The Old School Otaku Lounge

Fireminer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 4:40 am

DKop wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:40 am Pokemon hit the market hard towards the end of 1998. I got my copy of Pokemon Red for Christmas that year, and still have my copy to this day. It really didn't hit full stride till I think spring or summer of 1999. What helped market the show was not just the video games, but the anime that aired weekday mornings at 6:30 am on the WB channel. Since television was still the only way to watch cartoons way before streaming is the norm now, the show aired at the perfect timeslot that was right when kids were waking up to get ready for school. I was in 6th grade when the Pokemon craze happened, so I'd make sure to wake up by 6:30am to watch the show before catching the bus.

So 6:30 AM is the timeslot for children shows in America? That is one thing I always wonder... When do primary schools usually open in America? Here in Vietnam, primary schools usually open at 7:30 in summer and 8:00 in winter. I don't think most children can watch TV at that time, since they are busy having bath and breakfast. I distinctively remember having watching Mashin Hero Wataru on AniMax (or probably some other cable channel) at that time, but that is largely because I can just walk to school. Most of my friends at the time had to travel really early on motorbikes for if they went any later, the traffic would just be a nightmare.

I was in the public school system. So for Elementary (grades kindergarden-5th grade) would be about 7:45am before they started. I was in middle school when Pokemon came out, so id have to be out the door by 7:10am to get to the bus stop by the time the bus got us about 7:30 or 7:40am, and we would be at school past 8am at some point. 6 to 6:30 am is when kids would start getting up for school. So for that to hit that time slot while kids are eating breakfast and getting ready was a perfect time. What also helped was new episodes would air on Saturday Mornings about 9am with newer episodes about halfway through the first season of the show, so to catch new episodes it gave life to the already popular Saturday Morning cartoon block. I believe by the time summer of 1999 rolled around the syndication episodes (shown monday through friday at 6:30am) were reairing on Saturday mornings along with the new episode that week for people to catch up on what they missed.

Anime to Sell Things will ALWAYS be a thing, especially anime targeted towards children. Thats why Doraemon and Anpanman and Crayon Shin-chan and similar are STILL making stuff in Japan to this day. Kids like anime, they make merch of said anime, kids bug parents to buy them said merch.

Hell, they're rebooting Digimon to get adults/older teens who grew up on it to buy merch, AND to get a new generation of kids into it. Not to mention Pokemon's still going strong, we have yet another new Sailor Moon anime on the way, there's a new season of Pretty Cure every year or two....I'm sure there'll be more Dragon Ball eventually as well, since Super and the new movies did great.

As long as anime is a vehicle for merch for the companies to make money, they'll keep on doing it!