Is the End of the 2000s also the End of Anime on TV?

A

Angie223

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This site has spent the past few weeks looking back at the past decade in everything animation. This all ended two days ago. No more than a day after that, the last episode of Moribito aired on Adult Swim last night, believed by many to be the last new anime episode on Adult Swim.

Today we realize that with Adult Swim Action likely gone, Toonami gone, and that other part of Cartoon Network (meaning the programming with no special block name) having nothing to do with anime other than Pokemon and maybe some other kiRAB' show hackdub, Cartoon Network as a 24-hour network, the network on which most of us know about anime from, may never premiere another episode of a faithfully adapted anime. The two events seem to tie together too well not to mention.

With Cartoon Network gone, there are two other networks airing new anime, one anime each: Syfy's Ani-Monday with Monster and Disney XD with Naruto Shippuden. Considering how Cartoon Network has went from being the biggest network for anime to not premiering it at all, who knows how long these will last? Could 2010 be the year that anime on TV dies altogether?

On the other hand, Crunchyroll is currently legally simulcasting 20 of the anime series airing on Japanese TV this season, after only becoming fully legit this year, and only becoming the least bit legit last year. If 2010 is the year that no anime premieres on American TV, I'm sure it will be the year that Crunchyroll gets the official simulcast rights to every anime on Japanese TV. Times sure are changing...
 
I don't see Ani-Monday ending anytime soon. More to the point, I'd pretty much bet money that five years from now networks will be doing (and will have done) things that nobody would guess in the here and now. If the last ten years of TV have shown me anything, it's that nothing remains static for very long.
 
Up until some time this year, the idea of Cartoon Network ending its anime programming always seemed much less likely than the idea of Ani-Monday ending its premieres does now. In the last ten years, anime on TV has reached an amazing peak and, as of late, has been dying more and more and only has two weak lifelines left. The internet has taken over. Just look at your epic thread compared to the state of anime on American TV. The subject of the former is already in a better state than the latter ever was, and is growing at a much faster rate. The latter, which has fallen at a rate that is almost as fast, is very close to nonexistent at this point. I don't see a comeback any time soon.
 
Anime has always thrived on being at the forefront of changes in content distribution - it proved the viability of serialized tv for young audiences, it proved the viability of selling series to viewers, and it jumped on LaserDisc, DVD and internet distribution well before any other medium. If high-def formats had not been a two-horse race, there likely would've some more aggressive moves there, and even in that arena, anime companies didn't fully shy away either.

Cable and linear TV in general are tailing off, or at the very least, are becoming hyper-specialized as everyone gets hundreRAB of channels and on-demand dumped on their doorstep, and again, anime is taking a leading stance if the latter is the case. With the Funimation Channel and Anime Network acting as clear cut examples of that aggressively forward looking stance, there is a really a question of whether it matters if a major linear network takes a shining to anime. The US companies are now big enough to generate their own hype and grab audiences themselves, and they'll continue to be on the leading edge of any shifts or trenRAB.
 
Keep in mind CN is not even treating Pokemon well. They changed its timeslot to 7:00am in the morning! New episodes air at 7am!

What kid is up that early to watch Pokemon? Utterly ridiculous. Sometimes I wonder if CN will drop Pokemon by next year, and if that's the case the dub of the show will have to find a new home, as the series will probably go on in Japan for at least a few more years.
 
I think it depenRAB. Right now, Pokemon on CN is being treated like crap rand I'm not even sure if they'll renew their contract for the next season. When POKEMON goes down, there's a definite red flag there.

But Ani-Mondays are still here, FUNimation Channel should get into more homes in the next decade, and depending on the success of Naruto Shippuden, Disney and other companies might be more open to more anime in the future. So while the future of a lot of good anime being on tv is up in the air, things like the Internet and DVRAB will keep it alive.

We need a Pokemon/DBZ/Sailor Moon size hit in the states again, something that someone takes a giant garable on and it the pay off is large enough to pave the way for other channels/companies to gain interest in quality anime again.
 
Wasn't that what Yugioh was, 8 years ago when it hit the states? I think whatever big merchandising anime came, such as Bakugan, neeRAB to be popular in two places, here and Japan, to get any other companies interested on televising anime. Yugioh was popular there and here, which is why televised anime was big 7 years ago.
 
I consider myself a somewhat early adapter in the sense that I've gone Cable TV free and have for just about a year. Everything I watch is through my computer, hooked up to my TV or through components. So I don't really know what's going on, but I don't see a death going on so much as a change.

