"Toonami" News & Discussion Thread

[Light Lucario]

Yeah, even with the old Toonami, airing non-action shows like Hamtaro and to a lesser extent Hikaru no Go (though that was a Jetstream series) resulted in massive outcry from the fans (though we've recently learned Hamtaro on Toonami was a result of Cartoon Network's creative control over the block; that one TOM promo basically is them saying "We didn't want to air this! They made us!") I don't want Toonami to shy too far away from their action-based regime, and while Space Dandy is more of a comedy, it's not only a world-premiere series, but one by the creator of the series that basically put AS anime on the map.

I remember people getting upset over Hamtaro, but I don't recall people getting upset over Hikaru no Go being on Jetstream. I remember a lot of outcry from when they put Bakugan on the lineup, even though it was only for a week or two. I don't think that people liked seeing Pokemon Chronicles or Yu-Gi-Oh! GX on the Saturday night lineup either.

there's bound to plenty of non action anime they can acquire without breaking the bank. they just gotta ask the licensors which ones. a lot of anime do cover multiple genres so its not like certain shows would be completely devoid of action scenes. no one's saying change the identity of the whole block but one or two series that break the mold wont kill anyone. there would still be plenty of hours dedicated to butt kicking, especially if an extension ever occurs down the line.

I think that the licensors provide the choices for them, so I don't know if they could ask for non-action anime from them even if they wanted to. But I also don't see why they'd want to get non-action based series anyway when they've mentioned before that this is an action block. I also really doubt that they'll get more than the 11PM hour for any future extension. While getting the whole Saturday night sounds awesome, I also can't see Adult Swim doing something like that, especially when they do love airing reruns of FOX animated comedies.

hikaru no go and hamtaro were actually good for what they were so you know those people were hating for no good reason. i mean really, their so thirsty for spectacle they can't go an hour without seeing an explosion or fist fly? even the most hardcore stuff on toonami had the occasional episode that focused primarily on comedy or story progression and featured little to no action. i'm primarily an action anime fan myself but i can go a couple of minutes without seeing violence. action junkies need to chillax.

I think that the outcry had more to do with the shows not fitting the block itself rather than their quality, so I wouldn't say that they were hating for no good reason. Hamtro definitely wouldn't fit on Toonami and same goes for Hikaru no Go, even though it was on Jetstream and I actually really liked that show. It's not like the show has to be all action all the time to fit on the lineup since otherwise, there wouldn't be any time for the story or characters to be developed. Not to mention it wouldn't give the audience a chance to breath if it was non-stop violence. The shows themselves have to be action based though. Blue Exorcist spent much more time on slice of life stuff than fighting demons, despite the promos emphasizing the demon killing, and it still fits on the block because there are action bits around the middle and near the end of the series. Something like Hikaru no Go, by comparison, would not fit because there isn't really any action. That doesn't change how I feel it's a good series, that I enjoyed watching the few episodes of the dub on Jetstream and that I'm glad that I watched the whole series subbed on Hulu, but it isn't something that would fit on the block because it isn't action-based.

 

[Gold Guy]

Honestly, I want Toonami to stick to action, Toonami is one of the last places in America that airs Action toons. Lets not wreck that.

 

[Mister Mayhem]

I think that the licensors provide the choices for them, so I don't know if they could ask for non-action anime from them even if they wanted to. But I also don't see why they'd want to get non-action based series anyway when they've mentioned before that this is an action block. I also really doubt that they'll get more than the 11PM hour for any future extension. While getting the whole Saturday night sounds awesome, I also can't see Adult Swim doing something like that, especially when they do love airing reruns of FOX animated comedies.

Cohort,

that could be the case but i doubt the powers that be at funimation, viz, and aniplex are so rigid that they have a don't give ask us for non action policy.

