Pokémon Filler Guide

The anime series, just like the games, has a lot of fillers. Filler episodes are episodes that do not relate to the main plot line of the anime but rather provide some kind of side story or just episodes with no connection to the main plot. Pokémon is a series of games created by Nintendo and a hit anime series, manga, and trading card game. The anime follows a 10-year-old boy named Ash Ketchum, who goes on a quest to become the most excellent Pokémon trainer globally. The Pokémon Anime is an animated adaptation of the video game series. The anime was first aired in Japan on April 1st, 1997. It has since been airing almost daily in other country’s around the world, with new episodes being dubbed into English for North American audiences.

The show follows Ash Ketchum as he travels through Kanto and later through Johto collecting gym badges while making new friends.He also has recurrent rivalries with various trainers throughout his journey, including Gary Oak and Paul (Ash’s Rival), who are considered fan favorites and hated by those who dislike them for their cockiness or uncaring attitude towards others. With each gym badge Ash collects, he has to face off against that gym leader’s strongest Pokémon to prove his worthiness as a trainer.

Pokémon Plot

The Pokémon series takes place in the fictional Kanto region and the Johto region. The main character is a young boy named Ash Ketchum. He dreams of becoming the greatest Pokémon master and travels to different regions to catch new Pokémon and battle against Gym leaders to complete his plan. Along for the journey are his friends, Brock, Ash’s first friend and a Pokémon Breeder, Misty, who comes from the Cerulean City Gym leader family, and her water Pokémon Staryu, Pikachu (Ash’s starter Pokémon) and later on in the series his best friend Tracey Sketchit who was introduced in the Orange Islands saga who followed Ash around after seeing how great he was as a trainer.

Ash also has multiple rivals throughout his journey, including Gary Oak (Ash’s Rival)and Paul (Ash’s Rival). Most fans consider Gary Oak as one of their favorite characters because he is not only Ash’s rival but also an extremely skilled trainer who has battled against many different trainers and gym leaders while still being kind to others even though he can be very cocky at times.

How Much Filler is in Pokémon?

The following guide will help you determine whether an episode is a filler by providing some information about each season and two sections at the bottom detailing how many filler episodes there are for each season and which season the filler episodes are in.

There are a total of 1,083 episodes and 231 fillers leading to 21% filler episodes in the Pokémon anime series.

Quick Filler & Canon Lists

Complete Filler List

Episodes 1-25

Episodes 26-50

Episodes 51-75

Episodes 76-100

Episodes 101-125

Episodes 126-150

Episodes 151-175

Episodes 176-200

Episodes 201-225

Episodes 226-250

Episodes 251-275

Episodes 276-300

Episodes 301-325

Episodes 326-350

Episodes 351-375

Episodes 376-400

Episodes 401-425

Episodes 426-450

Episodes 451-475

Episodes 476-500

Episodes 501-525

Episodes 526-550

Episodes 551-575

Episodes 576-600

Episodes 601-625

Episodes 626-650

Episodes 651-675

Episodes 676-700

Episodes 701-725

Episodes 726-750

Episodes 751-775

Episodes 776-800

Episodes 801-825

Episodes 826-850

Episodes 851-875

Episodes 876-900

Episodes 901-925

Episodes 926-950

Episodes 951-975

Episodes 976-1000

Episodes 1001-1025

Episodes 1026-1050

Episodes 1051-1082

List of filler episodes for Pokémon in chronological order – Learn if it is worth watching

Episode 8: The Path To The Pokémon League

It opens with Ash and Misty walking down the path to Vermilion City. Ash is complaining about how long it took them to get there, despite the fact that they were walking at a fast pace. They finally reach Vermilion City, but Ash sees no sign of a Gym. Suddenly, a body comes flying out of a tree and lands on top of Ash. The dust clears and it’s revealed to be a young boy. The boy introduces himself as AJ, who turns out to be the Gym Leader of an unsanctioned Gym. AJ admits that he’s not supposed to be there since he’s still in training, so he shows them a letter from his master stating that he was sent by the Pokémon League to train under him for one year. He also mentions that he has 98 wins and no losses against other challengers because he ‘disqualifies’ his opponents as soon as they lose once.

This is a filler episode, and a lot of the stuff that happens in it doesn’t really matter to the overall plot of the anime. It’s meant to be a lighthearted, fun episode for Brock and Misty to have some characterization. In the later episodes, AJ turns out to be one of their rivals, so this episode is where you see the beginnings of their rivalry.

This is a very small filler episode. It doesn’t really have much to do with the plot, except that it’s introducing AJ as a character. There are many other episodes that introduce characters, but they usually have a more substantial plot. This filler has almost no plot at all—it just fills time between two cities (Vermillion City and Pewter City).

Episode 9: The School of Hard Knocks

The episode begins with the gang continuing their adventure. As they walk down a path, Ash tells Pikachu that he wants to become a Pokémon Master. Then they hear screaming. They go to see what is going on and find a bunch of students wearing school uniforms and kicking around another boy, Joe. The gang walk up to the group of students and demand to know why they are bullying Joe. The leader of the group, Giselle, says that they are running an experiment in order to get into Pokémon League so they can become the very best trainers ever. She refuses to say what it is about so Ash challenges her to battle!

