Blatch

Okay, now we're off to the races. It's time to finally enter Abyss, passing through the zeroth layer that Riko had been exploring as part of her training, and heading down into the unknown fraught depths below. Who knows what awaits Riko and Reg on their journey? At least they now have each other, as I believe the good theme song says. After finishing off Black Lotus and getting accustomed to Shenmue, make sure to stick around for lots of great animated content on Toonami, such as this show, which is now back at 1:30. Blame the high brass at Toonami for their forced micromanagement. [blasphemy against the hooooooly spirit]

So much for not having an [as]/CR original lead off the block. They've made a lot of little schedule changes like this, shuffling around shows by one slot, and I find it annoying. But I doubt they're affecting the ratings much. Other than that, yay AoT. Exactly what most of us expected. Also, guess they have to redo the "shanty" promo for OP. Surprised Al didn't mention that.

They didn't seem to have any problems dubbing the last batch of episodes, and that was still during the pandemic. Plus, announcing shows with less than a week before their premiere is the new normal for Toonami. It's not a big deal. After that, the schedule should be completely locked in for two months, and I hope that tempers the dooming a bit.

If you're acknowledging you're the weird one, maybe you could be slightly less vocal about it? It feels like almost all the discussion in here the last few weeks, maybe even last couple of months, has stemmed from you and your fears for Toonami's future. I only respond because I have nothing better to do, and I don't have any good ideas for topics either. 😑

Ah yes, the dark days of when the block was almost wall-to-wall shonen. I don't miss it, even if I sometimes pine to return to our last normal year.

The problem with the idea that Toonami should start chasing obscure series is that people have been saying this for years. I don't know if this is falling on deaf ears or the fandom just isn't being vocal enough, but you'd think management would've caught on by now. As it stands, the block is doing much better than a few months ago, even if Made in Abyss is about it as far as older, non-shonen series are concerned, and I'm okay with that. Too bad their Crunchyroll originals haven't inspired confidence so far. Maybe if they continue to fail, that'll be what causes them start appealing to obscurity?

With two episodes to go, the best thing I can say about Blade Runner is that it hasn't actively insulted my intelligence... which, bizarrely, is also the worst thing I can say about it. Say what you will about Fena, but that show was memorable for all the wrong reasons. It's fascinating to look at from a trainwreck standpoint, from how thoroughly it squandered all that potential to its WTF ending. This one, on the other hand, is merely decent, and it hasn't resulted in much of a change in ratings.

Interesting that DeMarco singled out the packaging being affected by budget crunches. It feels like this has been the case for a while; seemingly every show gets new bumps when it premieres/airs a new season, and never again. I was really frustrated when AssClass S1 never got a refresh, even when other shows did. Then it happened again with Gridman, and seemingly every other show since. 😟 On the other hand, I'm negative at all about the fact that they'll have to air older stuff. Made in Abyss shows that the block can still pull out a winner every so often. If there was ever going to be a "prove it" moment for DeMarco and company to try and bring the balance of the block back to where it was in 2014-16 (and thus make it more palatable to fans like me), it's right now.

We now know that Riko sort of owes her life to the Abyss. And on top of that, the last episode ended on hell of a twist: her mother is seemingly still out there, or rather, down there. At this point, it seems inevitable that she'll begin her journey toward the bottom in an attempt to find Lyza as well as figure out Reg's origins.

Fena turned out a wet fart, and Black Lotus hasn't been inspiring confidence either (though I would at least say the latter's better). I can totally see Toonami's management getting cold feet and deciding they couldn't lead off with Shenmue. For one, it doesn't have the name recognition of their current world premiere. By the way, I've been updating my spreadsheet of all Toonami ratings plus lists of goodies, etc., and when I made the schedule grid for the start of this year, I found out that it looks really cool: So satisfying to watch the schedule take shape. My only nitpick is that shifting Made in Abyss to 1:00 for two episodes looks awkward. I wish they could've kept the AssClass double shot for two more weeks, just for consistency's sake, but I wouldn't be surprised if the contract didn't allow for it. Alternatively, they could've started MiA at 1:00 and kept up the Shippuden triple shot for a week, so the shift wouldn't be as jarring.

