The Bount arc is viewed as easily the worst arc of the Bleach anime. The pacing wasn’t up to par with the cannon arcs and it wasn’t as interesting as the other filler arcs. It was actually a decent premise: explore some dark history within Soul Society and provide a unique take on this universe’s equivalent of vampires.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the Bount Invasion: this subplot detailed the conflict between Soul Society and the last remaining members of the Bount. The Bounts were a special breed of humans (mistakenly created by a Shinigami scientist) who were able to consume the souls of other humans and Shinigami. They try to take revenge on Soul Society because their kind were massacred and those that survived were forced into hiding. The story reaches its climax when the leader of the Bount, Kariya, faces off against Ichigo in Soul Society.

The new characters in this arc were not particularly intriguing and the pacing was off. The only thing the Bount arc had going for it was its sense of mystery. This air of (intrigue) was something prevalent in the pre-soul Society Arcs of the series. It was present again in this filler, but it fell short of delivering on its potential. So, though the feeling was similar to early parts of the cannon, the characters and events had no effect on future storylines. So, it almost feels like a waste of about 40 episodes.

Alright, let’s move on to the positives of what filler can bring to the table. Filler arcs can be amazing when they carry the same rhythm and feel as regular arcs. At times, viewers won’t realize they’re watching filler until it is pointed out to them later on. A perfect example of this is the G-8 arc from One Piece.

A quick recap of G-8: after blasting off of Skypiea, the Going Merry and Straw Hat pirates land in the middle of a marine base (G-8) where they have to separate and disguise themselves in order to escape. After 11 episodes of comedic interactions and narrow escapes, the crew reunites, escapes from the base, and continues their decent back to the open sea.

This filler was interesting enough (and short enough) to provide a brief break from the cannon storyline. It provided an entertaining (break) and tied up its loose ends nearly. It concluded with an escape similar to the one from Skypiea. Then, the ship landed back on the open sea and integrated itself back into the original material from the manga. The transition was flawless.

There didn’t need to be any over the top battles because the Skypiea arc had just concluded an epic adventure in the sky culminating in an (exciting) fight between Luffy and Eniel.

Commander Jonathan continues to make small cameos throughout the series. He and his marines even make a small appearance in the 4th One Piece film [Dead End Adventure].

One series that was basically all “filler” was Samurai Champloo. Yet, the series is looked upon fondly by the anime community. The characters and interactions were so likeable that people didn’t care that 20 (some odd) episodes did nothing to push the story forward. I put “filler” in quotes because there is technically no filler for this show. It is not based off of any source material. The anime IS the cannon and therefore no episodes could technically be considered filler.

The ENTIRE structure of Samurai Champloo is episodic in nature. What I mean by that is that there isn’t exactly an arc that takes you from the beginning of a story to its conclusion. The basic premise only exists to bring the three central characters together. In fact, only episodes 1 and (20) showcased the search for the “samurai that smells like sunflowers”. You could skip everything else and just watch those two in order to understand the “central story”. Though if you did that, it would be a shame. You’d miss out on some great comedy and exciting sword fights.

The only thing the show chooses to truly explore is character development. It does this by putting the characters in interesting situations, exploring parts of their past, and testing their personal ideologies. This is only possible if your characters are well-rounded and (intriguing), which is exactly the type of cast Samurai Champloo had.