#that's the origin of filler

[keets-writing-corner]

does filler exist? sure absolutely

is excessive filler annoying? yeah kinda

but that's not the problem that's happening. They're not cutting FILLER they're cutting CHARACTERIZATION moments. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to say that ONLY FOCUS ON PLOT/CHARACTER/ETC CUZ THAT'S ALL THAT MATTER, that's not my point at ALL. Absolutely write your fluff. The same way that we need humor in a horror movie to take a moment to breathe and then the horror hits that much harder when it returns because we had a moment to relax, fluff serves a similar function to take a break from the plot

but that's not what I think the main problem is. A lot of things that are considered "filler" nowadays are actually really important characterization moments. Moments that makes us see that the characters are human. That they have feelings. That there are things they enjoy and things they fear. That there are situations where they could be silly, or serious. And if these moments are what's getting cut because you're only focusing on plot, then OF COURSE the story feels empty! At this point they aren't even people anymore they're just characters trying to carry a story from point A to point B and that's not enjoyable

Who cares if the characters aren't currently trying to obtain the macguffin, now we know how much they care about each other, or how much their relationship means to each other. Or we just see them having fun and it reminds us not only of our own relationships where we have fun, but also TO HAVE FUN IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS, and then if something happens to those characters that changes that relationship, that's going to hit so much harder going forward, especially if it affects the plot

I hear all the time "People don't remember what you were wearing, or what you said, they remember how you made them feel" and that applies here too. The most important part of any story are the characters, and if we remember the characters having happy good times, then idk it just makes the story so much richer and that's NECESSARY for a good story

everyone's been getting tired of shorter and shorter and more condensed shows, and it's because of this. There's a REASON why all the avatar adaptations keep getting backlash, and it's not just cuz of *gestures vaguely to dumpster fire*. It's because they're cutting out all the fat. They're cutting out all the fun characterization. We don't see the gaang having fun. We don't see them bonding with each other. And it suffers

to borrow from the poster above me, sure you can trim the fat off your beef, but it's not going to taste nearly as good then if you cooked it WITH the fat on

as with everything, there is a balance of course, but please, for any aspiring writers or even just fan fic writers

keep that fluff. it's good for the story

Working on my novel and couldn’t figure out why it felt so empty. I didn’t have any filler. It was all 100% plot. The characters only interacted when necessary. I didn’t prattle on about the scenery or how the birds sounded. I had all my fuller stuff that I loved saved in another file because I “didn’t need it”.

Y’all, I knew this existed in TV shows but it didn’t hit me until this that everything is being whittled down. We are so starving for filler that we snap up anything. I unload all mine on Tumblr or keep it in a massive Google Docs. It SUCKS.

Honestly? Death to plot necessity. Revive filler. Revive unnecessary interactions. Revive just vibing with characters sometimes. I don’t want to just consume the plot and I don’t want to just create the plot either.

[oifaaa]

I do wonder if people who used to constantly complain about "filler" are finally happy now if they're enjoying the state of television series or if they're now complaining that tv shows only have 8 episodes per season like the rest of us

[satorugojoswiife]

hes so dramatic 😭😭

[renthony]

The term “filler episode” is blatantly misused in fandom spaces and it's really goddamn annoying.

In the book "Manga and Anime Go to Hollywood: The Amazing Rapidly Evolving Relationship Between Hollywood and Japanese Animation, Manga, Television, and Film," by Northrop Davis, Davis explains the that concept of a “filler episode” in animation comes to us from anime adaptations of manga. Anime is frequently produced at a faster rate than manga, which means that anime adaptations of manga often have to come up with their own “filler” stories to slow down the pacing of the main narrative, because the manga isn’t finished yet.

"Filler" does not mean "low-stakes episode that doesn't progress the main plot." Filler does not mean "character moments that you did not like." "Filler" does not mean "anything that isn't breakneck-paced main plot."

It's a specific term and you are misusing it.

[sefusneezed]

What would the gang do if they were on the beach?

Harass the local wildlife (important fauna cataloguing event)

[snailsnaps]

mm filler art sowry

[blaiddfailcam]

thinking back, it's kinda wild how they just like. gave rennala a twin sister. named rellana. and the purpose she serves in the plot and lore is fucking n o t h i n g lmao

[daneesoro]

Sets up a rule about not barging in on him when he's "working" (doesnt last cause Poppy needs to constantly barge in on him to get work done)

[pomrania]

Could They Survive Investigating Kira?

To clarify, this is about the Kira murders from Death Note, not the other manga/anime which has a serial murderer named Kira who kills via supernatural means. Insert "two nickels" meme here.

@couldtheycatchkira asks if a given character could catch Kira, and would they survive. Here, I'm focusing on the second part, and how to consider it. I've broken it down into four major questions:

Are they capable of dying (and staying dead)?

Are they capable of being killed by the Death Note?

Would Kira be able to kill them?

Would Kira choose to kill them?

1. Are they capable of dying (and staying dead)?

If a character cannot die, cannot be killed by any method whatsoever, won't even die from old age, then they survive investigating Kira; they survive ANY circumstance. You don't need to look at any further question, in order to get your answer (although you might choose to, just for enjoyment purposes).

