Context and Perspective – the End of Toonami Part 2: For what was gained

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 knew it wasn’t going to be long when they changed Tom’s design. I don’t know who the idiot was that thought a design change would be beneficial to Toonami but it obviously didn’t help it. 

Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z……..you watched the eps that most of the other channels didn’t show. They were willing to pick these two up and finish them (well, maybe not Sailor Moon….any Sailor Moon fan KNOWS that no one would pick up SailorStars because of the Sailorstarlights and the last episode). New Adventures of Johnny Quest was cool and I was ecstatic when I heard they were going to show Naruto. 

It’s going to be sad not having it but I think it’s beating a dead horse now. Audios, Toonami. You had a really good run.

Man, this completely sucks. I would have never become an otaku if it weren’t for Toonami. Although, Toonami hasn’t been the same when it moved to its Saturday position. DragonBall Z, Sailor Moon, G Gundam, YuYu Hakusho, I.G.P.X., DragonBall, Big-O, Transformers: Armada, all of those shows I liked came from Toonami. (Well, YuYu Hakusho was edited and brought down from Adult Swim but still.) I feel that with Adult Swim now only showing anime on Saturdays, and Toonami being cancelled, I think Cartoon Network is really screwing with us anime fans. 

Well, Goodbye TOM, Goodbye Absolution, and Fuck You Cartoon Network!

It’s glory days were long behind it, people’s tastes have also changed after too much oversaturisation of “Comfort Food Anime” They never evolved the block either except whenever they upgraded TOM. Samurai Jack was a step in the right direction of where the block could go, but again, not a whole lot of that came calling.

This is terrieble! But can I still haz cheezburger?

Seriously, though, why is everyone freaking out? The only good thing about Toonami is that they played good anime. The bad thing is they could never decide on which anime it was they wanted to air. Their day-to-day schedule rotated on a weekly basis. At least back when I used to watch it.

Yeah, it’s not like Toonami really shows anything worthwhile these days (sorry you Naruto fans, no offense, but that show is boring as all Hell to me). It’s not like they ever did any real advertising on Cartoon Network anymore, either. The Saturday night slot was slowly dying, and once it got pushed back to 2 hours, AND they took off One Piece and DBZ and replaced them with more crap, I knew it was on its final legs.

Don’t mourn its passing. Reflect on the good old days when Toonami didn’t, ya know… suck.

Honestly…when they stopped airing Dexter, Power Puff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Brak Show, Swat Cats, Snorks, Fantastic Max, Jetsons, Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Superman, Batman, and many other classic…hell…once they stopped showing the cartoon cartoon show…that’s when it started sucking. Thank God Boomerang exists =].

Toonami pretty much was dead to me a few times. First when they replaced Tom, and then when they cut it to only Saturday. Toonami to me was afternoons right after school. When it went to Saturday to me it was just Toonami in name. As Phil said, if this happened 5 years ago, I would have cared more. I can’t even think of the last time I watched Toonami. I don’t think I’ve watched it once since it started being on Saturday nights.

Toonami is now over.its been fun but like they say all things come to an end and this time its the end.i remember toonami use to be on alot and watching all those shows
Voltron,Sailor Moon,DBZ,Beast Wars,Gundam Wing,G Gundam,Swat Cats,Transformers and all those shows.man those were better times.hey i bet alot of us use to come home from school and watch toonami and see those good old less edited shows lol.but have to agree toonami has sucked more when they just showed it on saturdays and replaced Tom.now cartoon network has sunk into what kidswb has done with shows and given more crap stuff

cartoon network was so much better in the 90’s with the classic shows that ultrakill mentioned.but now all the are showing are these stupid cartoons that dont interest me at all.kids love em but what also sucks is all these old cartoon shows we all grew up with wont make it to dvd for sometime unless some smart one decides to make them to dvd.

Gaia Online:

I never really watched anything from Cartoon Network, so I really don’t care. Though I can understand why people are getting pissed with the network for mucking up all anime-related programming first with the Adult Swim block, and now this.

So.. They’re getting rid of Toonami…which means no Naruto ?

God, the AMC is going to die harder than it usually does with crying Narutards if that happens…

no no no no no no no no!
AH!
Just another sign that the world is ending.

Although I hated them for replacing Tom with…. those idiotic bots. Tom was beyond cool. 
ah Dragonball Z and Kenshin every weekday after school, with pretzels, mountain dew and grapes at my grandma’s house, ah it was great! 
It’ll be missed.
I’ve always looked to toonami for the best action/awesome anime and now…
now…
now…

It’s fucking dead man.
Maybe it shoulda wore safety glasses.

As much as I think Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are mismanaging themselves completely in regards to advertising the shows and just leaving things to die in certain ways, things get old.

Toonami had a good run and I’d rather see it put out of its misery rather than be a shell of its former glory.

And so with all the other good things that came to an end:

The Ford Taurus
The XLF Football League
McRib
Maple Macchiato 
That Short Lived Saturday Block that was like Toonami but showed .hack and alot of other awsome shows and had bumpers that were a parody of the NES video games.

ECT.

We must sadly add Toonami to the list and hope that whatever replaces it will be the Toonami for a newer generation.

 

And on a sidenote if anime is going to be mostly handled by Adult Swim then where the jinkies will One Piece be picked up for broadcasting if anywhere else?

(Also is it me or did Cartoon Network and Adult Swim start to go down the crapper when the old CEO stepped down due to the Boston Mooninite thing…..)

Notice how Naruto is impervious to the cancelation of anime on Cartoon Network. Why may you ask?

A simple anwser really. Its Cartoon Network’s and Viz’s cash cow. Instead of doing the common sense thing of putting Naruto around similar shonen type anime to get more than the Naruto demographic they would simply just get rid of everything else. Why? Because Naruto is that big of a cash cow.

All one has to do is grab at the teeth and silver dollars start flowing out without one even fully grasping at the utter. 

Though I’m not sure if its a rumor or not but I heard they haven’t yet decided on picking up Shippuden yet. 

Now if you excuse me I’m going to be having a “Love of My Life’ and “The Show Must Go On” marathon as those two Queen songs say it all. 

Well, there goes what’s left of my childhood. First to go was the good cartoons, then Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, then the Cartoon Network logo itself, now something I used to watch before I had even really hit gradeschool. Hell, all through gradeschool I would stay up until midnight on Saturdays sitting in a sleeping bag on the floor in front of the tv to just to watch Sailor Moon on Toonami when it had it’s Midnight Run.

D: I miss me some good ol’ days.

I’m disappointed to see Toonami go because it’s going to take childhood memories with it. I remember that when I was in grade school, Toonami occupied a few hours of my after school time and I always wanted to get home on time to catch Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z. What’s most heartbreaking about this, though, is that Toonami’s death was inevitable from the moment it was moved to its Saturday block.

With [adult swim] moving its anime to the time slots of death, Toonami being removed from the schedule, and most of the new cartoons not being anywhere near as popular as the Cartoon Cartoons were, it feels like Cartoon Network’s death is going to be on the horizon any day now.

OMG! NOO!!! I feel like I just died a bit inside once I heard that. 

