Streaming services have been vital to the anime community at large, ensuring that all of the top-rated, most talked-about anime are included in their catalog. However, it wouldn’t be a far stretch to say that a good portion of anime fans have gotten their start fromToonami, a late-night broadcast that would feature a variety of notable works likeBleach,Naruto,Cowboy Bebop, and more. And while this nostalgic channel may be back anddelivering anime to the masses again, television is still behind streaming in key areas, making it slow for them to catch up to this year’s trends.
One of Toonami’s executives, co-creator Jason DeMarco, delved into the complicated matters that the studio has to contend with in order to secure not only the rights to air anime properties but the permissions to market them.In the podcast for Toonami Faithful, he opens up about what the company has to battle versus what popular streaming sites likeCrunchyrolldon’t.
When Managing a TV Studio Like Toonami, There Are More Barriers Involved When Handling Properties
Featured Clips, Next Episode Insights, and Promotional Videos All Need Prior Approval
When comparing Toonami to Crunchyroll, DeMarco explains that there are many more avenues and opinions that need to be juggled before the network can move ahead with promoting an anime, however new or old. Whereas Crunchyroll may get the license and be able to begin streaming it, a TV network like Toonami has to get approval for the license, run each promotional video or commercial featuring that work by the property owner, which can take multiple takes since TV needs many promos and trailers to sell an anime to its audience.
“The way the system works now is that Japanese rights holders have way more rights for how their properties are marketed, what you’re allowed to do with it, what clips you’re allowed to use, and what your promos look like. There’s a way that anime is marketed for the industry, and the rights’ holders are all a part of those decisions. They want to be able to see it, and that slows everything down.”
-DeMarco (Toonami Faithful Podcast)
DeMarco goes on to say that he doesn’t mind having to juggle the expectations of property owners and license holders, sinceanime has become a global goldmine in its own right, and said owners should have a say in how these valuable properties are handled in the care of someone else. “They understand the value of what they’re making and their value in the global marketplace.”
Toonami Continues to Strive for More Anime Representation on its TV Network
Slow and Steady May Not Win the Race, But it Does Deliver More Anime to a Growing Audience
Despite Toonami having a bit of a setback in this race between streaming services to get the most eyes possible on their platforms, DeMarco does remark that anime creators do know of Toonami and respect it as a TV network. So while fans may wonder, “Why don’t they haveDandadanyet?”, DeMarco states, “There are a lot of reasons! I say all that to say these facts don’t slowToonamidown, but sometimes there are roadblocks, and there’s always a plan ahead.”
