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Post by BigPapaJoe on Oct 16, 2017 8:46:56 GMT -5
Hai. I'm not sure what the age range of this place is, but I'm 30 now and I was just looking at some old Toonami promos on YouTube. I remember I basically grew up with this stuff throughout the late 90's and early 2000's. For whatever reason it just hit the right cord with a lot of it's audience. It also really helped garner attention with anime in the west. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here is a sample of it's glory days:
Anyways, I wanted to know if anyone here tuned in at the time. Toonami is still on Cartoon Network as it recently came back, but with the advent of the internet where you can watch essentially anything at any time, it just isn't the same I would like to think. That and I think a lot of people that originally tuned in are older and watching a cartoon block into the early hours of the morning on the weekend is probably low on their priority list.
This is one of the few instances I can think of where I might actually miss the now dwindling format of scheduled televised entertainment. I don't watch anything on TV anymore due to streaming/download options. Toonami felt like an exclusive dive bar of sorts. Because the internet was in it's infancy in terms of acquiring content whenever you wanted, you had to be watching show X at a certain time. This cartoon block brought a lot of style and substance with what it decided to air on TV, and the promos and music it dreamed up to help the ambiance of it all. Just something that was really greater than the sum of it's parts.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2017 13:12:20 GMT -5
I watched late night Toonami that featured Robot Chicken that was on Toonami from 2005 and on.
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Post by Jesse on Oct 16, 2017 14:25:58 GMT -5
I still watch Adult Swim occasionally.  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 16, 2017 22:17:39 GMT -5
I was in my 30s then (and entered my 40s). i watched specific Cartoon network programming; though, by that point, more from Adult Swim than anything else. A lot of the anime of that period, as seen in the promos, just weren't my cup of tea. I did watch Cowboy Bebop, though I thought the title sequence was far cooler than the cartoon. I watched more of the earlier wave of anime. Growing up, I was introduced to Japanese animation via Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets; and, later, Star Blazers, Robotech and Voltron (saw Tranzor Z, once). While I was in the Navy, Carl Macek and Streamline were bringing in more modern anime, which is how I saw things like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, as well as Appleseed, Project A-Ko, Robot Carnival, and Fist of the Northstar (which bored the hell out of me). I sampled more as our local Suncoast brought in more anime (I had been watching them via my LCS, before that).
One thing I found though, with a lot of material, was that the opening act was exciting and the climactic act was, as well; but, the middle was often a mixed bag. It depended on the property and creator; but, it was a common trait of a lot of the anime that was being brought over. I haven't really sampled much since the time period of Toonami, really. Earlier stuff was often aimed at more mature audiences, while the stuff that accompanied the manga boom were geared more to teens and pre-teens, just as the manga being published was.
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Oct 17, 2017 0:26:06 GMT -5
I guess I should have listed Adult Swim along as well, because it was both for me. Especially in high school. I remember it was usually Toonami 4pm-6pm on weekdays and I would tune in, and then on the weekend I would catch Adult Swim because they had episodes of Cowboy Bebop, Witch Hunter Robin, or Inuyasha. Some anime titles that you wouldn't see on Toonami so that was my reasoning for watching Adult Swim. I didn't like all of Adult Swim's programming (especially their original content), but I still liked watching Family Guy, King of the Hill, and Futurama. Even if they were reruns.
You know what was the coolest thing ever though? The AS bumpers. It just added to the late night dive bar ambiance of it all. I've never done drugs, but I swear this was my own nerdy way of getting high.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 20, 2017 20:40:06 GMT -5
Me, I liked the initial wave of Adult Swim: Home Movies, The Brak Show, Sealab 2021, the launch of Harvey Birdman. Space Ghost Coast to Coast never did much for me but I found The Brak Show to be funny. I loved Home Movies; just really great characters and total silliness. Visually, I do prefer it after then moved on from the Squigglevision. Once the Venture Brothers came along, I was in heaven (I'm an old Jonny Quest fan, from waaaaayyyyy back). Never got into Aqua Teen Hunger Force (actually annoyed the hell out of me).
Cartoon network was something I wanted, from the time it launched, since it was the old Hanna-Barbera and MGM stuff; but, didn't have it on a cable system until it was mostly phasing that stuff out, in favor of the original content (well, they were still showing Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry; but, most of the H-B stuff had been phased out). I liked Dexter's Laboratory and the Powerpuff Girls; but, most of the rest did little for me (Courage the Cowardly Dog and Ed, Edd and Eddie had moments). ost of the stuff that followed didn't do a whole lot for me though I only saw about 10 minutes of Grimm and Mandy, which was decent.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 20, 2017 22:19:50 GMT -5
The early Toonami really was what got me into anime... Cowboy Bebop, Big O, Full Metal Alchemist,Witch Hunter Robin, DBZ, Wolf's Rain, Lupin etc. I was definitely into Venture Brothers and Robot Chicken, too.
And I agree with Cody... Cartoon Network got disappointing fast... after Dexter's Lab they went straight to emphasizing potty humor and never looked back.
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Oct 21, 2017 0:33:01 GMT -5
The early Toonami really was what got me into anime... Cowboy Bebop, Big O, Full Metal Alchemist,Witch Hunter Robin, DBZ, Wolf's Rain, Lupin etc. I was definitely into Venture Brothers and Robot Chicken, too. And I agree with Cody... Cartoon Network got disappointing fast... after Dexter's Lab they went straight to emphasizing potty humor and never looked back. Yes...I think their highpoint was the late 90's when they had a lot of old content from Hanana Barbara, but also a decent amount of original shows that were really good. Like Dexter's Laboratory, Power Puff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and Cow and Chicken. Of course you'd have Toonami on the weekdays from 4pm to 6pm and late at night you had Adult Swim. After about the early 2000's though things started to get stale. Now the content seems to be about inside internet humor and I guess like you stated, flavor of the potty variety. Also, maybe it's just me but a lot of new cartoons I see snippets of now look too...hipster to me. I heard Adventure Time was awesome, but from the jump it just looked like something I would never be into. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2017 7:03:11 GMT -5
And I agree with Cody... Cartoon Network got disappointing fast... after Dexter's Lab they went straight to emphasizing potty humor and never looked back. Me too, Cartoon Network in the 80's were great back then and now days it's isn't too much Teen Titans and not enough variety. I've missed the Looney Tunes and other cartoons back in those days. I just watch only Robot Chicken - not all the time but 2-3 times a week for kicks. I used to watch a hour a day - now it is a hour a week due to Robot Chicken and that's the only thing that I watch. That's channel is a major disappointment to me. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 21, 2017 17:54:03 GMT -5
I enjoyed the marathons they would do for some of the Looney Tunes stuff; the June Bugs event, where they showed most of the Bugs Bunny cartoons (except for the select few that had racial caricatures) and the Behind the Toons things, where they got into the history of select cartoons and creative personnel. I read both of Chuck jones' memoirs and they were hilariously entertaining and very insightful in how the cartoons got made and where ideas came from. Some really great stories in there and some of those cartoon featurettes covered that territory. They also did a Scooby Doo marathon, one Halloween, with newly animated inserts ("Night of the Living Doo"), with a continuing story, that included David Cross and Gary Coleman, as well as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Matthew Sweet.
and when they met Johnny Bravo...
Not to mention, the Scooby Doo Project...
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