The Toonami Ratings Thread 1.0 :You are on a new board

[Blatch]

Well, I hate to say it, but Naruto: Shippuden can't leave Toonami after Pain ends if it performs like this. The show has a fandom, and I don't know where they are, but they're crazy enough to exist and get up at 2:00A to watch their show and not Lupin, which must count for something.

 

Now... bring on the emergency replacement show. It's not gonna be Re:ZERO or The Ancient Magus Bride, but by all means please make sure it isn't more than a year old, and not necessarily good.

[Daos]

Yup Naruto somehow does well, makes no sense to move it anywhere but up in the lineup. I'm still never gonna watch it though.

 

Ha they wish they could get Re Zero. In Demarco's wet dreams. (if he's even heard of it)

 

IBO S2 to replace TG means that that spot will have been occupied with a ratings turkey for roughly an entire year. That's painful.

 

Super's 71 percent retention from family guy is embarrassing and warrants cancellation. Did TOEI give you their first born children to keep airing this crap or what?

 

Jojo continues to have horrible retention.

 

Lupin gets beat by all 3 shows that air after it.

 

TIME TO HIT THAT PANIC BUTTON FELLAS!

 

 

[The1gairon]

We had the boxing match, so I expected low ratings compared to last week.

[PokeNirvash]

 

 

MFW that thumbnail.

 

[brianycpht]

Well, I hate to say it, but Naruto: Shippuden can't leave Toonami after Pain ends if it performs like this. The show has a fandom, and I don't know where they are, but they're crazy enough to exist and get up at 2:00A to watch their show and not Lupin, which must count for something.

 

Now... bring on the emergency replacement show. It's not gonna be Re:ZERO or The Ancient Magus Bride, but by all means please make sure it isn't more than a year old, and not necessarily good.

 

I think it can stay for now, but if they get Boruto later down the line they may end up parting ways with it. The thing is, for those who've seen it, Pain is a natural stopping point (even if some things are left unresolved), but if they keep going, I think it would be cruel to yank it because after we get out of the next filler arc, it's full steam ahead to the end of the series. Bottom line, if the show is doing well, then it deserves to stay and possibly move up.

 

Re:Zero can and should happen when it gets dubbed. I hope the crew is keeping an eye on it so they can pick it up when that happens.

[brianycpht]

Yup Naruto somehow does well, makes no sense to move it anywhere but up in the lineup. I'm still never gonna watch it though.

 

Ha they wish they could get Re Zero. In Demarco's wet dreams. (if he's even heard of it)

 

IBO S2 to replace TG means that that spot will have been occupied with a ratings turkey for roughly an entire year. That's painful.

 

Super's 71 percent retention from family guy is embarrassing and warrants cancellation. Did TOEI give you their first born children to keep airing this crap or what?

 

Jojo continues to have horrible retention.

 

Lupin gets beat by all 3 shows that air after it.

 

TIME TO HIT THAT PANIC BUTTON FELLAS!

 

We'll have a slot for a new show in January after Lupin, but IBO is going to lock up that slot until April and Jojo until NEXT August. Kai should end in July

 

This Super BS needs to stop. Just let them premere the show in Toonami already. Kids know how a DVR works and they'll still watch it there.

[CaptainStarwind]

 

Wow, these ratings...could be better.  At this point, Toonami has to do something.  Super losing 300k from Family Guy can't be completely attributed to the fight, especially since it didn't start at 11, from what I've seen.  It also can't be completely attributed to the hurricane in Texas, so that means it's entirely due to the show itself.  Super possibly losing it's topicals may be a sign that Adult Swim is losing faith in the show.  If that's the case, it's time to move it back.  If Toei won't allow it, then they should get rid of the show.  It's better than being stuck under Toei's thumb, that's for sure.