If it wasn’t for Toonami I would have never been introduced to anime in the first place. T____T I’m gonna miss Tom though. All the classics…are gone….(I may like Naruto….but if anime is dieing….I’m cool with just watching it online….>.>U….) Naruto may be cool but it’s not a classic like Sailor moon or Dragon Ball Z or Ruroni Kenshi! T_____T…..I feel bad that I’ll have to make my friends stop crying.

 No more mainstream anime for kids?! I don’t know whether to be happy or sad. D: I loved watching it, but then I gave up on TV since everything but anime was getting stupider and stupider. And I stopped watching Toonami since the only thing I watched Was Naruto, and I didn’t feel like watching the filler arc. D;

THIS SUCKS.

Cartoon Network is starting to suck now >__>

[ And NO Naruto isnt going to stop being shown, they will still be airing that]

I remember when Toonami Kicked a** back in the day and now they are getting rid of it. >_< 

This is why I barely watch TV anymore.

Toonami use to be sweet. Toonami Midnight Run use to be awesome as well. I truly died inside when they stop airing it every week and decide that one day was enough, then the bull- s**t animes came. It’s obvious that it was already going downhill, when they started airing it only on a Saturday.Thank goodness for adult swim and the internet. Long live Toonami than again you had expired ages ago. Sweet memories though, and awesome commercials.

Penny Arcade

Toonami died for me the day I found out that the last new episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho were being aired at some ungodly hour on Sunday morning.

With the exception of Gundam Wing I never actually paid attention to the shows on there. I didn’t even know toonami was still around, I thought they canceled it a year ago. Wasn’t it playing Teen Titans at one point?

Still, it’s remarkable to see just how sad some people are or claim to be. I have to admit that the ‘bang’ was a nice touch. Made me want to dig up Bebop and rewatch the ending in English.

Truly the end of an era folks.

If it wasn’t for Toonami anime brought to the states wouldn’t exist.

God speed Toonami.

What left for ANime on Cartoon Network? Expect [as] to get their collective heads out of their ass? all as does is berate the fanbase as a meme. Toonami was awesome for a lot of other reasons besades the variety of anime. you know, stuff like this:

List of good (yes, these are relative, but I’m just picking out some of the major ones) shows which were on Toonami:

Samurai Jack
The Big O
Dragon Ball/Z/GT
Gundam Wing/SEED/0800/G/SD
Naruto
One Piece
Outlaw Star
Record of Lodoss War
Robotech
Rurouni Kenshin
Voltron
YuYu Hakusho
Batman:TAS/Beyond/Gotham Knights
Various Transformers series
G.I. Joe
Justice League/Unlimited
Megas XLR
Real Adventures of Johnny Quest
Reboot
Superman:TAS
Teen Titans
Thundercats

And pretty much every movie associated with the above series. And that only covers ~half of the shows which were aired, with others (Tenchi, PPG, Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon) not necessarily fitting our general demographics/tastes, but still being decent shows in their own rights.

[as] owes its existence to Toonami, started becoming the drop zone for the better shows instead of Toonami, and has been in decline in its own right now. Sad, really.

Toonami, I salute you. You were a staple of my Middle/High School years.

Oh, CN. You took your best block of programming, the one that put you on the map, and slowly suffocated it with a pillow. Fucking suits.

Toonami was pretty much the pinnaccle of quality localizations of anime. while yes, it’s had it’s share of crap, I mean, It gave us, quality action anime, such as Outlaw Star and Yu Yu Hakusho, Superhero anime (Sailor Moon, Cyborg 009, Astro Boy remake.). finally giving Mecha localized love, Supers and Reals alike (this was deperately needed.), and other hard to classify stuff.

All ruined because CN is trying to pander to their pretentious opinion of what kids want today. the last few years have been terrible for animation, moreso on the western side, but the problem is that anime localizations are starting to die.

As much as anything, it’s that the glut of the past few decades has been picked over and the majority of the good series have been taken care of. Toonami (and us) rode the wave of popularity as all those old good shows came to light, and there’s no way that year-to-year the pace can keep up. It was going to HAVE to drop off at some point.

It doesn’t help that resources were kinda bled try towards the end, and many GOOD shows around this point in time simply weren’t able to be given the support they needed to shine. IE budgets for good localization, PROMOTIONS, etc. Granted, a big part of of was stupid suit decisions, but it really did hurt. Because of this, a select few set of VA’s were slowly being completely overused over and over and over. I seriously don’t want to hear Vic Mignogna again if I can help it. He was fine as Ed Elric and Escaflowne’s mole man, but he’s pretty much grating everywhere else.  I’m still RAAAGING over his horrible job voicing Hikaru in ADV’s Macross dub. Speaking of. ….REDONE SOUND EFFECTS?! WHY!? That’s one thing I’m thankful to Robotech for, at least. Robotech.com is selling the Animeigo Macross boxed set for 40 bucks.

With the death of Toonami, I am now an adult; my childhood is officially gone. Now I want a toonami shirt to commemorate its death. I haven’t watched in years but it was such an integral part of my childhood.. and midnight run was amazing

WTF I come here to talk about CG and hear that Tonnami is over WTF CN sucks big balls best Anime came out of that. Now they are filling it up with their own kiddie cartoons and their Anime is being pushed into the boonies ohh of course they put old reruns during prime time. WTF

Sorry just pissed that there is not an official network that will show dedicated slot now of anime.

Toonami basically died years ago when DBZ was about to end and they looked at the demographics. They wanted 10-15 year olds watching between 3-5, and with Rurouni Kenshin they were pulling 15-25 year olds. It went downhill from there (while AS went mixed Anime/Comedy weeknights and absolutely killed for awhile.) eventually slowly bleeding out on Saturdays.

I’m glad someone linked the digital arsenal, some of those promos are absolute brilliance. They were able to sell people that Tenchi was an action show, for chrissakes.

My dream is that they Nick at Nite Boomerang and throw anime over on the second half. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

It’ll never ever happen.

Anime News Network

It’s an absolute shame that Toonami will be ending, and much more so that it is going out in such an unceremoniously quick fashion (today you announce it…?) Despite the all of the things that happened to it across its lifetime (stretched to three hours, downsized, IIRC, to an hour once; every weekday to just Saturdays; canned altogether one time; the numerous style and programming-style changes), it really was the biggest and greatest gateway for anime for many fans for much of it and its mere success helped pave way for Adult Swim’s existance.

Maybe in a few years Toonami will re-emerge, but for now, it was good while it lasted, in spite of the ever-changing atmosphere at CN. Hopefully, Ani-Monday or another venue will step up and pick up from where Toonami’s legacy left off.

It’s unfortunate. I’m a bit saddened by it, though it’s a sadness muted by the agony of Toonami’s runs in the past few years. I think it’s probably time to put Toonami down. It’s long past it’s glory days.

