Naruto: Shippuden Filler List - Which Episodes To Skip (2024)

Naruto: Shippuden is roughly 40% filler, naturally leading potential fans to look for a list of every filler episode. Though Naruto's best filler episodes can develop the series' world and characters, the same can't be said for every episode. As great as some of the filler is, it's easy to see why many fans skip the filler content altogether. Unfortunately, that task might be easier said than done.

For most anime adapting a long-running manga series, the line between filler and not filler can be clear as day. Filler episodes are any episodes that aren't adapting a manga chapter. The problem with Naruto Shippuden is that the lines between filler and not filler are blurred, as many episodes of the beloved series mix filler content into manga-canon content, making everything just that much more frustrating for those who want to avoid filler. Still, though some episodes mix filler content with canon content, Naruto: Shippuden still has its fair share of pure filler for fans to look out for.

Every Filler Episode of Naruto: Shippuden

And Which Are Worth Skipping

All in all, filler accounts for 206 episodes out of the Naruto: Shippuden's 500 episodes. Though not quite half, that still accounts for 41% of the entire series. Looking at the list completely, it's easy to see where the team behind the anime ran into speed bumps when adapting the manga with the series mostly avoiding filler until around the hundred-episode mark, where things get a bit more dire. Both Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden are infamous for their filler content, with the original series also having around 40% of its episodes be filler.

How Naruto: Shippuden's Filler Hurts The Series Overall

Though it's relatively easy to skip many of Naruto: Shippuden's filler episodes, they still ultimately hurt the series overall. Knowledge about filler episodes and arcs meant to build time between manga-canon stories may be common among most fans, but that's certainly not universal. To any fan who's relatively unaware of what goes on in the manga, it would be easy to assume that every or most episodes of the series are all part of the same canon. Additionally, the need to look up guides on what episodes to skip is significantly less straightforward than just rewatching the entire series.

What's truly harmful to Naruto: Shippuden though is less the filler episodes or arcs and more the filler scenes inserted into canon episodes. Much like the rest of the filler, these scenes can vary in quality, but unlike the filler episodes, are much more difficult to skip. The result is that, while Naruto: Shippuden's best episodes are absolutely stunning in their quality, the series' pacing and plotting aren't quite as strong as Masashi Kishimoto's original.

In addition to the pacing issue, Shippuden's filler can also give fans the wrong impression about the world and characters that are the series' backbone. Sakura, in particular, is the frequent target of mischaracterization in filler episodes. At its best, Shippuden's filler conveys information that the main story just wouldn't have time for, but at its worst, the filler can mess with fan perceptions of certain characters, ultimately doing slightly more harm than good.

Why Naruto: Shippuden Has So Much Filler Compared to Other Anime Series

With 41% of its episodes composed of filler, Naruto: Shippuden has a high percentage of non-canon episodes compared to other big Shonen anime airing at the time. One Piece, which has been running since 1999, only has around 9% of its 1105 episodes marked as pure filler, while Dragon Ball Z sits at around 13% filler.

The difference might well come down to differences in how each anime's studios handle production. It's notable that series relatively light on filler like One Piece and Dragon Ball Z were both made by Toei animation, while series heavy on filler such as Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, and Bleach were made by Studio Pierrot.

Ultimately, though Toei Animation shows resorted to filler far less often than Studio Pierrot ones, the culprit of filler seems mostly to be the weekly release schedule adopted by many successful anime series at the time. Naruto: Shippuden, like many of the biggest anime of its era, aired new episodes weekly with very occasional breaks. The result was that anime series were often forced to use filler so that it didn't catch up to its manga source material.

Current trends have moved big shonen series away from the weekly release model. My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen are seasonal series, and that has given each a level of consistency that means they don't have to rely on filler. The last remnant of the weekly release model, Naruto: Shippuden's sequel series Boruto, seems to be moving toward seasonal as well based on comments by Studio Pierrot's president.

Regardless of how fans may feel about the abundance of filler in Naruto: Shippuden, it is forever baked into the franchise's history. Though quite a lot of it didn't live up to the high standards set out by the canon material, more than a few of the filler episodes are more than worth watching for any fan of Naruto: Shippuden.

Naruto: Shippuden

TV-14

Action

Adventure

Animation

Martial Arts

Set two and a half years after the events of Masashi Kishimoto's original anime, Naruto Shippuden continues the titular hero's attempts to become the best ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village and bring his former friend Sasuke Uchiha back to the light. The 500-episode series features the return of allies such as Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki's mentor Jiraiya, as well as the villainous organization Akatsuki.

Cast

Junko Takeuchi , Kazuhiko Inoue , Noriaki Sugiyama , Chie Nakamura , Shoutarou Morikubo , Hideo Ishikawa , Nana Mizuki , Houchuu Ootsuka

Release Date

February 15, 2007

Seasons

22

Network

Adult Swim

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

Franchise(s)

Naruto

Writers

Junki Takegami , Satoru Nishizono , Yasuyuki Suzuki , Yasuaki Kurotsu , Masanao Akahoshi

Directors

Hayato Date , Masaaki Kumagai , Yasuaki Kurotsu , Osamu Kobayashi , Chiaki Kon