general discussion When was Toonami on [as]'s "Golden Age" (so far?)

[OwlChemist81]

In this thread, we discuss when Toonami's "Golden Age" on [as] was so far and why.

My thoughts? 2015-2019. It started in 2015 after the cut-down to 3.5 hours, when KILL la KILL and SAOII were acquired for the block and DBZ Kai led the charge to record ratings the night that Akame ga KILL!! premiered. It continued through 2016 as DBZ Kai continued to lead the block as Parasyte, Dimension W, Gundam IBO, One-Punch Man, and Jojo all successfully rode its coattails, and the classic Samurai Champloo even got in on the action. All that time, the block rarely expanded from its 3.5-hour footprint despite smashing records, though there were huge exceptions for DST in 2015 and 2016, as well as a Parasyte rerun burn-off night in 2016.

In 2017-2019, the ratings across all cable softened, but Toonami entered an age of expansion, doubling down on Dragonball by adding Dragon Ball Super and peaking at 8 hours in November 2018. It ended in 2019 after DBS ended and MHA Season 4 took its place, eventually contracting back to its current size of 3 hours as the pandemic took hold in 2020. And, while 2021-22 was certainly interesting with its influx of Crunchyroll originals and Housing Complex C, those eventually got written off and in late 2022, the block shrunk back to its current 3-hour time frame which it has yet to stir from in 2023. And so far this year, after a glut of world premieres the previous two, the only dub premiere has been a one-off One Piece crossover special which aired last week.

One could argue it has fallen to its lowest point since the summer of 2020, since this coming weekend it will rely on 5 non-exclusive network premieres over only 3 shows and a played-out rerun. But, with promises of new FLCL and miniseries Uzumaki and Ninja Kamui, as well as some AOT specials thrown in there, could the next Golden Age be just around the corner?

[PokeNirvash]

That sounds about right.

And now we're entering what may very well be a second coming of the ACTN Dark Age that lasted from 2008 to Toonami's return.

[OwlChemist81]

5 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

That sounds about right.

And now we're entering what may very well be a second coming of the ACTN Dark Age that lasted from 2008 to Toonami's return.

I would be inclined to agree with you EXCEPT for the 3 originals that have been promised. They may not bring back the Golden Age of Toonami, as acquisitions still look to be lean, but they may avoid another ACTN Dark Age. If they get written off, however, all bets are off.

[atomicinumatt]

Are we counting [as] Action? 

I still maintain that my favorite period was the mid 2000's but that is just from nostalgia. When stuff like GitS, Paranoia Agent, Inuyasha etc. were airing. They are some of my favorite anime and having them premiering on the block really made me happy. I was in high school and college and The Boards were in there prime IMO and all of it together just made the experience so memorable and enjoyable for me. 

I think in terms of funding and content that the the mid 2010's were probably best. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by atomicinumatt

[Toonamiguy321]

I kind of agree, but personally I don’t use ratings for my opinion on the Golden age, but rather the quality of content. 2015 after the big cut was definitely one of them with KLK which I still am shocked they were able/willing to pull off. Then later in 2015 we started to dip into the Sentai catalog after ignoring it for the prior 3 years. And unlike these days, they picked out two shows that didn’t feel like their typical choices. We started out 2015 in crisis, and ended it with a bright feeling future. 
 

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long into 2016. Dimension W, while being mediocre and forgettable, looked like they had some kind of seasonal deal with Funimation to grab and off the beaten path title every few months. But that wasn’t the case, and mid 2016 is when the shonen jump curse started. First it was HxH, then it was Jojo and at that point we were way overloaded on shonen jump content. There was a small beacon of hope in 2017 when they cancelled One Piece, maybe they finally realized they had too much Jump content, but it didn’t last and they kept grabbing it. Thankfully, most modern Jump shows are seasonal, so a lot that we got in recent years didn’t feel like as much of a burden since we got breaks from it every 12-26 weeks. 
 

Despite still being too reliant on Jump shows, I actually was pretty enthusiastic for mid to late 2019 Toonami. The block felt like it could grab anything at any time. But early 2020 came and they just stopped replacing shows, then Covid happened and the block has been on a pretty steady decline since. Occasionally in the past 3 years we have small blips of time where things feel like they get better but don’t last. 
 

tldr - im putting my dart on 2015 for the blocks peak. 

[Jman]

2014-2017.  That was the height of companies still trusting Toonami as the perceived only game in town, before streaming overtook linear television as a whole.  The streaming format overtaking linear television was arguably the end of the Toonami golden age as the arbiter of anime, moreso than the shows.  At the height of its modern influence (Different from Toonami classic for organization's sake) One Punch Man was pulling down a million 18-34 viewers a week, and companies were begging Toonami to air their shows.  Then streaming overtook linear television as the primary outlet due to convivence and a complete lack of the old BS&P.  That's where it arguably began to go downhill, especially as those streamers started to throw cash at animation studios, then hoarded licenses for themselves.

In the dark ages, when Toonami got popular initially, you either had to sail the seven seas or pay out the ass for single volume DVD's.  No longer.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Jman