#but the “filler” episodes are wonderful

[asphyxiatedredherring]

They deserve to kiss

Warehouse 13 is such a good show

[sporesgalaxy]

in my dream last night they released a bill cipher themed soda called Decipher and I tried to go get some but insane wacky nonsense kept interrupting me before I could. I mean the nonsense had to do with the plot of the rest of the dream but it just kept showing up at the exact moment that I was about to get my soda. Ive just remembered the plot of the rest of the dream was that all of the straw hat piratds were there at tbis theme park we were in and some other group of pirates were trying to bully nico robin. the other pirate group was goth btw. their captain almost died from getting splashed with acid (by nico robin) (it was justified). But I didnt see that happen bc really I was mostly focused on getting my dumb soda.

[mellohiizz]

What do you think devious duo or parrot doing?

Honestly? No idea. I've been pondering this, but I can't really tell you exactly what I think they might be up to.

Devious duo are probably just fooling around, just doing silly things. Maybe the carrot civilization is real, who knows... I hope Minute is still with them, though. <3

Parrot, judging by the ending of his POV, might be actually searching for stuff regarding the Director?? Seems like a very plausible thing for him to quickly get on the case of it. At least that would be consistent with his character, I think.

Honestly, I want Parrot to just be doing... nothing. I want him to sit back for once and give himself time to grieve, to finally have a chance acknowledge how many losses he went through.

[jusenkyozu]

Ranma ½ - Ep. 48, "The Killer From Jusenkyo"

Shampoo's cursed [cat] form Appreciation Post

7/19

[erumai-maadu]

i love that they had tenten call a guy pretty and totally her type, and then not retract her statement when the person turns out to be a girl. bi queen.

[goated33]

See the chaggie chemistry criticisms confuse me because I’m the specific kind of aro that doesn’t. Get romantic chemistry in general. I’ve googled what that means multiple times I still don’t understand 😔

[orcelito]

Haven't been able to watch too much naruto recently. Been watching Maybe an episode a day ish. I just finished ep 419 tho and WHAT an episode to have ahead of me for grand number 420. Can't watch it rn tho bc I need to sleep and also I'm too tired to give it the full attention that I want to. Bc when I watch it, I will be embracing !!!!THE!!!! legendary Guy vs Madara fight in its FULL FORM!!!!!!

So exciting. God they're laying some major death flags lol, between the flashbacks stuff and the gate of death and well the saying he's gonna die 😂😂😂 I know he does survive it tho. But I'm also embracing this part with the Possibility of him dying. Bc that's what the others are reacting to too. And I wanna experience the full depth of emotion....

Excited for watching this next episode!!! It just cannot be right now.

[aidontdraw]

Tbh, I hate the "That's Not Naruto Cannon" People.

Because they always end up being the people who site "non-cannon" material when it suits their head cannon. Then rejects any "non-cannon" material that goes agaisnt their head cannon. Like they don't genuinely care about cannon, they just want their blorbos to act the way they do in their head.

They are also the first to be like, "I wish we saw more of this character/place/idea," or "I wonder what would happen if this character did that." Like, they explored that already in the officially released non-cannon material you hate. Sure some of it's not cannon-cannon, but it's the closest we will ever get to a cannon answer to your many questions about the Naruto Universe.

Like the filler episodes are created by the same people who made the cannon anime episodes. They had offical character guidelines they had to follow. They had offical plot guidelines they had to follow. They had offical setting guidelines they had to follow. They were given a lot of direction on what they can and can't get away with. If you watch the filler, you can tell they knew where the story was going to go well before it reached that point in the manga. So its much closer to cannon than any of the little reddit What If (bassicly fan-fiction) post.

There's also no true list of what is or isn't cannon in Naruto. So to go by the most purest form of of what's cannon, the Naruto Manga, you end up rejecting a lot of things that can easily classify as cannon. That Kishimoto himself worked on. If you allow more into Cannon, you need a whole map of what does and doesn't count. It's so annoying.

Kishimoto did not make Naruto alone. Not even the manga, there was an entire team that worked on the Naruto Manga. It had been a team effort from the start. Like cannon doesn't need to be personally touched by Kishimoto. Naruto's owned by a company, not a person.

Let yourself have fun and enjoy the "non-cannon" stuff.

[pinkeoni]

What is "Filler?"

