General Adult Swim Discussion

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

Translation: "These shows don't interest me and so no one in the whole world must be interested by them!"

Come on man, just because you dislike AS's recent animes doesn't mean that you have any grounds to think they aren't drawing in new viewers or increasing the overall popularity of the block. I'm not saying they necessarily are, but the ratings are a fairly good indicator that they may very well be. It doesn't make any sense what so ever to just hand wave the recent ratings hike (which has effected both the animes and comedies on Saturdays) for no other reason than because you dislike the shows and don't want to believe they are doing well.

[Jeebus201]

No- Translation:  You don't see Durarara DVD's flying off shelves like Bebop was in its heyday.  You don't see McFarlane figurines of Kekkaishi the way you did of Tenchi Muyo characters being sold at Gamestop.    It's "This is boring- TV off."  Unless you're a hardcore fan.  There's no spark for any audience outside of that.

[Sketchor]

---

Jeebus201 wrote:

No- Translation:  You don't see Durarara DVD's flying off shelves like Bebop was in its heyday.  You don't see McFarlane figurines of Kekkaishi the way you did of Tenchi Muyo characters being sold at Gamestop.    It's "This is boring- TV off."  Unless you're a hardcore fan.  There's no spark for any audience outside of that.

---

Durarara is only sold at conventions and online. McFarlane hasn't made an anime figure in a while have they?

I wouldn't exactly say Bebop flew off the shelves even in it's hey day. It sold well sure but was it one of the top selling anime here? I don't think it actually was.

It's a different time and you know that. The marketing for these shows are nothing like the marketing of those shows.

But you can buy a Durarara T-Shirt in store at Hot Topic and you can buy Kekkaishi on DVD at Walmart which is more than you can say for a lot of shows.

Regardless of any of that the ratings for those shows are better than the ratings of shows that aired previously and if Kekkaishi and Durarara aired on Adult Swim "back in the day" they probably would have bombed and barely scraped 200,000 much less 300,000. I mean consider how badly Pilot Candidate bombed and how quickly Yu Yu Hakusho was pawned off on Toonami. It's downright impressive these shows you think so little of are actually getting ratings.

You can't simply ignore that because you don't like them. They got ratings. Not Family Guy ratings but better ratings than many anime got in the past. Arguably better anime (and some worse).

They more than likely got good enough ratings to pay for their contracts and that's all that matters to Adult Swim when it comes to anime.

[AdamB15]

Going by your words, I don't understand what kind of anime would appeal to anyone in the U.S.

Ghost in the shell had a somewhat complex story that you wouldn't understand if you missed a few episodes of it, and cowboy bebop really isn't anything spectacular.

You make it sound like everyone needs a casual non-hardcore anime, but that's exactly what these two were not.

So out of the range of K-on, lucky star, and pokemon to Madoka, Eden of the East, and ghost in the shell, what do you suggest, jeebus?

Does it have to be High school of the dead where the viewer isn't going to "look at the TV, say 'this is boring' and turn it off" because he'll be too busy jacking off? WHAT DO YOU WANT JEEBUS?

/rant

[rumbatubbies-ok]

If you want an anime that would appeal to a broader audience in the U.S. it has to have a Western flare, or based off Western works. That being said, an anime version of Curb Your Enthusiasm or Dune wouldn't work out.

[Jeebus201]

I do groceries at Wal-Mart every week and have NEVER, EVER seen a Kekkaishi DVD. I saw Kenchi on sale a while back, I've seen Shippuden and Kai boxsets, but never Kekkaishi.

Keep in mind Adult Swim Comedies are available frequently.

When was the last time ASA programming was mentioned outside of the otaku bubble other than as an object of snark and scorn? When has Bleach been anything but a punchline for a Spoony video?

[Sketchor]

---

Jeebus201 wrote:
I do groceries at Wal-Mart every week and have NEVER, EVER seen a Kekkaishi DVD. I saw Kenchi on sale a while back, I've seen Shippuden and Kai boxsets, but never Kekkaishi.

Keep in mind Adult Swim Comedies are available frequently.

When was the last time ASA programming was mentioned outside of the otaku bubble other than as an object of snark and scorn? When has Bleach been anything but a punchline for a Spoony video?

---

Well I don't know what to tell you but I saw the first set at Walmart when it came out. People tend to buy DVDs at the electronics check-out though so it's very possible you never even saw one even if it was available at your store at some point.

Does it need to be mentioned outside of the Otaku bubble? Those are the people buying the DVDs, buying the merchandise imported from Japan, buying the comics and what have you. Is it really that astonishing that Bleach doesn't get talked about more outside of otaku circles? It's only ever aired after 11PM on US television. It's doing pretty darn good on Hulu though not as well as Naruto Shippuden obviously.

Bleach's had a few video games though and the Toynami figures and sells plenty of T-Shirt at Hot Topic and DVDs at any anime selling retailer including Walmart and Best Buy (I mean heck one shelf at Best Buy in my area is just Bleach while two shelves are just Dragon Ball Z/GT/Kai). Lately it gets more space for backlog than Naruto and Shippuden.

But most importantly of all is Bleach's ratings which have well conquerored every anime on AS except InuYasha the original Fullmetal (though it's ratings declined over time) and Samurai Champloo's one really high rated episode.

I don't think we have to argue Bleach's success or popularity.

Kekkaishi and Durarara are nowhere near that popular but they got pretty decent ratings considering how unknown they are outside of otaku circles.