I think what I’m really sad about is the shape of Cartoon Network. I suppose, though, that as a viewer and not an advertizer or programmer, I have a much different view. If airing live-action content, stripping away the classics and events like June Bugs and Super Chunk is what’s profitable, perhaps they’re doing very well. And maybe I’m too old to appreciate what they’re doing for younger viewers. I’m certainly not hip enough, or whatever, to enjoy Adult Swim’s stoner “comedies” and repeats of Family Guy, a show whose biggest laughs died out years ago, even before The Simpsons’ or South Park’s had, muffled by its own self-parody.

There’s nary a reason to watch Cartoon Network anymore. Perhaps for Venture Brothers and Flapjack, the only truly entertaining still-running programs they run.

Toonami probably wasn’t the sole driving force behind my fledgling anime fandom like it was many others, but it certainly contributed greatly in between the times when I couldn’t get my hands on poorly produced fansub tapes or watch Saturday Anime on Sci-Fi Network. It did introduce me to the Gundam franchise, one that I am deeply entrenched in to this day, perhaps now more than ever.

I will miss Toonami. I’m sure something else will turn up to grab it’s current viewers, but I doubt I’ll be among their number. I’ve since moved on.

And yet another piece of my childhood dies. Fox Kids and KidsWB went first and they were unexpected but Toonami is dead now too?

Sigh. I couldn’t wait to get home from elementary school to watch it when it first came out. How even tho I was in Middle School I would disobey my mom repeatedly to stay up to watch it at night. How I would annoy my mom by watching DBZ during dinner. Anyone else remember the movies they would show on Fridays? Not just the DBZ ones but stuff like Flight Of Dragons.

Overall however Cartoon Network has been dying since they let Cartoon Cartoons take over.

I remember how I loved to watch all the old cartoons with my dad, Top Cat and all those greats that have migrated to Boomerang and Toon Disney (like the older animated Batman and Superman shows).

As for Adult Swim…can they please just get rid of the Tim and Eric shows? They aren’t even funny just insanely stupid. Now Space Ghost….that was funny.

It feels like overall Cartoon Network and Adult Swim have forgotten that the main reason they are as big as they are now is due to Anime and all of the loyal watchers they gained from them.

After how pokemon has been marketed in the States I don’t even consider it anime. Its some kind of hybrid that wont die. As for Byakugan…well…I can’t much as I watched Beyblade but what happened to showing GOOD anime(or at least ones that aren’t based around stupid toys or sports)? Stuff like .Hack, Yu Yu Hakusho, Gundam. Or shows like Reboot?

Well. Goodbye last piece of my childhood. Goodbye Cartoon Network. The only reason I was paying you any attention these last years after shrinking Toonami, and their lack of respect for the anime and classics that made it great and watchable, was the hope that you would wake up and see that there is more than fart and stupid jokes for Adult Swim and that there are decent anime for daytime still.

Well here’s an interesting thing: They screwed themselves over big time! Why? When your ending a block on TV and one of the shows is done by another it might be a good idea to INFORM THAT COMPANY before you take down the block.

As you may or not know my mom works for Viz. She told me they never told Viz (she found out the moment I yelled out the s-word) and with it showing Naruto I foresee some legal action in the near future… breach of contract… Trust me, there’s going to be some big problems… contract

As funny as that comment is, I can’t help but look at things like this from a fansub/DVDrip perspective. As Cartoon Network trims their anime programing down on Adult Swim and Toonami, the amount of programming available on basic cable is taking a big nosedive, that will only drive more people to pirate online. Maybe Cartoon Network is the one to blame for being tightwads who’d rather run their homemade crap during A.S. than get real programming, maybe the anime producers are asking for a little too much for broadcast licensing. Either way, if anime is becoming more popular in the U.S. as time goes on as I keep hearing, the supply side of the equation is being taken in the wrong direction, and that’s a puzzling move to be making if you’re running a cable channel that caters to kids and animated programming.

The “traditional” legal means of enjoying anime are going out the window, and everyone’s moving too slowly to bring in a replacement distribution method. Should any of these companies be surprised if pirating is on the rise?

And before anyone mentions DVDs, remember that most kids can’t afford to buy loads of discs. And even people who are older and can are generally going to want to see a show before they plunk down money for a DVD of it.

The Toonami block definitely did its part to build the current swell of anime fandom, but probably at 11 years it’s run its course as a marketing device.

Quite frankly, I’m a little perplexed as to if an action-oriented after school block of cartoon programming is as viable as it was 11 years ago. I see the introduction of shows (and accompanying merchandise lines) like Ben 10 and whatnot, but have they found popularity enough with their intended audience to require a dedicated chunk of the cartoon equivalent of primetime?

Maybe the answer lies somewhere in the question of where has Cartoon Network lost the most ground in that time block? Maybe, folks, the fact of the matter is that the demographics have shifted, the trends have shifted, and big robots, samurais, and women from outer space just aren’t as saleable as they once were?

It’s a sad day, but it’s the sad reality of television programming.

And, for those of you concerned about a nosedive in anime popularity after losing the Toonami block, it is a real possibility, but the best you can do to stir interest is to get involved yourself.

Keep a good gateway series like Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, or Big O in your collection and invite friends or younger relatives to give the DVD a try if they’ve already got the geek bug in their veins. Believe me, converting non-geeks is a bit like sticking your favorite limb into a Vege-omatic.

I am what would be called a “true Toonami fan”, I’ve watched Toonami
since I was about 10 years old(I’m 20 making 21 on the 29th of this month) and I’ve been threw every era of Tom and the absolution. Moltar,TOM 1,2,3,4,Clyde and Sara,I’ve been there with them all. I remember rushing home after school to watch Sailor Moon,Ronin warriors,DB/Z/GT(Greatest Anime of all time),Outlaw star and Gundam wing and on Fridays,the Toonami movie(which was 1 of the many great DBZ films. Staying up to 11(I was central time)to watch midnight run(usually DBZ and some Gundam series)and waking up super early on Saturday’s to watch Rising sun,Thundercats alwaysfirst,Powerpuff’s always last. All the way to the day they started airing “Migayzi” and limited Toonami to only Saturday. When they aired YYH and finally showed DBGT. Up untill the poor excuse for Toonami now,with Naruto and such. I’ve been there for it all. Toonami,You introduced me to Anime and You will truly,truly be missed. Thank You.

Toonami
Sunrise(3-17-1997)-Sunset(9-20-2008)

Naruto as a show isn’t being dropped. It’s not clear if it will stay at its current airtime, but it is definitely not being removed from the line-up. It’s the Toonami brand that is being dropped.

It’s not surprising in the least, really (though disheartening as a long-time viewer). The “gateway” shows (Tenchi, Cowboy Bebop, DBZ, Sailor Moon, Voltron, etc.) were popular because they were intelligent, well-rounded series and/or were the series that spawned all the copycat series that came after them. Anime became so popular because of the early Toonami shows that CN even created the Adult Swim block and drew in more anime to air. And it was good for a while.

Toonami started just before I went to college, and I think the early line-up was geared towards my age group when they aired the shows from my childhood (like Voltron and Thundercats). They were looking for shows to draw in different demographics then and at the time there weren’t any American cartoons that appealed to the college-aged set. Sure, now we talk about The Venture Brothers, ATHF, Family Guy, South Park, etc. like they’re the obvious choices for “adult” animation (and there are many things wrong with that assessment today), but back then what we had was anime.

