Toonamiguy321

I get that, and I do feel that way about this. I’m actually a little relieved that the predictions of Batman didn’t come to pass as I may have actually wanted to tune in for that despite not going to be able to on either week. That said, if nobody is watching anyway, what’s the point of messing with Toonami hours to air something else? 6 episodes of Primal would have just been some groans, instead we have a weird 4 episode night for the first time ever that is raising some eyebrows. Should we expect future marathon nights to come with reduced/no Toonami? After quietly cutting an hour last month, this was really not the best time to stoke worries that AS isn’t opposed to the block going under 3 hours.

For the moment I’m not too concerned with a cut, I just don’t like the precedent that Toonami can have it’s time cut down whenever they feel like for some alternative content. Let’s say it is Yule Log, why does that have to air within the blocks 1 day, 3 hour window? It could air any other time on Saturday. It doesn’t make Toonami feel like a valued priority if it’s so easily cast aside like this. If I’m ranking my predictions, I’d say 2-1-4-3. FLCL reruns at 2:30 feel like a safe bet.

Here are a couple of scenarios that I have thought up for the block going into the new year based on these marathons. 1. Burn off Primal 7-10, move Naruto down to 2:30, and restart One Piece at 2 episodes. Some of us suspected that Toonami may have not bought enough episodes in January to sustain OP at 2 episodes per week the entire year. The pace down may have been purely to get us into the new year at which point they can buy another, likely larger, batch of episodes for 2023. 2. Burn off Primal 7-10, burn through the overplayed first season of FLCL, and have Progressive and then Alternative take over 2:30. As we all know, Prog and Alt both only saw reruns way back in 2018, immediately after airing. The original, while much more loved, suffers the issue of being overplayed. So they blow through that on the 31st, then have Prog and Alt carry us into the spring, where we have been told the new seasons are supposed to start. 3. Burn off Primal 7-10, and cut 2:30a at the start of the year. Later, cut the open slot left by either Yashahime or MiA. The pessimist take, but one we shouldn’t wave off as impossible. Blatch has a valid point, even if it’s Christmas Eve and viewership will be at rock bottom, it’s a concerning precedent that Toonami can just have time chopped off on a whim. 4. Burn off Primal 7-10, move Naruto to 2:30, One Piece to 2, and start a brand new pickup at 1:30 or earlier. The optimist take, and we do have some precedent of this possibility from last year when AssClass started the first Saturday of January. They may have a show on deck and simply need to wait to sign the check on Jan 1 when their coffers reset. What do you guys think?

I didn’t expect much for the holidays, and I’m glad I can skip guilt free, but what the hell is going on with 12/24? I’m exhausted with Primal as anyone else is, but why only 2 hours? They pulled this same stunt with DST where they sneak a controversial schedule change in with a schedule shift. Thankfully, they can’t actually cut a full hour off in the new year immediately without dropping an active premier. But this makes it feel like they are preparing us for that type of change soon.

The problem with some of their later con appearances is they had absolutely zero to actually talk about. So we would get into this painful to watch cycle where they sit there and struggle to talk about nothing for an hour. Q&A could fill time, but most people asked the stupidest fucking questions imaginable, and the rare person to ask a thoughtful one got an empty runaround answer because Demarco can’t actually discuss the things people would actually care about. With the block in its current uncertain state, it’s probably for the best they aren’t doing cons anymore. We get more out of the occasional twitter thread anyway.

Looks like Ninja Kamui is not as certain for 2023 as we thought. With this in mind, id say the absolute earliest ETA would be November after Uzumaki. Or, the start of October to fill in for Uzumaki missing it’s deadline once again.

2 FLCL for sure at 6 episodes each. Ninja Kamui is also a possibility. So that’s at minimum, 3 and a half months out of the year to originals. MHA will be filling in its slot for 6 months. As for sequels, we are certain to get AoT, thats 3-4 months. Witch from Mercury is surely on their radar and probably an achievable goal. On the radar but more difficult to pull off, Bleach and Dr Stone. Unless they are willing to ditch the rerun slot and make it a premier slot, we are stuck with only 3 slots to play with. And even a short pickup would fill it for a quarter of the year. So if they want to bring something fresh to the table, they don’t have many opportunities to do so.

Now that’s more like what I expect to see out of MHA premiers. Last week was no doubt the fault of poor promotion. If it can keep up this pace it’s entire run, the block will be solid up to about June. IMO if they want to bring back double OP, ditch the rerun slot and move Naruto down to accommodate it. The block is not going to have many chances to get fresh content in 2023, Yashahime/MiA ending is one of those few times and I’d like to see them capitalize on it before we get weighed down by originals and sequels.