Now that we've gotten a cursory introduction to the bustling town of Orth and the gigantic pit that it surrounds, it's time to learn a little more about the Abyss, and exactly what is demanded of those who seek its treasures. Tellingly, Riko's only allowed to go down so far. And just what is up with Reg, anyway? He must be a particularly powerful relic of the Abyss, maybe even unique. Tune in at 1:00A for some good old-fashioned adventure, right before the return of One Piece.

Yup. Reminds me of Hunter × Hunter. On top of that, One Piece is rated Y7FV, which also applies to this week's episodes... at least until they're fixed.

Still nothing? Not even more chapters of One Piece? The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls After20 9-12 Witch Hat Atelier 1-6 Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyu-bu 70-84 The Quintessential Quintuplets 42-48 Bokura wa Mahou Shonen 4-6

Good Luck Girl! 4 My Dress-Up Darling 1 Cowboy Bebop 19-21 (rewatch) Back to lethargy. And I still haven't finished my next CG review. 😕

Something to chew on. I didn't know the backdoor schedule still existed.

I figured as much that the changing TV landscape allowed for this. Also, it's always nice to get the rights to a show straight from the JP side, especially given how stormy the waters of English licensing have been lately. Fairy Tail would be... interesting. I've read the manga, and while it's objectively okay, it feels like an assault to my senses. Seemingly every other line has three or four exclamation points attatched, and there are lots of wild takes. It's like someone turned on the radio in my brain and put a megaphone next to it. I understand that this might be the series' growing pains, but it's made me put the series on hold for now. Does the anime handle it any better? Either way, it's another long runner, and (to repeat my previous post) Toonami could use an anchor in the middle of this storm. [boyoyoyo]

Looks like a big batch of interesting. I've never played Shenmue, even though I recognize the Dreamcast as the mother of all cult game consoles. I've owned a rare Sega Sports model for years. Got it hooked up to a VGA box and everything, but I rarely touch it nowadays. Schedule speculation: very interesting that this is airing at 12:30 despite being Blade Runner's replacement (actually, the premiere should air right after Blade Runner's finale). Are they banking on having the final stretch of AoT airing at midnight by then?

Woah nelly! I was actually thinking this might happen, but after Toonami picked up a sequel season plus a brand new show, it seemed they were focusing on shorter shows, so it didn't come to mind for me. Picking things back up at the timeskip seems like the best way to do this, but my pipe dream idea was that they'd go even further and start airing episodes as recent as Funi has dubbed. I think they're on Dressrosa right now. It's a testament to how things are right now in a pandemic-addled world that Toonami is bringing back a show they've had to drop multiple times dating back to the CN era. And hey, whatever helps to smooth out the schedule after the absolute chaos of the past few months. I feel like we're at the nexus of possibilities right now. Who knows what wild new show they'll grab next? For what it's worth, DeMarco says to maybe expect another announcement next week.

If nothing else, they have new shows in timeslots that the viewers will turn out to, regardless of what the final schedule ends up being. And properly editing things so it's not one long episode of AD isn't that big a deal. Personally, I'm expecting another announcement today. If not... well, they can always stall.

It is time once again. Prepare your asses for a show that has a little something extra, in multiple aspects. From the looks of it, even the content ratings will be overshot.

From pedo-adjacent to actual pedo? Sign me up! 🥴 Okay, yeah, this show is a problematic fave, but it is one of the best shows to air in the last... five years? God, that's about when my interest in Toonami started to fade away. I'm so happy they're airing it, and I look forward to tuning in even though I never finished my last rewatch.

Just throwing up an announcement for a new Toonami show is almost unprecedented. I was hoping for another one of those while watching Black Lotus yesterday, but I'm not bad it didn't happen, and I maybe don't blame the crew for not wanting to do it back-to-back weeks.

I have Xfinity, and my guide showed the proper schedule shortly before the block started.

I had a feeling that Sentai was going to be bought by somebody sooner or later. I'm just happy it's not by an entertainment megacorp. And yeah, IFC airing anime again would be pretty neat, although I'm not sure how many people would be able to see it since they're usually on a more expensive cable tier. It helps that they're one of the very few TV networks that airs everything uncut.