Toonami once brought the joy of anime to millions of American viewers for the first time. When it was cancelled, our hearts dropped and when it returned it was met with an incredible outpouring of support. There's still around 1.5 million people that tune into Toonami every week and mostly enjoy it. But like Saturday morning cartoons, the time for Toonami has come and gone. It's time to pull the plug on Toonami once and for all.
When Toonami began it quickly became the starting point for many people to experience anime for the first time. Shows like The Prince of Tennis and Martian Successor Nadesico. It would be wreckless and inconsiderate to state that Toonami didn't have a large role in increasing the popularity of anime in America to an all time high. Until it was cancelled, and the popularity of anime continued to rise. Sure, Toonami allows people flipping through channels to discover anime, but how many people really flip channels anymore? You're more likely to learn about an anime through an ad for Crunchyroll on your favorite website, podcast or a YouTube video. Other providers like Hulu and Netflix have also helped bring anime to the masses. Additionally, Funimation recently launched it's own anime streaming service.
Toonami is outdated and obsolete. It no longer serves a purpose. Sure, it broadcast anime every weekend, but outside of the simulcast for Space Dandy, and the ongoing Dimension W, what hasn't already been available elsewhere for extended periods of time? Look at the rest of the lineup: Dragon Ball Kai, Naruto, One Piece, Samurai Champloo, Sword Art Online II, Parasyte and others. My question is this, which of them can't be found legally online and streamed back to back? Maybe someone finds an interesting anime on Toonami, then they go stream it all. Why would I wait a week for a new episode of Michicko and Hatchin when I can't just hop online?
Unless you were willing to dish out money for anime, in the past it was essential to watch Toonami because that was one of the few times anime would be airing on television. However things change and you can watch anime any day, all day and every day if you choose for less than a dollar a day. At $6.35 a month, in a 30 day month, you can have Crunchyroll for .25 cents a day. That's less than the portion of your cable bill going to the network that broadcast Toonami in your country.
It used to be a great experience speaking with your friends about Toonami and the newest episodes, now there's no point to doing that. With sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit you can talk about any anime or episode whenever you want. Even children have access to social media at this point. That social aspect of Toonami is now gone as well.
With other aspects of the world being better at Toonami, than Toonami, what reason is there to still have Toonami? A few people who want to hold on to nostalgia? Filling a time slot that nobody really wants? There's no purpose for Toonami any longer and lost the essence of it's origins a long time ago. When Toonami first cancelled we were told to stay gold, and we did, but Toonami didn't.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
Follow @OriginalKingD
When Toonami began it quickly became the starting point for many people to experience anime for the first time. Shows like The Prince of Tennis and Martian Successor Nadesico. It would be wreckless and inconsiderate to state that Toonami didn't have a large role in increasing the popularity of anime in America to an all time high. Until it was cancelled, and the popularity of anime continued to rise. Sure, Toonami allows people flipping through channels to discover anime, but how many people really flip channels anymore? You're more likely to learn about an anime through an ad for Crunchyroll on your favorite website, podcast or a YouTube video. Other providers like Hulu and Netflix have also helped bring anime to the masses. Additionally, Funimation recently launched it's own anime streaming service.
Toonami is outdated and obsolete. It no longer serves a purpose. Sure, it broadcast anime every weekend, but outside of the simulcast for Space Dandy, and the ongoing Dimension W, what hasn't already been available elsewhere for extended periods of time? Look at the rest of the lineup: Dragon Ball Kai, Naruto, One Piece, Samurai Champloo, Sword Art Online II, Parasyte and others. My question is this, which of them can't be found legally online and streamed back to back? Maybe someone finds an interesting anime on Toonami, then they go stream it all. Why would I wait a week for a new episode of Michicko and Hatchin when I can't just hop online?Unless you were willing to dish out money for anime, in the past it was essential to watch Toonami because that was one of the few times anime would be airing on television. However things change and you can watch anime any day, all day and every day if you choose for less than a dollar a day. At $6.35 a month, in a 30 day month, you can have Crunchyroll for .25 cents a day. That's less than the portion of your cable bill going to the network that broadcast Toonami in your country.
It used to be a great experience speaking with your friends about Toonami and the newest episodes, now there's no point to doing that. With sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit you can talk about any anime or episode whenever you want. Even children have access to social media at this point. That social aspect of Toonami is now gone as well.
