Mr. Idea Box

It's one of Adult Swim's most beloved shows, and for good reasons. But the fact it lasted long enough to make a Kingdom Hearts skit still astounds me.

I salute David Pepose for making such a bold move among the Hanna-Barbera action circuit.

Okay, let's see here. Daima / Slayer: March: Dragon Ball Daima premieres as a headliner for Toonami. April: Lazarus and Blue Exorcist Kyoto Arc premiere on Toonami, while pushing Daima to 12:30. June: Naruto and Sailor Moon are replaced by Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village. Two-week Lazarus marathon. July: Season 3 of Primal and Blue Exorcist Shimane Illuminati replace both Lazarus and Kyoto, respectively. The 3 AM slot is dropped. August: Mashle Season 2 premieres on Toonami in Daima's old slot. Reruns of Lazarus replace reruns of Swordsmith. September: Rooster Fighter makes its television debut as the next block headliner. October: Demon Slayer Hashira Training both replaces and pushes Mashle back at the same time. Uzumaki and Housing Complex C marathon on Halloween-adjacent night. November: More of last month's usual schtick. Holiday marathons are Rooster Fighter in November and Hashira Training in December. New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series. Stone / Blue: March: Toonami stalls all the way to April with more FLCL reruns. April: Lazarus is joined by Dr. Stone Science Future and Blue Exorcist Kyoto Arc. June: Swordsmith Village replaces Naruto and Sailor Moon as this month caps off with Lazarus marathons. July: Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, and Blue Exorcist Shimane Illuminati are the summer's new shows. 3 AM is dropped. August: Reruns of Lazarus replace Swordsmith Village. Nothing else changes. September: Rooster Fighter premieres on Toonami. October: Dragon Ball Daima and the next cour of Dr. Stone Science Future premiere as the new third-party pickups. Uzumaki and Housing Complex C marathon at the end. November: The only change at the end of this year is doubling up on DBZ Kai, which could ironically be a logical choice for their Christmas marathon at this rate. New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series. Fools Gold: March: FLCL stalls away. April: Lazarus is joined by Blue Exorcist Kyoto and...a whole season's worth of old FLCL episodes. June: Swordsmith replaces SM and Naruto. Lazarus marathons. July: Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, and...MORE OLD FLCL. Plus, the 3 AM timeslot gets dropped. August: Dragon Ball Daima premieres, bumping Mashle to 1 AM. Those who aren't in the know are joyous. September: Rooster Fighter premieres on Toonami. October: Demon Slayer Hashira premieres at 1 AM. Uzumaki closes the night at the end, rather than opening it. November: Rooster Fighter Thanksgiving marathon. One of the most thematic holiday marathons Toonami would ever consider. December: Two Piece returns to Toonami, as does Double DBZ Kai. Four shows total in three hours... New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series. Rewind Rewind: April: Lazarus is joined by Dr. Stone Science Future and Blue Exorcist Kyoto this season. June: Surprising the pessimistic crowd, Naruto and Sailor Moon stick around for now. Oh, and a Lazarus marathon bridges into the next month. July: Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, and Blue Exorcist Shimane are the Summer premieres. September: Rooster Fighter premieres on the block. October: Dragon Ball Daima and more Dr. Stone Science Future episodes premiere on the block, plus an Uzumaki/Housing Complex C marathon. November: Rooster Fighter Thanksgiving marathon, and a confirmation that the lineup has become lazy with how little it's really changed past 1 AM. New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series. Maximum Rewind: April: A schedule change. Lazarus at Midnight, even more FLCL repeats at 12:30, One Piece bumped up to 1 AM, and subtitled Lazarus at 1:30. The novelty will wear off by July. July: After an extended Lazarus marathon, the new episodes consist of Primal Season 3 and Mashle Season 2. Yet more FLCL at 1 AM. August: Reruns of Lazarus swap times with One Piece, meaning Toonami viewers can go to sleep earlier. September: Rooster Fighter premieres on Toonami. October: Dragon Ball Daima premieres on Toonami. Uzumaki/HCC marathon starting at 12:30. December: Two Piece returns to Toonami, hopefully ending the Dressrosa Arc at last. Year Round: The reruns and new episodes are further apart this year than ever before. New Shows: 4 existing properties, two original series. Die with Lazarus: March: Better off sleeping in this month. Just catch the bumpers on Youtube instead. April: Lazarus is joined by more FLCL reruns and a more permanent Two Piece lineup. June: Toonami ends its Adult Swim era with One Piece burning off their remaining contracted premieres and a two-week Lazarus marathon. Chances of an actual send-off for this second coming are slim to none. July and Beyond: The scant few action shows on Adult Swim's radar premiere Thursdays on cable and Fridays on streaming services. My Adventures with Superman could see its third season written off outright. New Shows: One existing property, one original series. Frankly, either one of these could be how 2025 goes for Toonami at this rate. However, if I could pick a preferred future, I'd go with either Daima / Slayer, Maximum Rewind, or Dies with Lazarus. The fact that capping off Toonami with the premiere of Lazarus is one of the better outcomes is not a good sign.

