More stalling, but maybe Dr Stone S3?

[Toonamiguy321]

So they announced 3 more schedules and gave a bunch of excuses for nothing new. Yet the third schedule lists Dr Stone S3. Oopsie?

[Blatch]

Sorta seems to be. Although...

Regardless of what's going on, thank goodness for an actual acquisition.

[Toonamiguy321]

7 minutes ago, Blatch said:

Sorta seems to be. Although...

Regardless of what's going on, thank goodness for an actual acquisition.

Huh, I’ll admit predictable sequel pickups don’t really excite people much, but you would think they would at least say something like “while you wait, we have Dr Stone S3 kicking off!” or something like that. This is only the second announcement of 2023 and they just tossed it out there without a word. 
 

That aside, I agree. It’s nice to have SOMETHING cooking. And now I’m a little more enthusiastic knowing a predictable sequel isnt the only thing we have been waiting for. I assume the mystery show will take over for Food Wars. 

[OwlChemist81]

On 6/3 there will only be 3 episodes of Food Wars! 5th Plate left. I suppose what we might see is a dual-episode finale of UWE on 6/24, with Dr. Stone Season 3 temporarily knocked down to 1 AM, then a marathon of UWE on 7/1, either 2nd half or whole show 12-5 AM, before it gets an encore run beginning 7/8.

Meanwhile, hopefully Dr. Stone Season 3 can ascend to Midnight with its 5th episode and we can get another new show or two on 7/8? If just one, maybe back to 2 episodes of One Piece?

The future in the 2nd half of 2023 might be quite bright for Toonami indeed!!

[Top Gun]

Hell yeah Dr. Stone. Assuming this doesn't include the canon between-seasons OVA though, since those never seem like they're up for grabs.

[OwlChemist81]

Yeah, unfortunately no. I think it's one of the 7 or so free shows right now on Crunchyroll.

Don't know how this bodes for AOT since it's also a weird situation, and frankly I believed we'd see that before Dr. Stone!

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, OwlChemist81 said:

On 6/3 there will only be 3 episodes of Food Wars! 5th Plate left. I suppose what we might see is a dual-episode finale of UWE on 6/24, with Dr. Stone Season 3 temporarily knocked down to 1 AM, then a marathon of UWE on 7/1, either 2nd half or whole show 12-5 AM, before it gets an encore run beginning 7/8.

Meanwhile, hopefully Dr. Stone Season 3 can ascend to Midnight with its 5th episode and we can get another new show or two on 7/8? If just one, maybe back to 2 episodes of One Piece?

The future in the 2nd half of 2023 might be quite bright for Toonami indeed!!

UWE is going to be at the whims of its Thursday premier. Toonami is the only part of AS that has to take breaks on minor holidays, so it’s probably gonna keep on trucking and Toonami will just have to accommodate it. I assume on 5/27, the first episode of UWE will be the encore of that weeks premier. I believe we saw similar treatment of Primal last year. 
 

I believe you have forgotten that Superman show, which is almost guaranteed to replace UWE at midnight when it ends. I have a feeling the only time premier anime will take midnight for the rest of this year is if we get the new FLCL seasons. I probably sound like a broken record on this, but I will once again reiterate how much sense it makes to shift Toonami to 11-2. Especially now that we have an anime that can pull its weight, and hopefully a second one on the way. I think 11:30 Dr Stone would be pretty healthy. 
 

The questions to ask about the rest of the year now are

1. What is the mystery show replacing Food Wars? Dr Stone was on a lot of peoples short list but that apparently was not the answer. 

2. Where does Titan fit into this puzzle? Does it fit in at all? Crunchyroll has yet to release the dub, but another month or more before release? I have seen a lot of Titan fans getting pretty irate at the silence on the matter, I’m starting to get a vibe we may not get it.

3. Where do FLCL and Uzumaki fit it? Demarco has already started floating a potential Uzumaki delay again, so if that’s out, there’s plenty of room to knock out both FLCL in the fall. Upfronts are next week, maybe we see some original discussion there.

