Contemplating near-future Toonami schedule developments

[Sketch]

We sorta let this conversation occur across multiple threads but it would be nice to hash it out in one place.

Here's what we know but anything is subject to change:

FLCL Grunge premieres September 9th

Uzumaki is supposedly airing this year and probably premiering in Japanese with English subtitles like Rick & Morty: The Anime

Ninja Kamui and Lazarus are aiming for next year, FLCL Shoegaze's release window is TBA so probably not this year

FLCL Classic ends on August 19th

Dr. Stone: New World Part 1 ends on August 26th, Part 2 won't start on Crunchyroll until October

One Piece's current filler arc ends on August 26th the very next episode would begin the 100+ episode Dressrosa arc

My Adventures with Superman "season" ends on September 2nd if it's 10 episodes and that's Labor Day Weekend, "season 2" is in development with no release window confirmed

The only acquisitions they added this year besides potentially more Naruto: Shippuden and more One Piece were Food Wars: The Fifth Plate and Dr. Stone: New World and My Hero Academia Season 6 was picked up toward the end of last year

Season 7 of My Hero Academia is in development but no release window has been confirmed

Anything beyond that is pretty much just speculation and there's plenty to speculate about

[Toonamiguy321]

I think the most interesting thing we have coming up is on 9/9, there is going to be 3 separate empty slots. They will throw some filler for a week where FLCL is, and Superman will air over Labor Day as all AS premier/Toonami rerun shows do. But as we have seen in the past, they really hate to double dip on a premier night, let alone triple dip on a night where one of the shows is an original. How they will handle that is anyone’s guess, they may have their hand forced on a mass premier night on 9/9 because I don’t see a realistic way they can cover an hour for one week. 
 

Timeslot wise, seems like all originals are going at midnight, so if Grunge isn’t the midnight show I’d be pretty shocked. Only way I could see it is if they got a certified triple A acquisition like Bleach to take midnight. The 1a slot could be anything. 
 

As far as what acquisitions we could see, there is basically zero info to go on. There are no sequels that were recently released, so they either need to go backwards to something like Bleach, or do what they fear most, branch out to an untested title. We do know from Demarco’s past statements that Eizouken was something he really wanted, so if that tweet ends up being something more I won’t be shocked. Other than that, there are zero hints at what they could be looking at. 
 

As much as I’d love for it to go away, I don’t believe we will be so fortunate to see One Piece hit the road before its worst arc starts. That would be 4 openings on 9/9, I don’t even have faith they can handle 2. 
 

I believe Uzumaki will probably follow up Grunge immediately at completion. I think they are opting for this sub premier because they can’t pull the dub together before that point and they don’t want to delay the show for another full year. So they are just coming out with what they have. 
 

There is always a chance there is nothing besides Grunge and they are going to chop off an hour. But as much as I love to be a doomer, I don’t really see that after they just dropped the details on another original. Gotta be a Toonami to air that stuff on.

[MasqueradeOverture]

My müstaché is tickling my brain

[Jman]

12 minutes ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

My müstaché is tickling my brain

You should shave it down.

[Jman]

I think we shouldn’t expect anything new.  Everything that is announced, with liberal reruns, should cover this year.  The one wildcard is One Piece, with no announcement of a renewal yet.

[Sketch]

They don't usually announce renewals and frankly even starting Dressrosa is no indication that they'll air much or most of it. There's that rumor (not sure where it originated) they got 150 episodes back in 2022. Dressrosa starts at 630 so they'd get to 667 if it was 150 episodes starting at 517. Though it might be 668 or 669 depending on if the Toriko cross-over episodes are included (590 which aired and 542 which didn't) either way we'll get at least 37 episodes of Dressrosa. At the click of once a week that's gonna last 3/4ths of a year while Shippuden will last 48 more weeks.

Acquisitions have become a real mystery at this point.

