Gundam 00 licensed by Bandai Entertainment

[Dan the Man]

Originally Posted by Dynames/ Virtue

Toonami has a even worse lineup than scifi, at least they show Macross which is better than redudant shows of boring Ben1-, Goosebumps, and other boring things.

Gundam Wing was a miracle in itself

I don't even think Toonami even really exists anymore...

Gundam's always been a disappointment for me in the states. Wing went over really well, and got me into Gundam. I liked G, which seemed to not go over so well. The original was outright cancelled after 9/11 and never restarted. (And right before the Texas Colony episode, dammit!!) And then Seed had so many schedule changes I only saw about 10 episodes.

I really hate now Gundam lost it's popularity after Wing over here in the states. I know that the 08th MS Team, 0080, 0083, and Char's Counterattack have aired as well, but didn't really make any impact. They just kinda came and went. It'd be great to see 00, but somehow I just don't see it happening... At least not in the states, anyway.

[Cherudim Arche]

Originally Posted by Dan the Man

I don't even think Toonami even really exists anymore...

Gundam's always been a disappointment for me in the states. Wing went over really well, and got me into Gundam. I liked G, which seemed to not go over so well. The original was outright cancelled after 9/11 and never restarted. (And right before the Texas Colony episode, dammit!!) And then Seed had so many schedule changes I only saw about 10 episodes.

I really hate now Gundam lost it's popularity after Wing over here in the states. I know that the 08th MS Team, 0080, 0083, and Char's Counterattack have aired as well, but didn't really make any impact. They just kinda came and went. It'd be great to see 00, but somehow I just don't see it happening... At least not in the states, anyway.

I would be glad to have it at 4 o'clock, everything else I think is pretty much garbage. There were a few good shows like IGPX, but rarely good mech shows. It is the storeotypical action fighting or some other genre that always get shown in America. I would be glad that they even post a actual preview for gundam like 00.

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

Unfortunately Toonami is not what it used to be. Neither is cartoon Network in general. Nothing but crap on it nowadays. As for the same reasons Dan the Man stated, gundam just is not that populer in the States which makes me question 00 ever being aired on TV in the US.

[ashesatdusk]

Its the whole scrapping afternoon toonami. I'm not sure Gundam did well... but Anime in the U.S was at its peak mostly when Toonami had an afternoon block, and pokemon was also full storm. DBZ a show that failed I think once or twice, became one of the highest rated shows for the demographic. Gundam Wing too.

Unfortunately none of these series are likely to gain that much ground with out that kind of time slot, or saturday morning time slot. The time has to be at a point where 10 to 15 year old boys watch not necessarily.

Gundam 00 will be insteresting. I think it may have potential for success if it has an afternoon time slot, like wing does. It has the main thing that I think makes a lot of shonen anime popular among shonen (10-15 boys)... really strong characters attempting things that are said to be impossible. Gundam Wing, had a pretty thin plot line, and philosophy that made little or no sense, but it featured 5 virtually indestructable gundams, that only were destroyed if the pilots destroyed them, their selves, and it did that from episode 1. Not from half way through the first season. Gundam 00 is a bit slower at first, but Gundam 00 does have an organization with strong technological dominance from episode 1. The characters don't have the same "cool factor" as young boys would appreciate. Setsuna's like heero, but the rest are forgettable other than Lock on.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by GuidoHunter_Toki

Unfortunately Toonami is not what it used to be. Neither is cartoon Network in general. Nothing but crap on it nowadays. As for the same reasons Dan the Man stated, gundam just is not that populer in the States which makes me question 00 ever being aired on TV in the US.

I'm nowhere nearly as familiar with American programming as I used to be - do you (or anyone else) have an idea of what channel might be interested in airing Gundam 00 aside from the Cartoon Network? For the moment we should leave aside the Asian programming channels and other niches like watch on demand services.

Originally Posted by ashesatdusk

Its the whole scrapping afternoon toonami. I'm not sure Gundam did well... but Anime in the U.S was at its peak mostly when Toonami had an afternoon block, and pokemon was also full storm. DBZ a show that failed I think once or twice, became one of the highest rated shows for the demographic. Gundam Wing too.

The only Gundam show to do well was Gundam Wing, and it was extremely successful. Of the rest, the UC OVAs were received fairly decently, and that's about it. G Gundam left a lot of unsold toys on store shelves, Gundam Seed never made much of a splash, and Mobile Suit Gundam did so poorly that it never even finished a single run.

Originally Posted by ashesatdusk

Gundam 00 will be insteresting. I think it may have potential for success if it has an afternoon time slot, like wing does. It has the main thing that I think makes a lot of shonen anime popular among shonen (10-15 boys)...

Part of the problem is that for many American companies, Gundam is a known quantity, and that its reputation is pretty unattractive. Based on this, a primetime run on any widely received channel seems horribly unlikely. Luckily for Canadian viewers, Gundam 00 is all but guaranteed to be picked up by YTV.