I'm ignoring my many school obligations to make a post about something that I'm very passionate about and has been on my mind for a while.

A discussion I've seen around television lately, especially sparked in the case of The Last of Us, is the use of "filler" in television, or at least, what people perceive as filler.

As someone who is highly interested in television writing, and one day hopes to be apart of a writers room, I have a lot of strong opinions regarding the idea of "filler," why people have the wrong idea of what filler actually is, and why "filler" might actually good for television, and part of what makes television, television.

Filler is an anime specific term

For starters, filler is a term that originated with anime. But specifically, it's a term used to describe any arc that isn't in the manga. This was most prolifically used in the Naruto anime. While the anime was waiting for more issues of the manga to come out, they would quite literally fill time by using non-canon filler episodes. Filler got a bad rep due to the low visual and narrative quality compared to canon material.

Of course, the term has been bastardized outside of its original definition to simply mean any television episodes that people deem "unimportant" to what they consider to be the main plot of the series, and given the negative history surrounding filler, any episodes like this are therefore seen as bad.

Character is Plot

The reason why people may perceive an episode as being "filler" is because it may include a plot that is not pushing the main storyline forward. I saw a tweet recently about The Last of Us episode 7 and how this episode is perceived as filler, therefore bad. The episode includes backstory for the character Ellie, which steers away from the present story at hand.

Here's the thing though, the episode was important to the development of Ellie's character and revealing more of her motives. In the present plot line, we see how determined she is to help Joel after he is injured, and the show uses a backstory to show us exactly why Ellie is so determined to save the people that she loves.

Plot is driven by character. Characters are developed through their actions. Any stories used to develop character is not "filler," it's part of the plot.

To hammer in my point I'll use a show that is pretty widely regarded: Avatar the Last Airbender. The main storyline, people would argue, involves Avatar Aang learning to bend the four elements to defeat the Firelord. Now, let's imagine ATLA without any of the episodes that would be considered "filler"— that means no "The Beach," no "Tales of Ba Sing Se," no "The Puppet Master," none of some of the most iconic episodes of the series. But I know what you're thinking, all of those episodes are important to the story! That's because they are! There isn't any big action moments in these episodes, at least in terms of the plot of taking down the Fire Lord, but they all push the development of the characters forward and thus are very important episodes.

Theme is Plot

Let’s look at another example from The Last of Us, episode 3.

This episode got a lot of flack for the same reasons listed above (although some people are also just homophobic) because it was an episode that “took away from the main plot of the series.”

What is TLOU about? It’s a show about a man who brings a girl cross country during the zombie apocalypse to find a cure, but more than importantly, it’s a show about saving the people that you love. That’s the main plot. We see this with Joel and Ellie, we see this with Henry and Sam, and we see this Bill and Frank. Each of these plot lines help reinforce this theme as well as flesh out the world. It’s not a “filler” episode because it reinforces the main theme of the show, thus is does have “plot”relevance.

Why Has Television Structure Changed So Drastically?

The answer is streaming and the rise of binge model.

That isn’t to say that ~13 episodes and fewer seasons didn’t exist before the advent of streaming, nor did episodic series cease to exist once the binge model rose to popularity. However, the binge model is absolutely to blame for the rise in shorter and shorter seasons with hardly any standalone episodes becoming more popular.

Basically, binge model television is written with the idea that the audience member is going to be consuming the entire season in one go, and weekly episode structure is written with the idea in mind that the audience member may only be consuming a little bit of the larger story once a week. Thus, binge model television seasons tend to feel more like longer movies, while episodes in weekly television shows feel much more individualized.

For me personally, I greatly prefer the weekly model. The reason being is because it forces the individual episode to be stronger. It can’t rely on the episodes before or after it to make it good, it has to stand on it’s own two legs and tell it’s own contained and compelling story, even if its still part of an overarcing story.

Do I think binge model is all bad? No, not necessarily, I think it works great for some shows, but can also become a hinderance for others.

My blog is pretty much a Stranger Things blog, so I’ll use it as an example. In my opinion, the first season of ST is perfectly written. It’s the perfect number of episodes at the perfect length for what it wanted to achieve. There are no loose ends, everything is tied together, and there's still a little wiggle room for extra seasons. If there had been an extra episode that told a standalone story, it would have broken up the flow of the season.