We have a handful of speculative points:

1) Crunchyroll is not selling more shows to Toonami because...
a) They price them out of Toonami range regardless of how big of the show is
b) They only price Toonami out of big series and Toonami just doesn't look at others that are affordable
c) They want to keep their dubs exclusive to their platform
d) They will sell to the highest bidder and if its not Toonami then tough shit

The fact that Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, Mob-Psycho 100 and Demon Slayer dubs are on Hulu and the fact that MHA, Dr. Stone and Food Wars continued on Toonami means they will come to the table under certain circumstances. Those circumstances either being existing agreements and/or some push from the Japanese side that don't want shows to be limited to one platform. We know they're interested in Jujutsu Kaisen, Gundam: The Witch from Mercury and some other Crunchyroll licenses. They haven't been able to secure them yet but they are probably still trying for at least some of them. Is that causing tunnel vision where Toonami doesn't look beyond their check list? That may or may not be the case.

2) Toonami can get some shows from Sentai and Viz Media but they aren't doing so because...
a) Toonami see's nothing they want from them
b) Toonami might like some of them but don't like the price vs the perceived value, sequels and related series are easier sells
c) They will sell to the highest bidder and if its not Toonami then tough shit

There's no telling what at all Toonami is interested in from either Sentai or Viz or if the price is almost never right these days unless its a sequel or spin-off and Made in Abyss season 1 was a total fluke made in desperation to fill a slot. Why didn't they get Urusei Yatsura? Are they still trying to get it? Are they looking at anything else besides Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War? There's really no telling at this point.

3) Toonami will without question conserve their acquisition budget whenever they can because...
a) They're saving with the expectation that a big fish will become available
b) Their acquisition budget is likely drastically cut back from what it was between 2015 and 2019
c) They see they can coast on basically nothing so they don't look to fill openings sooner

Thinking about how Toonami would have even functioned this year if they were not allowed to encore Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and My Adventures with Superman... What would they have even done? Did having the option push them to rely on those shows or were they the block's saving grace because Toonami really didn't have the budget for a headliner this Summer? 

4) Toonami is moving away from acquisitions almost entirely as they focus on producing original series
a) They won't completely abandon acquisitions because its still hard to fill even two hours with "new" content without them but they will be less and less reliant on them
b) They'll continue to focus on sequels and spin-offs for acquired shows and any new big fish they can actually get

Obviously they don't need as many acquisitions when they are making several of their own shows but we've seen how anemic the lineup can be when they're waiting for the next original. It seems to be their game plan moving forward and they're hoping not to have as much downtime between originals. Is the acquisition focused era of Toonami all but over? It very well could be. Shout out to Brianycpht for this discussion point.

5) What's WBD's deal with Toonami anyway?
a) How much financial support is Zas' company willing to throw Toonami's way?
b) Does the company only see Toonami as an anime platform and will only make anime for it?
c) What current and upcoming WBD content is Toonami allowed to air?

Since Discovery merged with WarnerMedia we have seen a greater emphasis on advertising Toonami and even advertising on other networks and a WB animated series is airing on Toonami regularly for the first time since Beware the Batman was burned off in 2014 but the block's schedule looks abysmal and they have only acquired two shows (both sequel seasons) in the first half of the year. Is the vast DC library of films and animated series finally in Toonami's reach or will only the occasional series or film squeak through? We don't seem any closer to having Young Justice on the block or a regular run of Harley Quinn anywhere on Adult Swim but maybe Creature Commandos isn't out of the question?

If WBD has enough faith in Toonami to demand advertising, sign off on several block specific IDs  and throw money at original productions then why isn't the acquisition budget healthier? Feels like a trial by fire where they have to prove they're worth keeping around without spending much money. Following up on the previous point, WBD probably see's Toonami's future as a platform for original anime and not much else. Maybe anime on HBO Max wasn't the boon they hoped it would be but other adult targeted animation shows more promise as streaming exclusives? That's believable enough but it's annoying to see Toonami's scope continue to be limited by the company that owns it. I suppose its better than the company seeing absolutely no value in the brand but how much better is that when Toonami continues to look anemic and offers very little to its current viewership? A healthy future is hard pressed to come from an unhealthy present.

