Showing posts with label Adult Swim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adult Swim. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns: Q&A #2

How's it going my gumdrops? Today is officially 1 year, since I launched It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. 

I built this website, when I was still helping my uncle with his website's content. The content I wrote for him was never used. So typical of him.

Anyway, I have my 2nd Q&A blog ready for you all to read. Pay attention to bold answers. I hope you're pleased with my responses!

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Questions & Answers:

Richard: Are you a cat or a dog person?

Answer: I'm a dog person. My last dog (Lexi) was a Doberman/Rottweiler Mutt. 

She had to be euthanized 10 years ago because she was becoming vicious. In fact, the last time I went to pet Lexi, she grazed my left temple. 

My grandfather also returned for an in-home hospice my college junior year. Lexi's vicious temperament would've exacerbated problems.

Mimikoko: With your love of music, did you ever try to learn a musical instrument(s) or sing?

Answer: Growing up, I was ALWAYS required to sing in school concerts. By the time I was in middle and high school, I always ended up taking choir. In middle school, it was required to either take choir, or band.

I wanted to take guitar lessons but there weren't enough students for the sign up. Therefore, the class was dropped.

I never had a chance to practice playing my old electric guitar. It was bought for my 6th Christmas and had '80s Metal written all over it. My electric guitar was black, shiny, and V-shaped. ~16-17 years ago, it was ruined in a basement flood at our last house.

DJ Scott: Do you have any archives of past DJ work?

Answer: Unfortunately, no. 11-12 years ago, I never had a chance to do an on-air promo for All Things Frightening, either. 

There was so much chaos happening in my life, 10-12 years ago. I juggled UW-Parkside's classes full-time, a radio show, being a part-time student at Carthage College, and other people's issues. This was along with post 9/11 racism. 

Post 9/11 racism was a major contributor to my own problems so much so that it hurt my campus housing at Parkside. 

I was just lucky if I could sleep in peace WITHOUT  having a roommate and her obnoxious friends literally hovering over me to watch me sleep.

Anyway, had my original boss stayed, I believe my promos would've been recorded. We already bonded over some Type O Negative.

DanniDarkness: Will you keep the Halloween colors? I really like them!

Answer: Thank you, Danni! I am glad you enjoy my latest scenery! I actually changed it on September 1st rather than October 1st. 

I have It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns decorated for Halloween. This current scenery will stay, until November.

I love changing my template designs and font colors with the seasons and holidays. Thanksgiving will be coming up next!

Jesse Steele: Which states have you visited in the USA? Also which states did you like visiting the most? Are there any states in the USA you would like to visit? If so why?

Answers: Since my family used to always take road trips, I have visited quite a few states.

Illinois is next to Wisconsin (my state). I have also visited Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (we had to drive through New York to get to Canada).

Most of my relatives live in Detroit, Michigan. I am amazed the entire city of Detroit is not my family because so many of our relatives live there.

I really enjoyed traveling to Arlington Heights, IL because it has a lot of Japanese companies and stores.

I haven't been on a Japanese field trip in 11 years. I started going on those field trips, when I was in 7th grade because my Japanese classes always went. 

By the time I was a college junior, I still went on Japanese field trips to Arlington Heights with my classmates, and we always rode in coach buses.

Reaper69: Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical of those, who forbid Metal for it's horror and gore, but don't think there is any problem with the most grotesque of films. Art is art, or is it not?

Answer: Yes, that is hypocritical.

We watch violence on the news, TV shows, and movies daily yet angry soccer moms and media watchdog groups are quick to condemn Metal. I've noticed over the last decade, that most Horror movies have Metal soundtracks. Horror and Metal go together like PB&J, salt and pepper, etc. You want to know something even more hypocritical?

Last year, I bought a Halloween decoration for my office desk. My decoration is a witch house in the woods with pumpkins, skulls, crosses, bats, and a witch. She resembles the witch from The Wizard of Oz and she is brewing with her cauldron. My uncle did NOT  have a problem with me having it as a desk decoration.

Then, literally 3 days before Halloween, he stormed into the building claiming, that his shrew flipped her shit over my Halloween decoration. They supposedly don't celebrate Halloween. I told him to his face, that Medusa was a hypocrite. 

This is the same pretentious, gold-digging shrew, who reads all those STEPHEN KING NOVELS and watches MORE Horror than me.

Meanwhile, she goes to church and wears this HUGE, self-righteous facade as a Christian woman. I told my uncle and the rest of my family, that Medusa only had a problem with my decoration because she saw HER OWN reflection in that witch. 

I'm just calling a spade a "spade." You know what I mean?

Marquis DeBlood: Glad to have you aboard! And congrats on your anniversary!! You seem to enjoy your Anime and are very particular about certain shows and what naught... What would you consider to be the best Anime series out there and why?

