Oy. Where to begin with this week's Toonami broadcast?
Duel Masters continues to be one of the most cleverly-written anime adaptations on television today. Okay, clever wasn't the right word. It's funny, self-parodying and making fun of the whole card-game genre is always a good thing. Still, this lightheartedness leads one to believe that this series belongs on another block like Miguzi or in a regular Cartoon Network slot. Or, maybe this dose of silliness is what Toonami needs to bring in the fans.
Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug wasn't as bad as I heard it was, but then again, it wasn't all that good either. My goodness, was that movie weak or what? The whole "alien-invaders-with-ties-to-other-characters" storyline of just about every DBZ movie is sad enough. Now, not every movie is bad (granted I've only seen a few), but Lord Slug wasn't really worth the hype.
Remember last week's praise over Toonami including both original intros and custom ones for their shows? This week, the original intros were considerably shorter (with the exception of Gundam SEEDs) while, at least for the anime shows (save Duel Masters), the original openings were completely absent. I don't get it . . . if Toonami is showing shorter custom openings and no original openings, shouldn't we get less commercial breaks as a compromise? Seriously, there were a lot of the commercial breaks this week, especially for Lord Slug (was it me, or did they really pad out the alotted space with a LOT of commercials, most self-promoting?). At least Gundam SEED is starting to get interesting with Kira learning more about these mobile suits known as Gundams.
If I had to grade Toonami on scale, I'd have to give this week's Toonami (in Adam Sessler-style voiceover) a 3 out of 5. Good shows, mediocre film, just way too many commercials. Cartoon Network should learn what made last week a successful one. Next week's almost guaranteed to be much better with the world premiere of Megas XLR and the US television premiere of Batman: The Mystery of Batwoman, as well as new episodes of Duel Masters and Gundam SEED.
*end tranmission*
Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
April 24, 2004
