Mr. Idea Box

Basically, Paramount's new mascot is Plankton. That says quite a lot.

So, the general vibe I get is Ninja Kamui will be the next Mao Mao. That has some implications.

I'll admit that I didn't have The Elephant on my bingo card. Maybe I should've.

In other news: Most greedy businessmen are invented due to creatives needing a punching bag. More at 1:30 AM. Whoops. I miscounted. DDD Season 1 should finish on the 24th, assuming they go with Episodes 9-12. I could've sworn it was decipherable, but I could be wrong.

Okay. Now that we know what the next month or so is like, I've updated my predictions for 2026. January The month proceeds as announced, with no major changes from there. 1/31: Dan Da Dan ends their first season rerun. With the Season 2 sneak peek on December 27th, One Piece temporarily doubles up this week. February 2/7 Dan Da Dan S2 officially premieres at 12:30 AM. Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga premieres at 1 AM, moving down to accommodate for DDD. Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal Season 3 starts airing reruns at 2 AM, directly before One Piece. Either that, or it becomes the new 3:30 AM lead-out. March 3/7: Rick and Morty: The Anime airs its tenth and final episode. 3/14 Ninja Kamui Season 1 airs reruns to get ready for the next season. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War airs its third cour finale. The chances of its fourth and final cour airing on Toonami are currently unlikely. 3/21 Rooster Fighter premieres on the block. Zom 100 airs its final episode. 3/28 Dragon Ball Daima airs its final episode. Ninja Kamui doubles up as extra time filler, making fans wonder if Season 2 is closer than it appears. April 4/4: Primal doubles up for its season finale, having previously aired on Sundays last month. 4/11: The 2 AM rerun hour is given to IGPX, beginning with two episodes a week. 4/25 Both DDD S2 and BE S4 air their final episodes. The latter is the series finale to Blue Exorcist. Ninja Kamui airs its final three episodes in a mini-marathon, putting IGPX down to a single episode. May 5/2 Ninja Kamui premieres its second season, starting with a two-part beginning. IGPX moves to 3 AM for its continuing reruns. TBA Get Jiro premieres in early May or mid-July. It gets less marketing than the usual Toonami original, as WB wouldn't be as associated with the Food Network by that point. One Piece will double up at some point next year. Maybe even more than once. A 4th of July marathon reveals when the next season of MAWS will premiere. My hope is that it gets a Summer slot, but I can see it being saved for the Fall. One-Punch Man's third season premieres on Toonami, to the detriment of its followers. It can be a headliner at Midnight, the big anime pick-up at 12:30 AM, or even a benchwarmer for 1 AM. Bleach TYBW and Rooster Fighter air reruns in the back half of the block. If I may bet the farm, Bleach's rerun cycle will be twice a week due to the Mouse not wanting the Absolution to renew the show's contract. Uzumaki airs again on Halloween. Especially with the holiday falling on a Saturday in 2026. COME ON URUSEI YATUSURA '22! (I know, I know. Let me live a little. That's at least 23 episodes to air with this.)

I will say this: A Dan Da Dan marathon with a sneak peek of the next season, followed by an expansion into 4 AM the next week, were not on my bingo card for the future of Toonami. RATAM is only 10 episodes, but Zom 100 has 12. But yes, your questions are worth asking. I hope Primal is used as filler as well. If that happens, I bet on a February release between 2 and 4 AM.

I'll explain in the 2026 thread. Just know I also didn't expect that.

Change of plans. It looks that DB Kai would be the early-morning replacement instead of Home Movies. Dexter may still appear, though.

Okay, guys. Things are getting a bit hectic in here. Should we move the CNN talk to a separate conversation?

Honestly, I don't know which is the stranger replacement for Futurama: Dexter in the afternoon, or Home Movies in the early morning. Doesn't stop me from appreciating their returns in the moment. Yeah, but to do that, they'll have to pay royalties to Andy Merrill. Something tells me they won't want to do that anytime soon.

The list may be alphabetical, but that doesn't mean Adult Swim shouldn't celebrate this. At least in CSE's case.

If Netflix does buy WBD, that may spell trouble for the Academy Awards. If they stick to a theatrical release barrier, that restricts a lot of WB's output going forward. Yeah. But could you blame us? Thank you. I tend to get the two confused, but never to this extent. I'll edit it if you want.