Answer: Thank you very much! I'm glad to have support from the Horror-Punks Community.

There's no simple answer because Anime has such a broad range of genres and sub-genres. 

I enjoy Comedy, Action, Mecha (Mecha is still a part of the Action genre but mostly military and war themed), Mystery, Romance, Horror, etc. 

Each Anime genre and sub-genre caters to both genders, sexual orientations, and age demographics. I enjoy the darker and lighter themed Anime titles.

I really love the NANA franchise. NANA is like a Japanese animated soap opera, which mostly focuses music, rival bands, and romance.  

NANA has Music, Romance, and Dramedy. There's even a love triangle/paternity test arc. 

Josei Anime are completely different from the stereotypical Shonen Jump Anime, which are mostly meant for teenage boys. NANA is mostly meant for young women, who love music and romance. 

To give you a better picture, imagine Lifetime, WE TV, and The Oxygen Channel but in the form of Japanese animation.

Speaking of, there is another Anime about music and romance, which is mostly meant for men. It's called Detroit Metal City. It is similar to Adult Swim's Metalocalypse. However it is mostly about this guy, who lives a double life as a musician.

He fronts this Death Metal band and is forced to live a notorious facade of supposedly killing and raping his parents. In reality, he is a nerdy Japanese guy, who loves writing Swedish Pop Music. 

I really enjoy NANA and Detroit Metal City because they are both romance and music oriented, which is rare in Anime compared to the stereotypical Shonen Jump Anime.

Amanda's Questions:

1) I know you have a minor in Creative Writing but what brought you to writing Horror? 

Was it derived from your interest in Japanese culture and the language or is that a stereotypical cliché of Japan?

2) When, you joined the Adult Swim group, you wrote on it being 'fascist' (my interpretation) and chauvinistic. I am NOT asking you your political views (LOL) but I'd be interested in what your perception is of the politics surrounding the shows on Adult swim.

3) You were also a Radio DJ, would you do it again if you could?

My Answers:

1) Actually, I started writing my own Short Horror Stories in 3rd grade.

Throughout each month, my 3rd grade teacher gave our class subjects to select.

When it was October, we had to select a topic everyday and write Short Halloween Stories using that specific topic.

My elementary school teachers in general always loved that I could take a simple topic and write a story about it. 

The more I think about it, I have been a Creative Writer for most of my life.

2) Adult Swim appears to be in a bigger rut than I realized.

I always knew the network had problems pleasing their main audience (men). It is mostly spin. 

For example, the Toonami block is mostly Shonen Jump Anime and dubbed Anime from Funimation Entertainment monopolizes the block.

There are several other Anime companies, genres, and sub-genres that Adult Swim purposely overlooks.

I'm glad there have been more Seinen Anime with leading female characters. 

All the while, the network still fails to acknowledge its female audience by not airing Shojo and Josei Anime.

I have read some of the female YouTubers' complaints about Toonami not airing any Shojo Anime. 

Adult Swim only wants to air Sailor Moon's reboot, which is the most irksome. I don't hate Sailor Moon. Although, it's not the only Shojo Anime to ever be released from Japan.

I think the main reason why the male audience wants to watch Sailor Moon so badly is because it has lesbian characters in it. 

Also, it pisses me off that Toonami only would air a Shojo Anime for men that fantasize and fetishize 2D lesbian characters. 

I'm not opposed to watching GLBT shows. It's just that most of us know there's a perverted double standard, when it comes to accepting lesbians.

Meanwhile, the social atmosphere of Adult Swim's forum is mostly cold, territorial, misanthropic, and unwelcoming. There are some nice posters on the forum but the atmosphere rivals YouTube.

It's almost impossible to have a civil conversation without someone instigating a fight. Also, some veteran posters will treat new posters like criminals. Rather than trying to learn more about a new Adult Swim poster, they assume the worst because the site is already swarming with trolls.

New posters must prove themselves much harder, in order to be liked and/or accepted. The constant psychoanalysis, negativity, arguments, animosity, inferiority complex, hatred, and territorial behavior drove away their newer and older posters. Mind you, this doesn't even include degrading and dehumanizing other posters.

3) Yes, I would love to be a Radio DJ/Hostess, again.

Throughout my 20's, I have applied to local radio stations and they never called back. In regards to local radio stations today, they only want to air dated and highly overplayed songs. 

Otherwise, they are airing the worst American Top 40 mainstream songs in existence. With the way technology is constantly advancing, more people will continue to podcast.

When hosting All Things Frightening 11-12 years ago, I never heard of podcasting. Our college radio shows were heard both locally and online. I predict that traditional radio stations will become obsolete, sooner or later.

