More Kids Watch Dragon Ball on Adult Swim Than Adults do.

[Cure Dragon 255]

While normally I would say this is amazing this actually puts the future of the Adult Swim Anime Block in danger. What should they do? And please no "This is the era of Streaming. The block should just die."

[MasenkoHA]

Not saying it’s wrong. But what is the source ? Last I recalled its timeslot also kind of alienated adults that have jobs where they work too early to watch adult swim at its hours and many millennials (so like people between the age of about 25-39) tend to forgo cable anyways.

Also going out on a limb many adults interested in Dragon Ball seemed to have watched it on Crunchyroll even ones who otherwise wouldn’t fuck with the Japanese version.


ETA despite its name Adult Swim has always been way more for a middle school audience.

[goku the krump dancer]

ETA despite its name Adult Swim has always been way more for a middle school audience.

I was pretty much gonna say something similar, I mean, Sealab 2021 might seem "grown up and edgy" to an 11 year old or a teenager, but realistically, how many 30 somethings clocked in to work in the morning and belly laughed recapping an episode at their lunch break every day? Not very many I'd bet.

[WittyUsername]

ETA despite its name Adult Swim has always been way more for a middle school audience.

I was pretty much gonna say something similar, I mean, Sealab 2021 might seem "grown up and edgy" to an 11 year old or a teenager, but realistically, how many 30 somethings clocked in to work in the morning and belly laughed recapping an episode at their lunch break every day? Not very many I'd bet.

Most “adult” animations tend to have a pretty noticeable following among younger teens. Actually, raunchy adult comedies in general are pretty popular with people who aren’t actually adults. Kids love things that are considered “edgy.”

[MasenkoHA]

ETA despite its name Adult Swim has always been way more for a middle school audience.

I was pretty much gonna say something similar, I mean, Sealab 2021 might seem "grown up and edgy" to an 11 year old or a teenager, but realistically, how many 30 somethings clocked in to work in the morning and belly laughed recapping an episode at their lunch break every day? Not very many I'd bet.

Most “adult” animations tend to have a pretty noticeable following among younger teens. Actually, raunchy adult comedies in general are pretty popular with people who aren’t actually adults. Kids love things that are considered “edgy.”

It’s not even that. The bulk of their anime (not all but most) is explicitly shonen. Most of their comedies has that kind of humor that will appeal to 13-16 year olds maybe stoned 20 somethings but not much else.

[goku the krump dancer]

Well talking about the anime specifically, YuYu Hakusho was the only "Shonen" series that debuted on Adult Swim but it was eventually switched to Toonami.

Bebop, Lupin, Case Closed, Wolf's Rain, Witch Hunter Robin, Inuyasha, FLCL and Ghost in a Shell aren't Shonen, but were still pretty much watched by the same demographic. Everything Adult Swim airs now is definitely Shonen though and I think that's a testament to the fact that it was mostly Teens and preteens that watched Adult Swim back in the day anyway.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Not saying it’s wrong. But what is the source ? Last I recalled its timeslot also kind of alienated adults that have jobs where they work too early to watch adult swim at its hours and many millennials (so like people between the age of about 25-39) tend to forgo cable anyways.

Also going out on a limb many adults interested in Dragon Ball seemed to have watched it on Crunchyroll even ones who otherwise wouldn’t fuck with the Japanese version.


ETA despite its name Adult Swim has always been way more for a middle school audience.

What does ETA mean? I looked it up but none of the meanings given there fit this context.

Actually there was a point where over 1 million adults 18-49 watched the block. And then there's Rick and Morty which does fit the Bill of "Watercooler Talk" show.

But I think you are right. I think Toonami is indeed happy with the ratings it has right now.

[MasenkoHA]

Well talking about the anime specifically, YuYu Hakusho was the only "Shonen" series that debuted on Adult Swim but it was eventually switched to Toonami.

Bebop, Lupin, Case Closed, Wolf's Rain, Witch Hunter Robin, Inuyasha, FLCL and Ghost in a Shell aren't Shonen, but were still pretty much watched by the same demographic. Everything Adult Swim airs now is definitely Shonen though and I think that's a testament to the fact that it was mostly Teens and preteens that watched Adult Swim back in the day anyway.

Case Closed and Inuyasha definitely were shonen. Like, their manga was published in Weekly Shonen Sunday.

Maybe I’m misremembering but Full Metal Alchemist was one of their first anime and that was definitely shonen.

[super michael]

While normally I would say this is amazing this actually puts the future of the Adult Swim Anime Block in danger. What should they do? And please no "This is the era of Streaming. The block should just die."

Kid network like CN is straigh up garbage, that is why kids would go to Adult Swim. Network like CN in the 90s used to have the top anime and cartoon, until they got rid of every anime and now they only allow 10 minute cartoon. There are no 20 minute cartoon anymore.

Every reboot CN does it a downgrade from their previous version like these examples:

Teen Titan Go
Thundercat Roar
Ben 10 Reboot
Power Puff Girl Reboot

Anime isn't allowed on CN. Anything over 10+ minutes isn't allowed and they give no exceptions. CN will give terrible time slot and very limited air time just so they fail, they do that with good cartoons.

