This week's poll comes from our member jacob66. To what degree do you like side stories or "filler" arcs in terms of their duration? Perhaps a little wordy...

You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related):
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: In a series you're reading, you find out that the final romantic pairing is not the pairing you were rooting for, so you...
Choices:
Continue reading the series - votes: 8613 (73.5%)
Drop the series - votes: 2202 (18.8%)
I don't read any type of romance, so I wouldn't have a favorite pairing anyways - votes: 905 (7.7%)
There were 11720 total votes.
The poll ended: September 29th 2012

Spoilers won't phase most of you, eh? I guess if you're already invested in the series, might as well finish it even though you already know you'll be unhappy with the ending.

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

My only rule about side stories is that they should be interesting. Theoretically that means any amount is fine, but in practice I find that I can only tolerate a filler arc every so often.

Occasional fillers are fine as long as I don't feel like they're 'interrupting' my reading of the main story, ie they get released 'alongside' and not 'instead of' a main story chapter, or they're in the omake (or, equivalently, between main story arcs), or they don't scream 'filler' at you (e.g. 'normal day in the life of the characters' type thing which serves as extra characterization), or something of that sort...
Even with all that, they'd have to be pretty infrequent though.

What this guy said.

Basically, it's about quality. So in general:
Main story quality > Side story arc quality > occasional one chapter side story quality
The reason I put one chapter side-story as lowest on the list is because, generally, you can't really develop a good story in so few pages.

Obviously, though, if the quality of the side-story is bad, then the side-story becomes less bearable, so a shorter occasional one chapter side story is preferable.

It also depends a lot on HOW you read it - if you are reading it one chapter a week, for instance, that is a long time to wait between chapters: side-story chapters feel like fillers, or 'wasted chapters'.
On the other hand, if you're doing an 8 hour bender on a 10+ volume series, you hardly notice the effect of the side-story chapters, and sometimes it works well because they act as "pacing".

Having said that, I selected the first option because generally speaking, the main story is what I'm here for and sidestories are often a disappointment.

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If you were to go there and come back to me hurt, I will take your place.. and pull everything you hate.. into destruction...
I will erase anything that hurts you.. from the face of this world.

I only like side stories if it helps develop the plot or characters in some way, but couldn't really fit into the main story-line. Those are usually worth reading and aren't filler-ish.

This guy knows what's up.

I usually skip them, but some are nice.


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This week's favorites:

- Golden Kamui





ççççççç[Ô .Ô] tsutopodus© will eat your manga and steal your cats!

This.

Seriously though, it all boils down to how well it fits. If it fits well, bring on the side arcs!

If it doesn't fit well, just go back to the main story.

Yeah these....I skip them when im in the heat of reading a realllllly good manga.....sometimes though..i read them....if they're good enough to be read

Personally i like side stories if they develop the characters or are somhow related to the main plot. Aslong as they keep to that any ammount is fine, but i choose every once in a while since i prefer main storyline.

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Reads far to much Manga

I'm not a big fan, but I don't mind them if they're not too long or frequent. I'd prefer it to stick to the main plot as much as possible, but I understand a little break from the plot is needed once in a while.

As long as they don't happen too often and don't last for too long, it's good to have a distraction from the main plot.

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| One Punch Man | Noblesse | Nanatsu no Taizai | Gun x Clover |

One chapter side story isn't always bad, but too many (especially an entire arc) ruins the story. Too much side story crap tells me the mangaka doesn't know what to do with their story, like their flying by the seat of their pants. An entire arc (say 10+ chapters) usually ruins the story IMO. That's when series get dropped off of my reading list. Don't care how good is was before and don't care enough to find out what happens after. Bleach is the perfect example for me. After Aizen died, they had that crap with the swords gaining physical bodies and the fullbring. Couldn't take the stupidity of it when the fullbring chapters came around and it was like Kubo was just wringing money out of his fan base. Nothing of any importance happened. Nothing really changed. No real character growth. So one of my top 5 were dropped overnight (or more accurately, "overweek"). I check out a few pages every month or two and still feel the same way. Something about quincys. Haven't seen Ichigo or his friends in about 6 or 7 months. I'm glad I dropped it every time I take a peek. To me, Bleach ended with the death of Aizen.

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-No longer do I quote great scholars, the famous, etc. Kids feigning wisdom ruined it.
--I wont type a post like a college report. If you don't read it just for that reason, you don't have to post why your hoity-toity ass refused to. I swear, so many people on this site are so full of themselves. A lot seem to think they always have an "intelligent and/or logical" point or show signs of a superiority complex. They never admit they're wrong. Maybe partially, but excuses abound! :\
-Stop mailing me about my comments. I don't read them.
/sigrant

i usually skip any side stories if skipping them wont affect my understanding of the main plot
so yeah i'd rather the mangaka sticks to the main plot

Don't need to say this guy hit the nail right on the head regarding the opinion I have, do I?

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ミレニアム・マ スター１８