This concludes my Q&A on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. I want to thank my loyal friends/subscribers from Xanga 1.0, Blogster, and Horror-Punks.com for always Liking, commenting, and sharing my content! You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Since I mentioned Detroit Metal City, I'll leave you with the live action music video/theme song. Once again, thank you!

Detroit Metal City "Satsugai" [Murder] (2008)

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Wow! What A Hateful Online Community!


How's it going my gumdrops? OMG! 2 weeks ago, I joined Adult Swim's forum. 

By no means am I stranger to belonging to a forum. Not that I was expecting a welcoming committee, but the posters on that forum are fucking ridiculous. 

Posters of that ilk validate my reasons for NOT  uploading a forum (by using an app) to It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. Adult Swim's posters are just as rude and obnoxious as rude YouTube posters. 

The posters nitpick the shit out of the most trivial bullshit, are EXTREMELY hateful, and judgmental of people they just meet.

Some Adult Swim posters have been civil and welcoming. The rest are rude, antagonistic, accusatory (some accused me of being a troll), pompous ass posters. There is 1 poster in particular, who is a complete know-it-all. I was informed that he was banned numerous times for his douchebaggery. 

He has the tendency to be condescending and act like he is putting posters in their places YET  he does NOT  know the difference between "then" and "than" in a sentence.

It's "rather THAN." NOT  "rather then."

While that same poster is so busy trying to "challenge" other posters, he should challenge himself by studying Basic English. Here is where it gets better: He automatically assumed, that...

1) I had nothing else better to do or watch than Adult Swim.

2) I was "throwing tantrums" and happen to be "more sexist" than I claim both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim to be with my opposing views.

3) He went as far as to drag Barbie into an argument out of thin air.

Wow! Seriously? Talk about a major joke. It is a good thing I was unallowed to use Cristina Scabbia's (from Lacuna Coil) doll as my avatar. 

I always love whenever people declare a war on Barbie. Being female and liking anything with feminine qualities is blasphemous! 

The female gender is forbidden from having beauty, brains, goals, accomplishments, a career, etc. 

Considering that I am "sexist" and all, why is that same dipshit posting in my thread?

Obviously, he is someone without a life of his own, if all he can do is instigate with everyone. That trollish poster is like a terrible rash, that won't leave.

Last night, there was another instigator in my Adult Swim thread. She psychoanalyzed and nitpicked my username. What a bitch.

My username served no relevance to the discussion I was trying to have with other posters.

This included her assumptions, that I didn't think the female audience should watch Shonen and Seinen Action Anime. 

I had already addressed this issue in a previous thread, but some continue to misunderstand.

I NEVER said I had anything against the female audience watching Shonen and Seinen Action Anime. I have watched my fair share as a woman. 

However, watching Anime specifically meant for the female audience would be a nice break from always watching male-centric Anime.

Shonen and Seinen Action Anime are specifically for the male audience. I feel some Shojo and Josei Anime titles should be added to Adult Swim. 

In addition to the last topic, I mentioned that having the "Toonami" branding on Adult Swim, limits the Anime genre to only Action Animation.

Anime in Japan is NOT  limited to Shonen and Seinen Action yet in America, this is the only gender demographic Anime companies want to market, which is specifically meant for the male audience.

Basically, companies marketing Anime in America is a Boys Only Club and purposely want to pander to Incels.

Shojo and Josei Anime supposedly do poorly in American sales. I believe this is because the female audience is barely acknowledged. Also, some male Anime viewers REGARDLESS of their sexual orientation DO watch Shojo and Josei Anime.

American companies and the media with their political propaganda brainwashed American Anime fans into believing, that everything is "gender neutral." In reality, everything is NOT "gender neutral."

We are watching Japanese Entertainment, which belongs to Japan and is a part of Japan's culture.

They are labeled Shonen, Seinen, Shojo, and Josei for specific reasons. 

Shonen and Seinen Anime are specifically meant for the male audience. 

Shojo and Josei Anime are specifically meant for the female audience.

Although, it's not like heterosexual males and females as well as the GLBT community don't watch each others Anime besides Shonen and Seinen Action.

Speaking of Seinen Action Anime, 2 weeks ago, 1 male poster complained about Black Lagoon. The series is specifically meant for men, but it mostly has women as leading characters in a male Action Anime. 

I love watching Black Lagoon regardless of the characters' genders and regardless of its gender demographic.

After the Hellsing Ultimate OVA's premiere next month on Swimnami, he will most likely complain about Sir Integra and Seras Victoria. Those are 2 female characters with leading roles in Hellsing.

Hellsing Ultimate OVA Trailer (2014)

Hellsing Ultimate happens to be another Seinen Action Anime, which is Black Lagoon's replacement. The Hellsing franchise is Seinen Horror Action.