The problem was that cartoons are generally enjoyed by a younger class of people and all corporations will eventually boil themselves down to the lowest common denomenator. As soon as they started airing shows that appealed to younger viewers and separated the shows that were “too mature” for younger viewers they immediately started losing a section of their viewing pool. There were shows that deserved to be aired late at night, like Cowboy Bebop, but some shows, simply because they are rated for an “older” audience (keeping in mind that nothing on CN is rated above TV-14), have in recent years been relegated to late-night blocks, blocks that are far too late for younger viewers interested in that programming to stay up for, and a Saturday-only block older viewers aren’t willing to sacrifice their weekend night out to stay home for.

It’s no wonder that a show like Code Geass, which I long ago abandoned watching on TV and instead only watch online anyway because I’ll be damned if I stay home and awake until 1am to watch it on TV, got pushed to a death time-slot. Of course no one was watching it on TV! The core audience of that show is in high school, and they replaced Death Note (which belonged in a late night slot for content) with it. The same goes for BLEACH. The ratings would double if they actually aired it when people were willing to stay up (and home) to watch it. These shows are made and geared to teenagers in Japan and the networks think that just because by US ratings standards (which are seriously far too strict, anyway) they are for an older demographic than the general American animation fare, that they can only be aired in the middle of the night.

And they expected these shows to succeed in recent years? The college crowd that watched Toonami in the late 90’s/early ’00s grew up and got jobs. The little kids who watched it back then are in college now. The US animation variety has grown and evolved. “Sophisticated” has been replaced by “mature.” What I mean by that is: a show like Cowboy Bebop was violent enough to warrant a late-night slot, but it was also a show designed for intelligent people. It didn’t give you all the answers and told a story in a fantastic innovative style. Nowadays it is lumped together with shows like Family Guy, which are for an older crowd not because they are smart but because they are vulgar. Having them compared like that makes me want to cry.

Toonami had its run, and it is true that it was good for a long time and in recent years it has died a slow, and painful to watch, death. Seeing it leave the stage is not so much a shock as it is the final nail in the coffin. I’m not sure if I will actually miss it. I will miss the memory of what it once was, but I’ve already been missing that for about 5 years. The only thing even keeping me watching CN anymore is BLEACH on AS and that’s still in filler episodes (for the next 30something weeks…), and even that I would watch online instead if they actually had a digital distribution deal for it.

I should have saw this coming. That old dog was limping, and they finally put it down. RIP Toonami. Goodness I feel sad, I mean, I kinda grew up with Toonami, staying up late to watch Sailor Moon, DBZ, and PPG with I was a chlid; coming home after middle school and plop myself in front of the tv to watch new YYH and Rurouni Kenshin; to the present where am now watching Naruto as I type this post. For as long as I remember toonami has been around and maybe that why its so much more like losing a friend than just a ending of a old tv block thats pass it time. I got into anime watching toonami and, though its been hanging on by a string for awhile, I didn’t see it coming, I didn’t want to see it comiing. I thought I be watching Naruto Shippuden on Toonami in the next coming months. But I suppose I good things must come to a end.

Toonami will always be with us-i just think that their cutting it off because no one watches their dumb cartoons anymore.Why doesnt cartoon network play toonami at a eailer time like at 7:00 like they used to?Then put on some anime like megaman starforce-what did ever happen to megaman starforce???And for some old classics dragon ball gt or at least some more shows.But if its offical no one will watch cartoon network if they cut off toonami along with adult swim.Because if they cut off adult swim you all agree with me that you all wont watch CN anymore.

another one bites the dust.All because of illegal streaming sites and such. i just pray this doesn’t mark the end of the industry as we know it. Also AS aint dead yet. it still shows bleach and then there’s season 2 of code geass. Also there’s shippuden cause there’s no way they wont show that series after naruto finished,so it’s still have something to hold,BUT BARELY.

Toonami’s market shifted from cable TV to online. I believe it was a great switch since some of the unsuccessful shows were able to live on through Jetstream. Still a sad day since Toonami was my favorite programming block. You’ll be missed from my DVR.

I don’t think the point is “when” Toonami died for x or y fan, it still was a major part of many (of the younger) anime fans entrance into the anime fandom. I remember rushing home to catch Ronin Warriors, Dragonball Z, Outlaw Star, Tenchi and other series. Before I had a job and could buy my own, it was how I got my fix. I remember their CONSTANT loops of Dragonball Z, having to restart once they hit the last episode that was licensed and dubbed. It was annoying, but still part of the experience.

Anyways, It’s unfortunate that Toonami is dying. However, the good memories will persevere!

Wow it has been so long. I remember watching Toonami back in the day with my dad. Thanks to Toonami I was able to see more (but not all) of Sailor Moon. Thanks to Toonami I got hooked to DBZ or as me and my dad would come to call it Drag-on Ball Z. I remember thinking Hamtaro was alright because it was there. Oh and lets not forget Midnight Run. Toonami Midnight run introduced me to uncut anime and made me a big fan of Gundam Wing.

Thanks for the memories Toonami you will be missed. 

I’m not suprised at all that this happened. Toonami had been slipping down the ladder of importance for CN since they moved it to Saturdays 4 years ago. Slowly but surely, anime had been taken off the network and now there is almost no anime left on the network. The new CN only cares about the numbers and they have no real interest in advertising anime programming on their network since they don’t own any of it so there is no real suprise about this announcement. CN blames low ratings but they never advertised for any of the shows that aired on the network since the switch to Saturdays and they only air shows that are already established or have the advantage that Naruto and Bleach have in that they appear in SJ each month and thus don’t need CN to advertise those shows. And in the last few years, fewer new shows have been on CN and companies like Bandai are turning to Sci-Fi and Funimation is focusing on their own channel instead of trying to get shows on CN since they know that they will get no real support from the network and they will get screwed over eventually if the ratings aren’t great (which is CN’s fault since they don’t advertise at all to the casual fan) and get moved to a dead slot like what has happened to Gundam Seed, .Hack//Roots, and now Code Geass.

In the end it was a mistake for Bandai to even approach CN with Geass and now it won’t get the greater audience exposure that it deserves and in the future I hope that no companies deal with CN at all to show their displeasure with what they have become. I look forward to seeing CN’s ratings plummet further than ever before now that they have thrown up all over us and screwed us completely. The original programming on AS is mostly cheap garbage that isn’t worth the effort to even think about and all of their weekday shows are becoming poor rip-offs of shows on Nick which are better and of higher quality. If I was in Bandai’s position, I would have had something installed into the contract for airing Geass that would allow Bandai to get the show pulled of CN completely and give them the license back to try to get it on somewhere else if CN pulled the sort of stunt that they did with Seed and .hack//roots. Now is the time for companies (Bandai, Funimation, and others) to come together with some sort of partner to create a true anime channel that will allow shows to air and keep any new quality anime in the future from even going near CN at all. I wonder how long CN would last without the audience that watches anime and other action shows and only focused on the grade school kids and tweeners that watch shows like Chowder and Scooby Doo reruns. Good Bye Toonami, and thanks for the great run of quality programming (anime and other action shows).

