"Toonami" News & Discussion Thread

[Hypeathon]

I'd prefer One Piece being on Toonami over Fairy Tail since it is a better series from what I've seen and read, but I don't think that Fairy Tail would be a bad choice. I'd at least have fun watching it, which is more than I can say for Bleach, which I find completely boring, and Naruto, which is just annoying and tedious to me.

Once again, I cannot understand the comparison of Fairy Tail being more entertaining to people than Naruto. I just cannot get it. It's one thing if Fairy Tail is popular, but I absolutely cross the line with comparing it to Naruto. Problems with the anime aside, if you boil it down to the core story and what point it makes between its characters and their goals, I sense a LOT more of that with Naruto than Fairy Tail.

Sorry, but I just keep seeing similar comments that go, "well Fairy isn't a great show, with not-so-great animation, but it's fun and better than Naruto...", or whatever like really?

 

[Light Lucario]

Once again, I cannot understand the comparison of Fairy Tail being more entertaining to people than Naruto. I just cannot get it. It's one thing if Fairy Tail is popular, but I absolutely cross the line with comparing it to Naruto. Problems with the anime aside, if you boil it down to the core story and what point it makes between its characters and their goals, I sense a LOT more of that with Naruto than Fairy Tail.

Sorry, but I just keep seeing similar comments that go, "well Fairy isn't a great show, with not-so-great animation, but it's fun and better than Naruto...", or whatever like really?

I don't care about nearly any of the characters in Naruto. Most of them come off as annoying and while the storyline connects with the characters and their goals, that doesn't really matter to me if I don't care much about the characters in the first place. Admittedly, this is just based on what I've seen from its Toonami run and what I remember from checking parts of episodes here and there, while I've seen over forty episodes of Fairy Tail through Funimation's On Demand, so I can't really do much of a comparison between the two series beyond simply what I like about both series or which one entertains me more based on what I have seen.

Writing-wise, I can't compare it with Naruto since I don't know much about that series, while I at least know some aspect of One Piece, but Fairy Tail is more entertaining to me. Most of the arcs after the early episodes have been engaging, touching emotional moments and most of the characters are fairly likable. It isn't one of the best written Shonen Jump series out there, but I can still find some entertainment value in the series and I think it could do well on Tooanmi.

 

[Hypeathon]

I don't care about nearly any of the characters in Naruto. Most of them come off as annoying and while the storyline connects with the characters and their goals, that doesn't really matter to me if I don't care much about the characters in the first place. Admittedly, this is just based on what I've seen from its Toonami run and what I remember from checking parts of episodes here and there, while I've seen over forty episodes of Fairy Tail through Funimation's On Demand, so I can't really do much of a comparison between the two series beyond simply what I like about both series or which one entertains me more based on what I have seen.

I've seen most of the episodes of the Fairy Tail anime that've aired in Japan and I could frankly say the same thing about those characters coming off as either annoying or just not giving me much of a reason to care about them. The "touching emotional moments" in the show just seem like they're shoe-horned and are a cheap way to tearjerk. Like take Lucy's past and relationship with her father for example.

Spoiler

I have no problem with a teenage girl not seeing eye-to-eye with her dad, but refering to a moment where that teenage girl as a kid was sad because her dad got angry at her for disturbing him during work and destroyed her riceball as your main case in point. Yeah, that's enough to make a little girl upset for a week. Unless you present more in that flashback than that, it doesn't present enough of a reason to make that same girl run away from home as a result. I need more than that if the girl grew up to end up resenting her dad.

Another thing about cheap tearjerking moments is this tendency to have characters lecture their opponents about what's right and what's wrong and the power of friendship. And needing to scream about it and be unnecessarily dramatic when sometimes there' no hard feelings done like that whole thing with Lucy and Loke.

And another thing. Fairy Tail makes my eyes roll when it constantly teases shippings that are clearly never going to happen. At least Naruto, and I won't say how, but certain romantic moments in its story make an attempt to even develop certain characters and in a way that feels natural. In Fairy Tail, the teasing in romance doesn't do anything or add depth to a relationship between two or more characters (even if it's not a romantic one) other than apply what to me is basically cheap humor. There are just some things that would be better for Toonami than Fairy Tail, some of which don't need to even be typical shonen. Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Darker than Black, Tiger and Bunny, Blue Exorcist, Toriko, Bodacious Space Pirates, Michiko & Hatchin, Sensoku Basara, Vandread. Just, ...again. I want something good and not just popular.

