SteveH wrote:One thing I forgot to mention in my post above is the importance of Cartoon Network and Toonami in that sweet weekday afternoon 'kidvid' timeslot- 3 to 5 PM est. THAT, that kidvid timeslot mainly on local UHF stations, is where most fandoms grew and Toonami on cable was just about the only game in town for that in the late '90s.
The tipping point was when they shifted from running 'dead' syndication packages (gotten for no cost due to barter exchange) to buying up new content where suddenly, there's 'new' Sailor Moon, 'new' Dragonball Z and people were losing their minds then Gundam Wing happened...
We've talked about the end of KidVid blocks before, in the Akihabara Renditions thread. It's changed, I think,
how youth might get into fandom but I don't think it's changing
that youth is getting into fandom.
SteveH wrote:hm. Here's a question for the house. I am 100% sure Cartoon Network and the Toonami weekday afternoon created anime fans. Kids who would come home from school, turn on the TV and hey, what the heck is that?!. My question is, does the current late Sat. evening Toonami slot CREATE new anime fans, or is it now just really for those already 'inside'? What out there in the wide world can a kid stumble across that makes him or her want to watch an anime series? Is it now ALL 'word of mouth' and underground? I mean, I see how young many of the fans are at cons, there's no afternoon cartoon block they could have chanced upon and gotten hooked. What's the starting point for the current generation?
While the afternoon block was the chief catalyst in new fandom explosion between '98 and what, 2003 or 2004, the weeknight and Saturday night blocks never did the ratings that the afternoon block did. In fact, shows that were shown exclusively on those block didn't do so hot in the ratings. Shows that had respectable audience sizes within anime fandom, like Rurouni Kenshin, or gangbusters like Gundam SEED, performed notoriously poorly. I haven't seen or heard numbers about the return of the block but the only chatter I've heard about it is from people who were fans of the block itself and not necessarily any particular piece of content featured on it.
SteveH wrote:Netflix, a bit more,no, a LOT more searching until you find it and can favor it. Youtube, everything changes so fast. Since it's a digital item there's no urgency, no panic, no need to rush home for that magic half hour.
I'm actually going to lean towards the side of mbanu and karageko and say that Netflix and Hulu is probably closer to fulfilling that role of introducing new fans. If you look up animated programming on either service, their anime content is presented alongside their other content (with appropriate warnings if needed). When you start watching any of that programming, your content begins to be curated to suggest more similar titles. Watching one Shounen JUMP show is going to recommend other Shounen JUMP shows. Tight curation algorithms might be bad for stereotyping anime but not for making new fans.
YouTube is playing a role but not one I really understand. I'm already searching for anime-related stuff and using it to dive deeper.
What's different is that there's no appointment television and that usually, the whole series is already there. Which, to me, at least addresses one of the bad parts of the old days - the waiting.
Things may be different now but I don't know that they are better or worse off for it.
SteveH wrote:MAN the gals loved them some Bishi Boys back then, didn't they?
Then. Now. Forever.