Which Dragon Ball Z Episodes Are Filler

[Varinia Swicegood]

Fillermaterial is any and all scenes or episodes that appeared in the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime that are not present in the original Dragon Ball manga. In general, filler provides for new stories without seriously upsetting the status quo. Sometimes evidence or flashbacks are added into scenes that were shown in the manga as well (such as when Piccolo refers to the Garlic Jr. Saga just before Gotenks' fight with Super Buu at The Lookout). Filler is found often in Dragon Ball Z, as a means of not getting ahead of the manga, as they were both originally produced in parallel with one another. For example, the Garlic Jr. Saga was likely added to the anime due to the Trunks Saga not having been fully released in manga at the end of the Frieza Saga anime. Filler does not necessarily come in the form of entire original arcs, but sometimes it pads out and extends manga material mid-story - the most serious side-effect of this is that sometimes fights themselves are lengthened, which can give the viewer a false impression about the relationship in power between the combatants - where the clear winner in the manga always emerges quickly, the anime fights sometimes instead give the impression that the fighters are more closely matched: one example of this is the fight of Gohan against Super Buu (Gotenks absorbed), which appeared much more closely matched in the anime than in the manga. For this reason, filler is often discouraged among the fan community from being used as evidence when determining who was stronger than who.

Despite its name, filler is not necessarily designed as pure padding. Sometimes, the anime may make changes that do not seem to extend the story length, but rather, seem to be more creative changes to the story itself. One such addition is the character Gregory, who is not present in the manga but who has come to be well-liked by the fandom. Additionally, in the Tournament Saga, in the manga, Goku and Krillin meet Yamcha in the preliminaries, but in the anime, they meet when they are registering for the tournament. It appears that it would have taken the same number of frames to draw this plot point the way it was originally written; as such, giving it the term "filler" is dubious. Rather, it seems that the animation team simply decided to re-write that portion of the story.

Additionally, "filler" might be done simply to write away plotholes from the manga, rather than pad the episodes. One of the earliest examples of this also comes in the Tournament Saga. In the manga, Krillin draws #1 for the quarterfinals of the tournament, forcing him to face off against Bacterian, who drew #2. However, after that, Krillin and Bacterian were shown inexplicably switched around, with Krillin as #2 and Bacterian as #1. The anime changed this so that Krillin had always drawn #2, another change that did not extend the episode length at all.

Events and characters from anime filler are featured in many video games. Like in the anime, Goku visits the Cave of Darkness to get Ultra Divine Water in Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure. Piccolo's usage of the Tri-Form technique during his training for the Saiyan conflict is referenced in a mission in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z. Princess Snake, Mez, Goz, and Gregory often appear in video games, such as Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu. The Vegeta Saga version of the Pendulum Room is a battle stage in Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu. Several references to filler and movies events are made in the Supersonic Warriors series, such as when Goku confronts Cell and Frieza in the Other World. The anime-only Garlic Jr. Saga was even adapted into Dragon Ball Z: Taose! Garlic Jr.

The Gokuden series includes several anime filler characters and events. Dragon Ball Z: Kyōshū! Saiyan is the first Dragon Ball game to feature movie characters, being Garlic Jr. and his henchmen (Ginger, Nikki and Sansho). Anime-only characters such as Scarface, Shorty, Princess Snake, Mez, Goz, and Gregory also appear in this game. Like Piccolo does in the anime, every character in the game is able to use cloning in order to train.

The anime-only Mirror Spaceship and Fake Namek make brief appearances during the group's journey to Namek in Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Freeza. Planet Kanassa and Kanassan, from the TV special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku, are also featured in the game.

Characters from the movie Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge are featured in Dragon Ball Z III: Ressen Jinzōningen. The movie characters Cooler, Lord Slug, and Turles appear in Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans.

