SAO: Alternative Not On Toonami Because Of .... Shootings?

[The1gairon]

Toonamifaithful.com has a very interesting bit of news regarding the announcement that SAO: Alternative will be making its dub debut on Hulu and Netflix instead of Toonami.

http://toonamifaithful.com/some-speculation-on-gun-gale-online/

ADR Director Alex Von David, no stranger to communicating to the Toonami fans, had his own... very WEIRD reason for why this could be.

Now of course this is a distant spin-off that isn't required viewing to appreciate (or heckle) the main storyline, but still a lot of question are raised just from this announcement.  Why does Alex Von David consider the content of this show to be harmful to Americans when the first part of SAO Season 2 took place chiefly inside a first-person shooter where heroes, villains, and extras all shot guns??  What made that instance different? This isn't anywhere near the same level of mature content than in, say, Tokyo Ghoul, or Lupin III, or Michiko and Hatchin.  Surely mass shootings were going on in this country even then right? Maybe he's just posting bullshit and making up a reason, unless, from his tone, this may be a decision Toonami made just this month, and he knows something the fans do not. But if that's true, why is mass shootings the one thing that goes over the tipping point for what's acceptable?  So sex, violence, language, gore, drugs, smoking, mental illness, criminal organizations, and child endangerment are fair game, but shootings are bad for Toonami now?

Edited November 18, 2018 by elfie

[korosu]

[Jman]

Funny enough, Alternative is considered the one genuinely good thing to come out of SAO.

Figures.

[Top Gun]

Yeah that's complete bullshit.

[Sketch]

It’s probably not that. More likely Toonami wasn’t interested in the side-story right now and Aniplex wasn’t gonna let that delay them.

If it was this or Megalo then I’d say they made the right call.

[The1gairon]

4 hours ago, Sketch said:

It’s probably not that. More likely Toonami wasn’t interested in the side-story right now and Aniplex wasn’t gonna let that delay them.

If it was this or Megalo then I’d say they made the right call.

See that reason sounds a lot more logical.

[PokeNirvash]

Alex von David confirmed for not knowing jack shit about Toonami's viewing audience.

[PurgatoryGirl]

Plain and simple, it's a political year and almost everything on Adult Swim's Toonami block is political. It's really a matter of what does and doesn't fit their political agenda at the time.

The media has been going on about "gun violence," since the mid-90's. Now, it's ALL the media and social media wants to keep going on about. That, along with "Russian hacking."

[Sketch]

13 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Alex von David confirmed for not knowing jack shit about Toonami's viewing audience.

What makes you say that?

[PokeNirvash]

I dunno, his assumption that people who watch an action anime block late at night would be deterred from shows featuring gun violence in the age of mass shootings?

Though I'd agree with you in that it's a blatant lie meant to hide the fact that Demarco's waiting 'til Alicization to rekindle the flames of Toonami's relationship with Aniplex.

[The1gairon]

6 hours ago, Sketch said:

What makes you say that?

Not his fault. Really NO ONE but the Toonami crew knows about the Toonami crew. Sure they can act transparent to fans, but they never tell us everything.

[OwlChemist81]

http://toonamifaithful.com/some-speculation-on-gun-gale-online/

My thoughts on why and how relations between Toonami and Aniplex apparently soured back in 2015? Probably has something to do with the fact that KILL la KILL was first scheduled to air at 11:30 PM but by the time it was ready to air, Toonami was losing that timeslot and it ended up at 12:30 instead. Now it seems ended up doing better ratings-wise at 12:30 than it would have leading off the block at 11:30, but perhaps Aniplex wanted to have their hot new show lead off the block and they didn't get that.

Toonami later tried to heal the apparent breach by granting SAO II the 1 AM timeslot, even pushing fan favorite Shippuden down to 2 AM (Remember before SAO II aired that timeslot was occupied by Gurren Lagann, and 100% of the original SAO aired at 2 AM), but by then it was too late, and Aniplex was looking elsewhere to do business. And, that's also why the 2nd half of the show (episodes 12-24) aired at 1:30 instead. At least, that's my theory.