Giselle uses a Cubone and Ash uses Pikachu. The battle begins with Pikachu using Thunderbolt but it has no effect on Cubone’s thick skull. Cubone uses Bone Club against Pikachu who dodges. Pikachu then charges towards Cubone using Quick Attack but falls short due to some mud on the floor causing him to hit his head on the wall behind him! Pikachu is dizzy from the fall and Cubone makes use of this by attacking with Bonemerang which lands a direct hit knocking out Pikachu!

This episode is a filler episode because it does not progress the plot in any way. It is also a very boring episode that doesn’t involve any action, doesn’t advance the plot at all and has a lot of repetitive dialogue.

This is a very boring episode. It doesn’t really progress the plot at all as it is a filler episode. It is also a very repetitive episode as there are a lot of parts where they repeat the same lines over and over again. The only part that was interesting was when Pikachu fell into the mud and bonemerang and hits his head, this gave us an insight to Ash’s character by seeing him get angry at Giselle and her group for bullying Joe. This isn’t a bad episode, but it isn’t anything special.

Episode 19: The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak

Ash, Misty, and Brock are traveling to Saffron City and enjoying the sights on the way. They go to a town where everyone is celebrating a festival. As they walk around, they meet a guy who claims to be an artist. He then shows them his work: A picture of a girl that he took 50 years ago when she was alive. The picture is very beautiful, but he explains that it’s not just any girl: It’s one of the local legends called “The Maiden of Maiden Rock.” According to the legend, she waited for her lover until she turned into stone. Every year, during the season of their anniversary (which was 50 years ago), her ghost comes back and steals someone else’s lover. That person just so happens to be James!

This episode is a filler, and was never intended to be shown on TV, because it was not part of the original Pokémon series. The reason why it’s a filler is because this episode has no main plot nor does it have any particular character development. All that happens throughout the episode is Ash, Misty, and Brock visiting a festival. They meet a guy who shows them his work (a picture of the Maiden of Maiden Rock). Then they go off to see other things at the festival and run into Team Rocket (who are also there for the festival).

This is one of the few rare episodes where none of the main characters do any evolving (except for Team Rocket when they get their butts kicked). As I’ve said previously, filler episodes have no real plot or character development, and this episode is no exception. It’s just a simple episode showing Ash, Misty, and Brock at a festival.

Episode 32: The Flame Pokémon-athon!

Ash and friends arrive at a ranch where an annual competition is held where trainers pit their Pokémon against each other to see who has the best trained Pokémon. Ash, Brock, and Misty decide to enter the competition, but Meowth is secretly entered by Team Rocket in an attempt to steal all of the Pokémon that are competing.

It doesn’t follow the main story line of the Orange Islands. In fact, it isn’t even remotely related to what happens in the Orange Islands. It’s just there to fill up time for those who want more episodes until they get to Hoenn. It’s not “important” enough to be considered canon: That means it doesn’t fit in with anything else that happens in Pokémon, making it useless for anything except filler. The episode didn’t need to be made at all.

The fact that the episode doesn’t need to be made is the problem. It’s just a waste of time. The episode doesn’t contribute anything to the overall story line, and there isn’t even a point to it.

Episode 33: The Kangaskhan Kid

In this episode, Ash and his friends find themselves in a jungle. In the middle of that jungle, they come across a ranger named Jenny and her partner Pokémon, Chansey. Apparently there are poachers in the area and Jenny has been trying to catch them. Since she has been unsuccessful in catching them, she enlists Ash’s help.

The group heads out into the jungle to search for the poachers. They soon find themselves split up. While Brock and Ash are on their way to meet with Jenny, Misty is left on her own to look for Pikachu who ran off when he heard something in the bushes. He finds himself with Tommy, a local Pokémon trainer who is trying to lead a herd of Kangaskhan into town without being detected by Jenny and her staff.

This is a filler episode because it does not contribute to the story. It does not provide any information on Ash’s quest to become a Pokémon Master. It does not further any of the main characters’ character development. The only purpose it serves is to entertain viewers in-between plot points of the actual storyline. This is why they are often referred to as ‘filler episodes.’

Episode 37: The Battling Eevee Brothers

The Pokémon heroes come across a rather large mansion that is the home of a rich family with an Eevee as a pet. The owners are celebrating their anniversary and decide to let their Eevee have some fun with the Pokémon. The owners had gone out to buy more food for the house. When they return, they see that their Eevee has been gone, and are distraught over the loss of their dear pet. They don’t seem to be upset at all about their anniversary being ruined or that they have to drive back to the store for more food.

This is a filler episode, because it has no plot. It is funny, but that’s about it. The Pokémon heroes do not do any sort of action here. They don’t catch any Pokémon (although they’re cute and would make good friends), or even run into any danger like in the first episode. There is no real reason for them to be there at all, unless you take into account that they are trying to find the mysterious Pokémon. But that’s not really what you would think the Pokémon heroes do all day—just walk around without a plan and see what happens?

Even though this episode doesn’t have a lot of plot, it does have a little bit of action. For example, when Team Rocket tries to steal Eevee, Pikachu gives them a shock to stop them from stealing the Eevee. Also, when Misty is trying to convince Ash and Brock to help find the Eevee’s owner, she says “I’m too young and beautiful to die!” which suggests she might be in some danger if she doesn’t find Eevee’s owner before Team Rocket does. These things make this episode more like an adventure than just filler with no plot or action at all.