The problem right now is since the block is at midnight, it doesn’t occupy 2 days like it did when it was at 11 or earlier. So while Saturday is April 1 in 2023, when Toonami actually starts airing, it will be April 2. So any “next day” prank would be for AS, unless Toonami is elevated above midnight prior to April 1. The next year that April 1 is on a Sunday, isn’t until 2029. I don’t think this block will be seeing another April fools prank. And honestly? Probably for the best. They set the bar super high with the subbed block, I don’t think they can top that. Especially looking at the past few years pranks which have been super short and low effort. I don’t think the new bosses see much value in this tradition.

They will either cut the rerun that night, or somehow get Yashahime sped up by a week so there is a blank slot the finale can take over then they can refresh 2 slots the following week.

This is a change in tactics I hope they consider. I know they are their main focus, but insisting the originals lead has really held them all back. Seeing Primal pull consistent numbers for 20 straight weeks, then HCC crashing into the dirt, followed by MHA reruns recovering immediately shows a pretty clear issue trying to lead with those shows. Admittedly, they didn’t have alternatives in October, but when they do have a solid shonen anchor show on hand, originals should follow it up at 12:30. I do wish we could keep one slot for a show that isn’t the normal block vibe. MiA kinda fits that role right now, but my expectations for its replacement are a return to the norm. As for the movie, there’s no sense chasing it anymore. They have already spoiled it with S2, as well as told fans to go out and watch it on their own. If they did get it, it would just be a repeat of the end of Hellsing where people don’t bother to watch it since Demarco told them to pirate it instead.

We have 2 regular nights of Toonami, plus our typical 2 weeks of holiday marathons and then we are turning the page into 2023. This year has been quite the rollercoaster for the block, we hit the ground running with a new show announcement the very first day of 2022, then we had a couple more not long after. Things slowed down for us quite a bit after that, but we managed to end on a high note with MHA S6. So what is everyone expecting from the block in 2023? With the market calm, and a small gesture from CR that they may be more cooperative in the future, the future looks a little less unstable. Here’s what we know we are getting. 1. FLCL Shoegaze (6 episodes) 2. FLCL Grunge (6 episodes) 3. Ninja Kamui (6 episodes) 4. Uzumaki (4 episodes) 5. Attack on Titan Final Season That still leaves space for a few more pickups, not a ton since we are only juggling 6 slots, 2 of which are eternally spoken for, but there is space. And a second question, is there anything in particular that you would like to see the block pick up, even if there is no evidence or precedent that it could come? The block really dropped the ball on fresh blood this year, the only new franchise among the acquired shows this year was Made in Abyss. That doesn’t mean next year can’t be different though. We are going to see both Yashahime and MiA S2 leave the block in February, and there aren’t any obvious sequel choices I see them aiming for currently. Even if we see one of the above originals get started early in the year, that’s still one slot for some potential fresh blood.

It’s been so many years now, it’s extremely difficult to envision CN going back an older demo. But, they do have the framework to do so. Cartoonito - this covers the early weekday morning preschool demo. I don’t know much, nor do I really care about preschool content, however it seems after a rocky start, this little block has found some solid footing. Cartoon Network - This has been the biggest problem area for the channel for about a decade now. Ignoring their programming diversity issues, they have cut their target demo to about 5-10 max. As the article states, things like Adventure Time had a more broad appeal up to teenagers and even young adults. 2010 was a big year for CN where they felt like they were trying to pivot hard to appeal to teenagers. Adult Swim - It’s had problems, but has also been pretty consistent in remembering who it’s loyal audience was. Aside from Toonami hours, I have never felt like AS wasn’t aiming at its intended demo. So what it sounds like they want to do is transform CN to a more broad appeal among ages. Actually materializing that goal is another matter, especially with how long CN has had its current reputation. Are they going to just throw hail Mary’s with original shows and hope they work out? Start up a classics block similar to the anniversary one? Air anime? They have stated their goal, it just feels unachievable. As for AS, while I don’t feel like it’s having an identity crisis, I do feel it’s having a content crisis. Countless shows have been cancelled this year, and I firmly believe some of the ones that haven’t been is through luck that they already had S2s greenlit before the cuts started. Excluding sequels and anime projects there is only ONE new show we have been told about this entire year, Royal Crackers. We are hearing them say they want more adult animation, but the nearly empty slate for AS original shows tells a different story. Id love to see change, especially on the CN side, but this is a pretty huge undertaking they are talking about.

