From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:
"Michiko and Hatchin was a very significant piece of anime and Toonami history, but primarily for signifying the end of an era rather than the beginning of one. Adult Swim Action was initially created to be the place for adult action animation, although in actuality, the teen oriented shonen titles like Inuyasha and Bleach became massively merchandised pop culture sensations while most of the actual adult titles tended to be ratings flops. Despite being called Adult Swim Action, the block was infamous for dialogue heavy drama titles that had a fanatically devoted cult audience, yet were rejected by the mainstream crowds and got low Neilson ratings. This culminated in Adult Swim Action rebranding itself to the name of Cartoon Network’s Toonami block, a block mainly known for action anime. Jason Demarco took over as showrunner of the new block from Kim Manning and phased out the drama heavy titles. That is of course, with the exception of the subject of this retrospective, the classic Michiko and Hatchin, which premiered on Toonami June 20, 2015.
This title was very much a throwback to the type of shows that aired when Kim Manning was showrunner of Adult Swim’s anime block, being a very grounded dialogue heavy drama title. This title took a while to make it to the spotlight, originally flopping hard in its native Japan in 2008 and not getting a US release until Funimation gave it a modestly successful DVD release in 2013. In 2015, Michiko and Hatchin got to air during the peak of Toonami’s Renaissance, airing alongside megahits Dragon Ball Z Kai and Kill La Kill and able to get over one million viewers during its 1:00 AM Eastern timeslot. The series was directed by Sayo Yamamoto, who intended the series for an audience of adult women, a quite different audience than the mainly teenage boy titles aired on Toonami. Studio Manglobe, the now defunct studio responsible for legendary hits like Samurai Champloo, was behind the series. Shinichiro Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, directed the music."
Read the full article here.
"“Michiko and Hatchin”: A Toonami 10th Anniversary Retrospective"
"Michiko and Hatchin was a very significant piece of anime and Toonami history, but primarily for signifying the end of an era rather than the beginning of one. Adult Swim Action was initially created to be the place for adult action animation, although in actuality, the teen oriented shonen titles like Inuyasha and Bleach became massively merchandised pop culture sensations while most of the actual adult titles tended to be ratings flops. Despite being called Adult Swim Action, the block was infamous for dialogue heavy drama titles that had a fanatically devoted cult audience, yet were rejected by the mainstream crowds and got low Neilson ratings. This culminated in Adult Swim Action rebranding itself to the name of Cartoon Network’s Toonami block, a block mainly known for action anime. Jason Demarco took over as showrunner of the new block from Kim Manning and phased out the drama heavy titles. That is of course, with the exception of the subject of this retrospective, the classic Michiko and Hatchin, which premiered on Toonami June 20, 2015.
This title was very much a throwback to the type of shows that aired when Kim Manning was showrunner of Adult Swim’s anime block, being a very grounded dialogue heavy drama title. This title took a while to make it to the spotlight, originally flopping hard in its native Japan in 2008 and not getting a US release until Funimation gave it a modestly successful DVD release in 2013. In 2015, Michiko and Hatchin got to air during the peak of Toonami’s Renaissance, airing alongside megahits Dragon Ball Z Kai and Kill La Kill and able to get over one million viewers during its 1:00 AM Eastern timeslot. The series was directed by Sayo Yamamoto, who intended the series for an audience of adult women, a quite different audience than the mainly teenage boy titles aired on Toonami. Studio Manglobe, the now defunct studio responsible for legendary hits like Samurai Champloo, was behind the series. Shinichiro Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, directed the music."
Read the full article here.
