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This Week in Anime - Toonami Kids Strike Back

Toonami was and still is the most influential programming block ever for anime because it respected anime as an art form and not a product.

Streaming and its convenience have definitely shifted the tectonic plates of television. But any of us with IRL co-workers can tell you that there's still room in many people's entertainment schedules for tuning in to TV on a broadcast schedule.

Or even some Samurai Jack

mgree0032 wrote:

Toonami was and still is the most influential programming block ever for anime because it respected anime as an art form and not a product.

Oh really? The 90s would like to have a word with you on that.

I'm going to be a bit more cynical and say that I'm a bit bummed that big-time shonen fares like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece have been a bit of a crutch for Toonami for a while

But I have to level some blame on TOM's terrifying redesign from that final stretch of the classic era.

Quote:

Streaming and its convenience have definitely shifted the tectonic plates of television. But any of us with IRL co-workers can tell you that there's still room in many people's entertainment schedules for tuning in to TV on a broadcast schedule.

Nielsen tracks [url=Streaming and its convenience have definitely shifted the tectonic plates of television. But any of us with IRL co-workers can tell you that there's still room in many people's entertainment schedules for tuning in to TV on a broadcast schedule.]monthly viewer consumption[/url] and it's clear that traditional television is still the market leader. YouTube TV is the leading streaming service but it still has a third of the reach as cable and I feel like most people use it for watching cable channels anyway.

I would love it, though, if they pulled a wild card and streamed something out of left field. They announce that Toonami will stream all of Ninku.

I love Toonami. With exception to marathon weekends and times when my cable decided not to work, I make sure to tune to it on Saturday nights. The revival of Toonami definitely has helped me to watch more anime that I likely would've never seen. I know streaming is the main way people like to watch their shows nowadays, but I've always preferred watching shows on TV via cable. It's not as though I don't have a Crunchyroll sub, because I do, but if I had a choice between binging a whole series after it's done streaming/watching it as episodes come out or waiting to see if it'll air on Toonami and watch it weekly from there... I'm going to choose the Toonami option every time. It's probably dumb, but streaming just can't compete with the feelings I get each time I change the channel over to Cartoon Network and I hear those notes indicating the block is about to start.

I would have thought that Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Pop, would be a no-brainer for Toonami. The show is borderline "We have Dragon Ball at home", and I say that as someone who likes the show.

Toonami aired Blue Dragon in the past and it wasn't very successful from what I remember.

To be honest, when I heard that Cartoon Network announced about the Checkered Past block last year and saw the line-up of old retro cartoon from the 90's and 2000's (man, those cartoon were both my childhood and my early teenage years). I knew and correctly predicted eventually CN would create a similar block for retro anime and I was right, when CN announced Toonami Rewind, my prediction was correct. Man, I saw a lot of older anime fans that grew up with Toonami grow in excitement and glassy eyes in nostalgia.

When I saw Sailor Moon classic was in the line-up and utilizing the Viz Media dub, I knew that CN was going to not only re-broadcast Sailor Moon but I hope Toonami can finally "finished" the anime by broadcasting Sailor Stars (something that the old Toonami in early 2000's never got chance to do), and hopefully finished what Toonami never got chance to do.

On a similar topic, I stumbled upon topic threads on Reddit, MAL, and even Animesuperhero/Toonzone forum and I saw some people talking about what other anime back in the 90's and early 2000's would've worked for Toonami but never got chance to shine. And yes, I know what some of you are thinking, should Toonami Rewind broadcast retro anime that never got chance to shine on Toonami. I mean I know some fans that said Escaflowne would've worked better on Toonami then Fox Kids, and Slayers would've benefitted from Toonami's exposure. Hell, even Toonami's creator, Jason DeMarco has said it on record that he wanted Ranma 1/2 on Toonami but couldn't. I later found out that CN wanted to broadcast Utena on Toonami back in the late 90's, but couldn't (which is ironic because Steven Universe's creator cited Utena as a big influence on that cartoon).

I would love to see Toonami Rewind to include these anime that never got chance to shine on Toonami:

Escaflowne (which dub should CN use: Funimation or Ocean Group? Well, if the theme of Toonami Rewind is nostalgia and you have 2 different English dub and one is the older dub, I would say go for the Ocean Group dub)

Flame of Recca (this anime I feel like never got chance to shine on there because it was licensed in the US a little late, so it missed the Toonami golden time. Had this anime been shown on Toonami back in early 2000, I think this anime would be put on the same spot as Dragonball, and Naruto today. I would like to see that anime being broadcasted on the Rewind block)

Fushigi Yugi (again, I think this is another anime that was never given a chance to shine. Since Fushigi Yugi is now available and has an English dub, why not broadcast it)

B't X/B't X Neo (although the anime and the sequel came out in 1996 in Japan, the US licensing is confusing and it didn't get a dub until many years later. I believe this show had a good opportunity to be on Toonami if this anime had been licensed back in the late 90's or early 2000's. Now that the anime is fully dubbed recently, maybe this is a good time for this anime to be given a 2nd chance on US TV, and I think Toonami Rewind would be perfect for B't X and help expose the anime to people that never got chance to see it would appeal to both old and newer/younger audiences)

Star Ocean EX (Yeah, I know this anime never got chance to be shown on TV. But given Star Ocean 2 has gotten a modern-day remaster/remake for current gen console, I thought why not take advantage of this game's release to broadcast Star Ocean EX to help cross-promote the game's re-release, and it's retro so this would fit Toonami Rewind's line-up)

Revolutionary Girl Utena (That anime I can confirmed that CN wanted to broadcast back in the late 90's but couldn't because of licensing issue and also the LGBTQ censorship back then wouldn't tolerate it. But now that given the success of Steven Universe and the fact that the show's creator, Rebecca Sugar has cited Utena as a big influences and the creation of Steven Universe wouldn't have happened without the anime. So given that Steven Universe was given critical acclaim when it was shown on CN, I think CN should returned the favor by allowing Utena to be shown on Toonami Rewind. It would be symbolic for Toonami to broadcast the anime that greatly influence Steven Universe.)

To be fair, DBZ was a bit of a crutch for classic Toonami, as well. The more things change.

The block probably couldn't survive, in the past or in the present, without long-running franchise shows like these to serve as pillars of the schedule. Especially these days, when typical anime episode counts are lower than ever, longer shows are important to avoid constant schedule churn. It's just a part of how the block stays alive.

But speaking of the whole crutch thing, we're approaching an interesting point in Toonami's history: after running on the block for over ten years, Naruto Shippuden is only about ten episodes away from ending. It's been the most reliable point of their schedule for a decade. There's no indication of what will happen when it ends. Will they just rerun the entire thing from episode 1? Will they move on to Boruto? Will they bring in a new long-runner like Fairy Tail or something? I think the answer could tell us a lot about the current fortunes of the block.