Top Gun

Blu-ray can do a massive deal for pre-digital shows like Outlaw Star that were shot on physical film. In fact, that's where a proper restoration shines the most. It's the series from about 2000-2007 that Blu-ray doesn't help a huge amount, since they were all digitally painted in standard-def and thus can only be upscaled. Early digipaint shows from the early 2000s suffer the most here, since animation companies were still figuring out the digital process, and so most of those shows didn't look too spectacular to begin with. In any case, I've heard the HD masters used for the UK Blu-rays were utterly gorgeous.

TO BE A MAN YOU MUST HAVE HONOR

About goddamn time.

So in other words you were just being a dick?

I really wish more than ever that the ancient ASMB archives were still accessible, because I would absolutely love to dig up some of your past posts ("It's a ripoff of a bunch of things that do it better!") and rub your nose in them like a puppy that's messed on the rug.

I have a few specific game-related forums that I've been involved with for approaching 15 years now. Sadly my original Internets home vanished when GameSpy shut down its Planet Network of sites.

B-but failure!

I have a 144 Hz display, so I can see twice as many faps!

No companies "kept abandoning" it. The license was flat-out yanked from 4Kids because Toei wasn't satisfied with what they were doing with it, FUNi picked it up, and it's been happily making money for them ever since. Likewise for Viz, otherwise neither of them would bother to keep putting out so much content. Its initial removal from CN came at a time when the whole network was largely going to shit, so all you're really left with to hang your hat on is this lineup removal (after four straight years of broadcasting, lest we forget). Again, tell me what other series have seen over 500 episodes dubbed and released on DVD. Tell me what others series have 82 manga volumes released. Tell me what other series are second- or third-most-watched on streaming services. At this point you're just flat-out lying.

Yet again you demonstrate that you don't read a word of what's being said to you, and you're also admitting that the link served absolutely no purpose, so good job. Let's try this again, and this time I'll use smaller words: no one outside of moose-level delusionals thought that OP would be more popular than the likes of DBZ, even if we wished it were the case. But it is a basic fact that OP has had more success in the US than probably 95% of the titles that find their way over here. And I don't really give a shit if that fact gnaws at your soul or anything, but to pretend it's not the case just makes you a fool.

No, but we can all agree that as usual you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, and are only left to grasp at straws after your arguments are summarily shot down. "Less and less success" and "smaller and smaller audience"? Do stop peddling pure bullshit. Likewise, the link you provided offers no "proof" whatsoever, unless you're deluded enough to consider two or three people posting negatively about the show iron-clad proof of whatever point you're trying to make. Seriously, you've been making terrible arguments for years now. Give the shitposting a rest already and go do something constructive.

Thanks for those insightful posts Sketch[/member]. As much of a sucker-punch as it was, I agree with the sentiment that this was probably the best point for a long while to leave off. Going for another arc or two and cutting things there would have been absolutely brutal to first-time viewers. And yeah, let's put the asinine notion that OP "failed in the US" to bed once and for all. Failed licenses do not get get over 500 epsiodes (and counting) plus four movies (and counting) dubbed and released on home video. Failed licenses are not one of the top-three most popular legal streaming anime (to say nothing of illegal sites). Failed licenses don't get dozens (and counting) of volumes' worth of manga released. Failed licenses don't continue to see physical game releases for major consoles. Failed licenses don't return to cable against all odds and proceed to air an additional 200 episodes over 4 years. Failed licenses don't have goddamn Arby's reference them in tweets. Failed licenses...well, you get the idea. By any objective standard, One Piece is a bona fide success story in the US, even more so given the horrific circumstances it originally found itself in. So do let's consign any bullshit suggestions otherwise to the garbage heap where they belong.

Honestly I'd rather no one pick up OP than see it chopped up somewhere else. There's been enough of that for one lifetime already.

At least one thing is clear from tonight: the Toonami crew didn't get much notice on this. I sincerely doubt they would have bothered cutting a new lineup promo featuring OP if they knew it would be leaving in a few weeks. The DVR listing for tonight's episode was even subtitled with "Sabaody Archipelago" already.

That's...actually better than I would expect. I didn't immediately hate it, which is a big first step.

