Updated April 23, 2022 by

Filler episodes were never a great joy to most anime viewers (or weebs, as they like to call themselves). It is considered a distraction, a waste of time, and could even disrupt the flow of where the series is going. 

There could be a lot of reasons why fillers exist (and also have a few kinds). Mainly, it is to give more time for the manga to catch up with the anime. But most fillers are just there to add up to the episodes of a certain series. In particular, recap episodes are a hassle to watch and people will just skip them. It summarizes the story from the start to the most recently aired episode or a certain time frame of episodes. 

On the other hand, some fillers are not all that bad. Some are quite enjoyable, wholesome, and could even give a different perspective of the story and the featured character. You just gotta know which is which. 

To all those lovely smug manga readers out there, they are the ones who have an idea of what to skip and what not to skip, but to the unassuming noob, they would have no clue (unless they Google it, of course). 

As one of Google’s search results, I am here to enlighten you and help you pinpoint which is the meat and which is the side dish of this particular anime—Ace of Diamond. 

 

Diamond No Ace FILLERS

 

DIAMOND NO ACE QUICK FILLER LIST

 

THE ANIME

Ace of Diamond is a shounen and sports series centered on baseball that aired from October 2013 to March 2016. It has 126 episodes and 5 OVAs. It also has a second season, Ace of Diamond-Act II which has 52 episodes and aired from April 2019 to March 2020. 

The story is about your regular MC—strong-willed, Nakama-centered, and with a unique quirk in his pitching style that he is about to discover, and of course improve. And don’t forget his team members, who also have their own circumstances and stories. The first season is divided into two parts. 

 

FILLER EPISODES

THE EPISODES  (First part)

The first season aired 75 episodes from October 2013 to March 2015, with one reported filler episode on Episode 28. And it’s a recap episode, but don’t leave yet. Hear me out (I mean, please continue reading). This type of filler, when done incorrectly and excessively, can be quite annoying, and considering that in this part of the series there is only one, I think it is quite acceptable.

 

FILLER NUMBER 1 (Episode 28)

The episode started off with the usual dramatic opening of most MCs. With the BGM backing him, his suspenseful tone, and a statement that teased the audience that this series would be lit, and it is, don’t argue.

Then the OP song started, which by the way you need to listen to since it is part of the experience of watching anime. After that, the events skipped to the part where the assistant director of Seidou High School, Rei Takashima, invited him to come to their school. But as our MC was playing hard to get (as they all do), he said no. 

She, being the smart and cool character, found a weakness in his statement and provoked him by saying a sarcastic remark about his goal of wanting to go to the Nationals and, of course, to his team. And our Eijun (our MC), being simple-minded and Nakama-centered, took the bait and chomped on it. In other words, he visited the school, and he was amazed by it. Before that, a certain bully character must enter and provoke our righteous MC—Azama, and they somehow start a duel (more like it was proposed by Rei-san to resolve any argument with a baseball match since they are on a baseball field. Classic).

And here comes our cynical catcher of the team—Miyuki Kazuya. He suggested catching Ejuns’ pitch, and yes he did (I also think Eijun lowkey simps for him because he was the first person to catch his ball, I mean pitch). 

Fast forward, different characters were introduced. One particular character was mainly focused on, Chris Yu Takigawa. The upperclassman who is in the second string and someone who is partnered with Eijun to form a battery

Of course, as all good relationships go, it started off with a pile of misunderstandings. It got worse when Chris mentioned how good Furuya’s (the obligatory rival for the position of Ace) pitches were.

But eventually, it got cleared up when Eijun learned the truth about Chris-senpai’s injury that hindered him from being in the first string. Eijun then banged his head on the floor and asked Chris to be his Sensei and teach him the ways of baseball. This is my favorite part of the recap episode. I still felt how regretful Eijun was and his conviction to mend his way. In my opinion, the animator didn’t butcher this part. 

And now, the awaited proper introduction of the rival in the position of being the Ace of the team—Furuya. It was also briefly narrated by Eijun the backstory of Furuya, where he was ignored by his junior high team because he was too OP, and they couldn’t match him. 

The scene then changed to the part where the Summer Tournament is teased and the selection of two second-string players to move up to the first string during the summer practice matches. They faced off with Kokudokan, and Eijun formed a battery with Chris-senpai. 

Of course, Eijun performed exceptionally in this practice match where Chris-senpai made sure to bring out the diamond that he is (Eijun). And so, the summer practice tournament ended where Eijun got selected along with the eye-covered, pink-haired soft boy first year, Haruichi Kominato.