4. Will Dr Stone take a cour break? If we get both, that slot is covered till next year. If there is a break, part 2 might be one of the first additions of 2024. 

As with most schedule updates, answers to current questions tend to spawn new ones. But that’s part of the fun, at least we got some good news this time around. 

[atomicinumatt]

Fuck yea, Dr. Stone and something else in the pipeline. 

Definitely not stalling.. Dr. Stone just started airing the first cour of season 3 last month I think and I am liking it! Wonder what they other announcement is? Hopefully it will replace the rerun of UWE at midnight but who knows, might replace Foodwars.

Had a feeling we would get some new anime over the past month or two. excited to see what the other announcement is. Wonder how soon we will get it. 

Lets go Toonami! 

[PokeNirvash]

Nice. Sucks that we apparently aren't getting the Ryusui special, you'd think they'd actually try after failing to get the Abyss movie.

[Sketch]

Yeah its bizarre they don't even mention Dr. Stone returning in that Facebook post. I also thought they might have goofed and announced it without permission but that's apparently not what the thing they can't announce. Nice to know they have something else coming as well as more Dr. Stone but it figures that they didn't get the plot relevant TV special that introduces a major character.

May turned out to be a wash but June looks promising. The other show will probably replace Food Wars or Unicorn (depending on when Superman flies in) but maybe it will actually launch before Food Wars ends and they'll add a slot.

[Jman]

13 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Nice. Sucks that we apparently aren't getting the Ryusui special, you'd think they'd actually try after failing to get the Abyss movie.

Those OVA's are traditionally the biggest pains in the ass to license for whatever reason.

[PokeNirvash]

TV special, actually, but true dat.

[CountFrylock]

On 5/12/2023 at 5:41 AM, Jman said:

Those OVA's are traditionally the biggest pains in the ass to license for whatever reason.

which is a shame because it's very important and sets up events for season 3

without it  You'd be very confused

[Blatch]

9 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

which is a shame because it's very important and sets up events for season 3

without it  You'd be very confused

True, but Toonami not airing the Made in Abyss movie didn't seem to dent the ratings for S2 very much. Granted, I watched both, and I feel like the latter would've been fairly easy to follow otherwise. "Dovetails from canon" my ass.

[DangerMouse]

Well, well, well, nice. Love this show so that will be fun starting next month.

[Top Gun]

On 5/12/2023 at 6:41 AM, Jman said:

Those OVA's are traditionally the biggest pains in the ass to license for whatever reason.

The archaic production committee system Japan still uses means there are a ton of figures in every anime pie, and there are probably different companies involved with the OVA. They may not even offer broadcast rights to international licensors.

[ben0119]

That would be nice.  I liked the first two seasons.  I just want Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War and other new shows.  

I am thoroughly fed up with the incompetence and excuses from Demarco and the Toonami crew.  How much more pathetic can they and this block get?

It's a good thing I can literally watch every anime ever made without them!  AND I have Zelda to occupy my time now!  Going back to it momentarily here.

If they can't get new shows and can't even do full run throughs of stuff like SAO, InuYasha -> Final Act -> Yashahime, MHA, Black Clover, etc, then get some 80s cartoons.  Their millennial viewerbase, myself included, will enjoy that!

I swear, Demarco has gone from being Captain Needa to being Moff Jerjerrod!

The Toonami crew are caught with their pants down so often they might as well not even bother putting them on in the first place, at this rate!

Edited May 14, 2023 by ben0119

[ben0119]

On 5/11/2023 at 1:59 PM, Toonamiguy321 said:

Huh, I’ll admit predictable sequel pickups don’t really excite people much, but you would think they would at least say something like “while you wait, we have Dr Stone S3 kicking off!” or something like that. This is only the second announcement of 2023 and they just tossed it out there without a word. 
 

That aside, I agree. It’s nice to have SOMETHING cooking. And now I’m a little more enthusiastic knowing a predictable sequel isnt the only thing we have been waiting for. I assume the mystery show will take over for Food Wars. 

