As the fans at large picked each other apart like cyber-gladiators, we all turned a blind eye to the biggest kick to the balls of 2008. Some saw this day coming, others were totally unprepared, but when it actually happened, I don’t think there was anyone who was truly ready for the unthinkable.
…Y.Y…..brings a tear to my eye everytime….
Anime Weekend Atlanta. This was like Cartoon Network’s premiere con. Ya kno, the last 11 years, this would be the 1st place you’d find out all the cool stuff about Toonami and such. So if you were at this con, you were probably pretty pumped to hear what Cartoon Network had to say. But then they said 3 simple words. No. More. Toonami.
Cartoon Network announced they would be airing Toonami no more. And it got better. Adult Swim was going to cut back on it’s anime programing. Talk about a slap in the face. Toonami I can kinda understand given its climate at the time, but Adult Swim? Couldn’t find the logic with a magnifying glass. Rumor has it they initiated the upset because the comedy shows got higher ratings than the anime overall. I can’t confirm or deny this.
I was in shock when I heard the news; for about 1/2 a week at that. I didn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it. You know I don’t mind change, getting your heart ripped out on the other hand, well dats a lot harder to deal with. What hit me even harder was the fact that I’d found out practically a month after it had happened. To see that I had become so disillusioned and bored with Toonami and Adult Swim that I’d seemingly ignored this epic landmark was disturbing. After picking the various minds of XenoPhoenix, a thought hit me as my gf and I were discussing this for like the 5th or 6th day. If we had missed this, how many more were in our shoes? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands? Well you can go on youtube and be the judge, but suffice to say, when I shot my videos, it wasn’t meant as some tribute piece, but rather an infomercial of sorts, because this wasn’t the type of thing that could just be ignored. If anything, this was one of the few times where fans needed to execute that infamous “word-of-mouth”.
…11 years of the greatest anime/action cartoon block ever. Gone like that. It was truly the darkest day in anime. It still hurts you know. I’m still in denial. I’ll flip over to Cartoon Network for a few mins every blue moon or so, but then it’s like I’m like that kid who remembers seeing his puppy getting hit by a car and subsequently having said puppy die in his arms, & it makes me hate life a little more. 11 years in, they could’ve gone 11 more strong.
Adult Swim would later bring itself to retain more anime in order to keep ratings up, but after the blacklash for Cartoon Network’s executive orders, it was clear that no one would see Adult Swim the same way twice again; or Cartoon Network for that matter.
I can’t think of anything in the world of anime more depressing than the death of the iconic Toonami. But as I’ve said before, all we could really do is mourn and inform. It was a shame Toonami ended the way it did, but with so many ppl just not caring about the programming before it went bust, it was clearly up to the fans to spread the know. After Newtype, and Geneon, and “The Fansub War”, I don’t think it was anymore obvious that there had to be something done to stop this madness, but by that same tolken I’m sure there were an equal number of us thinking, what’s next for the State of Anime?
