Jman

How's that working out in the ratings for them? Toonami does not have Takashi Miike money, or the money for big name franchise remakes. But that should make it all the more imperative that they spend their money wisely. Maybe this is just me being a Chicken Little again, but it really does feel like 2024 is going to be Toonami's make or break year. They either get access to something consistent, be it funds for originals, DC organizing a more direct content pipeline (which is questionable given Amazon has the new Batman cartoon, Caped Crusader), or they're deemed a money sink by Zaslav and sign off one more time. When Toonami died in 2007, it was both the end of the initial anime boom in the country and the beginning of CN's Dark Age on the back of the ill-fated CN Real experiment. So I'm not in a hurry to repeat those days, even if most people might be confused if you tell them Toonami is still on, since that's something their parents watched back in the day.

Boy isn't that the $250,000 question. And it's not like Sentai is devoid of good material. They have both the Uruesi Yatsura remake and Oshi no Ko. I just hope 2023 is the year we finally put FLCL to rest for good. No FLCL Death Metal, FLCL Reggaeton, FLCL Dubstep, or anything else.

So FLCL was the only option? You couldn't make an original premise tailor made for the block? It had to be a license, and that license had to be FLCL? Toonami's track record with originals is pretty miserable, big names (Blade Runner) or original concepts. But there had to be something if DeMarco wasn't so in love with FLCL. You could make a compelling original or two without needing to have a big license from yesteryear or hire freaking Takeshi Miike to direct it. But FLCL was not the way to go.

Ichi the Killer, 13 Assassins, Audition, and Hostel among others. He’s a very prolific director of live action films, with Onimusha being his first anime. The Onimusha series has always used deceased actors for their characters, and sometimes living ones, like when the third game co-starred Jean Reno (The Professional). It’s just a lot more talent and money than FLCL, which begs the question why keep doing FLCL when they could do literally anything else if they’re going the originals route?

I’m presuming it was cheaper this way, especially given the art style. Is now a bad time to mention that Netflix’s newest CG anime is directed by freaking Takashi Miike? And for added fun it stars Toshiro Mifune, despite him being dead for almost 30 years. (It’s his likeness).

Y’all thought Rocky IV was out there.

Big budget ones. Netflix is apparently funding them at both ends of the ocean. Hence my desire for trailers with that “real” music.

If live action anime adaptations do get more popular, I’m hoping more of them use “real” music. I know there’s a science to using music to set the mood for trailers, like how The Continental uses Earth, Wind and Fire because it’s a 70s period piece, but I want to see something normally with instrumentals or J-Pop set to Chaka Khan or some instantly identifiable hard rock.

Trailer.

New intro, Jerry is a Bloodsport reference…still no word on the actors.

So while Toonami is occasionally hoping for handouts from Warner and Max, their deal to license older HBO shows to Netflix seems to be paying dividends. Ballers (about The Rock as a former NFL player turned agent) Band of Brothers, and The Pacific are all tearing up the ratings. I mean to be fair, it is Band of Brothers, while one of the greatest miniseries of all time, something Toonami isn't about to air, but it feels like they're getting left out in the cold for the short term dollar.

Band of Brothers 1-3. This is still a triumph all these years later.

I think that 2023 was them getting used to the new normal. 2024 is if we find out whether or not it pays off or if DeMarco considers throwing in the towel after Netflix’s Devil May Cry and Steel Ball Run.

I think 2024 will be a make or break year for Toonami. The new reality has set in that Crunchyroll doesn't want to play with them anymore, they don't have the ability to cut deals the way Hulu does, and they damn sure don't have the cash Netflix does where they can just throw money at some random studio and get a Gamera show or a Fist of the North Star remake. So the ramshackle combination of DC stuff Gunn is trying to get rid of before the big epic reboot, low budget anime with either original concepts or exhausted IP, and the very few shows they still have on contract (and that's with the hope they don't lose them due to rising fees) has to work, because if it doesn't, you might as well shut down the block for good. This isn't "They're not airing the shows I want them to air". This is "We can't air anything because it's all on lockdown, and we have no money."

Just a reminder for everyone Vic literally did have his day in court...and was found liable.

They seemed to confirm it's a budget issue, which is consistent with DeMarco's reminders the block ain't got no damn money. Of course, then that begs the question - "Why did you waste your thimble of a budget on sequels to a franchise everyone agrees should have never had a sequel?!"

At least Shoegaze doesn’t look like it was rendered on an Xbox 360.

I’m pretty sure Netflix killed any hope of that when Netflix Bebop bombed.

I know Toonami has slim pickings, but the fact is, that picture I posted last week sums it up. They can’t capture lightning in a bottle twice and DeMarco trying over and over again is the definition of the sunk cost fallacy.

Salmon, cheddar biscuits, salad, and white wine.

This show has gone over so badly DeMarco had to debunk rumors it was written by some cringe writer in LA.

Watanabe wasn’t involved with Netflix Bebop and did an interview earlier this year where he flat out called it crap, saying he couldn’t stomach more than a few minutes of the first episode.

Yeah, that something seems to be the classic “leech off the popularity of others.” Which fair play, was definitely an option.

So Netflix One Piece got a renewal two weeks in, defying the odds for live action anime…and once again making me wonder what, if anything DeMarco will do with the anime airing on Toonami.

Legally they can’t till the strike is over. Once is it, that’s probably their first call.