First review for Unicorn: Warriors Eternal calls it ”Genndy Tartakovsky’s Weirdest Cartoon Yet”

[Jman]

https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/adult-swim-hbo-max/unicorn-warriors-eternal-review
 

The cartoon is described as weird as hell BUT also as family friendly, so expect people to be bitter this is airing and not Hell’s Paradise (which is essentially a spiritual successor to Ninja Scroll).

The reviewer seemed to KIND of like it but admitted he didn’t know what was going on till halfway through the 10 episode order.

[Sketch]

I expect this to be Adult Swim’s best rated premiere since R&M season 6 despite it being family friendly. But any good it might have done for Toonami will inevitably be squandered by the Primal reruns airing right after it.

[Daos]

4 hours ago, Jman said:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/adult-swim-hbo-max/unicorn-warriors-eternal-review
 

The cartoon is described as weird as hell BUT also as family friendly, so expect people to be bitter this is airing and not Hell’s Paradise (which is essentially a spiritual successor to Ninja Scroll).

The reviewer seemed to KIND of like it but admitted he didn’t know what was going on till halfway through the 10 episode order.

So no T Rex Sex?

[OwlChemist81]

50 minutes ago, Sketch said:

I expect this to be Adult Swim’s best rated premiere since R&M season 6 despite it being family friendly. But any good it might have done for Toonami will inevitably be squandered by the Primal reruns airing right after it.

I don't expect Primal to be there for long. In fact, depending on when it's announced, it just might be a placeholder on the 5/13 schedule...

[Jman]

1 hour ago, Daos said:

So no T Rex Sex?

No, we’re keeping it family friendly apparently.  No blood and gore, no sex, and no foul language.  Nothing that would go beyond a TV-PG because this was originally designed for HBO Max as a family friendly action show before the shakeup.  Hence my mentioning the resident ultra violent show this season.

Edit - I’m torn on how well this will do.  Toonami as a viewing block tends to have a mixed at best track record on overly confusing or obtuse shows, and a very poor one on stuff that isn’t adult enough, be it in violence or the like.  But Genndy is a name that commands respect from this audience and it’s something you can only see on Max, rather than something airing on Crunchyroll weeks ahead of them.

And because I like beating dead horses, here’s the Hell’s Paradise opening.  What do you think would have gotten more eyeballs?

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Jman

[Toonamiguy321]

4 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

I don't expect Primal to be there for long. In fact, depending on when it's announced, it just might be a placeholder on the 5/13 schedule...

If Primal was intended to be temporary, they wouldn’t have restarted it from S2 ep1. The restart shows a clear intent to get it through another full run, and syncs its run with UWE. The new show, if/when we get it, is probably set to be the replacement for Food Wars.

Our only hope here is if Primal does absolutely abysmal in the coming weeks. Like, five digits. And I don’t think that is possible with this audience. And even if that does happen, best case scenario is Food Wars, One Piece and Naruto move up a slot, and Primal is moved back down to the end for the rest of this run. 
 

3 hours ago, Jman said:

Edit - I’m torn on how well this will do.  Toonami as a viewing block tends to have a mixed at best track record on overly confusing or obtuse shows, and a very poor one on stuff that isn’t adult enough, be it in violence or the like.  But Genndy is a name that commands respect from this audience and it’s something you can only see on Max, rather than something airing on Crunchyroll weeks ahead of them.

 

Unfortunately, we will never even know how this show does on Toonami. We may have been able to get a vague idea if there was a premier after it, but going into the millionth Primal rerun is going to skew the numbers too far when we do get numbers for Food Wars. We will just have to make educated guesses based on what Thursday does. Personally? I’m not expecting much. Primal was significantly more anticipated and it’s premier numbers were middling at best. 

[Blatch]

4 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

I don't expect Primal to be there for long. In fact, depending on when it's announced, it just might be a placeholder on the 5/13 schedule...

I could see that, but only if they have a really big show coming as the one they're "waiting for permission from Japan" to announce. Maybe Bleach?

[PokeNirvash]

Come now, how many people even know Jigokuraku exists?

[Jman]

22 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

Come now, how many people even know Jigokuraku exists?

