March 13th, 2008: Trusting a Vagabond - The Kenshin Gamble

In many ways, 2003 represented a time of change for Toonami. It marked the beginning of TOM 3.0, who guided the block for four whole years. It marked the ending of both Dragonball Z and its chronological predecessor Dragonball, leaving Toonami without a guaranteed ratings behemoth. G Gundam was the final Gundam series to find any success on the block, packing up after a successful rerun in 2003. It was also the first year that digitially-colored Japanese animation was seen on the block, with .hack//SIGN beginning in February (only to be yanked and sent to SVES after a month) and then Cyborg 009 later in the year. 2003 was also the first, and only, time Toonami received a show from Adult Swim, in the form of YuYu Hakusho.

Some things, however, didn't change. Justice League continued the tradition of great Bruce Timm cartoons on the block. Toonami continued to struggle with its identity, airing some shows that could be called "half-hour advertisements", yet simultaneously showing more intense programs that chafed under the required TV-Y7FV rating.

In addition to butting heads with censors, Toonami also began fighting with Adult Swim for programming. Trigun was rejected for Toonami because of heavy gun use. It went to Adult Swim. Inuyasha was rejected for Toonami because of Inuyasha being impaled to a tree. It went to Adult Swim. Kikaider was another bound-for-Toonami show that ended up airing on Adult Swim instead. Perhaps most unbelievably, the Gundam movie Char's Counterattack aired on Adult Swim instead of Toonami. And, as mentioned above, the YuYu Hakusho situation. And then, of course, came the argument over what was the true action block on Cartoon Network: the new 'Saturday Video Entertainment System' block, or Toonami. All of this, even as Toonami lost its third weekday hour and saw its Saturday afternoon block vanish.

YuYu Hakusho was a boost in 2003. Beginning on March 4th, 2003, it showed signs of being the replacement for Dragonball Z that Toonami would need in the future. But Toonami needed something else. It had something to prove now as the block was once again in crisis. It had to show that it was still at the top of its game. And so, Williams Street decided to gamble on a wandering samurai.

Rurouni Kenshin, in both TV and OVA forms, had been considered for both Toonami and Adult Swim. As published here on Toonami Fan, the interview with Sean Akins shows that the Samurai X OVAs were long desired. But nothing emerged until 2003, when the Upfront announcement revealed that Cartoon Network had acquired rights to all 95 episodes of Rurouni Kenshin. It was now or never to put Kenshin on the block. Any longer and the series would risk looking ancient, like YuYu Hakusho and DBZ.

The series was already fully dubbed. It was also released by Media Blasters, a fairly small licensor that would most likely be pleased to see one of their properties on TV. The series dated from a time when Studio Gallop (Rurouni Kenshin's animation studio from episodes 1-66) actually gave a damn about animating well (seriously, both Yu-Gi-Oh! and Eyeshield 21 look terrible in comparison to Toei and Pierrot productions). The sword duels still held up compared to what was on (and what was coming to) Toonami. The people in the Toonami demographic had probably never had any access to the series before, either. What was there to lose?

And so Rurouni Kenshin followed YuYu Hakusho to Toonami, joining the block on its sixth anniversary in 2003. The first 27 episodes, which constituted the Tokyo arc, did well. Then the series took a break and came back in June with the new Kyoto arc. It bombed and was sent to SVES unannounced, where episodes 49-62 aired. Kenshin then vanished until fall of 2004, when it made a surprise return as a replacement to the failed Gundam SEED. It started over from the popular Tokyo Arc, but failed to do well enough to warrant a renewal, and the show was gone by 2005. Sean Akins eventually admitted in a later interview that the show was probably better suited for Adult Swim.

What happened?

