×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Why do they use filler?




Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
x_Hisoka_x



Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 260
Location: Formerly: Anime_Newcomer
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:35 pm Reply with quote
Ok, all I've been hearing is that Naruto filler sucks. I've heard that filler is used while the anime is waiting for the manga to catch up or something. I think that is completely stupid. Why don't they just use the season method? Like in primetime tv shows like Prison Break or 24. They make roughly 25 episodes and then that's the end of the first season and it takes them time to make more. Why don't they do that in anime? What's with this need to get a new episode out every week. I know countless people who've stopped watching Naruto because of the shit filler. So why do they make filler episodes when they aren't necessary?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Steventheeunuch





PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:40 pm Reply with quote
Because they have to keep the show going on TV, lest it stop and loose momentum with the audience, and because of either creative desicions, or in case of Naruto/Kenshin etc, the Anime at that point had caught up to the Manga, hence the reason why there's 'side story' episodes and what not.
Back to top
Dranxis



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 591
Location: Ohtori Academy
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:44 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, a show can lose it's TV spot if it were to stop for long periods of time and just wait for the manga to get ahead. Some shows, like Hunter x Hunter however, just wait and release OVAS later, which makes for a much better show in the long run.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
x_Hisoka_x



Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 260
Location: Formerly: Anime_Newcomer
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Doing it by seasons would increase interest in the show, not decrease it. One of my favourite TV shows called Prison Break is coming back with it's third season next week. I can't wait. I've been waiting a couple months for it to come back. It's so good. Just because it's seasonal doesn't mean im going to go, "No, it goes by seasons, I don't feel like watching it anymore. It's not interesting." It increases interest because it spikes suspense and curiosity because the last epsiode is ALWAYS a cliffhanger. It keeps people coming back to see what's happening. If Naruto had done this then it would to my knowledge still have roughly 20 fans (people I know who stopped watching because of the filler) and I know their not the only ones.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Nagisa
Moderator


Joined: 19 Aug 2003
Posts: 6128
Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:57 pm Reply with quote
Anime_Newcomer wrote:
Ok, all I've been hearing is that Naruto filler sucks. I've heard that filler is used while the anime is waiting for the manga to catch up or something. I think that is completely stupid. Why don't they just use the season method? Like in primetime tv shows like Prison Break or 24. They make roughly 25 episodes and then that's the end of the first season and it takes them time to make more. Why don't they do that in anime?


For some series, that's exactly what they do. Black Lagoon, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Rozen Maiden, Full Metal Panic!, Aria, School Rumble, they all have seaons made with breaks in between.

BUT, Naruto's a different kind of series, and Japan generally has a different structure to their TV seasons. For the most part, Japan's seasons consist of three-month quarters, four to a year, with no real downtime in between. This is because, where most of our dramas and comedies and animations will stretch out as long as we can make them (hence needing time in between seasons to gauge whether a show's worth continuing and produce the next batch of episodes), Japan generally only produces one or two-season long series and leaves it at that. Really only recently it seems, with the aforementioned series, have they begun to adopt more of the Western policy of producing a season, seeing if the show is still viable after that run, and producing another season after that.

But for many of Japan's more popular or more staple shows, they really will make it a constant, weekly thing spanning several seasons. Popular primetime shows, variety shows, obviously news programs, and shounen anime like Naruto are among these sort of "constant" series, which are expected to air once a week, every week, with little to no time off. Whether the manga's run out of material or not, the show is expected to have an episode on the air and that's really the end of that, so a lot of popular, long running shounen anime like Dragon Ball, Bleach, and Naruto, and a lot of general family anime like Inu-Yasha and Detective Conan, will deviate from the manga very frequently and feature large amounts of filler.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address My Anime My Manga
Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6864
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Anime_Newcomer wrote:
I know countless people who've stopped watching Naruto because of the shit filler. So why do they make filler episodes when they aren't necessary?
Yes, but are those people you know:
A) Japanese 8-13 year-old boys, who are the main, target audience of the series, or
B) 15-25 year-old non-Japanese fans who Shocked download the fansubs every week?
Which audience should the producers care about more, the audience that convinces their parents to buy Naruto merchandise and things advertised in TV commercials, or the audience 1600 miles away that steals the episodes, to the tune of 200,000x per week? (Yes, I do personally support fansubs, but I'm trying to see things from the studio's perspective.)
Also, read this.
/me bookmarks site in above link
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
selenta
Subscriber



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 1774
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:28 pm Reply with quote
Although what everyone says is certainly true... the problem that I have with fillers is this: why not just wait a season or two for most shows and cut down SIGNIFICANTLY on, eliminate all need, for fillers to being with? It shouldn't be a big deal to wait another season or two for long lasting series if it means not being forced to draw out the story or add pointless crap to a show. I think so many more adaptations would be so much better if they just waited until the manga was completely over or timed it just right so the manga would finish only a few months before the show.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Nagisa
Moderator


Joined: 19 Aug 2003
Posts: 6128
Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:42 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
A) Japanese 8-13 year-old boys, who are the main, target audience of the series, or


Zalis raises a good point. Teenage and adult audiences may have the patience to wait around a few seaons while a show takes a break, but the target audience of elementary school kids aren't as patient. Hence the reason a show aimed at that audience typically has to keep going, while shows aimed at older folks, like Black Lagoon and Aria, are given breaks between seasons.

selenta wrote:
I think so many more adaptations would be so much better if they just waited until the manga was completely over or timed it just right so the manga would finish only a few months before the show.


Problem here is that with popular shows, the producers have to "strike while the iron's hot," so to speak. They're producing the anime to both ride and boost the manga's popularity, so they have to get the show out there right at that point where the manga starts to take off. Waiting until the manga's over (which for some shounen and family manga can take up to a half-decade or more), or trying to somehow "time" the anime's airing, risks placing the anime at a bad time and limiting both the anime and menga's success. Do you think a Naruto anime would be as popular around 2011 or so when Kishimoto's finished the series? And on that same note, do you think the Naruto manga would be as popular without an anime to spread the word around?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address My Anime My Manga
selenta
Subscriber



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 1774
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:35 pm Reply with quote
Nagisa wrote:
Problem here is that with popular shows, the producers have to "strike while the iron's hot," so to speak. They're producing the anime to both ride and boost the manga's popularity, so they have to get the show out there right at that point where the manga starts to take off. Waiting until the manga's over (which for some shounen and family manga can take up to a half-decade or more), or trying to somehow "time" the anime's airing, risks placing the anime at a bad time and limiting both the anime and menga's success. Do you think a Naruto anime would be as popular around 2011 or so when Kishimoto's finished the series? And on that same note, do you think the Naruto manga would be as popular without an anime to spread the word around?


Yeah, I know... that doesn't mean I have to like it though. I really don't think Naruto would have suffered significantly as an anime by delaying the initial release by a year, or possibly even two. The manga had been coming out for a while before the show aired, and I really doubt people would have said "meh, the show's not coming out in the next two months? It must not be worth watching then."

I say this only because of the major differences in demographics between the people who read the manga in Japan, and the people who watch the TV show. An extra year would have done little except allow more time for rumors of the intended show to circulate before its initial airing. Perhaps enough rumors could have been spread during that year to have helped Naruto air in primetime from its first episode, rather than having to wait 6 months for a good time slot and enough popularity.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group