So Toonami's been back for more than a year-and-a-half now and is going strong. The block changed a lot in 2013: A redesigned T.O.M., Absolution, SARA, and Clydes were all added to the package, giving a unique look to Toonami's rebirth. Popular shonen One Piece was added to the line-up, and it's not going away any time soon (ever). Soul Eater and Sword Art Online also got privilege to the channel-space for fans old and new to watch. Many thrills are had, I'm sure, as many take pleasure in seeing the reactions of first-timers. In 2013 we also saw the return of Toonami’s first and to-date only original series, IGPX, after an incredible amount of "wrangling with forces beyond comprehension", to get the show out of legal limbos. Toonami was also proud to air Masaaki Yuasa's Kick-Heart, a few times actually, which I'm certain BassForever appreciated greatly. Toonami was able to show both Evangelion 1.11 and 2.22, bringing the "game changing giant robot phenomenon" back to television. To cap off the year, Toonami decided to have a movie month, airing features such as anime classic Akira and more modern films such as Hosoda's Summer Wars. Oh yeah, Star Wars: The Clone Wars too. We also finally saw the end to the long repeating reruns of Cowboy Bebop, which really bummed GMN out, although Toonami gave him one last marathon last weekend.
And 2014 is off to a fast start, with Toonami handling the world premiere of Space Dandy, airing at 11:30PM EST, as well as picking up Naruto Shippuden - both of which start this weekend. In the coming months, Blue Exorcist will slide into the line-up, and Samurai Jack also returns (much to hehateme's delight).
The Toonami community on GAF, cleverly nicknamed "ToonamiGAF", has also grown in participation and activity over the course of the year. Many new participants have joined, some more talkative than others, and ToonamiGAF has formed a varying group of likes and dislikes for just about every show on the block - all adding to the community that has become somewhat sizable on the board. To put the growth in some perspective: the first Toonami |OT| ran for five months. The second, three-and-a-half months. Skip to |OT7|, which ran 35 days, and the most recent, |OT8|, 36 days. While activity during the week has certainly picked up as people talk about shows they are catching up on, discussion on current and upcoming Toonami episodes and features, some anime/manga tangents, and McDonalds, the majority of the activity lies in the live posting during the airing. Considering the regular nature of a weekly broadcast, and the active community here, and anticipating even more activity in the future, I want to try having a monthly thread instead of going by incrementing OTs. This will result in slightly more regular thread breaks, but otherwise not much should effectively change.
I was going to make a top five moments of the community or something along those lines, but there're too many posts to go through. I could comment on the odd rise of the also cleverly-named "InuYashaGAF" which comprises of around a half-dozen people, led by the passionate MikeMyers, who stay up to the end to watch Mike's favorite show ever. Or I could comment on the rollercoaster rides that some of the movies brought to the thread, or the 'fantastic' reactions to certain episodes, Tenchi Muyo GXP or Sword Art Online especially. Or Big O breaking minds once again. Or when the thread sort of lost its shit when King Star King graced us during the extra hour when Daylight Saving Time ended. ToonamiGAF was the first to notice my name go red as well. All in all, I think a lot of people here would agree the community is a fun place to react and chat. And with that, let's see if 2014 can out-do 2013.