I think that the outcry had more to do with the shows not fitting the block itself rather than their quality, so I wouldn't say that they were hating for no good reason. Hamtro definitely wouldn't fit on Toonami and same goes for Hikaru no Go, even though it was on Jetstream and I actually really liked that show. It's not like the show has to be all action all the time to fit on the lineup since otherwise, there wouldn't be any time for the story or characters to be developed. Not to mention it wouldn't give the audience a chance to breath if it was non-stop violence. The shows themselves have to be action based though. Blue Exorcist spent much more time on slice of life stuff than fighting demons, despite the promos emphasizing the demon killing, and it still fits on the block because there are action bits around the middle and near the end of the series. Something like Hikaru no Go, by comparison, would not fit because there isn't really any action. That doesn't change how I feel it's a good series, that I enjoyed watching the few episodes of the dub on Jetstream and that I'm glad that I watched the whole series subbed on Hulu, but it isn't something that would fit on the block because it isn't action-based.

the only thing these people should be concerned about is the series entertainment value. if they can sit through all the exposition, backstory and jokes in an action show they can do it for a non action show. i don't know what fan reaction was like for .hack//sign when it aired on toonami but that show had 5 maybe 10% action tops. next to hamtaro it was pretty much the antithesis of the typical toonami show. the pormos made it seem like an action packed videogame oriented series but most of it was people talking about their problems and outside lives. i believe prince of tennis aired briefly on toonami saturdays as well. both entertaining shows even though they didn't fit the usual mold.

Honestly, I want Toonami to stick to action, Toonami is one of the last places in America that airs Action toons. Lets not wreck that.

no one wants ruin toonamis identity. my point is a little diversity is no big deal. a non action series on the block every now and then is not akin to a pro athlete coming to a game with a rival teams uniform. the world won't collapse under the toonami faithfuls feet and action shows would still be there.

 

[WickedChild]

It's cool that Demarco is asking for sincere feedback, but you know all he's gonna get is a ton of spam requests for the same shows he's been getting requests for for the past 2 years.

My general view of what Toonami should be is just a place for cool or unusual cartoons that are atypical in the US or just lesser known or hard to see otherwise. One thing that could of course mean is action, but it can mean a lot of other things too. Trippy stuff like Dandy I welcome with open arms, also pretty much anything that's offbeat or quirky in some way. I don't mind having a few popular shows like Bleach and Naruto to anchor the block, but I'd like the rest of the stuff to be stuff I haven't heard of or can't easily see.

 

[Light Lucario]

Cohort,

that could be the case but i doubt the powers that be at funimation, viz, and aniplex are so rigid that they have a don't give ask us for non action policy.

Probably not, but like I said before, I don't see why they would want to ask for non-action based shows at this point.

the only thing these people should be concerned about is the series entertainment value. if they can sit through all the exposition, backstory and jokes in an action show they can do it for a non action show. i don't know what fan reaction was like for .hack//sign when it aired on toonami but that show had 5 maybe 10% action tops. next to hamtaro it was pretty much the antithesis of the typical toonami show. the pormos made it seem like an action packed videogame oriented series but most of it was people talking about their problems and outside lives. i believe prince of tennis aired briefly on toonami saturdays as well. both entertaining shows even though they didn't fit the usual mold.

While I agree that a show's entertainment value is important, it's also important for it to fit on a block with a specific theme. Sure, it might be a fun show, but that timeslot could be put to better use with a show that actually does fit on the lineup. Hamtaro could have aired practically anywhere else on Cartoon Network, so there was no need to take a slot away from Toonami for it. I never saw .hack//sign, but I saw some of Prince of Tennis and for that series, the tennis matches were the source of the action. They were over the top tennis matches to create action.

no one wants ruin toonamis identity. my point is a little diversity is no big deal. a non action series on the block every now and then is not akin to a pro athlete coming to a game with a rival teams uniform. the world won't collapse under the toonami faithfuls feet and action shows would still be there.

I'm not sure if that image works since even players have a different uniform on, they're still playing the same game, so nothing has really changed from the core concept there. I'm not saying that the block would fall apart if there was some diversity. I'm just saying that I don't see much of a point to that in this case where the block has been about providing action shows from the start and I don't really see non-action shows being that well received either.

It's cool that Demarco is asking for sincere feedback, but you know all he's gonna get is a ton of spam requests for the same shows he's been getting requests for for the past 2 years.