[Toonamiguy321]

27 minutes ago, Sketch said:

4) Toonami is moving away from acquisitions almost entirely as they focus on producing original series
a) They won't completely abandon acquisitions because its still hard to fill even two hours with "new" content without them but they will be less and less reliant on them
b) They'll continue to focus on sequels and spin-offs for acquired shows and any new big fish they can actually get

Obviously they don't need as many acquisitions when they are making several of their own shows but we've seen how anemic the lineup can be when they're waiting for the next original. It seems to be their game plan moving forward and they're hoping not to have as much downtime between originals. Is the acquisition focused era of Toonami all but over? It very well could be. Shout out to Brianycpht for this discussion point.

I think there is a lot of truth to this one. Back when we were getting the first FLCL sequels, Demarco talked about wanting the block to be more subsistent on its own productions. And people were somewhat responsive to the idea because they had yet to see how bad the content Demarco makes is. Back then, it seemed impossible because they had 4-5 hours to fill and the project announcements were few and far between. Now though, it could be more realistic. Let’s say hypothetically, they do chop it down to 2 hours. 

12 - Original

12:30 - One Piece

1 - Naruto

1:30 - Rerun

Of course, even with everything they announced, there aren’t anywhere near enough originals to fill the lead for a full year. So they occasionally tag in 1-2 acquired (likely sequel) series in just so people can’t accuse them of completely abandoning acquired content. 

I get the vibe that the new brass just thinks acquired content is a waste of money. Even if they don’t cut an hour, I could see UWE and Superman tagging in for a rerun hour on 9/9. What the brass fails to understand is the same thing they failed to understand in 2008, if your extremely small offering of content doesn’t appeal to the audience, they won’t tune in for any of it. When the block is better stocked, you have better odds of people turning out for one show, which also leads them to consider sticking around for 1-2 other shows they may be on the fence on just because they are already watching. 

[Top Gun]

Very impressive write-up. One tiny correction: Food Wars was a Sentai series, not Crunchyroll.

[Sketch]

8 minutes ago, Top Gun said:

Very impressive write-up. One tiny correction: Food Wars was a Sentai series, not Crunchyroll.

It's complicated.

Food Wars seasons 1 and 2 were an instance when Crunchyroll and Sentai both picked up the simulcast streaming rights (so it wasn't exclusive) and Sentai got the home video and (I think) the merchandising license once that was available and dubbed it. Seasons 3 onward are a different story where Crunchyroll snatched up the master license and then for the dub and home video release it was sublicensed to Sentai. My friend theorized Crunchyroll (when both companies were owned by AT&T) worked with Toonami to secure Food Wars but it's equally likely that Toonami went directly Sentai for the first two seasons. But with season 3 onward they absolutely were dealing with Crunchyroll because they were the ones who had the TV rights and Sentai just dubbed it for them and released it on home video. CR having control the license is one reason why the dub for season 4 was on HBO Max but still isn't on HiDive. Actually because of some rights losses Food Wars seasons 1 and 2 are no longer on CR (season 2 doesn't seem to be on HiDive either) and Food Wars season 3, 4 and 5 are exclusive to Crunchyroll. Bizarrely only the dub of season 4 is on CR and not the dubs for seasons 3 and 4.

[Top Gun]

Huh, weird.

[Sketch]

2 hours ago, Top Gun said:

Huh, weird.

It is indeed very weird. Such a needlessly tangled web of rights.

