Poll: Now that Toonami is back...

[Dreadman75]

Well my friends it's official: Toonami has returned. Last night I tuned in and it was like seeing an old friend come home after so long it'd been away. But, like some friends, it didn't come back the same as it was when it left.

On one hand I'm glad they ditched TOM 4 and the art style that went with him.

On the other hand...no SARA, not a lot of new bumps from TOM himself aside from his I Am Alive review, and the lineup of shows didn't really change all that much.

Now I'm really looking forward to more Deadman Wonderland, and Casshern Sins looked interesting at least. But at the end of last nights run one question kept making itself known: What happens now?

Reading a little bit online revealed the answer: Toonami is back, yes. But it's budget is fairly limited for the time being, explaining the missing SARA (no money to make new SARA animations), and the lack of more new shows.

I probably don't need to tell you all this but without a decent budget Toonami can't be all those things we remember it being. And I don't know about the rest of you but after 4 years I don't want Toonami to just fade away after last time. And there's a way to help. If we want this new Toonami to get better, nay, to keep it from being cancelled again then as many people as possible need to tune in on Saturdays when it's on. More people watching means more money in the budget which means better shows, and new animations featuring TOM and SARA.

I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to tune in every Saturday to see that old friend and do what I can to see that, this time, it stays right here where it belongs.

Now for the question: Now that Toonami is back, do any of you plan on tuning in on a regular basis?

 

[Baldr]

Deadman Wonderland was a flop in Japan, I only watched the first six episodes that broadcast before I got bored with it. They really need more variety, Dark and gloomy Shōnen is not exactly my favorite genre.

The Toonami back in April was awesome by comparison.

They need to pick up Fairy Tail and the English Dub Hunter x Hunter(reboot) when it is made(or steal Shippuuden from Toon Disney). At least one slice of life comedy each season.

 

[z121231211]

The problem with Toonami now is that most anime fans are the type that have already seen the shows back when they first aired in Japan. Though I do like an anime night on Adult Swim with some new shows, maybe I'll keep watching and hopefully they put on some more new anime.

Though it's definitely more "Adult Swim Anime Night" than classic Toonami.

 

[TehCookie]

I plan on turning it on so they can get a budget and get some better shows. Really I just want Adult Swim to be about anime again instead of picking up fox's comedy leftovers.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Excuse my ignorance and off-topicness, but I just have to ask this. Who/what is Toonami and what makes him/her/it so wonderful that it has been the big topic of discussion on here for the past days?

I know, I know, I could Google it but it isn't as fun.

 

[Baldr]

Toonami just started off as a afternoon cartoon block(On Cartoon Network US) hosted by Cartoon Planet's Space Ghost, in 1999 it ditched Space Ghost and started offering Japanese Anime. It got an CGI overhall with a sci-fi spaceship setting and robot pilot host named Tom.

At the same time it started airing airing the more mature adult Anime at midnight on Saturday nights called "Toonami: Midnight Run", this attracted a lot of viewers and was expanded to 1 hour on the weekdays, that 1 hour eventually became Adult Swim. Toonami was officially cancelled in 2008 and remained that way until April 1st of this year.

There was also a couple other versions of Toonami, but the only one that just started again is the Midnight Run.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

Excuse my ignorance and off-topicness, but I just have to ask this. Who/what is Toonami and what makes him/her/it so wonderful that it has been the big topic of discussion on here for the past days?

I know, I know, I could Google it but it isn't as fun.

I would also like an explanation on who this person/thing/abomination is.

 

[Dreadman75]

Excuse my ignorance and off-topicness, but I just have to ask this. Who/what is Toonami and what makes him/her/it so wonderful that it has been the big topic of discussion on here for the past days?

I know, I know, I could Google it but it isn't as fun.

I would also like an explanation on who this person/thing/abomination is.

It's harder than you may think to pin down what exactly Toonami is.

To some it was just an animation block in the 90s and 2000s. Showing some of the best animation Japan and the US had to offer in shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Sailor Moon, DBZ,...etc.

To others though it was something more...

To me, for instance, Toonami first introduced me to anime...before I even knew what the hell anime was. I saw shows on Toonami that to this day are still my favorites: Samurai Jack, Megas XLR, Gundam Wing,...you get the point. But it wasn't just the shows in the block, the block itself seemed to take on a life of it's own.

