Non-Canon

Definition of non-canon

Non-canon, also known as Filler, is material that is combined with material of greater relevance or quality to "fill out" a certain volume.

A filler can take the form of:

• An extra storyline made for the show
• Long amounts of content focusing on a single event

How do fillers work in One Piece?

In anime, fillers are used to fill out a series when the anime catches up to the storyline in the manga. The anime sometimes catches up to the manga because a single episode usually covers more than one manga chapter. Because the One Piece manga comes out weekly, the anime cannot get ahead of the manga at any one point. This is the cause for filler episodes.

In One Piece, fillers take form of:

• History on the characters that were never featured in the manga.
• Scenes taking longer than they did in the manga.
• Extra story-lines that were not part of the original.

In One Piece, unlike many other series, some of the filler characters are designed by Oda himself. Some of the stories, such as the Loguetown Arc fillers, were ones Oda himself wanted to include in the manga, but did not in order to move the storyline along faster.

Did Oda have any part?

Despite the fact that some characters only appear in the anime, Oda has designed many of them for Toei (anime) and Bandai (video games).

• Oda provided character designs for the first OVA characters. Sketches of these can be found in one of the early volumes.
• A novelization of the Loguetown Arc written in 2000 had the story of Usopp's encounter with Daddy Masterson and his daughter Carol, explaining where he got his goggles. Oda stated that he did want to include this story in the manga but could not due to the pressure to start the Grand Line story exactly at chapter 100.
• The character Musshuru was created by Oda for the 9th One Piece movie as Wapol's brother. Due to many of the other changes in the story, including the inclusion of Robin and Franky to the story of the discovery and joining of Tony Tony Chopper, it cannot be considered canon in the continuity.
• Oda has also designed other non-canon characters such as Accino, Gasparde, Zephyr, Ratchet, and more.

Is Filler treated the same as Canon?

Adaptions with content created for the anime can create plot holes, for example:

• Chopper ate many Rumble Balls during the filler Davy Back Fights, but in the manga it was stated he could not eat more than one in a period of six hours without causing problems.
• Zoro stated he could cut anything during the Warship Island Arc and proceeded to cut chains which were apparently steel although he had not yet acquired the technique until the Alabasta Arc, where he stated that he cannot cut steel. During his fight with Daz Bones, Zoro went back remembering what he was taught about cutting steel, after that he applied it for the first time.
• Several times in the filler episodes between the end of the Baroque Works saga and the beginning of the Skypiea Saga, Luffy, Zoro and Robin's bounties were all noted. However Luffy and Zoro had no knowledge of their bounties until Jaya Arc and Robin was only confirmed to be travelling with the Straw Hat Pirates in the Davy Back Fight Arc.
• In the anime, Coby and Helmeppo went through Reverse Mountain, but in the manga, they went through the Calm Belt to reach the Grand Line. However, in episode 315 of the anime Coby and Helmeppo explain to Luffy that they actually did go through the Calm Belt with new technology created by a Marine scientist named Dr. Vegapunk.

An "Anime and Manga Differences" section or a non-canon history section can be included on a page to cover extra adaptation information, while episode pages can detail more fully what has been altered.

It should be noted that the anime and manga have different continuities and the two are distinguished separately on this wiki.