I did not throw in the towel, so to speak.
I never said I quit, and I never said I give up. How dare anyone question my love for Toonami? I'm just frustrated and sick of the situation right now. I'm also disappointed in how the events played out yesterday, and I've realized I failed in this mission I've been doing longer than younger readers of this site have been coherent. I know I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I'll be the first to admit it's not a positive side of me.
I care too much.
I've cared about the future of Toonami longer than people cared about Toonami. I created a site dedicated to Toonami before people knew what Toonami was. To say I "threw in the towel" means that I gave up on Toonami just when it was getting beat up. If that was the case, I would have given up on Toonami back in 2003, just when the block was being ignored by the network and the glossier, shinier Saturday lineup commonly known as SVES was getting a more diverse lineup with EQUAL amounts of anime and Western animation. I'm upset that instead of going off on its own terms and truly intact, Cartoon Network allowed Toonami to devolve into a lame, one-show block with very little support outside the confines of the block. Cartoon Network allowed Toonami to just remain stranded, a mere shadow of itself, nothing more than a couple of shows drifting in the vacuum of space with no chance of being rescued. When Cartoon Network officially made it clear that the original mission of Toonami, to create a place for the best action cartoons on the planet irregardless of the place of origin, was irrelevant, that's when it finally struck me how Toonami fits in with the current management of Cartoon Network.
I sacrificed nearly a decade of my life to support Toonami and Cartoon Network with no love, no support, and nothing in return. I supported them even when others gave up and really threw in the towel. Hell, if they didn't just take the name away from me, this site would have still been called CNX to this day. I changed my site's name to The X Bridge only because I knew they were lacking, and yet I supported them. My friends moved on, grew up, and evolved while I remained tied to a block that I felt was the closest thing to perfection in its prime. I truly felt that even in its darkest times, and that's what I feel Toonami has been in since IGPX was stripped away for no real reason, there was at least a spark that the block could be saved. I should have started the campaign back when I saw that spark, but I didn't because I didn't think the fans would follow. Even when I did start Revolution 11, I felt that the support wasn't there for the large part. There are a lot of people that still care about Toonami, though at times, it does seem like I'm the only one that defended it publicly on a site rather than just a forum. But for the most part, all I saw was comments like "Well, I don't care what happens, but I wish you luck." That's the equivalent of saying "Well, I could give you bus fare to get home, but you can hitchhike in the spot I'm in." I'd rather get no support than non-supportive comments like that that served no purpose.
When Cartoon Network announced the new fantasy/adventure Friday block that would be the face of action on Cartoon Network, how the hell was I supposed to feel?
Sorry for being so blunt, but if someone spent a decade supporting and publicly defending a block like Toonami only to learn that it's no longer a priority, how in the hell am I supposed to react like? Am I supposed to be happy that Toonami is more or less destined to continue being nothing more than a rerun zone and a showcase for Naruto? Am I supposed to be thrilled that shows that are highly anticipated that would have normally been "only Toonami" aren't anymore? Am I supposed to be on cloud-nine that Western action-animation, something I'm finally thrilled is coming on Cartoon Network, won't premiere under the Toonami aegis? Am I supposed to be beaming because Toonami is essentially going to continue being an all-anime, barely-advertised, two-hour block?
You know, people say the shows matter more than the brand. If Adult Swim was replaced or supplanted by a "mature-oriented block," would those fans have the same attitude?
It's great that Cartoon Network has finally realized that action doesn't begin and end in Japan, but that didn't mean that I wanted anime to get the finger, so to speak, and that's what I feel the new block will do. The separation of Japanese animation and Western animation on Cartoon Network's lineups is troubling because it makes a very divisive subject (Anime versus American animation) that much more contentious. Toonami, in its original, unaltered state, celebrated the best action cartoons on the planet. Not the best action cartoons from America nor the best action cartoons from Japan. The planet. It's bigger than those two lands.
That's the Toonami I fought for, but I'm just frustrated that people didn't see the block like I did. I know I could have done more, but I don't know what more I could do. That's where the frustration and feelings of failure stem from. I've been one of the biggest supporters of Toonami online, but Cartoon Network essentially sees it as a pointless block. I certainly don't agree with them. I know the community will survive without me. I just want the Toonami community to survive beyond us. I want to see a fourth or fifth generation of Toonami fans, but at this rate, people will just ask "What's Toonami?" Sadly, people are asking that now.
*end transmission*
Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
April 4, 2008
