Mr. Idea Box

Look on the bright side. Since the Midnight slot is almost always going to be something Williams Street has a direct hand in, Primal and Rooster Fighter have 2026 pretty much booked in that timeslot for the first half of the year. Filling in the summer and fall seasons, though? That might be trickier. Personally, I wouldn't mind if an entire hour was cut after October, given the playbook so far.

That surprised me. Releasing in nine months? That anime had better be good. GKIDS might have more leeway than Crunchyroll at this point, which is not exactly a pleasant truth. Let me guess. Daima's the new headliner, and the stalling is for no real reason, right?

With the early reveal of them trying to stall for time with Daima instead of adding to their One Piece debt, allow me to make some loose predictions for the back half of 2025: If the summer headliner is Rooster Fighter, its first week will have two premieres instead of one, bumping Daima down to 1 AM. This allows them to stall until the first week of September, when they'll have something new planned after DB and Original. Blue Exorcist would be replaced by something else in mid-August, likely getting a headstart before the show it follows. That, or the show airing at 1 AM has at least 15 episodes to air and can take double duty for the rest of the semester. Given the duo of Lazarus and Naruto and their remaining episode counts, Naruto reruns will be carried to term, ending at Episode #39 before the Halloween marathon takes place. If Rooster Fighter has 13 episodes, its season finale will also air as two episodes for an hour long, bumping Daima to 1 AM for that week as well. Daima's own finale would allow Toonami to stall for time for an extra week. This year, the Halloween marathon would be a two-week marathon of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. The end-of-2025 marathon would be a three-week send out to Dragon Ball Daima, airing on December 20th, 27th, and January 3rd, 2026. After that point? Only One Piece is a surefire prediction on what Toonami will air. I have no dang clue what the November and December schedules would look like.

Well, so much for the suspense. If this was going to be their midnight show for the summer, they must've thought getting that new Dragon Ball anime would mitigate the pain. Unfortunately, they thought wrong. I would have to agree, as sad as that sounds, that Adult Swim not getting programs from WB's own Japanese branch would be telling. But they are planning to split the studios from the networks for the most part, which may conveniently explain, or more likely excuse, the bias towards streaming.

I mean, the two final episodes could be 45-minute broadcasts. Just a hunch. I mean, they could simulcast Primal Season 3 alongside Adult Swim's regular hours. That's a possibility for next year. So I forgot those shows were through the other Sony anime distributor. I can afford to mess up.

It could be Hashira Training, or it could be something like Dr. Stone or Fire Force. But I am adjusting my predictions accordingly regardless.

Okay, it's starting to bug me that Daima is on Adult Swim. Two PG ratings and a Y7 rating do not an adult series make. Even regarding Invincible Fight Girl... ...and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal... ...and My Adventures with Superman... ...and the Checkered Past block... Scratch that. It's a perfect fit for them, which I don't like to admit.

I can safely say I didn't expect this! A subbed Lazarus marathon starting before Midnight? That was never on my bingo card. I appreciate your optimism, but I heavily doubt they would make this schedule. Yes, Ninja Kamui is greenlit up to Season 3, and Superman and Daima do fit the 11 PM slot by American standards, but we still have a One Piece debt to pay after this. Don't be surprised to see all of November and December as marathon months. However, if your prediction comes true for the July schedule, I will eat my gym socks.

"All pickups are created equal, but some are more equal than others." -Demarco, probably

I was hoping the monotony would be broken up in this thread. Like, I get that Zaslav is your typical entertainment executive when it comes to fictional programming, but for Lazarus, the water has been muddied. Now, the Megas XLR reboot that was pitched? That, I agree with the majority on.

So, what do you think would be the new headliner for July? The safe option would be Daima, but I wanna know if there's anything else that would fit. Rooster Fighter, maybe?

In an ironic twist of fate, one of the last shows on Toonami's weekday lineup inspires one of the first shows on its revived Saturday night block. Who knew?

I will admit that Checkered Past started out with good intentions, more or less. In 2023, it acted as a decent enough bridge between Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. Heck, its lineup and scheduling was good enough to put lesser-known shows back on the schedule for a time, like Cow and Chicken, What A Cartoon!, the original 1995 Cartoon Planet, and even an episode of Grim and Evil. Why, we even got Toonami Rewind as a Friday exclusive during the Summer and Fall of last year. What a treat! But then, when it was announced that the return of Family Guy meant that Checkered Past would be reduced to one hour instead of two, coincidentally ending Toonami Rewind around the same time, the writing was on the wall. However, I did check out the 30th anniversary celebration of World Premiere Toons. Unfortunately, that was the last notable thing this block did. And now? With King of the Hill airing at 5 in the afternoon with the Adult Swim branding? Coupled with the Discovery split separating WB's studio from most of its networks? Plus shutting down HBO Family a year after reducing it to solely airing kids movies? It just goes to show that the idea and the execution of a project can be complete opposites for the worse.

Thank you for your words of wisdom. I, like more users on the Internet, did not react kindly to this news when it initially became public awareness. Besides, how much money did they really make off of consigning Megas to the puke bucket?

Who knows? They may make an announcement during the marathon. That, and this is being held the day after the 4th of July, and nothing says "willingly blowing up chunks of America" like the Last Son of Krypton. Knowing what happened to Invincible Fight Girl's impromptu rerun cycle earlier this year, that may be a possibility.

Translated: "Those that adapt a property that did not create it were pigeonholed into making someone else's project instead of having their own original story greenlit." Example: Dinosaur Planet and its transformation into Star Fox Adventures, circa 2000-2002.

Fingers crossed that this is tolerable at least.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here. I do think there is potential in a Season 2 for Ninja Kamui. Doesn't mean it won't have flaws. Ninja Kamui getting a THIRD season, on the other hand? I highly doubt that would happen, let alone work. Oh well. At least Primal Season 3 is said to come early next year. And that new Steven Universe spin-off for Prime Video looks pretty good.

I can gel with this premise...as a television special. An ongoing sitcom, on the other hand? This would need to pull off a hat trick to work.

Of all the 90s shows to get remade, Ronin Warriors was among the lowest on the list of expectations.

It's official. Smiling Friends is Adult Swim's new second banana compared to Rick and Morty. Odds are becoming greater the show may outlast that series.

In general terms: If Warner Bros. wants to air their new shows on their old cable networks, agreements need to be made. Adding to this, they seem to be going all-in on streaming. In specific terms: Goodbye, Toonami original programming.

If Toonami moves at any point, would there be any place relocate if not for Saturday nights? I guess HBO Max is one way to put it, but I don't know any alternatives.

If I wanted to watch animals and assorted beings engage in R-rated comedy, I'd just watch Drawn Together. However, I will say that Regular Show has a point to be on Adult Swim, provided you squint in a wind of buffalo breath.

On the positive side, the premieres, whether World or Toonami, are surprisingly loaded for June 2025. And a Toonami schedule that has Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto, and Sailor Moon is definitely going to get news coverage. On the negative side, unless Midnight's already booked, I do agree that Dragon Ball Daima should've been saved for July. Guess this means Superman's less likely for summer. Either way, I'd take Dragon Ball Daima over subbed Lazarus if it meant One Piece gets shrunk to a half-hour.