There is a new schedule up at Adult Swim:
http://www.adultswim.com/schedule/onair.html
is shows Moribito showing up to Episode 13…
I have to agree with Prede. For years everyone has been hoping there would be another “Pokemon”, that would ignite the fanbase and restore the market. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet, and probably won’t. If Naruto and Bleach couldn’t really take off (both more or less cancelled on TV), one has wonder what show could.
As for Moribito, I’ve been meaning to give it a try for a while now. So it’s good to see it returning to TV.
Actually, Naruto was one of Cartoon Network’s highest-rated shows when they pulled it off the air. Prior to the filler arc, it was frequently the highest-rated show, often outperforming all of the other shows.
So why did CN let it go?
Money. Not in the sense that the show was too expensive for CN to air, but that CN could make even more money off of its own lesser-rated in-house productions than from a higher-rated imported show. The success of Naruto was more of a benefit to Viz than to CN. In-house shows like Ben 10: Alien Force, The Secret Saturdays, etc., allow CN to get 100% of the profit from merchandising and DVD sales. That wasn’t the case with Naruto.
And Bleach did take off. It has a large following and its ratings have been good–it’s just that the comedies on Adult Swim generally do up to *three times *better than the anime shows do (ouch!). Given the choice, it’s not surprising that Adult Swim favors comedies over anime.
The return of Morbito saves Adult Swim from having to look for something else to fill that timeslot for the next six months or so, IMO…
When I said the titles didn’t “take off”, I meant that they are certainly no Pokemon. They all have varying degrees of success, but they are nothing compared to the juggernaut that is widely considered the catalyst to the anime boom several years ago.
And yes, at one point Naruto was highly rated. But don’t forget, that it’s ratings had started to slip significantly. The same can be said for One Piece, which also had large ratings when it premiered. That certainly played in CN’s decision to cancel the show. Though you do have a point in that CN would rather air a show that they have all the rights to. After all, that strategy has worked extremely well for Nickelodeon and Disney. (This is also a main reason why a Sgt. Frog TV deal was never likely.)
As for Bleach, it’s ratings aren’t too bad. But as you said, most of the Adult Swim comedies pull in much larger audiences. In fact, some of it’s anime properties, most notably Death Note, have pulled in much more impressive, and consistent ratings.
Now while both Naruto and Bleach may be big hits in the anime world, I was referring to their “mainstream” potential. That’s something Pokemon and DBZ had, but both these shows have failed to grab. If you want more evidence, you can also look at merchandise sales. The last several Naruto games have been relative flops (though for a variety of reasons), and none of the Bleach games had been really big sellers for Sega. It’s also not uncommon to find Naruto toys filling the clearance aisles at Kmart or Target, though you probably won’t find Bleach toys at all (unless you’re at Suncoast.)
It’s not that these shows weren’t successful, they just never got the audience that shows like DBZ and Pokemon did. And despite some early success for Naruto, it failed to really ignite the fan base, in the same way that Pokemon did.
Will You SHUT UP!!! Your going to give it bad luck!!
New Moribito Episodes Start on Adult Swim on August 22
posted on 2009-06-19 13:43 EDT
Adult Swim to also keep running two new weekly Bleach episodes through September
Mommy Slowhand will not shut up.
Still enjoying this series, ever for the third time around (at least the first 10 eps worth).
Is the reason for AS showing Moribito’s new eps on Aug 22 to get us in suspense? Or is it something else, tykes…?
I have always loved episode 3 (played last night)
They did such an awesome job with that spear battle.
Only one new episode next week.
Also, they moved up the time by half an hour for Bleach & Moribito and threw in that crapy Clone Wars right in the middle of the anime block at 1:30
Starting next week:
12:00 - Bleach 129
12:30 - Bleach 130 (New)
01:00 - Moribito
01:30 - Clone Wars
The rest are normal showing times.
After next week, Bleach is back to 2 new episodes.
Mod Edit: Those are Eastern and Pacific Times.
Tonight
Don’t forget!
12:00 - Bleach 129
12:30 - Bleach 130 (New)
01:00 - Moribito
01:30 - Clone Wars
The rest are normal showing times.
If any of you have your DVRs/Tivo (or whatever) set to tape shows on Adult Swim tonight, you might want to check your TV on-screen guide.
My on-screen guide was completely incorrect until late yesterday. It had the shows all at the wrong times. So my DVR would have recorded everything at the wrong times giving me the incorrect shows.
Please check and make sure that your area has corrected this, and if not, be sure to adjust the times on your recording device.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I am really looking forward to seeing new episodes from this series this weekend. I watched episode 10, “The Swordsmith” last weekend, and I was reminded of how good this story was getting, how beautiful the animation is, and why I was so disappointed when they went into reruns. I typically watch my AS anime a day or two later since I record with my DVR, but I think I will be tuning in live for this new episode. Can’t wait! :laugh:
“The Swordsmith” is actually episode 8, the new episode 11 doesn’t air until Aug. 22, so you have a couple of weeks and two more episodes to wait yet.
Oh, well darn. Why did I think that was the last one before the new episodes start? Getting ahead of myself, I guess. Either way, it was a really good episode. I will watch the others until the real new episode premiere.
Thanks for correcting me, Coffee God. I would have been extremely disappointed on Saturday! 
The new Adult Swim schedule came out today, and they have put the Saturday schedule back the way it was. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is no longer in the middle of the anime block anymore.
Starting on August 8/9, 2009
12:30am ET/11:30pm CT - Bleach
1:30 am ET/Midnite CT - Bleach
2:00 am ET/1:00 am CT - Moribito
2:30 am ET/1:30 am CT - Code Geass
This saturday should be the new episodes again. Let hope so…
No, this Saturday will be Episode #9.
Keep track of the episodes with my TV Schedule page