Now whether they're able to somehow heal that rift in time to snag the dub of SAO III: Alicization remains to be seen. Toonami may really have to give up some prime real estate to get it. I'd say a 10 PM premiere for it is not out of the question if it is coming next year, which would of course shuffle the block around thus:

9 PM DBZ Kai
9:30 MHA Season 3 (yeah, we'll be there by then)
10 PM SAO III: Alicization
10:30 Dragon Ball Super
11 PM Boruto
11:30 Naruto Shippuden
12 AM Mob Psycho 100 Season 2?
AAAAAAnnnd I'm not even gonna speculate on the 2nd half of the block.

Edited November 19, 2018 by OwlChemist81

[The1gairon]

Man, who would cut ties with Toonami solely because, for reasons beyond their control, they couldn't air your precious darling anime first to kick off the block?? Petty much?

[Sketch]

9 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

I dunno, his assumption that people who watch an action anime block late at night would be deterred from shows featuring gun violence in the age of mass shootings?

Though I'd agree with you in that it's a blatant lie meant to hide the fact that Demarco's waiting 'til Alicization to rekindle the flames of Toonami's relationship with Aniplex.

Alex wasn’t saying anything about the viewers. Rather that the staff might not want to air the show due to the school shootings frequently occurring this past year. AS did originally skip episodes of Bebop around 9/11. I know that was over 15 years ago but it set a precedent.

[Daos]

Next thing you know they're gonna say no to Goblin rape. These people make me sick!

But seriously that would be quite lame if they decided to stop getting shows for Toonami based on current events.

Hey those fires in CA killed a bunch of people, I'd better not see any anime with fire in it.

 

[korosu]

...

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by korosu

[Jman]

13 minutes ago, Daos said:

Next thing you know they're gonna say no to Goblin rape. These people make me sick!

But seriously that would be quite lame if they decided to stop getting shows for Toonami based on current events.

Hey those fires in CA killed a bunch of people, I'd better not see any anime with fire in it.

 

That one Manga about the firefighters from the Soul Eater guy is getting an anime.

[OwlChemist81]

1 hour ago, korosu said:

...

 

Well, guess that sunk my theory! And of course, this makes me believe they'll go after SAO 3!

[OwlChemist81]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

That one Manga about the firefighters from the Soul Eater guy is getting an anime.

That might actually be a responsible show for Toonami to air!!

[The1gairon]

1 hour ago, Daos said:

Next thing you know they're gonna say no to Goblin rape. These people make me sick!

But seriously that would be quite lame if they decided to stop getting shows for Toonami based on current events.

Hey those fires in CA killed a bunch of people, I'd better not see any anime with fire in it.

 

Goblins have had to deal with oppression in this country for centuries!!

Oh no! People are getting offended that trans Goblins are trying to go to the wrong public bathroom! Better not air any anime that has bathrooms in them!

Edited November 20, 2018 by elfie

[The1gairon]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

That one Manga about the firefighters from the Soul Eater guy is getting an anime.

AND I LOVE THAT.

TRIGGER is producing their first movie, PROMARE, which is about firefighters, and will release the same year.

Edited November 20, 2018 by elfie

[Sketch]

3 hours ago, korosu said:

...

 

I forgot about that statement.

[ben0119]

On 11/18/2018 at 6:47 PM, PurgatoryGirl said:

Plain and simple, it's a political year and almost everything on Adult Swim's Toonami block is political. It's really a matter of what does and doesn't fit their political agenda at the time.

The media has been going on about "gun violence," since the mid-90's. Now, it's ALL the media and social media wants to keep going on about. That, along with "Russian hacking."

Well, Demarco is a known leftist.  I wonder if he's been going into convulsions because his God Kanye is a Trump supporter! 

