Since Toonami's launch, the Cartoon Network action block has brooked the scorn and praise of anime fandom and been the target for a ceaseless barrage of rumors. The rumors reached a fever pitch on March 7th when Jamie Kellner, former WB Network CEO, ascended to the head of Turner Broadcasting, the corporate conglomerate that owns the Cartoon Network along with a wealth of media outlets throughout the United States. One of the first impacts that Kellner's new policies had on the Cartoon Network was the erosion of one hour from the Toonami block, a move that spurred one irate fan to exclaim "This is the end."

Another incensed anime provocateur indicted the network itself of desperate tactics. "If only Cartoon Network would remove their heads from their collective asses," the pundit declaims. "We all know the only reason we watch Cartoon is because of Toonami, and they know that. CN is afraid that if they give Toonami its own channel, their viewership may dwindle (and it will)."

However, formulating conspiracy theories about a systematic excision of the artistic merits of anime and the marginalization of the imported art form hold little water seeing as Turner Broadcasting has experienced ratings slippage among all of its networks except the Cartoon Network. Like any business operation, their main concern is the bottom line.

Considering the gravity of rumors, and the inevitable, precipitous - perhaps justifiable - distrust of the WB and Time Warner mergers of late, Sean Akins, head of programming for the Toonami block at Cartoon Network, speculates about what might be in store for his corner of an ever-expanding media monolith.

"One of the things we found in the merger is that we are one of the more successful of the networks," Akins says. "So he [Jamie Kellner] doesn't have a lot to worry about as far as we're concerned. So, I don't think you'll see a lot of changes happen with the Cartoon Network. You're going to see us do business in a different way than we had been doing when we were just a network to ourselves. The advantage is that we are part of the largest entertainment conglomerate on the planet. There's more media for us to partner with. The disadvantage is also that we are part of the largest entertainment conglomerate on the planet. Now there are eighty people involved with each decision."

Much to the chagrin of accusatory fans, Cartoon Network's - and for that matter Toonami's - audience does not consist of adults between the ages of 18 and 30, but rather closer to what one might expect of a cartoon-oriented channel in the United States, somewhere in the vicinity of 4 to 12. Toonami airs at 4 p.m. on weekdays.

"The afternoon is where most of the viewership is," explains Akins. "I was hired to do an action block in the afternoon, when boys come home from school and want to see action shows. That's where you always had 'GI Joe' and the 'X-Men,' 'Transformers.' What I gravitate towards are good shows. The best action shows in the marketplace were the anime shows as far as I was concerned. When it comes down to characters, animation quality, stories, shows from the East are just vastly superior to the crap that is being made in the states. So until we're making the shows themselves, I think you'll find that a lot of our acquisitions are going to be anime."