With other aspects of the world being better at Toonami, than Toonami, what reason is there to still have Toonami? A few people who want to hold on to nostalgia? Filling a time slot that nobody really wants? There's no purpose for Toonami any longer and lost the essence of it's origins a long time ago. When Toonami first cancelled we were told to stay gold, and we did, but Toonami didn't.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
Follow @OriginalKingD
Bruh I never knew Martian Successor Nadesico was on Toonami. Damn. At this point I agree with you. Toonami was fucking heat in 2012. Now, nah. Toonami was fun though. Toonami is like TNA atm lol, hopefully it gets better.
ReplyDeleteToonami isn't fun anymore. It's like a cult lol
DeleteGuess you haven't been seeing the ratings, or also know about the return of Samurai Jack(New Season) or new seasons of FLCL.
DeleteGreat, those were announced after this was published.
DeleteJust another terrible article about someone complaining that "their show" isn't on the block! Toonami is the best it's ever been! The numbers do the talk...
ReplyDeleteToonami has One Piece. One Piece was the first anime I ever watched, first manga I ever bought and I still love it. So Toonami actually does have my show. It also has Samurai Champloo another anime that I really love. So maybe you should stop reaching like Luffy because you just aren't made of rubber.
DeleteThis...is the dumbest article. I wish I could have my 30 seconds back of my life that I wasted reading this. lol
ReplyDeleteChill out Tony. If it only took you 30 seconds to read you already decided you weren't going to like anything it contained. Which is cool.
DeleteI didn't decide I didn't like the article until after I finished reading it. And upon review, my comment is harsh. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. So if I could, I'd go back and rephrase it.
DeleteWhat do you think Toonami needs to do to stay relevant?
ReplyDeleteNew shows. 90% of everything on there is old as hell
DeleteHonestly? The fandom. People need to stop getting so bent out of shape when someone writes an opinion. Everyone has their own opinion.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and people can have a contrasting opinion whenever BS is uttered.
DeleteHow is it bs? Because you're a Toonami "Faithful." So? It's called freedom of speech. It's called an OPINION.
DeleteYou argue Toonami accomplishes nothing steaming can't but isn't it better to have more ways to introduce people to anime than less? Why call for the cancellation of any service providing content just because we have other ways of watching anime now? Even in the age of cord cutting, not everyone has good enough internet for streaming but they may have basic cable. Why not offer them an option as well? Toonami does get some shows first, early on or exclusively and is involved in producing new content as of recent months but even if all they did was show series that stream legally, they'd still serve the purpose of an entry point. While I can agree Toonami as a method of seeing anime is nowhere near as important as it once was, I cannot agree that the block serves no purpose and you have not given a compelling argument why it should be cancelled. What's the harm in Toonami continuing to exist? Why not live and let live?
ReplyDeleteAt this point it seems that Toonami is not garnered towards making new anime like it once was. Now it's just catering to older anime fans who love the aspect of what Toonami once was. Not saying that it doesn't reach new viewers but its clearly not trying to. This is why people don't care about it. Like myself, we've seen 90% of what's there
ReplyDeleteThink about when you were a kid and all the anime is introduced you too? Thats the real purpose of toonami man. You bring up a good point about how why wait a week to watch something when you can always stream it online, but by that logic are you saying that EVERY SINGLE weekly tv channel and program should just shut down. Overall Toonami is great for spreading overall anime awareness here in the states and helping younger kids first get into anime.
ReplyDeleteI saw a kid in a comic book store ask where DBZ Kai was. Toonami did him wonders
DeleteI saw a kid in a comic book store ask where DBZ Kai was. Toonami did him wonders
DeleteI saw a kid in a comic book store ask where DBZ Kai was. Toonami did him wonders
DeleteDo you have an actual point or are you just trying to be funny? The thing about kids is that it isn't really a big deal when they say something stupid like that because kids grow up. What scares me more is a young man such as yourself who thinks your cool because you know more about DBZ than a child. I bet you stole his lunch money while you were at it.
DeleteHow was I being funny? I was agreeing with you that new people are getting into anime through Toonami. I was happy when he asked for DBZ Kai. Jackass
DeleteI got to ask why would people says toonami was a cult thing? Just asking
Deleteyou guys don't know toonami's value if you were in india you would kill yourself for saying this
ReplyDelete