 

[Light Lucario]

I've seen most of the episodes of the Fairy Tail anime that've aired in Japan and I could frankly say the same thing about those characters coming off as either annoying or just not giving me much of a reason to care about them. The "touching emotional moments" in the show just seem like they're shoe-horned and are a cheap way to tearjerk. Like take Lucy's past and relationship with her father for example.

Spoiler

I have no problem with a teenage girl not seeing eye-to-eye with her dad, but refering to a moment where that teenage girl as a kid was sad because her dad got angry at her for disturbing him during work and destroyed her riceball as your main case in point. Yeah, that's enough to make a little girl upset for a week. Unless you present more in that flashback than that, it doesn't present enough of a reason to make that same girl run away from home as a result. I need more than that if the girl grew up to end up resenting her dad.

Another thing about cheap tearjerking moments is this tendency to have characters lecture their opponents about what's right and what's wrong and the power of friendship. And needing to scream about it and be unnecessarily dramatic when sometimes there' no hard feelings done like that whole thing with Lucy and Loke.

I guess it comes down to different tastes. I don't like all of the characters in the series, but most of them are okay at least. The characters in Naruto don't really do anything for me. While I agree with your point on Lucy's backstory, I was thinking more along the lines of Erza's backstory rather than Lucy's backstory.

And another thing. Fairy Tail makes my eyes roll when it constantly teases shippings that are clearly never going to happen. At least Naruto, and I won't say how, but certain romantic moments in its story make an attempt to even develop certain characters and in a way that feels natural. In Fairy Tail, the teasing in romance doesn't do anything or add depth to a relationship between two or more characters (even if it's not a romantic one) other than apply what to me is basically cheap humor. There are just some things that would be better for Toonami than Fairy Tail, some of which don't need to even be typical shonen. Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Darker than Black, Tiger and Bunny, Blue Exorcist, Toriko, Bodacious Space Pirates, Michiko & Hatchin, Sensoku Basara, Vandread. Just, ...again. I want something good and not just popular.

Teasing shippings that aren't gong to happen doesn't really bother me. It's just something that's suppose to be funny and/or give something some fans would like. Again, since I haven't watched much of Naruto, I can't compare the pairings and since I don't care about the individual characters, I don't care about their pairings either. I do prefer pairings that actually provide more depth to the characters or at least seem genuinely touching, but the teasing shipping in Fairy Tail hasn't really bothered me that much. While I wouldn't mind Fairy Tail on Toonami, I'm not saying that it would be the best thing for the block. The only series that you listed that I would like to see on the block is Tiger and Bunny, but I still agree that there are plenty of other shows that would be better for the block, as well as other shows that actually need the kind of exposure Toonami can give them. Again, I'm not saying that I'd like Fairy Tail on the block because it's popular, but because I do find it entertaining. It isn't the best Shonen Jump series I've seen, but it's still fun and I'd be happy with it being on Toonami. It certainly wouldn't be anywhere near as bad of a choice as GXP was, at least for me, but I still agree that there are other better shows that they can get for the block.

 

[TheCtes]

I've been watching Fairy Tail weekly on crunchyroll for a long time now, and I've always found it very generic. It has a broken powerbalance, and it's not made very clear which direction it's going all in all. That said, it's really enjoyable and even when it's doing one of the things I'm complaining about, it still amazes me. They really do know how to make big things. So yeah, there's always problems with the stuff, but it's still good. To compare with the big three, I like One Piece and Naruto more than Fairy Tail, since I find them to be a lot better throughout, but I'd say that it's better than Bleach except for the Soul Society arc.

As for Soul Eater, I've wanted to check that out for a while, so it being on Toonami is fine with me.

 

[Divinenega]

While I do like Soul Eater I'm kind of sad they picked up such a long title since it now means 3 of their timeslots are tied up for at least the next year which makes it harder to get new content. Well at least GXP will be ending soon enough so hopefully that gets a decent replacement as well. Well it is what it is I guess, though I was frankly expecting Soul Eater to have aired on AS years ago.

Also on the note of the whole Fairy Tail debate I'm also in the camp who finds it a more entertaining show that Naruto (and Bleach, but Bleach has bored me to tears since SS ended). I absolutely agree that writing wise it's not nearly as good but it's pretty entertaining and you pretty much know what your going to get when you watch. Sure it can get pretty ridiculous at times but you almost never have to take it seriously enough for that to be an issue, whereas Naruto wants to be taken seriously almost 100% of the time and so when it does something stupid (like pretty much every recent event in the manga which has been facepalm after facepalm), it's a heck of a lot harder to be forgiving. Of course to be fair I don't just have that issue with Naruto since just about anything ridiculous that tries to come off as serious (looking at you again Bleach) can irritate me.

