Boruto Filler List – Which Episodes To Skip

The biggest gripe fans have with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is the amount of filler it has. With a whopping 70 percent of the show containing filler episodes, the need for a guide to maneuver the manga canon and fillers is needed.

The reason Boruto: Naruto Next Generations contains so many filler episodes is that the studio adapting it needs to give the manga author time to stay ahead of the series. This is made worse because the manga releases chapters monthly as opposed to weekly. Nonetheless, the series, even with filler, is still very popular and enjoyed by many. Here is a guide for all filler episodes for fans who want to stick with canon.

Boruto Filler List

There are a total of 206 filler episodes in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. While Naruto: Shippuden had about the same number of filler episodes, the latter series had a total of 500 episodes whereas Boruto only has a total of 293 episodes. This means that 70% of Boruto is filler, which is quite high compared to Naruto & Shippuden’s 41% and Bleach’s 45% of filler episodes.

Studio Pierrot is notorious for introducing side stories not present in the manga, like in the case of Bleach and Naruto: Shippuden. Filler episodes and arcs are often used to give manga creators some breathing room and time to put out more chapters. Studio Pierrot produces year-round episodes, so it makes sense why they’re always catching up to the source material. When the source material is fully present like in the case of Bleach Thousand Year Blood War, there are zero filler episodes present and the manga is faithfully adapted.

Which of Boruto’s Filler Episodes are Worth Watching?

Some of Boruto’s Filler Actually Adds a Lot to the Series

Contrary to popular narrative, Boruto does have fillers worth giving a chance. Despite most of the episodes being filler, the series is incredibly successful. The most obvious Boruto filler arc worth watching is the Mitsuki’s Disappearance Arc.

Mitsuki has always been a fan favorite but didn’t get a backstory in the manga. The arc featured one of the best fights in the series between Orochimaru and Log. Another arc worth watching is the Time Slip arc where Sasuke and Boruto go back in time and meet the young Naruto cast and Jiraiya.

Which Boruto Filler Episodes Should Be Avoided?

Unfortunately not all of the series’ filler is top quality. Episode 49 Wasabi & Namida is often cited among Boruto fans as one of the series’ most boring filler. The episode follows the titular Wasabi and Namida as they bicker about how best to tackle a mission involving saving animals. Wasabi and Namida aren’t particularly well-developed characters and have very little baring on the overall plot, so the episode focusing on them doesn’t add up to much.

In terms of entire arcs, the Super Chocho Love arc is also seen as a step down in quality. The arc sees Chocho assigned to protect a celebrity she has a crush on, causing the young ninja to change her appearance through ninjutsu to earn his affection. While the episode might have good intentions in that it’s largely about body positivity and not changing for other people, it’s undermined by a largely forgettable story.

Will Boruto Two Blue Vortex’s Anime Contain Filler?

With the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime wrapping up in March 2023, many fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the anime’s second part. The manga’s part two, Two Blue Vortex began in August and saw a fairly significant time skip. Unfortunately, despite Two Blue Vortex’s warm reception, Pierrot has yet to confirm whether Boruto’s anime will continue. If Pierrot does continue the series though, there is good reason to believe the series will return without much of the filler that burdened the anime’s first part.

In a recent interview, Pierrot CEO Muchiki Honma hinted that Demon Slayer’s success is influencing the beloved studio. The CEO claimed that Demon Slayer and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s critical acclaim means that Pierrot may switch over to far more seasonal anime than the weekly release model that led to Boruto being dominated by so many filler episodes. Given Honma’s comments, it seems likely that if and when Boruto returns, it will return as a seasonal anime series rather than a weekly one.

Without the strain of weekly releases, Boruto‘s second part can focus primarily on adapting the canon story of the manga. This greater focus can lead to increased animation and writing quality and help the sequel series shed its reputation as overstuffed with filler. Though the move would probably be a good thing, it’s not without its costs. Not all of Boruto’s filler has been bad, and some of it has been able to give more attention to characters that don’t play as big a role in the overarching plot.

Why Does Boruto Have so Much Filler Compared to Other Shonen Anime?

Boruto’s staggering 70% filler rate can be explained by the usual approach to producing the anime with consideration for the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga’s story. Weekly Shonen Jump’s former Editor-in-Chief Hiroyuki Nakano at Lucca Comics & Games 2018 explained that the manga and anime series were released in tandem instead of the typical manga-to-anime pattern. This allowed them to function and space themselves out accordingly while intersecting at key moments without contrasting too sharply, as transcribed and translated from anime.everyeye.it.

“Usually manga and anime travel on the same line. Usually the manga is made first and then it is transposed into anime. Instead, in this case, manga and anime are two distinct blocks, but in order not to contrast themselves too much they choose to travel different paths and then intersect at the same point in the finale. All of this, obviously, subject to our creative and editorial control
.”

-Hiroyuki Nakano

The idea of two separate series operating independently of each other while adhering to the same root canon, with the anime expanding on itself to have still “canonical” filler, results in a complicated perception of the show’s content. Taking Nakano’s words at face value, it’s possible to take what’s commonly accepted by audiences as a form of “mixed canon” episodes, which total between 174 and 186, leaving only a remainder of 20-32 genuine, missable installments. This is crucial because fans wishing to see characters sidelined, even in the manga, like Metal Lee, will get their chance in these filler episodes.

On top of the anime’s debut in April 5, 2017 running so close to the manga’s original release, May 9, 2016, Boruto changed publications in June 2019 to V Jump, changing its release pattern to a monthly one. With only a four-month gap between Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ manga and Two Blue Vortex, and Pierrot’s decision to put the anime on hiatus possibly being related to ensuring its quality improves in future episodes, it’s clear this filler model was unsustainable.

Despite its Abundant Filler Boruto is Still a Good Watch For Fans of Naruto

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is almost entirely filler, and is ridiculed for that. However, Boruto is very enjoyable, and the fillers entertain fans while the manga’s creators work hard to put out more chapters. The fillers don’t affect the series as it’s easy to skip the bad ones. The anime does a great job of expanding on characters who are ignored, and that has usually enhanced the show when those characters appear in the manga episodes. From foreshadowing new abilities to introducing the Jougan, the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime should be given a chance.

Source: anime.everyeye.it