Hey all. I’m new here as of today. Please be nice. ^^;;

I learned of Toonami going down from a 4chan /b/ post my friend linked me to. I took the news with a grain of salt, given it IS 4chan and /b/ is known to say random stuff.

With that said…

Meh. This really isn’t a surprise to me. I really only watched Toonami back in 2000-2002 or so when Sailor Moon S and SuperS were airing.

(At that time I was like 16. Yeah I got a late start into the whole thing, but better late than never.)

That’s the only show I’d watch on there. Ronin Warriors, DB/Z/GT, anything Gundam etc didn’t interest me. I do admit that watching Sailor Moon dubbed on Toonami has gotten me heavily into anime as I am now. So in that respect, R.I.P. Toonami. It’s a shame that you can’t do what you did for me for today’s younger generation of viewers.

In regards to the fansub downloading vs. buying DVDs / DVD sets argument/discussion, I’ve started doing that. I have season 1 of Inuyasha, several Miyazaki films, Azumanga Daioh, and most recently The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I’m a big fan of Haruhi. ).

I still, however, have a ton of fansubbed anime shows on my external 500 GB HDD. That’s how I keep my interest alive. I collect shows weekly from Anime Suki.com [/plug] and sometimes Box Torrents.

Yes, it’s illegal, but I’m not making any money off of it, unlike this one fool some months back that tried to make money off of bootlegged BLEACH eps on eBay. That’s something I’ll NEVER do in ANY circumstance.

In any case, back on topic, Toonami has been dead to me since 2003 or so when Sailor Moon stopped airing, and when I started to collect my anime fansubbed, and now slowly legit on DVD / DVD sets. Heck, I haven’t watched TV in a good few months. I usually download my entertainment, again, with no intention of profiting from it.

Toonami in its latest form was a shell of its former self, but that doesn’t change what it has done. There is no doubt that Toonami brought a lot of boys to the yard in its day (and a few girls, too), helping to shape the fandom pre-Naruto. As someone who was there since near the begining I’ve seen a lot of its changes, from the weekday afterschool anime fest we knew and loved, to its growth to Friday nights, to the Midnight Run, to the move to Saturdays, and finally the gradual downsizing of the Saturday block. Sure it has been a little disappointing lately, but like a fan of the local football team I watched anyway, hoping that next season we’d be even better than before. I enjoy Naruto and was happy to see Samurai Jack back on TV. As Toonami passes on from our TV sets we who were there when they had DBZ, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, Tenchi, Big O, and the Gundams fondly remember the legacy it laid in our hearts and in our individual fandoms. 

NeoGaf (Part 2)

Gotta give it up for the best action cartoon block in history. My preteen years were shaped by the shows that played on Toonami. I got into anime through Toonami, and I’m damn proud of it. They had so many quality shows during the years I watched. Robotech, Voltron (hasn’t aged well, but still), DBZ (yes, bite me), Outlaw Star, the Gundam shows (G, Wing, 8th ms team), Big O, and even Tenchi Muyo.

Nothing ever came close to Toonami in its prime, and it seems like nothing will for a long time. Its sad, Adult Swim was the only one that ever came close, and now they are pissing that all away for their mostly bullshit original shows .

But yeah, Toonami, I’ll never forget.

That really hasn’t been true at all since Futurama left.

The Metal-Venture lead-in hour was tried earlier in the year and failed. Bleach mostly carried the block. Then they switched to all anime, which did alright for a while (with Bleach carrying the lineup) but then began to slip, mostly because Bleach turned terrible with its interminable fillers. Then they went back to the Metal-Venture thing that had already failed for some reason, and it failed yet again, so now we have this current schedule.

They also tried things like putting the ATHF movie on, which drew awful numbers. What’s happened here is that the comedy isn’t working to bring up the numbers, and they’re just flat out not interested in trying to promote the anime and advertise it to the degree necessary to give it an opportunity to carry itself. So since they aren’t willing to put the effort in making the anime work, they’re just trying to overload with comedy and see if that will change things. Honestly, with all the mixed messages coming out of CN lately, I’ll really don’t think they have any idea what the hell they’re doing.

Really, the only comedy shows that do particularly well on Saturdays have traditionally been Futurama, Robot Chicken, Boondocks, and, to a lesser degree, Shin Chan and Venture Bros.

I’ve said it 5 million times … from all the media he have today and the rampant subbing there is no excuse for people not knowing a show is on being aired. 200 different anime boards, fan site, official website, press conferences from channels, ON DEMAND… hell I’m not even a fan of Geass and I knew it was coming out 4 months before it did. I haven’t been unprepared from an [as] anime since 2003, and I’m hardly the ravenous anime fan that I see destroying [as] nighty on both the ANN and [as] boards. People just want to rag on the channel and not remember the good. And HEAVENS actually suggesting something sensical on how to change the perception of animation to the heads of [as]; no, I gotta read “IF THEY DON’T START SHOWING MOAR ANIME I WILL REVOLT!” Jesus, really?

EDIT:

You do know they were trying to get a comedy that would port viewers to the anime, right? However they didn’t want to move FG once they lost Futurama… also you know ATHFCMFFT was sacrificial meat for the Olympics, anime would’ve gotten about 9000 viewers vs. The Redeem Team and Michael Phelps.

Don’t forget Sailor Moon. DBZ was classic too. Wasn’t ReBoot on there for awhile too? RIP

It’s funny, Toonami started in 1997 the year I graduated high school. I remember watching it my freshman year of college instead when I was bored in the afternoon….it’s funny to think of how much my life has changed since then, now I have a wife and 1.5 kids.

Okay, wtf… at least for the ending, could they not have gone back to classic Tom? And man, Toonami used to be so golden, that I got pissed off when I missed the shows they put on.

Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Tenchi Muyo… They turned me onto a bunch of series, which I then bought.

Same with the old Adult Swim… Witch Hunter Robin, Wolf’s Rain, Ghost in the Shell. I haven’t watched AS in years… but damn

RIP Toonami… may your golden years stay golden forever

‘Bang’ indeed

But doesn’t [as] still announce acquisitions at their Upfronts? And tell me the thousands of downloaders of Geass helped the ratings. Why watch it on TV when you can dl it? Look, I want to see where Geass pulled in ANY ratings. Blood+ and Death Note at least had 400,000+ viewers semi-regularly (DN much less towards the end aka. after a certain chara’s death). Code Geass never pulled in promising numbers to begin with, Moribito is being punished because [as] has panicked. They’re not getting the 400K they used to from Bleach so they hope FMA repeats can pick up the void. I’m not saying [as] is blameless, but it’s not solely their fault here.

Toonami was so important to me as a kid. Look at the “over 9000″ references. Without toonami, this meme would probably not get enough steam to exist. It’s nostalgic!

