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Feburary 22nd, 2008: Top 5 Shows Toonami Saved
Topic Started: Feb 25 2008, 12:10 AM (2,053 Views)
Nick
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Founder and Major Domo
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Andrew brings us the more positive side of his earlier article with a look at the shows Toonami redeemed.

http://www.toonamifan.com/toonamisavedshows.html
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macattack
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I wouldn't place One Piece at number 1 yet. While both the show and DBZ were in dire straits before Toonami saved them, One Piece's fate remains uncertain as of this moment. DBZ was saved and it became an established hit that ran for years on Toonami before being taken off and then being placed back on. One Piece is still in the process of being saved, and unless it becomes a DBZ-level hit, or at least a Naruto-size hit, I can't really think One Piece should be number one.

Yes, Toonami had to work hard on One Piece. Everyone else had given up on it, as Sketch said in the article. 4kids was so disappointed they gave it up (or, alternatively, Toei made them give it up) and FUNimation stepped in to grab it like they originally intended waaaaaaaaaaay back in 2004.

Dragonball Z was in just as much trouble after the failure of the Saban-Canadian dub back in the mid-90's. What makes it different is that DBZ was not only rescued, it was resurrected into a gigantic hit and also has its prequel and sequel sagas aired on TV to become decent hits themselves, and virtually every DBZ movie has aired on CN. While One Piece has no spinoffs, their movies, with the exception of 8, have been dubbed, and obviously none of them have made it onto TV yet.

DBZ was saved and became a hit. One Piece is still in the process of being resurrected.

Until we see an end result, I think DBZ should triumph over One Piece.

As for the rest of the list . . .

The Big O was unconventional and a gamble, but not necessarily a "rescue" the way, say, Ronin Warriors was, but ReBoot and Sailor Moon were most definitely saved by Toonami and resurrected by the block. And both series became quite popular as a result. The Big O became more popular here than it was in Japan, but that's the same with Cowboy Bebop, and no one thinks that Bebop was rescued in any way.

Sorry for the rambling. That is just my opinion.
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Nick
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No, you're right. The jury definitely is not out yet on One Piece, although its turnaround has been very dramatic (so far). But how was Ronin Warriors a rescue? It wasn't ever really popular, IIRC.
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macattack
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Well, there is also Robotech and Thundercats if you want to stretch. I suppose Robotech would be a better example than Ronin Warriors, considering that Robotech has been getting a revival as of late. The question is, of course, is how much Toonami was involved in that, other than getting the show some extra attention.

Edit: I am not saying that One Piece doesn't merit a spot on the list, btw. Toonami's effort was positively Herculean and that alone should propel One Piece into Top 3 territory. But I just don't think One Piece's dividends have paid off enough to warrant the absolute number one spot.
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Sketch
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Well to be perfectly honest. Toonami helped nearly their entire line-up find a home and succeed when it probably would have failed anywhere else.

Yes it was a tough decision to give the win to One Piece and it might be partially bias but you have to look at it a little bit differently to understand why One Piece may deserve the crown.

Toonami rescued DBZ from syndication and made it a household name but had they not done so FUNimation would have continued to release Dragonball Z on VHS and later DVD because I was under the impression that doing so was always the plan. And eventually they would have released it uncut out of neccessity and because fandom would have kept harking at them to give them what they wanted and assuming FUNimation did things as they eventually did then DBZ eventually would have been treated well. It wouldn't have been as popular as it is or has been but it wouldn't have done too badly.

Now One Piece. As I said in the article, at one point EVERY company involved with the US release was ready to call it a failure. Only Toonami kept it afloat. The games from Bandai sold poorly and the card game even worse, the toys from Mattel were bargain bin within months of their release, the DVDs sold terribly and the ratings on 4kidsTV were pathetic. In the mean time Toonami gave it good promotion, a steady schedule and treated it (somewhat wrongfully given the bad dub) as if it was a great show. In the end that paid off and FUNimation was able to continue where it left off. Had Toonami given up on it as well then we wouldn't have the current season that is airing and this huge property which has come the closest to succeeding Dragonball in Japan would be as dead as Zatch Bell and such.
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Sketch
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I also didn't just go by "popularity" but also by "quality" and that's where bias may have come in even more but I could have ranked a lot of shows over those 5 but those were the ones that IMO were saved by Toonami and in turn were worth saving.

Big O wouldn't have season 2 and would have largly a failure. Sailor Moon, DBZ and Reboot would have died in syndication and One Piece would have died on Saturday morning or some how lived on with a dub arguably as bad or worse than the old dubs of Sailor Moon and DBZ.