The Legacy of Goku series includes events from anime filler. Examples are Yamcha saying that he has become a baseball player, the encounter with Princess Snake, Goz and Mez, and hitting Gregory with a heavy mallet in The Legacy of Goku. Gohan having a nightmare about Frieza right before his arrival on Earth, references to Garlic Jr. and the Black Water Mist, the appearance of Maron at Kame House, and the encounter with Cyborg Tao and Vodka during the Cell Games Saga in The Legacy of Goku II. Cameos of Miss Piiza, Pirozhki and Caroni, the Other World Tournament, the appearances of the Red Shark Gang, Mr. Musuka, Chobi, and the party at Bulma's house after Kid Buu's defeat in Buu's Fury.

For some reason, Dimps and Spike both seem to avoid putting filler characters in the Budokai series and Budokai Tenkaichi series of video games. The only two filler characters to appear in any of these games are Garlic Jr. and Pikkon, both of whom appeared in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. However, they also both appeared in movies (Garlic Jr. in Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone and Pikkon in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn) and there are several other movie-exclusive characters in the games.

In spite of this, their character bios detail their appearances in the anime, and the Garlic Jr. Saga in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is based on the anime, not the movie. Also, the Other World Tournament is a tournament available in some of the games, and a few other filler scenes are mentioned in character bios, such as the scene where King Cold begs Trunks for his life.

The Origins series includes anime filler events. Dragon Ball: Origins makes references to when Goku went to Skull Valley, with him finding the wolf and the centipede he caught for dinner in a cave in the bonus level 1-5. The bonus level 1-6 is a reference to the filler episode "The Roaming Lake", with Goku confronting Giran as he thought Giran was the one who blocked the Mount Paozu river because Giran planned to invite his friends there, while in fact it was Goku who blocked the river early in the game (in level 1-2) to gain access to a secret cave with Bulma, but Goku only remembered this after Giran's defeat. In another bonus level (level 2-5), Oolong mentions Mount Five Element and asks Goku to bring him the special potion that exists there.

The first chapter of Dragon Ball: Origins 2 makes references to Goku having his Power Pole stolen (with a monkey stealing it, instead of a young boy) and playing with monkeys in filler episodes of the Red Ribbon Army Saga. Like in anime filler, Colonel Silver's soldiers are seen with flamethrowers and pickaxes, and Silver obtains the Dragon Ball from Pilaf before losing it. Like in the anime, in level 2-4, Android 8 does not escort Goku when he goes upstairs after Murasaki's defeat but meets him later in the Muscle Tower maze where he fights Red Ribbon soldiers. The bonus levels 2-7 and 4-5 are references to the filler episode "The Secret of Dr. Flappe". Giant Electric Eels appear in the Pirate Cave in the third chapter of the game. Like in the anime, there are three treasure chests in the Pirate Cave and the anime exclusive Treasure-Protecting God Statue is protecting them as the boss of level 3-3. In the fourth chapter of the game, like in the General Blue anime saga, King Nikochan and his servant are collecting trash at Penguin Village, and their spaceship is destroyed (by Goku, this time). Colonel Violet is robbing the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters while they are under attack by Goku in level 6-2 (Goku even confronts her), and the anime-only Pilaf's Flying Fortress appears in the final chapter of the game.

The events of the five last episodes of the Dragon Ball anime series, about Goku and Chi-Chi searching the Bansho Fan before their wedding, are featured in Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans. Krillin going to Chi-Chi's house to tell her what happened to Goku, and Gohan is also in the game. Everything that happens in the filler episodes "Goz and Mez" and "Princess Snake" is also in the game. Anime-only characters such as Grandma Hakkake, Annin, C-6, Princess Snake, Goz, Mez, and Gregory make appearances. Some enemies are modeled after filler characters, such as the Princess' Guards, Meadow Wizard/Spring Guard/Red Shaman modeled after Maloja, Fishmen modeled after Arqua, Tumble Bug/Fire Caterpillar/Caterpillar modeled after Caterpy, and Roundworms. Also, the movie character Broly is a secret boss in the game.

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.

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