 

It’s blowing up into one of the most popular shows this season.  And it has the blood and adult content plants crave that Toonami fans want.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Jman

[CountFrylock]

9 hours ago, Jman said:

 

It’s blowing up into one of the most popular shows this season.  And it has the blood and adult content plants crave that Toonami fans want.

okay here's something you have to understand....none of that means it would be successful on toonami

why? because you keep forgetting Nielsen Ratings gauge a small portion of the overall viewing audience and a lot of them are probably casual viewers who don't soak up anime news like you or me

they aren't gonna be all "OMG! Hell's Paradise Is On Toonami?!" because they won't even know wtf Hell's paradise even is

 

[Jman]

No one knew what it was till a few weeks ago, which is my point.  They’re not going to see what the show is and follow it, they’re going to see a new, very violent show with good animation and be intrigued by that.  Which is the opposite of what I expect when people realize Unicorn is a kids show, even if its a very weird one.

[CountFrylock]

32 minutes ago, Jman said:

No one knew what it was till a few weeks ago, which is my point.  They’re not going to see what the show is and follow it, they’re going to see a new, very violent show with good animation and be intrigued by that.  Which is the opposite of what I expect when people realize Unicorn is a kids show, even if its a very weird one.

hell's paradise was  a manga and people in the anime/manga community certainly knew what it was(not like that series was a sales failure or anything close to that)

also do i have to say this again?

"none of this means it would be successful on toonami"

i don't know why you keep thinking "Put Any Trendy Anime On Toonami and the average joe will be hyped"

[Jman]

Well, the block doesn’t get trending shows anymore, or if it does, it gets them too late, and that all circles back to my core argument, Unicorn is a proud kids show and I don’t know how that will work.

Getting away from the Hell’s Paradise tangent for a bit, we have a new preview clip -

 

 

And the show will be ran in quite a few places -

 

 

[CountFrylock]

Need i remind you that Symbionic Titan(A Kids show)aired on adultswim's toonami in the early years?.....besides that

it's weird you keep trying to imply toonami fans frown upon shows that aren't adult and gory enough.....since we've long moved past the days of Deadman wonderland And Akame Ga Kill on the block

with not many people online missing those days

 

[Jman]

16 minutes ago, CountFrylock said:

Need i remind you that Symbionic Titan(A Kids show)aired on adultswim's toonami in the early years?.....besides that

it's weird you keep trying to imply toonami fans frown upon shows that aren't adult and gory enough.....since we've long moved past the days of Deadman wonderland And Akame Ga Kill on the block

with not many people online missing those days

 

Sym-Bionic Titan was written off for taxes.  That's not exactly a good example of being warmly embraced.

The last time there was an unabashed kids show on the block was Beware The Batman, which was another written-off disaster.  It was also notable that the ratings tanked for the Batfleck, then rose afterwards for Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon.  That alone should point how the Adult Swim/Toonami audience feels about kids shows that don't offer any adult material.

I am well, WELL aware that I do not speak for everyone, and I am not so arrogant as to believe that my tastes are inherently better than others.  But there is a definite correlation between shows not meeting that "adult" requirement and low ratings.  And I feel like a jerk here because it's Genndy, and Genndy is awesome, so I feel bad saying anything bad about him.

Also Akame did monster ratings for the block, even if a lot of the more highbrow fans (and DeMarco) merely viewed it as a trade-off for Parasyte.  

[CountFrylock]

47 minutes ago, Jman said:

Sym-Bionic Titan was written off for taxes.  That's not exactly a good example of being warmly embraced.

The last time there was an unabashed kids show on the block was Beware The Batman, which was another written-off disaster.  It was also notable that the ratings tanked for the Batfleck, then rose afterwards for Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon.  That alone should point how the Adult Swim/Toonami audience feels about kids shows that don't offer any adult material.

I am well, WELL aware that I do not speak for everyone, and I am not so arrogant as to believe that my tastes are inherently better than others.  But there is a definite correlation between shows not meeting that "adult" requirement and low ratings.  And I feel like a jerk here because it's Genndy, and Genndy is awesome, so I feel bad saying anything bad about him.

Also Akame did monster ratings for the block, even if a lot of the more highbrow fans (and DeMarco) merely viewed it as a trade-off for Parasyte.  

is anything At CN/AS Being warmly Embraced by WBD Right now?...doesn't seem like it

feels like Everything's On Fire while David Z Drinks a cup of coffee in the middle of the room while saying "Everything's Fine"

If Adultswim had anything else going on  i doubt they'd act like royal crackers is amazing and hype it up like it's another rick and morty success story

Edited April 29, 2023 by CountFrylock

[Sketch]

Quite the revisionist history. Beware was beating Black Lagoon when it aired after it so they swapped slots when the new to CN episodes started airing. ThunderCats, SBT and Beware did rather well for Toonami but they were expensive to make and not profitable via toy sales so they were all written off rather than continued for Adult Swim.