Overall, my main point is that Shonen and Seinen Action fans are not the only Anime demographics in existence.

There are Comedy, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural, Horror, etc. Anime for both genders. People with little knowledge about Anime only know what the networks expose them to on TV. They are mostly exposed to Shonen Action.

I understand why Adult Swim's forum has such a high turnover with posters in general. 

The slightest topic about anything gets derailed into an argument and veteran posters are notorious for running away new posters.

Who wants to deal with that unnecessary division and dysfunction? 

I have too many things to do in very little time. I thought it would be fun to join another entertainment forum again, but apparently I was wrong.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

WHAT? Gurren Lagann Of ALL Mecha Anime As A Swimnami Replacement Series?

How's it going lurkers? While watching Bleach, Blue Exorcist, and Black Lagoon on Adult Swim last weekend, I realized all 3 shows are almost over!

Some of us are worried about their replacements. Some of us also like to call Adult Swim's revisionist version of Cartoon Network's Toonami block "Swimnami."

Last night as we watched the block, it was announced that Gurren Lagann will premiere next month.

Gurren Lagann Trailer (2013)

Gurren Lagann already aired SEVERAL times on Syfy (a.k.a. The Syfylis Channel) within the last SEVERAL years.

Of ALL the Mecha Anime franchises from Japan, WHY Gurren Lagann? 

It was entertaining until some of the MAIN characters were killed, THROUGHOUT  THE SERIES.  

If minor characters were killed, it wouldn't have been much of a problem. However, Gurren Lagann was a depressing Mecha Anime. 

The body count of main characters being killed in a Mecha Anime like Gurren Lagann somewhat rivaled those killed in a Slasher Horror film. 

This recycled Mecha Anime did have less of a body count than Slashers but it doesn't change the fact that several main characters were always killed in it for unnecessary reasons.

Speaking of Black Lagoon, what will be Black Lagoon's replacement after it ends? 

Chances are great I won't be watching Swimnami for much longer. Compared to 30 minutes, I have surprisingly been watching at least 90 minutes of the block lately. 

Compared to Bleach, Blue Exorcist, and Black Lagoon, will future franchises be just as good or completely insufferable to watch?  

Since Bleach is ending in the fall and Dragon Ball Kai is premiering near the same time, I predict that Dragon Ball Kai will be Bleach's replacement. 

Some of us cringe at the thought of this happening. Don't get me wrong, Bleach has been run its course. At the same time, we don't want to look at a shitty acquisition as Bleach's replacement. 

Besides, Adult Swim needs more space for shorter franchises rather than constantly airing perennial Shonen Jump Action Anime for teenagers and highly impressionable adults with Peter Pan Syndrome.

Countless times I have said there should be more Seinen, Josei, and Shojo Anime on Adult Swim. 

I can't help emphasizing that Adult Swim as a whole should have more variety, especially on Saturday nights for MATURE adults rather than ALWAYS pandering to an Incel only demographic.

If Jason DeMarco buys another short Seinen Anime, I pray to God that it's BETTER than Deadman Wonderland. 

Deadman Wonderland In A Nutshell By Terribad Anime Review (2012):

Okay, is it just me or does Terribad sound like Klaus from American Dad? I'm just saying.

I couldn't sit through the first 5 minutes of watching Deadman Wonderland without LEAVING my bedroom to come back online. 

The network should try acquiring the rights to Another. Another is a Seinen Horror Murder Mystery Anime based on the novel of the same name. 

Unlike Deadman Wonderland, Another is NOT  centered around a crybaby protagonist with mindless violence.

Because Jason DeMarco and his Toonami  Team on Adult Swim are so determined to air ONLY Action Anime, I would personally love to see more Horror Action, Supernatural, and Martial Arts Anime meant for the ADULT  demographic and NOT  teenagers. 

Even though Beelzebub IS another Shonen Jump Action Anime, it's not the stereotypical Shonen Jump theme and lasts for only 1 year. Regardless, it's still an Anime worth Adult Swim buying and could challenge Toonami viewers.

Beelzebub definitely needs an English Dub. It's a Supernatural Shonen Jump Action Anime, with Martial Arts, Romance, and more risqué Comedy

The protagonist Tatsumi Oga is considered to be "the strongest juvenile deliquent," during his high school freshman year at Ishiyama High School. 

Ishiyama is a high school specifically for juvenile delinquents. 

The series begins with Tatsumi explaining to his friend, Takayuki Furuichi about him (Tatsumi) sleeping by a river, while seeing a man float down it. 

Tatsumi pulls the man to shore but the man splits open. The man's open body reveals Beelzebub. 

