Jman

Lazarus, Rooster Fighter, and presumably (if it's still in production) Get Jiro! are the three big tentpoles for the rapidly waning Toonami block this year. MAWS is there too, but I'm curious how Warner will treat it with Superman due in July. Maybe a fall release to catch the tail end of the movie hype? Besides that, we know acquisitions are few and far between and it looks like Creature Commandos is off limits. So it's up to those three, maybe four shows if Jiro comes out this year, to keep the block afloat.

There's been no real reporting on the ratings these past few weeks. So I go to the Max ratings for something to report. Honestly, in 2025, the linear ratings are probably going to be considered so secondary for the block given Warner going all in on Max (including migrating all their sports programming from TBS and TNT to Max simulcasts, even All Elite Wrestling) this ratings block is going to need some major consideration for how we address the ratings in the future. The Nielsen number is becoming less and less important for cable, although networks still rely heavily on them.

The animation looks good.

One last week of no Flop Girl while Creature Commandos holds at #3 on the Max top 10. Show is COOKED.

Welp, that came, sucked, and went. Next time they make a pro wrestling cartoon, make the main characters best friend/rival a Seth Rollins parody or something. Or if you’re keeping it focused on AEW due to corporate synergy, a Chris Jericho parody. It worked for Kinnikuman having Terry Funk as a friend/rival. 2/10, please tell Western animators there are more anime to copy than DBZ and Naruto.

This was the culture that decided the best way to have an orchestral finale was to bring in cannons. My one boy from back in the day was Russian, but his family fled the Communists. It really is a shame how a few jerks make everyone look bad.

I know the Saudis are paying for sports to whitewash their questionable decisions as a government. But I doubt anyone else brings the cash to have Fury/Usyk fight, let alone twice.

Remember, it’s not about making their lives better, they gave up on that. It’s the catharsis from making others lives worse.

You would think at the very least Warner would want Creature Commandos if only to promote a certain film that they want as a summer tentpole. To me it’s pretty clear that the cable lineup is far down their list of priorities, and we may see significant movement to divest from them this year. It is over, the Flop Girl is the proof of it, and DeMarco is trying to convince people Lazarus won’t be like every other flop he’s produced. Even Viz seems happy to have Bleach on Hulu.

Mashle 2-5.

Die Hard 9.5/10 - Perfect setup for an action movie that kicks more ass around Christmas.

Air fryer duck and rice with mushrooms and green peppers, cooked in duck fat.

This morning Netflix announced it was going to get the FIFA women’s World Cup exclusive rights. This is on top of Monday Night Raw and NFL. Warner has moved all its sports content to Max without needing any sort of cable subscription. ESPN is launching an independent streaming service that doesn’t require a cable subscription. We are in the twilight of cable and Toonami’s anemic state, coupled with even the Adult Swim originals relying more heavily on Max viewership than linear numbers, is proof of that.

Daima Dub is a Crunchyroll Exclusive. Flop Girl reruns in pole position. No Creature Commandos even though it is doing numbers on Max. Toonami presents Mashle and one big old lump of coal.

As nice as it would be, and it would help with the Superman hype, I think Warner would see it as giving away Max content, when Max is their biggest delivery system and priority. I mean I’d take it over the Flop Girl 10 times out of 10, but they’re probably not seeing it as actually putting something on that will do ratings and get some interest, they probably see it as giving away premium content for less.

#1 on Max off the boost from the Superman trailer. Good episode too.

No one has to migrate to those hours anymore. Even nowadays the big measure of success for Adult Swim originals is their Max viewers. It’s why you could tell MAWS and Ninja Kamui were doing well but comparatively IFG is bombing. We are in the twilight of linear cable. And this is just an example of those shifting audiences.

When the shows are available on demand everywhere else a Friday afternoon block was not going to do great. Meanwhile Eternal did surprisingly well on Netflix so it’s clear Dumpling Head is blame free.

July 2025.

They didn’t buy it outright. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-12-19/sony-becomes-largest-shareholder-in-kadokawa-in-january/.219255 They bought 10% of the stock. Enough to influence the company and provide it liquidity to avoid a takeover (and as per Kadokawa executives, influence a shake up of upper management) but they don’t own it completely.

That too. But when local governments are doing it (Unions negotiated with NYC for a hybrid schedule after Mayor Pigshit demanding a full time return to office) the weight of pissed off landlords was clear.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/t-dumping-hybrid-follows-amazon-105632045.html I fully believe this has NOTHING to do with efficiency and a lot to do with pressure from real estate/local government, and company culture wanting a sense of control.