Perhaps one of the biggest events that came out of 2003 for Toonami fans was the event that began one year ago today. This event brought Evangelion, Nadesico, Gigantor, Low Brow, and Dai-Guard to Toonami and returned Robotech for one week only. The web equivalent of this event was . . . less than stellar, featuring shows and a few robots that weren't a part of the event like the Gundam mechs, The Big O, and Optimus Prime. By the end of the week, Cartoon Network considered Giant Robot Week a failure.
And Toonami's been going downhill ever since.
Granted there had been a few in-roads made in the block throughout the year, but every major progress Toonami made was lessened months later. Toonami isn't exactly the rockin' place it used to be anymore.
Giant Robot Week was the last great hurrah for Toonami as the fans knew it. That's not to say that Cyborg 009 and IGPX weren't great either, but after GRW ended, Toonami seemed a bit depowered. Maybe it's because of the Saturday block known as Saturday. It took away some of the thunder, but it seemed artificial to most. Regardless, you can't say it hasn't been successful, because it hasn't. The biggest shows on the block were Teen Titans and Justice League, two high profile shows in their own right. Everything else gets so-so ratings and hardly register a blip on the ratings reports. Okay, that's unfair, but it's kind of true.
The future of Toonami isn't clear anymore. I wrote about it, and I'm still worried. The network is being somewhat untalkative about Toonami and currently say that Saturday nights is their primary focus for action programming on the network. After Giant Robot Week, Cartoon Network decided to deemphasize the Toonami brand name in the US, a practice that continues today. What does the future hold for the block?
Who knows? (I hear the non-fans shout "Who cares?")
*end tranmission*
Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
February 24, 2004
