March 08th, 2008: Advancing Robotics? Giant Robot Week
To many of the Toonami faithful, the block had entered a period of long decline by 2001 - one that continued at an increasing pace throughout 2002. Mobile Suit Gundam struggled from the onset and was pulled after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Hamtaro just didn't belong on the block, and Transformers Armada was a colossal disappointment, especially when compared to its predecessor Robots In Disguise. Zoids: New Century Zero found some popular success (though not necessarily 'critical'). Zoids: Chaotic Century had the opposite reaction: critical raves but it struggled to bring in decent ratings and finished on Toonami in early 2003 by the skin of its teeth. G Gundam received mixed reviews but did well enough in the ratings department to receive more than one run on the block.
Because of the quality (or lack thereof) of its programming, Toonami found itself relying on the Dragonball/Dragonball Z titan for much of 2002. As a result, Toonami risked becoming stale.
So when Giant Robot Week was announced for the block, it caught the attention of many Toonami faithful. When the list of programs was announced, many of the long-time followers of Toonami cheered. Three shows from ADV, one of the largest anime licensors in the United States would be aiirng on the block. This included ADV's smash Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as fan-favorite Martian Successor Nadesico (or just 'Nadesico') and the new license Dai-Guard. Also airing on the block was the final episodes of Robotech, which hadn't aired on Toonami before, as well as the pilot episode "Lowbrow" that would ultimately become Megas XLR a year later. Capping it would be the acclaimed movie The Iron Giant, as well as shorts from the ancient black-and-white series Gigantor.
The news about Neon Genesis Evangelion particularly excited Toonami fans. Many people, including Toonami founders Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco, wanted the show on the block for years but it never materialized. Let's face it, while the first half of Evangelion would make doable Toonami material (minus Misato's alcohol issues) the second half of the series goes off the deep end, especially after Episode 15. It is practically impossible to cut those episodes down to TV-Y7FV, which was the Toonami standard at the time.
This made it all the more surprising when ADV made the shocking announcement that the episodes would be airing uncut. Evangelion, along with the other two ADV shows, would be airing without any kind of editing whatsoever. Many became openly excited about this and hoped it would remain that way.
Unfortunately, things never went quite according to plan.
During the special promotion for Giant Robot Week, Cartoon Network began selling the movie End of Evangelion on its website. Apparently CN did not know what that movie contains. It is perhaps the most brutal animated movie ever made, with so many violent and disturbing scenes that a theatrical release would be NC-17. People had a laugh over that one, but a few became nervous.
The advertisements appeared on TV, which Giant Robot Week taking up the first hour of Toonami. People accepted this, though they questioned why the Toonami titans Gundam and The Big O were not involved in the block in any way. Then, finally the shows aired. The faithful were disappointed. The ratings were mediocre, forever crippling ADV's chances of getting more shows on the block. What happened? What had gone wrong?
First off, ADV's announcement of the uncut airings turned out to be horribly inaccurate. All of the shows were edited down to TV-Y7FV. While that's not a big tragedy, Neon Genesis Evangelion received a harsh edit of its second episode, probably far more involved than it had to be. As a result, the second episode came out disjointed, with many important scenes removed. Perhaps the most saddening part of the overzealous edit was PenPen, Evangelion's mascot character, which was cut out of the show completely because his introduction was in a beer-filled refrigerator. (Couldn't CN have simply labeled the cans "Soda" or "Tea"?) Oddly enough, the first episode was barely cut at all, with swear words and a couple mentions of death removed and that was pretty much it.
It got worse, but in a different way. Martian Successor Nadesico aired completely out of order, with episodes 1, 6, and inexplicably episode 25 airing of the 26-episode series. Not only is that a heavy spoiler for the series, especially towards the end, but it was the MAR/Prince of Tennis effect, four years earlier. For complete newcomers, it made the show almost incomprehensible. Also, the three episodes chosen made it clear than Nadesico plainly did not belong on Giant Robot Week, for it was not a mecha show. It is a true shame, because Nadesico was a perfect Toonami show that was sabotaged by out-of-order airings during its "close-up". The final episodes of Robotech, while a nice touch, came along far too late. Most of those who would have enjoyed Robotech when it originally appeared on the network had either moved on or had aged out of Toonami's target demographic, so their airings did not count in CN's tally.
The only show that received decent treatment was Dai-Guard. It actually managed to air its first two episodes in order and do it without overediting. To my then-neophyte eyes, Dai-Guard was the only show that made sense out of the three shows. With a sardonic and smart sense of humor, packing a lot of superb action, actually being a pure mecha show, along with straightforward but not dumbed-down plotting, it fit Toonami and Giant Robot Week the best out of the three ADV shows. However, Dai-Guard unfortunately didn't do well enough in the ratings to receive a full pickup. Perhaps that was because it aired late in Giant Robot Week, after it was pretty much revealed that the whole event was a mess.
"Lowbrow", as mentioned earlier, was the pilot episode for what became Megas XLR. Evidently it did well enough to warrant a season pickup, but I must admit that I did not watch this particular pilot and so I truly can't offer my opinion on it.
As for Gigantor...well, it did make it on Adult Swim a couple of years later.
Lastly, as mentioned above, the final problems for Giant Robot Week was the lack of marquee names to give the block a boost. Both Gundam and The Big O would have given the event a big boost. What stopped Cartoon Network and Toonami from airing any of the Gundam series it still had for one last time? Why couldn't they give Endless Waltz a final run? Or 08th MS Team? It was as if Giant Robot Week was being treated as something not a part of Toonami.
Maybe it was Jamie Keller's apathy because he was a lame duck. Maybe CN didn't want to give any of the ADV shows a fair shot and so sought to wreck their chances so Cartoon Network wouldn't be obliged to pick up full-season orders. It is evident that ADV and Cartoon Network suffered from heavy miscommunication regardless, for both partners in this deal both said vastly different things about the event before it actually happened.
Giant Robot Week was not a complete failure, for Adult Swim was able to pick up Neon Genesis Evangelion two years later and aired the full series with a light edit. But the week still didn't succeed in its goals, whatever they were. It dashed ADV's chances of any more of their series airing on Cartoon Network. It was also, in hindsight, the harbinger of mecha's demise on Toonami.
After Giant Robot Week, mecha decreased in a slow trickle until there was nothing. Only the child-aimed SD Gundam, the comedic Megas XLR, the ill-fated Gundam SEED, and the Toonami original series IGPX aired in any shape or form on Toonami (if you wish to be kind, you can count the month where DICE aired). None of those shows were able to complete on Toonami, and SD Gundam never managed to air its second season at all on Cartoon Network.
The downfall of mecha began here, during Giant Robot Week. It is truly unfortunate for the block and for Toonami, for it meant the onset of shonen-heavy lineups after 2004, decreasing the block's diversity and narrowing its focus to only a small sector of the best action cartoons on the planet.
Mecha series can be toygetic (God knows how many Gundam series were created just to sell merchandise). But mecha shows can present themes and plotting that nearly no pure shonen has done. Mecha series can present dazzling visions of the future, or show how we can have no future. Due to these and more themes, mecha has long represented a thoughtful, mature side to Toonami.
Now, that is no longer there. Even TOM has moved to jungle-filled planet, away from the Absolution and the deep reaches of space. No matter what excuses you can make, though, one fact cannot be changed: Toonami no longer advances robotics, and may never do so again.
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