User blog comment:Dettles/Anime getting filler good or bad?/@comment-972068-20131211091121

Filler is always good, provided it's well-written entertaining filler. Then again, even canon needs to be that way.

The thing about the One Piece Anime is that it's a TV show first, and a comic adaptation second. It needs to always be entertaining as a TV show, regardless of how it stays true to the manga. This of course doesn't mean it should disregard the manga and go the Bleach route, but if it needs to detach itself from the main story, it should. Otherwise, when it stays in the main story, it's not as entertaining because they're forced to have filler DURING the main story. This is why the Marineford Arc was done so poorly for its standards. If they had had like a 10 episode filler arc before Saboady, it would have been a lot better.

But just because you move from the main story doesn't mean you should stay away for too long. Don't go the Naruto route and make so much filler it feels pointless. Even if Naruto's filler was entertaining, it felt like the series wasn't going anywhere.

tl;dr: Filler is good. Just make it good filler. And don't make too much of it.