 

I agree with everything Blatch has said.  Looking at all that's happened since the beginning of 2017, I can't just say that Adult Swim making stupid scheduling decisions is to blame; the Toonami crew has to be responsible for some of it.  Changes need to be made there, lest 2018, if not sooner, turn out to be another slashing of the block.  Here are my suggestions:

 

1. Return of fan input.  One of the cool things about Toonami when it was first revived was that fans really did, in a way, have a say about what was going on with the block.  Sure, it may not have been a major say, but it was a say, and it definitely helped them to make show choices and gauge what people wanted to see.  This kind of thing has really dried up the last couple of years, and especially after DeMarco got rid of his ask.fm.  Any fan input Toonami has been getting seems to either be getting ignored, or is coming from a smaller base of fans.  Blatch is entirely correct when he says Toonami needs to do another Manipulate the Manual event: they should make a promo for it, and give it lots of airtime, during both Toonami proper, and during regular Adult Swim hours.  It shouldn't be too hard, with the possible loss of the Super topicals.  Don't ask people for specific shows, but ask them what kinds of things they wanna see: comedic action or serious action?  Dark and gritty, or bright and cartoony?  Realistic, or more fantastical.  Have people respond in some way other than social media: it can be as simple as going to Toonami's website, typing out what you want to see, and submitting it that way.  That's a better way than gauging fan interest from the few people who still follow the Tumblr.  And getting to that...

 

2. End the Tumblr.  It was good for Toonami to have a Tumblr at first, especially since they always answered fan questions and made show announcements there.  But ever since they stopped doing Q&A sessions on Tumblr, all it's become is a place to post random gifs of shows that may have been on Toonami on one point.  They have somebody manning that page, posting gifs there, for the 30-40 people that actually check the Tumblr.  A waste of resources, if you ask me.  Why not move that staff member to something more productive, like a Toonami Twitter account?  I did a quick search and it looks like there is an official Toonami Twitter...only they used it for reposting Tumblr gifs and haven't updated it in a year and a half.  I guess it ties back in with my point above, but having a Twitter for people to ask Toonami questions, even if all the questions don't get answered, is a far better use of time and money than posting gifs. 

 

3. More promotion.  Toonami has never really been any good at promoting their shows.  At first, they didn't want to even give promotion for a show before it premiered: "You have to watch the block to see what shows are on!"  That was annoying.  I can still remember how mad DeMarco was at a schedule site for spoiling Soul Eater's premiere.  Then, we moved to promos the week before a show premieres.  Okay, not perfect, but something.  Now, we get confirmation of shows a while out, then a complete lack of promotion until the week before, then the show premieres.  That's completely unacceptable.  You need to build hype for show premieres nowadays; waiting until the week before a show premieres isn't going to work out anymore.  The Season 5 premiere of Samurai Jack had the best hype I've seen for anything Toonami related since the whole #BringBackToonami days of 2012.  Sure, we got that teaser in 2015, but once the show was confirmed, we got had teasers airing throughout Adult Swim and Toonami.  We got not one, not two, but three promos, each of them airing all throughout the week for over a month.  The hype behind Samurai Jack was huge, and it paid off: the first run of the show was an success in ratings.  While the return of Samurai Jack definitely played a large part in that, I doubt the ratings would have been as good if the show wasn't as hyped as it was.

 

4. Do something different.  This is the way Toonami picks up shows right now: an anime gets really popular ----> Toonami waits until show gets exported to US ---> Toonami waits until show is in their price range ---> Toonami picks up show ---> Toonami acts shocked when show isn't a mega hit.  Now, this isn't the case for every show on Toonami, but this is definitely something that happens.  We live in an age where you can find pretty much any anime you want online, subbed or dubbed, for free.  Even if you don't stream illegally or pirate shows, it's still cheap enough to get a subscription to a streaming service and watch there.  And with Netflix and other services gobbling up rights to shows, Toonami can't compete by airing shows that were once really popular.  One suggestion that has been thrown around, and one that I really like, is that Toonami should make a deal with Funimation to put some of their simuldub premieres on the block.  This is, of course, a lot more risky than going with a series known to be popular, and it definitely has the potential to fail.  It's a risk, however, that I think Toonami should take.  It has the potential to net them some great ratings, especially if it's a simuldub.

