So, Toonami right?

[DarthEnderX]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone here say it before, but I just can't get over how awesome Toonami has been since it came back 3 years ago on Adult Swim.

I mean, I've been looking at their lineup, and it's had pretty much EVERY anime that I've ever loved.

Cowboy Bebop
FMA: Brotherhood
Ghost in the Shell: SAC
Naruto
Bleach
One Piece
Sword Art Online
Black Lagoon
Attack On Titan
DBZ Kai
Gurren Lagann
Hellsing Ultimate
Kill La Kill

Edit:
Hunter X Hunter
One Punch Man
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

I mean, that's pretty much every anime I've ever cared about.

I mention it because I read recently that they're going to be losing two hours from their block due to low ratings, and that's really depressing because I feel like they've been kicking ass ever since their comeback.

[KrayZ33]

I don't really know what you'd like to hear.

It's anime outside of Japan and tbh I would never be able to watch these shows on TV. It's like... an impossible task for me to tune in at the same time each week/day, so I wouldn't even bother watching anything there.

However, you are right, their list is really good.. It's just that (Free-)TV (I don't know what it is because I don't understand american television) is dead in my opinion, but that's comming from a guy who is really not watching anything but movies and comedy shows on TV (basically stuff that I can miss and not even care about, like Simpsons, Big Bang etc.)

[Alhuin]

Toonami is great for introducing children (and potentially adults) to the anime world. I still remember coming home from school and watching DBZ, Bebop, Gundam, Tenchi, etc. and I am very grateful to Toonami for that. I imagine it's the same for anyone else. But as an adult, I find it much easier and much more satisfying to watch BluRay releases, usually as a marathon.

I don't want to see Toonami disappear again, but I also don't expect it to go any further than it already has. It does it's job well.

On a related note, I don't remember the exact channel name (I think it was TechTV), but they had an anime block as well. I first stumbled across Gungrave on that channel.

[DarthEnderX]

Toonami is great for introducing children (and potentially adults) to the anime world.

I don't think that's really the case anymore given that it's timeslot is now midnight.


It's annoying that what Toonami seemed to have lost it's two hours to is more American Dad. I'm REALLY tired of that show at this point.

[Lucifus]

Toonami was absolutely my introduction to anime, without it, I likely would have never joined GotWoot, and potentially might not have gotten into anime at all.

Used to rush home to catch DBZ and Ruroni Kenshin. Good times.

That list is superb and I echo your sentiments Darth. Thank you Toonami! =)

[Alhuin]

I don't think that's really the case anymore given that it's timeslot is now midnight.

I did not know this.

I shall amend my statement.

Toonami would be great at introducing anime, if it were in a better time slot.

[DarthEnderX]

I think it's important to make a distinction that afternoon Toonami is not very much like Adult Swim Toonami.

Adult Swim Toonami is basically just Adult Swim's normal anime block, with better branding and a better lineup. They still have the Steven Blum robot interstitials. And it's obviously meant to cash in on the Nostalgia of college kids who grew up with the original Toonami. But I mainly just give them props because their anime lineup got, like, 10x better ones they adopted the Toonami name.


For those that don't keep up on such things, anime was pretty much dead on Adult Swim for awhile. They brought Toonami to Adult Swim as an April Fool's joke, that ended up being surprisingly popular. Which made them decided\ to turn Saturday nights into "Toonami" as an ongoing thing.

It's been going strong for 3 years now, but I guess ratings are starting to dwindle again because Adult Swim is slowly chipping away at their timeslot again. It used to be 6 1/2 hours long, and now I think it's down to 4.

[DarthEnderX]

And now Hunter X Hunter is coming, and holy shit, they're making new FLCL.

Now we just need some Jojo.

[DarthEnderX]

And now Jojo is coming, and they already did One Punch Man.

[DarthEnderX]

So, the new season of Attack On Titan is airing on Toonami just 2 weeks behind the Japanese airing. So obviously they're doing the Space Dandy thing of recording both sets of voices at the same time.


Sadly, One Piece has dropped off the schedule. It held on for awhile. But I guess it's just not edgy enough for such a late timeslot...

[Ryllharu]

So, your argument is basically..."Mainstream Nostalgia Yay!" = Quality?

Their schedule largely consists of already-popular anime that has a huge audience, or is over 15 years old. That's fine, ratings matter and all, but Toonami has never been particularly innovative with what they air. Gundam, Dragonball, Weekly Shonen Jump shows, and whatever else is super popular already.

If a viewer didn't care for those types of shows, their schedule is (and always has been) garbage.

I started watching anime on the SciFi Channel, their Saturday Anime block. They played the weird shit. Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell movie, Iria, Dominion Tank Police, Armitage III, Akira, MD Geist, Galaxy Express 999, Robot Carnival, Venus Wars, Urusei Yatsura, Project A-ko, half of Record of Lodoss War.

Much more varied cross section of what the 90s offered. Yeah, some of them are hot garbage too, but it was a much different view of anime from Dragonball/OnePiece/Bleach/GitS/Bebop.

[DarthEnderX]

So, your argument is basically..."Mainstream Nostalgia Yay!" = Quality?

My argument is that they're getting the stuff people actually want to see, instead of just the stuff that's cheap.

And I loved that SciFi channel block too back in the day, but at the time that block existed, EVERYTHING anime was "weird shit" because anime practically didn't exist in NA at that point.


Also like that your list of "weird shit" includes such obscure titles as...Macross, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Lodoss War...

You know, those unsung gems.

[Ryllharu]

In the 90s? Hell yeah they were obscure. They had only recently come out. Previous exposure to "Macross" was the bastardized pile of shit called Robotech.

Crunchyroll is getting the stuff people want to see (Nextflix is now trying to cut in on that action because they want the money). Toonami is playing the things they still have broadcast rights to. Which is all old, or series where multiple services each get broadcast rights.

[DarthEnderX]

In the 90s? Hell yeah they were obscure.

Yeah, but like I said, in that time period there was nothing that WASN'T obscure. They were still the biggest things in anime at the time.

90s Akira/GitS was like 2000s Spirited Away.

[neflight86]

As far as purchasing rights goes, I believe I read somewhere years back that anime rights holders in the states actually pay broadcast networks to show their shoes as a form of advertising, hoping to get more disc sales in the long run. Weather that was true at the time or is still true I couldn't tell you.