Every Attack On Titan Filler Episode You Can Skip According To Fans
"Attack on Titan" is one of the most visually unique anime to find an international audience. In the world of this series, humans live behind three concentric walls, which protect them from the titular Titans: giant, sometimes skinless humanoids who eat humans on sight. The story starts when a Colossal Titan breaches a wall and attacks a city. Protagonist Eren Yeager's mother is killed, and he vows revenge. Eren later finds out that he can transform into a sentient Titan. Both the manga and anime follow the revelations of his family's past, the origin of the Titans, and Eren's quest to finally be free.
Adapted from the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama, the anime series ran debuted in 2013 and comes to an end in January 2022. To prep for the new season, binge-watchers may be wondering which of the 75 "Attack on Titan" episodes and 8 OVAs are filler. Most anime shows are adapted from manga, with varying levels of faithfulness to the source material. Often, entire episodes are added to a series' run that bears no connection to the original manga. Fans have dubbed these episodes "filler," and may look down on them compared to so-called "canon" episodes. Although filler episodes are unlikely to move a plot forward, it doesn't necessarily follow that these chapters are trash. "One Piece" fans have a lot of affection for the G-8 filler arc, as do "Sailor Moon" Redditors for the Makai Tree arc.
Attack on Titan is all giant killer, no episode filler
According to Anime Filler List, a crowdsourced website that separates canon from filler for every anime under the sun, "Attack on Titan" actually has no pure filler episodes. Per Anime Filler List, the episodes that contain non-canon material are Season 1, Episode 22, Season 2, Episode 8, and Season 3, Episodes 1-4 (via IMDb). For a show being made while the manga is still publishing, this is a remarkably small number of episodes to contain even some filler. Technically, these chapters contain some filler; should they just be considered pure filler because of that? Or are we just seeing a point of view that the manga failed to consider?
The elements considered to be filler in "Attack on Titan" may more closely resemble the world-building elements added to the "Hunger Games" movies. Since those novels are told entirely from Katniss' perspective, we only see things that she was actually around to observe. The movie franchise adds in moments that Katniss didn't witness, such as the riots in District 11 or the conversations between President Snow and Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane.
Often, filler episodes are added because an anime has outpaced its manga, and they need to buy time for the source material's plot to advance. It's possible that, since mangaka Hajime Isayama had already planned most of the plot before writing even the first chapter, episodes could move at a quicker pace. An odd byproduct of this lack of filler is that fans have made their own filler episodes that focus on things much more mundane than the average "Attack on Titan" episode, like texting and crushes (via YouTube).