 

I think another suggestion for Toonami would be to dip into some more obscure series.  One of the things I really did like about the early years of Toonami was that, because they had a limited budget, they had to pick up some series that they would have otherwise overlooked.  Some of them did well, others... not so much.  But despite that, it brought show diversity to the block, it helped keep things a little different.  Toonami still does this a bit (Lupin III is a good example), but I think they should look into doing it more.  Now I obviously don't suggest running shows like this at the top of the block, but I think Toonami could attract some more dedicated viewers to stay into the later hours of the block by airing the series there.

 

Toonami could also pick up some of their older/Cartoon Network Toonami shows.  This would also be something that would definitely be for the later hours of the block, and it isn't something I would suggest doing all the time.  But it would be nice to see a classic Toonami show come back on every once and a while.

 

Those are my suggestions on how to help the block overall.

[brianycpht]

How do you KNOW that?!

 

 

I literally have PI Twitter alerts on my phone just so I can see the Saturday Nationals right when they come in. Highlight of my day

 

[Ginguy]

If it were up to me I'd go with something like this:

 

11 PM NEW EMERGENCY ACQUISITION SHOW TO BE ANNOUNCED AT DRAGON*CON

11:30 DBZ KFC

12 AM Dragon Ball Super

12:30 Hunter x Hunter

1 AM Tokyo Ghoul - Soon to be replaced with Gundam IBO S2

1:30 Shippuden

2 AM Outlaw Star

2:30 Jojo Bedsoiling Accident

3 AM Attack On Titan on 9/9, replaced with Lupin on 9/16

 

The fact that DBS is not a premiere at 11 is bad enough, but to lose out so shortly after to JJBA really sets back the block as a whole.

It is painfully obvious that JJBA is the dick in the mashed potatoes here, so time to handle business.

 

If I could gt a replacement for DBS, I would go for FT, since they don't seem to want more adult themed programs like Psycho pass. I doubt they have the money for anything really new.

 

[brianycpht]

 

Wow, these ratings...could be better.  At this point, Toonami has to do something.  Super losing 300k from Family Guy can't be completely attributed to the fight, especially since it didn't start at 11, from what I've seen.  It also can't be completely attributed to the hurricane in Texas, so that means it's entirely due to the show itself.  Super possibly losing it's topicals may be a sign that Adult Swim is losing faith in the show.  If that's the case, it's time to move it back.  If Toei won't allow it, then they should get rid of the show.  It's better than being stuck under Toei's thumb, that's for sure.

 

I

 

I think their wasn't a topical this week because of the marathon. A new one should air this week. 

 

Super is what happens when you take the premeire away from Toonami and drive your largest audience away from the block. Someone at FUNimation should move on TOEI to get this situation under control. You let a distruibutor call the shots who only care about how THEIR show does and this is what you get.

 

 

[brianycpht]

 

I'm gonna assume that 387K for Samurai Jack is a typo, because if not, the ratings shares (tenths and hundredths) just don't match up. Either way, it doesn't affect Toonami's average of 345K. That mind-boggling decline of almost 180K for DBS correlates with the fact that Jason alluded to it possibly losing topicals on Pre-Flight this week. Hopefully, another, BIGGER show is coming in to take its place that will get topicals instead so it can move down to 11:30, and JoJo would also drop to 1:30 AM. If I could "shuffle the deck", here's what I'd go with on 9/9:

 

 

Oh he sad it might lose topicals, don't know what to make of that. If they are waiting until DC to announce something, then this is the same problem as Jojo. This whole thing of keeping people in the dark until the last minute needs to stop. The fact that we still don't have the schedule for 9/9 is absurd.

 

Haven't watched preflight since it stopped really being about Toonami.

[Daos]

You can play with the schedule, move things around, have DBS premiere on Toonami, add better shows to the back of the block....... but it doesn't change the fact that currently, your flagship show.... sucks. Not just ratings wise but in terms of quality. Animation and plotwise.

 

As long as Toonami keeps telling people that Super is it's best show, it's going to fail. You don't even need to cancel it just move it down.

 

 

[PokeNirvash]

I think another suggestion for ...would have otherwise overlooked.  Some of them did well, others... not so much.  But despite that, it brought show diversity to the block, it helped keep things a little different.

