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When watching anime I often come across filler episodes or arcs. They are often episodes that are not described in the manga.

I haven't read much manga, so I was wondering: Does manga also have filler volumes?

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Depending on your definition of filler, I would say yes, there are indeed filler arcs in manga.

I say this for a few reasons.

  1. The other answer on here as I write this assumes that the manga is always the original content, which is untrue. While that's the most common way to do things (adapt manga into anime) there are certainly cases of adapting anime into manga form (for example, Madoka Magica).
  2. Consider this TV Tropes page. It offers a few definitions of filler. One is something that "isn't in the source material." However it could also be considered something "unrelated to the main plot," which doesn't necessarily mean that filler arcs are exclusive a specific adaptation.

For example, consider the Excalibur arcs in the Soul Eater manga, which also appear (almost verbatim in some cases) in the anime. They have no practical effect on the overall story - they exist simply for comedic effect. If you skipped those chapters, the overall story would not really lose anything.

Therefore, yes, manga can have filler, because filler can be defined as anything which does not have a direct effect on the main story.

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  • My theory of filler is when it is used in anime to fill up the anime with more epsiodes to create a gap between the manga storyline and the anime storyline as in so they won't catch up to it.
    – Wouter
    Jun 18, 2015 at 13:34
  • That's certainly one definition, but as per the page I cited, it's not the only definition. In other words there's several types
    – anonymous
    Jun 18, 2015 at 13:57
  • It is certainly wrong what you are saying, "filler" is a term of "filling the gap" for anime so it won't catch the manga, you just invented a new term of "filler" that fans made, and not for that purpose.
    – USerNAme
    Jan 25, 2020 at 21:15
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The answer is no,

Basically what a filler episode is is a episode that does not involve any content from the original manga, these episodes are called "non-canon" or like you described it as "filler episodes".

The manga is always 100% non-filler, but the anime adaption can contain these filler episodes.

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  • I wouldn't say that's always true, there are often chapters that don't advance the story in any meaningful way. After all, there are often scenes in manga that are published with the corresponding anime as OVA's, and they generally don't develop the plot.
    – Matt
    Jun 17, 2015 at 18:10

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