[Anime] Since no one else is talking about this...

[MichaelSomething]

Since talking about Anime and its affect on RPGs is one of the subthemes these days, this may be worth talking about too.

Cartoon Network, a major force in bring anime to the masses, has backed away from showing anime.

This Youtube video shows the cancelation of Toonami, the anime/action cartoon block that showed Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, and many other animes. Those of you who visit adultswim.com and study the schedule will notice that on Saturdays, the animes Code Geass and Moribito, have been banished to the 5am slot.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofu9SLxxupM"]Toonami[/ame]

I believe that Bakugan and Pokemon are still being show. However, Bakugan is more or less simply used to promote a toy line and the Pokemon show will be around as long as the game series sells well.

Also, the Sci Fi channel does have a Monday night anime block, but that channel was never a champion of anime.

What are your thoughts and reactions to this?

 

[Shroomy]

I'm not a huge fan of anime, though I did watch some back in the day, but I feel sorry for anime fans whose only outlet is the Cartoon Network.

 

[JoeGKushner]

M'eh.

I'm 37 and had to watch bootleg copies of Vampire Hunter D and other shows before they were popular. Hell, I remember going to specialty theaters like the Music Box to see Akira before such movies were released to general audiences.

With the wide amount of thef going on of digital medium, I think this only hurts the legitimat sales but the hard core fans are going to get their fix regardless.

More interesting to me will be the long term results of this because Full Metal Alchemist, Dragonball Z, Death Note and others had huge pushes in Manga because of the anima. Without that showcase, I wonder if the manga sales will shrink overall.

 

[Darrin Drader]

While I don't hate anime, I don't love it either. With very few exceptions, I wouldn't go out of my way to actually watch the stuff. On the other hand, Cartoon Network has gotten me to watch again with two of their newer shows. The first is Clone Wars. As an aside, I think it can be argued that Clone Wars borrows a bit from anime. The second, is the absolutely ridiculous Total Drama Island (yes, that is where my new avatar came from, in case anyone was wondering). Total Drama Island is just ridiculous because it's a fake reality TV game show, complete with voting someone off every week.

Considering that I really haven't watched Cartoon Network in years, the fact that they're getting me to watch suggests to me that they're doing something right. Who knows, maybe the anime fad is finally running out of steam.

 

[JeffB]

As well done as some Anime is- and as serious as it tries to be- I cannot take a "cartoon" seriously. Thats just me. Not to mention alot of the cross mixing of fantasy and sci-fi is a style I don't like at all. And most of the voice acting I've exerienced is pretty poor. I've had serious harcore anime people tell me "THIS- will change your mind about anime..the story line is so deep, and blah blah blah..."

I didn't like the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons/movie either. Huge SW fan, but the cartoons are not all that entertaining to me-because I cannot take them seriously. Little cartoon clone troopers running around-very cute

When I was a kid that "Star Blazers" thing was on TV and I loved it-along with a few of my classmates. I also happened to be a huge fan of WWII history and the whole Yamato thing tied in was really cool.

As an Adult, I LOVED Tenchi Muyo, and Tenchi Universe- It was a sit-com, and that's why I guess I enjoyed it- it was funny, with very few serious moments-

Boils down to "if Anime went the way of the dodo, it wouldn't affect me in the least, other than I would no longer have to tune out Pokemon when my son is watching it"

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Much maligned for how it edited some shows and other genuine gripes, as well as having far more shows I didn't like (such as DBZ and Naruto) than did, I still having nothing but fond memories of toonami. If not for it, I may have never, or not for many years later, discovered many wonderful shows: Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz, Cowboy Bebop, Lupin the Third, Gundam Seed, Rouroni Kenshin, Trigun, FLCL, and many others.

It also gave me a chance to see some series I thought I never would be able to again, especially Ronin Warriors, the first anime I watched entirely (back in '95 on Fox Kids) and still my favorite today, which I taped fanatically, not knowing they'd eventually come out on DVD.

It's really sad Cartoon Network got rid of this programming in favor of the stuff they have on now. Some of it is good (Venture Bros., Stroker and Hoops, Robot Chicken, Megas XLR (been a while, that's the "we love giant robots!" one, right?)...), but they had plenty of open slots left beyond that.

 

[Byronic]

If all the the networks stopped broadcasting it I think we'd still have a growing anime community, if only from fan-subs on the internet.

 

[AllisterH]

The scuttlebutt about the cancelation is that CN wants to focus more on its own properties. CN originals make them money whereas dubbed anime not only costs money but they don't get any kickbacks from the merchandise such as manga and data books.

Total Drama Island is actually one of the most hilarious shows EVER. *LOL*.

As for anime itself, like others have stated, nowadays, it is not hard to get anime. I remember personally when Devil Hunter Yohko was placed next to Donald Duck cartoons in the blockbuster chains (antoher business going the way of the dodo thanks to online media....)

I'm old-school (started from Robotech and was a member of rec.art.anime before it added the .misc) and I remember watching anime on old videotapes that had been copied how many times....

 

[Relique du Madde]

Who cares about Toonami when there's the Funimation Channel and the Anime Network?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Cartoons have gone to hell anyway.

Bring back Justice League.