Missed Opportunities of Toonami History

[Mr. Idea Box]

Due to the lack of action, no pun intended, I thought I'd make a new thread:

Has there ever been a thing you wanted to see happen on Toonami, but it never came to be?

Before anyone mentions them, I know about the whole "Sony Jail" and "Netflix Jail" claims. To prevent those from being spammed in this thread, I'm hoping to hear from older Toonami viewers who grew up watching it on Cartoon Network.

[viperxmns]

Yea there's a bunch of shows I woulda liked to see on the block, I know for a fact DeMarco would've wanted to get RahXephon, for one

I wouldve liked to see Gundam X if it were possible, or Turn A

[Top Gun]

It feels like an absolute crime that [as]/Toonami never got to air Escaflowne proper, only the (very different) movie version. An all-time classic Sunrise fantasy mecha, with a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno at the top of her game...it would have been a natural fit.

[Toonamiguy321]

When the block came back in 2012, Panty and Stocking and Madoka seemed like 2 shows that should have been in their immediate sights. But no we had to waste money on Naruto reruns. 
 

And on the matter of long runners, not that I wanted it, but Fairy Tail seemed like it would have been an obvious pick for them, especially knowing their love for 3 digit episode count shows. Had they gotten it in 2012, they would have been very close to premiering it in 2015-2016. 

[PokeNirvash]

Technically ACTN as opposed to Toonami, but I think it would've been neat if they aired Gungrave in '05 as part of their package deal with Champloo instead of Paranoia Agent.

[Jman]

During the OG Toonami days, there were three shows that the crew wanted that random buyouts prevented from happening - Slayers, which Fox Kids bought but never aired (because Lord knows there was no way around all the flat-chest jokes made at Lina's expense when she's the main character and everyone makes them),Vision of Escaflowne which Fox bought, but then gave up on because there was no way to edit the thing to their standards, and Magic Knight Rayearth, which Fox didn't buy, but was the result of some rather nasty infighting with Sega and the original rights holder since they thought it could have been a big show in tandem with a Sega Saturn game, but by the time they had finished arguing, the window had long since passed and the game was eventually just thrown to Working Designs as the Saturn's last official Western release.  I think any of those would have been ideal, with my only concern being how much better Toonami would have been with the flat-chest jokes in Slayers.

The AS Action era?  Where do I start?  How about half the stuff that ADV or Genon had but didn't meet their punishing standards for taste?  Look, I may have substantially softened on Paranoia Agent over the years, but to say it wasn't the right show for the Action block at the time was a gross understatement.  Or Moribito, the show they dumped at 3am and their one ad for said "this is going to flop, but we're gonna air it anyway."  Was it any wonder they were all set to phase out anime before the Toonami block prank injected life back into the viewership?  Being a fan of anime with AS action as your only source of material sometimes felt like being in a bad relationship.  They knew they were the only game in town save the time AniMonday was a thing, and they were happy to lord it over the viewership.  I think that's part of what screwed them over long term, they were so militant about being the only option, when streaming came along, and didn't beat you over the head about how you should be ashamed of watching this crap, they had no real way to present themselves as attractive, not helped by making their audience hyper-aware of the ratings and the effect it had on programming, then whining when the fans became self-taught experts on Nielsen graphs.  

[OwlChemist81]

Moribito's first season (first 10 episodes) aired 3 episodes at 1:30 AM, but then they relegated 4-10 to 5:30 AM before they eventually re-aired it at 1:30 AM, going right into Season 2, but that was eventually bumped to 2:30 AM at like Episode 16 in favor of one last power-hour of OG FMA at 1:30 AM.

Don't recall it ever airing at 3 AM...

[PokeNirvash]

It got booted to a far later timeslot than its original(s), Owl. That's the point he was trying to make, accuracy be damned.

[Sketch]

How about some non-anime?

Legion of Super Heroes was supposed to air on CN presumably on Toonami but it never did. I know the first season wasn’t highly regarded but the second season was quite a bit better. CN never aired the better seasons of The Batman either.

Before it was confirmed for Kids WB the show that would eventually become Spectacular Spider-Man was potentially coming to CN. I think there was also a rumor that the MTV Spider-Man would rebroadcast on CN and possibly get another season. A real shame neither of those happened.

Speaking of shows that never existed, the first Toonami original was supposed to be an animated series based on the video game Centipede. That would have been something. And before Mirage sold the rights to 4Kids there was a pitch for a TMNT cartoon at WBA that would have aired on Kids WB and/or Cartoon Network. The production art had turtles that looked very Mirage Volume 1 inspired. 

Years later when the 4Kids TMNT was on CN it really irked me that they NEVER tried it on Toonami even after Miguzi cut it loose. They could have paired it with Naruto on Toonami and relied less on toyetic anime and extra Teen Titans reruns. Likewise it was so strange to me that X-Men: Evolution was never even used as filler on Saturday Toonami while Jackie Chan Adventures and 2003 Astroboy were. Transformers Animated would have been nice in 2008 too, it was on Jetstream but not on the block proper.