[ben0119]

21 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

I dunno, his assumption that people who watch an action anime block late at night would be deterred from shows featuring gun violence in the age of mass shootings?

Though I'd agree with you in that it's a blatant lie meant to hide the fact that Demarco's waiting 'til Alicization to rekindle the flames of Toonami's relationship with Aniplex.

If they don't get Alicization... I don't what I might do.  It's already bad enough that Demarco got every shonen under the sun, including rerunning Kai, which wasn't new to TV when it got to Toonami in the first place, and Hiatus (but at least Black Clover is good and a brilliant parody of the shonen genre, ) and yet still passed over Fairy Tail at every opportunity and at one point said he had never even watched it.  In my utter FOOLISHNESS over the years I saved the show for Toonami in the hopes of watching it with everyone here, and now I am paying the price in that I've still got 50-something plus episodes to watch to catch up the current Japanese run of the final season and at least watch SOME PART OF THE SHOW current with other people.  And I haven't been able to get to the next arc yet because of my myriad other hobbies getting in the way, not the least of which is a full DVR, not to mention the constant bullshit that won't stop happening to me and my family lately.  It's the last time I'll ever depend on ASA, Toonami, and especially Demarco to deliver the quality anime I want in a timely fashion.  Demarco -

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by ben0119

[ben0119]

On 11/18/2018 at 1:32 AM, Jman said:

Funny enough, Alternative is considered the one genuinely good thing to come out of SAO.

Figures.

Alicization so far has been great, and different from the rest of SAO.  It's been largely devoid of bad SAO-isms.  There's been no jealous girl moments that I can think of, and little to no fan service, certainly no awkward lingering shots.  In fact, Kirito isn't even building a relationship with a girl this time, but with a best friend/brother type thing, and I'm really liking Kirito's relationship and interactions with Eugeo. 

What's more -

Spoiler

Kirito has lost at least twice had to be rescued twice, by Eugeo in the fight with the goblins, and Asuna is in the process of rescuing Kazuto's real life body, right now.  The Excalibur-esque Blue Rose Sword also chose Eugeo over Kirito.  Things from the past arcs are being picked up on and expanded upon, including Kayaba and his motivation, and the last of the Laughing Coffin members, the other Death Gun brother that escaped during Phantom Bullet.  The production values have been top notch, surpassing the past series, maybe even movie level.  It's clear to see that Reki Kawahara has gained writing exp over the years.  I don't know the chronology of when he wrote Accel World and the various arcs of SAO, but I also hear that that is quite good and better than SAO I.  Maybe some of the writing experience gained there also helped with Alicization's quality.  Reki even recognized the flaws with the Aincrad Arc and remade it with Progressive, and considers the Progressive version canon over the original, due to later arcs referencing events from it and tying back to it.  I bet an anime will be made of Progressive eventually too. Seriously, give it a chance.  I may not be the best spokesman, but I personally believe Alicization speaks for itself.

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by ben0119

[ben0119]

9 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Well, guess that sunk my theory! And of course, this makes me believe they'll go after SAO 3!

You mean another one of your crackpot theories was bullshit?  Shocking!

[The1gairon]

4 hours ago, ben0119 said:

 In my utter FOOLISHNESS over the years I saved the show for Toonami in the hopes of watching it with everyone here, and now I am paying the price in that I've still got 50-something plus episodes to watch to catch up the current Japanese run of the final season and at least watch SOME PART OF THE SHOW current with other people.

 

You're acting like there's an official announcement that Toonami won't get Season 3, when in fact there is no such thing.

[The1gairon]

4 hours ago, ben0119 said:

Alicization so far has been great, and different from the rest of SAO.  It's been largely devoid of bad SAO-isms.  There's been no jealous girl moments that I can think of, and little to no fan service, certainly no awkward lingering shots.  In fact, Kirito isn't even building a relationship with a girl this time, but with a best friend/brother type thing, and I'm really liking Kirito's relationship and interactions with Eugeo. 