Samurai Jack returning after a decade is massively bigger in name recognition and potential draw than just about any anime series Toonami could pick up.

Well then stream it now and watch it again if it winds up on the block. I've never understood the argument that the existence of streaming precluded someone choosing to watch something in a different context via another medium, especially when you'd be getting a different language version of the series.

We did get four good years out of it, which is four more than anyone expected after OG Toonami made it through only half of Skypeia uncut a decade ago and then crapped out. Who knows, maybe [as] and FUNi can work out a cheaper deal at some point down the line when they have a bit more wiggle room.

Honestly at this point I'm more buying them to have them than anything else. I do have the vain hope that at some point I'll be working somewhere that I feel awake enough in the evenings to actually do stuff.

I'm current with the Japanese broadcasts too, but it was still fun getting to watch the dub and having it be part of the block. And yeah I own the DVDs through--I guess most of Marineford? lord knows--but I usually find it way easier to watch stuff when I have an external motivator like a weekly broadcast to prod me along. I'm pretty much drowning in a backlog of disks as-is.

I think they specifically picked up Yuri on Ice because it's a gargantuan hit that's guaranteed to make them money.

Jojo's "leaving soon" because its first season will be finished in a couple of months. Toonami may or may not pick up the second season, Stardust Crusaders, but even if they do I doubt they'll air it immediately after the first season wraps up. And none of us know if we'll be around in a few years ourselves, or hell, if anyone will be (Giant Meteor 2020!). Just watch what you like and enjoy the ride while it lasts.

The Davy Back Fight was actually canon...well half of it anyway. The manga had the first two games shown in the anime, then finished things with Luffy's boxing match with Foxy. The anime added in an additional Davy Back Fight and three additional games. Also, in the original manga the Straw Hats encountered Aokiji on Long Ring Long Land immediately after the Davy Back Fight ended, while the anime had a short filler arc and then another filler with Foxy reappearing before Aokiji showed up. Also, starting with Fishman Island would have only worked if FUNI would have been able and willing to start immediately dubbing those episodes, as the home video releases were a long ways back from there when OP started airing. This was before the concept of simuldubs took off, so it probably wasn't a valid option then.

Honestly I think OP was somewhat hamstrung right from the beginning with where Toonami chose to start the broadcast. No matter one's feelings on it as a fan, the Davy Back Fight is a terrible place to jump into the series as a first-time viewer. As goofy as OP's humor can be in general, Davy Back cranks it up to 11, and unlike most of the rest of the series there aren't any larger serious stakes in the background (unless you're 10 years old and treat "onoz Foxy will steal teh crew!!1" as a harbinger of doom). It was nothing more than an arc of Oda engaging in some random zaniness, and then Toei doubles down by stretching it out twice as long. Pretty much the only thing of lasting import to come out of it, besides providing Toei with a dumbass villain to shove in any filler they saw fit, was the crew meeting Aokiji, and with the way Toei arranged things it would have been fairly simple to just skip straight to that episode. You get the plot nugget that matters, and then things move right into Water 7/Enies Lobby, what many fans consider to be one of the series' all-time peaks. I think that would have had a better shot of grabbing more of those critical early viewers. Obviously the elephant in the room is that a show of OP's gargantuan length really needed more than one new episode per week. You'll never convince me that giving it at least a partial weekday slot at 1 or 2 in the morning couldn't have consistently outdrawn whatever tired comedy retreads [as] slaps down then, but no one can ever accuse the non-Toonami side of the network of showing any sort of programming initiative. So failing that, what's the other option? As crazy as it sounds, I can't help but wonder if starting from the very beginning wouldn't have been a viable choice. Like, if you're going to be hundreds of episodes behind regardless, and if a bunch of your potential audience is current with the weekly Japanese broadcasts, why not roll with it and double-down on what you have? Play up the fact that the first 150 episodes of the series have never aired uncensored in the US. I mean the promos would have written themselves: "It's One Piece, the way it was always meant to be seen, uncut in all its glory. Only Toonami." Maybe I'm just crazy, but I feel like that alone would have garnered some pretty substantial initial interest.

They've been cheap forever. Calm down.