Beelzebub- the Demon Lord's baby boy. Beelzebub was sent to Earth to find a human to raise him, while destroying humanity. 

Hilda- Beelzebub's maid, who informs Tatsumi Oga that he chose Tatsumi as his father, while living on Earth. 

Beelzebub electrocutes Tatsumi as he cries, whenever Tatsumi moves so many feet away from him. His crying is so dangerous that Tatsumi is forced to carry him everywhere. 

Tatsumi even fights other juvenile delinquents with Beelzebub clinging to his body!

If you enjoy watching Shonen Martial Arts Comedy Anime and don't care if it's in Japanese with English subtitles, I recommend watching this series.

Beelzebub Japanese Trailer/Preview (2012):

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Say What? Shonen Jump Block Monopolizes Saturday Midnights On Adult Swim

This blog was originally published on Xanga May 21, 2013.

 

Hey Xangan friends, readers, and subscribers! A few days ago, I published another blog about Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. Without any complaints, that same blog continues to get readers. 

After publishing the blog and replying to others on my page, I researched to see what other viewers' thoughts were about Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. This included reading Adult Swim's forum.

As I read their comments, 1 Adult Swim poster mentioned, that Adult Swim's so-called "Toonami" block recently became a Shonen Jump Block. After thinking about what the poster said, I realized that he/she was onto something. 

By Adult Swim currently showing Bleach, Naruto, One Piece (a.k.a. the so-called "Big 3"), and Soul Eater, the Saturday midnight viewers have OFFICIALLY been alienated more than ever within these last few years. 

I am not saying this to completely insult every Shonen Anime, that is currently airing. I am a Bleach and Naruto fan, but I have never been a One Piece or Soul Eater fan.

Aside from my personal bias, these Shonen Jump Anime are perennials much like American soap operas. Cartoon Network/Adult Swim's main purpose behind airing Anime is to expose their viewers to shows, that lack having exposure. Most casual Anime fans already know about Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece. 

It is not terrible for those Shonen to be mainstream. However, if the networks' goals are to expose viewers to Anime in general, chances are great, that he/she might not watch any or all those shows. "The Big 3" mostly have filler arcs.  

Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece's arcs have tendencies to go on really long tangents with irrelevant characters to their main plots. Adult Swim should've ONLY aired 1 perennial Anime at a time as opposed to simultaneously airing 3. 

Even though I hated Deadman Wonderland last year, at least Adult Swim was somewhat moving in the right direction in regards to airing more adult content. 

By NO means am I a prude, but Deadman Wonderland had GRATUITOUS violence, unrealistic writing, and a crybaby for a protagonist. At the same time, Deadman Wonderland wasn't a perennial with mostly filler arcs for teenage boys. 

Sometimes I get the impression that Adult Swim revels in alienating their current and potential viewers. Some of us viewers of both genders say the network should diversify its Anime genres and sub-genres instead of ALWAYS playing things safe with 1 group of fans. 

Other viewers have told me in the past, that Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are not Anime networks. They are completely justified in that argument. At the same time, Anime helped keep their ratings high whether the anti-Anime fans and the networks want to accept it or not. 

Mind you, this was before, during, and especially after Adult Swim acquired the rights to air canceled WB cartoons, Family Guy, and other Fox cartoons. 

Don't get me wrong. I love watching Family Guy, American Dad, The Boondocks, Robot Chicken, and Metalocalypse, whenever they have new seasons. 

Like I already said, Anime helped boost Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's ratings. Some give Anime fans grief because some are bratty fans with mental/behavioral problems and identity crises. Those few Anime fans ruin it for us sane people, who love watching Anime, but aren't pretentious zealots and sycophants about it.

To viewers with little or no knowledge about Anime, they are Japanese cartoons meant for ALL ages. Yes, I said "cartoons" because they are a Japanese form of animation, dating back to the 1920's and '30s. *Gasps* 

Anime has genres and sub-genres for children (Kodomo), girls (Shojo), women (Josei), boys (Shonen), and men (Seinen). There are also the pornographic kind (Hentai) and a few others. 

To be more specific, Kodomo, Shojo, Josei, Shonen, and Seinen are actually age and gender demographics. Those of us, who actually follow Anime OUTSIDE of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, know that Anime is NOT always Shonen Action. 

There are Anime and Manga in Action, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Slice of Life (which depicts everyday life in Japan much like America's Seinfeld), etc.

Cartoon Network and Adult Swim fail to realize much less care to realize, that only airing Shonen Action Anime helps generate ignorance; Some Anime "fans" only know about Shonen. 

Then again, I mostly blame our American marketers for knowing nothing about Japanese entertainment, culture, religions, and sub-cultures.

