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Television Media Anime

Cartoon Network's 1st Original 'Toonami' Series 195

Posted by Hemos from the big-news-for-cartoon-network dept.
Rick Ellis writes "Sunday at the 2005 Tokyo Anime Fair in Japan, Cartoon Network unveiled the highly anticipated new series, IGPX. It's a co-production with Production I.G. and Bandai Entertainment and will be the Cartoon Network's first original 'Toonami' series."
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Cartoon Network's 1st Original 'Toonami' Series More

Cartoon Network's 1st Original 'Toonami' Series

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  • Hope for some new stuff... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:34AM (#12133011)
    I'd love to personally see Naruto on Toonami. Nice to see CN is diversifying though. Production IG has been involved with lots of anime intros for video games like Xenogears.

  • Subbing? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:36AM (#12133027)
    Toonami's one of the most popular "programs" on CN right now- what are the odds that we'll start to see things subbed, or at least competently dubbed?

    (First?)

    • Re:Subbing? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by CoffeeJedi ( 90936 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:44AM (#12133115)
      fans have been asking CN to use the SAP (second audio program) for the original Japanese soundtrack for a while, but no luck yet

      when a network gets the broadcast rights to a dubbed program or movie (anime or foreign film, or anything), do they get the rights to the original soundtrack too?

      • Re:Subbing? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:48AM (#12133151)
        The problem is that the FCC requires that if you use SAP for a second audio channel, that channel's closed caption track must be in the same language, meaning you could see it in english with english subtitles (if you call the misspelled crap in the CCs subtitles) or japanese with japanese subtitles.

        • Re:Subbing? (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          What dominion does the FCC have over their cable and satellite only stations?
        • There have been some PBS progrms with Spanish on SAP. I never checked the CC but I would bet that it was still in English.
        • The problem is that the FCC requires that if you use SAP for a second audio channel, that channel's closed caption track must be in the same language,

          Hmmm. (Turns on NYPD Blue.)
          (Turns on audio subcarrier. Spanish.)
          (Turns on CC. English.)

          (Turns on The Fairly Oddparents.)
          (Turns on audio subcarrier. English with blind narration.)
          (Turns on CC. English without blind narration. If there was blind narration on the CC, I'd be ready to smack someone.)

          Ooh, so if I was blind and deaf, I could still watch! N

        • Re:Subbing? (Score:3, Interesting)

          by SamSim ( 630795 )
          You wouldn't have to put the subtitles in the closed captions... just overlay them directly on the video being broadcast. Of course, this is a little unfair to the Japanese speakers who don't want to read the subs, just watch the show in their own language...
    • I haven't watched Cartoon Network in a while so I had no clue what "Toonami" was nor what "IGPX" was. (I wasn't "highly anticipating" it either).

      Shouldn't they at least have posted a link to the official website [cartoonnetwork.com]?

    • Re:Subbing? (Score:4, Informative)

      by fat man with a monke ( 869132 ) <kusajamey@ g m a i l .com> on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:55AM (#12133224)
      Given the fact that series (Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, Cardcaptor Sakura, DragonballZ) have shown that kids don't care about competent dubbing, I doubt Toonami will have too much of it. But comparing the [Adult Swim] anime to the subbed version, the dubs of many of the series they run have been very high quality.
      Fullmetal Alchemist, [Adult Swim]'s latest anime draw, has even appeared in its entirety, with no content dubbed out (at least, with the last episode comparison I read). Also given the fact that Toonami has been relegated to the late-afternoon Saturday block once a week, its popularity has gone down (at least in the communities I frequent). Right now, I think [Adult Swim] is the main anime draw for cartoon network, and will stay that way.
      By the way, Naruto is coming to Toonami. Which means it'll be shown probably once a week on Saturday. All 200+ episodes of it. That's over 4 years. And even if they do show it multiple times on Saturday, Cartoon Network will probably only buy it a couple seasons at a time, and just keep re-showing the first few until people get tired of it. That's what they did with DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho Samurai Champloo is coming also coming to CN, on [AS].

      • Re:Subbing? (Score:3, Informative)

        by jandrese ( 485 ) *
        Minor nit, Naruto in Japan is only up to episode 128 (and this is counting the hour long specials as 2 episodes each). While I don't doubt they could run to 200+ episodes, they have not done so yet. Many series get killed at fairly arbitrary times (if the storyline starts to suck and viewership goes down, the network WILL can a series; or if the creators start asking for too much money).