Unfortunately, Chris-senpai wasn’t selected and he will continue his career on the baseball team as a manager of the team. Eijun was bitter and sad about it as they all are in the first string, but with Miyuki-senpai’s encouraging words he accepted it with tears in his eyes and a new conviction for all of them to go to the Nationals with everything they got. 

With that part coming to a close, the scene jumped to the part where Seidou High is facing off other schools in West Tokyo District to win the Summer Tournament and get the chance to compete in the semi-finals. This part you could briefly see some teams with Saitama as their theme, the other one has a very striking eyebrow and of course, the team that they would have a hard time dealing with. 

The MC also briefly introduced its amazing (as he likes to call them) upperclassmen one by one, with their weird quirks and their positions on the team. It was not boring in this part since the characters themselves have a line for themselves to somehow really show their character and Miyuki also helped narrate this part by slightly insulting each character, you’ll know what I mean if you saw the episode.

The episode came to a close with Tanba-san being injured during a game—the upperclassman that is the supposed ace of the team. Now, Seidou High enters the tournament without their ace. Of course, the fate of the team rests on Furuya, Nori-senpai, and especially our MC, Eijun, to carry on the game. The episode ended with a note of doubt on how well they will perform but we all know that all is well as long as the MC is there.

 

FILLER NUMBER 2 (Episode 76)

Now, we are in the second part of the series. This particular episode covers the match between Seidou High School and Yakushi Academy. To start off, the episode is narrated by the side character, Mine-san. A sports reporter that covers and follows the teams competing for the position of representing West Tokyo in the Nationals tournament. 

The match started with Furuya from Seidou as the pitcher and facing off against the wild monkey batter from Yakushi Academy, Raichi Todoroki. After a few swings of the bat, Raichi, looking as if he was having the time of his life, adjusted to Furuya’s style and hit his pitches. Furuya felt angry and frustrated with himself, but thanks to our ever-reliable Miyuki-senpai and the team, he composed himself and continued the game with a more positive mindset. 

Then, Coach Kataoka called for a switch of players, shocking the other team (especially the coach), and you guessed it—our MC, Eijun Sawamura, showed his prowess. With his appearance, Yakushi and, most especially, Raichi are shaken by our MC. As a counter to that, when it is the turn of Yakushi Academy to pitch, the ace-Sanada comes in and demonstrates how it is done. Seidou players dubbed him the “upgraded version of Eijun” because his pitches were also moving fast.

Raichi comes in again as the batter, and Coach Kataoka sends in Haruichi Kominato to send a message to his teammates. Being given the mission to carry the team, Eijun felt motivated to do his best shot. But, it all came crashing down when Raichi got a home run off his pitch.

It was not easy for him to not let it get to him, especially with the kindness his teammates showed. He felt even more pressured. Eventually, he was switched out by Kawakami. 

The scene then jumps to the part where Sanada, the ace of Yakushi Academy, turns to pitch. When his pitch was hit and Seidou gained a homerun, like the pro that he is, he did not let it get to him. And as for Eijun, with Chris’s advice, he just saw how a real ace handles his plays.

As the scene turned for Kawakami to pitch, he was doing well for a while. But as the adaptable humans that we are, Yakushi’s batters adjusted to his pitches. Then here comes Eijuns’ cheer from the bench. Shouting encouraging words and advice at the top of his lungs, he lifted the spirits of his team.

When the pitcher changed to Tanba, everyone was shocked. I guess this is the strat that Coach Kataoka came up with: shock and awe. And yeah, he did not disappoint.

Raichi, being the batter for Yakushi facing off against Tanba from Seidou, knows that this is the last chance and this is the part where the winning team is determined. He felt the weight of the responsibility of carrying the team. The match ended with Seidou winning the game.

This was the part where I really felt bad for Raichi (he cried), but maybe this match was an experience and lesson he could use in the future to better himself.

The episode closed with Mine-san (the news reporter) getting more screen time and doing a monologue.

 

FILLER NUMBER 3 (Episode 77)

Mine-san, our official favorite reporter in this series, has once again graced us with his presence and ability to narrate the events that happened. The episode started with a computer screen where it looks like Mine-san is writing a report regarding the West Tokyo Qualifier Final Tournament. 

During his narration, he briefly introduced Inashiro, who won last year’s game led by their ace, Mei Narumiya. And from what you can conclude from his last statement, he teased that Seidou lost to Inashiro. 

The match started with Kuramochi from Seidou against Narumiya from Inashiro. At this point in the game, Seidou showed off the capabilities of its players, impressing everyone. As the game continued on, the batters also changed until it was Yuki, the captain of Seidou, who faced off against Narumiya. 