Why do you give a fuck if it's a predictable pick-up or not?  Most of the stuff that is predictable is stuff we WANT them to get, unless it's a popular franchise you don't like.  I don't like Gundam except for G Gundam and the first season of IBO.

I just want new shows and don't give a fuck about any predictability or lack thereof.  What definitely is predictable is Demarco, Gill, and their staff's continued utter failure and morbid incompetence.

I'm so sick of this shit.

[atomicinumatt]

8 hours ago, ben0119 said:

Why do you give a fuck if it's a predictable pick-up or not?  Most of the stuff that is predictable is stuff we WANT them to get, unless it's a popular franchise you don't like.  I don't like Gundam except for G Gundam and the first season of IBO.

I just want new shows and don't give a fuck about any predictability or lack thereof.  What definitely is predictable is Demarco, Gill, and their staff's continued utter failure and morbid incompetence.

I'm so sick of this shit.

Yea, in terms of predictability, there is not much to go by aside from sequels and recent releases, and even then it is pretty hard to forecast what Toonami will get. 

Certain people will complain that [as] and Toonami do not advertise much and seem to get acquisitions on a whim, but they have pretty much always been that way, so what the issue? Haha I kind of like the out of the blue aspect!

I am basically in the same boat: I just want them to get new stuff, regardless of what it is. I am going to watch the Block either way! 

[Toonamiguy321]

11 hours ago, ben0119 said:

Why do you give a fuck if it's a predictable pick-up or not?  Most of the stuff that is predictable is stuff we WANT them to get, unless it's a popular franchise you don't like.  I don't like Gundam except for G Gundam and the first season of IBO.

I just want new shows and don't give a fuck about any predictability or lack thereof.  What definitely is predictable is Demarco, Gill, and their staff's continued utter failure and morbid incompetence.

I'm so sick of this shit.

Because we waited a LONG time for this announcement, and after all the stalling to have it end up being something that surprises no one is kind of a letdown. Is Dr Stone a bad pickup? Absolutely not. It just came at a time where it can’t possibly live up to the unintended hype Demarco has been building up around it. 
 

A lot of us occasionally want to be able to say “wow, I can’t believe Toonami is airing THAT” but we rarely get the chance. As we saw right here, they would rather stall for months waiting for a sequel rather than give something fresh a chance. 

[Sketch]

We’ll probably never know how easy or difficult it is for Adult Swim to get various lesser known anime but I have a real hard time believing they’re unable to get anything besides Food Wars, Dr. Stone and this other thing they can’t announce for half a dang year.

Maybe their budget is so shit that they have to stretch a few shows to maintain even 4 premieres regularly. WBD certainly isn’t running like a well oiled machine yet. WBD acts like they value Toonami and promote it even outside of Adult Swim but don’t give it enough financial support to avoid stagnation and content droughts.

But I also strongly suspect that Toonami lived on the graces of companies like FUNimation, Aniplex and Viz Media and that’s simply not going to continue in the current climate. Those sweet deals they got are a distant memory now.

And if we add onto that a hesitation to try untested anime that they’re not co-producing, we can only speculate what if anything they could get if they took more chances on unknown quantities. I don’t think they are so allergic to trying something different that they’re passing on every show that isn’t popular and I still want to believe they’re looking beyond the usual suspects but they can definitely stand to up their game in that area in particular. Made in Abyss feels like it was a miracle. Sentai has Gridman and Ass Class tier shows they can probably get if they asked.

[Jman]

DeMarco has been doing this for decades, and while "DeMarco's shit taste" is a meme around these parts, the fact is, if you've done a certain thing for decades and then the system you relied on got completely upended only a few years back, you'd have difficulty adjusting too.  (Keep in mind DeMarco is shorthand for the people at Toonami, DeMarco himself is probably busy with his animated ashcan LOTR film).  He doesn't trust the older material or the current material Sentai has for whatever reason, presumably because it hasn't broken into the cultural zeitgeist on Twitter like so many of the Crunchyroll shows that would be guaranteed Toonami airings but now he has missed out on.  

