Blatch

I wasn't intending to post in this thread every week, but I feel obligated to check in now and then. I loved this week's episode, though a big part of that was that it appeased the guro fan in me. I feel like it's Genndy's way of getting back after so many episodes of Samurai Jack featured robots getting brutally beaten and destroyed, and even the final season not having much in terms of graphic violence. This episode was detailed enough as to be gross, and maybe worthy of a content warning before the episode ("real American cowboys" and all), but it was also compelling and even beautiful. The first half of it was so peaceful and free of action that I figured there had to be a catch. Of course, the MAV rating this episode got gave it away (would it be possible for them to hide an episode's rating every so often, or even lie and change it within the episode?), and on top of that, this episode totally earned that rating. And here I thought S&P was starting to phone it in. In short, I'm looking forward to what adventures Spear and Fang are going to experience in the season's second half.

Touhou Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream Episode 3: "Unraveling Déjà Vu" I'm glad the show pulled this one out like Seiran out of a hat, because after two and a half episodes where the main draw was... well, the fact that it exists, I'm glad it's taken on a unique flavor: slice of life with an unsettling cerebral edge. On to Episode 4! But wait a minute, didn't I say earlier it wasn't subbed yet? Turns out it is, and has been since I started this project. I just wasn't looking hard enough. 🙃

You might remember when the Scavengers pilot short aired on Toonami all the way back at the end of 2016. Don't know what's taken so long, but a full-length treatment of it is finally going to air. I hope we can at least get premiere encores. Late edit: DeMarco is implying... something. [ergh, can't get this space to go away]

Ooh, that's actually a good idea. [as] should be doing Friday marathons for action shows, at least for what they own.

And Primal leads off, as it should. Neat that they're announcing this somewhat ahead of time. Hopefully they follow suit with the next new show.

I never really thought about how old Billy was... maybe I was subconsciously thinking he was even younger, but 35 sounds about right. Though it was short, he certainly lived a life filled with love and affection. R.I.P. to a real one. What really makes me feel bad is that I watched JoJo's religiously on Toonami up until a few episodes into Part 4, where I trailed off. I'll have to do this guy a solid and finish it, though I'll probably rewatch the first three parts to prepare.

Saying Toonami's blocked from getting all Sentai shows all because they have to stall for one week is... misguided. But other than that, yeah. Starve that guy of attention.

Interviews with Monster Girls 3/4 (rewatch) Touhou Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream 2.5 Last Period: the journey to the end of the despair 2 (rewatch) Spy×Family 9 takt op. Destiny 7 And there we go. I'm caught up on everything now. Time for more Last Period, and I'm about to rewatch probably its most notable episode from a meta perspective. Hopefully it stems the tide of me not getting much enjoyment out of it. [the ed goes hard, though]

At least they didn't add another rerun, not that I would've minded. Now I can watch just the first hour and tap out, which will help my sleep schedule a bit.

A few replies:

Laid-Back Camp Season 2 Episode 1: Curry Noodles are the Best Travel Companion" - TV-PG Episode 2: "New Year's Solo Camper Girl" - TV-PG Episode 3: "Surprise Camping and Some Deep Thoughts" - TV-PG Episode 4: "What Are You Buying With Your Temp Job Money?" - TV-PG Episode 5: "Caribou-kun and Lake Yamanaka" - TV-PG Episode 6: "Cape Ohmama in Winter" - TV-PG Episode 7: "Nadeshiko's Solo Camp Planning" - TV-PG Spy×Family Mission:6: "THE FRIENDSHIP SCHEME" - TV-14L Mission:7: "THE TARGET'S SECOND SON" - TV-PGV Mission:8: "THE COUNTER-SECRET POLICE COVER OPTION" - TV-14L Mission:9: "SHOW OFF HOW IN LOVE YOU ARE" - TV-14L Touhou Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream Episode 2: "Pre Established Harmony" - TV-PGSV Episode 2.5 - TV-PGSV Interviews with Monster Girls Episode 1: "Takahashi Tetsuo Wants an Interview" - TV-PGDS Episode 2: "Dullahan-chan Wants to Be Coddled" - TV-PGDS Episode 3: "Succubus-san is a Real Adult" - TV-14D Episode 4: "Takahashi Tetsuo Wants to Protect" - TV-PGDS Good Luck Girl! Round 11: "...Who Are You?" - TV-14DSV Round 12: "Sometime, Call Me By My Name" - TV-14DS Round 13: "You Already Know the Answer to That" - TV-14DS [i have been inconsistent in giving the episodes their stylized names... expect some edits down the line] The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Episode 13: "It's about time to become Cinderella girls!" (review post here) [likewise for linking the episodes... I'm only doing this to be consistent] Last Period: the journey to the end of despair Episode 1: "Notice of Completion" - TV-PGDL Episode 2: "Hot Springs Custom" - TV-14S takt op.Destiny Episode 6: "Sunrise -Rooster-" - TV-14L Episode 7: "Truth -Noise-" - TV-14L And that finishes off my meatiest omnibus yet. Sorry about the lack of Girls' Last Tour again; I put it off because I realized my Roku (which I want to use for HIDIVE) doesn't support any audio output via my stereo system. At this point, I think I'll buy the Blu-ray and use that for making my screenshots, so as to avoid pain in numerous ways. Anyway: next time, I start rating Birdie Wing, and maybe return to Squid Girl and properly start my HD remakes of those images. [anya had stubby legs]