        • Re:Subbing? (Score:2, Interesting)

          by tuffy ( 10202 )

          While I don't doubt they could run to 200+ episodes, they have not done so yet. Many series get killed at fairly arbitrary times

          A lot of manga-based shows like Inu-Yasha go off the air because they simply run out of manga to animate and so they end abruptly - occasionally getting finished off in OVAs. Some get made-for-TV endings (Midori no Hibi) and some get made-for-TV filler (Rurouni Kenshin). Since Naruto is due to run out of manga pretty soon, it could go either way.

          • You forgot the fourth option: They slow down the TV show to match the speed of the manga (Dragonball). I seriously hope the creators of Naruto aren't contemplating that path.
      • Let me guess... you're a [Everything2|noder], right? [everything2.com]

  • F that! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I want a season 3 of Big O!
    • Seconded!

      Unlikely we'll get it though, it was not cheap to produce and while its ratings weren't bad, they weren't good enough.

      But hey! At least we're getting Season Two of Venture Bros [livejournal.com]!

    • Re:F that! (Score:2, Informative)

      by MrCobaltBlue ( 802735 )
      As much as I loved the series, unfortunately you can't really make a 3rd season of Big O. The series ended. Think of it like the Anime version of The Truman Show. But instead of just giving up, the "producers" reset everyone's memories (The day 40 years ago when everyone in Paradigm City lost their memories). So its really just a never ending loop, Roger will keep finding out that everything's a fake, then the whole world will get reset.

  • Feh (Score:1, Troll)

    by Megane ( 129182 )
    In IGPX, the year is 2048 and the "IGPX" has become the world's most-popular sport. It's so big that an entire city was built for the racing industry where competitions take place on a huge, 60-mile track called "The Big Eye." In the "Immortal Grand Prix," two teams of three Mechs, high-tech fighting machines driven by humans, race at speeds greater than 350 mph.

    Gah. Mechs. Before I clicked on the link I knew there would be mechs in there somewhere. I could care less about damn gun mech-centric anime.

    • Re:Feh (Score:5, Funny)

      by CoffeeJedi ( 90936 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:53AM (#12133203)
      Why do all these shows nowadays focus on some "competition" like a race, or a card tournament? The stupidest one I've seen is that kid's show on saturday morning where a giant arena of people gathered to watch kids fight with spinning tops! It was like ten-thousand people all looking down at a little 2 sq-ft board with little spinning tops smacking into each other, while prebuscent kids yelled at the top of their lungs to... I don't know... get the tops to hit each other harder or something. It made no sense.
      There's never any real conflict in these shows, the 'evil' character is just another player in the 'tournament'. When Optimus Prime and Megatron fought, they didn't pull out little decks of cards or summon holographic monsters to fight for them, they went out there and beat the shit out each other! And it wasn't for some lame 'tournament', it was because the Decepticons were trying to take over the whole freakin' world! I tell ya... thank god for Justice League Unlimited, or kids today would have no sense of proper cartoon violence!
      [end rant]

      • Re:Feh (Score:5, Insightful)

        by R.Caley ( 126968 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:59AM (#12133259)
        Why do all these shows nowadays focus on some "competition" like a race, or a card tournament?

        1. You don't need to come up with plots.
        2. You have an obvious way to spin off merchandise.
        3. ????
        4. Profit!!!!

        • 1 You don't need to come up with plots.

          2. You have an obvious way to spin off merchandise.

          3. ????

          4. Profit!!!!

          And how was Transformers any different? Cartoons have been selling toys for a lot longer than you think. And the stories ain't exactly original!

          Anyone remember the Flintstones selling cigarettes? Those were the days! None of these Politically Correct spinning tops...we want drugs, rock&roll & violence in our cartoons!

          • And how was Transformers any different?

            Transformers was crap too, but it wasn't an example of competition to avoid plot.

            OTOH, Wacky Races was an example of a competition and no plot, but wasn't crap because they used the framework as a basis for a stream of gags, so there was entertainment.

            BTW, you must be young if you think Transoformers counts as a long time ago:-). They were selling me Thunderbirds merchandise the first time around.

        • Re:Feh (Score:2, Interesting)

          by mrbooze ( 49713 )
          The fact is, no non-prime time animated shows make *all* their money from merchandising deals. It doesn't matter how good the ratings are, they never get enough money from ads to cover production costs. If you're cartoon isn't selling toys, shirts, lunchboxes, etc, it's losing money, period.

          That's why Static Shock ended even though it was something like the number one or two highest rated american-produced kids cartoon. They couldn't get a toy company to agree to a merchandising deal, and had to stop pr
      • Those shows are aimed at young children. All the "real" shows are on Toonami (saturday evening) and Adult Swim (every night except Friday).
      • It was like ten-thousand people all looking down at a little 2 sq-ft board with little spinning tops smacking into each other

        That's G^HBeyblade, and I see the stupid cheap plastic arena thingies show up at thrift stores every now and then. It's such a lame idea it's actually scary.

