Toonamiguy321

Yours is worse. What is the point of adding more time? How many fans do you see screaming for the block to have more reruns? In fact, you yourself admit to struggling to even keep up with 3 hours. When the 9/16 schedule dropped I saw quite a few people happy at the prospect of a cut removing a rerun. MHA is going to end early next year, and since we didn’t get any damn shows this year, MAWS/UWE/FLCL can rotate through that slot and be ignored by most of the audience.

Because in 10 weeks, MAWS would end and that would be another 30 minutes they struggle to fill. Not to mention more Blum and Dana bills as well as bumpers to make.

When the guy outright says he generally dislikes isekai, yea I think I’m gonna blame him when we don’t get any isekai. Trash or not, it’s the most popular genre in most recent seasons. Turning your nose up at the entire genre that is showing no signs of slowing in popularity as well as almost always ticks the “action” box is why so many people perceive this block as an out of date relic not worth their time.

I wonder how much these reviews can be attributed to Oda being involved. Not to discredit the work they have done and the fact that they actually invested money into this, but I do feel like there is some level of bias from people who “like” it just because Oda asked them to do so. Original creators should ALWAYS be involved, but I’d love to see a compilation of reviews from people who don’t care much about One Piece as they would be the least likely to be biased towards Oda.

Definitely it’s worst year of the revival era. Two acquisitions 3/4 through the year, and maybe 2 originals assuming Uzumaki makes it. I think the only thing this year that could h considered an improvement is packaging updates. What was it, 2-3 months deep into Punk Hazard and we still had Fishman bumps last year? That have done much better keeping things up to date. Im gonna say best case scenario is one more acquired show before the end of the year. But consider the 9/16 schedule has yet to be amended, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are just riding out OP and Naruto till Christmas.

My main concern would still be, who exactly is the market? If you want to get up to speed on One Piece, do you commit 206 consecutive weekdays to doing so via cable? Or just handle it on your own which allows you to skip the OP and recaps for a more efficient journey? I feel like the only reason Toonami works is because it’s a 4x a month commitment with a die hard fanbase cultivated over 20 years. This is obviously not the way anyone should be watching OP or Naruto, but it’s part of the experience, only recently becoming the only part of the experience. I could see a smaller anime working out on a weekday run (so long as it’s had a sizable gap from its last Toonami run), but these giant shonen? It doesn’t make sense. A 26 day commitment to a 2 cour show would be just a little over a month 5 days a week. For the average One Piece arc that’s not even the half way point.

When you are dealing with legalease, any oddity is an argument. Toonami’s entitlement was to the TV anime. The TV specials are just different enough that they can get the lawyers involved to hash it out. Was it worth it? I hardly think so since it seems Toonami’s entitlement stood the entire time, preventing CR from releasing the dub on their service. Where instead they could have just let Toonami air it in May and had it up on their service the next day. But, when you are a near monopoly on the industry, you can afford to do dumb things just to mess with your competitors.

We have known for years that Crunchyroll is constantly working against Toonami. They throw a table scrap now and then to feign being an ally but deep down have no interest in working with this block.

The problem with rerunning anime is it’s just such a small potential market. How many people really want to jump in to Naruto at episode 376, or watch an MHA episode from season 5? The shows they tried to do weekday reruns were the least likely to succeed. They would have to improve their anime catalog to include more episodic types of shows, but as we know, they can’t get any anime so that’s not really a solution.

That’s a normal thing to feel, because the bottom line is, there is no solution for CN. Whatever audience potential they had abandoned the channel many years ago. That said, from a business standpoint, I can see now wanting to allow the CN brand to lapse entirely, especially since it has worldwide presence. I am of the belief they should just do whatever is best for AS. Let AS do what AS needs to do and just leave CN on autopilot as it has been for years anyway. No one is watching it so who cares if KotH isn’t a great transition?

