Was Kai cancelled because of the tsunami in Japan?

[OWmyDragonBallz]

I keep hearing this rumor over and over online that KAI was cancelled because of the earthquake in Japan. I was wondering if this is a fan made up rumor or no?

[Savage68]

It was being cancelled anyhow; a show had been lined up to replace it for a while. Its final episode, though, is what was bumped (into never actually airing) due to the tsunami.

[Super Sayian Prime]

No, the disaster in Japan had nothing to do with the cancellation of Kai. As mentioned above, the news coverage of the disaster on FujiTV pre-empted Kai (along with basically all programming) for a week, leaving the last episode of the show to become DVD/Blu-Ray exclusive. This is due to Toei, and its partners having Toriko lined up for premiere in a One Piece crossover following the week Kai initially was scheduled to end.

It's unclear if episode 97 (which is the last episode to air on Japanese TV) was modified from its original state (post music scandal) to provide a conclusion due to episode 98/bonus episode not being broadcast.

The reason Kai ended is largely due to a decrease in merchandise sales. It's just amazing how everything unfolded in the end (the cancellation, the music scandal with a handful of episodes left, and this) when for most of Kai's life, it was very much a non-event.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Kai really was a pretty wasted effort over in Japan, especially after the Music Scandal. However, I think the one awesome thing to come out of it was the dub. I don't want to jynx things, but I'm predicting that Kai will bring a bout a slight resurgence of anime on TV. The fact that Nicktoons is airing the DBZ movies--and pretty much uncut, for that matter--is a wonderful sign of how well Kai has been received. I can totally see FUNimation and other anime companies using Kai's success as leverage to get more anime on TV, and I certainly hope that's the case.

Sometimes I wonder if it was destiny that Kai got made purely to help the anime industry at large over in North America.

[TripleRach]

I keep hearing this rumor over and over online that KAI was cancelled because of the earthquake in Japan. I was wondering if this is a fan made up rumor or no?

Well, just think about it from a technical standpoint. Shows animated from scratch take months to produce. In the modern era I think it's roughly 4-6 months per episode; maybe a little less. The earthquake and tsunami disaster happened on March 11th, and Toriko took over Kai's timeslot on April 3rd. There's no way Toei could have suddenly rushed out Toriko episodes in only three weeks.

But Toriko taking over the timeslot was announced long before that. In December or January, as I recall, before the music scandal got out in February. And there was obviously no news of Kai moving to a new timeslot amidst any of that.