For one thing, I'm pretty sure the Davy Back Fight is the first time the episodes were in HD instead of SD, so that's probably a big reason they're starting there.

For another, they flat-out stated that anyone can watch from the beginning on FUNi's website, so at least they're being honest about it. This new Toonami is pretty much directly marketed at people who watched the old Toonami. It's risky to just hope people will get caught up, but considering Toonami is literally run by six people who don't get paid to do this, EVERY move Toonami makes is risky.

No one is killing anything before it starts, you habitual cum-gurgling asspie. Starting from episode 1 would have actually been a worse move on their part than what they're doing now. Everyone and their mother's deaf dog have seen the beginning of One Piece, but not as many have gotten this far. They're purposely starting their run on the first HD episode to air as well as the start of a brand new saga that Funimation's just released themselves.

No, it's not necessary to have watched it from the beginning to get all the information. Everyone knows who Zoro is, everyone knows who Usopp is, everyone knows who Buggy and Shanks and Mr. 2 are. These are things that, unless you've been living under a rock, would have easily sipped into you from the internet and years of content exposure - regardless of whether or not you're actually a fan of the show. Also between Robin's introduction and Davy Back, she doesn't get any sort of ground-moving character development. That all begins to happen now; they'll still understand her desire to live. And hey, if they don't, guess what? They can hop online and re-watch the earlier content if they so please; like they state in this promo.
This isn't the 4Kids run; it's not gonna censor callbacks or turn whales into icebergs just to shield the baby audience. You either get into it or fuck off after getting your Bleach and Naruto fill.

>dramacy
Get out.

Funny enough, it's starting on the exact point my brother stopped watching because of school. So this is perfect for him.

Start on episode one, at one episode a week, when the vast majority of the fanbase agrees that the anime doesn't even hit its stride until around Arlong Park. Which starts at like, episode 31.

Okay, sure. Start at episode one, and then tell every last new viewer that's bored and ready to dismiss the series again to wait a about half a year. Then it'll be good for about three months. Then the filler starts with Loguetown and Warship island.

That's your plan? That's going to save the series' rep in America? "No really guys keep watching I promise. Just a few more months! Oh and then get ready to skip a couple months!"

That's a better option than letting them get a good, action packed canon arc or two to get hooked and then watching the older episodes at their leisure seeing as how they're all available on Hulu at this point?

Davy Back Fight's really plot-light and a good introduction to most of the characters anyway. And then you get Enies Lobby right after, which so many people consider the best. It's a good choice.

>>31050

People that are into anime know all that shit. Toonami, though, isn't for people that are into anime. Toonami is for people who say things like, "I don't even care, I'm an adult that still likes Dragon Ball Z isn't that so crazy?" even though the haven't watched an episode of DBZ in years.

I fucking love One Piece, but it's not well known in the states to the people who aren't willing to investigate anime of their own accord and the people who are watching Toonami (other than us) are those people.

Now, it might sound like I feel like One Piece won't catch on because of all this, but I also think that the people who regularly watch Toonami don't really give a shit about what's going on. I think they'll watch anyway.

>>31054
Toonami is specifically geared for anime audiences; I have no idea what you're talking about. Has nothing to do with DBZ or whatever; they play a really broad range of anime series on there.
The single only reason One Piece isn't big here is because of a lack of television exposure, simple as that. Both Bleach and Naruto have played here for a few years individually. One Piece only had one very brief run in an awkward timeslot (it was like 4PM on that Magoozi thing, if I remember correctly) which only served to be a joke thanks to 4Kids.

>>31054
This may have been true a decade+ ago, but current Toonami is all about the pleasing Anime fans. The people who grew up with it.

Plus its a good starting point if you wanted shave off a couple of years off the run, especially if they're only going to do 1 episode per week.

Trying to get my brother back into it, but the amount of episodes daunt him for some reason.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FUNimationLive/featured?v=7zQb5LUhEb4
Every episode until the premiere.
All dubbed.
Starting in 15 minutes.

>>31055
>>31056

Literally every person I know that isn't into anime just for the sake of nostalgia has nothing but dismissive and derisive things to say about the new Toonami.

And that goes for people on the internet as well.

Let's not get started on the whole dub/sub argument. I love the FUNI dub, but people are so dismissive of it by default. Actual anime people are fucking hard to please.

>>31080
"Actual anime people" (I'm gonna assume you're just talking about 80% of /a/, for example) don't watch Toonami regardless because they have their asses too deep inside desu uguu anime girl garbage series currently playing in Japan. I mean, let's be brutally honest right now; that's what the majority of "anime viewers" are doing right now and are therefor completely irrelevant to this entire conversation in any realistic setting. Those niche series will never play in all their glorious Nippon-dubbed, subbed format to American audiences in a mainstream channel like they want. Ever.
If we're gonna get more specific now, shounen viewers, are still as faithful to their base as ever. One Piece, Naruto and Bleach. Except Bleach is a fly-ridden bloated corpse now and Toriko seems to have taken its place. Not only did Toonami bring in Naruto back, but now they're going out of their way to bring in brand new episodes of One Piece. That's what Toonami's always catered to from the beginning. They also have to rely heavily on Funimation's help whether they want to or not.

So I guess in the end you did have a point: Toonami isn't really for the actual anime viewer. But then again, the "actual anime viewer" lives in a world of unrealistic expectations.

>>31080
All the anime people I know hate dubs in general so never liked Toonami in the first place, and hated One Piece from the start due to its somewhat unconventional art style.

So...fuck them?

>>31082
>>31080
Are "actual anime people" anything like "True Scotsmen?"

>>31089
Pretty much.

y not show the whole opening? It's great.

>>31122
Because fuck Adult Swim. They did the same thing to the FMA openings which are master pieces.

>>31123
oh ok, i guess that's how I feel about it too.
On another note, how do you guys feel about the dub? The timing seemed a little off for a lot of jokes.

>>31124
You're probably used to watching it without commercials. That can tend to disrupt the feeling of proper timing.

>>31124
I didn't watch it. LOL
Totally slipped my mind and forgot about it.

Honestly? If it comes down to it I'll watch the dub when I have a choice. I still think it's one of the dedicated dub works out there.