(This is Adult Swimt discussion) Most anime is garbage, anyway. What they should have done is tried to show anime shows that weren’t about killing and robots and shit. Tried showing some of the other sub-genres in the medium. Why not try to show a romantic-comedy? Or a show with a basis in real like like Welcome to the NHK or something? (Presuming it got dubbed) I don’t know. Even “I” think these shows would flop horribly. Yet still, I’d love if they could get a decent dub of Ranma and show that. That shit is way better than Inuyasha. The only time I ever watched Adult Swim every night was when they showed detective Conan every night. That show was the shit up on that inspector gadget formulaic bullshit tip. Loved it.

Don’t confuse TOONAMI with [adult swim]. The 2 hour gap in time is CAVERNOUS in terms of what would be edited and what wouldn’t. And one thing: slam Dogboy all you want, but like Futurama the repeats shown over 9000 times still get higher ratings than the two animes I’ve mentioned. When kids start wanting to watch Honey and Clover and stuff like Nana, then I’d start worrying. [as] had a better shot with the shows IFC is gobbling up and showing uncut (Witchblade, Speed Grapher, Basilisk, Gunslinger Girl, etc.) Those historically have been [as] type of shows… Holy crap, why doesn’t someone just make an [as] thread?

EDIT: I saw your post vas and all I can say is it’s not like they haven’t tried showing non-action stuff… they’ve had a bad track record and they’re knee-jerking instead of searching more carefully.

Good night, sweet prince. Toonami is what introduced me to Yu Yu Hakisho during the 5pm (EST) spots back in the day. I was also entranced by DBZ and remember watching some Gundam episodes when I lived in Florida for a while (Arena fighting Gundams from different parts of Earth). Good stuff.

Edit: How could I forget Big O? and Tenchi Muyo! ?

This is precisely what’s wrong with cartoon network / adult swim. They just don’t promote their shit well anymore. This was awesome. All those promos are awesome. They made you want to tune in. Whenever I’m watching Adult Swim, my god, it’s brutal the types of commercials/promos they run. They show random clips of really crude, dumb ass shit and expect people to watch it? Fuck that! It doesn’t even look appealing. If they let this voice over guy go, they need to get him back. He sold the shit out of their programming.

I mean, you wouldn’t push people into shows that are hardcore fanservice harem shows like Magikano or Inukami. Rather, show something like Seto no Hanayome. It’s hilarious, and wasn’t any more romance driven than say Eureka Seven or that one show with the two guys who fought each other in an epic battle every 3 episodes or so… you know the one… pretty underwhelming show, dude called his punch “a bullet” and punched dudes… Maybe it had a number in the name? what was that show? Driving me nuts. I watched the whole thing, and I can’t remember the name. It had a name that I think would be a pain in the ass to say if you were Japanese… The anti-hero dude who worked for the government was a bishonen cool cat…or something. Shit shit shit… Something like Escaflowne… Ext..esc… OH OH OH s-CRY-ed. yeah… that’s it.

Well anyway, yeah, shows like seto no hanayome. That would have been awesome. Probably never got a dub, though.

Jesus, I think I watched absolutely anything that ever came on Toonami.

RIP Toonami, the BEST reason Cartoon Network existed in my childhood.

So sad hearing about this. I remember catching Gundam Wing when it originally aired and being excited as hell. I had just moved on campus and wasn’t able to keep with alot of news, so when I flipped it to CN and saw a Gundam show I nearly lost it. The thing I’ll remember most were those f*cing awesome commercials promoting new shows, man. Whoever cut and edited thos eand came up with the voice over is a f*cking genius.

Damn, I feel so old and sad now. Granted one could make many comments on the quality of Toonami, it was still a huge part of childhood for me, and I’m only 18 (19 on Wed. but irrelevant). This one block was like my salvation and joy during my elementary school years. It showed me far out things and sparked my imagination and curiosity for things that I had no idea really existed animation wise. One could even say that Toonami is co-responsible for keeping me in the gaming world as well. God look at what we got from them:

Salior Moon (& Movies)
Reboot
DragonBall/Z (& Movies)
Ronin Warriors
Deep Sub 6
Rurouni. Fucking. Kenshin.
Yu Yu Hakusho
Big O
Cyborg 009
Tenchi Muyo!/Universe/In Tokyo
Gundam. Fucking. Wing. (+ Uncut)
Outlaw Star
G Force
Gundam 08th MS Team
G Gundam
.HACK//Sign
Samurai Jack
Those AWESOME AMVs and Beats. (Space Is The Place, Dreams, etc. Loved the hip hop influences.)

And this isn’t even counting the stuff they got from our shores as well! Truly the end of a dynasty. Can we please have a moment of silence?

adult swim boggles my mind these days. It just feels like the people running it don’t know what to do with the lineup. Their constant schedule shifting is just sad…like they’re blindly trying to find some magic formula to revitalize their viewership.

It’s almost like they got caught up in what made them charming when the block debuted. Now it seems like they’ll air any show that seems wacky and random. I think airing more finely crafted shows like Venture Bros would go a long way for them. Mark my words, adult swim is going to turn into the Family Guy block one of these days.

Man, remember when The Midnight Run premiered? Damn, that was so awesome. Nobody was doing anything like that at the time. Uncut Gundam Wing & DBZ with the blood we never got to see on the afternoon block. LOVED IT.

EDIT: Oh, and even though we have no way of knowing how popular it is, adult swim and CN need to watch out for the Sci-Fi channel. Their Ani-Monday block started out pretty weak, but it’s growing. Gurren Lagann is already there now and Gundam 00 starts in Novermber. If they expanded the block, I could see Sci-Fi capturing a lot of those CN anime fans for themselves.

I think I actually have most of these shows on VCR because my sis was in the military and I would watch these shows and send it wherever she was stationed. Plus I’m a huge animation fan who kinda grew up with this stuff (I was a teenager in 1996-1997) so the memories are so vivid for me. I remember canceling basketball games with my friends and when the asked be why I made up some bullshit excuse so I could go home and watch The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and ‘new’ Sailor Moon eps. Not that they wouldn’t get it, blowing off time with the guys to watch Sailor Moon was not something you did in high school/where I lived.

This thread makes me wonder what happened to weekday cartoon blocks.

I remember years ago I would come home from school and watch Fox Kids or whatever and then I’d watch Toonami. And of course there were the weekly blocks like Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.

Today Fox only shows cartoons on Saturday mornings and Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon just have random lineups of cartoons every day.

Holy crap!

I totally didn’t even know what “Toonami” was, but then I remember the old host, and oh my god when I watched the intro to “The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest” it brought back sooo many memories. That show was badass. The name wasn’t familiar, but man I sure remember that intro and the cyberspace stuff and shit.

Even though I haven’t watched Toonami in god I have no idea how long, RIP!

Toonzone Part 2:

I guess I’ll throw in my two cents.

Personally, I thought Toonami would have lasted through this year and made it to its 12 year. I figured that since CN was letting Toonami just be there, it might made it past this year and co-existed with the new Friday night action block. Yet, another side of me knew that the end was near and it was only a matter of time before it was gone.