Maybe if CN wasn't garbage then kids would watch that channel. Maybe have anime like Digimon, Dragon Ball, Pokemon, etc, then they would have the kids channel that is for them.

I saw Dragon Ball Z on CN, back when CN used to be good.

[TheGreatness25]

I know I watched Adult Swim religiously when I was a kid a pre-teen and teenager, whereas as an adult, I never watch it. I mean... I never watch Adult Swim now. I don't even think that it's for "adults" either, to be quite honest with you. I think it's more for teenagers and the naming and marketing is to make it feel like they're watching something taboo, which makes for a much cooler experience.

Everything airing on it is rated for teenagers, isn't it? They don't exactly show the Saw franchise on there. Even in its infancy, they showed Harvey Birdman, Home Movies, Baby Blues, Mission Hill, Oblongs, etc. Are those for "adults" or teens? I'd say the latter. How many actual adults watched Adult Swim compared to kids/teens throughout its entire existence? In my circles, I never knew any adults who watched it and all of my friends (same age as me) were watching.

[derpytacos]

So kids watching a block aimed at kids puts anime in danger how? "Adult swim" has been aimed at 11+ year olds for what ~20 years now? Why is it doing the same today a bad thing?

[Kinokima]

I used to watch Adult Swim back in college when I was first getting into anime but I don’t really like watching anime on TV anymore

That being said Adult Swim is supposed to get the animated version of Uzumaki and I am excited to check that out. I hope it will be on HBO Max

[Kid Buu]

Not surprising, Dragon Ball is for kids.

[Zephyr]

I started watching Adult Swim when I was 11 years old.

[goku the krump dancer]

I started around 10 or 11 myself as well back around '02-'03. I remember there being a warning every time the block started stating that Adult Swim airs programming unsuitable for viewers under the age of 18 for the first few years, then by 06-ish it switched to viewers under the age of 14, which is the average age for a High School freshman ( 9th grader). I think by that point the higher ups at Cartoon Network/Adult Swim knew who there core demographic was by that point.

Had no idea Inuyasha was aimed at Shonen btw , I always thought it was more Shojo centric considering the crux of the plot was a love triangle.

EDIT: Scratch that, I was definitely 9 when I first started with Adult Swim and I only recall that because I specifically remember my dumb crush I had on Kikyo when I was in 3rd grade.

[Kinokima]

I started around 10 or 11 myself as well back around '02-'03. I remember there being a warning every time the block started stating that Adult Swim airs programming unsuitable for viewers under the age of 18 for the first few years, then by 06-ish it switched to viewers under the age of 14, which is the average age for a High School freshman ( 9th grader). I think by that point the higher ups at Cartoon Network/Adult Swim knew who there core demographic was by that point.

Had no idea Inuyasha was aimed at Shonen btw , I always thought it was more Shojo centric considering the crux of the plot was a love triangle.

EDIT: Scratch that, I was definitely 9 when I first started with Adult Swim and I only recall that because I specifically remember my dumb crush I had on Kikyo when I was in 3rd grade.

Now they put a lot of Shounen Jump stuff on there but back when I first watched it there was programming that was more aimed at “adults”. Though Inuyasha which was definitely not for adults was a staple of the block

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

Not saying it’s wrong. But what is the source ? Last I recalled its timeslot also kind of alienated adults that have jobs where they work too early to watch adult swim at its hours and many millennials (so like people between the age of about 25-39) tend to forgo cable anyways.

Also going out on a limb many adults interested in Dragon Ball seemed to have watched it on Crunchyroll even ones who otherwise wouldn’t fuck with the Japanese version.


ETA despite its name Adult Swim has always been way more for a middle school audience.

Honestly the modern Toonami timeslot was a turnoff to me even as a teenager. Like, I didn't wanna have to stay up until 3 AM just to watch a show that I was mildly interested in when I could just watch it on Hulu. And then my family would end up dumping cable tv anyway so it was no real loss to me.

[WittyUsername]

I myself watched Adult Swim when I was a kid. Just because something is referred to as being “for adults,” doesn’t mean that people 18 and up are the only ones watching it. Besides, as I assume everyone here already knows, Dragon Ball is geared specifically towards kids in its home country anyway.

[PurestEvil]

I am sorry for asking this uninspired question, but how the hell did any of you manage to watch adult swim that late in the night? Did you have permission or did you keep the TV volume really low? How did your sleep schedules get affected?

[super michael]

I am sorry for asking this uninspired question, but how the hell did any of you manage to watch adult swim that late in the night? Did you have permission or did you keep the TV volume really low? How did your sleep schedules get affected?

I never knew about Adult Swim before, so I never watched that channel. Once I knew about it, it was too late I was watching anime online.

Adult Swim is supposed to be for older audience, but it looks like the younger audience has to watch those channel thanks to the kids network being garbage nowadays like CN.

CN used to have these great cartoon and anime:

DBZ
One Piece
Pokémon
DC cartoons Justice League
Marvel cartoons like X-Men
Cubix
Shiaolin Showdown
Beyblade
Code Lyoko

Now CN is spammed with TTG and Gamball, there is no anime or cartoon that is longer than 10 minutes per episode.

I assumed Adult Swim and CN are run by the same company.