DeMarco has made one thing very clear these past few months.  He is thinking quality over quantity.  Not counting shows that he probably was forced to air (I don't think he would have aired a kids show like Unicorn if he had a choice since he's gone on record about being forced to air the 2002 He-Man), DeMarco would rather wait months for the right show than take a chance on Sentai.

[PokeNirvash]

I mean, it's a sensible explanation, but at the same time...

Note that I'm directing this at Demarco, not you.

[CountFrylock]

11 hours ago, Sketch said:

We’ll probably never know how easy or difficult it is for Adult Swim to get various lesser known anime but I have a real hard time believing they’re unable to get anything besides Food Wars, Dr. Stone and this other thing they can’t announce for half a dang year.

Maybe their budget is so shit that they have to stretch a few shows to maintain even 4 premieres regularly. WBD certainly isn’t running like a well oiled machine yet. WBD acts like they value Toonami and promote it even outside of Adult Swim but don’t give it enough financial support to avoid stagnation and content droughts.

But I also strongly suspect that Toonami lived on the graces of companies like FUNimation, Aniplex and Viz Media and that’s simply not going to continue in the current climate. Those sweet deals they got are a distant memory now.

And if we add onto that a hesitation to try untested anime that they’re not co-producing, we can only speculate what if anything they could get if they took more chances on unknown quantities. I don’t think they are so allergic to trying something different that they’re passing on every show that isn’t popular and I still want to believe they’re looking beyond the usual suspects but they can definitely stand to up their game in that area in particular. Made in Abyss feels like it was a miracle. Sentai has Gridman and Ass Class tier shows they can probably get if they asked.

I Don't understand why WBD pretends to care about toonami and then doesn't do anything to prove it.....

[ben0119]

On 5/14/2023 at 10:36 AM, atomicinumatt said:

Yea, in terms of predictability, there is not much to go by aside from sequels and recent releases, and even then it is pretty hard to forecast what Toonami will get. 

Certain people will complain that [as] and Toonami do not advertise much and seem to get acquisitions on a whim, but they have pretty much always been that way, so what the issue? Haha I kind of like the out of the blue aspect!

I am basically in the same boat: I just want them to get new stuff, regardless of what it is. I am going to watch the Block either way! 

I don't know how much advertising help them, given that the places they could advertise won't be seen by the people who need to see it, anyway.  It's not like you're going to see Toonami ads on Crunchyroll or Hulu.  I don't think I've ever seen a Toonami ad on a website.  There are still people who even still watch regular TV who think Toonami is dead and never came back.  Those viewers are lost to them.  At this point, they should focus on keeping their current viewers happy, and they aren't doing a great job at that!

Yes, get ANYTHING!

On 5/14/2023 at 12:58 PM, Toonamiguy321 said:

Because we waited a LONG time for this announcement, and after all the stalling to have it end up being something that surprises no one is kind of a letdown. Is Dr Stone a bad pickup? Absolutely not. It just came at a time where it can’t possibly live up to the unintended hype Demarco has been building up around it. 

A lot of us occasionally want to be able to say “wow, I can’t believe Toonami is airing THAT” but we rarely get the chance. As we saw right here, they would rather stall for months waiting for a sequel rather than give something fresh a chance. 

That is a stupid thing to complain about.  We should be happy they get ANYTHING, which they can't even do that.  To me, it would be even more of a letdown if it's some show I never heard of and doesn't appeal to me.  And even if it did appeal to me, I don't see how an "unknown" lives up to hype for most people. 

In fact, I remember people losing their shit when Kekkaishi was picked up instead of 3 other popular shows fans wanted Adult Swim to get back then, and the show was unfairly maligned on the boards because of it. 

It would be nice to have something to watch, but that doesn't mean it will live up to hype. 

The only stuff that could live up to this hype would have been Bleach: TYBW, Gundam: Witch From Mercury, shows of that tier, and they can't get the latter.

