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Why were the Toonami promo's so good?
- Thread starter Trojita
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Typographenia
Member
My one real regret with Toonami is how they changed IGPX so much from the original pilot promo thing. I really liked that much better than what they ended up airing each weekend, but I digress.
It certainly informed and shaped much of my views on anime and gave me, what I consider, a great foundation to start from. Outlaw Star, Blue Sub No.6, G-Gundam, and Dragonball Z were probably my all-time favorites. Big O became a favorite a couple of years ago when I gave it another chance. Fantastic show that I was too uninitiated in anime to truly enjoy.
edit:
I made this a long time ago because the line popped into my head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnB1-fdZXY
It certainly informed and shaped much of my views on anime and gave me, what I consider, a great foundation to start from. Outlaw Star, Blue Sub No.6, G-Gundam, and Dragonball Z were probably my all-time favorites. Big O became a favorite a couple of years ago when I gave it another chance. Fantastic show that I was too uninitiated in anime to truly enjoy.
I don't mind that these toonami threads have become semi-routine on GAF. : P
edit:
I made this a long time ago because the line popped into my head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnB1-fdZXY
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
That's my boy.
Vegeta was always my favorite character, especially after he turned face. He was always a bad ass, but still a good guy at hear. He was never a goodey goodey.
I think Vegeta is mostly overrated but he had some great moments. Majin Vegeta is easily the highlight of both his character and the entire Buu saga.
Goddamn so much nostalgia. Toonami was the fucking greatest. Especially since they would play Miyazaki movies occasionally too, iirc. I used to watch Toonami and Adult Swim anime all the fucking time when I was a kid. So many memories and nostalgia right now from watching these videos....
I'm going to go continue playing Jak and Daxter collection and keep this nostalgia train going.
I'm going to go continue playing Jak and Daxter collection and keep this nostalgia train going.
H_Prestige
Banned
I thought Android/Cell saga Vegeta was the most badass. Fought on the good side but you knew he was still a renegade.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Of course is isn't dead.
If Toonami accomplished anything, I bought the complete boxes of almost everything they showed. And yet, I wouldn't mind if there were some cool promo's in between me switching disks. :/
AceBandage
Banned
I would pay good money for box sets of random anime that aired on Toonami with the bumps and intros and everything included.
I love Toonami.
I was a big participant on the X Bridge and ToonZone boards during the time that Toonami aired. I remember huge debates about schedules (equivalent to list wars on the gaming side), everyone flipping out over the big events they would do every year like Lockdown, and the never-ending complaining about how Toonami was becoming more and more Ruined Forever every single year. I kept a running list of every Toonami schedule as it changed for something like four years straight.
Favorite period was the short-lived Tom 3.0 weekdays. Even though it was shorter than the "golden age" (3 hours + Rising Sun and Midnight Run vs. Tom 3.0's 2 hour weekdays) I thought the updated design and bringing over YYH from AS showed how much Williams Street was committed to keeping the block important. Plus it had YYH, Rurouni Kenshin, G Gundam, and the highy underrated Cyborg 009.
It really was more of an event than a programming block. Nobody else would have been willing to bring over shows like Tenchi Muyo, Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, The Big O (of all things - they even loved it so much that they paid to have new episodes done for Adult Swim!), .hack//SIGN, Cyborg 009, or Blue Sub 6. Yeah, they had to edit it, but they always did it fairly respectfully and didn't make insulting edits like 4Kids. No other block had the sort of care put into its bumpers or promos or music selection, and no other block really engaged with its audience like Toonami did - game reviews, audience fan art, total immersion events, etc. Williams Street went out of their way to make an ad telling the fanbase that it understood their frustrations during the Kids WB hostile-takeover period (http://youtu.be/lAA26CRRRg0) promising that things would get better. They aired a special marathon of the final four episodes of Classic Zoids even though the show got cancelled just because fans kept asking for it.
Kids who watch anime these days are lucky in the sense that they can just torrent whatever they want, unedited and put out quickly. But they'll never have the same experience.
I was a big participant on the X Bridge and ToonZone boards during the time that Toonami aired. I remember huge debates about schedules (equivalent to list wars on the gaming side), everyone flipping out over the big events they would do every year like Lockdown, and the never-ending complaining about how Toonami was becoming more and more Ruined Forever every single year. I kept a running list of every Toonami schedule as it changed for something like four years straight.
