“This is it. The time has arrived, Shinji Ikari. And I’ll give you my solemn word, I’ll show you true happiness.” - Kaworu Nagisa, Evangelion 2.22

“We’re not the Moe anime block. we’re Toonami, a [programming block] designed to appeal to a BROAD audience of action cartoon fans. Which, luckily, is what we’re doing.” - The Toonami Tumblr, on their stance on “Otaku Pandering”.

“It wasn’t brilliant story telling but Kick-Heart is still a breathe of fresh air among the endless sea of generic harem high school moe.” - @Sketch1984

Personally, while I’m generally alright with moe, I do agree that as a gateway drug to anime and action toons, Toonami has no business getting into the “moe” and “otaku pandering” biz. Remember Hamtaro? While it was a fun show, it felt so out of place to the action heavy block for many people, and the Toonami crew didn’t even want to show it (CN forced them to). Imagine what would happen if they intentionally showed one… So I’m just gonna give you a fair warning for those that complain about too many shonen and western titles on the block, that the “variety” quota is not gonna be filled with slice of life or romantic comedies…unless they have action in them, of course.

Anyways, here’s the Toonami Trending Rundown for August 31-September 1, 2013. It’s Labor Day weekend, and the College Football season is well underway, amongst a mired of other sporting events causing a lot of buzz throughout the night. Naturally, this would mean a down night for both the block’s ratings and social media buzz. So what’s Toonami to do? Air the next installment of the Rebuild of Evangelion films, of course.

And as a result, we not only got ourselves a perfect night when it comes to US trends, but Worldwide trends as well. Among the highlights, #Evangelion222 trended long and wide throughout the movie, we got a character trend with (our beloved) Shinji trending worldwide, Toonami reviewing Pikmin 3 (the first Wii U and 8th generation title for the block); gave it a 9 out of 10 and trended in the US, and we got a special surprise in the airing of Production IG’s famous Kickstarter project Kick Heart, and that also trended big on Twitter for both showings.

Compared to the results of 1.11’s airing on St Patrick’s day and Sweet 16 party for the block, this shows that Toonami’s social media presence has only kept growing. Not bad, considering that Twitter has had some technical issues as of late from their recent upgrades.

So now the wait begins for Evangelion 3.33. In the meantime, tune in next week as we return to our regularly scheduled programming. Other than that, enjoy the start of the football season, and I’ll see you all next week. And while we’re at, I’d like to wish a happy retirement to the anime legend Hayao Miyazaki. Thanks for all the great anime over the years, and stay gold.

Legend: The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown.

US Trends:

Toonami/#Toonami (During Evangelion 2.22, Kick Heart, Star Wars TCW, Big O, FMA Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, and InuYasha.) [#1]



#Evangelion222 [#5]

Pikmin 3 (During Evangelion 2.22) [#10]

#KickHeart [#4]

#StarWarsTCW [#5]

#BigO [#5]

#FMABrotherhood [#3]

#CowboyBebop [#5]

#InuYasha [#5]

Worldwide Trends:

Toonami/#Toonami (During Evangelion 2.22, Kick Heart, Star Wars TCW, Big O, and InuYasha.) [#2]

#Evangelion222 [#1]

Shinji (From Evangelion 2.22) [#5]

#KickHeart [#5]

#StarWarsTCW [#5]

#BigO [#5]

#FMABrotherhood [#5]

#CowboyBebop [#4]

#InuYasha [#7]

Note: There is a report of Rei trending, however i do not have a non-tailored screencap to back it up.

Special thanks to @JMB_70056, @Zerogamer, @MisterADRaven, @tondog, and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.

Shed some Space Dust in honor of the Pikmin sacrificed. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.