My general view of what Toonami should be is just a place for cool or unusual cartoons that are atypical in the US or just lesser known or hard to see otherwise. One thing that could of course mean is action, but it can mean a lot of other things too. Trippy stuff like Dandy I welcome with open arms, also pretty much anything that's offbeat or quirky in some way. I don't mind having a few popular shows like Bleach and Naruto to anchor the block, but I'd like the rest of the stuff to be stuff I haven't heard of or can't easily see.

Considering how there are so many legal streaming sites these days for anime, I'm not sure if the rest of the shows being something you haven't heard of or can't easily see would be too plausible.

 

[DonkeyKongSong]

Just to clear something up...

I never said Hamtaro or Hikaru no Go were bad series. In fact, I actually loved Hamtaro, though I honestly didn't care much for HnG. I just remembered people getting angry that them, especially the former, were on Toonami. HnG had some complaints, but fewer due to its competition element and it being exclusively on Jetstream. Prince of Tennis had some complaints too, but here in the US, sports = action.

The promo I'm referring to had TOM looking at a clip of Hamtaro singing "Remember I'm Your Ham" in disdain. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYOKfLCu02Y

There were some complaints about Chronicles and GX being on Toonami at night too, but those are blatant action series (though it did seem a bit odd seeing the Pikachu's Winter Vacation episode airing then). The other thing about Hamtaro was it bumped Sailor Moon off Toonami, the latter being a lead-in now. It was later taken off altogether, replaced with more reruns of Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy (partly due to Hamtaro doing surprisingly well among Toonami's then-target 9-14 demographic; EEnE was CN's top rated 9-14 show overall at the time). Bakugan got some complaints, but originally it was going to run indefinitely - it only ran for one week due to a last minute schedule change. (Replacing One Piece was really what threw the ire.) Also, Hamtaro actually WAS airing in another slot on Cartoon Network, weekday mornings at 7am with more new episodes at 4pm on Toonami, which also didn't work well for the fans of the show due to serious continuity problems ("Courage, Cappy!" was the second to air, which cause major continuty issues because the Ham-Ham Clubhouse had not been fully built yet and half the characters weren't even introduced).

But due to the scarcity of non-action cartoons on US TV, and just what it's been for awhile, I still think Toonami should stick to mainly action shows. Sure, there's an even bigger lack of non-action anime on US TV (Doraemon on Disney XD is the only current one, and before that it was Magical DoReMi in 2005-06 on 4Kids TV), but action is what Toonami is about.

 

[Mister Mayhem]

Probably not, but like I said before, I don't see why they would want to ask for non-action based shows at this point.

Cohort,

there's always room for growth. different types of shows can potentially bring in more viewers.

While I agree that a show's entertainment value is important, it's also important for it to fit on a block with a specific theme. Sure, it might be a fun show, but that timeslot could be put to better use with a show that actually does fit on the lineup. Hamtaro could have aired practically anywhere else on Cartoon Network, so there was no need to take a slot away from Toonami for it. I never saw .hack//sign, but I saw some of Prince of Tennis and for that series, the tennis matches were the source of the action. They were over the top tennis matches to create action.

i have to disagree about needing to fit a specific theme. most film and television cover several different genres. a show can be primarily about drama, or horror or comedy can still contain some action and vice versa. the amount or type one needs to qualify as having action is open to interpretation. dbz, tenchi, blue submarine, prince of tennis, cardcaptors, .hack, igpx, space dandy, bo-bobo, black lagoon, jackie chan adventures, and yugioh are all different from each other in concept and contain different types and amounts of action. depending on who you ask some of those might not even qualify as action. point being, toonami can deviate with what they air.

I'm not sure if that image works since even players have a different uniform on, they're still playing the same game, so nothing has really changed from the core concept there. I'm not saying that the block would fall apart if there was some diversity. I'm just saying that I don't see much of a point to that in this case where the block has been about providing action shows from the start and I don't really see non-action shows being that well received either.

that's kinda my point. on the outside looking in nothing has changed about the game except for that one players attire. however, in the perspective of many of the team's fans, that players actions would be considered sacrilege. if people rake someone over the coals for wearing another teams attire on their free time they would go completely ballistic if they did it on the field. i would hope toonami fans aren't so fanatical that they would lose their minds and stop supporting it altogether if something outside the norm aired. no one likes everything that toonami shows. just like with tv programming in general, things change over time and people just have to adjust.