Okay, new theory: By September 2025, Toonami will regress back to a two-hour block, like in 2008, held up by: An original series OR an in-house property OR a major license. One anime pick-up, regardless of episode count. The Dressrosa Arc of One Piece. One cycle of reruns OR whatever else they can get their hands on. In the increasingly unlikely event of TWO anime pick-ups, erase the grab bag option and air One Piece in the last slot. I know that's entirely pessimistic of me to predict, but with DBZ Kai recycling only 47 episodes in two years, it doesn't inspire confidence in Naruto or Sailor Moon being long for this block.

I know this doesn't have much to do with Toonami, but they actually are doing some different stuff with Checkered Past in the coming months. February 17th thru 21st: To celebrate the 30th anniversary of What A Cartoon!, The Cartoon Cartoon Show is coming to Checkered Past to air the 2000 and 2001 CCF Big Pick nominees. We're also getting an extra half-hour of What A Cartoon! on Friday. February 28th: Cartoon Planet is coming back to Checkered Past, this time on Fridays. Unlike the anniversary special event, this will remain on Friday afternoons/evenings/whateveryouwannacallthem in March at the least. March 4th: Ed, Edd, n Eddy replaces Dexter's Laboratory at 5 PM, somehow starting on a Tuesday. The fact that they're actually doing different things with Checkered Past in 2025 gives me hope there's still some juice in the 5 o'clock tank. Something that is quite rare these days.

I choose to believe the 120+ episode count of My Hero Academia, coupled with the implied format of "two episodes each of one show per week", could result in Toonami still getting Season 7 if they could afford it. But if AXS somehow outbid Adult Swim for the cable rights to that show? The knife has been twisted even further.

FLCL reruns and double Blue Exorcist? At the same time? Next month's gonna be rough sailing for Toonami fans, that's for sure. At least this cycle of Invincible Fight Girl is reruns, albeit poorly thought out reruns. That way, those that want to see the last three episodes can just binge on Max. Or more likely in the coming years, Netflix and Hulu. Even if it's to mourn The Pillows breaking up, it still feels rough that they're spending at least three weeks with One Piece as their only premiere. And those episodes are a DECADE old. In a word, ouch.

I don't blame them. But at the same time, I'm glad they didn't outright copy the Ninja Kamui release cycle. This schedule makes sense. My only problem with this is in regards to Naruto and Sailor Moon. I have a hunch those two might leave in June, leaving two vacant slots at 2:30 and 3. And if DBZ Kai also ends its run in the middle of the year, that means we have THREE slots open for the summer. Even still, I doubt they'd be that shortsighted. Toonami expanding before Midnight for an original series? I'd be shocked if that happened. As for Dr. Stone and Demon Slayer, I'd place my money on the former before the latter.

Honestly, if it turns out that Ted Turner bought Hanna-Barbera specifically so he can relocate production of Captain Planet away from DiC, that would make me wish Universal outbid the Mouth from the South.

I'd laugh if Toonami actually got How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift, and YuYu Hakusho could be a welcome surprise in June. But if Dragon Ball Daima is on the table, why not get MHA Season 7 instead? The licensing fees are pretty equal AFAIK.

Well, I didn't expect this announcement.

Update: The Captain Planet comic will make its debut on Earth Day 2025. https://bleedingcool.com/comics/captain-planet-1-by-david-pepose-eman-casallos-from-dynamite-comics/ I never thought I'd say this, but he looks GOOD.

yay...

Someone was going to make this joke eventually. Just glad it was told.

[facepalm] You've gotta be kidding me... This is the exact way I did NOT want Toonami Rewind to end up. And what do they do? They place Dragon Ball at 2, Naruto at 2:30, and Sailor Moon at 3. Way to show where your bread's buttered, guys. At this rate, I'm expecting them to boot the ninja and the sailor once their contracts run out. Luckily, that gives them until May. Unluckily, that also clogs up the back half of the lineup for months. And with Invincible Fight Girl reruns at 12:30 until March? Plus Mashle on a more accessible platform? Good grief. I'm not even sure if MHA can save this paltry lineup, and that's just sad.