Also Fairy Tail isn't a Shonen Jump series. It runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine (one of Jump's direct rivals in fact).

 

[WoahJake]

This is my list of shows I really want to be on Toonami:

1. One Piece
2. Yu Yu Hakusho
3. Samurai Champloo
3. Rurouni Kenshin
4. Trigun

And also.. On another note I wonder how Genddy is doing with moving his licensing to Sony. Because I recall him saying somewhere that if he does move to Sony he will try to produce more Symbionic Titan.

 

[Gold Guy]

Soul Eater, huh? I've heard intersting things about it. I may check this out.

 

[bleachj0j]

Good pickup. Soul Eater is a fun series. I don't think it's all some people hype it as but stil a good show. This is much better than having Fairy Tail.

 

[jlaking]

I do hope that we get a more mature, adult-oriented anime like Black Lagoon to replace Thundercats, though.

Black Lagoon will be on the FUNimation Channel starting on the 15th.

 

[Cartoon X]

It's a good thing Soul Eater is really coming. It'll get good ratings for the block for sure.

Okay I gotta jump in here about Fairy Tail since it keeps being mentioned for shows to recommend..

I am utterly uninterested in the very idea of this show being on Toonami. Clearly the main reason it's even getting recommended so heavily is because it's one of the popular shonen shows today. But I personally don't want a show to be on Toonami just because of that. Frankly, that's the thing about Fairy Tail that frustrates me more than anything. Not so much the mediocrity of the show bother visually and in writing. People will even defend the show to the point that its story is better than Naruto.



And that's in addition to how the story often gets to ridiculously pointless, unnatural gags and..... ugh! The animation! My god! People have said the animation isn't all that great, but I don't think people realize how bad it is. Transitions between scenes and timing can really ruin the mood a scene is suppose to present and the show is almost always being jarringly haphazard about it. And the music, while not really horrible, can get noisy and unnecessarily loud and demanding your attention. And people seem to defend the music so far as to say it's the best music in any anime out there for some reason.

Look, I get it's popular fighting shonen and all. But I would much rather see something good than popular.

Yeah...I'm not a fan of the anime version of Fairy Tail either. But I really like the manga, because the art and energy are really good. On the whole, while I think Natsu sucks, I like essentially every other character in the story and thought the arcs were fairly solid until the end of the Edolas arc (the tower of heaven arc is the best, in my opinion). As someone who keeps up with both Naruto and Fairy Tail, I will have to say I prefer Fairy Tail on the whole. I have just become so disenfranchised with Naruto that I utterly despise Naruto himself now and groan whenever Sauske is on screen/on page. The only character I still like in the story is Kakashi nowadays. I'm pretty bored when I read the chapters now, and I can't freaking stand the awful, awful animation of Naruto Shippuden. I mean, the animation in Fairy Tail is mediocre, but at least the series paces itself well. As far as story goes in Fairy Tail, it really ranges from being mediocre to okay nowadays, but I don't feel bored while going through the chapters and I still care about ost of the characters. It comes down to a matter of taste, I guess, but given the choice between Fairy Tail and Naruto, I think I'd choose Fairy Tail anyday.

That's good to hear. At least I didn't hear the same kind of reactions to Soul Eater being on the lineup that came up when GXP was revealed.

Soul Eater is LEAGUES above Tenchi Muyo! GXP and a show a lt of people were actually requesting to come to the block. As someone who has watche the entire series, I can say that is you like shonen series like One Piece or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, you'll enjoy Soul Eater about as well.

This is my list of shows I really want to be on Toonami:

1. One Piece
2. Yu Yu Hakusho
3. Samurai Champloo
3. Rurouni Kenshin
4. Trigun

And also.. On another note I wonder how Genddy is doing with moving his licensing to Sony. Because I recall him saying somewhere that if he does move to Sony he will try to produce more Symbionic Titan.

All good shows, but out of them I'd prefer having One Piece over those other shows because Toonami and [adult swim] have pretyt much aired all of those other shows in full in the past, and I'd rather have a show that can premiere "new" episodes on the block.

If Genndy can produce more Sym-bionic Titan for Toonami it would be awesome. Hopefully it can happen.

Black Lagoon will be on the FUNimation Channel starting on the 15th.

That doesn't necessarily mean that they can't put Black Lagoon on Toonami. Funimation Channel is an on-demand service that few people get. And since Funimation owns it, I wouldn't see any problem with a show airing on both Toonami and the Funimation channel at the same time.