Just to clear something up...

I never said Hamtaro or Hikaru no Go were bad series. In fact, I actually loved Hamtaro, though I honestly didn't care much for HnG. I just remembered people getting angry that them, especially the former, were on Toonami. HnG had some complaints, but fewer due to its competition element and it being exclusively on Jetstream. Prince of Tennis had some complaints too, but here in the US, sports = action.

maybe it can across that way in my writing style but i wasn't lumping you in with the people complaining. thank you for the info on the reaction to past toonami shows.

 

[Light Lucario]

Cohort,

there's always room for growth. different types of shows can potentially bring in more viewers.

Or it would turn people off, especially the long time fans of the block given how the reaction has been to shows that don't fit the block. Besides that, the block can grow without going against its theme by just trying to get better shows and movies in general.

i have to disagree about needing to fit a specific theme. most film and television cover several different genres. a show can be primarily about drama, or horror or comedy can still contain some action and vice versa. the amount or type one needs to qualify as having action is open to interpretation. dbz, tenchi, blue submarine, prince of tennis, cardcaptors, .hack, igpx, space dandy, bo-bobo, black lagoon, jackie chan adventures, and yugioh are all different from each other in concept and contain different types and amounts of action. depending on who you ask some of those might not even qualify as action. point being, toonami can deviate with what they air.

I was talking about the shows need to fit a block that has a specific theme. In Toonami's case, its theme is basically providing action cartoons, so the shows it picks up should be primarily action-based. I haven't seen all of those shows, but with the ones that I have seen, most of them would fit on at least the original Toonami block because there was action. They had different themes, concepts and how often action came up varied, but they were still action-based shows with the conflict being resolved with some form of action/battle. If you read what I said before, I did say that maybe they could get something like a slice of life show if it had enough action in it, so it's not like I'm saying that they can't touch another genre. Whatever genre it would be would also just need to be action-based in order for it to fit the block's theme. A show that isn't primarily action or action based doesn't quite fit the block and I don't think that would be necessarily a good idea to put it on the lineup.

that's kinda my point. on the outside looking in nothing has changed about the game except for that one players attire. however, in the perspective of many of the team's fans, that players actions would be considered sacrilege. if people rake someone over the coals for wearing another teams attire on their free time they would go completely ballistic if they did it on the field. i would hope toonami fans aren't so fanatical that they would lose their minds and stop supporting it altogether if something outside the norm aired. no one likes everything that toonami shows. just like with tv programming in general, things change over time and people just have to adjust.

While I don't think that fans would stop supporting the block altogether if they picked up a show that doesn't fit with the block's theme, I don't think that decision would be well received given the history of previous cases where that has happened. The show itself probably wouldn't do that well if GXP's performance on the block is any indication. That's one reason why I don't really see them doing this, along with how they have a relatively small budget. The money they use for shows have to be spent wisely and they should be assured that it would be received well by the general audience, so they don't really have much room to use that money to take a risk, even a calculated one. There are plenty of good action based shows that they can get from licensors, so instead of going for non-action shows, I think it would be better if they stuck to what the block has always meant to be about and just kept going after action based shows that are hopefully good.

 

[Gold Guy]

Here is my thing: I don't mind if Toonami airs one or two non-action show. But I'm concerned that it wouldn't stop there; that slowly, they could over-run the action shows. I've seen that happen so many times.

Besides, usually, the non-action shows get much worse ratings. Remember Death Note and Paranoia Agent?

 

[veemonjosh]

Prince of Tennis had some complaints too, but here in the US, sports = action.

On a related note, I've kind of been wanting Toonami to pick up another sports anime (besides IGPX) for a while. It's a shame that there aren't many licensed/dubbed; I know I'd personally love to see Hajime no Ippo air (the first season was dubbed by Geneon, but the rights lapsed quite some time ago).

 

[Mister Mayhem]

Or it would turn people off, especially the long time fans of the block given how the reaction has been to shows that don't fit the block. Besides that, the block can grow without going against its theme by just trying to get better shows and movies in general.

