Light Novels And Toonami

[CountFrylock]

is there a reason we never really saw much in the way of series adapted from light novels on toonami?

aside from sword art online that is(which seems to be the exception)

[PokeNirvash]

Coincidence, most likely. I don't think there's any grand reason behind SAO being the only light novel adaptations ever aired on Toonami. Though the fact that over half of them are trash probably has something to do with it.

Edited March 10, 2023 by PokeNirvash

[Toonamiguy321]

Demarco’s anime/manga/LN knowledge has always been pretty limited. The surge of LN adaptions came long after he fell off the wagon. Had Toonami had some type of younger advisor for show choices a few years ago I’d bet we would have seen more LN content. We have now and then seen Demarco express interest in stuff like Shield Hero and Konosuba, but as with many problems the block has had, a lot of the popular LN adaptions run into the Crunchyroll problem. 
 

Plus, if they were just using surface level online engagement to pick unfamiliar shows, shonen, especially from Jump, always surges to the top of its season. Any time Demarco dropped a top 5 request list it was almost always new shonen. So any LN stuff that didn’t soar to top of the charts like SAO had pretty much no chance getting on their radar. 

[Blatch]

I remember when I was pretty keen on Re:Zero and I wanted Toonami to air the hell out of that show. When they didn't, that was when my interest in the block started to drift. But nowadays I get the feeling that this was at the start of Crunchyroll giving them the stiff-arm, so I shouldn't have been as disappointed.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Blatch said:

I remember when I was pretty keen on Re:Zero and I wanted Toonami to air the hell out of that show. When they didn't, that was when my interest in the block started to drift. But nowadays I get the feeling that this was at the start of Crunchyroll giving them the stiff-arm, so I shouldn't have been as disappointed.

Re:Zero suffered from a pretty bad dub delay, that may be a factor for why it never caught their eye. It was massive in 2016, but by the time the dub came out in 2018, other isekai titles were taking the spotlight. 2018 was when we got Mob, so that may have been the only narrow window of time CR was playing nice with the block but it didn’t happen. And while I love the series and wouldn’t complain if the block got it, the second season was torturous at two episodes a DAY. I can’t imagine the slog at one episode a week. 
 

I know that opinions toward isekai are divided, but there is no arguing that a good portion of every seasons anime roster since 2016 has been isekai, and Toonami completely ignoring the genre has easily been one of their biggest mistakes. The block should have at the very least dipped their toes into some while they had the chance. The Kadokawa ones are the least divisive and generic. Overlord, Youjo Senki, and Cautious Hero were Funimation titles that Toonami should have been able to pull off had they been open to doing so. Re:Zero, Konosuba and Shield Hero have always been stuck in the Crunchyroll prison. 

[Daos]

3 hours ago, Blatch said:

I remember when I was pretty keen on Re:Zero and I wanted Toonami to air the hell out of that show. When they didn't, that was when my interest in the block started to drift. But nowadays I get the feeling that this was at the start of Crunchyroll giving them the stiff-arm, so I shouldn't have been as disappointed.

The artwork in that anime is so good! Look at the realism!

 

[Daos]

7 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

is there a reason we never really saw much in the way of series adapted from light novels on toonami?

aside from sword art online that is(which seems to be the exception)

I dunno man, that feels kind of like asking something like... is there a reason we don't have more Isekai on Toonami? Is there a reason we don't have Harem or Slice of Life on Toonami? 

Toonami has been at the mercy of a man who barely knows what anime is. He saw 3 anime 20 years ago and that's all he knows. If an anime doesn't have a huge hype train ramming itself through the door he's not going to know about it. 

How about some more FLCL sequels instead?

[CountFrylock]

4 hours ago, Daos said:

I dunno man, that feels kind of like asking something like... is there a reason we don't have more Isekai on Toonami? Is there a reason we don't have Harem or Slice of Life on Toonami? 

Toonami has been at the mercy of a man who barely knows what anime is. He saw 3 anime 20 years ago and that's all he knows. If an anime doesn't have a huge hype train ramming itself through the door he's not going to know about it. 

How about some more FLCL sequels instead?

The Thing is Demarco isn't running the show anymore...it's Gill Austin

Does Gill Just Parrot Demarco's thoughts and opinions then because the block under Austin's leadership is no different than  it was under Demarco

[CountFrylock]

5 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Re:Zero suffered from a pretty bad dub delay, that may be a factor for why it never caught their eye. It was massive in 2016, but by the time the dub came out in 2018, other isekai titles were taking the spotlight. 2018 was when we got Mob, so that may have been the only narrow window of time CR was playing nice with the block but it didn’t happen. And while I love the series and wouldn’t complain if the block got it, the second season was torturous at two episodes a DAY. I can’t imagine the slog at one episode a week. 
 