Those who really want to watch other genres and sub-genres can order certain channels, buy the DVD/Blurays, and/watch legal and illegal online streams and downloads. Although, that only helps the industry to an extent. 

I think most people have at least basic cable/satellite, as well as local channels but not every channel airs Anime. When the Industry reached its pinnacle, during the early 21st Century, Syfy, Chiller TV, Colours TV, Fuse TV, IFC, Starz, Cartoon Network, and Adult Swim all showed Anime.

Since we're no longer in the early 21st Century and more people can ILLEGALLY download and stream Anime (as I'm blogging), the Anime Industry is suffering. Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are the most convenient and consistent. Both networks can help give newer Anime and genres more exposure. As I said earlier, Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece have the most exposure and enough of it.

If these 2 networks really want to spike their viewer ratings, while begging their Anime fans to watch them, they must:

1) STOP patronizing their viewers with a CGI robot (He self-righteously lectured fans about being a "hater")

2) START diversifying their programming by airing something their viewers and potential viewers want to watch.

Adult Swim's male viewers have especially been throwing in their towels left and right, since the network mostly airs mindless garbage. Anytime most of its male audience hates watching most of the programming, that should be a red flag. 

Anyway, I'll continue to only watch Bleach on Saturday nights. Until Adult Swim's Toonami airs more shows, that we want to watch, my TV will be turned off.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Will Cartoon Network & Adult Swim Ever Get Their Anime Programming Right?

This blog was originally published on Xanga May 17, 2013.

How's it going my Xangan friends, viewers, and subscribers! I hope all is well on your end. This past week, I have been rather silent. 

I was busy celebrating Mother's Day with my grandmother, mother, and aunts, chatting with other friends, job hunting, and blocking creepers on social media. I always love those men, who get butt-hurt because I REFUSE to send them any nudie pics or have cyber sex with them. I don't understand these men. Do they really think I'm going to lay them via computer screen? Talk about thirsties. 

Maybe my next blog will be about thirsty people on social media. If you don't know what I mean by "thirsty," that's slang for "desperate."

Anyway, I have been reading and hearing about Adult Swim airing MORE snooze worthy shows to their programming. The network chose to acquire Bob's Burgers and One Piece. Oh joy, oh joy. Those are 2 more shows, that I DON'T watch. 

I don't think too many Adult Swim viewers are rejoicing over Adult Swim acquiring both shows, especially Bob's Burgers. Bob's Burgers should've been canceled. 

A while ago, I read that Fox was canceling The Cleveland Show yet Bob's Burgers was being renewed. WHY?

If you ask me, Fox should've canceled both cartoons and brought back Sit Down, Shut Up. At least that cartoon was funny.

One Piece on the other hand, I have never gotten into that Shonen Jump Action Anime. From what I have been seeing and hearing, the One Piece's English Dubs have a lot of infighting within their fandom. 

According to what I have been told, fans are divided because there are 2 different English Dubs. There is a 4Kids English Dub, which is highly censored and dumbed down and then there's the Funimation Entertainment Dub, which is for the more mature audience. 

There is also the fact, that Adult Swim is airing Funimation's English Dub of One Piece and they are premiering it at episode 207, if I'm correct. Even though I'm not a One Piece fan, I think it is idiotic on Adult Swim's part to air an Anime for their fans and potential fans midway into a series. By Adult Swim premiering a show that high in episodes, they are automatically excluding potential fans and not all of their original fans remember everything, that happened years ago. 

Cartoon Network's Toonami canceled One Piece, years ago. Some diehard fans will argue, that potential fans can stream the old episodes online or buy the DVD/Blu-rays. However, everyone does not have the time, money, and patience to marathon EVERY One Piece episode. I get the impression that Adult Swim does not want to fully invest in the One Piece viewers. Then again, what am I talking about? 

Cartoon Network and Adult Swim as a whole, don't invest too much into anything their viewers want to watch. They have already excluded the female demographic completely these last several years, and they most definitely ignore their MALE demographic, which they claim to be targeting. 

I love how so many duped Toonami sycophants have been jizzing their Spider-Man underpants over the "Toonami" block and One Piece returning EXCEPT this time on Adult Swim. 

Like I already said in my March 15th blog regarding Cartoon Network and Adult Swim being sexist, their animation fans are being so highly misrepresented. It's completely understandable, that they cannot attract every American viewer.

Although, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim put forth very little effort to satisfy most of their viewers. I miss the old days, when BOTH networks aired animation for both genders with different animated genres and sub-genres everyday and night. 

Then again, Adult Swim was always a Man-Children Only Club WITHOUT overtly saying so.

Now, every night is mostly terrible Comedies with 1/2 those shows being low IQ'ed, Live Action Comedies, and late Saturday nights are devoted to Action Anime. Both networks used to air Anime on a nightly basis. 