What's more -

  Reveal hidden contents

Kirito has lost at least twice had to be rescued twice, by Eugeo in the fight with the goblins, and Asuna is in the process of rescuing Kazuto's real life body, right now.  The Excalibur-esque Blue Rose Sword also chose Eugeo over Kirito.  Things from the past arcs are being picked up on and expanded upon, including Kayaba and his motivation, and the last of the Laughing Coffin members, the other Death Gun brother that escaped during Phantom Bullet.  The production values have been top notch, surpassing the past series, maybe even movie level.  It's clear to see that Reki Kawahara has gained writing exp over the years.  I don't know the chronology of when he wrote Accel World and the various arcs of SAO, but I also hear that that is quite good and better than SAO I.  Maybe some of the writing experience gained there also helped with Alicization's quality.  Reki even recognized the flaws with the Aincrad Arc and remade it with Progressive, and considers the Progressive version canon over the original, due to later arcs referencing events from it and tying back to it.  I bet an anime will be made of Progressive eventually too. Seriously, give it a chance.  I may not be the best spokesman, but I personally believe Alicization speaks for itself.

 

Aww shit you actually went and watched it.

[PurgatoryGirl]

12 hours ago, ben0119 said:

Well, Demarco is a known leftist.  I wonder if he's been going into convulsions because his God Kanye is a Trump supporter! 

Whether it's about what to air on Toonami or his political views, Jason DeMarco is extremely biased. This can also be said about some of the voice actors like Steven Blum and Patrick Seitz. Even though I like them for their voice acting, I don't care about their political views and don't like every series they're in.

Before deleting my Twitter account last summer, I started unfollowing more voice actors, companies, celebrities, etc. because they waste way too much time ranting about Trump.

Regardless of what political party they support, they fail to realize that they alienate and repulse other customers, fans, friends, and followers.

They don't realize much less care that more people are leaving social media because all their so-called "political activism" is divisive. When it comes to entertainment and business, people should stay apolitical.

[PokeNirvash]

I follow only two people on Twitter. One tweets, likes, and retweets anime stuff, and the other tweets, likes, and retweets fetish stuff. Much better than all the political stuff people seem to use Twitter as an outlet to bitch about nowadays.

[PurgatoryGirl]

Twitter should be re-branded as a platform for everyone to rant about Trump 24/7. When I briefly joined and used it last year, that was ALL they were doing.

Originally, I thought I was mostly joining Twitter to generate a following for my own content but a nice portion of my followers were politically divisive.

That's if they weren't book publishers and literary agents only fixating on how they could score their next book deal, when they didn't bother visiting my website to learn more about me as a writer or my background.

[PurgatoryGirl]

Not that I'm going to watch SAO, but those running the block have their own agenda whether it is political or otherwise.

If more viewers complain about which Shonen or Seinen Anime they want, it will eventually get on the block.

It's really a matter of if DeMarco agrees with certain fans and if it fits his personal liking.

[The1gairon]

1 hour ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Whether it's about what to air on Toonami or his political views, Jason DeMarco is extremely biased. This can also be said about some of the voice actors like Steven Blum and Patrick Seitz. Even though I like them for their voice acting, I don't care about their political views and don't like every series they're in.

Before deleting my Twitter account last summer, I started unfollowing more voice actors, companies, celebrities, etc. because they waste way too much time ranting about Trump.

Regardless of what political party they support, they fail to realize that they alienate and repulse other customers, fans, friends, and followers.

They don't realize much less care that more people are leaving social media because all their so-called "political activism" is divisive. When it comes to entertainment and business, people should stay apolitical.

... I don't follow voice actors for their political views.  Why would I?  It's not what I like them for.  Also, aren't WE all biased in our anime tastes too?

[The1gairon]

38 minutes ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Twitter should be re-branded as a platform for everyone to rant about Trump 24/7. When I briefly joined and used it last year, that was ALL they were doing.