I know that opinions toward isekai are divided, but there is no arguing that a good portion of every seasons anime roster since 2016 has been isekai, and Toonami completely ignoring the genre has easily been one of their biggest mistakes. The block should have at the very least dipped their toes into some while they had the chance. The Kadokawa ones are the least divisive and generic. Overlord, Youjo Senki, and Cautious Hero were Funimation titles that Toonami should have been able to pull off had they been open to doing so. Re:Zero, Konosuba and Shield Hero have always been stuck in the Crunchyroll prison. 

that's the thing...i had someone on another board telling me

"Considering the state of Toonami, a sliver of failing traditional cable platform, I can't imagine why isekai #409858 would be something sought at this point- it's not going to draw or excite any real interest in the show itself or the programming block. If there were more popular anime of other genres adapted from light novels, Toonami might have aired more."

but so much isekai anime is released each season that ignoring it simply because "it's been done before" is stupid....

Edited March 10, 2023 by CountFrylock

[Jman]

When they had the option, it was because they were airing SAO and DeMarco presumably found it redundant.  Fair enough.

Now they simply don’t have the option.

[CountFrylock]

36 minutes ago, Jman said:

When they had the option, it was because they were airing SAO and DeMarco presumably found it redundant.  Fair enough.

Now they simply don’t have the option.

 

they really thought "Welp We Already Aired SAO!....No Need to look at anything else adapted from Light Novels or Any  of those other weird Isekai Things!"

I've watched plenty Of Isekai Series and most of them didn't make me think "Oh this is like SAO!"

Edited March 10, 2023 by CountFrylock

[Daos]

7 hours ago, Jman said:

When they had the option, it was because they were airing SAO and DeMarco presumably found it redundant.  Fair enough.

Now they simply don’t have the option.

Says that, then airs Boruto and Yashahime.

[Toonamiguy321]

9 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

The Thing is Demarco isn't running the show anymore...it's Gill Austin

Does Gill Just Parrot Demarco's thoughts and opinions then because the block under Austin's leadership is no different than  it was under Demarco

That may be partially true now, but the surge in LN adaption popularity started around 2015 when Demarco was still firmly in the driver seat. His lack of knowledge on the matter is a major factor. Gill really isn’t any better, they are both late 40s dudes who are way out of touch. 
 

9 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

Considering the state of Toonami, a sliver of failing traditional cable platform, I can't imagine why isekai #409858 would be something sought at this point- it's not going to draw or excite any real interest in the show itself or the programming block. If there were more popular anime of other genres adapted from light novels, Toonami might have aired more."

This is a difficult topic to discuss because blindly hating isekai is the “cool” thing to do these days. You can immediately detect a bad faith argument when people say things like “isekai #1234”. There ARE good isekai, which are the ones that would be most likely to get the crews attention. The generic seasonal ones would be unlikely to be picked up or even noticed. The fact that the isekai train is still going strong and pumping out generic adaptions every single season is the evidence for why Toonami messed up not getting on the train when they had the chance. For most of the popular examples, isekai shows are action oriented. So they fit the blocks theme, and as an added bonus, usually skew towards a bit older audience, so the block would be airing stuff that doesn’t feel like 4pm Toonami material. Which leads to another point, you see people complain all Isekai is the same, then turn around and praise Toonami for picking up every single generic shonen adaption every season. 
 

The fact that the person you were arguing with had the audacity to suggest isekai isn’t even popular goes to show how little they know about what they are talking about. 

 

9 hours ago, Jman said:

When they had the option, it was because they were airing SAO and DeMarco presumably found it redundant.  Fair enough.

Now they simply don’t have the option.

And that just goes to show how out of touch Demarco is, because SAO isn’t even a damn isekai in the first place. 
 

 

[OwlChemist81]

SAO is pseudo-isekai Sci-Fi.

Well, now some of it is historical fiction! 🤣

[Jman]

Well Sentai has a decent amount of isekai and fantasy, like Danmachi.  Kind of wondering if DeMarco is assuming the same.

[atomicinumatt]

While LNs have been around for a long time, I feel that the adaptations have only gotten so popular and saturated in recent years, after Toonami's height. That and the team probably are not as in touch with the community and what is good. 

