Hetalia on Toonami?

[tassium.livejournal.com]

Jason DeMarco, former Toonami producer, recently posted about sending suggestions for future Toonami (the Toonami that will now be airing in Adult Swim's old programming block) acquisitions via twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/adultswim

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-05-21/adult-swim-toonami-block-to-air-casshern-sins-deadman-wonderland

If the man is looking for money and ratings, Hetalia is where it's at. As far as sales go, Hetalia has always been a top performer in NA, to the point Rightstuf is currently going out of its way to save the manga from the abyss what was Tokyopop. I'm aware it's already airing on Funimation's channel, but I and many others don't have access to that channel where we live. And that never stopped FMA from airing on Adult Swim, so.. I think Hetalia would certainly be a fair contender. And the dub is raunchy enough, who knows, might pull in some viewers from the comedy block.

Comments

[izzyninjajedi.livejournal.com]

Huh, I was surprised to see Panty and Stocking as a discussed title. The show is wonderful, but I wonder if it'll be censored enough for TV.

I personally am not sure if Hetalia should be part of the lineup. I can see the show getting a lot of flack; then again, there are other, much more offensive series out there like Family Guy that are loved and well-received. Bringing Hetalia into the mainstream, for some reason, doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I'm torn.

The main anime target audience here is more geared towards seinen drama and shonen action titles as opposed to our more light-hearted Hetalia. It would be a nice change of scenery though, plus I'd love to see Hetalia on TV! And it'd also provide a good way to get more people into it and excited to see it again the next weekend.

I'm still praying they get Baccano on there, especially since they already aired Durarara...

[wakalakaosaka.livejournal.com]

Possible unpopular opinion alert (?):

I'm kind of iffy on this. On one hand, Toonami mostly focused on action/adventure anime and cartoons. I really can't imagine something silly like Hetalia sandwiched between something like Big O and One Piece Personally, I'm rooting for One Piece to come back. However I do understand that back in the day, they did dabble a bit on some lighthearted shows like Hamtaro. However, I can only think of Hamtaro from the top of my head, I can't think of other "lighthearted shows" right now.

/hides under a desk

[tassium.livejournal.com]

Toonami aired all kinds of stuff back in the day, in addition to Hamtaro, series like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, Bobobo-bo-bo-bobo, Prince of Tennis, Tenchi Muyo, and I know I'm forgetting a few.

Granted, Hetalia's certainly more comedy than it is action-oriented, but that it performs really well as far as sales are concerned is what makes it a little unique as far as NA audiences go. In the states, most anime doesn't sell well, and the titles that do are typically the big name action/adventure kind of deals. Most of the comedy series tend to have too niche an audience, as the humor typically is something that's only going to appeal to the more devoted otaku. Hetalia's always been a little unique in that regard, in that as far as sales go it does have more of a mainstream appeal despite being a comedy, and at that, a comedy (for once) with women as the primary target audience. And that it's intended to appeal to women most I also don't think is a bad thing, because that didn't stop Sailor Moon from airing. That in a sense it's essentially moe for girls I also don't think would hurt its standing, as the harem Tenchi Muyo did relatively well, despite the appeal being on the girls rather than plot or action.

I can see where people would be divided on the idea, definitely. But personally, I don't see the harm. Not to play that card, but the Hetalia fandom has survived some pretty scandalous.. scandals, to say the least, and as far as anime fans are concerned, we as a fandom are already as infamous as it gets. I don't see the harm in trying, in seeing as we Hetalia fans have always voted with our wallets, to see how far we can push those votes. And if nothing comes of it, all that was lost was the seconds it took to send a tweet.

[disneyotaku.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'm half and half about this. For one, having Hetalia being aired on a tv channel that I can actually access? Yes. Getting more people into Hetalia meaning more fans and possible merchandise to come to stores? Another yes. Though it'd be weird to have it in a time slot between, idk, Panty and Stocking and Deadman Wonderland. But they are short clips, and I can see it being possible to show them. I'm just a little worried, I guess.

[bosscookie.livejournal.com]

I pray Hetalia never makes it on TV or I may have to go into hiding hahaha....

Seriously though, I don't think it would be rather fitting to actually be on television, especially on there. That doesn't seem like something that would be interesting to most normal people flipping channels at all. You saying "dub is raunchy enough" just enforces to me that it wasn't meant to be. that I just can't see it as a smart move, especially with all the other choices out there for shows. Plus I don't really see how they would fit it in seeing as it is 5 minutes long.