I agree they should focus on getting what they can, instead of holding out for their "wishlist," as you guys said, some of which they may never be able to get anyway.

On 5/15/2023 at 1:43 AM, Sketch said:

We’ll probably never know how easy or difficult it is for Adult Swim to get various lesser known anime but I have a real hard time believing they’re unable to get anything besides Food Wars, Dr. Stone and this other thing they can’t announce for half a dang year.

Maybe their budget is so shit that they have to stretch a few shows to maintain even 4 premieres regularly. WBD certainly isn’t running like a well oiled machine yet. WBD acts like they value Toonami and promote it even outside of Adult Swim but don’t give it enough financial support to avoid stagnation and content droughts.

But I also strongly suspect that Toonami lived on the graces of companies like FUNimation, Aniplex and Viz Media and that’s simply not going to continue in the current climate. Those sweet deals they got are a distant memory now.

And if we add onto that a hesitation to try untested anime that they’re not co-producing, we can only speculate what if anything they could get if they took more chances on unknown quantities. I don’t think they are so allergic to trying something different that they’re passing on every show that isn’t popular and I still want to believe they’re looking beyond the usual suspects but they can definitely stand to up their game in that area in particular. Made in Abyss feels like it was a miracle. Sentai has Gridman and Ass Class tier shows they can probably get if they asked.

Yes, Sketch, that is just the issue.  A similar thing has been said about companies in general, who were unable to react and adapt to covid and the supply chain issues.  These were companies that were used to things being done a certain way for a long time, and always having a clear, open road in front of them. 

Then when something goes wrong, they don't know how to react to it.  Demarco was used to getting those good deals from Funimation, Aniplex (is there an issue with them now too, they were always part of Sony,) Viz (don't know why they would be a problem now) and now they don't know how to handle it.

Remember when Demarco said they had made changes and had plans in place so this show drought wouldn't happen again this year?  LOL.

[Sketch]

Aniplex was SUPER reliable until Demon Slayer broke box office records and Sony decided to leverage its value. There was that brief period when Hulu secured some Aniplex titles exclusively but that much like Sailor Moon with Viz Meda didn't at all mean they stopped shopping their series to Toonami. Suddenly they were acting like Crunchyroll did when it was owned by WarnerMedia. It feels like Sony looked at how Crunchyroll did business and decided all of their companies should learn from them. Even though FUNimation bought Crunchyroll (not the other way around despite the CR brand being the one going forward) and ex-FUNimation staff taking over CR, the company hasn't acted much at all like the FUNimation we once knew.

When they bought The Right Stuf they also seemed to have complicated Adult Swim's prior ability to get Gundam series directly from Sunrise in Japan (unless G Witch is just a unique circumstance). Somehow they have been able to wrangle MHA season 6, Food Wars season 5 and Dr. Stone season 3 but Demon Slayer and Mob Psycho 100 seasons 2 and 3 remain out of reach while Toonami doesn't even get a sniff of the new era of shounen including Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, Jujutsu Kaisen, MASHLE and Hell's Paradise. And it also doesn't look likely that Megalobox: Nomad or SSSS.Dynazenon will be gracing the block any time soon either.

It's hard to say what is going on with Viz Media now. They sold Toonami the dub premieres of HxH, JoJo Parts 3, 4 and 5, One-Punch Man, Megalobox and Boruto as soon as they were available but Yasha-Hime broke that trend. They still let Toonami buy the broadcast rights but only after the episodes had streamed on FUNimation, Crunchyroll and Hulu. Bleach is another odd case because Disney bought the streaming rights outside of Japan but Viz supposedly has the master license outside of Japan and that would mean Viz sold those rights to Disney. We have no idea if that's going to stay an exclusive deal or not. As for everything else they have (which frankly isn't much) it would not be surprising if Adult Swim wasn't interested in any of it or don't want to pay whatever Viz is asking for them.

That leaves Sentai as the best partner they can reach out to right now and while they don't have many huge hits they have some modest ones besides Made in Abyss that Toonami really ought to throw on for the sake of variety.