And here you thought Netflix was going to make a Yakuza series to ride Shenmue's coattails. Guess this works too. Also, it's a nice way to override that older Ito anthology series.

Touhou Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream Episode 2.5 [where's the title?] So anyway, two more episodes to go, but only one is subbed. And... wait a minute, hold the phone. I just got off of it with the CEO of anime, and she told me there's another Touhou series out there. And this one's made by the Chinese! They're not really people you should deal with (just ask Phil Mickelson), but I am privvy to watching just about every damn Touhou fanime ever made, so I'll take a bite out of this apple. The show is called Hifuu Club Acitivity Record ~ The Sealed Estoeric History, and it takes a decidedly different approach compared to other series by portraying the elaborate backstories of all the characters in Gensokyo, some of which is made up, but the main focus is on two nutjob humans from the outside world who tell us all about it. Sounds like fun, don't you think? So this is now schedule for after I finish this series. Yeah, I'm itching to get to Memories of Phantasm, but it's the longest of the various fanime by a big margin, and I want to go in it without any distractions, save newly subbed episodes of any series that come out.

I was under the impression DeMarco was already doing this. Probably the right move, although I haven't followed him for years. It would be funny if this is in advance of a rerun and/or the block getting cut down. I'm getting the impression that Toonami is doing better than it has in a couple years, and the newly-merged Warner Bros./Discovery wants to help the block grow. But hey, times are tough, and a full hour of Primal for a few weeks wouldn't be a bad thing... for me, anyways.

While I appreciate the good intentions here, I can't think of any reruns Toonami has that could air that would do nearly as well as Primal. And anything old they could go out and get would be too expensive to be worth it. As Sketch mentioned, you would be better off moving up one of the remaining shonens.

Ooh, this. I wondered if we were going to see a whole thread about it. I would've made it, but I figured I'd give it some time to see if anyone else felt a greater sense of doom. FWIW, at least one person who works for Warner Bros./Discovery has said it's bullshit. I'm expecting a similar message from DeMarco soon. I mean, yeah, this is plausible, but both networks seem profitable enough as they are and I don't think getting rid of them would be practical. Not to mention, Warners isn't even the sole owner of The CW.

Good Luck Girl! 11/12 Laid-Back Camp S2E2-E7 Spy×Family 7/8 Interviews with Monster Girls 2/3 The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls 13 Last Period: the journey to the end of the despair 1 takt op. Destiny 6 Megastack! Of course, there's one show in particular that stands out... and I ain't talking about the one with Shiori Izawa. The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Episode 13: "It's about time to become Cinderella girls!"

I don't know. Could be that people think there's value in rewatching it. Or there could be lots of folks like me who haven't seen it, and anything that Toonami touches should turn to gold, right? Also... Because it's good. I mean, this is objectively the best original Toonami has aired since the final season of Samurai Jack. Not to knock anything that came out in the interim, but if you look at the shows on a case-by-case basis: the FLCL sequels had promise but turned out to be either mediocre or unfitting for the franchise, ditto on the former point for Fena (at least it looked great), Blade Runner was part of a valuable franchise but might have been a strike against it (maybe people didn't want to learn the lore?) and it had downright desultory pacing, and for as fun as Shenmue was, being tied to an obscure video game franchise didn't do it any favors. If nothing else, Primal has a neat concept, is a rare example of adult-oriented animation that doesn't trade in crude humor, and has megaton talent behind it in the form of Genndy. But by all means, feel free to ignore all of that and say that you just don't know. We've done this dance several times before. 🤧