Its true Black Lagoon and Hellsing both had higher ratings at 3am than Beware at 2:30 which made the move earlier actually detrimental to its performance but the overall ratings of Toonami saw an interesting drop when Space Dandy ended, Beware exited and Hellsing moved an hour earlier. I theorize that Beware was more of a point of interest than many regular Toonami viewers realized and when it was pulled, some viewers no longer sat through much if any of the block because it wasn’t there. Moving earlier did Hellsing no favors and it’s finale did so bad that they all but avoided intensely graphic anime  like it ever since. 

MHA has gotten more violent but it’s nowhere near TV-MA. One-Punch Man season 1, Attack on Titan season 1 and Akame are about the only examples of very violent anime doing exceptional and Akane still lost 200k+ from DBZ Kai every week.

Hells Paradise would probably do well or at least as well as most any recent action anime would for Toonami. It’s got the same target audience as Chainsaw Man and Spy x Family.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Sketch

[Toonamiguy321]

6 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

i don't know why you keep thinking "Put Any Trendy Anime On Toonami and the average joe will be hyped"

That’s exactly how they ran the block up till 2020, and still attempt to run the block to this day, and up till 2020 that was their recipe for high ratings.

2 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

it's weird you keep trying to imply toonami fans frown upon shows that aren't adult and gory enough.....since we've long moved past the days of Deadman wonderland And Akame Ga Kill on the block

with not many people online missing those days

Quite a few fans have been irritated by the excess PG level shonen and lack of any MA content that fully utilizes the Adult Swim timeslot. Made in Abyss was received very well. You see the complaint less these days because a lot of those fans simply gave up and moved on because the change was never going to happen. 
 

39 minutes ago, Sketch said:

Moving earlier did Hellsing no favors and it’s finale did so bad that they all but avoided intensely graphic anime  like it ever since. 

That’s not really fair to Hellsing, they pulled it two episodes early, told people to go out and pirate the last two episodes, and then are shocked it did terrible a month later when they picked it up. Even the first 8 episodes had a hard ride because they were moved all over the block because at the same time stuff was getting written off and they needed to fill space. 

[atomicinumatt]

19 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Come now, how many people even know Jigokuraku exists?

Jigokuraku is one of my more favored mangas. I first read some fan scanlations a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. Went back and reread it a month or two ago in anticipation of the anime. Been watching it on CR and am loving the adaptation so far. Just a really good story with great characters IMO.

A decent amount of people in the manga and anime communities have been anticipating it as well. 

Stuff like Oshi No Ko and Jigokuraku are all the rage for new series this season and I am loving them. Does that mean that the casual viewer is aware of them? Probably not, but if they continue to do well, I am sure they will gain more attention. But I doubt that means that they have any chance of coming to the block. 

[Sketch]

It only moved once in the first 8 episodes. It was at 3am for 2 nights then it was at 2am the other 6 nights. Hardly “all over the block”. I also think you greatly overestimate the amount of people who ever saw DeMarco say “just watch it somewhere else” but I agree that Hellsing had a rough ride overall because above all else it was abruptly removed twice. Any removal for any reason is going to cause a decline in casual viewership because those viewers aren’t looking at social media or TV grids to see if the show will return, they simply assume it’s gone and not coming back.

Akame, KLK and Parasyte did well enough to make the argument that TV-MA anime can succeed under the right circumstances. I do wonder how Psycho-Pass or Jormungand would have done at 12:30 or 1am in 2015 but I guess we’ll never know.

[OwlChemist81]

Hellsing Ultimate kinda was the first show to make a statement like that. Though it was kinda hit-or-miss in the ratings, almost 900K at 3 AM was nothing to sneeze at!

[Jman]

I wish there were more reviews of Unicorn.  A week out the only review is Paste Magazine. 
 

The core of the argument is a super basic question - Is the content the main driver for the viewers or the context?  I argue that given it’s an adult block (and the general demeanor of anime fans as a whole about how they get with their animation), the content matters.  From there, we question if “weirdest cartoon yet” brings viewers or repels them.

[Top Gun]

There are a lot of us out there who don't give a shit about how "adult" something is or isn't, but instead how good it is. I'd drag out the CS Lewis quote if I wasn't feeling lazy.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Sketch said:

It only moved once in the first 8 episodes. It was at 3am for 2 nights then it was at 2am the other 6 nights. Hardly “all over the block”. I also think you greatly overestimate the amount of people who ever saw DeMarco say “just watch it somewhere else” but I agree that Hellsing had a rough ride overall because above all else it was abruptly removed twice. Any removal for any reason is going to cause a decline in casual viewership because those viewers aren’t looking at social media or TV grids to see if the show will return, they simply assume it’s gone and not coming back.