 

[Light Lucario]

While I do like Soul Eater I'm kind of sad they picked up such a long title since it now means 3 of their timeslots are tied up for at least the next year which makes it harder to get new content. Well at least GXP will be ending soon enough so hopefully that gets a decent replacement as well. Well it is what it is I guess, though I was frankly expecting Soul Eater to have aired on AS years ago.

That is true. I didn't realize that it was a fifty-one episode series until I looked it up. While that does mean it will take them longer to get new content, maybe it shows that they have a slightly bigger budget if their first new series for this year is fifty-one episodes long. Hopefully, they'll have a good replacement for GXP after that show finishes up.

Also on the note of the whole Fairy Tail debate I'm also in the camp who finds it a more entertaining show that Naruto (and Bleach, but Bleach has bored me to tears since SS ended). I absolutely agree that writing wise it's not nearly as good but it's pretty entertaining and you pretty much know what your going to get when you watch. Sure it can get pretty ridiculous at times but you almost never have to take it seriously enough for that to be an issue, whereas Naruto wants to be taken seriously almost 100% of the time and so when it does something stupid (like pretty much every recent event in the manga which has been facepalm after facepalm), it's a heck of a lot harder to be forgiving. Of course to be fair I don't just have that issue with Naruto since just about anything ridiculous that tries to come off as serious (looking at you again Bleach) can irritate me.

Also Fairy Tail isn't a Shonen Jump series. It runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine (one of Jump's direct rivals in fact).

While I can't compare Fairy Tail too much with Naruto beyond the entertainment value I get from both series, I do agree that the series is overall fun to watch. It isn't the best show Toonami could get, but it certainly isn't the worst in my opinion. I didn't know that it ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine. My mistake.

 

[astarisborn94]

Didn't see Soul Eater coming. Should be pretty nice and I'll watch, though I have to wonder why Soul Eater is 1:30 AM instead of 1 AM..

 

[Light Lucario]

Soul Eater is LEAGUES above Tenchi Muyo! GXP and a show a lt of people were actually requesting to come to the block. As someone who has watche the entire series, I can say that is you like shonen series like One Piece or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, you'll enjoy Soul Eater about as well

That's good to hear. I liked what I've seen of One Piece and Brotherhood was great, so hopefully I'll enjoy Soul Eater.

Didn't see Soul Eater coming. Should be pretty nice and I'll watch, though I have to wonder why Soul Eater is 1:30 AM instead of 1 AM..

They probably didn't want to move Thundercats after it has been doing so well in ratings. I could see them moving Soul Eater up to 1AM if it does really well though.

 

[TheCtes]

Soul Eater is LEAGUES above Tenchi Muyo! GXP and a show a lt of people were actually requesting to come to the block. As someone who has watche the entire series, I can say that is you like shonen series like One Piece or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, you'll enjoy Soul Eater about as well.

Those are two of my absolute favorite anime (both top 5 probably) and this comes from a guy that has watched hundreds. Sounds promising!

 

[Ishtar]

To those saying that Soul Eater is a long series for Toonami to pick up, Eureka 7 is about the same length and that was picked up back in August. Not to mention they picked up Naruto again, which makes both shows look rather short by comparison. If a longer show happens to be better quality than a 13-26 episode show, I really don't see the issue. I'd rather have one good show than two average to mediocre shows.

 

[Dub C]

YES! Hanging/lurking around this and other boards, it felt like I was the only one on the planet that wanted to see this series on Toonami. I'm glad Funi FINALLY made the choice with this one. A fun action series, great pacing (ie, no having the same fight lasting multiple episodes), only 52 episodes. It also be fun to finally experience the full English dub since I've only watched the first 2 episodes dubbed.

 

[jlaking]

That doesn't necessarily mean that they can't put Black Lagoon on Toonami. Funimation Channel is an on-demand service that few people get. And since Funimation owns it, I wouldn't see any problem with a show airing on both Toonami and the Funimation channel at the same time.

The FUNimation Channel is also a linear channel and FUNi does not own the FUNimation Channel, OlympuSAT does.

Plus, no show has aired both Toonami and the FUNimation channel at the same time.

 

[Daikun]

Looks like Ni No Kuni will be the next game review:

Toonami

So, what happened to this?

 

[FireStarterLE]

If a longer show happens to be better quality than a 13-26 episode show, I really don't see the issue. I'd rather have one good show than two average to mediocre shows.

Toonami tumblr said it quite nicely:

We’re fans of GOOD series. Long, short, whatever!

We don’t understand this “short shows are better” movement. BETTER shows are better. We’re running a 6 hour block, there will be plenty of time for some shorter shows!