Naruto: Shippuden Filler List - Which Episodes To Skip

Summary Naruto: Shippuden has 41% filler, making it hard to distinguish between filler and canon content.

Filler episodes can be hit or miss, with some arcs like Kakashi's ANBU being worth the watch.

Weekly release schedules led to filler, a trend modern anime like Demon Slayer are moving away from.

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.

All episodes of Naruto: Shippuden are streaming on Crunchyroll & Hulu.

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.

Related Naruto: What Does 'Shippuden' Actually Mean? Naruto: Shippuden is the animated version of the latter half of the famous manga series. This leaves fans asking, what exactly does 'Shippuden' mean?

Every Filler Episode of Naruto: Shippuden

Episode # Episode or Arc Title 28 Beasts! Alive Again! 57 – 71 Twelve Guardian Ninja 89 – 112 Three-Tails’ Appearance 144 – 151 Six-Tails Unleashed 170 – 171 Big Adventure! The Quest for the Fourth Hokage's Legacy 176 - 196 Past Arc: The Locus of Konoha 223 – 242 Paradise Life on a Boat 257 – 260 Naruto & Sasuke flashback mini arc 271 Road to Sakura 279 – 281 Fourth Shinobi World War side stories 284 – 295 Fourth Shinobi World War side stories 303 – 320 Fourth Shinobi World War side stories 347 – 361 Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU Black Ops 376 The Directive to Take the Nine Tails 377 Naruto Vs. Mecha Naruto 388 My First Friend 389 The Adored Elder Sister 390 Hanabi's Decision 394 – 413 In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths 416 The Formation of Team Minato 417 You'll Be My Backup 422 - 428 Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki side stories 429 – 430 Killer B Rappūden 431 To See That Smile, Just One More Time 432 – 450 Jiraiya Shinobi Handbook: The Tale of Naruto the Hero 464 - 468 Ashura and Indra Arc 480 - 483 Childhood

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.

Which Naruto: Shippuden Filler Episodes Should Be Avoided At All Costs

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Given the negative connotations surrounding the word filler, it's no surprise that much of Naruto: Shippuden's filler episodes are poorly regarded by the fandom. Particularly egregious examples of filler in Shippuden include the Paradise Life on a Boat arc, The Allied Mom Force, and Naruto Vs. Mecha Naruto. While the latter is regarded as goofy fun by some, Life on a Boat and Mom Force are pretty universally thought of as boring.

Many fans also cite Episode 185, Animal District as the worst of the worst in terms of Shippuden filler. The episode is about Naruto's rivalry with an ostrich named Condor. Though the premise has comedic potential, many fans found it to be mostly annoying without contributing anything to the wider themes of the series.

Are Any of Naruto: Shippuden's Filler Arcs Worth Watching?

While Shippuden is filled with some truly dreadful filler such as the Paradise Life on a Boat Arc and the infamous Naruto Vs. Mecha Naruto episode, not all of Shippuden's filler is bad. Though there are several standout episodes and moments, the easiest Shippuden filler to recommend is the Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU Black Ops mini-arc. Kakashi is an important character, and this mini-arc contains many important pieces of information about his time in the Anbu. If fans only watch one piece of filler content from Naruto: Shippuden it should be Kakashi's Anbu arc.

All of Naruto's movies are technically filler except for The Last: Naruto the Movie, which works as a good epilogue to the series.

Though many fans bemoan the abundance of filler, and some of it is genuinely poor quality, it is still an important part of Naruto: Shippuden and its legacy. Modern Shonen anime adaptations such as Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen may have abandoned filler arcs altogether, but they can actually be effective if used well. Even at their worst, Naruto: Shippuden's filler episodes don't do any harm as they're easy to skip and rarely have any impact on the series' overarching plot. Fans of Naruto: Shippuden may want to skip most of the series' filler, but some of it truly does shine.

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.

Though Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, and Boruto all have a higher percentage of filler at around 41%, Bleach has even more filler with 45% of its episodes being non-canon.

Related 15 Best Naruto Openings, Ranked Naruto has captured fans with its esteemed openings. From visuals, tone, and meanings all the openings are amazing, but some go beyond amazement.

anime series were often forced to use filler so that it didn't catch up to its manga source material.

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 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 Expand