Dragon Ball Filler List: All The Episodes You Can Skip

It's easy to understate just how much of a cultural impact "Dragon Ball" has had. The 40-year-old franchise is recognized as a household name by several generations of anime fans. Both "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z" are foundational works of fiction, inspiring virtually every single anime and manga that's come out since then. Around the world, Goku is not just a popular anime character, he is THE anime character. If you think the show's reputation is overblown, think again.

It's wild to think that author Akira Toriyama never really planned to make what would end up becoming "Dragon Ball." What's more, the manga constantly evolved and changed, with Toriyama pivoting to what readers were most interested in, changing the story from a fun fantasy adventure inspired by "Journey to the West," to a Jackie Chan-inspired martial arts action story, to a sci-fi epic influenced by Superman's origin. This means there is something in "Dragon Ball" for every kind of anime fan. Still, while "Dragon Ball Z" is arguably the most iconic and popular part of the franchise (it's the show that built Toonami and created a generation of fans in the U.S., Latin America, and abroad), fans shouldn't ignore the original "Dragon Ball."

There is something pure about the first show starring Son Goku, which found him as a little orphan boy with a tail and a knack for fighting cars and dinosaurs. Before the franchise became about power-ups and aliens, the first "Dragon Ball" is a wild, imaginative, delightfully silly adventure. But due to the nature of weekly anime releases, which tend to quickly catch up to their source material, "Dragon Ball" has several filler episodes. 

If you want to be aware of which episodes of the original "Dragon Ball" are not based on specific chapters of the manga of the same name, this list is for you. (Note: This list will only cover the original anime and not "Dragon Ball Z.")

Here is every single filler episode of "Dragon Ball," though the list only includes full filler episodes (more on this later).

Episodes 30-33

"Pilaf and the Mystery Force"

"Wedding Plans?"

"The Flying Fortress – Vanished!"

"The Legend of a Dragon"

Episode 45

"Danger in the Air"

Episodes 79-83

"Terror and Plague"

"Goku vs. Sky Dragon"

"Goku Goes to Demon Land"

"The Rampage of InoShikaCho"

"Which Way To Papaya Island?"

Episodes 127-132

"Quicker than Lightning "

"Secret of the Woods"

"The Time Room"

"Goku's Doll"

"Walking Their Own Ways"

"Hotter than Lava"

Episodes 149-153

"Dress in Flames"

"The Fire-Eater"

"Outrageous Octagon"

"Mystery of the Dark World"

"The End, the Beginning"

Though filler can be a bit of a dirty word for certain anime fans, with many viewing that term as referring to an atrocity to be skipped at any cost, to skip them would be to miss out on some great episodes of television. "Fullmetal Alchemist," for instance, once turned a filler chapter into one of its best episodes.

This is especially true of the original "Dragon Ball," where it's kind of hard to talk about filler that you should or can skip — at least compared to "Dragon Ball Z." That's because most of the "filler" content is weaved in with the more crucial episodes, expanding on scenes or interjecting anime-original scenes with canon moments.

But even fully filler episodes shouldn't really be skipped. The original "Dragon Ball" took advantage of the opportunity to do filler episodes, and rather than just do recap episodes, they expanded on the worldbuilding of Toriyama's source material and fleshed out the many side characters Toriyama ignored or forgot about. How Pilaf found out about Piccolo, or how Nam is doing in his village — these are small questions that don't really impact the main story, but to be able to tell those stories makes the anime a different and valuable experience. What's more, the anime constantly references and connects to the filler episodes, making them essential to watching the anime. After all, only in the anime can you actually see Goku and Chi-Chi get married because the finale of "Dragon Ball" is anime-only and provides a nice closure to this story before "Dragon Ball Z" continues the saga.