Mugen: “Up until now, whenever I met someone who was tougher than me, I couldn’t rest until I killed the guy. But for some reason, I don’t know, I just don’t feel like killing you at all.”
Jin: “I, too, feel as if I’ve finally found what I’ve been searching for all this time. I have been alone my entire life. You two are my first friends.”
– Samurai Champloo (Ep. 26)
The Toonami Trending Rundown for July 9-10, 2016. We complete Samurai Champloo’s run with a bang as every show successfully trended in the US during the East Coast run, while Hunter x Hunter and Samurai Champloo also trended during the West Coast run.
Hunter x Hunter’s buzz would also produce a character trend with Killua as he rips out Johness the Dissector’s heart, which would allow the crew to advance after serving a 50 hour penalty from Leorio’s loss. And #SamuraiChamploo also managed to trend in both Tumblr and Google Plus in addition to Toonami on Tumblr, making sure Champloo would end its run on a good note.
Back during the Golden Age of Adult Swim Action in the mid-2000’s, one of the block’s most recognizable titles was Samurai Champloo, directed by Shinichirō Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame, which originally premiered in Japan in May 20, 2004 and had its English Dub premiere on May 14, 2005. While trying to replicate the success of Cowboy Bebop was a tough act to follow, it gained success in it’s own right, and has withstood the test of time, enough to get itself an “encore run” on the modern day Toonami back at the start of the year.
26 weeks of Fuu, Mugen, and Jin’s quest to find the Sunflower Samurai, and Samurai Champloo’s run is in the books. In terms of social media buzz, #SamuraiChamploo managed to trend in all but the 21st week, though was made up during the Memorial Day marathon the week after. The show also trended during a promotion announcement of Champloo returning back in December. Champloo’s buzz also produced 2 character trends, Fuu, as well as Jin.
The various shows that Shinichirō Watanabe has created or contributed to that have aired on Toonami, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, and Michiko and Hatchin, have all been anime classics in their own right, and it should be interesting to see what he has for us next in the years ahead.
Tune in next week as One Punch Man makes its highly anticipated English Dub premiere on the Better Cartoon Show, while Gundam IBO and Hunter x Hunter airs at their respective new times at 12:30am and 1am respectively. Until next week, stay golden, and in light of the events in Dallas and throughout the planet, we should all strive for peace and equality for everyone around the world.
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Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.
United States Trends:
- Toonami/#Toonami [#7]
- #DBZKai [#9]
- #GundamIBO [#8]
- #HunterXHunter (Also during the West Coast airing) [#8]
- Killua (From Hunter x Hunter) [#9]
- #SamuraiChamploo (Also during the West Coast airing) [#8]
- #Champloo [#23]
- #Shippuden [#8]
- #OnePiece [#6]
- #Parasyte [#6]
Tweet Counts:
- Toonami/#Toonami [3,809 tweets]
- #DBZKai [1,533 tweets]
- #GundamIBO [2,408 tweets]
- #HunterXHunter [3,398 tweets]
- #SamuraiChamploo [2,540 tweets]
Tumblr Trends:
- #toonami
- #samurai champloo
Google Plus Trends:
- #SamuraiChamploo [#10]
Special thanks to @JMB_70056, @myanimewaifu, and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.
Knock Midnight Out Cold. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.