Now, they have condensed their Anime lineup to ONLY late Saturday nights and early Sunday mornings. 

To make matters worse, the very few Anime they air consists of a Shonen Jump Action Anime block and overly syndicated Adult Swim Anime circa 2001. 

Since Adult Swim is so determined to premiere Shonen Jump Action Anime every Saturday night, why don't they remove "Toonami" from their branding and rename it "The Shonen Jump Block" or something similar? 

After all, it's evident that Adult Swim does NOT  want to air any other Anime genre and Anime from other publications. They could BUT  they don't want to because making excuses is more suitable for them. 

Since Adult Swim claims to be so "lowly funded" *sneeze* (I'm allergic to bullshit), I would remove all those overly syndicated Frat Boy Comedies from their Saturday night programming and make it Anime Night. 

Then, all those nostalgic, Toonami crybabies can watch all their old Anime earlier in the evening. By the time of 10 pm Central, I would air:

10:00 PM Special A

10:30 PM Naruto Shippuden

11:00 PM Bleach

11:30 PM School Rumble

12:00 AM Kaicho Wa Maid-Sama

12:30 AM Vampire Knight

1:00 AM Jigoku Shojo (Hell Girl)

1:30 AM Hellsing

2:00 AM Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)

2:30 AM Beelzebub

3:00 AM Repeat schedule from 10 pm

With the preceding schedule I created, Adult Swim COULD have a late Saturday night/early Sunday morning block; It could be an Anime Variety Block. 

For teenagers and adults of both genders, I selected Anime consisting of Comedy, Action, and Horror. Therefore, anyone from both genders could watch these shows, if they wanted. 

I created the schedule in this format because by the time of 1 AM, the shows have more violence and sexual content in them. 

Adult Swim doesn't necessarily have to air these EXACT shows. At the same time, they could at least try to follow a similar format, if they have to limit their Anime viewers to only late Saturday nights. 

Then again, the idiots in charge of Adult Swim aren't that clever. Well, at least we can dream, right?

So Anime fans, with this schedule I made, what are your thoughts?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Why Do Cartoon Network And Adult Swim Exclude Female Viewers?

This blog was originally published on Xanga March 15, 2013.

 


Hey there my fellow Xangan friends, subscribers, and viewers of my page! I am ready to discuss a long overdue issue, which should've been addressed by on and offline viewers, years ago. 

Cartoon Network as a whole, has gradually become a more sexist channel than it used to be. During the 1990's and early 21st Century, Cartoon Network was meant for viewers of both genders to watch. 

Now, the network has become male-centric, even though the opposite sex has always watched animation regardless. 

Why the sudden change?

It's already bad enough, that Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's male viewers have started complaining about their lousy programming.

During my college senior year nearly 8 years ago, I noticed the programming was starting to suck. Cartoon Network gradually started to sneak Live Action Movies onto a network meant for CARTOONS by 2005. 

I can understand their reasoning for showing Animated and Live Action Movies with some animation in them. However, the moment Cartoon Network began airing Live Action Movies, the writing was already on the wall, so to say. 

Once Live Action Movies were shown, the channel started airing mind-numbingly stupid Animation and Reality TV Shows specifically meant for Cartoon Network's male viewers.

During the mid to late '90s, I didn't spend most of my time watching Cartoon Network. During those years, I mostly watched MTV. MTV had better cartoons, music videos, and reality shows. I was also attending middle and high school. 

Cartoon Network's programming was normally syndicated cartoons from the 1940's-80's. I already watched some of them, 3 decades ago. There was no such thing as Cartoon Network, in the '80s. 

Cartoons used to air on local channels 7 days a week, during the mornings and afternoons. Gradually, those same channels stopped airing cartoons and began airing more Daytime Talk Shows and news programs. 

During the early 1990's, Cartoon Network was niche; It only existed on basic cable in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Detroit. Cartoon Network was also the only cable channel, which aired 24-hour cartoons among Nickelodeon, USA, Disney, and The Family Channel. Cartoon Network didn't arrive on nationwide cable packages, until 1996.

That following year, Cartoon Network launched Toonami. The word "Toonami" is a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami." 

Toonami is supposed to mean a "tidal wave" of animated shows from both America and Japan. In other words, this was an Action Animation Block. 

I didn't start watching Toonami, until 1998. 1998 was when Cartoon Network began airing the Mahou Shoujo (Magical Girl) Anime series, Sailor Moon. 

Since Sailor Moon was a Mahou Shoujo Anime, it was specifically meant for the female demographic and maintained most of its demographic, regarding Shoujo Anime. I never had the chance to watch every Anime Cartoon Network aired. 

