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so actually these two answers kind of criss-cross at that juncture of - Toonami is part of a commercial entity that, while it does try to make decisions based on aesthetic, and wisely also tracks audience preference data, money and timing also play large roles sometimes in what stays, what comes, and what goes.

Dimension W felt like it came out of nowhere to me. I knew what it was, but as a Toonami pick I was just like "uh okay". I would venture to guess it's one of those things where the studio or the licensor was like "hey here, if you run this, we'll let you have it for next to nothing (or nothing)" or else it was tied to some other acquisition like "you can have this thing you want cheap, but only if you also take Dimension W", or something along those lines. I think that happens periodically too. Where, like they're overbudget, or close to overbudget, and somebody comes along with a deal on something, especially a newer title, I think they strongly consider those offers even if the shows aren't necessarily prime.

I wouldn't call it a mistake. In order to bring in new stuff, sometimes old stuff has to cycle off. I'm sure the economics and general contract dates coincided such that OP was that show at that time. I do think it served a purpose for the block, and had enough of a presence that it's absence may have contributed to destabilizing the block somewhat. My personal view is that keeping it would have worked out fine probably, but again, the specific circumstances may well have required it end just due to how the contracts/licenses were situated, budget, etc. Sometimes there's not a lot you can do to prevent that sort of thing. So making room for some other titles isn't such a bad idea. The block does tend to get choked in long-running pop anime. But of those long-running pop anime, I think OP had a more specific niche appeal than the others. DBZ is kind of the pop king. But I'm not sure all DBZ viewers are in for the whole block. Whereas, the smaller audience of OP viewers may be more inclined to watch other shows too. I think something like Toonami succeeds because it's seeding on multiple levels. You have the big bang pop stuff. You have "wtf is that" stuff. And then you have underlying all that, a sort of appeal to nostalgia or a specific niche that has a lot of loyalty as a component. The base upon which you build an audience I think, that base audience, is probably in Toonami's case, the OP audience in essence. Then upon that, it gets built up with bigger pop shows like DBS and things like that, which bring in lots of people for those shows, or the sort of flocking effect when something is perceived as popular. But those audience members can flock in another direction just as easily, and potentially don't necessarily stick with the whole block. You kind of need both. I think OP served an important purpose for the block that wasn't perhaps fully understood. But also you can't always control what has to go when. So I can't say firmly that it was a mistake. Just that I think it served a purpose for the block that I think wasn't fully grasped.

"ohaijon"

when it comes to anime there's basically the mainstream US audience, which has seen almost none, and the niche US anime audience, which has pretty much seen it all. Toonami bridges that gap by utilizing familiar franchises and it's worked very well for them. If you want some kind of fresh avante-garde anime block, you probably won't find it on mainstream television. The stakes are too high for them to fiddle around the fjords pleasing only small anime niche audiences. Newness of a show does matter somewhat. Recognizability matters somewhat. Affordability also matters. Toonami can take a ratings hit for something that costs them nothing to run. And when the ratings come out, people are like "ooooh no the ratings are super low for that show" and, to a certain extent, they don't care as long as they aren't too low, and advertisers are still buying the block. So Toonami, by design I think, is a block of mostly licenses, a preference for new shows, but not necessarily the budget for them, a bit of nostalgia and a track record of things that seem to work for them, and have in the past, and do now, serve to identify the block. Also Toonami is a brand. It's an entire block, and functions very well as that. Whereas other networks flounder somewhat more in terms of show for show hit and miss. By choosing familiar shows, or shows that identify strongly with Toonami, they are strengthening that bond. The One Piece thing is a good example of something I think that does okay, but not always quite as well as the rest of the block, but without it, the block as a whole is possibly more inclined to unravel than it would with it. If Toonami suddenly began running all new anime, I think it would turn into just another hit and miss series of shows. Also you'd have 6 or so shows on the block to attempt to explain to people why they should care. They have a good formula. Most of what they run, they run because it fits their budget, or they can haggle it down somehow, most often it's widely requested by their audience, which they keep regular data on including collecting show requests, and it fits their mission statement, which is anime and action cartoons. And when left to their own, it's always worked very well. Since the block's hit Adult Swim, it's been pretty consistently successful. And it's exactly the sort of block networks need right now. An identifiable entity/character unto itself. Something that people are likely to stick with through several shows, rather than picking at this and that. And yeah, people do that. But aside from a few 'back-to-back' type habitual viewing islets, I can't think of any other network right now that has something as dense as Toonami in terms of a programming block/brand. I think that's invaluable.

I was going to post some thoughts but ima wait til after Sunday I think.

oh wow I guess the full episode 704 did leak. According to reports, it's all over the dark internets this morning.

we'll just load the ones we got on this one eventually.

I think it's perfect in weekly installments. and I think you're attempting to qualify pacing in a narrow context that doesn't represent this particular show. Saying Twin Peaks isn't necessarily paced like a normal television show is kind of like saying birds don't seem to have enough gills.

THAT FUCKIN DRAGON BETTER GO WHERE THE SHOWRUNNERS PUT IT OR IT'S FIRED FROM TELEVISION

shut up stupid.

Outlaw Star was actually #1 on my list once I became more of an anime fan. Also I think Toonami has always wanted Outlaw Star. It was - either the highest rated show of the stunt night, or one of the highest rated shows on the stunt night. It did really really well. But that was 2012 too, and it was a stunt. So no guarantees it'll do well in the middle of Summer in the 2:30am timeslot or wherever they're putting it. On top of all that, Outlaw Star is one of those shows Toonami has unfinished business with, as originally they couldn't air all the episodes due mostly to nudity issues. So this will be the first time Toonami or Adult Swim either one has aired all the episodes of Outlaw Star. so it's really a no-brainer for Toonami in all of those ways. It was partially responsible for the block's relaunch on Adult Swim, got good ratings, hasn't aired for a long time, has never been aired in its entirety, so that unfinished business factor. And the programmers are fans as I understand it. As well as Outlaw Star being consistently one of the most requested shows since the block relaunched. So there are very few reasons not to run it actually, unless it was cost prohibitive, and my guess is the reason they're airing it now is that it became available budgetarily (IE it was no longer crazy expensive to license).

also good. you guys are pretty good at this whole emoji business.

i like that one. actually didn't you make a lot of really cool ones for the nodebb that they didn't use?