Favorite period was the short-lived Tom 3.0 weekdays. Even though it was shorter than the "golden age" (3 hours + Rising Sun and Midnight Run vs. Tom 3.0's 2 hour weekdays) I thought the updated design and bringing over YYH from AS showed how much Williams Street was committed to keeping the block important. Plus it had YYH, Rurouni Kenshin, G Gundam, and the highy underrated Cyborg 009.
It really was more of an event than a programming block. Nobody else would have been willing to bring over shows like Tenchi Muyo, Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, The Big O (of all things - they even loved it so much that they paid to have new episodes done for Adult Swim!), .hack//SIGN, Cyborg 009, or Blue Sub 6. Yeah, they had to edit it, but they always did it fairly respectfully and didn't make insulting edits like 4Kids. No other block had the sort of care put into its bumpers or promos or music selection, and no other block really engaged with its audience like Toonami did - game reviews, audience fan art, total immersion events, etc. Williams Street went out of their way to make an ad telling the fanbase that it understood their frustrations during the Kids WB hostile-takeover period (http://youtu.be/lAA26CRRRg0) promising that things would get better. They aired a special marathon of the final four episodes of Classic Zoids even though the show got cancelled just because fans kept asking for it.
Kids who watch anime these days are lucky in the sense that they can just torrent whatever they want, unedited and put out quickly. But they'll never have the same experience.
Totally agree. I'm glad that Toonami happened, because I think it introduced a lot of people to a lot of great shows. I think there's probably a lot of anime fans because of Toonami.
Was Case Closed on Toonami, or Adult Swim only? I jwas browsing Youtube on the 360, and I found the first movie. Damn, I haven't seen the series in years, and the movie hits all the great points that the show did. Such an awesome series.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Yeah but that's sad for two reasons. One is that it's an underground niche activity.. New mainstream audiences won't be exposed to the shows. The other reason is that it doesn't make Anime producers any money. It turns western anime watching into this shriveled, niche activity that only certain hardcore fans ever discover...
Speaking of Reboot I always wished season 4 was longer. Loved the show from the beginning. This promo for episode 3 of season 4 is still a favorite. Watch the bullet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ9nyJHIYWU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ9nyJHIYWU
Anyone remember this abomination? This was pretty much the beginning of the end.
The frothing seething rage I had for this when I found out it was "replacing" Toonami on the weekdays was legendary.
Fucking Totally Spies and Code Lyoko over DBZ & Ruroni Kenshin? Fuck outta here. :lol
Anyone remember this abomination? This was pretty much the beginning of the end.
Urge to kill rising
Man Toonami..... I didn't have cable from 2004-on but i still remeber all the ads and stuff before then. I never watched Toonami much either but every time you saw a commercial for Toonami it just felt so tonally different. In a good way, a way that took this crap seriously so much so that my young self (8, 9) wouldn't watch it as i was sure it wasn't appropriate for me.
I remeber watching a little bit of Big O and being amazed at that show and staying home sick and watching Gundam/Outlaw star and not knowing what the hell was going on. While it wasn't my main kids show (i was a spongebob/hey arnold/fairly oddparents kid) it still had an affect on me and seeing these ads only brings back more appreciation and nostalgia.
I remeber watching a little bit of Big O and being amazed at that show and staying home sick and watching Gundam/Outlaw star and not knowing what the hell was going on. While it wasn't my main kids show (i was a spongebob/hey arnold/fairly oddparents kid) it still had an affect on me and seeing these ads only brings back more appreciation and nostalgia.
Holy hell Totally Spies was steaming crap.
GraveHorizon
poop meter feature creep
Toonami on Saturday was great for a while, but the last really good shows I can remember watching are Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited. Did any of the animes airing at the time go anywhere storywise?
I also remember being excited every week for YuYu Hakusho. But then suddenly it didn't come on after the episode where Yusuke finally confronts Sensui. I was like "What? Where's my show?" Right now Wikipedia says "Originally on Adult Swim, only the first 88 episodes aired on Toonami. The rest aired early Saturday mornings at 5:30 AM." And there was a 9 month gap in between! First time I'm hearing of a schedule change.
I watched many episodes of that series. It was pretty trash, but grew on me after a while.
I also remember being excited every week for YuYu Hakusho. But then suddenly it didn't come on after the episode where Yusuke finally confronts Sensui. I was like "What? Where's my show?" Right now Wikipedia says "Originally on Adult Swim, only the first 88 episodes aired on Toonami. The rest aired early Saturday mornings at 5:30 AM." And there was a 9 month gap in between! First time I'm hearing of a schedule change.
I watched many episodes of that series. It was pretty trash, but grew on me after a while.