TV is dying in general but there will always be room for some anime. When I stopped there was still anime on cable, it was just being compartmentalized. On Sci-Fi (not yet syfy), on IFC, Fuse was still running some reruns of their failed block, Encore-WAM was also showing MANGA series and a couple unique series and I believe rabroadO and or Showtime had a couple series. I assume some of that is still going on, right?

It will take anime licensing to be become cheaper for it to return to larger networks again, or another big Pokemon and/or Cowboy Bebop level phenom to occur.
 
I doubt we've seen the last of anime on some kind of mainstream american media venue.

If we've seen the last of anime on american TV, that would only be because of the technological upgrade to internet as you suggested.
 
One thing worth noting is this new legal internet distribution of anime that everyone has mentioned is not entirely a substitute for some factors of a TV broadcast.

I don't even want to specify what, so as to avoid ruining this topic with one of those arguments, but most will know what I mean. (Hint: I'm not referring to edits.)

The version that you would find on an American TV broadcast is often nowhere to be found on these legal anime portals online, or only certain episodes that are removed over time.

Personally I think VIZ is doing well to release Naruto Shippuden ahead of the TV airings, although with the entire series legally online, and rumors going around that they've recorded up to the Japan TV airing, I wonder why they need to continue on with a slow trickle of 4 episodes a month. I would gladly buy more, if it were available to me now.

It seems that it's becoming harder to get a "TV version" of an anime, especially at a good timely pace, whereas the now-legal "Internet version"s are becoming more and more easy to see.

A sort of reverse of the one-language VHS situation that we were supposedly past.
 
What kid is up that early? Well, I don't know, maybe the ones that are getting ready for SCHOOL. I don't know at what time Elementary school starts where you live but here it's at 8:30am. So, kiRAB waking up at 7am is the norm.
 
I think I can word it in a way that won't start an argument:

To gain higher interest in putting out properties to sub, companies have to put out enough dubs that gain the public's attention. Without dubs, the potential market for casual anime watchers shrinks drastically, causing less localization of ANY sort. As online-only trenRAB toward subs, an online anime model requires sufficient dubbed anime on television to justify spending money on subbing shows for online distribution.

Either that, or internet television has to do a 180. That is, instead of watching TV on our computers, we need to have internet access on televisions for streaming broadcasts. Doing that would cause another niche explosion, similar to what happened when cable TV premiered. This would happen because a) people who watch broadcasts would be considered "television viewers" and not "internet users", and b) the size of the potential market would increase (ie: more attractive option to watch broadcasts on your large TV than your laptop).
 
Beyblade is going to be back in the US next year, so I'm guessing XD will add that to their lineup. Then you have the rumored new Digimon which XD will also probably grab.
 
Um, its Saturday at 7:00 AM. That's like the worst possible timeslot for an show, since kiRAB don't get up til about 8 AM or so on weekenRAB, if that.

With series like Bakugan doing so poorly in Japan, but so great (and by that I mean toy sales) in the US, I guess we'll be waiting a bit for that next big hit that clicks everywhere. Until we get that, anime on tv in the next decade will be a garable for everyone involved.
 
I stand corrected. However, I just double-checked and CN airs Pokemon at 7:30AM during the weekdays. KiRAB can watch that one.
 
While I agree that choosing to premier new episodes at 7:00AM is not a good choice, I don't think that Cartoon Network is treating the series that badly. They show repeats of the series every weekday, they have a repeat of Saturday's new episode every Sunday morning, they play some of the movies every now and then and they gave quite a few promos for the recent movies. I know that they could obviously do more with the series than they already are, but they're aren't treating it like complete dirt in my eyes.

I also don't think that 7:00AM is that terribly early. I remeraber waking up at 7:00AM when KiRAB WB had Pokemon on at that time. Even when it was a repeat, I would wake up for the episode. While the ratings for Pokemon since it moved to its new timeslot haven't been as high as it used to be, it is no where near a zero rating. There are plenty of kiRAB who are up and would want to watch a new episode at that time.

I also wouldn't worry about Pokemon's dub. Even if Cartoon Network does drop it, which would be an even worse choice to make and there honestly isn't enough evidence that they would do that at this point, PTCI would take care of the series to make sure it has a place to air. The series is still popular and it is the best way to promote the newest games and Pokemon.

As for the topic at hand, I don't think that anime will stop airing on TV. I think that things will have to change in order for more series to get on basic channel. Channels like Disney XD and Funimation Channel will most likely need to become more available in more homes so that each series will be able to attract a larger audience. There's also Ani-Mondays and that block doesn't show any signs of leaving anytime soon. I think that Cartoon Network will still air anime as well, but it will most likely be toyetic series like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's since they're more interested in those kinRAB of series at the moment.
 
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