[RisArk]

airing Gundam 00 aside from the Cartoon Network?

Sci-Fi Channel. They already picked up Gurren Lagann, so many speculate the "ultimate mecha hour" with this combo.

[4Tran]

Hmm... That looks like a 11:00 pm - Midnight bloc if it turns out. It doesn't seem too bad for the state of Anime TV in the U.S., but has the Sci-Fi Channel ever picked up anything similar to Gundam 00? I can't really see any similarity between it and Gurren Lagann.

[Paladinoras]

I don't really think that Gundam 00 will do well in America.
After all, the main character is a former middle-eastern child terrorist who killed his parents.
That is not really what I think people would be interested in,

[RisArk]

Compared to a boy with half his limbs missing and tried to resurrect his mother through alchemy?

I don't think political correctness is that important to anime fans.

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

but has the Sci-Fi Channel ever picked up anything similar to Gundam 00?

The closest thing that comes to mind that I've seen them actually show on Scifi is Macross.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Paladinoras

I don't really think that Gundam 00 will do well in America.
After all, the main character is a former middle-eastern child terrorist who killed his parents.
That is not really what I think people would be interested in,

The subject matter of a show is going to matter a lot less than the content. the people who would be turned off by this kind of thing probably wouldn't have been interested in watching it in the first place. Look at it this way, can you think of anyone on this forum who said that they were going to stop watching Gundam 00 because of Setsuna's background?

Originally Posted by GuidoHunter_Toki

The closest thing that comes to mind that I've seen them actually show on Scifi is Macross.

There's barely any resemblence between the two other than that they're both mecha anime. I take it then that Sci-Fi hasn't really sired this kind of thing before.

[Paladinoras]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

The subject matter of a show is going to matter a lot less than the content. the people who would be turned off by this kind of thing probably wouldn't have been interested in watching it in the first place. Look at it this way, can you think of anyone on this forum who said that they were going to stop watching Gundam 00 because of Setsuna's background?

Well, not really, but I know a lot of people that would be turned off by that idea.
And especially in a country where there are thousands of soldiers fighting in a middle-eastern country against terrorists.

[Derringer]

Originally Posted by Paladinoras

Well, not really, but I know a lot of people that would be turned off by that idea.
And especially in a country where there are thousands of soldiers fighting in a middle-eastern country against terrorists.

Yes if "soccer moms" and Iraq war veterans were watching, then probably yes. For the most part the target audience, which are well to do teenagers and middle schoolers, will have very little connection to Setsuna being from the middle east and to the conflicts happening in real life.

[Ryuujin]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

The only Gundam show to do well was Gundam Wing, and it was extremely successful. Of the rest, the UC OVAs were received fairly decently, and that's about it. G Gundam left a lot of unsold toys on store shelves, Gundam Seed never made much of a splash, and Mobile Suit Gundam did so poorly that it never even finished a single run.

G Gundam did well in ratings, iirc (not as good as Wing, but better than most), they just screwed up the merchandising (as admirable as it was to give so many obscure Gundams figures, most of them ended up shelfwarming like hell)...

Now airing Mobile Suit Gundam at all was just a bad idea. If this were Japan, where they all but worship the One Year War, it might have worked. But it's not (something Bandai never did learn!)

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Ryuujin

G Gundam did well in ratings, iirc (not as good as Wing, but better than most), they just screwed up the merchandising (as admirable as it was to give so many obscure Gundams figures, most of them ended up shelfwarming like hell)...

Didn't SD Gundam Force do well with ratings too? And they didn't even bother airing the second season...

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Ryuujin

G Gundam did well in ratings, iirc (not as good as Wing, but better than most), they just screwed up the merchandising (as admirable as it was to give so many obscure Gundams figures, most of them ended up shelfwarming like hell)...

Now airing Mobile Suit Gundam at all was just a bad idea. If this were Japan, where they all but worship the One Year War, it might have worked. But it's not (something Bandai never did learn!)

Originally Posted by brightman

Didn't SD Gundam Force do well with ratings too? And they didn't even bother airing the second season...

My point about Gundam shows not doing all that well has less to do with their ratings relative to other shows than it does with how successful they were considered. G Gundam was probably the biggest blow to the long-term success of the Gundam franchise in the US, so it should be considered an utter disaster.

Gundam 00 hopefully should do much better if it's handled properly. If not, then the potential of the Gundam franchise in the US is pretty much toast.

[Deacon Blues]

No, G Gundam was not the biggest blow. After Mobile Suit Gundam, CN didn't care about promoting Gundam... by the time SEED came around it's as if they wanted it to fail.

[RisArk]

Sci-Channel announced they're showing Gundam 00 on Nov. 17, along with Gurren Lagann that airs in mid July for a mecha hour block.

[Cherudim Arche]

That sounds good

[RisArk]

Apparently they're showing 2 episodes per week. so Gurren and Gundam end at the same time.