RadioHeadAche
Member
I remember when I bought one of the Outlaw Star VHS tapes and I was so excited to see the show uncut. Then I discovered it had an opening sequence with that music. My mind was blown.
GraveHorizon
poop meter feature creep
It's a shame Toonami didn't show more of the original openings, but I'm guessing not as many people would have jumped onboard the DBZ train to the sound of "Cha-La! Head-Cha-La!" They showed YuYu Hakusho endings, but only shortened versions. And those ones were actually decently made; the English versions are just as good if not better than the originals in my opinion.
Er, hello? Rock The Dragon.
To a 13 year old, this opening was the best thing ever. Ignore the subs - this is a fan-made restoration apparently. The editing is spot on though.
Rubbish King
The gift that keeps on giving
I'd say it's worth visiting it, I enjoyed it but it's more tinge in cheek, never really found it as serious how ever my memory is slightly blued for I was pretty young at the time
I'm really struggling to remember I don't think it was but it was a big part of it, dang I'm gonna have to do some serious research... I can't even remember what the story was.. The whale could talk though... That's pretty much all I remember it used to be put on every month or so and it was realllly long..
JonathanEx
Member
Here's a question for you all. How would you bring back Toonami and make it great again? But for today - its own channel? Late night programming block? Netflix like service for anime but still somehow tie in TOM and all?
Oh yeah, loved the Yu Yu Hakusho intros/promos. So much nostalgia...
Typographenia
Member
I don't think it would be possible to achieve the same level of success as before. It was the perfect storm of passionate staff, great shows, and place in time that really solidified its impact.
However, in terms of simply bringing it back and being well received, I think they would need to do 2 things at the start. 1. Have it every weekday afternoon again to reach the audience of kids coming back from school. 2. Make a BIG deal about bringing Dragonball Z back. There would certainly have to be other shows, but DBZ would have to be the banner show. It's been out of the spotlight of American television long enough that I think it's entirely possible for it to have a revival in the youth. Plus, the fact that kids won't be stuck waiting an eternity for them to finish off the Frieza Saga's dubbing would be a major plus, haha.
I don't think they could try to do TOM again, but having another host would be great. The important thing is keeping it short and to the point, like the original segues were. Keep a little serious tone to it all, because I think that was half of the appeal of the original block. It felt a little more grown-up than the rest of cartoon network, so it had that whole "I'm older and bigger now!" appeal to a lot of the middle school demographic.
Not going to get into a big discussion over the current state of anime, but I don't think they'd be able to pull nearly as many things out of recent anime for the block as they could from 90s/00s. They'd probably need to get a little creative in their choices, or (if budget allowed) maybe try to fund their own project like they did with Big O season 2 or IGPX. I remember how pumped I was that they were doing IGPX because the pilot was great, they had selected excellent shows so far, and it just felt like they understood what kind of show would appeal to me/the audience. Granted, it wasn't really as-advertised, but IGPX was a pretty solid addition to the library.
It probably won't appeal to the people like us that grew up with it (unless they do a bang-up show selection), but that's probably for the best. Build it around what is going to be the best for kids that were our age when it was on. Don't build it for us that already had our time in the light. : P
I feel like I've been rambling, but, essentially, stick with the original timeslot they had, get some shows that are empowering and have a little more grown-up feel to them, and just make sure the people working on it love their job and the shows they're handling.
I think all they have to do is follow the formula for the old Toonami, and they'd be fine. Shit, they'd probably get a boost in ratings compared to what they have now as well.
All they have to do is make sure that it has some new Anime shows that weren't on there previously. Not sure what the state of Anime is today, but I'm sure there's at least a dozen shows they can use.
As Typographenia said, they need to make a huge thing out of DBZ again. Is there an HD version of DBZ out there with the good dubs? If so, they can put that on there, make a big deal out of HD (since HD would update it for the new audience, and likely pull in older members as well) and they'll have their star back for prime time.
Eventually, they could do the same for DB, and I'm guessing for GT. (As said I've never seen it.) Then of course get some slightly maturer stuff for Midnight run and all that good stuff.
As far as Tom goes; just make sure that they get the same guy to voice him, the same VO announcer for their promos, and try for the same Sara as well. Tom is crucial, but getting the same VO's for the others would be nice.
Keep making new bumps, in between with Tom, and promos. Keep it relevant with short reviews of video games and what not, and maybe once in a while they can do a little storyline like they did before with Tom's change.
It would be kind of easy if they can get CN to back them up.
AceBandage
Banned
Kai is basically that.
Sadly, after school block programing no long exists.