Under this category, I'd also include characters with explicit good luck and/or uncanny ability to survive situations that should have killed them, where they're theoretically capable of dying, but circumstances arrange themselves such that it never actually happens. Not to be confused with "protagonist immortality", where a character survives because if they died the story would be over; this is a character who basically has indirect immortality as a superpower. Or they could fall under the category of "God's favourite chew-toy", where some higher (or lower) power simply won't let them die or stay dead.

Conversely, is the character capable of SURVIVING? In other words, how inherently doomed are they? If they were in a story where "character death" is a possibility, are they a character who's guaranteed to die? Note that this is distinct from being "doomed by the narrative", because that's doomed by ONE PARTICULAR narrative, and "getting Kira-murdered while investigating" might or might not fit their narrative doom.

This is also where I raise the issue of resurrection, and limited immortality. If a character dies but comes back to life, then they count as "surviving"; they need to STAY dead, in order to count as "does not survive". And if they're generally immortal (or at least unkillable), but can be killed under certain specific circumstances, then the question moves to "would Kira be able to figure out, and create, those circumstances".

2. Are they capable of being killed by the Death Note?

If they're immune to Kira's only real weapon, then they won't be killed by Kira; and unless they're otherwise doomed (see above), they'd survive.

Some characters, while capable of dying, outrank shinigami, or have connections that equate to such. The Death Note wouldn't work on them, for similar reasons as how an employee can't fire the head of their company.

Then there's non-human characters. This can be tricky, because in the world of Death Note, there's humans and there's shinigami, and the Note explicitly works on humans but not shinigami. To keep things fun and interesting, I'd say that any type of sapient mortal counts as a potential Death Note victim in the same way "human" does, because otherwise it gets boring; blanket immunity should be reserved for characters who specifically have it.

As for non-sapient and/or non-mortal characters… I don't have any overarching advice for them, except maybe see if you get a definitive answer in the next questions, and if not then you can use "might or might not be able to be killed by the Death Note" as a tie-breaker.

I think this is also the level to look at "characters who couldn't die from a heart attack". The Death Note CAN kill via other methods, but "heart attack" is the default. For this, you need to consider if Kira would REALIZE that simply writing the character's name down (to give them a heart attack) wouldn't suffice, and if he'd be able to figure out a method that WOULD work; but that shades into the next question.

3. Would Kira be able to kill them?

There's two major categories to this question; the issues Kira ran into in his story, and issues we get from characters who aren't "baseline human". I'll start with the second category.

Some characters have unorthodox death requirements, like non-human biology (or equivalent processes if non-biological), or limited immortality. Would Kira be able to figure out that he needs to do something different to kill them, and would he be able to figure out WHAT he needs to do?

Then, the "standard" issues, and what people first think of when they consider "would this character survive investigating Kira". In order for Kira to be able to kill someone, he first needs to know that they exist; then, their full name and how to spell it, and what their face looks like. If he doesn't have all three of those, then that character is safe from being Kira-murdered (but might still die in other ways).

4. Would Kira choose to kill them?

This factor seems to get neglected a lot, judging from the amount of times I've seen "lol they're a public figure, they'll die immediately". But Kira doesn't kill everyone whose identity he knows, because otherwise he'd be easy to locate, as the epicentre of mass death.

First, does the character fit his normal victim profile? If so, then he tries to kill them (which might or might not succeed, as detailed in the previous three questions), even if he doesn't know that they're investigating him.

Next, does he consider them a potential threat? If he doesn't know the character is even INVESTIGATING him, or if he thinks they're incompetent as an investigator, or if he believes he's sufficiently outsmarted them, then they're not a threat, and he has no reason to kill them.

Finally, does he have a reason NOT to kill them? Does he believe they should be left alive, on their own merits; or, more commonly, does he feel that they'd pose more of a threat to him dead than alive? For example, this could be them having information that would get sent out automatically upon their death, or being in a situation where suspicion would fall on him specifically if they die in an unnatural manner.

[balluprojects]

Inner Circle Conference, 2024

when within the flowers you see wierd little ducklings, with loads of beak filler, having a heated argument about pressing matters xD

have a brightfull weekend*

[ask-pomzi]

Working on stuff, have some pomzi :)

[noeggets]

oh? the way Nami was being nasty to her a few minutes ago (about her telling them crocodiles name and not wanting to help cause it sound dangerous) but i bet she saw herself in in Vivi here which is one of the main factors that drove her to bring her in for a no second thought hug the way she wished someone was there to do for her, Nami saw pain and didn't hesitate to show some form of kindness and i did not expect this from her - like, i know Nami can be kind but she was really mad earlier and i thought she was still a little pissy even after being told it's a free job no pay but the way she just went into autopilot and hugged her changed my life a little bit i was not expecting her to do this

[do-kontsa]

Fuk you artblock!

[angelsyrip]

glad i stayed alive to watch naruto grow up.

[drawinhearts]

I miss my overly dramatic, 22 episodes, 6-8 seasons long shows can we go back to that please

[cacaocheri]

have a sun doodle in these trying times