Mr. Idea Box

Well, I expected Rick and Morty to invade Toonami in August. I didn't expect it to be in the middle of that month, though. The dub's on Thursdays, while Toonami gets the sub? And they're airing the subtitled version at Midnight? I mean, I'm not really that surprised, but it still feels weird. I don't know what would air in the rest of August, but my predictions have been shifted from this announcement. Sentai Filmworks is dubbing the show? Well, that makes anything from HiDive a lot likelier in the future, especially now that subbed anime has a chance at Midnight for some reason. Yeah, it's a lot to take in.

Honestly, I'm surprised it took Canada as long as they did to rename Teletoon into Cartoon Network, given the USA channel is in shambles at best.

On the one hand, Invincible Fight Girl being on Adult Swim pains me. On the other hand, Rooster Fighter might get some actual recognition from this reveal, as it's the first time I've heard it.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Then again, I made a conscious choice not to watch the debate.

If One Piece can't make the Top 400 at 1 AM, I'd hate to see what it does at 12:30.

Well, I would certainly be surprised to see this on Toonami, as it was under my radar when the first two seasons were there. Like, on the one hand, Fire Force would be cheaper to license, even with Crunchyroll dubbing it. On the other hand, Toonami probably doesn't have the budget for more than MHA and One Piece, specifically in Sony's case.

On the one hand, getting Sailor Moon back-to-back would be a great change to the schedule, and one I would welcome. On the other hand, I have a sad suspicion this means Toonami Rewind is getting turned into late-night filler. Please let this not be the case.

I understand that you're upset about how far Toonami and Demarco have fallen over the past few years. Sometimes, I can even find some common ground with your thought process. But I am legitimately getting tired of the doomposting whenever something bad happens on Toonami's turf. Really, I am. Can't this section on the site appreciate the stuff we have? A three-hour block Saturdays at Midnight, a Friday evening block for retro viewers, all while cable television is declining. Frankly, it should be a miracle Toonami is still a thing in 2024. I gotta ask: What would you prefer? An action/anime block run by an out-of-touch executive, or no action or anime blocks on any TV set? Because I'm starting to think that's a trick question.

Man, the next year and change is going to be rough for Toonami's bread and butter, isn't it? My Hero Academia has a handful of manga chapters left, meaning Season 8 will likely be its last. Dr. Stone and Demon Slayer are starting to wrap up. One Piece is looking to be a golden goose for Netflix, even if the Toonami run is hundreds of episodes behind the current age. Naruto Shippuden is ending in two months. Scavengers Reign was sold for pennies on the dollar, making it strange bedfellows with Gear 5 Luffy. People are still wary about Toonami Rewind's success, to the point where some people practically expect its programs to be dumped to the back alley of Saturday nights. To say nothing about the American animated projects, which are all subject to being written off before they come out. As such, during a tumultuous time for the Toonami legacy, and in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Saturday Night Toonami, I want to voice my opinions for what I do (and do not) want to see looking forward. 1.) More Programming Variety This seems to be a catch-all term, so let me elaborate. At this current junction on the Absolution, shows based on Shonen Jump properties take up between 7 and 9 time slots on two blocks, with at least three separate episodes given to Dragon Ball Z Kai alone. I think I can speak for the majority when I say the anime industry has moved beyond relying on Shonen manga for easy money. Magical girl properties like Pretty Cure and Jewelpet are seeing a comeback, while comedy manga can still find a footing in this modern market. Barring that, I do hope for more American animation in Toonami's future, as My Adventures with Superman is successful enough to gain a third season. Yes, even with the impending rise of James Gunn. Heck, as long as I'm stating my desires, bring in animation from outside the West and East. I know that's a longshot, but there are animation studios from other countries besides Japan, United States, and Canada. 2.) An Expansion on Toonami Rewind On the other end of the coin, I think Toonami Rewind is a great concept, getting to provide the next generation a taste of what the Toonami Faithful used to watch growing up. However, I feel like cutting into Checkered Past might not work going forward. Now that the third installment of Beavis and Butthead is moving to Comedy Central, I have a feeling The Mouse is itching to make FXX the exclusive home for adult animation. As such, expanding Toonami Rewind would be a great way to fill two more hours of airtime. In fact, try this on for size... Monday Thru Thursday: 7.0: Samurai Jack 7.5: Sailor Moon 8.0: Dragon Ball Z Kai 8.5: Naruto Classic Friday: 7.0: Invincible Fight Girl (New!) 7.5: Totally Spies (2024) (New!) 8.0: Dragon Ball Z Kai 8.5: InuYasha Not exactly the best way to expand, but it still provides a respite from the work week. And if we have no choice but to air Invincible Fight Girl on Toonami, I'm honestly hoping they do it this way. 3.) Wasted Slot Potential To wrap things up, here's something that I don't want to see. I do not want Toonami to consistently marathon one of their shows into the grave. It happened with the original Dragon Ball Z back in the early 2000s. It happened with Naruto three years later. And from the looks of things, it may be happening with Ninja Kamui nowadays. Look, I get it. No one is watching television at 3 in the morning. I understand. But do you have to fill in space with shows you just finished premiering? Honest question here. If you don't want to shrink back to a two-hour block on Saturdays, that's perfectly fine. There's a lot of options just waiting at your fingertips. Primal has a third season renewal, and that already has nearly half a year covered by itself. Cowboy Bebop's never going away, and Toonami Rewind would censor some of the material. If FLCL isn't getting new seasons anytime soon, reruns shall suffice. Ditto that for Unicorn: Warriors Eternal. Heck, you guys have a second season of IGPX just waiting in the wings. Why don't you use that to fill space? I guess what I want to say is...I want Toonami to last as long as possible, and the only way they can do that is by expanding their horizons. Hopefully, they can take these lessons to heart. Or maybe they'll become even more stagnant than they were in 2008. But what do I know? I'm just a guy on the Internet. And if one Jeff Harris is keeping an eye open, you and your words matter more than you think. My two cents here.