 

Agreed so much. As much as I love JoJo and enjoyed One Punch Man, I feel like the Toonami shows I was most excited for were the less obvious pickups. Deadman Wonderland, Casshern Sins, Samurai 7, IGPX (bonus points for getting around the tax write-off obstacle), Michiko & Hatchin, Dimension W, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, and even Tenchi Muyo! GXP (yeah, I said it), I enjoyed primarily because of how low-key they were in regards to their popularity. Even fairly popular shows that weren't super-huge like Blue Exorcist, Akame ga KILL!, and Parasyte got some decent hype out of me. Obscure shows are what Toonami needs to keep themselves super-interesting. Just... nothing "Chiller Ani-Wednesdays" obscure.

 

(Though watching Is This a Zombie? with you guys would be a blast, if only to see Ben sperg out at "being forced" to watch something he doesn't even want to remember. )

 

The rest of your post was good, too, and proof that you're one of my favorite posters here, Cap.

[CaptainStarwind]

Agreed so much. As much as I love JoJo and enjoyed One Punch Man, I feel like the Toonami shows I was most excited for were the less obvious pickups. Deadman Wonderland, Casshern Sins, Samurai 7, IGPX (bonus points for getting around the tax write-off obstacle), Michiko & Hatchin, Dimension W, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, and even Tenchi Muyo! GXP (yeah, I said it), I enjoyed primarily because of how low-key they were in regards to their popularity. Even fairly popular shows that weren't super-huge like Blue Exorcist, Akame ga KILL!, and Parasyte got some decent hype out of me. Obscure shows are what Toonami needs to keep themselves super-interesting. Just... nothing "Chiller Ani-Wednesdays" obscure.

 

(Though watching Is This a Zombie? with you guys would be a blast, if only to see Ben sperg out at "being forced" to watch something he doesn't even want to remember. )

 

The rest of your post was good, too, and proof that you're one of my favorite posters here, Cap.

 

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed when Toonami would pick up the more obscure stuff!  Maybe Toonami's lack of lower key shows is why it hasn't felt the same to me for the past year or so.

 

And thank you for the compliment    I've been in a really depressed mood the past week or so and even something as simple as that makes me feel happier.

[brianycpht]

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed when Toonami would pick up the more obscure stuff!  Maybe Toonami's lack of lower key shows is why it hasn't felt the same to me for the past year or so.

 

And thank you for the compliment    I've been in a really depressed mood the past week or so and even something as simple as that makes me feel happier.

 

You are 100% dead on. Its time for Toonami to make hits out of the unknown again. It won't always work, but its better than these shows that are late to the party so to speak.

 

Start raiding the simuldub closet guys! There are some great shows out there that Toonami could actually help get wider exposure.

[Daos]

You are 100% dead on. Its time for Toonami to make hits out of the unknown again. It won't always work, but its better than these shows that are late to the party so to speak.

 

Start raiding the simuldub closet guys! There are some great shows out there that Toonami could actually help get wider exposure.

 

They've made one good decision in recent memory. One Punch Man. I can't think of anything else they've aired that has even had the potential to do well.

 

Other than that they're just relying on Tumblr to tell them what to air. And actually, maybe OPM was requested on Tumblr as well.

[brianycpht]

They've made one good decision in recent memory. One Punch Man. I can't think of anything else they've aired that has even had the potential to do well.

 

Other than that they're just relying on Tumblr to tell them what to air. And actually, maybe OPM was requested on Tumblr as well.

 

People were asking for Jojo and Ghoul in 2015. They may have done better then. Once the hype dies down don't pick something up just because it's on the request backlog.

[MasqueradeOverture]

I've always wanted them to pick up Ergo Proxy for shits and giggles.

 

Obviously the ratings for that would be like -12, but fuck it.

[Daos]

People were asking for Jojo and Ghoul in 2015. They may have done better then. Once the hype dies down don't pick something up just because it's on the request backlog.

 

Eh maybe... but I doubt it. Jojo is just too niche and hard to follow for a normal TV viewer. TG is just a mess. I think they have trouble telling between whats popular in Japan (Prince of Tennis has 178 episodes AND a sequel series) and what's going to be popular in the US.