I really hope if this block doesn’t turn in the numbers they are looking for that they consider moving it later rather than just canning it. Before expansion, 7-9 was considered their bad throwaway hours, and I doubt that’s changed much with the added time. If it was there, this would be my certified weekly background noise no question. Im assuming another obstacle they are dealing with right now is being a little skittish about deleting so much of CN, and want this time still occupied by CN viable shows. If they get the numbers in and kids still don’t watch cable, maybe they won’t be opposed to 5-7pm KotH time. And for the few kids out that are actually tuning in and seeing these shows for the first time. 7-9pm is still plenty early for that.

Seeing a lot of complaints about the aspect ratio but it doesn’t bother me that much for cartoons where everything already has silly proportions. Even though this is AS, I imagine they want to rope in whatever kids they can as well, and bars immediately make kids think “this is old and thus not worth watching”. Show choice seems fine. I got a bit of a vibe that they picked specific episodes with notable memes, such as sad Dexter in the shower or him looking in his locker. Which is fine, it’s a creative way to spur some interest from younger viewers who may recognize a meme but not where it came from. Have not seen Billy and Mandy since probably the last time it was on proper CN, and I had kinda forgotten how reliant it was on parody references and just random humor. I won’t write it off yet, but a Harry Potter AND a Pokemon parody in the same episode? Yeesh. Courage was also a reminder that early on he used to talk quite a bit more. Apparently executive meddling is what had him shift to mostly stock babbling sounds later on, which is criminal. Bump are solid, some kind of remind me of the CN City era. No telling how many they actually made, but even just what we saw today was more effort than CN has put into their packaging in a decade, so that’s a big W for AS. I like it, and I wanted to be here the entire time for launch day, but I can’t see myself making this a 5 day commitment at its timeslot. I had to rush home just to barely make it in time. I have no plan to make that a habit. Seems strange to market the block as relaxing after work cartoons when the block starts the same minute millions of people clock out of work.

It’s still on 9/9, I think someone messed up and posted this way too early. If this was released on Saturday “next Saturday” would be accurate.

Contrary to the narrative that Sentai has nothing popular, they actually do have a handful of shows that had peoples attention. I have asked the exact same question about Danmachi. Is 5 seasons, a spin off, and a theatre film not popular enough to catch Demarco’s eyes? RaaS would be a better choice since it’s so new, get in on the ground floor for an easier path to getting later seasons. But, as much as I think Toonami needs to be a slut for isekai, Demarco seems dead set on keeping the block a virgin.

What we call Toonami today is just [as] ACTN with a different sticker on it. Now that ACTN is a thing of the past, Toonami gets the credit, especially since it did have about 1/4 of the series air under the Toonami banner. Jojo, AoT, SAO, Demon Slayer, stuff like that was already mega popular years before coming to Toonami. The block did little, if anything for them as they were already kings before showing up here. Things Toonami actually made an impact on were niche shows like Deadman and Dimension W. Did their run put those on the same level as the formerly listed shows? Absolutely not. But the Toonami run put what would normally be immediately forgotten seasonal shows into a lot of peoples memories. Impactful memories? Maybe not, but at least an “oh yea I did watch that one”.

Guarantee you it will be secret until premier day to drive extra engagement + keep the should he/shouldn’t he replaced factions from diverting too much away from the show itself. This isn’t like Squids where it was heading out the door anyway so they could have a giggle with it. They already said they have plans out to season 10 so they really need to get over this hump.

AoT was losing its ratings pull power multiple seasons ago, so I don’t expect the special to be much of a bump. Especially since this time it sat on the shelf for an extra 6 months so no doubt a chunk of fans just went out and watched it on their own time, either out of frustration of waiting or simply thinking Toonami would never air it due to their track record with airing specials.

Primal managed to stay close or over 200k it’s entire run. We only saw a couple charted examples of UWE and MAWS, both at the mid 250k range, but based on how the 12:30 show did, aside from that night a few weeks ago with the double digits, seems like both were hanging in the 150-170k range. I have zero doubt in my mind Grunge can do worse than that. I expect it to start out like HCC with a passable first night, then crater. The bar might be low, but Grunge doesn’t have Genndy/DC power behind it either. I kind of wonder if Zaslav didn’t understand what Toonami was at the start. There is no arguing that Toonami’s advertising budget and reach expanded greatly once Zaslav took over. But then it’s like he found out that block has to license shows from someone else every 3-6 months and completely lost interest in supporting it. So now we are here with a block that still has a decent advertising budget (frequent bump refreshes, the ID animations, episode promos, a bit of new ship animation, etc) but nothing worth advertising.

