Do you feel that filler hurts or helps the story as a whole?

[DragonBallKing]

Filler has both good( extra Saiyan arc training) and bad( All namek filler) aspects but as a whole does it help or hinder the story? This includes filler for both DB and the Z portion.

Basically if you had a choice between have all filler or have no filler straight manga anime adaptation(Not Kai, just Z without filler).

[precita]

Filler in DBZ was only really poor in some parts of the Namek saga. For all other sagas it was fine.

[TheMikado]

Having seen how it works first hand with younger kids I think the filler is a huge reason for its original success across so many age groups including 5-10 year olds, Kai on the other hand appeals more to tweens

[KBABZ]

As a whole, I think Kai demonstrably shows that it hurts more than it helps, and I doubt the writers would want to include most filler content and would prefer to stick to the original story. Things take way too friggin' long to actually happen and it destroys a lot of the momentum. That being said, filler works a bit better today because we can watch the episodes later in an official archive and binge a lot of them. Sometimes even a baseball episode works because it allows you and the characters to take a step back and breathe before the next moment of drama (Avatar's Tales of Ba Sing Se is a fantastic example of this).

But as you mentioned, it does allow for some more character-based episodes that help flesh things out.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Little kids loved Kai. Especially evident in the Toonzai airing, 25OK Kids 6-11 and loads of kids younger than that completing 1 million.

But I do agree, DBZ is more for less jaded and critical folks that dont mind the slow pace. Like children are.

[KBABZ]

But I do agree, DBZ is more for less jaded and critical folks that dont mind the slow pace. Like children are.

Or adults who don't have the time to watch 300 episodes of anime!

[Cure Dragon 255]

No, they literally said that little kids watched it more than adults and the intended 6-11 demographic. They made up so much of the audience that they removed Shenron from the opening because he was too scary to little kids. But you are still right. I do think its insanely cute that adults watch it with their little ones!

EDIT:Oh you werent talking about Toonzai. Nevermind then. LAWL.

[DB1984]

Filler definitely helped out the Piccolo Daimao arc.

[Cure Dragon 255]

But I do agree, DBZ is more for less jaded and critical folks that dont mind the slow pace. Like children are.

Or adults who don't have the time to watch 300 episodes of anime!

On second look, this comment doesnt really make sense. I said DBZ not Kai.

[ABED]

How do you figure the filler helped the series become more popular?

Some filler is good and fills out the story and characters, like Gohan and his development before fighting the Saiyans. Some is just fun, like Inoshikacho, but most of it hurts the momentum of the story. Overall the bad filler outweighs the good filler.

Think of filler as salt on a steak. Some can be enjoyable, but too much and it ruins the meal.

[KBABZ]

But I do agree, DBZ is more for less jaded and critical folks that dont mind the slow pace. Like children are.

Or adults who don't have the time to watch 300 episodes of anime!

On second look, this comment doesnt really make sense. I said DBZ not Kai.

Yes and Dragon Ball Z has 299 episodes, Kai has 99 + 50, which is half that.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I know but my comment was that kids didnt mind DBZ. And then you said "Or adults who don't have the time to watch 300 episodes of anime!" which doesnt really mesh at all.

[KBABZ]

I know but my comment was that kids didnt mind DBZ. And then you said "Or adults who don't have the time to watch 300 episodes of anime!" which doesnt really mesh at all.

Ah, yes you are correct.

I'l uh... be over there, in the corner.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Its okay! You are cool! We are all united by Dragon Ball!

[Fizzer]

Filler helps when it adds something new. Extra adventures, slice of life episodes and so on, with some notable exceptions like the Namek stuff, really do help flesh out the story and the world. This benefit is more than cancelled out by the type of filler that sees fights drag on and on and on, with dozens of repetetive shots of other characters commentating while the story isn't moving forward at all. It also doesn't help when repeated filler scenes basically use the same joke over and over again, like a lot of Roshi filler scenes do.

[PsionicWarrior]

I love the fillers, to me they are part of the franchise and contribute in their own way, be it with character development or the start of a build-up for an eventual threat to come etc

[ABED]

This benefit is more than cancelled out by the type of filler that sees fights drag on and on and on, with dozens of repetetive shots of other characters commentating while the story isn't moving forward at all.

I would say the constant cutaways to Bulma and Chichi are far worse than the filler added to the fights which often add interesting moments to the fight not there in the manga.

[sintzu]

There are areas where it really helped like the Buu arc's fights but then there's the Namek arc's where it just brought the story down. If I had to pick between having it or not I wouldn't simply because I want to see the author's work in the closest form to his manga.

[Bullza]

For most anime it hurts it tremendously.

Dragon Ball did have some equally terrible filler as well but it improved considerably starting after the Namek Saga.

It's fun, it's a change of pace, shows more of the world and shows the characters, sometimes the lesser characters, in their ordinary lives.

[Lord Beerus]

It all depends of its quality and how much it actually adds to the story as a whole. You can have a good filler episode, but it doesn't anything to expand on the story, or the character, then you're ultimately going to have people question what really is the point of that episode. All it did was needlessly halt or slow down the ongoing narrative.