What would you say if I followed all your instructions (or at least all but the Puri-Puri Prisoner one) for the first episode, but made the second actually good?
Like Gungrave, only more Tumblr-friendly.
Watching the Wednesday night replay right now. Apparently Jack's hallucinations treat time travel in a linear fashion a la Inuyasha. Considering all the time portals he came across in the first series, I wouldn't be surprised if they all did.
Also the mother of the daughters of Aku gives Ragyo Kiryuuin a run for her money in the "worst mother" department.
The Nice Guys. 9/10. The movie definitely delivered on the trailers, that's for sure. Main complaints were how dumb Gosling's character was at times, and how annoying Amelia was when she actually got some decent screentime.
All three posts, all well said.
I personally think it was a mix of your two reasons: Toei wanted more money for One Piece episodes broadcast here, but the ratings weren't good enough to convince [as] that it was a worthwhile deal.