Cohort,

you can't please everyone. sometimes you have to alienate some of the old fanbase to gain new ones. they can acquire more action shows but it seems like they already have most of the more popular ones already at least shonen wise.

I was talking about the shows need to fit a block that has a specific theme. In Toonami's case, its theme is basically providing action cartoons, so the shows it picks up should be primarily action-based. I haven't seen all of those shows, but with the ones that I have seen, most of them would fit on at least the original Toonami block because there was action. They had different themes, concepts and how often action came up varied, but they were still action-based shows with the conflict being resolved with some form of action/battle. If you read what I said before, I did say that maybe they could get something like a slice of life show if it had enough action in it, so it's not like I'm saying that they can't touch another genre. Whatever genre it would be would also just need to be action-based in order for it to fit the block's theme. A show that isn't primarily action or action based doesn't quite fit the block and I don't think that would be necessarily a good idea to put it on the lineup.

stuff like bo-bobo, tenchi, and .hack were exceptions to the rule. they contained more comedy and dialogue than actual action. while i haven't seen all of gundam i recall several episode being dialogue heavy. i can see your point of maintaining a theme if everything on the block was superhero cartoons or fighting anime but there's been just enough variety that a mostly non action series wouldn't be too out of place.

While I don't think that fans would stop supporting the block altogether if they picked up a show that doesn't fit with the block's theme, I don't think that decision would be well received given the history of previous cases where that has happened. The show itself probably wouldn't do that well if GXP's performance on the block is any indication. That's one reason why I don't really see them doing this, along with how they have a relatively small budget. The money they use for shows have to be spent wisely and they should be assured that it would be received well by the general audience, so they don't really have much room to use that money to take a risk, even a calculated one. There are plenty of good action based shows that they can get from licensors, so instead of going for non-action shows, I think it would be better if they stuck to what the block has always meant to be about and just kept going after action based shows that are hopefully good.

they take a gamble every time they air a new action show. not every series they aired had stellar ratings so its not a winning formula just because it has action in it. as long as they don't pick stuff that might be too boring or weird for general audiences thy should be fine. also the number of people who complain whenever something out of the norm airs is probably a lot lower than everyone think. i wouldn't be surprised if most toonami viewers never expressed there thoughts at all so its ridiculous for them to take into account people potentially getting upset at an unsual choice.

On a related note, I've kind of been wanting Toonami to pick up another sports anime (besides IGPX) for a while. It's a shame that there aren't many licensed/dubbed; I know I'd personally love to see Hajime no Ippo air (the first season was dubbed by Geneon, but the rights lapsed quite some time ago).

i would love to see ippo on toonami as well since its my fav sports anime. i'm still shocked it was a sales disaster for geneon. to this day i'm still holding out hope that either viz or funiamtion will acquire it and dub the ova and other two seasons.

 

[HG Revolution]

If Toonami stops being an action block, what do they become, a general anime block? DeMarco has clearly stated he doesn't want Toonami to be an anime block. A general animation block? Then what separates it programming-wise from the rest of Adult Swim?

More non-action anime on Adult Swim would be nice though Shin-Chan kind of killed hope of that happening (Kids on the Slope and maybe Chromartie despite its age are the only ones I can think of that'd probably do OK in the ratings, but of course they're Sentai shows).

 

[Light Lucario]

Cohort,

you can't please everyone. sometimes you have to alienate some of the old fanbase to gain new ones. they can acquire more action shows but it seems like they already have most of the more popular ones already at least shonen wise.

While that's true that you can't please everyone, I don't think that alienating some of the old fanbase would be a good idea, especially when there's no guarantee that it would gain a new fanbase by doing so. Given the history of non-action shows on Adult Swim, as well as the original Toonami, I don't think it would be received that well by fans or have particularly good ratings. They have a lot of popular current shonen series, but there are still other series that are action-based that would fit on the block.

stuff like bo-bobo, tenchi, and .hack were exceptions to the rule. they contained more comedy and dialogue than actual action. while i haven't seen all of gundam i recall several episode being dialogue heavy. i can see your point of maintaining a theme if everything on the block was superhero cartoons or fighting anime but there's been just enough variety that a mostly non action series wouldn't be too out of place.