Like I said in another thread, when I first read the news about Toonami ending, the first thing that came to mind was “This is the end, beautiful friend.” Those were the words that TOM4 said when DBZ was ending and it fit perfectly for this moment. I’ve been watching the block for 10 years and has been a fun ride, from the beginning to the end. I was 9 when I first watched it and now I’m 20. So, when I first started, I was in the tween demographic. Now I’m out of it, firmly planted in the Adult Swim demographic. Yet, I still watched, being one of the loyal viewers that stuck with it through the highs and the lows.

Regarding the final night, I was prepared for the message. I knew it was coming. When the TOM bumpers for Samurai Jack were silent, I said to myself, “It’s almost time. I’m ready for this.”

Yet, once it aired, I guess I wasn’t really prepared to the end. I didn’t cry or anything, but I could feel the emotion building inside me. I couldn’t believe it. It was finally over.

So, I’m going to miss the block. It brought lots of great memories and I thank everyone behind the block for providing it.

I’m not going to abandon the channel. I like some of the newer CN originals and I’ll watch the new Friday night action block. Plus, I watch almost all of Adult Swim, so I’m nowhere near done with the network. Yet, its going to be weird not having Toonami on Saturday night anymore. Or even being on the channel anymore. Ah well, good things must come to an end, sooner or later.

You know, I just realized…

Wherever Jeff Harris is or whatever is happening to him right now that he’s been unable to participate or comment on this significant event, we hope everything’s okay and we wish him the best.

I guess ill say something.

Yea, ive been a Toonami watcher (regular) from 1998 till bout 2005 or so. During that time, was the best time of my life during the day. Toonami spawned alot of cool things in america, the boost of DBZ fandom, the popularzation of Gundam series with Wing, and bringing favorite stuff like Tenchi, Reboot, Outlaw Star, Big O, Sailor Moon series, .Hack, Giant Robot Week (nope, didnt forget that one did I) and so much more.

I was one of the early DBZ nerds back in middle school, where i wanted DBZ stuff the minute merchandise made its way to the shelves, and people payed stupid amounts of money on VHS tapes that stacked high up on video stores like Suncoast and Best Buy. It also got me into a series that has impacted the world in many ways, Gundam. I LOVED GUNDAM WING back in the day, and i sure as heck wasnt the only one. During my Toonami time, i got into Tenchi with Muyo, Universe, and in Tokyo series. Even saw most of the Sailor Moon series to kill time. I was into an “no anime” part of my life, then i got back into Gundam again with 08th MS Team. It enticed me with its realistic combat/gurrilla war fare that i had a strong interest in at the time. G Gundam followed later and was my first experiance with Gundam 0080. Then another great thing happend, Ruruouni Kenshin, which before it even aired, i had an interest in seeing, and what better way to watch than for free (other than paying for VHS tapes).

If something on TV had to be listed as “made the biggest mark on children”, Toonami would be up there without a doubt, and should be. Thats what made my child/teen hood so good. And thats a felling no one can never take away from you as long as you live.

So, a toast, to something so small, to be so big in everyone…

I’d say the problem was not enough balance between homegrown animation and anime. I state 2002 to be the best year for Toonami because you had a good blend of both.

Then of course moving Toonami strictly to weekends. I mean for one, a good portion of the block had plenty of episodes, thus are better for weekday. And for a show like DBZ which stretches it’s story out, once a week airings are a fools move. Besides, Toonami if handled properly could have been a bridge between CN and AS.

GameFaqs Part 2:

Euthanising the block was the right choice since the Toonami we all knew and loved died years earlier.

yeah….. this year sucks (and it’s not supposed to, dammit! IT’S GEORGE BUSH’S LAST YEAR OF RUNNING THE NATION INTO THE GROUND!), Brawl was Nintendo’s greatest disappointment to date, the movie preview voiceover guy died (among others), the recent economic crisis, the fact that McCain STILL has a shot at winning the election even when he said “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” on the first day of the economic crisis, and now Toonami will die….. I mean, sure, it’s hasn’t really been worth much since they finished Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, but it’s still sad to see it go

…..but things will get better soon! Mega Man 9 comes out in two days, and this coming Friday is the first presidental debate, which will be ****ing HILLARIOUS! (…..although the average voter not being able to comprehend how badly McCain is getting crushed could take away from the hillarity)

QFT. Bo-BoBo was the last particularly good thing on Toonami.

The problem with cutting Toonami down to two hours is that it lets them only show four shows. When it was three or four hours long, they could show more shows, which meant there was a higher chance of them hitting the bullseye with a good show. And a good show could get people to stay around and watch some of the other shows they ordinarily might not be interested in watching, or at least not interested enough to watch just for that show.

As much as I hate the way Toonami was run lately I never thought it would actually die. Toonami was a big part of my childhood growing up and for it so suddenly come to an end? I’ll be honest, it hurts inside.

I told you to get you cris and heincken man.

We were all a bunch of hood’ rats 11 years ago man.

Now some have jobs, some have kids, some have done great things others not so much.

All we wanted was a Convention of likeminded folk but it was too hard to pull off wasnt it Jeff?

ugh, never mind im not mad with nobody – just get drunk and dont worry about **** until monday when As Wall Street Turns airs on Today, Good Morning America and the Early Show for the next five days strait…

Man it’s been a hour and still can’t believe this happen. But I guess we gotta move on sooner or later…I really wonder what will happen to Naruto after “Powerful Helper” oh well at least there is still the manga even though it’s getting worse yet still readable some how.

Though to be honest it was obvous it was comming. What now new toonami premiers in over a year, the cutback to two hours last October, the schedule being an hour of Naruto and reruns of other shows. Toonami was already on it’s death bed, most of us saw this comming. That friday Action Block was the final Nail in the coffin. I really hope people still give that block and it’s shows a chance. I fear that many people will unfairly bash it and blame it for the death of Toonami.

And I still stand by my words that Anime will have some place on Cartoon Network, though it is more limited. And I’m not just talking about crap like Bakugan ether.

Well, I never expected to be back here. But this is a big enough of an event to do so.

Man Mack. You silly fairy. God…if there is anybody in Heaven please take him?

Oh…Toonami…uh…

Yeah my history with it has been a long one. Started on my Birthday and well to see it go is to see a lot of dreams go with it.

It’s a very sad day though. It could have more than it have been but what ya gonna do – this is the country that doesnt know a consertive when it sees one.

Time to go get the beer, tape or DVR this ep and save it forever because after today the event that will end North American Hegimony over animation and anime will start and it aint going to be pretty at all.

I suggest you book flights to Brazil for a two weeks stay – i know I will very 1 to 2 years for the next 25 years. Until then, dont get girls teen pregnant like Palins daughter, you dont want have your child to be watching Elmo Street when he is talking on how to put duck tape on your doors…

“This may very well be just my opinion but the fall of Toonami is a testament to how the Animation Cable TV market is suffering a bit of a marketing implosion especially in CN. This is making me severely ponder about one of my theories on what if WB sever their ties with CN and they try to go with whomever will show their works like how they use to in the early 90’s. If anything else one could wonder if CN will soon end up like how it was in the early-mid 90’s by being pretty much a large archive of reruns of old shows. One can only wonder just WHAT would the future be for CN?