I personally don't know who will buy WB. But I do have some ideas for a post-Skydance world. As previously stated, the Ellisons want to buy ALL off WBD, including the cable networks. I will preface this by saying Adult Swim folds into Comedy Central, Cartoon Network and Nicktoons Network merge, and Boomerang becomes Discovery Family's overnight block, if not the new look of it. However, Toonami either shuts down by the year's end, or moves to the combined CN and Nicktoons channel. In the event of a shutdown, I would hope they try to cap off its run by airing its older programming, mirroring the 2012 prank. In the event of a move to the combined network, I could see Avatar: The Last Airbender getting one of the available rerun slots, given its newfound status as "American anime". In terms of pickups, Crunchyroll stays away from Toonami even after all this, meaning My Hero Academia and the rest won't finish their runs on the quote-on-quote "anime block". Memes of Fry Cook Deku come back as a result. Yaiba and One-Punch Man are put on the block, mainly as the final pickups from the licensor of Inuyasha and Bleach. MAWS Season 3 airs in the summer, to capitalize on Supergirl. Ninja Kamui's second season airs...somewhere in 2026. Its third season, on the other hand, is cancelled. All this to say, Toonami isn't long for this world. No matter what happens to WB.

I'm glad that the trend of annual Toonami predictions is being kept alive. I'm also glad that my workload in predicting these things gets to take its own holiday. The finale dates check out on my end of the sector. However, I would argue they'd use this as an excuse to dump Naruto before the contract runs out, as it's clearly the oldest show on the block by that point. As for Dan Da Dan, I'd prefer if it got doubled up, since Blue Exorcist and Mashle would have conveniently premiered seven episodes by the end of December. If I recall correctly, Ninja Kamui is slated for a second and third season. If that's still the case, I can see S2 of NK getting a comfy midnight slot somewhere this year. In that event, I'd bet that Jiro gets demoted to 12:30. Super Mutant Magic Academy, on the other hand? If we're not getting the premieres, we're absolutely getting the reruns. I'd be shocked if Toonami's still around in 2027, so Bleach being part of their first post-M&A reset might help their case. The jury's still out on Demon Slayer and Dan Da Dan IMO, although I can't say I disagree with you on BE's fifth season. But One Punch Man Season 3? I'm afraid I don't know how bad it looks. Judging by the responses I've seen online, maybe that's a good thing. That doesn't sound good. What's worse is that Shonen Jump has the same opinion on its own material, usually ending newer manga in 20 chapters or less. Not necessarily a vote of confidence in the East, either. I hope you're right about this. Because if changes do happen to Toonami, I feel like their 30th anniversary would be their last. Pretty much the same as yours, frankly. With a few minor additions. 1: To get the most money's worth, most of 2026's rerun fodder will be Bleach: TYBW, as they have a 40-episode backlog already. Ditto that for Blue Ex. 2: Rooster Fighter will get a rerun slot in the summer. Whether it's at 2 AM, 2:30, or 3 AM, I am currently unsure. 3: Perhaps they'll use a marathon to put 3 AM to pasture in 2026.

Well, folks? Today's the big day. We will find out whether WB will be a hood ornament for Everest, have a Rabbit supplanted by a Peacock, be forced into a streaming-first climate, or split in two as initially intended. Whatever happens after that, just know that it's been a nerve-wracking few weeks, and I'd be glad just to get some closure.

Truth be told, I'm on pins and needles regarding WB's new owners.

Yeah, that tracks. Also, I have an announcement: I will hold off on trying to predict the next year of Toonami until the WB deals are settled. As it stands, things are currently too muddled.

"Like Mickey Mouse?" "Well..." (sigh) "...yes."

This has a 20% chance of working in WB's favor.

This most likely means One-Punch Man's next season won't be on Toonami in the immediate future. If the block survives past April 2026, maybe it'll show up. If nothing else, the increased competition with Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu has proven that anime doesn't need to be constrained by linear means anymore. Still, part of me will miss it FWIW.

So, which of the shows is getting shafted to make room for Primal? My bet's on Naruto.

I mean, if you say that "someone cut off Creepy Nuts", they wouldn't think about Toonami OPs. They'd think about getting fixed instead. I will now pause for someone to mention Genndy Tartakovsky in response.

Maybe they're aware of the implications of "cutting off Creepy Nuts", as far as US audiences are concerned? That's my best guess, anyway.

I gotta say I didn't expect that.

I will say this: Down to Earth has the soul of a WB project, while Elf and Warrior has the look of one. Kinda surprised they didn't reveal an adaptation for Wayne Family Adventures in the mix, because that would've definitely turned heads.