[Misaka]

Wait did lupin lose to a filler?

That that's pathetic

[Daos]

Wait did lupin lose to a filler?

That that's pathetic

 

You know what else Lupin lost to? Every show on Toonami.

[The1gairon]

Eh maybe... but I doubt it. Jojo is just too niche and hard to follow for a normal TV viewer. TG is just a mess. I think they have trouble telling between whats popular in Japan (Prince of Tennis has 178 episodes AND a sequel series) and what's going to be popular in the US.

 

To be fair, there's no telling WHAT will be the most popular in the US.  Especially when "popular in Japan" =/= "good quality storytelling".

[Daos]

Just put Highschool DxD on. I'll show you some ratings! And boobs.

[Jman]

Just put Highschool DxD on. I'll show you some ratings! And boobs.

 

Toonami has never shown stuff just for boobs.

 

Although when they do because it's a secondary feature, ratings are like Akame.

[Misaka]

You know what else Lupin lost to? Every show on Toonami.

 

Time to remove it

[PokeNirvash]

Toonami has never shown stuff just for boobs.

 

Although when they do because it's a secondary feature, ratings are like Akame.

From what I've seen of the first season (and heard of the second), DxD does have a decent amount of action and plot to act as appeal beyond fanservice. (Bonus points for featuring a weaponized arm awfully reminiscent of the Shell Bullet.) That could be enough for it to get picked up, in the parallel universe where CN's squeaky-clean standards don't extend into [as] and/or Demarco isn't afraid of fanservice beyond the gratuitous teenage underboob of KLK.

[Jman]

It's not that DeMarco is averse to boobies, at least not how Kim Manning was rumored to be, it's just not supposed to be the main draw.

 

Which is funny because all the boob-heavy stuff usually gets the most ratings.

[Ginguy]

FT and Cross Ange will save Toonami....

[Daos]

Nothing to do with the ratings but still funny. Guess who went on hiatus again?????

 

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2017/08/30-1/hunter-x-hunter-manga-set-to-begin-another-hiatus

[Blatch]

You'd better hope he's back within the year so we can spare all the complaining. And regardless, I hope his mind's in a better place than... well, anyone working on Toonami right now. Especially DeMarco.

[brianycpht]

So we're getting Bebop at 3:00 am and Toonami is expanding to 4. That's what they were hiding

[Ginguy]

Where did you see that, or is it a troll? >

[brianycpht]

Where did you see that, or is it a troll? >

 

https://m.facebook.com/Toonami/

 

It's real

[Jman]

So we're getting Bebop at 3:00 am and Toonami is expanding to 4. That's what they were hiding

 

Yeah, that will reverse the tide.  LOLBEBOPAIRZ.

[Daos]

What, no Hiatus comment from Jman?!!

 

Block doing horribly... Demarco's like .... TIME TO EXPAND THE BLOCK FELLAS!

 

This Bebop thing adds to my theory that they blew all their money on the Super deal and literally can't afford anything new.

[brianycpht]

What, no Hiatus comment from Jman?!!

 

Block doing horribly... Demarco's like .... TIME TO EXPAND THE BLOCK FELLAS!

 

This Bebop thing adds to my theory that they blew all their money on the Super deal and literally can't afford anything new.

 

That's great... the Super deal that gives the distributor all the power and kneecaps Toonami's ratings every week. Money well spent

 

I think we are heading back to the all night thing again. Big O will probably replace Titan and then in the fall the block will shift back to 11:30 or midnight and it'll go into 5

 

This is also keeping with the "classics" thing AS is doing on the other nights if the week

[The1gairon]

So we're getting Bebop at 3:00 am and Toonami is expanding to 4. That's what they were hiding

 

Uuuuuuuhhhhhh oooooooooooo kaaaaaaaay.....

[brianycpht]

Uuuuuuuhhhhhh oooooooooooo kaaaaaaaay.....

 

Yeah I don't see why that has to be so hush hush. It's just dragging out something they have in their library. No more different than a classic AS show popping up on the grids.