      • Why do they do this? It's simple, really: those shows are just one big toy commercial. Very lucrative.
        • Yeah, but so were He-Man and Transformers, just glorified toy commercials really. I see your point, but I guess we kids in the 80's had actually writers like Larry DiTillio and Joe Michael Straczynski working on our cartoons. They tended to infuse actual stories and characters in around the toy commercial aspects.
          Who knows, maybe this IGPX thing will be good, being coproduced with CN picks my hopes up a little. (i never saw the original micro-series)
      • The stupidest one I've seen is that kid's show on saturday morning where a giant arena of people gathered to watch kids fight with spinning tops! It was like ten-thousand people all looking down at a little 2 sq-ft board with little spinning tops smacking into each other

        Well, "Robot Wars" did so well, they figured "Dreidle Wars" was worth a shot!

      • Conflict (Score:2, Funny)

        by talaphid ( 702911 )
        Because it requires effort to come up with conflict to lead a narrative all the time. There are only so many little old ladies that can be kidnapped that the hero cares about and will feel a deep sadness when the villain... offs her! resulting in him breaking through and reaching Super Saijin Eleventeen.

        It's also easier to come up with tougher villains. "Wow, that's Johnny Loadeddice, he ALWAYS ROLLS 20s." Just have him crush more kittens as he walks into the arena then the last guy, and you know he's a ba
        • good god i hope a tv producer doesn't read that, or else kids'll be watching that crap next season! it was bad enough when they messed up Transformers with "Robots in Disguise" and the one where they ran around collecting the little robots.

          Believe it or not, your silly description of a potential transformers series is VERY similiar to what the WB was asking Bruce W Timm (of Batman: TAS fame) to produce. A futuristic world where teenagers fight cyborg mutant versions of Batman's old enemies using a card-bas

    • Re:Feh (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 )
      Good mecha is hard to come by (Original Getter robo and the original Gundam come to mind) but poor mecha is easy to come by and little kids love toy robots. So CN just keep saying and getting shows based on poor mecha rather then the good stuff, so all you see is 2D characters throwing in poor one liners and repeating each week. Theres a big difference between what CN shows and what any self respecting mecha fan would watch..
      • Theres a big difference between what CN shows and what any self respecting mecha fan would watch.

        Thanks for pointing out that not mech shows are created alike. I actually liked Patlabor, but in that show the mechs were little more than props in a police anime. They were police cars with legs. I loved Nadesico and its mech parody Gekiganger. But Evangelion bored me long before I could get to the fscked-up half dozen episodes at the end.

        And I understand that some Gundam is good and some is awful, even t

        • Exactly. In alot of Gundam mecha is just there to advance the plot and to make money to continue the story (original is an example of this) where as the latest ones (everything post G) focuses more on flashy mecha then characters. But depending on which camp you talk to (Old fans or new fans) you will get different opinions on which is better or worse. Although there is some totally vile Gundam around, but theres also some amazingly good Gundam..

      • Re:Feh (Score:3, Funny)

        by Mr. Slippery ( 47854 )
        little kids love toy robots.
        But chicks dig giant robots [tvtome.com].

  • Anime Powerpuff Girls (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:42AM (#12133087)

    Maybe this explains the Anime version of the Powerpuff Girls [rowdyruff.net] that has been spotted? Maybe CN is trying to get a presence in Japan?

    • Mind you there is a rather decent doujinshi. Hasn't been updated in two weeks, but for the quality that is produced, I have no complaints.
      http://bleedman.snafu-comics.com/ [snafu-comics.com]
    • Maybe this explains the Anime version of the Powerpuff Girls that has been spotted? Maybe CN is trying to get a presence in Japan?

      Hmm I don't think so.

      a) Rowdy is a fan. And he included some Nickelodeon characters too.

      b) The powerpuff girls were actually a parody of anime girls. And the related Show, dexter's lab, also makes fun of Mechs. And MEGAS XLR made fun of the following Anime Series: Voltron, Galaxy Express 999, Sailor Moon, Power Rangers, G-Force, need I say more? :P

      c) I prefer the much more s
    • That's an interesting development, I wonder what the guy drew this [deviantart.com] would think. He's been doing a comic strip of sorts featuring said girls in an anime sort of style for a while now...