Akame, KLK and Parasyte did well enough to make the argument that TV-MA anime can succeed under the right circumstances. I do wonder how Psycho-Pass or Jormungand would have done at 12:30 or 1am in 2015 but I guess we’ll never know.

I could have swore it moved twice. Well, if I’m remembering that wrong that’s my bad. Considering the absolute asinine schedule choices they have made in recent years to not move a premier from its timeslot, I’d say they have some evidence that would support even moving it that one time was detrimental to its run. 
 

That aside, I still think there isnt any valuable information about future pickups gained from Hellsing except maybe avoiding OVA series because they might have weird rights that doesn’t entitle Toonami to all of it. I agree, AgK, KLK and Parasyte are better gauges since they were regular episode length and didn’t have such a chaotic in and out run. Giving up on an entire genre because one show did subpar is moronic. And I’m pretty sure they took that path with Pop Team Epic, because that was the start and end of diverse program choices. 
 

20 minutes ago, Top Gun said:

There are a lot of us out there who don't give a shit about how "adult" something is or isn't, but instead how good it is. I'd drag out the CS Lewis quote if I wasn't feeling lazy.

There is a lot more than just how “adult” something is. When the block came back, it felt like the world of anime was an open oyster to them now. And instead of utilizing that to its fullest, they opted to fall back on a lot of stuff they would have been airing on CN. We didn’t even get 6 months in before Naruto was back. 
 

People just wanted them to try to NOT air every single thing that came out of the Shonen Jump catalog. As long as a show didn’t have excessive nipples to censor, it was fair game from a content perspective. 

[OwlChemist81]

Pop Team Epic was the last diverse program choice?

Food Wars! says "Hi".

And we DID make it more than 6 months before Naruto returned. But just barely.

[PokeNirvash]

1 hour ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

When the block came back, it felt like the world of anime was an open oyster to them now. And instead of utilizing that to its fullest, they opted to fall back on a lot of stuff they would have been airing on CN. We didn’t even get 6 months in before Naruto was back. 

I'm convinced them reairing Naruto was damage control for the massive blunder that was picking up Tenchi Muyo! GXP based on name recognition alone.

[MasqueradeOverture]

Air Texhnolyze you pussies.

[Daos]

3 hours ago, Top Gun said:

There are a lot of us out there who don't give a shit about how "adult" something is or isn't, but instead how good it is. I'd drag out the CS Lewis quote if I wasn't feeling lazy.

Shame about that final Narnia book.

[Daos]

59 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

I'm convinced them reairing Naruto was damage control for the massive blunder that was picking up Tenchi Muyo! GXP based on name recognition alone.

At least it wasn't War on Geminar.

[Jman]

https://www.indiewire.com/2023/04/unicorn-warriors-eternal-genndy-tartakovsky-animation-1234831292/
 

Genndy interview with IndieWire discussing Unicorn and other projects.

[OwlChemist81]

On 4/29/2023 at 8:10 PM, Daos said:

At least it wasn't War on Geminar.

I don't think WoG was even dubbed until 2013. I need to watch that just to see if I agree that it's worse than GXP.

[Jman]

 

 

[Jman]

 

New preview clip.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

 

New preview clip.

It’s commendable that they have managed to do all these teasers and previews without once having a character have a spoken line. 
 

And I will never not be able to see that girl as some type of goth Betty Boop

[Jman]

Another positive review.  If this show flops, it will not be because of a lack of quality.

[Jman]

The first of several airings begins tonight at midnight.

Considering the show debuts tonight, I’ll probably make a talkback for it that can be reused for Saturday.  And this is going to be interesting.  In a way it reminds me of 2006-2008 Adult Swim Action but with far lower stakes. You know, everyone wants a certain show to debut that’s big in the hardcore market, but DeMarco in his infinite wisdom gets a show no one really asked for and is far tamer than what the internet wanted, and then everyone argued on the ASMB for pages upon pages until it devolved into name calling and censored expletives?  Anyone remember that?  Just me?

Of course these days with streaming people have about 15,000 other choices at their fingertips (something that rustles DeMarco’s jimmies to no end), getting mad at the block feels rather silly and kind of pointless, as opposed to back then where what DeMarco said  you watched is what you watched, no exceptions.