To everyone’s disappointment, he was struck out by Narumiya. He is showing everyone that he is the ace of Inashiro and he is carrying the game. Furuya came in as the pitcher when they exchanged fields. 

Furuya, being the OP character in this series, consecutively struck out each batter of Inashiro, giving a blow to their morale. When they again change, Narumiya and Yuki once again face off in a play. And it seems that to provoke Seidou, especially Yuki, he purposely tries his hardest and plays the change-up as his best pitch (if that even makes sense). And it did work, but as Seidou was still going strong, they held on. 

The intensity of the game continues. Play by play, strike by strike. In one particular scene where Ryousuke Kominato injured himself during the game, he was quiet and continued to play on, showing that his conviction in playing baseball far exceeded what a normal person would aspire to. 

When Coach Kataoka noticed that Furuya was getting exhausted from having pitched 68 balls, he called for a change of players, Furuya to Tanba. When it was his turn, his pitch was hit and Inashiro got a home run, discouraging him. But with Miyukis’ kind words and the flashback of Coach Katoaka’s advice, he was back in no time and was able to get a score. 

The sports reporter gets some more screen time, but this time it’s just fee statements. Tanba again experienced a slight inconvenience, but he assured his coach and teammates that he could still play. As he played his best, despite his exhaustion and the accident he had, he continued striking out Inashiro. 

But, he reached his limit and he passed the role to Eijun, and their team members assured him that they would carry on the feelings of winning this game and going to the finals. The episode ended with a question to the viewers, asking them to anticipate the continuation of the match. 

 

FILLER NUMBER 4 (Episode 78)

This episode covers the continuation of the match between Inashiro and Seidou, from the seventh inning to the ninth inning of the game where Tanba gets switched by Eijun as the pitcher. The ball that Tanba handed to Eijun was heavy, carrying the weight of his feelings of wanting to stand on the mound and play as the pitcher once again with his team. Obviously, Mine-san opened the episode with his monologue and impeccable narration. 

When Eijun entered, Narumiya was playing as the batter. Everyone was shocked at how Eijun just wiped out Inashiro with his three consecutive plays. He played confidently after switching to Tanba. Narumiya, of course, got frustrated. It seems that things are looking good for Seidou. 

Naturally, he drove in Seidou, giving them a point in the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, Haruichi Kominato played as the batter, replacing his brother Ryousuke Kominato. With the nickname “prodigy“, he did not disappoint his title. With the intensity of his hit, he broke the bat while hitting the pitch. 

After changing fields, Narumiya once again plays as the pitcher for Inashiro. Play after play, Yuki still can’t hit Narumiya’s pitch. But, when Narumiya pitched his best pitch, Yuki trampled his spirit by hitting the ball and making an RBI double in the eighth inning, giving Seidou a big advantage in the game. 

One thing led to another, and things are not looking good for Inashiro. If they want to win the game, they need to level up their play. Narumiya and his team had a short meeting in the infield to strategize on how they would take down Seidou. 

While pumping up the motivation of his team, they did not give him a chance to score a point. When the game was down with two outs for Inashiro, it meant that for Seidou to win, they needed a one-out. With this reality, Seidou is already happy, and I think they were already celebrating. 

In this kind of field, being responsible for the last winning play overwhelms the player, and that’s what Eijun felt at that time. With the pressure building up, he threw his last pitch, but an accident happened. He hit the batter, making him leave the mound and handing the baton to Kawakami. 

He played aggressively, making his best pitches, but one of them was counted, tying the game. With that disbelief, Coach Kataoka snapped them out of it and told them to defend the last inning. 

Narumiya played as the batter against Kawakami as the pitcher. Narumiya scored a homerun, seizing the win and the ticket to the Nationals. Everyone was shocked and devastated. 

In the Nationals, Inashiro took second place after 14 innings. The episode ended with Mine-san saying that the Fall Tournament is something to look forward to because of the players that just shone during the West Tokyo Qualifiers Final and the Summer Tournament. 

 

 

LAST THOUGHTS

It was such a ride. I could not even believe that each episode is only 25 minutes long. It felt really long. 

It is indeed a challenge to cover 20+ episodes but still deliver the events that matter to the story. At the end of the day, it will always be your choice to just skip these episodes or take the chance to watch them and marvel at how well they are composed. Personally, I would watch them. It just got me.

The excitement, the cringe, the tension I experienced during the time I was watching each episode compared to the filler episodes, are still apparent.

I didn’t feel that the animators butchered the story or that it was incomprehensible. These filler episodes are a breath of fresh air (you could also call it “recycled” fresh air) and reset my mind and give me time to process the story so far. And I hope it will for you, too.

CONTRIBUTED BY: Chelsea Gabrielle M. Miras