[brianycpht]

I’m guessing also they got a commitment from AS to share UWE Superman and Rick Anime and that caused them to back off having to look for new lead shows 

Also, the ratings haven’t been terrible despite all this and that’s taken the pressure off them to look for new things 

WBD’s tendency to be cheap could see a lack of value in an acquisition that doesn’t have reuse potential or max streaming
 

I also think it’s always going to be easier to get approved to acquire a known entity or even if it’s an average performer because of predictability. If they have Lupin show available to air, they’ll always pick that over a brand new show because they have some idea of how it’ll perform vs risk something else bombing entirely
 

So in my estimation, there is an intention to some of this vs them just continuing to chase dead end deals. 

If WBD is serious about Toonami’s future, throw them some stuff to keep them going. DC stuff, I think Scavengers should be a simul premiere also if they are trying to showcase the block

[Jman]

The problem with acquisition is that it’s temporary, and in the increasingly segregated ecosystems of streaming based systems, getting something from AMC (Sentai) or Crunchyroll when others outbid them makes less sense than doing stuff in-house they can own.  I don’t think the segregation will be permanent, there’s rumors by next year Paramount will sell, likely to Netflix, but for now, Warner wants stuff they can own, and potentially write off for taxes.

And I get it from a business perspective.  Toonami has no budget, so why spend it trying to outbid Netflix or Hulu when it would be more straightforward to just make something from the ground up?  That’s the theory, in practice we have pointless FLCL sequels no one wants.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Jman

[brianycpht]

46 minutes ago, Jman said:

The problem with acquisition is that it’s temporary, and in the increasingly segregated ecosystems of streaming based systems, getting something from AMC (Sentai) or Crunchyroll when others outbid them makes less sense than doing stuff in-house they can own.  I don’t think the segregation will be permanent, there’s rumors by next year Paramount will sell, likely to Netflix, but for now, Warner wants stuff they can own, and potentially write off for taxes.

And I get it from a business perspective.  Toonami has no budget, so why spend it trying to outbid Netflix or Hulu when it would be more straightforward to just make something from the ground up?  That’s the theory, in practice we have pointless FLCL sequels no one wants.

Yeah. I can’t see them being too excited for a short term deal on something unless it’s paired with a multi year MAX agreement 

[Sketch]

Making originals makes sense financially and bidding against Hulu, Netflix and Amazon is foolhardy for the most part.

But there’s so many shows out there that could make it feel like Toonami isn’t content with the bare minimum. And wouldn’t it make sense to pair these originals with something else? Akudama Drive would have been perfect to pair with Black Lotus. GARO Vanishing Line would pair nicely with Ninja Kamui (also the same director). Pair FLCL Grunge with Land of the Lustrous (also CG) or Akudama Drive. It’s gonna be total mood whiplash to go from Lazarus or Ninja Kamui much less Uzumaki to One Piece. Yeah I realize they might be concerned that a new acquisition of high quality could upstage their own shows but that’s a lousy way to think about it anyway.

I’m expecting we’ll be down to 4 block premieres when Dr. Stone breaks but I’m hoping they have at least one acquisition joining in September.

As for avoiding a double or triple premiere while two slots open up on September 9th there is one obvious solution. They finally air the Attack on Titan special. The next Saturday after that is Batman Day weekend as well and they might run a movie like prior years, maybe even the weekend after as well. That breakdown would be this:

September 2nd - Superman then a marathon

September 9th - Grunge plus Titan special

September 16th - Grunge plus Batman Day Movie

September 23th - Regular lineup resumes plus new acquisition at 12:30 and Dr. Stone reruns

But if they ran another movie on the 23rd that takes them to September 30th which could lead the 12:30 slot to go to Uzumaki so it finishes before November. I only think they’ll overlap Grunge and Uzumaki if RickAniMorty replaces FLCL Grunge on October 21st, probably premiering Sunday October 15th or maybe Thursday the 19th or Wednesday the 18th since they are currently premiering Teenage Euthanasia on Wednesdays. The mid-week premieres are surely to appease Max. Another wild card being they might get to air Scavengers Reign on Toonami after it premieres on Max.

