Blatch

Finally. My faith in this block has been restored. 😊 The January 8 schedule is LOL, but what are you gonna do? At least Naruto, which has been neglected and shunted to the back for far too long, finally gets to air multiple premieres. They should've been doing this earlier. Either way, really looking forward to this rapid influx of premieres.

That's a neat idea, but I think the lack of an announcement has to do with the fact that they can't get this new show, assuming there is another one coming. Even if they manage to ink the contract literally hours before this week's block starts, I imagine they'll put out a flash announcement, or maybe have TOM and SARA announce the new show at the top. I'm just beyond belief at how close they're cutting this. If nothing else, they should at least schedule Blade Runner and AssClass and have the rest of the night be taken up by a "To Be Announced" block.

This must be a record for the shortest amount of time before an official schedule announcement. Looks like they're banking on people coming out for AssClass S2 and watching, or at least tolerating, everything coming on after. I mean, I've never been invested in wrestling myself and probably never will be, but there is an overlap. A lot of the anime fans I've followed on Twitter over the years have been into wrestling too. It probably helps that Japan has a very long and storied history of the profession themselves. [bushimo]

Cowboy Bebop 15-18 (17/18 were rewatches) My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X 10-12 and OVA The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 8 Hackadoll the Animation 1/2 takt op. Destiny 2 Hackadoll #2 was the last episode of 2021. I was initially surprised it wasn't legally streaming, but then I remembered seeing an announcement saying it was taken off Crunchyroll. I just don't know when. Either way, I guess it's not surprising as the namesake website doesn't exist anymore. Also, cool that it ended with a sort-of iM@S pastiche, complete with tape on the office windows. Oh, and takt op. started off 2022. Hope to get the CG writeup done in a day or two, followed by another content ratings post by the end of the week. If you're wondering about the HameFura OVA, it's basically a glorified clip show, with all of Catarina's suitors as kids talking about how great she is. I think there is some new animation in it here and there, but you can probably skip it unless you're one of the diehards. I mean, I went into the episode not knowing what is was, but I still ended up liking it. Helped that it was really cute, even if having a lot of the footage be from early in S1 didn't mesh well with S2's opening and ending. [smell your modem!]

The last show announcement during Toonami I'm aware of was Samurai Champloo, way back in December 2014 2015 (as opposed to the way, way back of 2012). However, they also announced Attack on Titan S2 in the first commercial break of the Rick and Morty April Fools' stunt. Either way, it's great to see.

Oh yeah! Feels good to call my shot on this one. I never got around to finishing S1, and I've since deleted the episodes off the DVR, but I guess I can catch up on Funi's streaming service if I really want to.

We're probably not going to know what next week's schedule is by the end of tonight's Toonami, but either way, I'm hoping we get some sort of on-air announcement. If they have a new show, just tell us what it is with a promo. They haven't done that in years.

Remember when DeMarco said Toonami was useful to [as] because all the shows they could get were cheaper than any in-house production? Nowadays, if seemingly everything is too expensive for them, what's the point? This actually isn't a bad schedule, but I would alter it. I doubt Netflix's contract allows for it, but I'd be down for a full rerun of JoJo's. I'd just swap it and Primal, or maybe Lupin if that show is new. Sentai does have the rights to Part 6 and is giving it a dub, so fingers crossed that it might show soon. What about Girl's High? Anime fandom is in the market for a show dealing with female hygeine that isn't written by a pedo. [content rating remakes coming soon-ish]

Good thing people like us who are vocal about the block don't affect the ratings. It's all about those Nielsen diaries, baby. 😏 Personally, I'll wait however long it takes, since I've got important things to do around here. But if anyone else is so disgruntled that they stop watching the block altogether at least temporarily, I can't blame them.

My patience is also gone. I mean, I'm only interested in Blade Runner right now, and at least that's going to air week to week. But I wouldn't mind having something else to watch week to week, since I have the itch to get in the rhythm of the discussion around here and elsewhere. What is their problem if they seemingly can't get anything new? I'm amazed they've managed to fuck up this badly. Why not just to go Funimation, begging them for a good catalog title, then put that on along with reruns? BTW, some of the other questions DeMarco answered weren't very promising either. He said they've yet to get the next season of YashaHime, which I was hoping was baked into the contract just for a tiny bit of stability. And there was another admission they might not get Demon Slayer S2, but at least I don't care about that one.

