#Even the filler episodes are good

[somewhereincairparavel]

Atla episode reaction part 6: OKAY OKAY I watched episodes 8-13 today and omggg Zuko finally joins the gaang! I have so many thoughts rn OMG. Zuko standing up to ozai?? Zuko doing everything he could to earn the gaangs trust? Him doing impersonations of azula and iroh? Him going "why am I so bad at being good?"

This season is Zuko's season OMG. I love the dragon dancing episode? It was so cool!! I also like that toph was the first person to give Zuko a chance yknow? Defending him and stuff.

She understood the impact of inconsiderate family environment because she's been through the same. She had to run away from her parents aswell. I love the whole segment of katara going "we should give him a medal, the 'not as much of a jerk as you could've been' award 💀😭 hilarious

I love how aang is just a lil bro to Zuko almost immediately :( the seeds of their friendship was easily planted during season 1 when aang asked if they had met before they'd be friends.

ALSO KATARA CAN BLOODBEND. SHE CAN BLOODBEND YALL. HOLY FUCK.

Ugh only 8 more episodes :(( I'm sad the series is coming to an end so damn quickly, I'm still trying to watch it as slowly as possible to stall and extend my watch lol but today I crossed my episode limit (I have this unspoken rule that I should only watch 3/4 episodes a day but I watched 5 today). It just got way too interesting for me to NOT watch c'mon.

[recurring-polynya]

One of my fanfic pet peeves is when people try to write Orihime as a bad cook, which is to say, the food she makes is disgusting or makes people sick. I could pull out receipts from canon about how in truth she is just adventurous and enjoys off-beat combinations of things, but I really just want to talk about this absolutely genius creation from Bleach 330:

oh. my. god. I would eat the hell out of that.

You may be thinking, hmm, it's kind of like a dessert pizza, eh? Well. Maybe. Kind of. I feel obligated to point out that there is spicy mayonnaise mixed into the chocolate. But on the other hand, mayonnaise is a legit cake ingredient (it's just an egg/oil emulsion, right?) and chocolate tastes great with a bit of heat.

Chad and Ichigo are skeptical, but they are teenage boys and also WRONG.

Here's the real verdict:

Nozomi knows what's up, and so do Ichigo's sisters.

[lambda-core]

I am way too tired/jetlagged to make this post right now, but the reason Armada Starscream is so specifically well done to me actually isn't just the way he's got more depth than just wanting to take over Megatron. It's the way he falls back on this image he has of himself as someone who is solely focused on Megatron. And he is obsessed with Megatron, but the disconnect between Starscream and his image of himself is what gives him actual depth.

The reason this is so cool to me is like, that self-image--that he is single-mindedly obsessed with Megatron and will sacrifice everything else for that goal, no matter who gets hurt--is pretty close to what every other Starscream is. (The selfishness you associate with Starscream is a little more subtle, but it's there in the "no matter who gets hurt" clause imo.)

So if you go into this as a Transformers fan, you're already expecting Starscream to betray Megatron and try to best him and rule the Decepticons. But so does Starscream, even when he's demonstrably proven to both his peers and the audience that he's more than that. It's almost like his past incarnations--or the audience's expectation of him--haunt him. It turns his own internal man-versus-self conflict into this really cool man-versus-narrative conflict.

And what's crazy about this is, through the last moments of this arc, Starscream does grow beyond the narrative we'd expect from other Starscreams! But he never admits that to himself, because it's easier for him to cling to the idea that he's laser-focused on his hatred of Megatron. Every time he helps the minicons--every time he helps the humans--even in his last words, he LIES to himself and everyone around him that everything he did was always about Megatron. Because it's easier to simplify himself than to grasp that he might be a complex character. Because he's a person and he has all the messy conflicts that come with that. He falls back on the same ideas every single other Starscream did, and THAT is his undoing. Not that he is self-centered because he's Starscream. Not that he is obsessed with Megatron because he's Starscream. That he THINKS he is all of those things and he will not LET himself be anything else.

I would argue that that's a bigger theme in Armada, as well. Optimus and Megatron more or less spend their final fight coming to terms with their story roles in Transformers. I really feel like if you sneezed on them, they would realize they do this in every universe and in every timeline. Starscream's is the most interesting example to me, though, because he's such a departure from other versions of Starscream; hell, he acts (and looks, lol) a lot more like some incarnations of Thundercracker. But he's still got classic Starscream in him in this roundabout meta reference. He's like an homage to his namesake. It's so cool! And it works perfectly with the story he's a part of.

