Well that statement sure has come back to haunt Toonami, but perhaps it should be called "4kids Love It". I had hoped the day when I would see a 4kids dub on Toonami would never come but it did in April of this year. 4kids One Piece dub joined the block and it while it seemed more likely to air in the first hour with the other "bad dubs", but when it premiered on Toonami it aired for a full hour at the tail end of the block. I figured it would not last very long but months later we still have an hour of One Piece and there’s really no sign of that stopping until at least mid fall. To add insult to injury, in August Toonami started airing Yu-Gi-Oh! So tell me, how is it that Toonami has suddenly ended up airing two shows which quite possibly are the worst anime dubs 4kids has ever made? Am I the only one who sees what is wrong with this picture?

Though 4kids shows are a big annoyance they aren't the only issues here. Since its move to Saturday, Toonami has been airing more ex-Saturday morning reruns than ever before. Including: Astroboy, Jackie Chan Adventures, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and The Batman. Astroboy was not a really bad choice besides having an awful dub because Toonami was its only home at the time. But the rest all air/ aired on both Toonami and either KWB or 4kidsTV. We also cannot forget D.I.C.E. and Rave Master which might as well have been on Saturday mornings and Duel Masters which just barely nudges acceptability in my opinion but only because it’s really funny.

In March of this year Toonami lost both Kenshin (due to contract) and Yu Yu Hakusho (for no apparent reason). Zatch Bell and Justice League Unlimited are the most mature shows on the block currently and will continue to be at least until Naruto shows up. Honestly, I find that pretty sad compared to the Toonami line-ups of old. Of course not all Toonami line-ups have been better than our current one but plenty of them have. I would take double Dragonball, DBZ and G Gundam instead of this garbage any day. Toonami should not have 2 hours of Saturday morning reruns (1.5 of it being 4kids). The block is only on 4 hours a week. This is downright insulting. Even when the new programming roles around this Fall we'll still be stuck with One Piece because for some reason it’s successful and given that Yu-Gi-Oh! tends to keep a slot for a while we can expect to have that around for a good lot of fall unless it tanks (which I find very unlikely, but it’s still possible).

Gone are the days when I could watch all of Toonami every time it is on and CN cannot seem to step away from the 6-11 demographic despite it not being Toonami’s main demo (which is 9-14). Some say that’s because of the overlap but I do not buy that for a second. Cartoon Network is already terrible, I just wish they wouldn't take Toonami down with it. However, as long as these awful schedule decisions continue I cannot say the future is all to bright for Toonami and only a few shows will make even part of the block watchable.

Naruto, BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo and IGPX could be just what Toonami needs for CN to figure out that certain shows currently airing on the block should be airing elsewhere or not at all. Toonami should not be Miguzi with different packaging but currently it may as well be. Though I guess we could look at it this way. They would be hard pressed to make the block worse now but they love to prove me wrong.

It is high time to bring back the Revolution! Or at least Yu Yu Hakusho...

-Sketch

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