Why Naruto Filler Was Actually Good
I know what you are thinking. Filler? Good? Hear me out. The Naruto filler arcs get a bad reputation from the community but if you actually sit down and watch them with an open mind you will find some genuinely entertaining stories buried in there. The Land of Tea arc introduced us to some interesting side characters that fleshed out the world of ninja in ways the main story never had time for. Sure the animation quality dipped and the stakes were basically zero but that was kind of the point. Not every story needs to be about saving the world. Sometimes a simple race or a village dispute is enough to tell a human story. The problem is not that the filler existed. The problem is that it ran for years with no end in sight while fans were desperate to get back to the main plot. Context matters. If the filler had been shorter and more focused it would be remembered very differently today. Instead we got episode after episode of nothing and that poisoned the well for everything around it. Still some of it was genuinely fun and I will die on that hill.
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~ edited May 10, 2026
