It's so great to see TOM back on the air. I missed him, he is what makes Toonami. Hopefully Toonami gets the viewers/ratings they need to bring back other characters like SARA.
Toonami is rebuilding itself from the ground up. With enough help from viewers, they'll get back to the way they were in their "Golden Years". Like I said in yesterday's blog, how far Toonami goes depends on their viewers. Even if you don't like the show that is on, turn your TV to Toonami so they can get the viewers/ratings they need to improve. If you love Toonami as much as I do and want it to stay on air, put in the effort to help them out so they can stay on air and improve. Toonami has a lot of work to do to rebuild themselves but they'll be able to do it with enough help from their fans. Toonami was only brought back because of popular demand. Now that popular demand brought it back, it's time for fans to step up and keep Toonami on the air. We didn't work this hard to get them back just to give up on them right away.
I do think Toonami had a bit of a weak opening for their relaunch but despite that, I still think their first night went incredibly well. I don't know, I guess I was expecting more air time for TOM, he lacked air time last night in my opinion. I was kind of expecting TOM to at least congratulate fans on their hard work of getting him back on the air. I mean, I can understand that their budget probably made it hard to animate TOM and the Absolution, but I'm still a bit disappointed by the weak opening. Ah well, a minor scrap in an amazing opening night. I'm hoping that the more their budget increases, the more characters they'll bring back and the more air time they'll give TOM. Maybe if their budget increases, their time slots will increase. So instead of re-doing their anime at 3am, they can add more anime shows. Hopeful wishing there, but we'll see how things go for them.
Now before I go on to talk about their line-up, I want to address the people who are acting like petulant children because Toonami didn't give them the line-up they wanted. A lot of people are stomping their feet and crying all because shows like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z weren't on Toonami last night. They refuse to give Toonami a chance and try to understand exactly why those two shows weren't on last night because they wanted Toonami to do exactly what they wanted. It's not Toonami's fault, they couldn't get those shows even if they wanted to. There are two major problems with Toonami getting those two shows. One, those shows are out of their current budget. And two, those two shows are currently in the hands of rival networks.
As I mentioned in yesterday's journal, Toonami is running on a low budget. This is also why TOM didn't get as much air time as people had hoped he would last night. Both TOM and the Absolution (his ship for those who don't know) take a lot of money to animate. Personally, I was impressed by TOM's animation. Both he and the Absolution looked amazing for the low budget Toonami is currently on. But I digress, I'll talk more about TOM's appearance in a bit. Toonami can't afford very many new shows or popular ones. They had no choice but to launch with a majority of their shows already a part of Adult Swim. It's amazing that they were even able to afford Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins. Stick with Toonami and give them a chance. The more viewers/ratings they get, the more of a budget they'll get. The more of a budget they get, the better of shows they'll get.
As for the second reason, Naruto and DBZ may not be coming back to Toonami anytime soon as they are currently airing on rival networks. DBZ is currently airing on Nickelodeon with Dragon Ball Z Kai. Naruto I believe is currently airing on Disney Channel with Naruto Shippuden. In order for Toonami to get those shows, they would have to pry them out of the hands of their competition. And I do mean pry. Both Nickelodeon and Disney are not just going to let Naruto and DBZ go without a fight. Both shows are widely popular with both younger and older audiences, they give the networks they are on good ratings. They get viewers. Nickelodeon and Disney are going to do everything they can to hold those two shows away from Cartoon Network. After years, they managed to steal them from Cartoon Network, it's not like they're just going to give them back and let Cartoon Network take their viewers/ratings. Cartoon Network would need to beat out both Disney and Nickelodeon for those two shows, they'll need thousands and possibly millions worth of dollars to get them back. It's just not worth it for Toonami to waste that much money to attempt to pry those two shows away from their competition. It's better for Toonami to move onto different animes and leave Naruto and DBZ behind for right now.
Stop acting like a spoiled brat who throws a temper tantrum whenever they don't get their way. So Toonami doesn't have the line-up you wanted, you need to give them time. You cannot expect Toonami to instantly go back to their Golden Years right away. Toonami is attempting to rebuild themselves from the ground up. Toonami needs its viewers to give them time and show patience. Toonami needs all the support they can get. The more support they get, the better they will get over time. So instead of throwing a temper tantrum because Toonami didn't do exactly what you wanted, show some support for them and give them a chance. At least give them a few months to see how this goes. Last night was their first night, give them a real chance before abandoning them. One night is not a good enough amount of time to judge how good the new Toonami will be.
Besides, the line-up doesn't make Toonami. I've heard a lot of people say that Toonami isn't Toonami anymore if it doesn't have shows like DBZ, Naruto, One Piece, and Gundam Wing. To them, it's not Toonami unless it has old shows. But it is still Toonami. Toonami isn't about the line-up. Toonami is about TOM. You see this robot right here?
That is Toonami. Toonami would not be Toonami without TOM. The only way Toonami would not be Toonami anymore is if they stopped showing anime and replaced TOM. TOM is what makes Toonami. As long as Toonami has TOM and anime, it will still be Toonami despite what line-up it may have. It doesn't matter if the new Toonami doesn't have DBZ or Naruto, it is still Toonami because it still has TOM. Who, may I add, is still completely awesome. Now that that is over, let's continue....