My thoughts exactly. An anime based on a PlayStation game would be practically easy money. And yet, the console had its own dedicated episode on Secret Level, making it a bit muddled.

Wow, seven takes on the upcoming year. Let's see what each variation brings us. Scenario #1: Lazarus, Dr. Stone Science Future, Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, more Blue Exorcist, Rooster Fighter, Get Jiro, Swordsmith Village reruns, Toonami loses 3 AM in February. Scenario #2: Dragon Ball Daima, Lazarus, Dr. Stone Science Future, Primal Season 3, more Blue Exorcist, DanDaDan, Mashle Season 2, Rooster Fighter, Get Jiro, Swordsmith Village reruns, Toonami keeps 3 AM until September. Scenario #3: Mostly the same as Scenario #1, except Mashle premieres before Primal, they pick up DanDaDan as well, and they keep the 3 AM slot until the Naruto license runs dry. Scenario #4: A mix between Scenarios #1 and #3, in terms of newer shows to license. Scenario #5: Lazarus, more Mashle, Wind Breaker, Primal Season 3, DanDaDan, more Blue Exorcist, Rooster Fighter, Demon Slayer Hashira Training, Get Jiro. Scenario #6: Sailor Moon R airs at 1 AM and bumps Blue Exorcist and One Piece down a slot. Plus Lazarus, Dr. Stone Science Future, Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, further Blue Exorcist, Rooster Fighter, and Get Jiro. Scenario #7: Dragon Ball Daima, Lazarus, Dr. Stone Science Future, Sailor Moon R replacing Fight Girl, Primal Season 3, DanDaDan, more Blue Exorcist, more Mashle, Rooster Fighter, Get Jiro, Toonami gains 3:30 for half the year. These scenarios are quite sound, and I agree that the last one would be the best way to spend their budget. However, there's one big setback to mention: My Adventures with Superman is nowhere on this list. My optimistic side would imagine WB would promote the upcoming theatrical film by releasing the announced third season on Toonami over the summer. Doubly so after Creature Commandos proved itself as a less likely contender for DC Comics in animated form. But even still, don't be surprised of that show pops up in the Midnight circuit at any point next year. Just putting that out there. Of course, there's also Fire Force's third season, but I don't think they'll add it to Toonami in 2025 if their January schedule is anything to go by.

To be perfectly fair, it was a good idea to try it. And now, over the past four years, we can make the same conclusion regarding Family Guy as their lead-in show. Unfortunately.

If any Adult Swim comedy was becoming part of Toonami, I'd rather have The Venture Bros. over Family Guy. But in all fairness, this sounds like the best schedule to hope for right now.

If that's what you think the schedule will look like soon, then I don't think I can print my thoughts on it. However, giving the benefit of the doubt, I'd at least bump Primal up an hour.

I assume no one's making a review of this week's offerings, with it being two marathons. That's all I'll say, because somebody has to make words on the last week of 2024.

With the way things are, it makes me worried for 2025. I'm starting to wonder if Toei might look elsewhere for One Piece. Letting DBZ Kai or OG Naruto expire early on would be surprising. Letting both expire would be a nightmare. Then again, I would've preferred losing 3 AM over even more Naruto reruns in the long run, but I digress. Let's imagine that the worst did happen, and Crunchyroll left Toonami in the dust forever. This still leaves Animax and possibly Kadokawa as alternative ways to get Sony on board for the block. Plus, they are getting more chummy with Sentai Filmworks to the point where they're outsourcing Williams Street's dubs to them. That, and there's always Viz Media to pull from. So, in all fairness, there are other options. But even I have to admit there needs to be fresh blood in the executive position nowadays. Truth be told, that's a blanket statement for every company in the 2020s, but that's a long story.

With the reveal of the first schedules of 2025, I wonder if the results of Rohirrim had something to do with it.

Returns: The schedule might be too packed if we had all of these seasons in 2025 alone. I know that's obviously a good thing, but if I could delay some of them, Fire Force S3, Lycoris Recoil S2, Demon Slayer, and S3 of Blue Exorcist might need to wait. Reruns: We already have these on the schedule, but I'd be happy to see Sailor Moon on there. Doubt it'll happen, though. New Shows: Daima, Aniplex title, and the originals? Yes. Undead Unluck and DanDaDan? GOOD LUCK.

Seconded to the nth degree. I also hope they don't renew that contract and just decide to let it lapse in May, because we'd be back where we started in more ways than one.