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Sigh… it’s dead

Okay after this episode this whole squabble in the town feels more worth bothering with but there’s just 3 episodes left now and they’re gonna have to do a lot in those to feel like this season wasn’t just a prologue. But this felt more like wrestling than any prior fight so that’s a step in the right direction. Bernie Hulking out definitely feels like some Broly / Kaulifa memberberries though.

I am hearing good things as well. So that’s something.

No unique intro for Rewind about the schedule change. Be on the look out for a new block promo or a total lack of Rewind promos.

I can completely believe that. Anyway, I took a look at how well Family Guy does on Comedy Central. It has reruns in the 200k range, some higher but not reaching 300k. It will probably do better on AS but even 300k seems unlikely. Big Bang Theory on TBS see’s less than 300k these days but still tops the rerun chart.

I do wonder how much this can lift Adult Swim’s 200k average. When it left the loss AS had was pretty similar to the boost FXX got but it will still be on FXX and Comedy Central which will surely diminish its impact even if people still prefer to watch it on AS. At the very least, airing it 10-11:30 and shifting American Dad and Bob’s Burgers earlier should improve the prime time average while Family Guy lifts 11:30-1 and probably late late night with the encore. But the question is, how much? It could surprise us by how greatly or minimally the total day average increases.

Toei will Toei but it does seem rather likely Toonami is part of the reason for the wait.

I would certainly prefer they not run more FOX shows 5-7pm but if they can do it the only thing that would stop them is a desire to keep CKP and/or Toonami Rewind around but ad dollars speak louder and they know Hank and Bob will do better in those hours than old CN shows, Sailor Moon, DBZ and Naruto. Rewind costs some money so it's more likely to leave than CKP especially when it looks like Sailor Moon might be the only life blood and getting other shows for the block will be a pain and also cost more money. Even if they can get Sailor Moon R, then what? Keep the same shows going once a week to diminishing returns? It doesn't seem very sustainable and if they just want to keep airing Sailor Moon they can do so on Saturday. But the oops all Kai schedule for December certainly feels more like they're winding down the Rewind. CKP to its credit is doing some neat things for the holidays though that could also be it's last gasp before going off the air. The Family Guy 3 day marathon runs from 7pm-5am, of course they're still airing something at 5am, probably Bob's Burgers and whose to say they aren't also airing Bob's Burgers before 7pm those days along with King of the Hill? They just can't air Family Guy before 7pm due to content restrictions. There is a plausible way CKP and Rewind retain some necessity and that's if AS got the 4pm hour soon and with Family Guy back its entirely possible they will do it in 2025. Then Toonami can be back in it's original time slot of 4pm-6pm maybe but the last thing I want to see if for CN to lose another hour to Adult Swim.

Eh… if they value Daima as much as they valued Super then 11:30 isn’t entirely off the table but that’s only if it’s required by Toei or (much less likely) they actually have 5-6 other premieres airing at the same time as Daima. But yeah it’s probably only going to happen if Toei insists on it. If Toonami has Daima then they probably will announce it soon. Friday seems likely. And if they aren’t starting it till Jan 11th then they will announce a marathon for Jan 4th (probably Fight Girl but they could certainly f around and run a DBZ Kai marathon or something). Really wondering if CR will upload the first 3 episodes of Daima on Jan 10th, just 2 eps or only the first one. And maybe just maybe Toonami will air more than 1 ep the first night. It’s already a long first episode but they could maybe show the first two as an event premiere. It’s wishful thinking I know.

Jan 4th on Toonami isn’t improbable yet but Jan 11th seems much more likely unless CR gets the dub exclusively for a bit.

Welp Family Guy is back in January airing 10-11:30 and unless they lost King of the Hill or Bob’s Burgers that means they can easily fill 5pm-10pm with 3 episodes of American Dad, 3 episodes of Bob’s Burgers and 4 episodes of King of the Hill before Planet Namek even explodes so you might be right about them only getting 50-52 eps of DBZ Kai Guy.

I’m not surprised. Once Disney let CC have it non-exclusively it was a very real possibility for AS to get it back. I think we know why Rewind is plowing through Goku vs Freeza and just dropped Naruto outright. The experimental phase is over. Bow down to the Disney owned overlords as AS 5-11:30 becomes FXX Mini 5-7pm King of the Hill x 4 7-8:30 Bob’s Burgers x 3 8:30-10 American Dad x 3 10-11:30 Family Guy x 3

That seemed like pretty significant moment and all I could think was "you couldn't have done something more dynamic with the posing or the camera position?" The trailers have shown off some pretty nice stuff but that scene ain't it.

