“This being God, thing…does this mean I won’t have a body anymore? […] Well, then going to BooBies won’t be any fun. This is the stupidest idea ever. I’m out, no God for me. Believe It!”
– Dandy, Space Dandy (Ep. 26)
The Toonami Trending Rundown for September 27-28, 2014. Space Dandy and Beware the Batman both end off with a bang, as despite the stiff social buzz from the season premiere of SNL and UFC 178, both shows manage to trend in addition to #SpaceDandyFinale in the US to send them both off on a good note.
We also have some special character trends from Bleach and Space Dandy (Both US and Worldwide) with Rukia (as she arrives to backup Ichigo and return his powers just in time to face Tsukishima and Ginjou), Here’s Johnny (as Johnny goes on a brawl with Admiral Perry), and Stay Dandy (as Dandy rejects Godhood to continue his dream of enjoying BooBies).
Space Dandy Trending Retrospective
26 weeks have come and passed, and Shinichiro Watanabe’s lattest classic is now in the books. The fact that Dandy was a simuldub alone brought a lot a buzz to the show, but watching the adventures of the Aloha Oe crew, from it’s triumphants to it’s constant struggles will definitely be one to remember for Toonami and anime fans everywhere.
Space Dandy successfully trended in some capacity during every single week of the premiere of Season 1, as well as all but 2 weeks during it’s hiatus rerun, and all but 2 weeks of the premiere of Season 2. Dandy’s buzz also produced 11 different character/in-show content trends throughout it’s run.
It will be awhile before we see the show’s legacy, but the fact this happened at all shows that hope springs eternal for both Toonami and the anime industry as a whole. Things are looking up, and I’m sure we’re all definitely excited to see what’s next. In the meantime, for those that want to relieve the Dandy magic or were late to the party, Dandy will rerun at 3am EDT, starting next week.
Beware the Batman Trending Retrospective
The marathon run of Batman was a bit unexpected, but due to some controversial decisions by the parent network, we unfortunately have to say goodbye to Batman’s Toonami run. It’s very unfortunate to see the fate of DC Nation, despite Batman’s recent popularity with the Dark Knight trilogy and the new Gotham series and all, but at least with this, we were able to send it off on a high note. In terms of social media buzz, Beware The Batman successfully trended in some capacity on 13 out the 20 weeks of it’s run. In addition, Batman Beyond also trended in one occasion as Toonami showcased a short involving that series.
While both anime and cartoons overall has seen something of a renaissance in recent years, the outlook regarding action cartoons looks rather bleak, and we can only hope at this point that the efforts of Toonami and other similar animation entities can swing the pendulum back forward soon.
Star Wars TCW Trending Retrospective
Star Wars was not able to leave Toonami with a bang on the night, but we might as well say our postmortems anyway. A show with much potential, it unfortunately saw it’s end as an end result to the complications with Disney’s purchase of the franchise. Of course, for those that want to see through to it’s end, you can find it on Netflix, which even includes the unreleased 6th season. So until we meet again, may the force be with you, Star Wars and I think I can speak for everyone that we all hope that the sequel trilogy will be something to look forward to.
In terms of social media buzz, Star Wars successfully trended during 19 different weeks of it’s run, in addition to Star Wars in 1 occasion.
Regarding This Week’s Gurren Lagann
Some of you may have noticed that the 2nd part of this week’s episode felt a bit rushed in a way. We’ll believe it or not, there are actually 2 versions of this episode, a TV version (Which you saw) and a Uncut version, where instead of having a recap, Kamina and Simon actually TRY and catch a peep at the ladies, with some pretty hilarious results. Unfortunately, Toonami wasn’t allowed by Aniplex to showcase that episode, so you’re gonna need to get the DVDs to check out how well that goes for yourself.
And finally…
Next week will be seeing a schedule overhawl with the premiere shows moving up the schedule by at least 30 minutes in addition to the return of Ghost In The Shell SAC 2nd GIG and Big O Season 2, so make sure to check your local listings or set your DVRs. Until then, Stay Dandy, baby.
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. For the mobile app trends, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.
US Trends:
- Rukia (From Bleach) [#9]
- #SpaceDandy/SpaceDandy (Also during the west coast airing) [#7]
- #SpaceDandyFinale [#10]
- Here’s Johnny (From Space Dandy) [#4]
- Stay Dandy (From Space Dandy) [#4]
- #BewareTheBatman (Also during the west coast airing) [#4]
Worldwide Trends:
- Rukia (From Bleach) [#7]
- Here’s Johnny (From Space Dandy) [#6]
- Stay Dandy (From Space Dandy) [#6]
Mobile App Tweet Counts:
- #SpaceDandy [10.3k tweets]
Tumblr Trends:
- Space Dandy
Notes and Other Statistics:
- #AttackOnTitan: @statweestics reported a 573% increase in popularity on 9:09 pm PDT.
- #SpaceDandy: @statweestics reported a 608% increase in popularity on 9:41 pm PDT. @WhoTrendedIT reported that @maioceaneyes and @FUNimation started the trend.
- Stay Dandy (From Space Dandy): @trendinaliaUS reported that @iantweeting started the trend while 240 users and 250 tweets (227 RTs) in 3 minutes made ‘Stay Dandy’ a Trending Topic in the US and 56,020 people could have seen ‘Stay Dandy’ since its 1st mention until it became a Trending Topic.
Special thanks to @Andy_Salcedo, @Brezerkfury, @JMB_70056, @mmorse1017, @myanimewaifu, @MykeJinX89, @TheNextHokage, @Toonamette, @Yoohoo_Dude, and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.
Adios, Dandy. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.