For me, the block's turning point was when Re:Zero came out, I totally expected them to get it, but then they not only shut that one out but isekai shows in general. Though we now know that KonoSuba! and Shield Hero were considered, I don't think that would've consoled my 2016 self. It was when I started to drift away from the block, thinking they either weren't interested in the new hotness or were prevented from getting it, neither of which were good signs. This is also I don't agree with the theories that Toonami's going to start getting new stuff from Sentai, particularly Dubcasts of things like The Executioner and Her Way of Life. Buddy, we've played this game a dozen times before at least, and it's never turned out well for us. Why should I think things are about to change? I am currently at peace with how Toonami is run, and the way the anime landscape currently is plays no small part in that. But also, I'm lucky enough to have never watched Primal and am currently soaking it in as a de facto Toonami original. Given how well it's rated, I bet a lot of people are following my lead.

Interesting you mention that, because not only do I not mind the reruns at the back, I think sometimes we could use more of them. If you look at the recent-ish Toonami originals, Blade Runner: Black Lotus never got a rerun (though it did get numerous marathons, which is more than you can say for a lot of shows), and neither did FLCL Alternative. The HD tapes of Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex only got one run, which is odd given that it was an [asa] warhorse for years, and one episode (S1E6) hasn't aired in HD due to a screw-up with the tapes that one time. Even IGPX could use another go, though I don't know what the situation is with those broadcast tapes. Didn't we want Discotek to make the block some new ones? Anime fans like wrestling. Simple as that.

I recently got a pretty bad chest cold that I think I got from someone else at the grocery store where I work. (In other words, I have an actual job now! Sweet.) At first I thought it was just allergies, but then I felt pretty weak and congested. I took a test and thankfully it wasn't COVID, even though I always suspected it wasn't, but the thought of spreading it to anyone else, especially my family (we all have at least two shots, but I'm the only one with a booster) was pretty sobering. I've since worn a mask all the time the last two days I've worked, which should be the baseline for anyone who's sick but actually wants to do stuff. Though I'd probably draw the line at doing anything if I actually had COVID. So yeah, good vibes to Steve and Keith. I think everybody's going through a lot right now, so a bit of awareness and corresponding empathy (in this case, consider the mask) is the key.

The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls U149 71.3-71.5 Delicious in Dungeon 3-7 The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls After20 13 Himegoto 1 (reread)

Well, I'm not sure if "original" should count, given that they've made an animated Peanuts show and are working on a movie about the Grateful Dead starring Jonah Hill. This series fits right in with those. As for "artsy", the 2008 film has become a huge cult classic. J.J. Abrams being involved is a downgrade, but if this show can be at least half as trippy as what the Wachowskis made, I would call that a win.

A rerun is the highest-rated show of the year so far? Who'da thunk it? In fact, that episode of Primal is the best anything on Toonami has done since a Fena premiere back in September. While the lineup could definitely be better, it's nice to see that Toonami is exceeding at least our expectations. One random idea I've had over the past few days is to come up with some sort of equation that grades Toonami's ratings on a curve. The numbers have been steadily dropping for a few years now, and we like to talk about how long it's been since a show last rated X amount of viewers. The days of anything getting a million are long behind us, and even 500K is a tall task nowadays, but if we could average things out based on the gradual decline of TV viewership, it could tell us what passes for a million nowadays, and whether the ever-lowering ratings are actually worth panicking about. Interesting post. Toonami already had something like a podcast years ago with Pre-Flight, which I watched for a while and enjoyed. I don't know how you would reinvent the wheel, but Jason and Gill finding some time to talk about the block and how great it is, with a focus on current and recently-aired shows, would be nice. And showing off fan art was something the block did back in its CN heyday; thanks to Caboose for this stray upload. As for the T-shirt thing: given that Toonami has been partners with Daylight Curfew for a while, I think it'd be cool to outsource merch designs. They could even give out free stuff to go along with it; the only Toonami apparel I own is a T-shirt I got from the 20th anniversary giveaway.

That video was published in 2007? Man... sometimes I forget that Touhou has been around this long. I subconsciously assume it didn't get really big until my heydey in the fandom began, which was back in 2014-15. It coincided with various games for the franchise, including the official ones, becoming legally available in America. Oh, and Suika showed up on Keith Olbermann's ESPN show. That's when you know you've made it. Okay, time for the next. Touhou Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream Episode 2: "Pre Established Harmony" The next episode in this series is 2.5, which is half the usual length. I could smoosh it and Episode 3 into a single post, but that's as far as the English subs for this series go. (Fortunately, there is an Episode 4, and it came out late last year.) I'd rather try to draw things out for your reading pleasure, and besides, these posts tend to be long enough as they are.