If Toonami doesn’t air RickAniMorty it would only make sense to run it right before Toonami so it makes an hour of subbed anime with Uzumaki. I imagine that’s what we would all prefer but once Uzumaki ends Toonami is without a headliner in November and December baring a major acquisition or Scavengers. Not a bad time to start Bleach if that’s what they’re thinking. 13-26 episodes of Bleach tides them over till Shoegaze and Ninja Kamui are ready.

But I’m rather hoping one of these openings go to Eizouken now that it is dubbed. That of course requires at least a bit of cooperation on Crunchyroll’s part and I doubt they’ll make it easy even though they themselves couldn’t be bothered to dub the show when it was sort of a hot commodity. Based Sentai to the rescue.

[Sketch]

I just got confirmed episode counts for Ninja Kamui (13) and RickAniMorty (10)

I’m at least a little surprised DeMarco gave me straight answers to both queries.

 

[PokeNirvash]

Cool beans.

I'm assuming both FLCLs will be 6 each. That seems about par for the course.

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, Sketch said:

Making originals makes sense financially and bidding against Hulu, Netflix and Amazon is foolhardy for the most part.

But there’s so many shows out there that could make it feel like Toonami isn’t content with the bare minimum. And wouldn’t it make sense to pair these originals with something else? Akudama Drive would have been perfect to pair with Black Lotus. GARO Vanishing Line would pair nicely with Ninja Kamui (also the same director). Pair FLCL Grunge with Land of the Lustrous (also CG) or Akudama Drive. It’s gonna be total mood whiplash to go from Lazarus or Ninja Kamui much less Uzumaki to One Piece. Yeah I realize they might be concerned that a new acquisition of high quality could upstage their own shows but that’s a lousy way to think about it anyway.

We know the big boys are at the table, but at the same time none of them really seem like they care to be there. They drop some racks on whatever their marketing team told them was popular, some like Disney and Netflix seem to throw a dart at a list of shows and take whatever they land on, regardless of how it meshes with their brand (think Disney and Heavenly Delusion) and then they go home. That leaves Toonami at the table without any steak and lobster, but they could still grab some potatoes so they don’t go home hungry. I highly doubt any of the big boys are making a serious play for Seasonal Isekai Slop #4790, so there are options, just not the ideal ones. 
 

And before someone says “bro isekai is le bad”, it’s not bad when you look at it from a POV of the current lineup. The worst isekai of the summer season (no, not the vending machine one), is a huge improvement over impending Dressrosa and Naruto filler. Or our second option, reruns. We are so many years beyond the point where the block can be picky, and being so picky has put us in this scenario where the worst things of the current season actually feel like they would be an upgrade for us. 

4 hours ago, Sketch said:

As for avoiding a double or triple premiere while two slots open up on September 9th there is one obvious solution. They finally air the Attack on Titan special. The next Saturday after that is Batman Day weekend as well and they might run a movie like prior years, maybe even the weekend after as well. That breakdown would be this:

September 2nd - Superman then a marathon

September 9th - Grunge plus Titan special

September 16th - Grunge plus Batman Day Movie

September 23th - Regular lineup resumes plus new acquisition at 12:30 and Dr. Stone reruns

I really don’t think it’s a good idea for the block to get into another end of year rut where the normal schedule only airs once a month. We really don’t need to be taking time off for Labor Day, but since we are, they should aspire to keep things normal till Halloween. Another weekend we don’t need to be pausing for, but you know they will. 

[Sketch]

Ideally they have their ducks in enough of a row that they actually premiere the Titan special on Labor Day weekend and launch a 2nd show with Grunge on the 9th. That's the least disruptive way they can run the Titan special before they swap in some fresh shows.

Shit on Dressrosa's pacing all you want but its not a badly written story and has several great moments. Of all the seasons you're suggesting they get an isekai from... this one... really? Jobless Reincarnation season 2 and Vending Machine aside the isekai this season are so so so so uninspired. But of course Crunchyroll got all of them which is the usual problem.