Originally, I thought I was mostly joining Twitter to generate a following for my own content but a nice portion of my followers were politically divisive.

That's if they weren't book publishers and literary agents only fixating on how they could score their next book deal, when they didn't bother visiting my website to learn more about me as a writer or my background.

Because Trump ALSO uses Twitter as his main social media place, and even said it was an "official executive tool of communication" or something to that effect.

[The1gairon]

6 minutes ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Not that I'm going to watch SAO, but those running the block have their own agenda whether it is political or otherwise.

If more viewers complain about which Shonen or Seinen Anime they want, it will eventually get on the block.

It's really a matter of if DeMarco agrees with certain fans and if it fits his personal liking.

.. how do you ever think DeMarco runs Toonami with a political agenda!?  Where do people get these ideas!? It's harmless entertainment.

[PurgatoryGirl]

1 minute ago, elfie said:

... I don't follow voice actors for their political views.  Why would I?  It's not what I like them for.

Exactly. On Twitter, I followed some voice actors and celebrities because I liked them for their talent, NOT for their political views.

[PurgatoryGirl]

1 minute ago, elfie said:

.. how do you ever think DeMarco runs Toonami with a political agenda!?  Where do people get these ideas!? It's harmless entertainment.

Have you noticed the animated music videos, that air during Toonami's commercial breaks? It's like watching MTV do political PSA's. I usually fast forward them on my DVR.

[Blatch]

19 hours ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Regardless of what political party they support, they fail to realize that they alienate and repulse other customers, fans, friends, and followers.

They don't realize much less care that more people are leaving social media because all their so-called "political activism" is divisive. When it comes to entertainment and business, people should stay apolitical.

How should it be "alienating" to shine a light on how we only have a little over a decade to stop most of the world from turning into an unlivable hellscape from climate change? And also, the government is still keeping children in concentration camps. These are extraordinary times that easily separate the weak from the strong, and being silent about these issues is total complicity. Even if you don't like all the political talk going on, you should at least be conditioned to try and give a shit whenever it's put out there. Personally, I could drive away all but three people on the whole Internet, but so long as my beliefs are ultimately validated in the end, I'd be satisfied.

Getting back to the topic at hand, if someone in the anime industry really wanted to troll DeMarco, they'd be better off calling him a democratic socialist... or, hell, even a tankie. I'd live for that controversy.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Blatch

[PurgatoryGirl]

2 minutes ago, Blatch said:

How should it be "alienating" to shine a light on how we only have a little over a decade to stop most of the world into an unlivable hellscape from climate change? And also, the government is still keeping children in concentration camps. These are extraordinary times that easily separate the weak from the strong, and being silent about these issues is total complicity. Even if you don't like all the political talk going on, you should at least be conditioned to try and give a shit whenever it's put out there. Personally, I could drive away all but three people on the whole Internet, but so long as my beliefs are ultimately validated in the end, I'd be satisfied.

Getting back to the topic at hand, if someone in the anime industry really wanted to troll DeMarco, they'd be better off calling him a democratic socialist... or, hell, even a tankie. I'd live for that controversy.

Politics can hurt business and cause those to lose their clients, customers, and fans especially when people have to constantly read and hear about 1 political party with negativity biased 24/7.

That's partly why somebody launched a campaign on Twitter called #WalkAway. The media and social media are overkill with the in your face politics.

[PokeNirvash]

29 minutes ago, Blatch said:

How should it be "alienating" to shine a light on how we only have a little over a decade to stop most of the world into an unlivable hellscape from climate change?

Oh, I dunno, by exaggerating the effects with no hint that you're being ironic? I mean, "unlivable hellscape" is the kind of language I try to avoid when ingesting political opinions.

Edited November 21, 2018 by PokeNirvash
Didn't realize you actually WERE being ironic with that one.

[The1gairon]

23 minutes ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Have you noticed the animated music videos, that air during Toonami's commercial breaks? It's like watching MTV do political PSA's. I usually fast forward them on my DVR.