UZUMAKI HALLOWEEN SWEEP LET'S GO!

I hope this bodes well for their take on Jonny Quest. If Space Ghost can break the chains of Williams Street, so can he.

On the one hand, I have a feeling Sony would want these to be Alamo Drafthouse exclusives for a while. On the other hand, if these movies do air on Toonami, I hope it would be like the Attack on Titan finale duology and it only takes a year and a half to air them. But I'd be okay with spacing them out to one movie a year, truthfully.

Thanks, but my brain only has room for one or two DC Comics primates, and they're Gorilla Grodd and Detective Chimp. No disrespect to the show, but Mallah is a sincere oddity.

Maybe I need to catch up on DC Comics history, but... Why the gorilla?

Honestly, I'm more surprised the kept the Turner Program Services logo instead of the more widespread Turner logo. That surprised me.

An expansion to before Midnight, a Shippuden finale marathon, Suicide Squad subbed, and G Gundam being the mecha of choice? As much as I'd like to see these for the beginning of August, I have my doubts. I'd be one to enjoy adding the MHA Prelude to the schedule, and Witch From Mercury would turn a couple heads. Sounds like September 28th might be a burn-off night. Uzumaki getting both Subbed and Dubbed wouldn't surprise me, and if there's any month to get twice the Zom 100, it would be Halloween season. But seeing Housing Complex C air from 5-7 PM would be the ballsiest prediction you have thus far. Two new seasons of Demon Slayer in 2024 alone? Thousand Year Blood War? These would be major surprises. A five-hour Toonami Saturday block. What year is this, 1999? Looks like your prediction wouldn't have major gaps until Valentine's Day. Man, I wish Toonami had a lineup like this in the books for this year. Shows like Thousand Year Blood War and Witch From Mercury, more subbed anime like Suicide Squad Isekai and Rick and Morty: The Anime, an expanded block running from 11 PM to 4 AM, Toonami Rewind airing Housing Complex C. My inner self would love a schedule like this, while my more realistic outer persona would be just as amazed.

I thought we'd have to wait another week for next month's schedules. Judging by the general response, maybe pushing the July announcements a week in advance was a blessing in disguise. As for the programming in question, I'm just as gobsmacked as the rest of you. Dressrosa Two Piece at 12:30 AM? Double (or even triple) Demon Slayer? An all-night Superman marathon? Not a pretty picture. I hope August is an improvement over this, with 2-3 empty slots to fill, both Shippuden "premieres" and Kamui reruns winding down, and Toonami Rewind catching up to Saturday on DBZ Kai's episode count. In fact, I just hope Toonami Rewind doesn't become Saturday filler. As for this month? If I regularly watched Toonami, I would've slept through most of this.

I knew it.

I'll reserve my reaction for if/when we get a trailer for this. Right now, it just feels like the execs are trying everything they can to win back audiences. Does anyone remember Mao Mao?

Sure, Superman may be Metropolis's most eligible bachelor, but if the trailer is anything to go by, Jimmy Olsen might be the second.

I actually don't mind that MAWS has a third season on the way. At least Superman is getting something between this and the upcoming movie, rather than being overshadowed by Batman again. Whether Season 3 is going to be good, I can't say for certain. But dammit, the show gets results.

I like the idea of Safari Heist, but maybe it should just be an Adult Swim Smalls episode instead. I have a gut feeling that these characters would be the exact same if they were humans. Overall, if I wanted to support a new comedy by Genndy Tartakovsky, adult or otherwise, I'd just watch Fixed instead. And that movie's co-distributed by New Line, which is a WB division, so that says something about this here.

YES! With what passes for Adult Swim's comedy margin, this is great news.

Okay, so a boatload of WB announcements came in today at Annecy, with more presumably to come this week. Let's go over all the ones that happened this far into the event: New Adventure Time projects. From the reconfirmation of the movie in development, to a preschool series starring BMO, to a new series throwing back to the earlier seasons with an episodic nature, it looks like they really are banking on Adventure Time again. Revivals of Regular Show and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Regular Show seems to have its creator and tone intact, which I hope proves well. By contrast, Foster's Funtime for Imaginary Friends sees Bloo act as a teacher to new imaginary friends. At least Craig McCracken is back for this one, but I'm definitely too old for that. Go-Go Mystery Machine. If that name doesn't clue you in, pun intended, we're getting an anime-esque cartoon, if not an out-and-out SCOOBY-DOO ANIME. This has been on my list of properties to mine since Suicide Squad Isekai was announced, and I won't lie and say this wasn't one of my favorite reveals today. Original projects like Bad Karma and Lovey Dovey. Honestly, I'd rather watch one over the other, and the one which the plot centers around pigeons screwing what I assume to be a Big Bird expy won't be the one I watch. Gumball Season 7. From what I've heard, it's essentially the reverse of Moana 2, in which a movie is getting split into a series, rather than a series getting fused into a movie. Your guess is as good as mine on whether this does well. Primal Season 3 and Get Jiro. I'm excited about both of these, but I feel like Adult Swim has enough as is. Frankly, I'm going to presume Regular Show, Mystery Machine, and Lovey Dovey move to Adult Swim. Maybe even Adventure Time: Side Quests too, at this rate. But I'm glad they're still doing SOME things with the animation library they have.

On the bright side, this means Toonami has a slot free this Halloween for "we all know what".