If they have to deal with Crunchyroll they are better off looking at stuff like DECA-DENCE, Akudama Drive, GARO, The Case Study of Vanitas, Ranking of Kings, LINK CLICK, BACK ARROW, 86, SABIKUI BISCO, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Psycho-Pass, Revenger, Golden Kamuy and many others. And some more recent isekai that aren't garbage but not well known like Skeleton Knight in Another World, Cautious Hero and Combatants will be Dispatched are fine picks as well.

Sentai has some isekai worth considering though. The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Reincarnated as a Sword and The Eminence in the Shadow for 3.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Sketch

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Sketch said:

Ideally they have their ducks in enough of a row that they actually premiere the Titan special on Labor Day weekend and launch a 2nd show with Grunge on the 9th. That's the least disruptive way they can run the Titan special before they swap in some fresh shows.

Shit on Dressrosa's pacing all you want but its not a badly written story and has several great moments. Of all the seasons you're suggesting they get an isekai from... this one... really? Jobless Reincarnation season 2 and Vending Machine aside the isekai this season are so so so so uninspired. But of course Crunchyroll got all of them which is the usual problem.

If they have to deal with Crunchyroll they are better off looking at stuff like DECA-DENCE, Akudama Drive, GARO, The Case Study of Vanitas, Ranking of Kings, LINK CLICK, BACK ARROW, 86, SABIKUI BISCO, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Psycho-Pass, Revenger, Golden Kamuy and many others. And some more recent isekai that aren't garbage but not well known like Skeleton Knight in Another World, Cautious Hero and Combatants will be Dispatched are fine picks as well.

Sentai has some isekai worth considering though. The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Reincarnated as a Sword and The Eminence in the Shadow for 3.

My thought on AoT is it’s either going to air back to back with its second half during a special night, or it’s not going to air at all. It’s been ready for months, I really don’t see them saving it for a certain time and instead just can’t air it for whatever reason. 
 

I’d really rather we not have to rely on garbage isekai, I was simply illustrating a point that the most generic, uninspired, forgettable isekai of the season is an upgrade over Dressrosa, Naruto filler, or nothing. One Piece fans always say it has “great moments” but omit the part where it takes 25+ episodes of crap to get to that moment, often which amounts to maybe 2 minutes of quality. We could get through an entire trash isekai before One Piece does one memorable thing. At least a garbage isekai packs its bags after 12 weeks, and if it has just one enjoyable moment in that timeframe, it did its job. 
 

With the sheer volume of isekai on the market, I feel like the odds of Demarco landing on an irredeemable one are low, even if he picks entirely at random. Last season over half of ALL anime released was isekai. There’s no way all of them can be bad. 

[Jman]

Anime hits in the US sometime boil down to dumb luck.  How else does My Happy Marriage become a Netflix Top 10 performer while Baki ends up one of the most popular shows in the country?  That being said DeMarco has made his distaste for isekai well known.

[Sketch]

4 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

My thought on AoT is it’s either going to air back to back with its second half during a special night, or it’s not going to air at all. It’s been ready for months, I really don’t see them saving it for a certain time and instead just can’t air it for whatever reason. 
 

I’d really rather we not have to rely on garbage isekai, I was simply illustrating a point that the most generic, uninspired, forgettable isekai of the season is an upgrade over Dressrosa, Naruto filler, or nothing. One Piece fans always say it has “great moments” but omit the part where it takes 25+ episodes of crap to get to that moment, often which amounts to maybe 2 minutes of quality. We could get through an entire trash isekai before One Piece does one memorable thing. At least a garbage isekai packs its bags after 12 weeks, and if it has just one enjoyable moment in that timeframe, it did its job. 
 

With the sheer volume of isekai on the market, I feel like the odds of Demarco landing on an irredeemable one are low, even if he picks entirely at random. Last season over half of ALL anime released was isekai. There’s no way all of them can be bad. 

