Toonami

[Dr. Insomniac]

The Toonami crew treated Andy Merrill like shit and basically had their own secret club with Lazzo while excluding him and the Space Ghost Coast to Coast crew. In case you were wondering why there was zero overlap after Moltar was dropped from the block.

[Daikun]

[Dr. Insomniac]

Maybe it's because the last few years blew the lid and turned "Toonami originals" into an instant turn-off, but it's simultaneously surprising and expected that I haven't seen much hype for this. I see Toonzone's hyped, but they're Toonzone. They'd get hyped at a brick wall that said "Toonami" on it. While most anime fans I've seen are more invested in the new Khara Gundam thing or Solo Leveling or whatever. Didn't help I heard people who saw an early screening of the first episode at NYCC say the premiere was too rocky and infodump-heavy.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Really? As someone who was there and saw the first episode at the NYCC panel, I didn't think it was particularly exposition-heavy. All of the exposition comes in like the first 5 minutes. After that most of the episode is devoted to two elaborate action/chase scenes. The reception I overheard from folks who saw it after both NYCC and ALA panels was pretty enthusiastic. From what I've seen around, I think people are generally looking forward to it. I was at a local anime convention in Minnesota this weekend, Anime Detour, and encountered folks who brought it up as one of the shows they were most looking forward to in the Spring. And on sites like MAL and AniList it's the 2nd most logged shows on people's "plan-to-watch" lists after Fire Force season 3. So it certainly seems to be on a lot of folks' radars.

I wrote about my thoughts on both the NYCC and ALA panels for the show if you want to read some early thoughts/impressions of it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I don't know, but it's what I heard from other people regarding the premiere. I haven't seen it yet, so maybe they're wrong. And I'm trying not to let my hostility to modern Toonami influence my take on the show itself (the rest of the block, I'm still jaded on), since it not only has Watanabe but Stahelski who I really like on board (I fucking hope those rumors that he's directing MCU Blade are true). I'd like for it to be a critical and fan favorite and a sign that a much-needed course correction is happening for Toonami.

But it's just the anime circles I see and interact with are talking about different shows at the moment (and I know, my POV is not everyone else's so I can't objectively speak for the anime fandom at large, but it's still something I've noticed) and don't necessarily correlate with what's big on MAL. I occasionally look through old anime seasons there for fun and see series like Classroom of the Elite top the chart or sit right next to 1st place, and I don't know anybody who likes that show. I gave it a few episodes and thought "...why is this popular?" Same with how Fire Force season 3 is the most logged show on next season on MAL and AniList. Most people I know who gave the series a shot dropped it by season 1. At least with Solo Leveling, a show I really dislike and feel out of step on, I understand why that's big because the fans want to see well-animated fights.