Throughout my youth, I was engaged in other activities and shows. Although, I did learn from a few Toonami and Anime fans, that there was another Shoujo Anime. That was Cardcaptor Sakura. 

Cartoon Network mostly aired Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, The Powerpuff Girls, and Hai Hai Pafi AmiYumi (a.k.a. "Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi") for the female audience. 

Is that pathetic or what? 

There were some unisex cartoons, but for the most part, Cartoon Network mostly cares about the male demographic, and even they are being misrepresented.

Meanwhile, there is Adult Swim. Adult Swim is a separate network of its own, which airs on Cartoon Network and is a bundled network supposedly meant for men. Adult Swim launched, when I was 19 years old.

Originally, I mostly watched Adult Swim's programming for canceled American cartoons, from Fox and The WB. 

In 1999 and 2000, 3 Primetime Cartoons were too controversial to be airing on Fox and The WB at the end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century on local networks. Those 3 were Family Guy, The Oblongs, and Mission Hill.


Family Guy, The Oblongs, and Mission Hill all aired on Fox and The WB during my high school junior and senior years. All 3 were soon canceled because they were politically incorrect, morally corrupt, and had sexually explicit content. 

Them having dark humor was a bonus for viewers like yours truly.

By the time I was in my early to mid-20's, I started watching more Adult Swim. The network began airing Family Guy, The Oblongs, and Mission Hill. 

In addition to those 3 cartoons, Adult Swim started airing Shonen Anime such as Scryed, Case Closed a.k.a. "Detective Conan" (Meitantei Conan in Japanese), Crayon Shin-Chan, Code Geass, Death Note, Wolf's Rain, Witch Hunter Robin, Trinity Blood, and Bleach. 

To add more animation to Adult Swim's programming, the network launched their own animated and Stop Motion series such as Robot Chicken, Metalocalypse, and The Boondocks. All of the preceding gave me reasons to watch the network.

Even though some of us female viewers watch all of these Adult Cartoons, they are still meant for the male demographic. Adult Swim only wants to target the male demographic. 

In fact, lately it seems as though they only care about targeting teenage boys. All the while, some don't enjoy watching most of Adult Swim and Cartoon Network's currently airing shows. Those 2 networks are a heaping pile of misrepresentation for both genders young and older, which is a problem.

Now, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim mostly show the MOST mind-numbingly stupid, vapid, and worst live action shows and animation in a bundle. The viewers have complained a plethora of times to them. 

Both networks mostly feed their viewers lies about not airing certain shows and mock their Anime viewers. This is where it gets even better. They claim they are "lowly funded."

Cartoon Network is owned by Ted Turner. Adult Swim is contracted with Williams Street. Williams Street is a division of  TBS (Turner Broadcasting System), which is OWNED by Ted Turner. With that being said, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are not NEARLY as "lowly funded" as they claim to be. Adult Swim exists in OTHER countries and those same countries have better programming than in America. 

Currently, there is division between both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's viewers. In fact, viewers are so divided, that it's as divided as Republicans and Democrats in America. Very few male viewers are being represented and the female viewers are completely excluded.

For some reason, it seems like these networks don't believe that female viewers matter. Just because a show for the male demographic has at least 1-4 female characters in it, that doesn't mean the show caters to the female viewers. 

I get the impression, that Cartoon Network and Adult Swim assume us females are engrossed in watching reality shows, soap operas, Twilight, The Notebook, and taking slutty pictures, all the while giving our best duck faces, and posting them on Facebook. 

Last year, I was told many times on fan pages by fanboys, that airing Shoujo Anime on the Toonami block isn't "actiony enough" and that particular Anime genre does "poorly in sales." If that's the case, why do females enjoy watching Shoujo Anime? Apparently somebody is buying Shoujo.

If those working at Adult Swim and Cartoon Network would pull their heads out their asses and tried harder to properly represent both genders, maybe they would realize they could still regain more viewers

How could they succeed in attracting more viewers?

How about buying MORE shows, that BOTH genders like and would most likely watch? Hmm, there's a thought. 

If Cartoon Network and Adult Swim wanted my input, I would GLADLY give it to them. Airing Anime such as Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), Jigoku Shojo (Hell Girl), Shiki, Special A, Kaicho Wa Maid-Sama, Shugo Chara, Vampire Knight, School Rumble, and Beelzebub to only name a few would be a start.

 They wouldn't have to necessarily run all those Anime at once. They could rotate these series, whenever 1 or 2 of them would end. Most of these titles cater to the female demographic but the male viewers can still watch them. I feel these titles have something for everybody and would bring in more viewership. 

Until then, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's viewers will remain divided, and the female demographic will continue to be excluded. Therefore, neither network should beg more viewers for ratings, while lying and making excuses to us about it.