FMA: Brotherhood like the original FMA sells plenty of merch in Hot Topic and plenty of DVD/BDs in major retailers. It might have done better if it wasn't previously simulcasted in it's entirety, did not have such a long gap between the first half and the second on Adult Swim, aired it's last batch before 1AM on a Saturday and returned to premieres before the DVD/BDs were already on store shelves. To say there was a lot stacked against FMA:B's success would be an understatement and I'm not sure why it didn't come back to premieres sooner but I get the feeling the relationship between AS and FUNimation is just plain bad at this point and don't expect anything from FUNimation to end up on Adult Swim any time soon. Considering all the hinderances FMA:B got pretty good ratings at 1AM on a Saturday. Some anime airing earlier than that before piracy was as troublesome and before simulcasts really took off didn't do as well as FMA:B did when it returned to premieres at 1AM. That no matter how you slice it is an accomplishment.

Why do you keep arguing this stuff man you know I have plenty of evidence that these shows you consider boring failures exceeded or at least met Adult Swim's expectations.

Besides if they didn't they wouldn't be airing a second time now would they?

If your argument is that AS originals are more popular and more available to the majority of the public. Well duh. I'm not arguing otherwise. That's not the standard ASA is required to meet however. I'm not sure why you assume it is or why you feel it should be other than it's the only argument you have for getting rid of the anime you don't have interest in watching.

Adult Swim can has and likely always will have more than one kind of audience it's catoring to.

Why do you feel they have to only target one kind of viewer?

[Sketchor]

Now what if this talk of picking up 2 more anime series actually amounts to nothing? It's entirely possible that plans could change and they could decided nothing currently available is to their interests.

They could actually sustain ASA on just Bleach premieres and reruns for a while. Especially since DRR, Kekkaishi and 27+ of FMA: Brotherhood will only be on their second full run besides encores. Maybe since it's on AS Video Gold they'll play the first half of The Big O again when the current run of season 2 finishes. That'd be a nice surprise. There's people around here that will watch Bebop, GitS and The Big O no matter how many times AS plays them kinda of like how some people will watch every airing of Family Guy no matter what time it is or what episode it is.

I don't want them to only play Bleach for action premieres. I'd like them to continue airing at least 1 new anime a year other than Bleach, 2 if possible but I'm patient and I don't have to rely on Adult Swim to get my action animation fix. But they still have the opportunity to introduce new viewers to the occasional great show that comes out of Japan so I would hope that they would.

Seriously Michiko no Hatchin, why has nobody picked that one up? It's mind boggling.

[Jeebus201]

I'm assuming music rights issues.

Also they announced Bleach is in the final arc of its series before it ends.  And there was much rejoicing.

[AdamB15]

The anime or manga? Because the manga is in its...2nd week? of its 3 week hiatus.

[rumbatubbies-ok]

It's most likely the manga.

Either way, it would still take a long time for Adult Swim to air the remaining Bleach episodes. Aren't we 2 years behind Japan in terms of Bleach episodes? Man that's frightening. Viz isn't trying hard enough to make Bleach a massive franchise that's on par w/ Pokemon or Yu-gi-oh

[Jeebus201]

I'm going by my experience in about 3 or 4 Wal-Marts in the area, and I've seen Bleach, but never Kekkaishi. Fun thing though, I did see Moribito on sale once, and those DVD's sold like rotted potatoes. There are English language games, shirts (that I've NEVER seen anyone wear), creepy Orihime figurines, etc. All the other animu? None of that. None of that at all. Kekkaishi couldn't sell flies to frogs.

As for the topic at hand, Bleach can be considered a success, albeit a minor one. The timeslot is an issue, sure. But so is the fact that 60-70% of the audience is doing so via torrent. FMA:B is a failure, Kekkaishi is a failure, and Durarara is a major failure. They don't bring in crowds, don't sell merch, and in general reinforce Adult Swim as overly otaku centric.

Also, the idea that the two premieres fell through seems likely.

[Sketchor]

And yet they're all still airing.

And when was the last time Adult Swim kept airing a failure they didn't own?

You really have to learn to admit when you're wrong.

[Jeebus201]

Those contracts are almost up.

Also, it looks like Adult Swim balked on what was available and deciding on a big pile of jack crap..

[JQuest15]

2 more? I thought that was Durarara! & Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood which was a big flop for me. Couldn't get past 3 eppys of it.

and why the fvck do people say there's a 3rd? I wish they threw in Star Wars instead, the night they did show it, it did well.

[Sketchor]

You could always watch or record Star Wars on CN Friday at 8 pm

Back in 2010 Adult Swim said they got 2 or 3 new anime in a bump. The 3rd didn't happen unless it was DRR but that was a year later. They said 2 or 3 so it was just 2. No big deal. People were expecting InuYasha The Final Act to be third but now that may never air on Adult Swim because they did not strike when the iron was still hot.

The new bump spoke about a meeting to determine their next anime acquisitions. Two were implied with crossed out names but one was rejected due to fanservice so they will pick something else before proceeding or just get 1.

[Jeebus201]

Steadfast refusal to change even in the face of insurmountable failures.

Looks more like TNA every day.

[AdamB15]

YAAAAYYY

[Jeebus201]

That means their product is a joke synonymous with garbage.

[AdamB15]

YAAAAYYY

[Jeebus201]

It also means that their worthless product will hopefully be dead soon. You screw up for six years, you lose your six hours. Plain and simple.

[Sketchor]

Whatever man, it's still gonna air. Get over it man.

[Sketchor]

Whatever man, it's still gonna air. Get over it already.

[Jeebus201]

Hopefully not for much longer, at the rate they're going, they're digging the block's grave.

[AdamB15]

Oh look, he's back to normal