  • As long as... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Braingoo ( 771241 )
    Its not another cartoon with girls with big eyes short skirts and mystical powers. I will give it a chance.
    • How about a cartoon about girls with big eyes, short skirts, and lethal martial arts and marksmanship skills?

      But seriously, there are a *lot* of different types of anime out there. You should check them out.

  • New? Hardly (Score:5, Informative)

    by Masami Eiri ( 617825 ) <brain.wavNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:44AM (#12133110) Journal
    This show aired before, but as a miniseries. Only difference is now its a full-fledged series.

    IIRC, it wasn't all that great either.

  • Power Puff Girls Z (Score:5, Informative)

    by Deathlizard ( 115856 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @09:50AM (#12133162) Homepage Journal
    Well that explans this then.
    http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050401/ta f.htm [impress.co.jp]

    It's about 3/4th's down the page. or click the link below for the quick picture.

    http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050401/ta f32.jpg [impress.co.jp]

  • Top Cat (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Am I the only one who thinks Top Cat was the best cartoon show ever made?

  • meh (Score:2, Interesting)

    by j0nb0y ( 107699 )
    I stopped watching toonami when they stopped showing it on weekdays. The worst part was they replaced it with meguzi or something, which is total crap. Now I hardly watch cartoon network. I used to watch it a lot.

    I remember the good old days, when Moltar hosted toonami...
    • I've not watch Cartoon Network other than for Adult Swim for a while now, but isn't Toonami still on, just before Miguzi? But you're right, Toonami is just a shell of its Moltar-hosted days. Man, it used to be so cool....

  • Big O (Score:2, Interesting)

    by LordNimon ( 85072 )
    Didn't the Cartoon Network pretty much pay for the 2nd season of Big O?

    • Re:Big O (Score:2, Informative)

      by tuffy ( 10202 )
      Didn't the Cartoon Network pretty much pay for the 2nd season of Big O?

      Yes. They're even listed in the closing credits. Time-Warner mentioned producing 3 anime shows. IGPX is one, PPGZ is another. I don't think we know what the third one is yet.

  • First CN produced kiddy japanimation.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @10:05AM (#12133314) Journal
    Maybe for the kids block "toonami", but CN shelled out at least for the translation of Big O, and IIRC, they co-produced it.

    That was for the Adult Swim action block (Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Big O). This is Toonami (Dragonball, Pokemon, Teen Titans).

    Frankly, I'd say that Teen Titans anime' style would qualify it as the "first".

    There's nothing special about this announcement, /. is just parroting another press release.

  • Not the first original series (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    See Megas XLR. Probably one of the funniest, and best cartoons around.

  • Where do I donate... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    to the toonami relief fund?

  • Who digs giant robots? (Score:5, Informative)

    by TCQuad ( 537187 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @10:23AM (#12133508)
    It's a co-production with Production I.G. and Bandai Entertainment and will be the Cartoon Network's first original 'Toonami' series.

    Um, no. [tvtome.com]
    • I know a lot of people don't like it, but I love Megas XLR. Any show with the voice of Bruce Campbell that frequently makes fun of Battle for the Planets is ok by me.

      I wish Cartoon Network would show it some love and up their animation budget, though... the animation just looks cheap.

  • Oh boy... (Score:1, Troll)

    by Exluddite ( 851324 )
    Just what we need, more bug eyed cartoon freaks. Is there some sort of contest among the anime people to see who can do a whole cartoon in the fewest frames? Can't they be a little more..oh, I don't know,animated?

  • Have they completely missed the point? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "Blending the quality and style of anime with Western storytelling, IGPX will be the first instance of a U.S. cable network working directly with a Japanese animation studio to create an original series."

    The reason I watch anime is because I like the Japanese storytelling. If I wanted Western storytelling then I would watch one of the normal shows that are on TV! While I do enjoy the anime art style, I certainly am not going to watch a bad show just because of its art.
    • While I do enjoy the anime art style, I certainly am not going to watch a bad show just because of its art.

      OK, I'm going to admit something that might get me flamed, but I like InuYasha because of the storytelling and character development (when [as] deigns to air new episodes). My wife can't stand it and cringes when I put it on, claiming I only like it because it's Japanese.

      It's a cheesy soap opera but I love watching the relationships developing and the conflict Kagome has between the feudal era and

    • I enjoy the style of anime, but frankly the quality of most made-for-TV anime is pretty low. That's kind of the point--they cut corners so they can churn out shows like mad. Sure, maybe Gendo Ikari looks cool with his hands crossed in front of his mouth, the animators were more concerned with getting away with not animating his mouth. Somehow I doubt this series is going to be any different.

