Discussion That time Cartoon Network made an anime (IGPX)

[MagiCarbo]

It's hard to deny the impact that Cartoon Network's Toonami programing block had on popularizing anime in the US. Originally a weekday afternoon lineup, then a weekend prime-time lineup. It was the first introduction to anime for many young people of the early 2000s. It rescued big franchises like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon from failed syndication runs, brought Gundam to US audiences, and pushed the envelope of what you can show in an after-school cartoon show. Toonami was THE brand that established what mainstream audiences thought of when they think of "Anime".

But in 2005, Cartoon Network debuted an ambitious experiment it had in the works for a while. An original anime creation, produced specifically for Toonami, in collaboration with a Japanese studio. The Immortal Gran Prix, or IGPX. IGPX's premiere in 2005 was a big deal as it was the first time Cartoon Network was co-producing a full anime series from scratch. In the past, the network simply commissioned English dubbed versions of shows from third party distributors such as Funimation, Viz Media, and 4Kids. But with IGPX (originally a 5-part pilot by BeeTrain, before eventually being retooled into a racing series by Production I.G.), Cartoon Network was directly involved at the creative level, with CN/Williams Street in Atlanta doing most of the writing, Bang Zoom! in Los Angeles recording the dub, and Production I.G. in Japan handling animation and direction.



The series follows a futuristic racing league called the Immortal Gran Prix (IGPX) which high-tech mechs race on bending courses. It centers mostly on the trials of a young IGPX team named Team Satomi, and their quest to become the champions. Pretty standard anime fare. IGPX lasted 26 episodes and while it gained a small cult following, it never quite found an audience. It was a bit too juvenile for most adults, yet the series contained some course language and violence that wasn't really suited for young children either. IGPX came out at a time when Cartoon Network didn't really know what to do with Toonami. Nickelodeon and Disney Channel were experiencing success with live-action sitcoms and movies aimed at an 8-12 year old female audience including iCarly, Hannah Montana, and High School Musical, while Adult Swim was the hot anime broadcaster for the mid-teens to 20s crowd. Toonami and IGPX fit neither age group, and existed mostly within a weird in-between middle school demographic that didn't seem to exist by the late 2000s (or at least, was increasingly on the internet). It was one of the many factors behind Toonami's original 2008 cancellation by CN.

IGPX was later rebroadcast on Adult Swim as part of the revived Toonami lineup in 2013, and Discotek later bought the rights to the show, giving it a proper home media release for the first time. Adult Swim has since gone on to green-light several anime co-productions for Toonami including Blade Runner: Black Locus, and new FLCL seasons, with many more on the way.

 

[Deleted member 1141]

Some corrections since this is important to note.

1. IGPX was not the first time Cartoon Network got their hands wet with putting funding into a project, though IGPX was one of the more involved projects for them. With Season 2 of Big O, Cartoon Network co-funded and was involved somewhat with the project's production, though they were largely hands off. Due to the popularity of how well it did on Toonami here in the US, it allowed for a greenlight of the second half to occur and happen.

2. This one is less common knowledge, but in 2001, 2002, Cartoon Network/Turner were involved with the production of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and put funding into the project. In fact, the show had multiple US investors in it, ranging from Cartoon Network, Bandai Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment. This ultimately aired on Adult Swim from the get-go, which makes sense, but it was something they were involved with.

3. Cartoon Network was also involved with co-funding a series of shorts involving Speed Racer, or Mach Go Go Go in Japan, known as Mach Girl. The series aired as a series of shorts, produced for Cartoon Networks Japanese network (and may or may not have had limited terrestrial local sales and independent networks airings as well). This show ultimately would never be localized and had very limited releases since it's original airing.

4. Correction on the home video release front. Discotek's release would mark the first time the series had a proper full single release, as well as a proper anamorphic master for the Toonami cut, but Bandai Entertainment released both cuts of the series on home video back in 2006/2007 or so.

5. The planning stage heavily involved Turner and Cartoon Network for their side of production for IGPX, but the finalized scripts were handled in Japan. This is extremely evident when you check the credits on the production end of this. I'm unsure if the shorts were as well, but at least as far as the TV series is concerned, the finalized writing was in Japan.

6. Cartoon Network and Turner were supposed to co-produce a number of projects in the 2000s and IGPX was among one of them. The other one that got released and finished is Power Puff Girls Z, produced at Toei Animation. Made for TV Tokyo, a network that had a success story of the original Power Puff Girls when it aired back in the day, the show actually had a higher share audience than even the original Power Puff Girls did back then, from ratings data I have access to. The show was made as an AU, rather than a full reboot, and does some things very differently than the original. The series notably had Miho Shimogawa do the character designs, worked as a Animation Director on Sailor Moon over the years, before making her proper Character Designer debut on Cutie Honey Flash.

Unfortunately, due to various circumstances at the time, both IGPX and Power Puff Girls Z would end their initiative to get into anime, probably partially in due to management shifting near the end of Power Puff Girls Z's production and a move away from producing projects. The real last show that Cartoon Network worked on, prior to getting involved more recently with Crunchyroll, Adult Swim, and HBO Max co-productions, would be Thundercats 2011 (not counting Turner co-funding Space Dandy), but the series ended up getting cancelled and plans for a release in Japan were ultimately cancelled.

7. The reason for Toonami's cancellation actually ties to the management shifts, rather than solely on ratings alone. DeMarco implied as much with the Cartoon Network iteration, though he couldn't talk about it while he still works there.

8. One last thing while I'm thinking on it, Cartoon Network largely licensed shows from distributors with already produced dubs or dubs-to-be, rather than inherently putting money into a dub production. Many of the costs fell on the distributor, though edited localized versions may-or-may not have involved some funding from Cartoon Networks end for re-recordings and paint edits (I think it varied on production, don't quote me on), but the distributors bared the brunt of the cost for the localization itself. Something really important to note.

I believe after the management shift that occurred after the incident in April 2007, some shows Cartoon Network may have paid for production of the English side on for stuff they secured the Master License for (potentially Tenkai Knights but don't quote me on this). But enlarge, distributors almost always funded and dubbed for Cartoon Network. This obviously has changed since Toonami and Adult Swim getting involved with anime productions, once again.

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That said, I feel it's really important and to note that Cartoon Network was so heavily involved with so many anime pick ups and they got some really notable shows over the years, ranging from Dragon Ball to Sailor Moon to even becoming THE network to air Pokemon. I was always really saddened that none of the other cable networks really gave anime a serious attempt and both Nickelodeon and Disney just fumbled a bit every time they tried to do so. I do think Nickelodeon really intended to get into it in the early 00s, but due to the situation with Speed Racer that had occurred (where DiC was sued by the rights holder who had the rights to the original series), I think Nickelodeon got cold feet and cancelled the entire block.

Honestly, I think Cartoon Network, Fox, and WB (later CW) owe a lot for anime really taking off here in the states, with Cartoon Network probably having aired the largely library compared to the other networks. But I definitely feel had more Kids networks and other networks for that matter have given it more of a fare shake, I feel it could've definitely seen a much wider audience.

But as it stands, it's interesting to see how popular anime is, even if it's not airing as much on TV like it once did. We're mostly seeing streaming platforms and that seems to be honestly the go-to for anime fans, kids and adults alike. IGPX is one but many stories of US studios and networks getting involved with anime and as we've seen, won't be the last. Though, the downside is overproduction is a serious issues in Japan and I know I'm naïve to think this, I do hope things improve. Though, that's a discussion in itself...

 

[Jahranimo]

I haven't thought about this show since I watched it back then. I liked it then, but I was in my early teens.

I'm not sure if I would like it now honestly.