[sanpape]

episode 35: Apollo four Teens is the best s2 dndads episode I've listened to so far like.

the teens get married as a legal loophole to get a banishment spell to work

Nicholas Foster Close being an ordained universal life church minister despite also being a demon

scary going insane from the doodler and reverting back to being a preppy soccer teen

hero forcing normal to set her up with Taylor AND Link, rapidly osilating between her crush on either.

the bit where the characters get sent back into space everytime they anull the marriage, only allowing them to pop back to earth when they recognise in their heart that the marriage is real and true

Anthony fucking up by accidentally having hermie anull the marriage and getting him sent to space

the teens petitioning red bull to send them space suits by doing stunts they hope will go viral

the anulled marriage bit coming BACK when link uses it to get sent to space for his red bull stunt petition

Taylor ALMOST having a really poignant moment with his dad, both of them floating in the vaccum of space with Taylor having to push his dad further away to save him.

normal anticlimacticly banishing nick to hell, immediately removing the danger and stakes and saying "he has two weeks he'll figure it out 🤷🏼‍♀️"

[bright-hope-spot-19]

All right, I hope no one hates me for what I'm about to express because I feel like this is a very unpopular opinion. It is an opinion regarding filler episodes in general. Now, while my opinion is mainly centered around Naruto, cause that's the main anime I've watched and the most infamous for its filler episodes. It can apply to any long-running anime with an abundance of non-canon material.

My opinion is that I not only do not hate fillers and have an appreciation for them, but I also don't understand the extended and agreed upon sentiment of utterly and completely disregarding all kinds of content presented in filler episodes (and some novels). Yeah, there's the justification that fillers aren't canon cause they're not made by the author. They're just extra content created by the studios to gain enough time for the source material to produce new stories. But that's precisely where the issue lies: the refusal to accept any other opinion outside of the mangaka's own.

Fillers are, most of the time, the only ways some beloved side characters can get any relevance and get new content and information about their personalities and what they're normally like outside of their relationships with the main characters. They're also the only ways we can see some characters interact with each other that might have never interacted otherwise in canon material. I'm also aware of the general distaste some main character stans have for side characters, viewing them as 'unnecessary' and mere stepping stools for the protagonists to achieve their goals. I can respect that opinion, but in truth, if we're being objective, side and supporting characters represent the majority of any work's cast. Main characters are a minority, while side characters populate the greater majority of the worlds in any story. While it's true, some side characters are also more relevant and important than others. What I'm trying to convey here is that most of the time, when anyone consumes a story, there's a very high chance most of their favorites will be side characters. Sure, people who only like the protagonists also exist, and their opinions are worthy of respect too, but I believe that for most viewers and readers, side characters with not much screentime or relevance represent some of their faves. That's why fillers and sometimes even side novels are so important.

That was my first point. My 2nd point is...... that there's actual human beings working at the animation studios, making these shows. When filler episodes centered around side characters are created, then that's the work and efforts of said animators put onscreen, regardless of how good said episodes end up being. I choose to believe, and I think this to be true, that when they're tasked with the job of creating extra, filler content about random characters, then those are the opinions and hcs of the animators about said characters that we see reflected onscreen. They're the ones in charge of producing the show and bringing these characters to life, so it's inevitable that they'll also end up forming their own opinions of the characters along the way. I feel like these are opinions they get to show through filler episodes and the roles, dialogues, and actions assigned to each character. I mean, there's a reason there's also talks in fandoms, not only about the authors' favorites, but about the animation studios' favorites as well. When certain characters are given major roles and spotlight in filler episodes, then that's simply because the animators love them.

Why, then, should the opinions of the animators be brushed aside under the pretense of 'it's just filler and not the author's words'? When they're the ones making any of this possible, and I've heard some animation studios can also be ruthless with harsh working schedules. I think their opinions should also be taken into account and respected whenever they decide to say, or rather show, something positive about an unpopular side character. I mean no offense by this cause to each their own, but if you were to ask me: I think the opinions expressed by the animators about some side characters through filler episodes should be taken into account, more than the words of any random Joe in the fandom, hating on said side characters. What I mean is: if fillers point to a certain supporting, minor character portraying them as cool, strong and badass, but then haters in the fandom turn around to say that 'no, actually, X side character sucks cause they're useless to the plot at large.' I'm 100% of the time gonna go with the interpretations of filler episodes cause these are the interpretations and feelings of the animation studios being shown to us.

The same applies to side novels, actually. There's no way all these authors writing novels about Naruto/Boruto characters did so, without Kishimoto's permission. Yeah, Kishimoto himself might've not played a direct role in their writing, but I'm sure he must've still read all of them before they were published. So, if Kishimoto has read these novels and approved of them, then I also don't see why the author's words about the characters in these stories should be disregarded. Now, yeah. I understand some novels are worse than others (like, much worse. Looking at you, Sasuke Retsuden). But I guess that's why they're directed towards different audiences. Besides, it's also clear from just reading them that some novels are more tied to canon and respect it way more than others. Sasuke Retsuden is clearly not one of them. Which is also why there should be no problems with fans recurring to data from these novels to support their favorite side character's feats. Especially when they're taken from the novels that actually respect the canon stories' events.

This has been a long rant, but just in short, to summarize my unpopular opinion: I think fillers and most side novels should also be taken into account when making discourse about certain characters, and information provided in them should be more accepted, instead of simply being brushed under the rug as not canon. The opinions of the people who worked on them shouldn't be dismissed so coldly, imo.

[pandamaru]

I rewatched Steven Universe in its entirety for the first time and oh my god this show was so good and the pacing....!! I can't believe CN drip fed us episodes in those stupid bombs!

