What I Want To See Looking Forward...

[Mr. Idea Box]

Man, the next year and change is going to be rough for Toonami's bread and butter, isn't it?

My Hero Academia has a handful of manga chapters left, meaning Season 8 will likely be its last. Dr. Stone and Demon Slayer are starting to wrap up.

One Piece is looking to be a golden goose for Netflix, even if the Toonami run is hundreds of episodes behind the current age. Naruto Shippuden is ending in two months.

Scavengers Reign was sold for pennies on the dollar, making it strange bedfellows with Gear 5 Luffy.

People are still wary about Toonami Rewind's success, to the point where some people practically expect its programs to be dumped to the back alley of Saturday nights.

To say nothing about the American animated projects, which are all subject to being written off before they come out.

As such, during a tumultuous time for the Toonami legacy, and in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Saturday Night Toonami, I want to voice my opinions for what I do (and do not) want to see looking forward.

1.) More Programming Variety

This seems to be a catch-all term, so let me elaborate. At this current junction on the Absolution, shows based on Shonen Jump properties take up between 7 and 9 time slots on two blocks, with at least three separate episodes given to Dragon Ball Z Kai alone. I think I can speak for the majority when I say the anime industry has moved beyond relying on Shonen manga for easy money. Magical girl properties like Pretty Cure and Jewelpet are seeing a comeback, while comedy manga can still find a footing in this modern market.

Barring that, I do hope for more American animation in Toonami's future, as My Adventures with Superman is successful enough to gain a third season. Yes, even with the impending rise of James Gunn. Heck, as long as I'm stating my desires, bring in animation from outside the West and East. I know that's a longshot, but there are animation studios from other countries besides Japan, United States, and Canada.

2.) An Expansion on Toonami Rewind

On the other end of the coin, I think Toonami Rewind is a great concept, getting to provide the next generation a taste of what the Toonami Faithful used to watch growing up. However, I feel like cutting into Checkered Past might not work going forward. Now that the third installment of Beavis and Butthead is moving to Comedy Central, I have a feeling The Mouse is itching to make FXX the exclusive home for adult animation. As such, expanding Toonami Rewind would be a great way to fill two more hours of airtime. In fact, try this on for size...

Monday Thru Thursday:

7.0: Samurai Jack

7.5: Sailor Moon

8.0: Dragon Ball Z Kai

8.5: Naruto Classic

Friday:

7.0: Invincible Fight Girl (New!)

7.5: Totally Spies (2024) (New!)

8.0: Dragon Ball Z Kai

8.5: InuYasha

Not exactly the best way to expand, but it still provides a respite from the work week. And if we have no choice but to air Invincible Fight Girl on Toonami, I'm honestly hoping they do it this way.

3.) Wasted Slot Potential

To wrap things up, here's something that I don't want to see. I do not want Toonami to consistently marathon one of their shows into the grave. It happened with the original Dragon Ball Z back in the early 2000s. It happened with Naruto three years later. And from the looks of things, it may be happening with Ninja Kamui nowadays.

Look, I get it. No one is watching television at 3 in the morning. I understand.

But do you have to fill in space with shows you just finished premiering? Honest question here.

If you don't want to shrink back to a two-hour block on Saturdays, that's perfectly fine. There's a lot of options just waiting at your fingertips.

Primal has a third season renewal, and that already has nearly half a year covered by itself.

Cowboy Bebop's never going away, and Toonami Rewind would censor some of the material.

If FLCL isn't getting new seasons anytime soon, reruns shall suffice. Ditto that for Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.

Heck, you guys have a second season of IGPX just waiting in the wings. Why don't you use that to fill space?

I guess what I want to say is...I want Toonami to last as long as possible, and the only way they can do that is by expanding their horizons. Hopefully, they can take these lessons to heart.

Or maybe they'll become even more stagnant than they were in 2008.

But what do I know? I'm just a guy on the Internet.

And if one Jeff Harris is keeping an eye open, you and your words matter more than you think. My two cents here.

[Toonamiguy321]

Demarco will do none of that. He is gonna keep chasing whatever Jump properties he can. Not having to consider saving money for sequel seasons of MHA, Dr Stone, etc might give them the budget flexibility for something like JJK. Of course, that will destroy the quality of the rest of the year since they are more than happy to spend the majority of the years budget on a single chase show just so Demarco can feel like his dying block still has some relevance. 
 

I wouldn’t expect Rewind to get longer so long as Fox shows are around. If AS was smart, their KotH and Bobs renewal contract were at least 5 years long. They know how rough things were in that brief window in 2021 when they lost Family Guy. We don’t even know if Rewind is doing well enough to keep its current time. 
 

Good news about IFG, I don’t think its trip to AS is set in stone. Shortly after the first leak about it moving to AS, some other insiders claimed that was not decided yet. Still some hope for it to get a proper home at least. 
 

Only reason Ninja Kamui is getting excessive reruns is cause it’s an original. And as a bonus other originals did not have, it has a Switch game to shill. It’s dumb, and makes a show people didn’t completely hate less appealing, but the suits want their ROI, and after the CR originals got written off mid rerun, I can see why they don’t want to risk a wait.

Tldr when these series end, Demarco will still be in charge and stupid as he ever was. He will chase shows he can’t get and we will have shit schedules for months at a time since he never had a fallback plan. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

50 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Demarco will do none of that. He is gonna keep chasing whatever Jump properties he can. Not having to consider saving money for sequel seasons of MHA, Dr Stone, etc might give them the budget flexibility for something like JJK. Of course, that will destroy the quality of the rest of the year since they are more than happy to spend the majority of the years budget on a single chase show just so Demarco can feel like his dying block still has some relevance. 
 