Just my opinion on the matter. 

 

[MasqueradeOverture]

Because airing That Time I Was Reincarnated Into Your Crusty Sock, Onii-Chan = negative ratings (and possible Geneva convention violations).

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

Because airing That Time I Was Reincarnated Into Your Crusty Sock, Onii-Chan = negative ratings (and possible Geneva convention violations).

May have done them some good to air That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime rather than just shilling it’s movie for no ones benefit besides Crunchyroll for a few weeks about a month ago.
 

I fail to see how airing popular content would generate negative ratings 

[CountFrylock]

8 hours ago, atomicinumatt said:

While LNs have been around for a long time, I feel that the adaptations have only gotten so popular and saturated in recent years, after Toonami's height. That and the team probably are not as in touch with the community and what is good. 

Just my opinion on the matter. 

 

i do wonder if the toonami team even knows what light novels are....

[atomicinumatt]

8 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

i do wonder if the toonami team even knows what light novels are....

I will admit that enjoy manga a bit more than anime, but there are a few a good LNs. I am sure they have heard of them but probably couldn't be bothered anymore than that haha 

[Top Gun]

Because most of them suck nards?

[Blatch]

On 3/10/2023 at 1:49 AM, Toonamiguy321 said:

Re:Zero suffered from a pretty bad dub delay, that may be a factor for why it never caught their eye. It was massive in 2016, but by the time the dub came out in 2018, other isekai titles were taking the spotlight. 2018 was when we got Mob, so that may have been the only narrow window of time CR was playing nice with the block but it didn’t happen.

Ohhh, I forgot about that! Good call. I mean, the fact that the dub was delayed may have played a role in me thinking Toonami was more likely to get it, since they'd premiere it.

I haven't watched many isekai, and most of them are normie picks regardless of if I only saw one episode in my community college's anime club. The only one I can think of that would be fit to air on Toonami is HameFura... which would be more likely if they were still committed to airing more diverse shows. Too bad, because I've always thought Knight's and Magic, the one under-the-radar isekai I watched, would be a cool pick for the block. But Funimation snapped it up and now Crunchyroll has it, so what're you gonna do?

[sadly, it doesn't seem to exist anymore]

[CountFrylock]

17 hours ago, Top Gun said:

Because most of them suck nards?

I Think it's a bit bizarre to try and claim most light novels suck as if they are all the same....

 

[Top Gun]

The entire "Narou-kei" ecosystem of light novels are very much similar and very much suck, yes.

[CountFrylock]

13 hours ago, Top Gun said:

The entire "Narou-kei" ecosystem of light novels are very much similar and very much suck, yes.

 

You Sound like you have a grudge against light novels....there's too many of them to simply write them all off as trash

 

[ben0119]

A lot of light novel series are bad, especially Isekai ones, but there are some outliers.

Konosuba was surprisingly enjoyable.  It's actually more of a parody and deconstruction of the isekai and harem genres.  

I recently watched My Next Life as a Villainess, that Blatch mentioned.  It was really good, and you will need tissues if you watch it, but don't worry, most of them will be tears of joy!  Although it maybe doesn't have enough action, Demarco did say they would air non-action shows.  It is a Crunchyroll show, though.

I don't know if Toonami has been intentionally avoiding light novel adaptations or not, but some of the popular shows they've never touched is baffling.  The people running it being out of touch may be part of the problem.  Maybe there are some shows they can't get, but maybe there's also some shows they aren't even looking at.

[Jman]

On 3/11/2023 at 11:32 AM, Top Gun said:

Because most of them suck nards?

Eh, just because most of them do doesn’t mean I wouldn’t air one or two.   It’s like visual novels, sure plenty suck, but that didn’t stop Stein’s Gate from existing.

 

[Daos]

3 hours ago, Jman said:

Eh, just because most of them do doesn’t mean I wouldn’t air one or two.   It’s like visual novels, sure plenty suck, but that didn’t stop Stein’s Gate from existing.

 

To be fair, most of everything sucks. Most movies suck. Most sitcoms suck. Most music sucks. Most stuff sucks, we just want the rare gems from any genre.

[ben0119]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:51 AM, Daos said:

To be fair, most of everything sucks. Most movies suck. Most sitcoms suck. Most music sucks. Most stuff sucks, we just want the rare gems from any genre.

Yeah.  And most of the bad stuff from history has been forgotten, unless they were so bad they're good, which is why older movies etc seem better than everything from more recent times.