Toonami Sheds New Light on Netflix's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Takeover
You might not think it, but the anime industry is a cutthroat place. The business puts out hundreds of anime projects a year, and only so many can survive in such a saturated market. Of course, other conflicts can tangle up the industry when licensing comes into play, and those fueds can impact international fans the worst. Fans of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure found that out recently thanks to a bidding war, and one Toonami executive is finally opening up about the Netflix debate at last.
The update comes from Twitter courtesy of Jason DeMarco, the SVP of action and anime at Warnermedia. As one of Toonami's co-creators, the executive oversees much of its ins-and-outs, so DeMarco took offense when netizens blasted the program for taking JoJo off its schedule. As it turns out, the move was not done willingly, and it comes after Netflix scored the license for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.
"Even when Netflix swoops in super late in the game to spend an astronomical amount of money to make sure NO ONE can show new JoJo's episodes but them, it's still Toonami's fault! Can't win," he wrote. "I mean, good for Netflix. If I had "f-ck you" money like they do I'd probably be locking stuff down left or right. But JoJo's not being on Toonami... that ain't our fault. Trying to be somewhat transparent about the inner workings of our tv block on here is not easy. I can't be TOTALLY transparent, and that space between what I can say and what I can't leaves a lot of room for misunderstanding and misinterpretation."
As you can see, DeMarco cannot divulge everything about the situation with JoJo, but he's shared enough to give fans a more nuanced look. Licensing is a tricky business, and the delineation with streaming and traditional television makes things even stickier. For now, it seems there are deals in place that are keeping JoJo from cable, so streaming is the way to go stateside. So if you miss seeing JoJo over on Toonami, you should know you aren't alone.
What do you make of Toonami's take on the situation with Netflix? Do you miss JoJo's Bizarre Adventure airing on cable...? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.