The subsequent seasons of the show attempt to use a similar episode format, all while simultaneously wanting to build the scope and stakes of the story as well as increase the number of characters. The side effect of this, which is especially apparent in season 3, is that the show began to feel cramped and the story and characters barely have any room to breathe. The action is constantly moving and the appropriate story beats are all there, but with the wide breadth of characters that needed to fit into the season, a lot of them end up feeling sidelined or undeveloped in order to squeeze everything in.

But I don't necessarily think the answer is just longer episodes, either. This is what season 4 of the show did to remedy the congestion of the previous season, but the issue became that the episodes felt bloated and the story beats become way too stretched out. An easy example is the Russia subplot, which took way too long in order for its story beats to play out.

Am I saying that Stranger Things needs to completely change, and become a 20 episode season with filler? No. The answer is complicated, while I do feel the story is cramped, I still understand that there is still intention behind these writing choices, and the story would be different from what it is now if the episode structure was different. I also don't want it to seem like I'm trying to claim that I myself am a better writer and that I would be able to do a better job myself. I just can’t help but wonder if the attitude towards insistence of keeping with the “main plot” of the story which may have worked in one season of the show ended up becoming a hinderance in later seasons.

Conclusive Thoughts

There’s more I could say on this topic and many more examples that I could bring up, but I’ll just leave my thoughts with this.

“Filler” is not necessarily bad. Any episode can be poorly written, but just because it doesn’t have A-plot relevance doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Most “filler” actually isn’t filler at all.

Anything that develops character has plot relevance.

Anything that develops theme has plot relevance.

Some of the best episodes of television would be considered “filler” in this new binge climate.

More television shows (not all, but some) could actually benefit from having episodes that would be considered “filler.”

What makes television so special and such a great storytelling medium is the ability to be told in a serialization of smaller stories, something that should not be lost with the binge model.

[wendyfulmother]

Hear me out because this is just an idea for now BUT

N.aruto AU where the U.chiha massacre never happened and Wendy got to continue growing up alongside I.tachi and S.asuke.

Think T.sunade's Infinate Tsukoyomi dream filler but with S.asuke being 100% less of an asshole

[dallonwrites]

anyway 5:40am lukewarm take from a post i saw on my dash but i think the concept of “filler” can be kind of detrimental out of context, esp when it’s taught as like the beach episode or whatever where the story “breaks” from The Plot. which is what i see filler as but i think it’s been taken out of context bc a lot of what i see being classed as filler is just……basic character and relationship development. worldbuilding. all of which explain and drive the story. but also just overall i don’t like to define parts of my story that way because i don’t think it helps to see the Plot as this complete separate entity. because to me plot is plot is character development is relationship development is worldbuilding is the emotional rhythm the necessary quiet points they are all weaved and work together, and as someone who used to be a “no plot just vibes” person bc i struggled with plot and action beats, i understood plot better when I saw it that way and realised plot is part of the “quieter” elements of a story that i love. i don’t know if it’s bc i mostly write litfic where the plot is driven by characters and relationships more, but even in my genre projects where there is a more discernible separate plot, the characters and relationships around that are of course important to how that plot plays out. idk it just doesn’t help me to see those parts as “filling” out space between plot beats because they Are plot beats, just a specific kind. so reading stuff about how filler is important kind of has me like well yes, but maybe it’s not filler and is literally just a certain kind of story beat idk when or why filler got applied to every kind of writing like this

[psy-ay-ay]

wow what a gem of an episode. i can't believe it was a filler. So comfy yet so on point with brook anxious about his place in the straw hat pirates and if he deserves it and 'will i mess this up and wind up alone again' and who better to talk to him than robin? Such brilliant way of bringing Robin's thoughts and experiences into light. Also, got a look at everyone's daily life at the ship which is always fun to see and then brook taking a nap and comparing it to his life before them and then finally ending with brook playing binks no sake again- finding his own 'daily life at the ship' and everyone hears it lovingly and accepts it as the routine sounds on the ship which brook was listening to in his nap. he's one of them now.

[dg-outlaw]

Wait?! Was that supposed to happen after I listened to Steam Powered Giraffe? I must be listening to them wrong because I'm still a cishet male. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway. I had to reblog because I saw SPG years ago at a Steampunk Con here in Texas. Loved their show, music, and crowd work and promptly bought all their CDs they had available after the show. Yes. CDs. It was that long ago.