I'm not sure how much say they had in those comedy series or .hack being on the original Toonami, so I don't know if they'd put something like that on the current block. Like I said before, Space Dandy is an exception due to being co-funded by Adult Swim. Not every episode has to contain action for a series to be considered action-based. I already mentioned that earlier as well. If that was the case, then plenty of the shows that Toonami has aired in the past wouldn't count. The theme of the block is action, so there are plenty of different kinds of shows that do fit under that theme that would provide some variety. Not every action-based series is the same.

they take a gamble every time they air a new action show. not every series they aired had stellar ratings so its not a winning formula just because it has action in it. as long as they don't pick stuff that might be too boring or weird for general audiences thy should be fine. also the number of people who complain whenever something out of the norm airs is probably a lot lower than everyone think. i wouldn't be surprised if most toonami viewers never expressed there thoughts at all so its ridiculous for them to take into account people potentially getting upset at an unsual choice.

It's not really a huge gamble. Sure, not every show that they've chosen has had fantastic ratings, but most of the shows that they have been picked up have been pretty popular already. Shows like One Piece, Shippuden, Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online are so popular that they were practically guarantee to do well ratings wise, so I don't see them taking a huge gamble with every show they picked up. Getting a non-action show on the lineup would be a bigger risk and given the rating history for non-action shows in the past, including pre-Toonami Adult Swim, I don't think that they would appeal to the general audience that Adult Swim caters to.

 

[{Shadow}]

Labor Day weekend schedule has been announced. World premiere episode of Space Dandy followed by a 12-episode Attack on Titan marathon.

[h=2]ONE NIGHT ONLY - August 30th/Labor Day Weekend - Attack on Titan Marathon[/h]The schedule will be back to normal the next week, but for August 30th - Labor Day Weekend - we’re having an Attack on Titan Marathon, and we’re kicking it off with a brand new Space Dandy. Get (mostly) caught up on Attack on Titan, if you’re behind. Relive the glory if you’re not!
Full schedule below.


11:30p - World Premiere Space Dandy
12:00a - Attack on Titan 01
12:30a - Attack on Titan 02
01:00a - Attack on Titan 03
01:30a - Attack on Titan 04
02:00a - Attack on Titan 05
02:30a - Attack on Titan 06
03:00a - Attack on Titan 07
03:30a - Attack on Titan 08
04:00a - Attack on Titan 09
04:30a - Attack on Titan 10
05:00a - Attack on Titan 11
05:30a - Attack on Titan 12

 

[Gold Guy]

I'm.....really disappointed, actually. I get that its Labor Day, but honestly, I'd rather they air a film, not recent reruns.

Also, if a show must be marathoned, I would have loved a One Piece one!

 

[Nobodyman]

Labor Day weekend schedule has been announced. World premiere episode of Space Dandy followed by a 12-episode Attack on Titan marathon.

Well, aside from the Space Dandy premiere, count me out.

 

[Light Lucario]

Yeah, that's pretty disappointing for me too. I understand why they'd do it when it's Labor Day weekend and all, but I would have much rather seen a movie instead of an Attack on Titan marathon. I think that the show is pretty good, but it's also really overrated, so a marathon for it covering nearly the whole block doesn't sound appealing to me. Plus, most of the movies they have chosen have been pretty good, so I would have liked to see if they made another good choice for Labor Day weekend. I also agree that a One Piece marathon would have been better, but I can see why they went for Attack on Titan over a marathon of any of their other shows.

On the bright side, after I finish watching the new Space Dandy and possibly making a post about it afterwards instead of waiting until the next morning/afternoon like I usually do, I can go to sleep much earlier than I normally do on Saturday night.

 

[veemonjosh]

Wow, if it wasn't for Space Dandy, this would be the first night of Toonami since it came back that I have absolutely no desire to watch. Just outright disappointing.

 

[BrianLeague]

Here's the talkback image for Gurren Lagann:

Also, I finally updated Space Dandy's talkback image. Completely forgot about it last time.

 

[TheCtes]

I don't like that schedule too much either. Hopefully it'll boost Attack on Titan in future weekends. The worst thing is that Black Lagoon's second to last and last episode will now air with two weeks between them.