[rikkaidai-fuji.livejournal.com]

personal opinion: I'm very....scared at how it'll turn out especially with how the dub version was done. It may or WILL gain more negative aspects rather than positive ones imo... As far as it'll be more popular, I'm afraid it'll be more popular in a bad way

[piasharn.livejournal.com]

I'm not too sure about this. [as] always had a bias towards the interest of (straight, cisgendered) males, which is pretty normal for geek culture in general. Yes, we've made progress, but the industry is still geared towards guys, and I've seen this a lot in [as]'s programming choices. While I recall that Sailor Moon was on Toonami back in the day, all of the other series I remember watching (YuYu Hakusho, Gundam Wing, DBZ, etc.) were all targeted at a male audience. So between the moe art style, the ho yay humor, and the largely female fanbase (especially taking into account the fandom's reputation for consisting of young yaoi fangirls, nor does it help that the dub is appears to be heavily targeting that demographic), I don't know how well it would go over.

We've already have enough people who hate the series and/or the fandom, and I'm afraid that showing Hetalia on tv would only make things worse. Maybe if the dub had been done differently, it could have had a chance... but it's hard to say.

Plus, the episodes are what, about five minutes and 25 seconds long? I don't know how easy it would be to work it into the time slots. Also, I thinks it's better to watch the series online or on DVD since I've found that I often need to pause in order to have time to read the text that appears on screen.

[mizu-takishima.livejournal.com]

I'm not too sure about this. [as] always had a bias towards the interest of (straight, cisgendered) males, which is pretty normal for geek culture in general. Yes, we've made progress, but the industry is still geared towards guys, and I've seen this a lot in [as]'s programming choices. While I recall that Sailor Moon was on Toonami back in the day, all of the other series I remember watching (YuYu Hakusho, Gundam Wing, DBZ, etc.) were all targeted at a male audience. So between the moe art style, the ho yay humor, and the largely female fanbase (especially taking into account the fandom's reputation for consisting of young yaoi fangirls, nor does it help that the dub is appears to be heavily targeting that demographic), I don't know how well it would go over

^This sums up my feelings as well. Not to mention the shock humor and offensive-ness; though perfectly okay in home-grown-shows...totally not okay in Anime, apparently. (Even though Hetalia actually does put tact and research into things- in its original form anyway)

[barrelsncrates.livejournal.com]

I like the dub for the most part (although there are 1-2 things I hate about it) but I'm not in favor of it being on Toonami. Or, on television for that matter.

[izayaassassin.livejournal.com]

Am not so sure if they gonna put Hetalia...
And here is my reason....

Its 5min episode, one episode is 5min, right.
Its a waste of time to even put one episode.

Not to be rude, but I love Toonami when I was young.
Its bring me back old members.

[mizu-takishima.livejournal.com]

Deleted my comment because Piasharn summed it up much more eloquently in her first paragraph.

But if I were to add my own two cents on top of that- Hetalia also seems like the kind of thing to offend a lot of people. Like the kind of shows that get phone calls and, eventually, banned. PLUS. ALL THAT STUFF PIASHARN SAID. YEAH. That....

[heyyl0.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people here are forgetting the fact that Toonami won't be "entirely" the same as it was back in 2008 (as now it'll air in the [adult swim] block instead of on Cartoon Network, which means of course less censorship, less restrictions...). I would not be surprised at all if it is picked up, although Hetalia's five minute episodes may not fit into the time schedule...

Either way, I wouldn't mind seeing it on TV. Hetalia's nowhere near as offensive as ATHF, Robot Chicken, and some others, and both are doing perfectly fine with little to no controversy (as of recently, anyway).

[tassium.livejournal.com]

Indeed, it would be airing a some point between midnight and 3AM EST, and likely a lot closer to the 3AM than midnight-- as the earlier timeslots have historically always been reserved for the big name action stars like Bleach.

As for the five minute episode length, Hetalia DOES air on Funimation's channel. Right now. What Funi often does is, cluster the episodes into a half hour block. So you'd get a block of five or so episodes for that half hour timeslot.

[xushar.livejournal.com]

If it is the dub, it does not need to be on television. Based off of what I've read, since I'm not in an English-speaking location.. It would only make Hima look like a fool to eager critics looking to tear apart anything they can. No matter your view of the dub, it is obviously FAR from what Hima created, and if it goes into the light as such, people will assume Hima is along the lines of Seth Green, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which is NOT the case. This is not the shining light the English-speaking world needs to see Hetalia in. The original should be respected at very least that much.

[tassium.livejournal.com]

Actually, Adult Swim is well known for these kinds of projects. For example, the shows Sealab 2021 and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast are redubs of cartoons, Sealab 2020 and Space Ghost respectively.

And as I've said, Hetalia already airs on television. As is. It is already on television.

If someone's issue is they don't appreciate the liberties Funimation took with the dub, that's between them and Funimation. And for the people who want Hetalia to remain a sekrit club, it's a bit late for that one.