Why would they run both AoT movies on one night when they can make it an event two separate weeks and then probably re-air both together on a holiday weekend? They gotta try to get as much out of two specials as they can.

Give One Piece some credit, even when it's literally a chapter per episode usually something of interest happens every chapter. Dressrosa doesn't start out slow as shit and a lot is going on but the fight with Doflamingo which is broken up via numerous flashbacks (all rather good stuff) drags on and on and on and on and on.

Truly most isekai are just mid as it gets and relatively few are absolutely terrible.

[Toonamiguy321]

7 minutes ago, Sketch said:

Why would they run both AoT movies on one night when they can make it an event two separate weeks and then probably re-air both together on a holiday weekend? They gotta try to get as much out of two specials as they can.

Give One Piece some credit, even when it's literally a chapter per episode usually something of interest happens every chapter. Dressrosa doesn't start out slow as shit and a lot is going on but the fight with Doflamingo which is broken up via numerous flashbacks (all rather good stuff) drags on and on and on and on and on.

Truly most isekai are just mid as it gets and relatively few are absolutely terrible.

I know I call out their dumb scheduling often, but even I don’t think they are dumb enough to think they can run those specials more than one time. Maybe they toss them on as filler for one of their certain marathon nights,  but that’s just a guarantee of cratered numbers. 

Idk, I just figure with this being the actual for real end of AoT, they would make a big event over the finale. It’s -1 week of content in exchange for being able to promote a cool event, something they don’t get to do very often anymore. 

I dunno man, we have been chilling on Punk Hazard for what, 9 months? And I can count on my hands occurrences that were actually cool/interesting/well animated. If you aren’t a die hard fan of One Piece (or any anime) only the truly stand out moments are going to be worthwhile. And what hardcore OP fan is gonna subject themselves to this torture session a second time? This is certified “read the manga” territory. 

Most isekai are mid, I agree. It’s a genre that somehow despite gross oversaturation, manages to rarely fumble completely. But so many boil down to just being a fantasy adventure, often with the isekai element being tacked on in a way that is tossed out after the first episode. But you know what? Mid is a big step up from where Toonami has been lately. 
 

4 hours ago, Jman said:

That being said DeMarco has made his distaste for isekai well known.

I admire his tenacity on the matter, but when the isekai craze is in year 7 with no signs of slowing down and entire anime seasons are literally half isekai, it might be time to just cave and give people what they apparently want. Especially when the other half of anime houses a lot of that super popular stuff that is now off limits. If they could get some stuff from the past few years that is NOT isekai, that would be the ideal path forward. But if they feel like they gotta draw from current year anime, it’s gonna be isekai or nothing. 

[Sketch]

That's where The Eminence in the Shadow comes in. The second season is airing right now and they're simuldubbing it. The first season ran 20 episodes between October of 2022 and February of 2023. Plenty of episodes and not even a full year old yet.

If it's anything, I would say overall way more interesting stuff happens in Dressrosa than either Fishman Island or Punk Hazard those arcs are just significantly shorter and still have needlessly dragged out conclusions. But by comparison to that Zou is a breath of fresh air and Whole Cake is more fun than Dressrosa and also hinges tremendously on the relationships of the Straw Hats which is where some of the best moments in One Piece come from so I'd easily rank them higher than Dressrosa.

[Sketch]

While I'm not hopeful for more than maybe 1 acquisition for the rest of the year one series if they can get one new thing then maybe it's ZOM 100. Viz licensed it and it's getting dubbed. It is streaming on Hulu, CR and Netflix so it's not exclusive. It could definitely live'n up the line-up.

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, Sketch said:

While I'm not hopeful for more than maybe 1 acquisition for the rest of the year one series if they can get one new thing then maybe it's ZOM 100. Viz licensed it and it's getting dubbed. It is streaming on Hulu, CR and Netflix so it's not exclusive. It could definitely live'n up the line-up.

