>>3751
Sometimes filler is good, and people who can't understand that are fucking stupid. The example I always use, because it's (at least one of) the most casual anime and everyone is familiar with it, is the Saiyan arc of Dragon Ball Z, or rather, everything that happens between Raditz and Nappa. I love Dragon Ball, and I think Toriyama did have some pretty thoughtful ideas and themes in the story that deserve more credit, but the fact that he thought it was acceptable to just skip over all the actual bonding between Piccolo and Gohan is retarded. Yeah, the story flows, but the anime filler adds so, so much more to it. By comparison, the manga, and Dragon Ball Kai, essentially just tells you're that the two characters have a relationship now, but the anime actually makes you feel like it's earned. Hell, it's also basically your introduction to Gohan as a character. Maybe that's why Toriyama and Japanese fans don't seem to care about Gohan. The arc that made us attached to him is anime only, and just skipped over in the manga. In Japan, maybe a lot of fans only read the manga, and Toriyama obviously doesn't care about the anime, but outside Japan, nobody read the manga without watching the anime first. Yes, that's backwards, but in some cases, the anime did it better.
Now, is there other filler that just pads things for no good reason? Yes, but it's less than you'd expect. Dragon Ball Kai, up to the end of the Cell arc, is half the length of Z. But how much of that is pointless padding, and how much is actual story that adds to the characters or world, or might be at least some fun stuff to watch? If you add back in all the filler arcs and episodes, you add back almost all the runtime that Kai cut. People think they're skipping long powerup sequences, but what they're really skipping is the episode where Goku and Piccolo learn to drive, and that's the best one. THE BEST ONE.
And you know what? I'm gonna go a step further. I like the movies. I don't give a fuck. Are they great? No. Most of them are barely movies at all, they're basically just special episodes that don't fit into continuity properly. But can I enjoy them anyway? Yes. Garlic Jr is a cool idea for a villain, and his story rises logically from the lore, even if it doesn't fit quite perfectly in the timeline (though it gets pretty close. Its problems are a lot more minimal than most of the movies). Dr. Wheelo's plot was likewise a clever one that would be done a couple times later in "more canon" parts of the story. And you know what else? If you just watch the movies at certain points in the timeline, and squint just a little, they fit well enough that it is easy to overlook the ways they don't fit in the timeline. In fact, while I'm being autistic, I'll explain how, for fun. This is how I watched them when I marathoned the series a while back, and it was fun.
>Garlic Jr
Happens before the first episode of Z. Everyone seems to understand this. It does contradict the fact that the other characters act like they're meeting Gohan for the first time in the first episode of Z, and Goku shouldn't have his nyoi-bo ever since he got to Kami's lookout, but whatever man, I can overlook these little bits for what is otherwise a pretty fun movie with a pretty neat villain.
>Dr. Wheelo
Well Goku is dead after Raditz, then everyone goes to space, then Goku is in space for a year, so this can only take place all the way after Trunks arrives for the first time and warns everyone about the androids. Way later than release date, and Goku should be able to become Super Saiyan, but he doesn't do that in the movie. But whatever. Gohan looks a bit younger than he should, but that's mostly shown with his haircut. So okay, Chi Chi gave him a haircut, and it slowly grows back over the next few movies. Then he gets it cut again when they are getting ready to head out and fight the androids.
>Tullece
Again, over the three years waiting for the Androids. Gohan's hair is growing back. The problem, other than implied ages (mostly by Gohan's hair) and Goku not going Super Saiyan, is that Gohan's pet dragon is introduced here, but then he appears in the anime filler after Gohan comes back from Namek, but before Trunks arrives. In this viewing order, you'd see that episode first, before the character is introduced. Since he's a pretty minor character, I can squint hard enough to overlook these two appearances being slightly swapped.
>Lord Slug
Still those three years. That weird red Super Saiyan thing is here. Whatever man. The fun fan idea here is to say that Goku didn't master Super Saiyan after that first time, and it took him more time to do it properly at will, hence this form, where he almost got it, but not quite. In fact, Goku does say it took him time to master it. However, he says that he did master it over the one year he was in space after Frieza. Look man, I can squint hard enough to say he didn't actually quite master it and was still working on it by this point during the next three years, when Lord Slug showed up.
>Cooler
And here is where Goku actually did master Super Saiyan. Actually, this movie fits in the timeline pretty decently.
>Cooler 2, Android 13, Broly, Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, that one Telebikko anime game
All happen during the ten day wait for the Cell games. Actually, less than that, because a little bit of time passes in the manga, and then more time passes in the anime filler where Tao shows up again (again, pretty cool, because I liked seeing that guy come back), before these can take place. So that was a busy week for our heroes. The problem with all these movies is that Goku and Gohan are supposed to be in their Super Saiyan forms for this entire period, but they don't do this in these movies. Again, a problem, but I can overlook it for the sake of enjoying the movies.
>Bojak
After Cell. This actually fits in the timeline pretty well.
>Broly 2
There is a specific moment when this would take place, during the period when Gohan is training Videl. Right before they head out to the tournament, I think. There probably was a problem or two, but small enough that I can't remember at the moment. Maybe Videl's hair is wrong in relation to how well she knows Goten or something.
>Bio-Broly
When everyone was waiting on the lookout, scared to death of Buu, a couple characters snuck off to have this adventure. Stupid, but it kind of works.
>Janemba
I remember this one bugged me the most. It almost works, but in order to line up with the time when Vegeta is dead and Goku would be available, it should take place during a period when everyone on Earth thinks Gohan is dead, but they don't think that here. I'd argue this is the biggest timeline problem with any of these movies, because you can't shift it to elsewhere in the timeline, and it's a pretty major plot point in the main series, not just a throwaway line of dialogue or whatever. But again, nothing that stops me from enjoying the movie.
>Hirudegarn
This one fits pretty well in the timeline. After they beat Buu. No big deal.
Now, the original Dragon Ball movies are mostly alternate retellings of the main series, so they don't fit at all, but I'm pretty sure there's a line somewhere in the filler where they call Chaozu a prince, like he is in the third movie. So I also still watch them, but I just watch those in release order with whatever episodes they came out around. They don't fit in the timeline at all, but look man, does it really matter?
I like getting caught up in continuity, it can be fun, it can be cool when the writer does something clever with continuity, but you shouldn't let it hinder your enjoyment of something. Just enjoy the ride.