Oh boy... another long layoff. I told Poke I'd try to get this out no later than Boxing Day, but given that he had a post scheduled for then on top of my usual anxious tardiness, I figured there'd be a short delay. So if your Christmas tree is still up, here's one more ratings omnibus to slide under it. Nichijou Episode 14: TV-PGLV Episode 15: TV-PGDV Episode 16: TV-PGSV Episode 17: TV-PG Episode 18: TV-PGV Episode 19: TV-PGDV takt op.Destiny Episode 1: "Concerto -Creed-" - TV-PGV The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 7: "I wonder where I find the light I shine…" - TV-G (review post here) Good Luck Girl! Round 2: "This, Indeed, Has the 'The Battle Between God and Girl Now Begins' Feel to It" - TV-14DS Round 3: "Taking Orders from You Kinda Ticks Me Off!!!" "What Do You Mean, Kinda?!!" - TV-14DS If you haven't already noticed, no Wonder Egg this time. It's on more of a break than a hiatus. Frankly, I feel like I've gotten little out of this show other than "Wow, these girls are cute!", while all the subtext and symbolism and what not about how society grinds promising young women into dust gets thrown by the wayside, at least until I look up the weekly ANN reviews. But if my choice for a recent show ended up influencing one of Poke's, then I guess I'm doing something right. I may do a rewatch of the first half, but, either way... *knocks on wood* it'll resurface sometime soon. In regards to Poke about My Dress-Up Darling: I'm pretty sure this show doesn't have Wakana, the male MC, crossdress. He's merely helping out Marin live out her cosplay fantasies. Interestingly, having looked at the trailer (and an ANN review for the manga), the show will be featuring a character who wants to crossdress... but she's female, so that fits the WEP-esque angle a little more. Either way, unless you've decided to not watch it because of that (😛), I look forward to seeing your clips. Coming up next time: we kick off what might just be the Year of Maaya Uchida, takt op. fills out its backstory with the Boston Massa... I mean, Boston Tragedy, Ichiko comes across an adorable puppy and adopts it in what I'm totally sure isn't some sort of gambit by Momiji to take her happiness energy (and maybe other stuff, since I tend to watch multiple episodes of shows without images), who the hell knows what Nichijou has left in store, and I get around to rewatching an anime comedy that may have sorta predicted the rise of VTubers. Will this be a thing in 2022 and beyond? I hope so. Did I unconsciously crib it from reading old posts on this forum, namely Poke's rundowns of each week's Toonami lineup? Yes. Maybe he'll be inspired by it in return. [bullet hell will eat you all]

Okay, guess I'll tag in. Cowboy Bebop 8-14 (rewatch) My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X 3-9 Nichijou 19 I got my annual rewatch of Akira done this year, this time using the 2001 version. R.I.P. that guy who designed the logo. And I started a rewatch of Sweet Punishment, which... well, it's still hentai, but I'm actually enjoying it this time. I was so hung up over the fact that it had little actual bondage when I first saw it.

You know, when the live-action Bebop got cancelled, I was wondering if Netflix would decide their rights to the anime were worthless and give it back to [as]. I certainly didn't expect it to happen this soon! Good for [as]. I bet they'll be airing a promo where TOM acts all smug about getting it back... back to where it truly belongs. Otherwise, this is nothing out of the ordinary. Though if the fact that they're airing two marathons of the same show in one month ain't a sign that they've got nothing, I don't know what is. They could've at least scheduled another Fena marathon, or maybe more DC movies. Now all eyes are on January 8, where we're going to be hoping against hope that they finally have something cool and new to air. If they manage to stall yet again, that's probably going to be the moment where most fans of the block start to lose their patience, which is the thing CountFrylock thinks is already happening.

Guess I'll do a double post. Bokura no Mahou Shounen 1 (reread)-3 The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls After20 Vol. 1 (first two chapters are rereads) The Quintessential Quintuplets 35-41 Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyu-bu 63-69 So many stories, so little time. But I don't have to recap all of them. The first title is a crossdressing series I read the first chapter of back in 2018, and I didn't even track my manga back then. I thought it was too weird to appreciate, with an art style that that feels more like a western series, especially in regards to the petty villains, as well as the fact that... well, the main characters are pre-teens. Oh, and there's a lot of swearing, and I'm not sure if the underaged protags spouting much of it makes it better or worse. Just the thought of reading it again made me feel like I was going to be put on a list. But I felt obligated to, partially because the person translated it (whom specializes in this type of story) abruptly disappeared earlier this year. And they translated the Himegoto manga, which I consider my introduction to deep weeb shit. So it goes once more. But yeah, getting back to Mahou Shounen, I like it. It's a little skeevy, mostly in Ch. 2 w/ Kaito's magical girl outfit turning into various fetish-ish get-ups (ending with a revealing and furry catgirl outfit), but better than I was expecting. It's going to be interesting to see where the plot goes, as the third chapter featured a falling out between Kaito and Makoto that I didn't get much enjoyment out of. At least they got back together again by the end. If the mangaka always wanted to use that plot, I guess it's good they got it out of the way early. And then there's A20, which is about adult idols and food. That's basically it. Disappointed the guy I follow on Twitter who does lettering for hentai dropped this one after the two chapters I reread, even if I can't blame him. It was just nice seeing his splattery style applied to an all-ages series. Coming up next: more Quints, plus the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier. Without realizing it, I continue to pledge my allegiance to Kodansha Comics. [whatever you do, take care of your shoes]