After the first redesign we were introduced to a quirky, Bomberman-esque robot named TOM who, along with his AI partner SARA, captained the starship Absolution, which "broadcast" the shows to our TVs.

The thing is, people quickly began seeing TOM as more than just a device to move from one show to the next. He became a character unto himself, adopting his own mannerisms, slang and people really responded to that.

Outside the shows themselves, TOM and SARA started playing a bigger role in the Toonami block. Sometimes they would review video games, show off Toonami music videos and from there people just fell in love with the whole Toonami block, not just the shows on it. It was...something indescribable. It was almost like TOM was a good friend you would see everyday after school, or late at night on Saturdays.

TOM connected so well with the fans of the Toonami block that almost every single fan Toonami ever had was sad to see him go in 2008. He, a fictional character only affiliated with a television block, managed to touch people in an almost profound way.

To a lot of people Toonami was more than just an animation block...it was a piece of our childhoods that we hated parting with.

I hope that this is a good enough explanation...

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

Hell, I don't normally go for animoo. But I'll watch just about anything with Steve Blum as the narrator.

 

[Screamarie]

I admit that I was a little disappointed in the line-up. I see Bleach all the time already, so there's nothing new there. Same with Ghost in the Shell. I'm not really into Casshern Sins. Deadman Wonderland intrigued me but I'm not sure how to feel about it just yet. Full Metal Alchemist is good and I'm SO glad they have Cowboy Bebop, I could watch that soooo many times, though I wish they would have started with the first episode instead of just picking one at random.

That all said, even if I'm not watching, I'll have my TV tuned to Toonami every saturday. I admit, part of it is nostalgia, but the bigger part is the fact that it's hard to get good anime here in the states without a good source of spare cash on hand, so I miss Toonami and I'll support it.

Course I wish they were allowed to curse properly. Not because it's necessary or something, but simply because that "BEEP" whenever they do is just stupid. You know what they said! It's after midnight people come on!

 

[malestrithe]

Not sure. The thing is I prefer the afternoon and the Saturday shows a lot more than the midnight one. A lot of the anime I prefer, Rurouni Kenshin, Big O, Zatch Bell, were on weekdays or on Saturday.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

I love Toonami and all, but this kind of thing has happened so many times before. A popular show goes away (In this case, a block of shows), people raise a big stink on the Internet over bringing it back, and ultimately the amount of people who argue to bring it back doesn't equal to the amount of people who actually go through with it and tune in.

Though I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this one.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Honestly, it just looks like the normal Adult Swim Anime line-up only with 2 new shows and Tom being used as a framing device. Really though, my biggest pet peeve is Tom's intro: "I'm back bitches" or something similar. I think it's just unnecessary to throw in the profanity. Yes, adult swim viewers grew up with Toonami (presumably) but it just seems stupid to me to add the profanity and alienate a new generation of fans.

 

[Jewbot]

I'll be tuned in but I won't be watching. I want to support this in any way I can, but as of right now it's just [adult swim] with different bumps.

 

[Dreadman75]

Where's the "What the hell is toonami I'm european." option?

Posts #7 and #9 should help explain it a little bit.

TL;DR: Toonami was an animation block in the 90s and 2000s that a LOT of people loved for a lot of different reasons. And it served as an introduction to anime for a good majority of it's fans.

Some of the anime shown were: Gundam Wing, DBZ, Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, One Piece,...the list goes on.

It also aired some incredible western animation as well: Samurai Jack, Batman: The Animated Series, Megas XLR, Thundercats, Transformers,...etc.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Where's the "What the hell is toonami I'm european." option?

Toonami was/is the equivalent of the anime home base in the United States in the early 2000s. It was the place to go to watch stuff like DBZ, Cowboy Bebop or Gundam.

In Canada, we have YTV, which is pretty damn awful when it comes to anime. Teletoon plays a couple, but a lot of them are fauxnime used to cash in on the art style.

 

[Dreadman75]

I'll be tuned in but I won't be watching. I want to support this in any way I can, but as of right now it's just [adult swim] with different bumps.

That's good of you to do. Toonami needs all the viewers it can get right now.

I just hope it can pull through right now. The first few months will probably be the hardest, but I'll be watching as many Saturdays as I can.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Deadman Wonder-fucking-land.

I've never seen so much blood in the first 5 minutes of a show.