Pretty sure they have 98 episodes of DBZ Kai and that's one reason why they kept it doubled up for a few months and are now doing 4 episodes a week. Logically the original schedule could have lasted about a year if it stayed as it was. 46 episodes of Sailor Moon, 98 episodes of DBZ Kai and 52 episodes of Naruto. I can't imagine they only bought 50 or 52 because that doesn't quite finish Freeza but they wouldn't have gotten precisely the amount to finish Freeza either so it was probably the original 98 episodes of Kai and they haven't reacquired the Buu saga yet. I'm not entirely ruling out they only got 50 or 52 but theoretically they planned on bringing back Kai even before Rewind was in the cards and were aiming to use it as 2 years of filler on Saturday Toonami since Naruto Shippuden was ending. Unlike Sailor Moon and Naruto, they're just using the tapes they already had and it's a deal with Toei not Viz so I think they just talked to Toei and got the okay to use those 98 tapes again for a modest fee. I guess we'll see what happens in January. Naruto has 13 episodes left in that batch of 52 (not too mention the episodes that were skipped). But between skipping episodes and the sudden removal with episodes remaining it looks like they might be cutting their losses with it. I'm not exactly crying over it but it's more than a little baffling to me considering Naruto ruled Hulu for years. Yet with DBZ Kai and Sailor Moon drum up interest still, Naruto doesn't seem to be doing it. I have always felt it was the odd man out due to the other two being significantly older looking and more associated with Toonami. I do recall some flack directed at them for including Naruto instead of another "classic" Toonami show but I didn't think that discourse would actually amount to people not rewatching such a beloved and iconic series. There's a good chance Sailor Moon will return early next year but it's a bit ambitious to expect a new deal to be made before the 2nd or 3rd week of January. Maybe they'll at least do some reruns starting in January. I don't know what would be worse at this point, for the DBZ Kai x 4 block to do better than Rewind has thus far or for it do badly and ultimately shelve Rewind faster. My minimal hope is they resume a regular line-up airing the remaining Naruto episodes (but even if they do that, they'll have left the viewers hanging for over a month so good luck getting them to come back), reruns of Sailor Moon (starting around where Jupiter is introduced or at least once Mercury is introduced) and whatever episodes of DBZ Kai they have to show. Then they get Sailor Moon R and swap out Naruto for something else if they're done with it. Gonna really suck if Naruto stops at episode 52 AGAIN (like in 2013 and 2014) though better than if it stops at 39 in the middle of the chunin prelims. Man... back in June Rewind seemed bursting in potential while Checkered Past was squandering what it had. Now it seems like the opposite at least to an extent. Though we'll never know how much better Rewind might have done airing daily as opposed to once a week.

I totally called Bertie being their daughter before the squad realized Ruff and Tumble were married. Entertainment value wise eps 5 and 6 were alright but they are seriously dragging their feet with only 4 episodes left and they decided to make this conflict a 2 parter? Not the most economical use of the time they have left. Seems like Andy will only have time for one small tournament after she finishes training. Ruff and Tumble actually seemed to be wrestling in that fight against Poblana but then she busts out the DBZ shiz on them. And they called her out on it too (kinda like Mr. Satan in the Cell games). So is the show acknowledging it's not really doing wrestling? Was the reception of Poblana's unorthadox techniques the reason she wants nothing to do with wrestling now? What's the message even gonna be in the end?

That’s impressive. I need to go pick up my copy reserved at the local comic shop soon.

Speaking of typical cable scheduling… Kai x 4 continues on Dec 20th It will be eps 40-43, if eps 44-47 air on Dec 27th then they’ll reach Super Saiyan Goku Gotta wonder how long Kai x 4 will last at this rate. My guess would be until the end of the Freeza battle a few weeks into January. They really just dropped Naruto mid chunin exam prelims for 3+ weeks. That’s pretty bogus.

Good point, they can just have Fate fill the hour every week. That’s a bit boring to do but that’s typical cable TV scheduling.

Naruto and Ichigo can continue to suck it. One Piece won the long game against both and Dragon Ball remains undefeated.

I’m just going to enjoy old video games and old anime, mostly whatever I already own a copy of because obviously I don’t trust those things to remain conveniently available if they even are currently.

Gotta wonder what else besides Fate UBW that the new block will show. Some weeks Fate would fill the entire thing but they can pair it with something most weeks. If it's pulling from Aniplex titles maybe Erased or Madoka if they're going for a moody block or Magi if they want to air it with another fantasy. Perhaps Irregular at Magic High School, Darwin's Game, or the Asterisk War? It would be much less interesting to show something that's already aired on Adult Swim but SAO, FMAB and Gurren Lagann are easy marks. Maybe even the dub premiere of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai? If they can actually get something from the Crunchyroll side of Sony... that would be a pretty sizable F-U to Toonami. I don't expect they can afford that but who could say? Speaking of those hour episodes. The first two episodes are both about 50 mins long. That might be a tough pill to swallow for their viewers. We might be looking at a block death speed run record given that. Can it even get to the first normal length episode in the 3rd week? Best of luck with that.

So Toonami will show a preview of the series this weekend. What a tease... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC207bmM9UN/?igsh=ZThveGh5eHFtNnNl

Uh... perhaps it is the US channel. If so then their anime.com block hasn't launched yet. The website hasn't fully launched yet either. Makes me wonder what else they're showing in their Anime Hour and how long it can even last given Chiller's block was gone in like 3 weeks.

Probably should have been an MMA show. I think Mucha Lucha better repped wrestling. But that aside, I’m still enjoying the journey despite this being the weakest episode yet. Lots of needless squabbles. Mikey braking the vase dramatically was pretty funny though. I was wondering how an earnest guy like him and a scammer could effectively work together but of course Craig just uses Mikey as a threat to get what they need.

Sure gonna confuse the few people who were watching it but if you had to skip 1 ep it isn’t the worst one to miss.