“Confucius said: it’s shameful for a person’s actions not to match their words.”
– Liz Ricardo, IGPX (Episode 26)
“I want to stay with you forever…Daddy…Mommy…”
– Yui Kirigaya, Sword Art Online (Episode 12)
The Toonami Trending Rundown for October 19-20, 2013. Yui’s emotional “end” set the tone for a night of somber farewells and epic finales with IGPX, Cowboy Bebop, and Big O all ending their respective runs with a bang as the streak of perfect nights starts again as every show trended in both the US and Worldwide lists. We also got some character trends with both Hinata and Neji as they both dueled each other, Luffy as he got frozen by Aokiji, and Team Satomi (the first for IGPX) as they claimed victory over Team White Snow for their 2nd championship. In addition, we were treated to a promo for FLCL, and that also trended in the US.
Perhaps the only blemish of the night was that Yui as well as something from Big O and Cowboy Bebop couldn’t trend (not to mention, Hinata and Luffy were only spotted via the phone app), but considering the huge buzz of the Red Sox beating the Tigers in the ALCS and Cain Velasquez’s KO of Junior Dos Santos was happening at the same time, among others, we’ll take what we can get.
It’s an end of an era for one of the greatest anime series of all time as Cowboy Bebop leaves Cartoon Network after 13 long years. From the beginnings of Adult Swim, to the 2nd anime boom and the golden years of Toonami and Adult Swim, to the infamous “CN Real” era as well as the so-called “Moe” boom, and to the grand return of Toonami, Spike and the gang has always been there, showing people how great anime can be. There is hope, however, for Bebop to return with Funimation re-licensing and redistributing the show in the near future. And maybe Toonami can get those HD remastered tapes with a re-license. Who knows? As Spike Spiegel had once said, whatever happens, happens.
But somber farewells also come with new beginnings. Tune in next week as FLCL and Ghost In The Shell both return to the block at 2:30 and 4:00am Eastern respectively, while IGPX reruns at 4:30am and FMA Brotherhood will be bumped up to 3:30am. And of course, the party’s not over yet. We’ll have another week of epic finales in two weeks with SAO’s finale of the Aincrad arc and Soul Eater beginning to diverge from the manga. And who knows what’s gonna replace FLCL once it’s run ends in 6 weeks.
So until we meet again next week, and until Toonami re-licenses Cowboy Bebop, stay gold. Cause We Will Never Stop.
Legend: 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.
US Trends:
- Toonami/#Toonami (During Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Soul Eater, Sword Art online, IGPX, Big O, FMA Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, and InuYasha) [#1]
- #FLCL (During One Piece) [#6]
- #Bleach [#5]
- #Naruto [#5]
- Neji (From Naruto) [#5]
- #OnePiece [#5]
- #SoulEater [#6]
- #SwordArtOnline [#4]
- #IGPX [#3]
- Team Satomi (From IGPX) [#8]
- #BigO [#4]
- #FMABrotherhood [#6]
- #CowboyBebop [#6]
- #InuYasha [#1]
Worldwide Trends:
- Toonami/#Toonami (During Bleach, Sword Art Online, IGPX, FMA Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, and InuYasha) [#1]
- #Bleach [#4]
- #Naruto [#5]
- Hinata (From Naruto. Phone App only) [#9]
- #OnePiece [#5]
- Luffy (From One Piece. Phone App only) [#10]
- #SoulEater [#5]
- #SwordArtOnline [#5]
- #IGPX [#5]
- Team Satomi (From IGPX) [#8]
- #BigO [#5]
- #FMABrotherhood [#5]
- #CowboyBebop [#5]
- #InuYasha [#5]
Special thanks to @DatDamnPR, @JABEcon, @JpopJams, @MisterADRaveN, @the_big_aa, @TheNextHokage, and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.
Think Smooth. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.
Bang.