User blog:Nick D Wolfwood/the problem with throwaway fillers - anime spoiler alert

I must admit i'm more of a fan of the manga, the story moves quicker, the damage is way more brutal and THERE'S NO FILLER!!!!!

I don't see why the Bleach Anime crew decided to get so disposable with the filler arcs but it really bugs me watching something i know has absolutely no bearing on the main story. I am now thoroughly bored with the Toju episodes as they all seem to be one off add ons going nowhere and i don't see what the anime gains by sticking in obviously disconnected stories in the middle of the Manga canon based episodes.

When the bount arc was created it seems like great pains were taken to ensure it fit into the story of bleach. subsequently the filler created characters have appeared in future episodes either as extra filler content or actually woven into the canon story (the mod souls taking on Grand Fisher). Why did they all of a sudden decide they wouldn't bother with that? was it really too much effort to try and incorporate the filler stories so they at least seemed to fit with the manga story!! The Amagai Arc seemed like it could have worked as it took the already established premise of filling an empty Captian position and then had the main plot built around that but it was stuck right in the middle of the biggest showdown as of date in the manga!! no effort was made to make it part of the story so it's now just a meaningless side story. the same goes with the Zanpaktou rebellion. it was a brilliant idea and i enjoyed it (especially everything involving Zaraki) but it has absolutely no place in the canon storyline. details we now know like ichigo's mask changing, the injuries done to soifon, komamura and toshiro and skirting around now well documented power sets for Shunsui and Jushiro again make this arc a throwaway set of stories that wil never fit into the main storyline. Even the well done flashback scenes were left lacking as they only had Yama-jii and Genrei in them. and no more was done to add previous captains or show unohana jushrio and kyoraku even though they are stated as having been capatins longer than Genrei.

I understand why the filler material is necessary but i dont see why more effort can't be taken to make it more flowing, like the forest of menos episodes. the bount arc seemed to make a lot of effort to ensure it fit in. and gave good use of already established powers (like Renji's Bankai and Ichigo's inner hollow). The later major anime only arcs just don't seem to bother and as such are of no use to the story other than to placate fans that aren't interested in following a proper plot.