It freak’n sucks that Transformers: Beast Wars was only on Toonami for one week. Also very unfortunate that The Centurions, SWAT Kats and The Pirates of Darkwater never aired on Toonami in the early days. They were on the afternoon action blocks that pre-dated Toonami but weren’t even tossed on Toonami as a temporary stop gap. Any of them would have fit the blocks vibe in 1998 better than The Superfriends. They could have subbed in Silverhawks for that matter.

[Sketch]

On 3/19/2024 at 7:43 PM, Top Gun said:

It feels like an absolute crime that [as]/Toonami never got to air Escaflowne proper, only the (very different) movie version. An all-time classic Sunrise fantasy mecha, with a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno at the top of her game...it would have been a natural fit.

I really thought they would get the remaster but for whatever reason they didn’t. Sure, jump at the chance to nab Paranoia Agent the second it’s available again but don’t get a remaster of one of your white whales from back in the day. Excellent use of budget DeMarco.

Some major “how the hell did you not get these?” anime for me are Tiger & Bunny and especially Blood Blockade Battlefront. T&B might have had complications for a time due to the advertising on character models but what’s the excuse for Blood Blockade? It’s freak’n perfect for Toonami and from the creator of Trigun. I can’t imagine they had no interest.

Honestly there’s too many anime to count which could have aired on Toonami. Still wondering if they even considered Ushio & Tora. It should be right up their alley.

[MasqueradeOverture]

Bible.

Fucking.

Black.

[Toonamiguy321]

4 hours ago, Sketch said:

I really thought they would get the remaster but for whatever reason they didn’t. Sure, jump at the chance to nab Paranoia Agent the second it’s available again but don’t get a remaster of one of your white whales from back in the day. Excellent use of budget DeMarco.

 

They seem to be (rightfully) skittish about any really old content that isn’t already associated with AS or Toonami. I have to wonder if they would have even gotten Paranoia Agent if not for Covid leaving them with various schedule gaps. 
 

Id imagine the reason BBB never made the cut is because it just came at the wrong time. Looks like the dub started mid 2015, so maybe they were more focused on cutting a deal with Sentai who had their first intro on the block a few months later. Really, that’s the answer for quite a few missed shows over the years. Just wasn’t room. And when there was room, it was yesterdays news. And the only reason the current block is more flexible is because CR won’t part with any of the hot shonen. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

How about some non-anime?

Sure, I would appreciate some non-anime examples.

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

Legion of Super Heroes was supposed to air on CN presumably on Toonami but it never did. I know the first season wasn’t highly regarded but the second season was quite a bit better. CN never aired the better seasons of The Batman either.

You'd think a pair of DC Comics cartoons would be a breeze to pick up.

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

Before it was confirmed for Kids WB the show that would eventually become Spectacular Spider-Man was potentially coming to CN. I think there was also a rumor that the MTV Spider-Man would rebroadcast on CN and possibly get another season. A real shame neither of those happened.

If either Spidey cartoon were on CN, it could have been given better marketing than the 2000s Fantastic Four cartoon.

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

Speaking of shows that never existed, the first Toonami original was supposed to be an animated series based on the video game Centipede. That would have been something. And before Mirage sold the rights to 4Kids there was a pitch for a TMNT cartoon at WBA that would have aired on Kids WB and/or Cartoon Network. The production art had turtles that looked very Mirage Volume 1 inspired.

I've heard of the Centipede cartoon in passing, but if the TMNT pitch was picked up, I think it would have made for better bedfellows with Justice League and Samurai Jack than with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

Years later when the 4Kids TMNT was on CN it really irked me that they NEVER tried it on Toonami even after Miguzi cut it loose. They could have paired it with Naruto on Toonami and relied less on toyetic anime and extra Teen Titans reruns. Likewise it was so strange to me that X-Men: Evolution was never even used as filler on Saturday Toonami while Jackie Chan Adventures and 2003 Astroboy were. Transformers Animated would have been nice in 2008 too, it was on Jetstream but not on the block proper.

More good points!

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

It freak’n sucks that Transformers: Beast Wars was only on Toonami for one week. Also very unfortunate that The Centurions, SWAT Kats and The Pirates of Darkwater never aired on Toonami in the early days. They were on the afternoon action blocks that pre-dated Toonami but weren’t even tossed on Toonami as a temporary stop gap. Any of them would have fit the blocks vibe in 1998 better than The Superfriends. They could have subbed in Silverhawks for that matter.

I'd argue that Fox Kids got scared of the new guy on the tube, which explains why they snatched up Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Then again, they would up as casualties in the Pokemon vs. Digimon war of the early aughts alongside Monster Rancher and Escaflowne, and the latter was already mentioned here.

Centurions, SWAT Kats, Dark Water, and Silverhawks, on the other hand? I'd argue those four shows could have given Cartoon Roulette a nice sendoff before the rights to Sailor Moon were up.

While we're at it, I'm dumbfounded as to why the Rising Sun block was revived at 2 AM in 2002. I get why, since airing Yogi Bear after Tenchi Muyo would have been whiplash for the three people up at that hour. But if I had my way, Hamtaro would have been a Rising Sun exclusive and still counted as a Toonami program by proxy.