Dragon Ball Filler List: Every Episode You Can Skip

Summary The original Dragon Ball anime has 21 filler episodes, totaling 14% of the series.

Some filler episodes, like Goku facing a duplicate and training with a young Master Roshi, enhance the story.

Dragon Ball's filler is in line with other Dragon Ball series but is significantly less than series like Naruto and Bleach.

Though not quite as beloved as its sequel series, the original Dragon Ball anime is an incredible series, naturally leading curious fans to wonder about how much of it is filler and which episodes they can skip. Filler in anime became infamous with the rise of anime like Naruto and Bleach which aired week to week, forcing them to invent new stories and arcs so they wouldn't overtake their manga source material. Luckily for fans, Dragon Ball is fairly light on filler, meaning skipping it should be easy for anyone who only wants to stick to Toriyama's original story.

First premiering on February 26th, 1986, Dragon Ball would run for 153 episodes spread out over three years. Of the original 153 episodes in Dragon Ball's run, only 21 are completely filler. This means that Dragon Ball is comprised of roughly 14% filler.

Considering the manga that the series is based on had been running for about a year and a half when the anime began, it makes sense the anime would be relatively light on filler. Considering Dragon Ball Z has 38 filler episodes spread out over its 291-episode run, the original Dragon Ball anime's filler is about what was expected from an anime series when it was airing.

Related Dragon Ball: Goku's 15 Best Quotes, Ranked In the heat of battle, Goku has delivered some of the best quotes in Dragon Ball. Here are the best of the best from the anime to the manga.

Every Filler Episode of Dragon Ball

Episode # Title 30 Pilaf and the Mystery Force 31 Wedding Plans? 32 The Flying Fortress - Vanished! 33 The Legend of a Dragon 45 Dangers in the Air 79 Terror and Plague 80 Goku Vs. Sky Dragon 81 Goku Goes to Demon Land 82 The Rampage of InoShikaCho 83 Which Way To Papaya Island? 127 Quicker than Lightning 128 Secret of the Woods 129 The Time Room 130 Goku's Doll 131 Walking Their Own Ways 132 Hotter than Lava 149 Dress in Flames 150 The Fire-Eater 151 Outrageous Octagon 152 Mystery of the Dark World 153 The End, the Beginning

Though fans of Naruto may be tempted to wonder if The Rampage of InoShikaCho served as the inspiration for Team 10, both actually derive their name from a card game featuring a boar, a dear, and a butterfly, which is what Ino, Shika, and Cho translate to in Japanese.

Dragon Ball Filler Episodes That Are Worth Watching

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Though filler has developed a poor reputation, not all of it is bad, and Dragon Ball in particular has a few standout examples that actually enhance the story or at the very least offer a fun adventure. Toriyama helped craft some of Dragon Ball's filler, and it shows in the result. Episode 81, Goku Goes to Demon Land is the latter and Goku battles a few demons and saves a princess. It's a simple story, but is well done and really helps to sell the series' adventurous tone.

Another solid filler episode is episode 129, The Time Room. The episode features Goku traveling back in time to meet and train with a young Master Roshi. Roshi is an important character who often doesn't get too many moments to shine, so having an episode dedicated to fleshing out his rivalry with Master Shen is a treat for fans.

If there's one filler episode every fan of Dragon Ball should watch though, it's episode 130, Goku's Doll. The episode is all about Goku facing an exact duplicate of himself. Goku is far from an introspective character, but this battle against himself sees him having to think about his weaknesses and limitations so that he can exploit them in the doll. It's a great episode that fleshes out Goku and provides a great battle.

Which Dragon Ball Filler Episodes Should Fans Skip?

Dragon Ball's filler is mostly solid and is inoffensive at worst, though that doesn't mean every non-canon episode is a winner. If there's one set of episode that most fans can agree on as being a waste of time, it's the arc of Dragon Ball episodes from 149 to 152 that begins with Dress in Flames. The arc centers around the Ox King's castle catching on fire as Goku and Chi-Chi attempt to find a special fan to put out the flames so they can rescue Ox King and get a wedding dress for Chi-Chi.

The arc definitely has potential that saves it from being terrible. Goku and Chi-Chi's relationship is one aspect of Dragon Ball that very rarely gets the spotlight, so having an entire arc dedicated to them preparing for their wedding could have been great. Unfortunately, the result is largely unrewarding and doesn't do much to endear fans to Chi-Chi. The arc is far from bad, but it isn't exactly the series' most compelling story.

How Does Dragon Ball's Filler Compares to Other Anime Series

In terms of filler, Dragon Ball fairs pretty with only 14% of the series comprised of filler. This means that the original Dragon Ball has a slightly higher percentage of filler than both Dragon Ball Z, which sits at 13% filler, and Dragon Ball Super, which has only 11% filler. Unfortunately, all Dragon Ball anime lose out to One Piece as that series is only comprised of 9% filler. On the other side though, Dragon Ball is much better than series like Bleach and Naruto, which have 45% and 41% filler respectively.

Anime Series Number of Filler Episodes Percent of Total Dragon Ball 21 14% Dragon Ball Z 38 13% Dragon Ball Super 14 11% Naruto 90 41% Naruto: Shippuden 203 41% Bleach 163 45% One Piece 94 9%

Given how studios like Pierrot have handled anime filler in the past, it's generally impressive that Toei animation managed to only need 21 episodes of filler for the entirety of Dragon Ball's run. Given this, it's easy to see why Dragon Ball is very rarely in the conversation when it comes to the most abundant or worst filler.