Naruto: Shippuuden Episode 225 Discussion

PrometheusZero said:
Ugh! I'm usually a positive kinda guy, always seeing the silver lining in a cloud, but this episode I didn't like. Last weeks filler was kinda funny which can make up for the problems stand alone filler eps have.

My beef stems from the different types of filler you can have. 1. Filler arcs. 2. Double/Triple bills. 3. Stand alones.

With filler arcs, although you know its gonna be a while before you get back to the action, at least they introduce some characters and flesh them out and they can be good, for example, the 3 tails arc.
While the kid was annoying, I actually liked that woman by the end, and we got to see lots of the supporting cast pop up which is always nice.
However, if the introduced baddy is kinda lame (like the ninja guardian/temple arc) then we just have a dragged out lame-fest.

Double/triple bills have the same pro's and cons but it's less of a gamble. There have been some good examples (I liked Investigate Grass Country story) and terrible (ninja postmen make me vomit). I guess the films fit into this slot too, you can imagine them to be a continuous 3 parter with a higher animation budget!).

But stand alones are the worst kind imho. They dont give enough time to develop any character depth, the plot is always 'hello, whats that thing, oh my justu didnt work, oh yes it did, kthxbai'.
The only way to make them palatable is to make a gag /joke episode. The light-heartedness means you dont need serious depth because the tone doesnt need it to make the episode entertaining.

What made the 80 odd filler episodes at the end of the first part of Naruto so excruciating was the constant 1 shot episodes over and over again. By comparison, about that time, Bleach had is Bounto arc, which I found enjoyable.

With the episode titles suggesting 4 stand alones, my heart sinks. I'd have prefered it if they had taken a larger chuck and make a 6-12 episode high seas adventure story, or a parody of the greek classic tale 'The Oddessy'. Or something where we can get to know a filler character rather than half a dozen throwaway tropes.

Sigh.