So many little things I didn't pick up on the first time around because I forgot...!!! Buck plays in the band because Greg taught him how to play guitar...??? All of the Lonely Blade movies and games (even the arm wrestling one)?? All of the moments tea is made and Amethyst eats the bag??? Ronaldo's Ex was movie theater girl??? The estelle album reference in the birthday episode???!! OVERALL CHARACTER AND RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT ???????

[alistair-blackwood]

man the griffin soup chapter and the changeling chapter really just happened to fall into the same episode bracket huh ...

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Arcane peaked at episode 3 I can't lie

[clumsypuppy]

Atla live action 😐

[obsessivefangirl]

"Stan favors Mabel and Ford Dipper" WRONG!!!

[icewindandboringhorror]

I have a big google doc thing where I keep track of media and stuff (putting everything in loosely ranked categories), which is mostly just for my own reference so I know what tv shows I've already seen before, etc. and I never really look back through it, typically just a quick "okay, watched two movie in the past 8 months, need to quickly slap them somewhere in the lists. okay. done. save document. exit". But today I was actually reading through some of the old notes and there are like... MULTIPLE places where my comment is basically "It would have been good if it were about elves" or "I wish there was a fantasy show made in this same style" or "It's well made, but I just keep thinking about how I would like it more if everyone was an elf or was in old 1700s costumes" or etc like...... lol.... Most biased media ranking system on earth blatantly made by someone with an extremely hyperspecific range of narrow interests. It'd be like if a food reviewer only had 5 foods they actually liked, so they'd just go to a pizza place and be like "eh, the pizza was okay, but I just think it would be better if it was cereal instead. :/ ...2 out of 10"

[lesbianshadowheart]

My greatest personal source of pain is that nobody has ever watched the show DCs Legends of Tomorrow (i mean i guess SOMEBODY has since it ran for 7 seasons on the CW. but none of my fags and dykes on here have) which I know is cringe bc it was technically a CW superhero show but god. that show had everything. they literally did alien mpreg

[motheatenscarf]

God, I hope patch DT msq is good.

[gwydionae]

If this is indeed a true indication of how Sasuke is being handled in this crossover, you can expect a to see a long rant post from me. Warning you now. XD

[comradecowplant]

I was on board for the season 1 nostalgia circle jerk (ily Seven ❤❤❤), I could even overlook the Interesting "put him in a scifimagic flesh & blood android body that will have zero further consequences to either Picard's personal journey or the greater scientific reality of such an invention" choice, but season 2 skywalker family legacy "Picard's ancestor is so important that she needs a secret time agency body guard thatfornoreasonlooksliketheladyhehasawilltheywonttheywith" baloney is not doing it for me. The entire season so far coulda been a TNG Q/time travel shenanigans 2-parter. Best part is the toxic yuri between Borg Queen and doc "we've got bad Marvel one-liners at home" jurati, otherwise I'm sadly getting pretty bored with Picard.

[orcelito]

ok so today i watched episode 393 of shippuden. and i find it SO FUNNY how they're doing this. left off with a Massive cliffhanger (oh no!!! theyre both gonna die!!!!) in order to do a fucking Twenty Episode Long filler arc. which actually im excited to watch it so i can see more of Fu, but it's still SO FUNNY to do it like that. like these episodes came out one per week. can u imagine what it mustve been like for anime-only fans who had to wait like Five Months before they saw more???? it'd be Agonizing!!!!!!! lmfao.

also tho, in rambling about this to the group chat, i also went looking thru all the episodes to the end of shippuden & noted whether they were filler/backstory or main plot episodes based on what it looked like on crunchyroll previews, and. results under the cut.

394-413 is filler arc

414 and 415 are main arc

416 and 417 are backstory

418 main arc

419 backstory

420 and 421 are main arc

422 and 423 are backstory

424-426 is main arc

And then *427-458* is circumstantial filler (as in it's technically caused by the main arc, but has no actual relevance to it besides that) and/or more backstory.

459 is main plot

460-463 is backstory

463 is main plot

464-469 is backstory

470 is main plot

471-473 is backstory

474-479 is main plot

And that's the end of the main story.

480-483 is backstory

484-488 is sasuke side story

488-493 is shikamaru side story

And then 494-500 is side story for Naruto and Hinata getting together

WHICH IS TO SAY--

of the last 107 episodes of naruto, only 17 are actually directly focused on the main plot. which really makes the inflated episode count make sense lmao. like i do love the added character context that filler and especially backstory episodes have, but also. *wow* it gets to be a Lot of lore dumping in these last episodes, it seems.

AND ALSO!!!! (major spoilers for the end ahead)(also copy-pasted from the server lol)

in 459 they introduce this alien princess who was ACTUALLY at fault for all of this (just trust me bro). 460-462 is backstory for her?? I guess?? 463 they're fighting her 470 they're prepping to seal her 474 they manage to seal her. Everything in between those is backstory and/or filler. WHICH IS TO SAY. This ~Secret Big Boss~ who is ACTUALLY at fault for everything (just trust me bro) is only actually around for 7 episodes, 3 of which were backstory?????

naruto sure is a fuckin show.