Toonzone Anime of the Month Club (January 2017) - CANCELLED

[JShaggy]

[H="1"]Welcome to the Toonzone Anime of the Month Club[/H]
The purpose of this club is to expose people to a different anime title each month that otherwise may not have been given much exposure in the mainstream. It is not intended to be used as a platform for pushing series that are already popular among fans (via TV, online, etc).

[H="6"]The Process[/H]
During the middle portion of each month, Toonzone members who frequent The Anime Forum on a near-daily basis will be given a chance to nominate a title they feel should be given AotM honors for the following month. The process for selecting such titles shall be done as follows:

• The nomination period begins around the 15th of each month, and will last seven (7) days thereafter (the period may be extended, but only under extreme circumstances if necessary). Each member is only allowed to nominate one (1) title per month.
• Once all nominations have been collected and verified for legality, the voting period will begin. A poll will appear at the top of the thread, and members will have seven (7) days to make their choice (please choose wisely, as you will only get to vote once and will not be able to change it afterwards).
• In the event of a tie, a separate runoff poll will be posted. The runoff period will last 48 hours, and if no winner is chosen, a coin flip will be done to decide which title will be honored first (with the other being honored the following month).
• Even if your nomination doesn't win, all participating members should at least join in on the AotM discussions each month (do not just go silent until the next nomination period, as we want to hear what you have to say). All comments and critiques are welcome, regardless of whether you like or dislike a series.

[H="6"]Rules & Restrictions (Please Read before continuing)[/H]
Although the process is a simple one, there are a set of rules everyone must follow when nominating a title for Toonzone AotM:

1. No previous AotM titles may be nominated. The only exception is if a new season has been produced for that title long after being honored in the past.
2. No anime titles that are currently airing on American network television or basic cable (i.e., Cartoon Network & Adult Swim/Toonami) shall be considered unless it has been off the air for at least 4-5 years. This rule does not apply to shows currently airing on premium & digital-tier channels (since not everyone has access to digital cable, satellite, or IPTV service), nor does it apply to titles available online or on video-on-demand (VOD).
3. Only anime titles that are readily available to watch in the U.S. via legal means (whether dubbed and/or subtitled in English) are to be nominated. Those means include DVD/Blu-ray releases as well as various online subscription services (i.e., Hulu, Crunchyroll, Funimation, Anime Network, etc).
4. No fan-subtitled or fan-dubbed links will be accepted nor tolerated, as they are a violation of Forum Rules.
5. Any anime titles that are released beyond the first two weeks of the month should not be nominated until the next month (since all AotM titles are on a limited time frame for discussion beginning around the first week of each month).
6. Discussions are limited to the first four (4) episodes of a series (except in the case of feature-length movies). Any discussion beyond that should be placed in spoiler tags.

[H="6"]Helpful Links[/H]

• For a complete list of previous Toonzone Anime of the Month Club titles, visit the new Archives page (now a Toonzone Fan Site).
• For a list of places to watch legally-streaming anime titles online, visit the Guide and Thread For Free, Legally-Streaming Anime (currently at Volume II, but may need to be updated).

[H="6"]Feedback/Suggestions[/H]
As always, any and all suggestions to improve the selection and discussion processes are welcome.

[H="6"]Be Social[/H]
Use #ToonzoneAotM when sharing all discussions on social media.

 

[JShaggy]

Tomorrow is the last day for nominations, people.

 

[JShaggy]

Last chance for nominations, people.

 

[JShaggy]

Since nobody even bothered to submit a nomination this time, January's meeting of the Toonzone Anime of the Month Club has been cancelled. At this point, I don't even know if I should even continue posting threads like this every month.

Let me know what you think? Should the #ToonzoneAotM Club continue? If so, then what suggestions do you have to change/improve it?

Don't be a lurker. Please leave a comment below.

 

[GWOtaku]

I've been mulling this over. Some thoughts for right now in terms of keeping it going and making it better....

1. Maybe we should attempt a groupwatch structure where we set an appointment time to watch, taking after the Voltron: Legendary Defender thread on general animation and some stuff I've seen done on social media. Anyone can still comment anytime, it's just that it resembles a talkback thread for a show broadcasting on television as well. Everyone has different schedules and time zones, but if we set a time midday on a Saturday or Sunday that could accommodate most. With some kind of semi-official structure like that, it could be easier to get conversation started or going than a whenever-I-get-around-to-it situation. Moreover, for a series things can broken down so it's, say, 3-4 episodes in a given week, putting folks on the same page and cutting out worry of spoilers.
2. Maybe we should think about clearing the slate a bit so that, if something hasn't been nominated in the last 2 or 3 years, it can be nominated again. Time passes, people come and go, things change, and there's such a thing as revisiting something with fresh eyes as well. We're also in an age where no small number of vintage anime are being rereleased for the first time in years, and / or in HD.
3. I think it'll help to point people to information and / or footage for nominees. I'd encourage people to do that, & if not I can chip in on that. This way the good word is spread a bit about underappreciated anime, even if they don't win.
4. Somewhat related to the above, there's a ridiculous amount of content available now and the streaming info thread is way out of date. I'd like some kind of practical and useful guide to take its place in 2017. Will see what I can do there. Suggestions are welcome via post or message.

 

[Light Lucario]

I think that maybe including shows that have aired on TV might help. One reason why I don't normally participate in this is because of how most of the anime I've seen either have been nominated already and/or have aired on TV. It does make the nomination process a bit more tricky when that narrows a lot for me personally. I don't know if you'd want to include everything that has aired on TV, especially when the point of this is to provide attention for shows that haven't received a lot of attention, but maybe including something that hasn't aired in awhile might help.

I agree that nominating something that won years ago would be a good way to help the nomination process. People might get to see classic series for the first time or we can try to look at older series from a new perspective. Having some more recognizable series as nominations would also help to give the voting process more attention and potentially more discussion. Legal streaming offers a ton of options and I think it would be helpful to take advantage of that.

I have tried out a couple of series through this monthly event and I do like seeing it every month. If I had known that no one had provided a nomination earlier, I would have mentioned it. I don't know if you want to keep it up for January, but I could mention that suggest if you or anyone else is interested in keeping it up. Either that or I could mention an older series that hasn't been nominated/won in a long time if we want to start the year to see how that would go at the start of the year.

 

[JShaggy]

Those are all good suggestions.

I think the best course of action would be to start over with a clean slate and a new name for these monthly threads. Viewing habits have changed, so it's probably for the best. That and it may be time to shake things up for the better.

I would really like to keep this conversation going, so I'm just going to make another thread separate from this one and people can give their suggestions there.

See you on the other side!