MUMBAI: Following Hojaye Shuru! - The Beyblade Championship Cartoon Network has announced yet another championship - Toonami: Game On, Video Gaming Championship for Indian kids, which is slated to kick off in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, at the end of November.
The network doubles its dose of action on Toonami, the prime time action franchise, with brand new action series like Gransazers, Series 7 from Pokémon and new episodes of Transformers Cybertron. Some of Cartoon Network's popular toon stars including The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter, Tom & Jerry will play hosts to add to the fresh, new look. The block will go on air starting 6 November at 5 pm.
The Toonami: Game On, Video Gaming Championship is an on-ground extension of the new Toonami look and feel, giving kids an opportunity to personally experience shows featured in the action block. Cartoon Network will undertake a school contact programme spanning seven cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana, to promote the stunt.
Kids can participate in the on-air contest which will give away prizes for early bird entries on the premiere day. Toonami watches, loads of Pokémon goodies, Cybergiants and one Xbox 360 gaming console will be up for grabs every week, states an official release.
Turner International India vice president advertising sales and networks India & South Asia Monica Tata said, "We have always believed in constant innovation and creativity through self evaluation as well as our understanding of what our viewers need. Cartoon Network's latest study, New Generations, revealed that the concept of gaming is fast gaining popularity with Indian kids and in keeping with our commitment to listen to our consumers, we have launched Toonami: Game On, Video Gaming Championship while also giving a new look to the Toonami block during this time to make it one of the trendiest destinations on television."
Toonami claims to be the first block for kids on Indian television that focused on action shows. This block airs shows such as Pokémon, Beyblade, Digimon, Duel Masters and now Gransazers between 5 pm to 6.30 pm.
Pokémon is the story of Ash, a 10 year old Pokémon trainer. His Pokémon - 'Pikachu' and his friends - Brock, May and Max - are always on an adventure as they travel to participate in battles, win medals and come closer to being a Pokémon Master Trainer. Pokémon Series 7 is the brand new season of Pokémon Advanced Challenge which sees Ash continuing on his journey in the Hoenn League.
While Gransazers revolves around the descendents of an advanced human civilization, which was wiped out billions of years ago during a conflict with a terrestrial race called the Astral Allies. The twelve descendents, called Sazers, form four separate tribes: Fire, Wind, Earth and Water. Each Sazer possesses extraordinary powers, and is able to control the 'Super Star God', mammoth war machines constructed by their ancient ancestors. At first, the tribes begin to wage wars amongst each other on Earth, until they discover that the Astral Allies are planning another strike, this time the domination of humankind. Upon this revelation, the tribes join forces to mobilize a resistance against the invaders and protect the future of all life on Earth.
Cartoon Network has played hosted to several on-ground events in the past including such as Join The Powerpuff Generation, Toon Cricket, Toon Yatra, Next Big Toon, School Is Cool and Save Dexter's Brain.