I wouldn’t expect Rewind to get longer so long as Fox shows are around. If AS was smart, their KotH and Bobs renewal contract were at least 5 years long. They know how rough things were in that brief window in 2021 when they lost Family Guy. We don’t even know if Rewind is doing well enough to keep its current time. 
 

Good news about IFG, I don’t think its trip to AS is set in stone. Shortly after the first leak about it moving to AS, some other insiders claimed that was not decided yet. Still some hope for it to get a proper home at least. 
 

Only reason Ninja Kamui is getting excessive reruns is cause it’s an original. And as a bonus other originals did not have, it has a Switch game to shill. It’s dumb, and makes a show people didn’t completely hate less appealing, but the suits want their ROI, and after the CR originals got written off mid rerun, I can see why they don’t want to risk a wait.

Tldr when these series end, Demarco will still be in charge and stupid as he ever was. He will chase shows he can’t get and we will have shit schedules for months at a time since he never had a fallback plan. 

I understand that you're upset about how far Toonami and Demarco have fallen over the past few years. Sometimes, I can even find some common ground with your thought process.

But I am legitimately getting tired of the doomposting whenever something bad happens on Toonami's turf. Really, I am.

Can't this section on the site appreciate the stuff we have? A three-hour block Saturdays at Midnight, a Friday evening block for retro viewers, all while cable television is declining. Frankly, it should be a miracle Toonami is still a thing in 2024.

I gotta ask: What would you prefer? An action/anime block run by an out-of-touch executive, or no action or anime blocks on any TV set? Because I'm starting to think that's a trick question.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

I understand that you're upset about how far Toonami and Demarco have fallen over the past few years. Sometimes, I can even find some common ground with your thought process.

But I am legitimately getting tired of the doomposting whenever something bad happens on Toonami's turf. Really, I am.

Can't this section on the site appreciate the stuff we have? A three-hour block Saturdays at Midnight, a Friday evening block for retro viewers, all while cable television is declining. Frankly, it should be a miracle Toonami is still a thing in 2024.

I gotta ask: What would you prefer? An action/anime block run by an out-of-touch executive, or no action or anime blocks on any TV set? Because I'm starting to think that's a trick question.

Give me a decent lineup and I won’t have anything to complain about. It’s as easy as that. I didn’t have any issues with the block from Jan-Apr except for them getting Kai back. How can I appreciate what we have, when what we currently have is shit? A 2 hour block of premiers, which next week will be 3x long runners. And the rest is reruns which I care nothing about. And our most likely future is visual vomit R&M anime literally no one asked for, or Suicide Squad Isekai which looks more appealing because it’s not R&M. Acquisitions? Never heard of em. 
 

You suggest an action/anime block run by an out of touch TV executive, as if that’s not exactly what we have right now. Demarco doesn’t know shit about modern anime and scoffs at everything that is popular because all he can think about is Jump and 30-40 year old garbage. And he barely even knows about the Jump content itself, he just picks it up and hopes for the best since Jump is usually a safe bet. 
 

If you want my pipe dream, I want an ANIME block run by someone who actually knows shit about anime. Someone who wants to license what’s hot, regardless of his own personal opinions on it. Someone who doesn’t waste the budget on vanity projects everyone hates just so he can have his name in the credit reel. 
 

But alas, it’s way too late in the game to ever see that kind of change. That being said, it’s equally likely as some of the super optimistic theories where Toonami gets a magical expansion and miraculously can pick up a bunch of new shows, despite years of evidence showing they can’t/wont do so. 

[MasqueradeOverture]

Would a block of all titty onii-chan anime be better?

Bc that shit is very popular

[PokeNirvash]

I'd rather a block with one titty onii-chan anime and three normal stuff to help balance it out.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

Would a block of all titty onii-chan anime be better?

Bc that shit is very popular

Now we are cooking. Shit that will feel like it belongs on AS and not after school? Sign me up. Maybe AS could even be pioneers and air some uncensored anime titties late at night. Their S&P is the only thing holding them back. 
 

Big fat anime titties bouncing on my screen for 3 hours and I’d have ZERO complaints 

[MasqueradeOverture]

Just air a bunch of Fuck OVAs and be done with it

[OwlChemist81]

23 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

Just air a bunch of Fuck OVAs and be done with it

Eat THIS! 🤘

I will be SHOCKED if Toonami doesn't get these, but with all the trouble they seem to be having with MHA Season 7, maybe I shouldn't be?

[Mr. Idea Box]

1 hour ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Eat THIS! 🤘

I will be SHOCKED if Toonami doesn't get these, but with all the trouble they seem to be having with MHA Season 7, maybe I shouldn't be?

Well, I would certainly be surprised to see this on Toonami, as it was under my radar when the first two seasons were there.

Like, on the one hand, Fire Force would be cheaper to license, even with Crunchyroll dubbing it. On the other hand, Toonami probably doesn't have the budget for more than MHA and One Piece, specifically in Sony's case.

[MasqueradeOverture]

At this point, can I just get a Soul Eater Brotherhood please?

[KageRageX]

On 7/4/2024 at 4:07 PM, Mr. Idea Box said:

An action/anime block run by an out-of-touch executive

Get someone more compotent. Demarco's just as incompetent as the rest of CN/WS at this point.

 

3 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

At this point, can I just get a Soul Eater Brotherhood please?

What the hell's a Soul Eater Brotherhood?

[PokeNirvash]

3 hours ago, Otakuninja9000 said:

What the hell's a Soul Eater Brotherhood?

What he means is a fully comprehensive manga-faithful remake of Soul Eater, like how Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was for its franchise.

[Jman]

Yeah, “____ Brotherhood” has become a joke name referring to hypothetically more accurate adaptations.  I remember when Game of Thrones beefed its finale everyone began joking about a Game of Thrones Brotherhood coming out in the 2040s.