Those are the views and opinions of whoever made the music video, not Toonami.

[PurgatoryGirl]

57 minutes ago, elfie said:

Those are the views and opinions of whoever made the music video, not Toonami.

It still doesn't matter. They purposely chose those videos because of their biased political views.

Aside from Adult Swim and Toonami's political views, they have always been biased about everything. They're especially biased about Anime fans.

Edited November 21, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[korosu]

lol

[EmpressAngel]

What the fuck happened to this thread, take your political bullshit somewhere else.

[Daos]

He doesn't wanna take it to the other boards because the entire convo will be like

"YOU'RE RETARDED"

"NO YOU"

"NO YOU ARE"

"NO U"

[Blatch]

17 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Oh, I dunno, by exaggerating the effects with no hint that you're being ironic? I mean, "unlivable hellscape" is the kind of language I try to avoid when ingesting political opinions.

I wasn't being ironic. I wouldn't have said that if it wasn't what I genuinely believe.

There have been some pretty bad worst-case scenarios floating around regarding climate change. I think what will happen won't be quite as bad as those, but stopping the worst effects that will kill many is going to take a lot of manpower. I'll explain the fight in better detail elsewhere if you want.

This thread has set itself on fire, but I do like the point someone made about Toonami's music videos, so I'll continue. Some of what Toonami has aired in bumpers in recent years, especially that "Dispel the Darkness" speech, has skewed more political. You could swap a few words in that one to make it about Trump, but the message would be entirely the same. However, this block has been promoting such values—that someone will get the strength to defeat their enemies, seek out their dreams, and be more compassionate to others—ever since it went on the air. Because of that, it's always been political; people don't think so unless a work trades on explicit names, or at least gives indirect mentions to the Democrats, Republicans, and/or whatever else. Knowing the affiliations of the creators helps with this. Many are only mad because they know what Jason's beliefs are and are afraid he's projecting them onto the viewers, and ironically, they're correct.

If you don't like how this block is being run, that's understandable, but you'll eventually have to realize that everything is inherently political. Many of them express views in a subtle way because doing otherwise would alienate other viewers. So while we're not going to see TOM say how awesome Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is during a bump, a general expression that the awfulness of the world is worth fighting against can be powerful to the audience. Some may not like it, but many do, and that's why Toonami has kept up with the speech-ifying.

[PokeNirvash]

4 minutes ago, Blatch said:

I wasn't being ironic. I wouldn't have said that if it wasn't what I genuinely believe.

...I expected better of you, man. For shame. But hey, at least you admit that it likely won't be "unlivable hellscape" levels. I expect it to be around the level of "notably more uncomfortable than in the present".

Edited November 21, 2018 by PokeNirvash

[naraku360]

25 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

...I expected better of you, man. For shame. But hey, at least you admit that it likely won't be "unlivable hellscape" levels. I expect it to be around the level of "notably more uncomfortable than in the present".

No, we're already seeing adverse effects of climate change. More extreme storms, higher average temperatures to the point where California is basically on fire all year and been in a decade long drought, abnormally high sea levels, and more erratic weather patterns pretty much across the board - to name only a few symptoms. If this is where we're already at, I see it being significantly worse than "notably more uncomfortable." It's already causing serious problems, if the current trajectory continues for 12 years we may not be doomed immediately but we'll be much more screwed than now. A ton of soecies have died out or become endangered as a result, we're not magically less effected. Perhaps on an unliveable hellscape in 12 years so much as on a clear path toward one. With the rate of change we're on, it's only a matter of time.

Edited November 21, 2018 by naraku360

[PokeNirvash]

[sigh] Never thought I'd have to use this image again.

[korosu]

4 hours ago, Blatch said:

This thread has set itself on fire, but I do like the point someone made about Toonami's music videos, so I'll continue.

yeah i'm pretty sure they were just referring to Run the Jewels