook Anime absolutely love Naruto‘s filler! We think it gets a much worse rap than it ever deserved. But it’s far from perfect. If you have a particular low point you think we missed, drop it in a comment below.
Finally, if you can’t get enough Naruto lists, then keep your deep-dive going with ten characters who exposed Naruto‘s dark underbelly.
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image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