Well, the first 27 episodes were perfect Toonami material. They blended action, drama, and plenty of slapstick humor. The eps gave enough glimpses into Kenshin's past to make him an interesting character, but did not barrage the viewer with it. Kaoru and Yahiko (who, importantly, are of the same age at Toonami's target demographic), who both play fairly comedic roles in the series, had large roles in this arc. There was a lot of references to death for a TV-Y7FV show, but since little actual onscreen killing happened - with some exceptions, such as the Megumi subarc - there weren't a lot of problems. Some swear words and bleeding cuts snuck through Williams Street's not-so-fine-toothed comb, but not enough to generate protest or controversy.

From the same series? You jest. "Billy, turn that off and go to bed RIGHT NOW!"

The Kyoto Arc, however, was so much different than Tokyo that it is hard to believe they are from the same series. The series takes a drastically darker turn, dropping much of the humor. Yahiko, a.k.a. the younger viewer's most identifiable character, was shunted out for several episodes at a time, alongside Kaoru and Sanosuke, in favor of new characters such as Saito and Misao. The setting also changed considerably, warping the viewer from the friendly, familiar confines of Tokyo to a strangely dark and sinister Kyoto, where brutal and scarred enemies waited. There was a lot more actual killing. Kenshin's past bombarded the viewer constantly, showing that Kenshin could be a monster when he wanted to be - which hurled a whole paint can of grey onto the proceedings. And, in general, Kenshin's new surrounding cast was older than the previous Tokyo entourage.

This, along with Williams Street's inconsistent edit that left in a lot of non-TV-Y7FV material, probably turned off the 6-11 demographic, or got their parents to switch the TVs off. The series was pulled because only the older viewers that were supposed to be watching Adult Swim began dominating the ratings reports. The series was sent to SVES, where the Kyoto Arc managed to finish, but it didn't continue into the Studio Deen-animated filler episodes, which contain some controversial religious content - not suitable for "normal" Cartoon Network, at least at the time. And then, in a final farewell, the Tokyo Arc managed one brief run on Toonami after the move to Saturday nights as a sudden replacement for Gundam SEED.

So the question must be answered. Was gambling on Rurouni Kenshin the right thing to do, given the end result?

I think it still was.

Rurouni Kenshin, by virtue of its inconsistent edit, was groundbreaking. By pure accident or laziness, it had received the Naruto edit before Naruto was even on Toonami's radar. It featured an adult as a main character - a rare sight on Toonami - and the first 27 episodes proved that with the right formula, edgier content could work. However, it also showed there was a limit: Kyoto became too dark for the younger audience. But Kenshin could hook in teens and adults, that was for certain. It made Cartoon Network and the Toonami creators re-evaluate the block's focus. Would the block be better off aimed towards an older audience?

All of this proves one thing: that in hindsight, Rurouni Kenshin was a guinea pig for Toonami. Without Kenshin receiving its lighter edit, it's doubtful that Naruto would have aired with a TV-PG. Same goes for One Piece, when that show was taken over by FUNimation. The block would not have shifted its focus to an older demographic (admittedly, 9-14 is not a big difference from 6-11, but it still means something). It also made a stand for intelligent, deeper shows, which is something that Gundam SEED, IGPX, Justice League Unlimited, and Naruto (to a certain extent) eventually capitalized on for Toonami.

Rurouni Kenshin started a revolution within Toonami. It was a revolution that likely would have been more successful if not for corporate meddling and problems in the highest echelons of Cartoon Network. But Rurouni Kenshin started a kind of permanent progression for Toonami that can never be reversed. It showed what the block could be and can still be, even at the cost of falling on the sword at the ratings altar.

These days the ex-manslayer wanders again, supposedly running uncut on a premium network called Black Belt TV. But Kenshin left a lasting impression during its too-brief stay on Cartoon Network and Toonami, one that will likely never be forgotten by those who watched it. Its contribution to Toonami's legacy was great - much greater than its brief airtime would suggest. And Kenshin may not be done with Toonami either. Viz wants to promote its new, glossy, colored reissues of Rurouni Kenshin's manga version. That could signal the triumphant return of the series to Toonami Jetstream, and allow the series to once again make a lasting impression on a new generation of children and teens.

Perhaps we'll see you again soon, vagabond samurai.

 

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