LOL. Get fucked. I'm almost never swayed by current pop culture trends, but this remake did get me to rewatch the original series on Funi's streaming service, save for two episodes I never got to see on Toonami. I bet that's the only thing it was good for for a lot of people.

I mean, I get that, but what I want to know is why they never picked out any other comedies. The way the Toonami crew explained it, PPTP was going to mark a grand new era of airing whatever types of animation they thought were good. But once it finished, they went back to the same old action anime. At this point, I'd be open to something like Date-A-Live airing, if only for variety.

As joking as it may be, this reminds me of something I've wanted to bring up for a while: whatever happened to Toonami airing non-action anime? It seems like they aired Pop Team Epic, then either completely forgot about the plan or intentionally abandoned it. Were DeMarco and company just talking out of their asses back then?

If they're going to lead with Black Lotus on New Year's Day, I hope that they make a big deal out of it. At first, I was afraid that they might not have enough money for something new even after the new year, since the yearly budget doesn't reset on January 1. But given that they had shows lined up they weren't able to get, I assume that kerfuffle didn't take up any money. Either way, we'll see.

Showtime! Uta no Onee-san Datte Shitai 8 The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 7 Cowboy Bebop 1-7 (rewatch) Good Luck Girl! 3 My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X 1/2 Well, that was fun. And by "fun", I mean that while I did like it, it was the first ComicFesta show I've seen (out of three) that managed to be genuinely titilating, made even better by a few particular acts in the final episode. I suppose I could critique the actual plot, as I had a few reservations with it (most notably, the Songstress... doesn't really sing in this show), but given that this is porn and I'm sure most people know what they're getting, that would be a foolish enterprise. Happy it's getting another season. The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 7: "I wonder where I find the light I shine…" [a hormone collector]

So they went with a Matrix Resurrections tie-in as opposed to moar DC movies. Not bad. Maybe they're saving the latter for either Christmas or New Year's, with the other night being a marathon. Other than that, not much to complain about. These schedules pack all the fun of a lowball poker hand, but at least we're still getting premieres.

If it came to that, they'd probably rerun Fena again, or choose another fresh show.

Yeah, DeMarco said they were prevented from doing that by [as] because it would make the movie run too long. Pretty disappointing. I ended up deleting my DVR recording as I realized there was no real reason to put on a censored version with none of the Toonami flavor over the version on HBO Max... although they're currently caught in a controversy involving a censored version of Birds of Prey, so who knows about that, really. I did get to watch Black Out 2022, and I liked it. Interesting that Sentai did a dub of this, because I wasn't aware that it had one until now. And the Black dude who plays Nyanta in the Log Horizon dub voices the main character? Sweet. Also, in a nice coincidence, I just saw a tweet today featuring a screencap from Bebop that talked about a loss of all data from before 2022? Since this is a Watanabe joint, I have to assume that's an intentional reference. 🙂

It's outside of Toonami, so I have no reason to complain. But really, I like this move. It helps that the show is probably going to turn out better than Fena did.

Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyu-bu 35-62 The Quintessential Quintuplets 31-34 Inuyama Tamaki Channel! The Story of Our Secret! 3 Fairy Tail 5-10

They'll probably be reaching into DC's bag of tricks and airing at least one more superhero movie for the year. I'm not expecting anything else, unless someone was able to give them a really good deal on an anime movie (as in, basically free). And we'll probably get the obligatory Christmas marathon. Having thought about it, it's not that I'm disappointed in the fact that they're stalling. The budget must be completely empty and Toonami doesn't want to go a few weeks with the only premieres being Blade Runner, Yashahime and Shippuden, Especially when the middle is almost out of episodes and they wouldn't have anything left to continue that. It's just that if they're going to go a whole month with non-standard schedules and they can't spend anything to spiffy them up, they could at least be more creative. Why not do marathons of shows that are both free and haven't aired in a long time, like the FLCL sequels? I'd be down with that, regardless of if I'd actually watch them.