The line-up I was not particularly thrilled with, but I still managed to watch almost the entire thing. I turned it off at around 2:30am. I was so tired, I couldn't stay with through Cowboy Bebop like I had planned to. I only watched two of their shows, the others were muted in the background while I watched a different show online. Here's the thing, I may not want to watch a majority of their line-up right now, but I'll still have my TV on even if it is muted. Because even while muted, just having the TV on that channel gives Toonami a viewer which goes towards their rating which goes toward their budget which goes towards getting better shows. Even if you don't like the show, have your TV on it so Toonami can get their viewers/ratings.
Before going over the shows, let's talk about TOM. If you don't know who TOM is, he is the host of Toonami. Always has been and always will be. As I said earlier, Toonami isn't Toonami without TOM, if he ever gets replaced then it's not Toonami anymore. TOM looked amazing, they did really well on him despite their low budget. The Absolution looked amazing too. Very happy with the way they did the animation for both TOM and the Absolution. Hopefully as their budget increases, they will be able to afford the animation for characters like SARA. Right now we've only got TOM, but in time I'm sure TOM's friends will come back. I'm loving TOM's new attitude as well. I like that Toonami is now on Adult Swim because now they're less censored. Cartoon Network is a child's network, they have to be "family friendly". Adult Swim doesn't have to do that. Adult Swim has less censorship than Cartoon Network does. Yes, it may seem out of character for TOM by using words like the curse word for 'female dog' because he never used to talk that way but think of it this way... TOM is just saying what he was never allowed to say with Cartoon Network. TOM is still the same robot we used to know, he's just more free to do what he wants to now. Enough of that though. We'll end the talk of TOM by saying he looked amazing and I hope he gets more air time in the future. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. It's great to see him back.
I'm happy to see that Toonami is going to continue doing their reviews of things. I am actually kind of interested in 'I Am Alive' after watching their review of it last night. I have a thing for post-apocalyptic things. One thing though is that I wish they would have told us what system that game was for. I might look into I Am Alive soon and see if I have the system its on. Which I probably do. Being as big a gamer as I am, I have a lot of gaming systems. I'm looking forward to seeing what games Toonami reviews in the future. Let's move on to their shows.
I'm not a fan of bleach so I muted that show, only turning it on for when it cut to commercials to see what TOM had to say. When Toonami was airing shows I wasn't interested in, I was actually watching Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt on my computer. I love that show, it's funny. A bit raunchy, but really funny. Anyway, the only two shows I watched were Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins. Casshern Sins I'm a bit iffy about but I loved Deadman Wonderland, it had my attention right away.
Deadman Wonderland is everything I love. It's action-packed and gruesome, I love it. When lots of people get slaughtered within the first fifteen minutes of a show, you've got my attention. Without giving too much information on it, let me give you a preview of what it's about. Deadman Wonderland is set in a world where Tokyo has been destroyed. Ten years prior, the city of Tokyo had been destroyed by a sinkhole or earthquake, can't quite remember which. In its place was built an amusement park known as 'Deadman Wonderland'. Deadman Wonderland is named for the fact it is run by prisoners sentenced to death row. The story follows young middle school student Ganta who is framed for a horrible crime and sentenced to death, being sent to Deadman Wonderland. That's really all I know about this show from the first episode, it looks amazing so far.
If anything, Toonami has earned themselves a regular Saturday viewer for Deadman Wonderland in me. I will most definitely be tuning in every Saturday for new episodes of Deadman Wonderland. It's got everything. It has gore, blood, murder, mystery, magic, seemingly mystical creatures, and some great animation and fight scenes. If you're into more action-packed and gruesome animes, I definitely recommend tuning into Toonami Saturday nights at 12:30am to watch Deadman Wonderland. I'm very interested to see where this anime goes.
Casshern Sins I'm a bit iffy about. The first episode didn't really command my attention like Deadman Wonderland did. It was interesting yes, but there was something about it that also was a bit boring to me. Perhaps it's just because I'm not really into the whole mecha-robot thing. Robots have never really been my thing. But Casshern Sins had some amazing fight scenes and plot seems interesting. Without giving too much away, let me go over what I know of Casshern Sins so far. Casshern Sins is about an amnesiac robot named Casshern. Living in a world that is going through what is being called "The Ruin", Casshern finds himself fighting for his life as various other robots attempt to kill him, accusing him of murdering Princess Luna. The death of Princess Luna is what supposedly began the ruin. But that's all I know from the first episode. It seems to be a post-apocalyptic anime about a world populated by robots as human become a rare species. Not much information was given in the first episode.
I've been told Casshern Sins gets more interesting as it goes on so I'll stick with it for a few more weeks and see just how much more interesting it gets before making my final decision on it. If you're into robots, Casshern Sins is a good anime for you. It's on Saturday nights at 1:00am. I'm not much into robots, but Casshern Sins does seem interesting so I'll personally keep watching it for a bit longer.
The last three shows were Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop. I didn't watch any of those shows. I have already seen all of FMA and don't like either Ghost in the Shell or Cowboy Bebop. I fell asleep before Cowboy Bebop came on. FMA and Ghost in the Shell were both playing and muted in the background as I watched some more Panty and Stocking.
I'm happy Toonami is back, I know how something to look forward to on TV again. The only thing I had to look forward to on TV anymore was America's Next Top Model, which I have to watch online since I have class Wednesday nights. Toonami gives me a reason to look forward to Saturday TV again. I'll be continuing to watch and support Toonami every Saturday and watch them grow to the heights they were at a few years back. And I hope the Toonami fans reading this will do the same. Don't abandon them, they need our help. Stick by them and give them the viewers/ratings they need. Toonami will be nothing without us.
This blog turned out longer than expected. Who else watched Toonami last night? Did you enjoy its relaunch? Glad it's back on air?