Rather, they should do it as a prime time thing.
In a perfect world, it would also combine some original programming like the new Young Justice and the new Avatar.
So, you'd have it open with Kai, move to Trigun, then to Yu Yu then Avatar, then do an anime of the month and close out with Young Justice.
A nice three hour block with bumps, game reviews like they use to do (only make them more frequent and up to date), and add in some monthly story arcs to Tom.
There you go.
I'm not familiar with all of that line-up, but it sounds really solid to me. Not sure wether they should do prime time though, but I don't think CN has anything better going on. I totally agree on everything else.
Now for Kai. I haven't watched that much, but isn't Kai (poorly) redubbed and a lot of the suggestive, more violent stuff cut out?
(P.S. I've always been curious, what is your avatar from?)
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I'm not familiar with all of that line-up, but it sounds really solid to me. Not sure wether they should do prime time though, but I don't think CN has anything better going on. I totally agree on everything else.
Now for Kai. I haven't watched that much, but isn't Kai (poorly) redubbed and a lot of the suggestive, more violent stuff cut out?
The dub is actually much more faithful, and the voice actors much more experienced. It's probably the best DBZ dub of all time. As for the violent stuff, some of it is yeah.
DBZ Kai went to Nicktoons of all networks and was an absolute smash hit success for them. I'm still SMH at Cartoon Network dropping the ball there.
Oh really? That's kind of awesome.
Is it worth checking out for someone who was a big fan of the original on CN?
Typographenia
Member
See, this is where I have to really disagree. I think they need to start clean with new characters and voice actors. Don't get me wrong, I loved the originals, but if they were bringing a Toonami-esque block to a new audience, the new kids need something to call their own.
Shoot, I don't know that it would even be a good idea to call it Toonami. The people that grew up with it aren't going to be the target audience, and the kids that are the right age now wouldn't know/care, probably. Just establish a new identity that promotes the same core focus and direction of the original block. There wasn't some magic formula with how they did things, they just took lots of stuff that they thought was cool and kept putting it on tv.
Well, I think the magic formula is that most of the stuff they put on was quality anime and cartoons, and that the bumps/Tom/promos were always really well done.
I do think that maybe it would be best for a whole new branding scheme, but I don't think kids would mind that Toonami was something that was in the past and is coming back, and it would get older people like us, who loved the original interested in it.
Princess Carl
Member
I want to start a kickstart for Toonami.
I wish such a thing was even possible 
AceBandage
Banned
I'm not familiar with all of that line-up, but it sounds really solid to me. Not sure wether they should do prime time though, but I don't think CN has anything better going on. I totally agree on everything else.
Now for Kai. I haven't watched that much, but isn't Kai (poorly) redubbed and a lot of the suggestive, more violent stuff cut out?
(P.S. I've always been curious, what is your avatar from?)
Finn from Adventure Time holding a beam Katana from No More Heroes.
No Steve Blum? Blasphemy!
I play a Bounty Hunter in SWTOR, and its voiced by Steve Blum. So amazing.
AceBandage
Banned
Best cartoon on TV right now by a long shot.
Princess Carl
Member
It and another show called regular show (both CN) are incredibly entertaining imo.
Actually haven't watched any new cartoons/anime in a long time. I'll give these a shot!
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
For using the same footage they're about as different as can be. I will say I loved the original and I loved Kai a lot. The pacing is a lot better, with much of the filler cut out.
The tone is a lot more lighthearted too. You may like it, you may not. Just go in with an open mind.
It and Regular Show are two are the two best shows that they have outside of their Adult Swim programming block right now.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc deserves to be on that list.
Sneaky Gato
Member
^Good thing that we finally learned it would be coming back in May.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Oh yeah? Sweet!
And later this year, Cartoon Network is coming in Canada with Adult Swim but Toonami will probably not come. http://channelcanada.com/Article6185.html
I remember a couple years ago that Teletoon aired Akira. YTV was the references of good anime. Most anime on Toonami aired on YTV (DBZ, Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon,...) I also remember Bionix on YTV (Inuyasha, Gundam Seed, Death Note, Ghost in the Shell, ...). Teletoon was never a reference of anime. The only thing I remember was on the french Teletoon airing Naruto uncut with the Japanese intro and endings.
Skiesofwonder
Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
Not only did Toonami hype me for DBZ and Batman, but it also got me into Kenshin, Samurai Jack, Iron Giant, and Ico (can't find the review).
I will be forever grateful for that.
I will be forever grateful for that.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I still remember Toonami's Morrowind review.
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