But with the exception of The Big O and One Piece those shows did great in Canada. Well enough to have survived on Canadian popularity alone. The Big O never aired in Canada and would never have aired in Europe if it didn't get picked up by Toonami and One Piece did terrible in Canada and unlike DBZ and Sailor Moon had no possibility of an uncut release between the fact that Toei hates failing and 4kids doesn't give up shows even when they do fail. FUNimation may have been able to rescue One Piece anyway because they wanted it long before 4kids did. However, if Toonami hadn't have proven One Piece had an audience here then Toei would have just let it die like Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya before it.

I think Dragonball / Z could have lived on without Toonami (though not with as much popularity) but One Piece needed Toonami to make it past where 4kids stopped dubbing. Without Toonami's support we'd only have those 104 (if that) poorly dubbed episodes and no uncut release. And while this is definently a bias statement... I like One Piece more and the quality of dub difference between Saban and FUNimation DBZ was nowhere near as substantial as the quality difference between 4kids OP and FUNimation OP.

Consider as well that One Piece is still on Toonami and still in premieres when every other show Toonami has picked up since 2005 (sans Naruto) is not. Granted DBZ is as well and that's another reason why it was hard to decide between the two. But the more dramatic save is definently One Piece. DBZ went from a no name to hit, One Piece went from a crappy no name to a great show with a hit potential.

I hope these comments give you a better understanding of why I feel Toonami benefit One Piece even more than they benefited DBZ.
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Jeff Harris
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I'm inclined to agree that One Piece was definitely one of the biggest series Toonami saved. It's not number one, mind you (that honor would go to the Dragon Ball Saga [Dragon Ball, DBZ, and DBGT] though one can easily argue DBZ saved Tooonami as well), but it's a solid number two only for the mere fact that its original distributor not only gave up on the series by dropping it from their weekly broadcast timeslot but also in the marketplace.

Seriously, how many One Piece DVD releases did you see in stores?

Not only did Toonami save the show, but, as with Naruto, will have a series that will continue airing in the years to come as One Piece is still on the air and still making new episodes to this day.

Dragon Ball Z saved Toonami, but Toonami truly saved One Piece.
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Nick
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ImagineIf...

The above is a pretty neat alternate reality, but I think the cold truth is that without DBZ, Toonami never would have gained the necessary traction to stay alive. I highly doubt that we would be here today.
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macattack
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You never know, though. They may have found something else along the line. The Slayers would have been virtually guaranteed for the block if the budget wasn't taken up by grabbing Sunrise shows, DBZ, and Sailor Moon.
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Zera
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Yes number one is still debatable. But dont get me wrong I love One piece along with my sister and know that I think about it, the shift between 4kids to Funimation was a big enough save on its own. One Piece can be a ratings winner if it was promoted like the old days or at least as much as Naruto
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macattack
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One Piece is something still trying to get back on its feet, though. Don't forget that. Right now, One Piece simply doesn't have a great reputation thanks to 4kids screwing up the license for 3 years and that's going to take a while to go away, at least for the casual audience.

Until One Piece manages to give Naruto a run for its money it's still number two to DBZ in my opinion. Because DBZ not only got its reputation back and restored, it became a gigantic hit of epic porportions. One Piece just isn't that high yet.
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frankie toonamis 14 year old fan
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wow one piece beat out dbz id have naruto instead of big o i never liked that show :blink:
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Raidon Makoto
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Clyde
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frankie toonamis 14 year old fan
Nov 12 2008, 01:25 PM
wow one piece beat out dbz id have naruto instead of big o i never liked that show :blink:

Toonami didn't really save Naruto, though. I think it was the other way around for Toonami's final years.
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mkalv
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I agree. Without Naruto, the final years would have just been Storm Hawks, Bakugan, Blue Dragon, Samurai Jack, the short-lived Wulin Warrior, and other not so good series.

Without Naruto, I think Toonami may have died in 2006, since Cartoon Network only kept Toonami for the ratings-booster Naruto.
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billyarnie
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mkalv
Nov 14 2008, 06:51 PM
Without Naruto, I think Toonami may have died in 2006, since Cartoon Network only kept Toonami for the ratings-booster Naruto.

Not sure about 2006, but IMHO, without double Naruto to keep Toonami afloat, 2007 could have been the death knell. That's when they cut Toonami in half for Goosebumps in October, and kept it 2 hours. Except for the 3-hour Hellboy Double Feature & the Movie Double Feature followed by the regular shows. That 5.5 Hour Extravaganza was Toonami's Last Hurrah.

It was still amazing that Toonami was CN's Longest-Running Block. I'll say it one last time: Toonami died on 09/20/08 to make way for "We Are Lame"... uhh, "You Are Here", the current featured action block on Fridays. RIP...
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