I don’t think our boy Zaslav is the answer to this one. Promos outside of Toonami stopped when they started Yashahime S2. Since then, AS has walked back some controversial changes like speeding up intros and entire shows. There was even a brief internal rebellion phase where some madman was running super long bumpers EVERY break. AS has also been struggling to fill their ad time, so it’s not like they don’t have the room now and then. That one HIV medication that has active lawsuits for killing people won’t be any worse off if it airs one less time per night, and I doubt they are paying AS much for that time anyway. Not promoting the block at all furthers the concerns that it’s a bottom tier priority, on top of the simple fact it makes it perform worse, at least in regards to brand new content. MHA S6 was their biggest score of 2022, but it feels like half the audience doesn’t even know it happened.

Perhaps not explicitly not allowing it, but holding the deal up till the week it needed to go on the air could be viewed as an indirect way of limiting promotion. Can’t make a promo without the material, and we had just come off a holiday weekend. Even if they aired it, that was only 4 possible days of exposure. Aside from Housing Complex C, AS hasn’t been airing ANY of the Toonami promos outside of Toonami except the generic 12-3 one. Which at this point is omitting 2 shows entirely. Those weekly topicals for MiA/MHA they make every week? Never seen again after airing right after the prior episode. The only place they appear is on Facebook. I have no idea why they can’t sacrifice even a single commercial slot across the span of 6 days to give those promos more exposure. It makes you wonder why they even make them at all if they aren’t being used.

Any other week, numbers like that would barely get a show to crack the top 50. Really shows how down cable is if that’s enough to get #14. I think we will see MHA grow further in the coming weeks, as I’m sure many people didn’t even know it started S6 since it got basically zero promotion. Word of mouth should start to spread.

Maybe not any price, but with all the cuts and penny pinching this year, they may have been able to reach the new, higher price that seemed unreachable earlier in the year. They blew a huge wad in January out of necessity since the last 4 months of 2021 were such a drought, but after that they got much more conservative with their spending. Hopefully with a more compact block going into 2023, we will have a steady stream of content through the entire year. Once they handle Yashahime and MiA, it will be late spring before the schedule needs to change again. And we know AoT is coming, so that’s one slot taken care of already.

That’s not surprising, it was only on AS for a brief period, and when they cancelled it they completely scrubbed its existence. So if you missed that small window of time it was on you would never know about it.

I doubt they have the resources necessary to do topicals for 2 shows. Plus, they are kinda pointless now that they never air them outside of Toonami hours. I haven’t seen this promo air yet but I haven’t watched a full night of AS yesterday or tonight.

Bye bye to it’s chances of being on Toonami. I don’t think it’s going to stop being made entirely. It’s not like the block had a good working partnership with DC anyway. They gave us 4-6 movies per year at best, to be aired at a time rarely convenient for Toonami.

It was many years ago and likely no longer relevant with all the market shifts, but someone asked Sentai directly if they would put Princess Principal on Toonami, and they said they would if Toonami could be convinced to take it. A shame it never happened because it’s a great series, though I do fear the average viewer would be thrown for a loop with the first episode. Anyway, you never know, their offer may still stand if enough people request the show.

I’m glad Ballmasterz will at least have a chance at a more definitive conclusion. So many shows this year have just been cancelled and written off without a word. I was highly doubtful it could get an entirely new season, so this is a good compromise between that and just abrupt cancellation.

Oh definitely, if you told me to program the block with the Sentai catalog, I could have it taken care of in 10 minutes. But I was looking at it from a Toonami POV, and in recent years they have really struggled with giving anything a chance. That’s why I was surprised MiA made it on, because it’s way outside of their norm. That’s also why it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what in their catalog they may be looking at. Are they looking for things that are hits like Danmachi? Or are they looking at things on the backlog request list like Ushio and Tora? Not really sure where they set the age cutoff these days besides “be in HD”.

I kind of assumed something like this was the case in recent months. It’s not like Demarco has ever been 24/7 Toonami online, but recently he has seemed kind of distant from everything. Anyway, looking at Viz, I think we can all agree their eyes are on Bleach. Nothing else from Viz really seems like something they would go for. Sentai though? I can’t really make any type of guess at which show they may be looking at. MiA certainly wasn’t a show I expected from them either. There’s always the lingering S5 of Food Wars. Any other thoughts?

Interesting. Still though, not going to increase my hopes and expectations just yet until we see further evidence of CR changing their ways. “Believe” and “hope” mean nothing is for sure yet. And Demarco says right there, we will see. Looking at it from a more optimistic standpoint, let’s say CR really does change their ways. Will that only apply to shows Toonami has had a stake in in the past (MHA, Fire Force, Dr Stone etc) or would CR be more willing to crack open their entire catalog? Demarco did say a few years ago they were interested in things like Konosuba, so is that something that would be possible? And this is why I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself before we have a better gauge of where CR actually stands, because it may be raising expectations to an unattainable level. For now, I’m just glad we got something. If CR doesn’t change, well, that’s a problem for 6 months from now.