That would also be an appropriate fit for the fall months. 
 

Something I think we have forgotten about was the show promised way back in April. I wonder if that’s still on the table or if they are just hoping everyone forgets they made that promise. 

[brianycpht]

27 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

That would also be an appropriate fit for the fall months. 
 

Something I think we have forgotten about was the show promised way back in April. I wonder if that’s still on the table or if they are just hoping everyone forgets they made that promise. 

Next time he has an AMA, someone should ask him 

[OwlChemist81]

Breaking News (called it)

 

[Blatch]

Wow, finally. And I guess I'll be ponying up to watch the Grunge premiere live.

[PokeNirvash]

Who wouldn't have called it?

[OwlChemist81]

That it would be coming eventually? No one. That it would be coming in September instead of months earlier? Long shot.

[OwlChemist81]

Welp...

MHA still at 2:30? Or is Toonami really down to 2.5 hours? I guess we'll find out!

[Blatch]

5 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

MHA still at 2:30? Or is Toonami really down to 2.5 hours? I guess we'll find out!

Doesn't change the fact that we'll soon be down to only three premieres, but nice.

[MCPissPants]

Everyone rooting for Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach, Spy X Family and/or Chainsaw Man massivly disappointed. Anyone hoping for a Viz or Sentai show massively disappointed. Toonami seems like an original dumping ground now rather than the place for hot new shonen except they did manage to lock the dub of Attack on Titan in Toonami Jail for months without even airing it, pissing off dub streamers. Man 2023 has sucked considering this was the year of Food Wars season 5 being a "highlight." Maybe Uzumaki redeems 2023 and becomes their first big hit original and does what those other Junji Ito anime couldn't do. 

[MasqueradeOverture]

I know of a perfect show: It starts with the letter R

and it's about something else that starts with R

[CountFrylock]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:15 PM, MCPissPants said:

Everyone rooting for Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach, Spy X Family and/or Chainsaw Man massivly disappointed. Anyone hoping for a Viz or Sentai show massively disappointed. Toonami seems like an original dumping ground now rather than the place for hot new shonen except they did manage to lock the dub of Attack on Titan in Toonami Jail for months without even airing it, pissing off dub streamers. Man 2023 has sucked considering this was the year of Food Wars season 5 being a "highlight." Maybe Uzumaki redeems 2023 and becomes their first big hit original and does what those other Junji Ito anime couldn't do. 

Those shows were likely too expensive for toonami to acquire anyways I think many fans keep forgetting the toonami crew is a small staff with low funds to throw at acquisitions 

[MCPissPants]

1 hour ago, CountFrylock said:

Those shows were likely too expensive for toonami to acquire anyways I think many fans keep forgetting the toonami crew is a small staff with low funds to throw at acquisitions 

If this were 2019, they would have been guaranteed pickups. It's just that the block went to shit once the calendar hit 2020 and things have never been the same. People are so used to how they used to be that the new status quo is upsetting.

[Jman]

It used to be mutually beneficial for all sides to air their wares on Toonami, now it’s unnecessary.

[MCPissPants]

11 minutes ago, Jman said:

It used to be mutually beneficial for all sides to air their wares on Toonami, now it’s unnecessary.

I know cable is dying barely 150K people watch Toonami anymore. Maybe Toonami's inability to get acquisitions wouldn't sting as much if the first batch of originals didn't suck so much.

[CountFrylock]

Aside from toonami there really isn’t a place for anime on cable television which tells you how much things have changed 

[Jman]

36 minutes ago, CountFrylock said:

Aside from toonami there really isn’t a place for anime on cable television which tells you how much things have changed 

No, every streaming service just needs a good amount of the stuff for value.

[CountFrylock]

4 hours ago, Jman said:

No, every streaming service just needs a good amount of the stuff for value.

Aside from Hulu and Netflix the other major streaming services don’t really dabble in anime that much 

Edited August 22, 2023 by CountFrylock