Ok fine, if the discussion is getting the numbers up, step one is getting SOMETHING on the lineup. The numbers are not going to shoot up by running reruns, 2 hours of OP/Naruto, or another unwanted FLCL. I even doubt Uzumaki will move the needle, especially if they go the sub premier route. Im not suggesting they air shows that intentionally tank the ratings. I’m just saying we are in a spot where getting them much lower will be as difficult as getting them much higher. If the Toonami audience will sit through Primal reruns over and over again and not have that choice crater viewership, I think it would be a genuine challenge picking a show that could bring the current ratings floor average lower. Part of the reason I don’t see a point in worrying about the ratings is because it’s a vicious cycle. No shows = shit ratings. Shit ratings = no budget. No budget = no shows. They have the power to make the needed change to get the numbers up, so not making that change leads me to believe they aren’t too stressed about Toonami ratings. That said, once Grunge starts, I assume they will care about that a little more since they paid to have it made. That’s gonna get compared with every other new AS show this year.

I know AS is putting their stamp on it, but I wonder if Checkered Past will be it’s own thing just so it’s arm length from actual AS so they don’t have to incorporate all these shows into their website. And if it bombs hard and they have to abort, it will be cleaner. For its incredibly brief run, was Adventure Time ever on the AS website?

1 and 2 was a two parter but we got both the same night. That one was two stand alone episodes title wise but they clearly go together since one ends with Jimmy’s fate unknown and the following begins with Clark and Lois immediately trying to find Jimmy.

Considering the 2023 pickup catalog is sitting at 2 shows, I know the answer is not many. If that is NOT the answer, then that means Demarco is a colossal fuck up blowing deals left and right. I give even odds on either reason. Getting shows doesn’t mean the block wasn’t obsolete. You could still stream almost anything Toonami aired long before they aired it. There were occasional exceptions, Space Dandy, the originals, but those were far from the norm. Is anyone still sweating ratings in 2023? It’s interesting to look at them week to week, but we are so far beyond the stage of improving them. And really, if they are at this level and AS still hasn’t cancelled the block, ratings ain’t gonna be what gets the block cancelled. Bleach would surely nudge them up a little, and it would be a much healthier lead show than some rerun or the mess that Grunge looks like, but in the end, who cares? I’d rather Toonami actually be watchable over worrying about what number gets posted next to a show on Tuesday afternoon. Bleach improves block watchability. Would I prefer some fresh blood come in first? Yes, but we are also in a scenario where the beggar really can’t be picky.

They go and have Robot Jones narrate their promos for the block and then don’t even air his show on it? Unforgivable.

Ain’t talking about 15 years ago. Talking about 8-9 years ago, when this block was already completely obsolete. From what we hear from Demarco, sure they are always talking, but the same old conversations. Can we have JJK? No. Can we have Demon Slayer? No. Where are the talks about something they can actually afford? Clearly not happening since we don’t get anything. If they maintained good relations in the industry, they wouldn’t need a reason. They would cut them deals just to do it. The distributor makes a few bucks, gets a little advertising and has a positive standing among Toonami fans. We still wouldn’t get the exclusives, but each distributor has PLENTY of B tier stuff that isn’t going to ever do much besides be catalog filler.

If the block had allies in the industry, someone would hook us up with a show. Maybe not the best show, but something to keep the wheels turning. I don’t want to hear about cost or budget when distributors used to give the block shows for free just for the exposure. That’s when you know bridges are healthy. If your excuses are actually true, they should stop telling the fans that things are in the works, deals are being made, shows are brewing, etc. Then we at least stop having expectations. But all year long they have strung us along with the promise of a big pickup that has never come. 2012 was the worst the block was financially ever. Yet they still secured shows. Again, not great shows, no mega, modern hits, but they kept it fresh. No excuse for 2023 to be this bad.