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Jan. 3rd, 2009
Whither Anime?
Jan. 3rd, 2009 07:57 pmI'm wondering what Cartoon Network has up their sleeve, if anything.
I pretty much gave up watching Toonami's Saturday night lineup after they dropped most of the anime titles (and when Naruto went into the less-than-stellar "filler" episodes between the series finale proper and the sequel (Naruto: Shippuden) premiere. So it comes as no surprise that I completely missed the story of Toonami calling it a day back in September.
I used to love watching Toonami. Back when it was a daily weekday block in the early evening, I'd bogart the TV and watch Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star and anything else they played. It was awesome, finally having a lineup of anime I could actually watch on TV. Living in a small town, there really weren't any video/dvd rental outlets (read: no Blockbuster) that had anime I could rent. For awhile it was part of my daily schedule (come home from work, watch Tenchi Muyo, have dinner, then go downstairs to write for 2 hours), and I loved it. It didn't stay forever, but it sure was fun.
Later on I found out about the late-night scheduling of anime, but never watched much of it until I moved in with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emmalyon. That's when I really got into the Saturday night lineup...Naruto, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, One Piece, and any of the crazy miniseries they played later on like FLCL or Cowboy Bebop.
Now?
Naruto. And that's about it.
Okay, to be fair, all the anime is now being played on Adult Swim, like it did back in about 2004-2005, before Toonami got big in the early Saturday night lineup. Still, with the current lineup, only about half of the lineup appeals to me. I think what bothers me about the rest is that a lot of titles that get broadcast in the US nowadays kind of blend into each other, theme-wise. Many of them are variations on demons (it's not an episode unless the Earth's destiny is on the line), vampires (sexually ambiguous vampires at that), or ultraviolence (check out the blood spatter in this scene! shiny!). I've seen a few, I know how the rest go.
It kind of makes me wonder just where I need to go to get my anime fix. Which I find deeply ironic, considering I live on the same block as Viz Media. Seriously--most of the anime we've been watching the last year or so have been titles on our Netflix/Roku list, or recommended to us by friends, books, or the media. Granted, I like the fact that we can watch these things at any time when we rent, but at the same time, I miss watching it on TV. Even the anime we used to watch on ImaginAsia is gone--not the anime, but the channel from our lineup. It's as if the cycle is heading back to where it was about ten years ago...back in the late hours, waiting to be recorded by fans.
It could be that I'm still a bit of an animation snob. I still find anything Filmation touched to be absolutely horrific and needs to be burned STAT...I still think Disney's okay, but not my thing...I still think the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons are the BEST THING EVAR and very influential in my formative years...and that most animation nowadays could be so much better than it currently is. Ever since I saw Siskel and Ebert review Akira back in 1988, I was convinced that Japanese animation was far, far superior than anything else I'd seen. Sure, I'll admit to really liking a lot of non-anime stuff out there, but I'll be honest, anime always gets my attention first.
So where do we stand now with anime? Where is it being shown? I know for certain that Cartoon Network is continuing to show random series online via Toonami Jetstream, but what about those of us who either don't have the time to watch streaming video, don't have the greatest internet hookup, or just don't like watching stuff on our PC? I mean, aside from watching fansubs and fandubs on YouTube? And if it's not currently out there as much as it was...when is it going to come back? If at all?
I pretty much gave up watching Toonami's Saturday night lineup after they dropped most of the anime titles (and when Naruto went into the less-than-stellar "filler" episodes between the series finale proper and the sequel (Naruto: Shippuden) premiere. So it comes as no surprise that I completely missed the story of Toonami calling it a day back in September.
I used to love watching Toonami. Back when it was a daily weekday block in the early evening, I'd bogart the TV and watch Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star and anything else they played. It was awesome, finally having a lineup of anime I could actually watch on TV. Living in a small town, there really weren't any video/dvd rental outlets (read: no Blockbuster) that had anime I could rent. For awhile it was part of my daily schedule (come home from work, watch Tenchi Muyo, have dinner, then go downstairs to write for 2 hours), and I loved it. It didn't stay forever, but it sure was fun.
Later on I found out about the late-night scheduling of anime, but never watched much of it until I moved in with
emmalyon. That's when I really got into the Saturday night lineup...Naruto, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, One Piece, and any of the crazy miniseries they played later on like FLCL or Cowboy Bebop.Now?
Naruto. And that's about it.
Okay, to be fair, all the anime is now being played on Adult Swim, like it did back in about 2004-2005, before Toonami got big in the early Saturday night lineup. Still, with the current lineup, only about half of the lineup appeals to me. I think what bothers me about the rest is that a lot of titles that get broadcast in the US nowadays kind of blend into each other, theme-wise. Many of them are variations on demons (it's not an episode unless the Earth's destiny is on the line), vampires (sexually ambiguous vampires at that), or ultraviolence (check out the blood spatter in this scene! shiny!). I've seen a few, I know how the rest go.
It kind of makes me wonder just where I need to go to get my anime fix. Which I find deeply ironic, considering I live on the same block as Viz Media. Seriously--most of the anime we've been watching the last year or so have been titles on our Netflix/Roku list, or recommended to us by friends, books, or the media. Granted, I like the fact that we can watch these things at any time when we rent, but at the same time, I miss watching it on TV. Even the anime we used to watch on ImaginAsia is gone--not the anime, but the channel from our lineup. It's as if the cycle is heading back to where it was about ten years ago...back in the late hours, waiting to be recorded by fans.
It could be that I'm still a bit of an animation snob. I still find anything Filmation touched to be absolutely horrific and needs to be burned STAT...I still think Disney's okay, but not my thing...I still think the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons are the BEST THING EVAR and very influential in my formative years...and that most animation nowadays could be so much better than it currently is. Ever since I saw Siskel and Ebert review Akira back in 1988, I was convinced that Japanese animation was far, far superior than anything else I'd seen. Sure, I'll admit to really liking a lot of non-anime stuff out there, but I'll be honest, anime always gets my attention first.
So where do we stand now with anime? Where is it being shown? I know for certain that Cartoon Network is continuing to show random series online via Toonami Jetstream, but what about those of us who either don't have the time to watch streaming video, don't have the greatest internet hookup, or just don't like watching stuff on our PC? I mean, aside from watching fansubs and fandubs on YouTube? And if it's not currently out there as much as it was...when is it going to come back? If at all?