  • This is good. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Patrick Mannion ( 782290 )
    [adult swim] already has their own original series, so it's great that Toonami has their own series. I mean Toonami to me is it's own network. I mean a few days ago, the Nielsen ratings started couting [adult swim] as it's own network.
  • As much as I like anime, I don't think I can sit thru another mech vs. mech anime program. That particular genre has gotten very stale and repetitive. Ghost in the Shell, Big O, Cowboy Beebop, Full Metal Alchemist offer much better entertainment.

    Some of the best anime CN had came from Pioneer, not Bandai. Programs like Tenchi Muyo and Pilot Candidate were cool. Unfortunately, CN and Pioneer parted company which is too bad, because Pioneer has a lot of good programs to offer.

    BTW CN, If you're listening
    • Unfortunately, CN and Pioneer parted company which is too bad, because Pioneer has a lot of good programs to offer.

      Pioneer (now Geneon) and CN haven't completely parted company. Samurai Champloo and Paranoia Agent are both coming to Adult Swim. But some of their shows like ROD:TV and Last Exile wind up on G4.

  • It has Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer dualing to the death! Aah! How we love the toonarmy! Oh wait.....!

  • Samurai Jack (Score:3, Informative)

    by fallen1 ( 230220 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @12:26PM (#12134641) Homepage
    Umm, yeah, I want to see Samurai Jack back. I'm a long time fan of animation (Japanese or otherwise) and also love well-written or uniquely written stories. One of the, ohh call it top 20 comics for unique stories was one that had no words in it at all - it was a story for GI Joe that centered around Snake Eyes. All emotions, everything, was conveyed through artwork and the story was, well, well written (drawn). The same is true for one of the best Samurai Jack's that aired - basically no words and all was conveyed through imagery and natural sounds.

    Still, all in all, I want to see more Samurai Jack back on Cartoon Network. GitS: Standalone Complex, Cowboy Bebop, and Full Metal Alchemist are also good to watch plus I'd also like to see a complete run of Witch Hunter Robin.

  • Apparently someone at CN is drinking the Kool-Aid (Score:3, Funny)

    by writertype ( 541679 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @01:08PM (#12135051)
    From the press release:

    "Cartoon Network first partnered with Production I.G. in 2032 to produce five 5-minute episodes of IGPX for an on-air Toonami event in 2003."

    "Hideki -- we have no capabiliity to produce these episodes using current technology!"

    "Aoki, any word from Project X on Titan?"

    "No sir -- it was overrun by the Trog raiders!"

    "Damn. Well, we'll need to turn to the Balrog Omega Ultra Option!!!!"

    *gasps*

    "No arguments! Fetch BoingBoing The Happy Fuzzball and prepare for integration! If we can't make these episodes now, we'll make them in the future! We're going through time!!!!"

  • Production I.G. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wickedj ( 652189 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @03:01PM (#12136309) Homepage
    They have some of the best animation studios around. If any of you ever watched Kill Bill, the animated scene with O-ren in it was done by Production I.G [production-ig.com]. Top notch stuff there.

  • Minor correction, major ranting. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by John Pfeiffer ( 454131 ) on Monday April 04, 2005 @05:36PM (#12138160) Homepage
    Not only is this not the first time an American cable network has had a hand in producing an anime, it's not even the first time Cartoon Network has... They were the driving force behind the production of the second season of 'Big O' (An homage to all the old super robot shows...with an unfortunate name.), several years after the original was produced.

    Personally, I can't see this being good, I'll reserve judgement of course, but still... We Americans tend to destroy even the best of series with general carelessness when it comes to execution.

    Without resorting to non-opposable digits, I can count the English dubs that don't make me reach for the nearest sharp object with which I can kill myself. And I can't even begin count the number that are so bad that I'll settle for a blunt object to just beat myself unconscious.

    We have more movie and television media than any other country on the planet...why can't we find voice actors who can, you know, act? Of course, the simple answer is, we can, even I know they're out there... But the licensees don't feel like paying for a decent dub...and so, that's all we get exposed to. Just once, I'd like a mainstream channel to air anime with SUBTITLES. (Even International Channel changed most of their anime programming to dubs...so what exactly is the point of the channel now?) But then, I don't really care. I don't have cable or broadcast or anything... I just download raws of the latest series from Japan and wait patiently for the DVDs. ^_^

    As usual, just my 2 yen. I hate everything, deal with it. :)
  • I've heard that Haley Joel Osment may be cast as the lead role. He was excellent in some other voice-over roles, like Sora from Kingdom Hearts. It'll be interesting to see what this joint production will look like.

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