OwlChemist81

This is actually a canon arc! I'm thinking it MIGHT be embellished for comic relief though.

Oddly enough, the show is quite mum on whether the transformation is so detailed that it actually changes his genitals...

You don't get it, do you? One Piece is like the freaking SIMPSONS in Japan. It airs at like 7 PM on the equivalent of Fox. Adult Swim can't even GET the Simpsons. That is an obstacle. One Piece just isn't popular enough in America to be sustainable, so they had to cut it off after Season 6. Meanwhile, AOT airs at 12:35 AM Sunday nights on the NHK, a public-service channel which is the equivalent of our PBS. So it would be like their Downton Abbey, except that still aired during primetime, not late-night, so I suppose that makes it like Poldark? WE actually STILL get a better timeslot since it's at Midnight here (hell, I'll bet the Japanese were actually JEALOUS we got the first 5 episodes of this season at 11 PM), and unlike them, all 3 seasons are on Adult Swim. When it comes to AOT, we are so lucky! So imagine you're a foreign company trying to acquire a U.S. show for localization. Which one do you think you need better ratings to acquire, the Simpsons, or Poldark?

I think part of the reason we lost One Piece is BECAUSE ratings are too low for it to be sustainable. One Piece is basically like the Star Wars of Japan in terms of popularity, and that takes a pretty big windfall to maintain. You just don't get that from less than about 400K adults 18-49, and it averaged around 350K in early 2017, so they had to get rid of it. As much as I hate to admit it, Gundam might be in the same boat right now. Unicorn dipping below 400K 18-49 twice was probably the red flag that sent its 2nd half down to 2 AM, and then while we got IBO Season 2, it's not hard to imagine they probably lost money on it. I hope I am proven wrong and Toonami can get a shorter Gundam show like Thunderbolt, or perhaps go in a different direction by running an HD remaster of G sometime after midnight, but I'm not holding my breath. The ratings LOOK bad, but I imagine it's more than enough to sustain franchises which are super popular in America but not necessarily in Japan. True, Dragon Ball 2010s Movies and Super DID have a homeland component, but their main component of production was probably perceived international success, and of course Dragon Ball is a juggernaut like no other anime in the U.S. The Naruto franchise, MHA, AOT, and JoJo are kind of in the same boat. This all does beg the question regarding whether or not an original production like FLCL '18 is adequately successful. There is evidence that Progressive was, but it's hard to argue the same for Alternative. I think in terms of those originals, however, ratings must be considered together with iTunes downloads, of which both Progressive and Alternative have done pretty well.

Football and Live PD. I like college football, but by about 9 PM I kinda get tired of it unless I'm at a live game (I was.) As for Live PD, I can't believe people actually watch that crap. I have NEVER under any circumstances seen it on a TV around town, so it must do really bad in my hometown market. I want to believe this new lineup will be successful in a way that nothing has been in a while, but I don't think we're there yet. I think Toonami is still struggling to find the right lead-in, and that lead-in is about to be provided by CN. This week was kind of a throwaway week in terms of ratings compared to what will be in the coming weeks. Here's hoping Puss In Boots (10/6) and Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip (10/13, according to my onscreen guide) do better than played-out Home Movies and Family Guy, though it goes without saying I have a LOT more faith in the former than in the latter. I also predict that beyond College Football, with Toonami and Live PD beginning at the same time, more people will begin to choose Toonami over Live PD. That seems to be key to me.

Remember: Rome was not re-built in a day... While I was hoping for a little better than that out of Boruto and Super, one Family Guy IS a pretty weak lead-in. Here's hoping Puss In Boots holds Toonami up better next week!

The original Piccolo is sometimes referred to as "King Piccolo." The new Piccolo Jr. is just "Piccolo". It is quite interesting that we took a character named after English "Pickle" and made it a high-pitched cousin of the flute instead.

Well I'll be darned---the stream DID advance!!! Now it looks like we've got the next 5 of Shippuden through Monday night!

UPDATE: It has been CONFIRMED that the reason that AOT didn't air in Japan tonight is not that S3 is split cour, but instead... https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-09-30/attack-on-titan-episode-48-delayed-1-week-due-to-typhoon-coverage/.137502 Pray for the residents of Japan as they go through this tough typhoon. But there is a silver lining to this dark cloud: it looks like for the month of October, the Toonami "simuldub" broadcast will only be a month behind Japan, just like the middle episodes (6-9) of Season 2.

HD = High Definition, a.k.a. more pixels. It has nothing to do with aspect ratio (16:9/4:3) DBZ Kai and Bebop are the same way.

First encounter with Aku!

It's gonna be a looooooooooooooooooong journey...

Hey now, it's predecessor is actually quite GOOD right now!

I'm pretty sure it will be on again. Well, not the Gundam, but I've got it on DVD.

I had to wipe all the Ghost In The Shell and one episode of Gundam Unicorn from my DVR to squeeze in everything tonight!

"One more weekend warrior left!"

IF we get a restart! I'm personally hoping we get something else in this timeslot instead--maybe Outlaw Star?

Session #24: Hard Luck Woman Such a cute little episode, balanced out by AOT now on the west coast feed!

So do y'all think the dog might have been male all along? I'm sure Lupin's gang would have noticed that though...

Dammit, now I'm hungry for pizza! GOEMON!!!

She's like "nope!"

Oddly enough, she doesn't like being called Josephine!!

Goemon actually had to battle a samurai! A FAKE one, but one nonetheless!!

Episode 17: Lupin's Day Off Lupin doesn't GET a "day off!" For some reason, that line about pork cutlets reminded me of Pop Team Epic...

Wow, they're really gonna stretch out 48 minutes into a YEAR AND A HALF worth of episodes!? And yeah, I'd say Goku has crossed into villainous territory right now...