But I also agree with OP because well... oops, I think I broke the thing.

The “LGBTQ+ is a social contagion” theory from cishet people is soooo funny to me like you’re telling me heterosexuality is SO ingrained and SO watertight and yet SO fragile that if your kid so much as picks up a fucking Steam Powered Giraffe album they’ll turn into raging queer? Do you HEAR yourselves?????

[soapexclamationmark]

i think long ring long landnis long ring long peak and the actual issue is that the anime sucks

[b99andsoc]

I <3 filler episodes of TV

[valeriehalla]

actual writing advice

1. Use the passive voice.

What? What are you talking about, “don’t use the passive voice”? Are you feeling okay? Who told you that? Come on, let’s you and me go to their house and beat them with golf clubs. It’s just grammar. English is full of grammar: you should go ahead and use all of it whenever you want, on account of English is the language you’re writing in.

2. Use adverbs.

Now hang on. What are you even saying to me? Don’t use adverbs? My guy, that is an entire part of speech. That’s, like—that’s gotta be at least 20% of the dictionary. I don’t know who told you not to use adverbs, but you should definitely throw them into the Columbia river.

3. There’s no such thing as “filler”.

Buddy, “filler” is what we called the episodes of Dragon Ball Z where Goku wasn’t blasting Frieza because the anime was in production before Akira Toriyama had written the part where Goku blasts Frieza. Outside of this extremely specific context, “filler” does not exist. Just because a scene wouldn’t make it into the Wikipedia synopsis of your story’s plot doesn’t mean it isn’t important to your story. This is why “plot” and “story” are different words!

4. okay, now that I’ve snared you in my trap—and I know you don’t want to hear this—but orthography actually does kind of matter

First of all, a lot of what you think of as “grammar” is actually orthography. Should I put a comma here? How do I spell this word in this context? These are questions of orthography (which is a fancy Greek word meaning “correct-writing”). In fact, most of the “grammar questions” you’ll see posted online pertain to orthography; this number probably doubles in spaces for writers specifically.

If you’re a native speaker of English, your grammar is probably flawless and unremarkable for the purposes of writing prose. Instead, orthography refers to the set rules governing spelling, punctuation, and whitespace. There are a few things you should know about orthography:

English has no single orthography. You already know spelling and punctuation differ from country to country, but did you know it can even differ from publisher to publisher? Some newspapers will set parenthetical statements apart with em dashes—like this, with no spaces—while others will use slightly shorter dashes – like this, with spaces – to name just one example.

Orthography is boring, and nobody cares about it or knows what it is. For most readers, orthography is “invisible”. Readers pay attention to the words on a page, not the paper itself; in much the same way, readers pay attention to the meaning of a text and not the orthography, which exists only to convey that meaning.

That doesn’t mean it’s not important. Actually, that means it’s of the utmost importance. Because orthography can only be invisible if it meets the reader’s expectations.

You need to learn how to format dialogue into paragraphs. You need to learn when to end a quote with a comma versus a period. You need to learn how to use apostrophes, colons and semicolons. You need to learn these things not so you can win meaningless brownie points from your English teacher for having “Good Grammar”, but so that your prose looks like other prose the reader has consumed.

If you printed a novel on purple paper, you’d have the reader wondering: why purple? Then they’d be focusing on the paper and not the words on it. And you probably don’t want that! So it goes with orthography: whenever you deviate from standard practices, you force the reader to work out in their head whether that deviation was intentional or a mistake. Too much of that can destroy the flow of reading and prevent the reader from getting immersed.

You may chafe at this idea. You may think these “rules” are confusing and arbitrary. You’re correct to think that. They’re made the fuck up! What matters is that they were made the fuck up collaboratively, by thousands of writers over hundreds of years. Whether you like it or not, you are part of that collaboration: you’re not the first person to write prose, and you can’t expect yours to be the first prose your readers have ever read.

That doesn’t mean “never break the rules”, mind you. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with English orthography, then you are free to break it as you please. Knowing what’s expected gives you the power to do unexpected things on purpose. And that’s the really cool shit.

5. You’re allowed to say the boobs were big if the story is about how big the boobs were

Nobody is saying this. Only I am brave enough to say it.

Well, bye!