No I am not saying that there will never be a animated show on American TV ever again of course. But some things need to change for the better, will CN change for the better? Will there be a new animation channel? Who knows my friends, who knows…”

The thing i keep tell people is that Cable has a very bad history (until now with Disney’s shows) of keeping audiances and creating franchises. The only reason why Hanna Montana and HSM suceeded was because both franchises are the only two shows that remind the parents of the kids living now Of The Original Mickey Mouse Club – and other such 50’s work. In fact, part of the reason why it suceeded is because of the way the Wii was promoted – a female oriented (with masculane eyes mind you) product ment to turn men and boys away from the product – unless the mother likes it mind you. I can also say the dhimitude of the education system also lead into this but thats for another day.

As for CN, it will end up like MTV – there will be another animation station but it aint coming unless Obama wins and shakes up the FCC and its threats on Cable. But after that – Warner Brothers will start to move to the net – but the system in the states (you know the Internet Backbone) is so 3rd world, that it will take at least 5 years to get the right speed for SD content – forget HD you need 15 years at best before any of the companies even TRY like Verizon is, and even with $93 BILLION bucks in revenues – YES…BILLIONS- we are still paying $125 for Fiber and the only service that can do HD properly! Its the greatest crime since The FED’s Natinalisation plan this week and until somebody like Quest gets in the highspeed game – Warner Brothers Plan will just fail…Unless the Internet gets back in the hands of the Government because its…

“TOO BIG TO FAIL…” tm 2008 GWB, The Commander in Grief Enterprises.

So yes – Pokejed its is an end of an era. Once the Power Rangers end – and it might be 2010 Feb, it will end a nearly 30 year epoch – and what will be left is shards of the past, a bill of false goods, and people who think God is the crux of there existance – not realizing without Good God Fearing men who didnt use HIM as a crux that this nation was able to surive.

And then we will grow old and look at our grandkids and wonder…what did our parents do? what did there peers do…and are only hope will be the look in there eyes, wondering why there is rations of water, why this needle hurt, where is mom, where is dad…

And all we can do is shake our heads.

Maybe Yugi-Oh 5d’s is too damn close to reality.

****

We all joked about this, we all said Toonami was declining, but nobody ever predicted that Cartoon Network would sink this low. It’s the end of an era.

So what’s replacing it: more of those stupid “Fried Dynamite” kids or even more re-runs of shows that have under twenty episodes.

Not so fast.

I predicted it. But everyone passed it off as “negative” blabber. Now who the **** was right? HUH!?

I’m not like this without reason, the world have shift me into this. Now stop with the foolish optimistic crap, everyone. In this world, it’s the stuff for fools.

It’s odd seeing Toonami end after 11 and a half years of being on the air. Even if it’s a shadow of what it once was, and it’s good to finally be rid of the odd TOM design and all, it’s still a shame to lose Toonami after so long. Can’t say it came out of nowhere, though.

Muwahahaha! *rubs hands together*

My master, Back U. Gone, is pleased by this development.

I used to watch Toonami every afternoon when I was in elementary school. Then I watched it every night in middle school. Toonami really shaped me to become an artist and introduced me to anime. It was such a big part of my life as a kid, and now that it’s gone it leaves me feeling a little empty inside.

My favorite time during Toonami’s long run was one of the final afternoon blocks, the one with Rurouni Kenshin in the last slot and two DBZ episodes. I seem to remember that one most. I also really liked Zoids and Outlaw Star.

Hopefully, CN can come up with another influential animation block for the youth of today. It would be a shame if they didn’t.

I hadn’t watched in ages and I figured, “Hey, what the hell. Let’s watch this.” I watched Samurai Jack (one of my favorite cartoons) and at the end I was shocked to see that this was the last night for Toonami! In my generation this is what I was growing up with. I remember Tom and playing on the computer to save the ship and him and now that it’s over…..wow. This is truly the end of an era. This deeply saddens me…….

Last Quote:

So, there were a few things I wasn’t planning to do. I was not planning on releasing anything off The Fourth Estate before well, releasing the album, assuming I ever released it. At the very least, I wasn’t going to put up anything via my website. Via compilations? Maybe. Via other peoples’ podcasts? Definitely, if the podcast producers were game. However, I didn’t want to publicly solicit anything off the disc via any channel until it was very close to release as well. No leaving a coming-soon page for 2 or 3 years before releasing anything, like I did with Opensource. However, I do already have some songs in the can, and I have reason to leak one very specific song today.

You see, Toonami’s last night on television is tonight, and I have a song about that animation block completed for the new CD. Toonami means a lot to me because it is one of the key reasons I am the person I am. In fact, without watching the various Tenchi Series and then a bunch of other good anime on Toonami which itself built into full blown otakuism, there is an exceedingly high probablity I would have never pushed into Nerdcore, as I would have likely felt that I just didn’t have material to rap about nerdy stuff (or rather it’d all have been about computers and being into chemistry at 7. Even outside of Nerdcore, the music and stories of anime had a serious effect on my last 4 or 5 Electronica releases. Toonami, and the otakuism it inspired in me is also a key factor to meeting the love of my life, Danielle (aka Nursehella.) You see, I spotted her in line for PAX2005 because she was wearing what I thought was cosplay (turns out it was her Catholic School girl uniform from High School,) and I talked to her as such. No otaku-ism, and even if I had developed an interest in Nerdcore, she probably would have been another face in the line. Just the thought of that alternate ending freaks me out.

As such, I owe that block I surprising amount – I only hope one day I can tell Sean Akins (the head of the soon-to-be-deceased block,) that he, through a convoluted series of events, helped me meet the woman of my dreams, and also dramatically altered the subject matter of my music.

 

A Post From Endgame On Toonami’s death…

I got this from an inside source, but apparently, Ted Turner himself gave this eulogy at Toonami’s funeral:

All shows are not created equal. Some are born higher of budget, some with greater length, some are born into bad time slots, and others born lacking in quality and viewers. Both in birth and in programming block, in sheer scope of ratings, every show is inherently different! Yes, that is why networks discriminate against one another, which is why there is struggle, competition, and the unfaltering march of progress! INEQUALITY, is not wrong, EQUALITY is!

What of Toon Disney which made equality a right? Rabble politics by a popularity contest! Nickelodeon with its equal distribution of time slots? A network of lazy dullards! But not our beloved Cartoon Network! We fight, we compete, evolution is continuous! Cartoon Network alone moves forward, advancing steadily into the future. Even the death of my son Toonami demonstrates Cartoon Network’s unswerving commitment to ratings. We will fight on! We shall struggle, compete, plunder and dominate! And the end, the future shall be ours!

ALL HAIL CARTOON NETWORK!

at this point, my source tells me the entire room started chanting “ALL HAIL CARTOON NETWORK!“

using the death of a programming block to trash talk the enemy channels, eh? real classy of Turner…..

seriously, I know it hasn’t exactly been that great as of late, but I’m sure all of us here grew up on Toonami, it DID pretty much introduce us to anime (if Pokémon didn’t first), and….. well, now we won’t have much to really talk about on this board unless we decide to try to adopt Sci-Fi’s anime block or something…..

RIP Toonami
1997-2008