 

I guess.. the power of an announcement

[Blatch]

Wha... oh, come on now. They seriously waited until 10 days out of the new schedule to announce Bebop!? Was there any reason why they couldn't do it earlier? If not, it's just horrible management by the Toonami staff. I was genuinely concerned about this.

 

Now, if they have taken the lower numbers into account and are expanding yet again, I guess things are all right. We should probably cool it with how Dragon Ball Super is killing Toonami for at least a little while. It's not a step up from our predecessors whining about how the original block was killed by Naruto filler.

[The1gairon]

On the other hand, it'd be great to see HD Bebop on the Toonami block again, and it was unceremoniously cut after only 5 episodes.

[Daos]

Go easy on Super? NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

Plus, they weren't able to get MHA due to being out bid by Netflix so I assume they had to pay far out the ass to get Super and make that ridiculous deal where they show it a bunch of times AND have it lead the block.

[CaptainStarwind]

Yeah, that will reverse the tide.  LOLBEBOPAIRZ.

 

Better than wasting money on HD tapes for a show that will never air.  I mean, you can argue that they shouldn't have spent money on it in the first place, but they did, so might as well make the best of the situation.

[brianycpht]

Wha... oh, come on now. They seriously waited until 10 days out of the new schedule to announce Bebop!? Was there any reason why they couldn't do it earlier? If not, it's just horrible management by the Toonami staff. I was genuinely concerned about this.

 

Now, if they have taken the lower numbers into account and are expanding yet again, I guess things are all right. We should probably cool it with how Dragon Ball Super is killing Toonami for at least a little while. It's not a step up from our predecessors whining about how the original block was killed by Naruto filler.

 

I know right ? Why the smoke and mirrors for this?

 

Something has to be happening with the Titan thing. They just announced an expansion so SOMETHINGS gotta happen with that. If Titan is skipping to the end, then we should get some other classic at 3:30 the next week. It can't be anything new in that timeslot obviously

[Blatch]

Better than wasting money on HD tapes for a show that will never air.  I mean, you can argue that they shouldn't have spent money on it in the first place, but they did, so might as well make the best of the situation.

 

I'm just happy nobody's gonna complain about it being run into the ground again.

 

Outlaw Star and Bebop... now we've got a power hour of anime space westerns. Maybe after AoT S2 ends, we can get Trigun on to complete the trilogy?

[brianycpht]

Go easy on Super? NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

Plus, they weren't able to get MHA due to being out bid by Netflix so I assume they had to pay far out the ass to get Super and make that ridiculous deal where they show it a bunch of times AND have it lead the block.

 

I wonder how many kids avenues TOEI shopped it around to before settling for AS.

 

They still believe in the power of a TV deal so I doubt streaming was ever a consideration for them

[OwlChemist81]

I'm just happy nobody's gonna complain about it being run into the ground again.

 

Outlaw Star and Bebop... now we've got a power hour of anime space westerns. Maybe after AoT S2 ends, we can get Trigun on to complete the trilogy?

 

Considering FUNimation has Trigun, I'd say there's actually a pretty good chance of that!

[brianycpht]

Considering FUNimation has Trigun, I'd say there's actually a pretty good chance of that!

 

Is it HD? That would officially make Trigun a Toonami show

[The1gairon]

I know right ? Why the smoke and mirrors for this?

 

Something has to be happening with the Titan thing. They just announced an expansion so SOMETHINGS gotta happen with that. If Titan is skipping to the end, then we should get some other classic at 3:30 the next week. It can't be anything new in that timeslot obviously

 

Yeah I'm glad they're only 1.5 hours below the time span the block used to have before it was cut in half.

 

But something also tells me this is just preparation for when CN gains another hour of broadcast time, and then the block will return to being 4 hours long.

[The1gairon]

... Hey!  You know, Funimation just released the brand new dub of D-Grayman Season 3!  Maybe Toonami can get that!

[OwlChemist81]

Is it HD? That would officially make Trigun a Toonami show

 

Looks like "middle-D," like Shippuden was until just recently.