Sketch

If THIS is what it is then it would explain why they tossed it to 3AM rather than air it earlier in the block to save some precious One Piece episodes or something. EDIT: I don’t think that video is what will be airing. Seems they made a vintage style anime for this. It's subtitled and could certainly turn off their regular viewers just by the look of it so 3AM is a much safer bet than earlier in the block but at this point they could have played it at 1:30 without much concern.

That’s a bit surprising. At least it is doing well on AppleTV digital sales so far.

So they moved the Thursday slot to midnight and moved the encores to Sundays. It has already lasted longer than some expected but its evident by now that they will keep running it because it's paid programming.

This whole show is about substance in a manner of speaking. Someone didn't do enough research on prisons when they wrote this episode.

None of the folks I'm talking about are reviewing the show as a means to profit. They all write as a hobby. They're paid on passion but have torn down basically everything DeMarco has been associated with but like Common Side Effects, Scavengers Reign, My Adventures with Superman and Invincible Fight Girl (maybe only one of them liked Unicorn). Most of them didn't even like Ninja Kamui before the general audience turned on that one and even nitpick the first episode of Uzumaki. If anything they are overly critical of the co-pros so when they say Lazarus is genuinely good so far, that's quite a vote of confidence to me. I don't know if you ever read my initial reviews of Ninja Kamui, RATAM, etc but they aren't exactly glowing. I find these people to be of like mind and trust their tastes in entertainment in general.

You didn't have to wait long. There's a marathon of eps 1-9 tonight at Midnight. Set that DVR.

I think there's Toonami viewers that don't consider Space Dandy a 10/10 but Toonami viewers are more likely to love Space Dandy than the majority of the anime viewing public. I will say the people who endlessly sing the praises of Watanabe are the ones that are probably still watching Adult Swim and at least gave Dandy a chance or outright loved it. I think you should trust their integrity a tad more than that and none of these folks I'm talking about are really Watanabe dick riders. They are not concerned with going against acceptable public opinion and suggesting a Watanabe project didn't turn out well. I'm not saying their judgement is infallible but I've known them not to sugar coat it when it comes to DeMarco's pet projects. So I genuinely feel some relief that they say its good so far. But as you said, starting off well doesn't mean it will stay good and for that we'll just have to wait and see.

Wonderful news. This show has been superb.

Obviously it has to start and end good for a W and I'm not gonna say otherwise. But it certainly helps to start off well and not need to hold the audience hostage till it gets good. However, I disagree that people aren't willing to criticize a Watanabe show, plenty of people looked sideways at Dandy and Terror in Resonance wasn't above criticism out the gate either. And mind you I'm hearing this from people who have been quite critical of Toonami's other originals as well as Watanabe's shows, some of which didn't even like Ninja Kamui early on and think Cowboy Bebop and Champloo are overrated. Perhaps their expectations were low due to Toonami's track record but they aren't the types that give Watanabe shows a free pass. They're not concerned about becoming targets from fanboys for their opinions either. I think you might even be overestimating the level of loyalty people have to Watanabe given a lot of people in the comments of the OP video don't even realize this is a Watanabe show despite the credits displayed. And for real where were these Watanabe glazers when Carol and Tuesday was airing? I don't think they were even that many for Terror in Resonance. Granted we are talking about the AS anime viewers who would actually acknowledge this show is airing and surely there's plenty that feel Watanabe can do no wrong but even a lot of those folks didn't dig Space Dandy, T&R, C&T and might not have even heard of Kids on the Slope.

Discovery Warners is not going to sell Looney Tunes before they sell off Hanna Barbera and Cartoon Network, come on! That's beyond illogical when the brand still matters globally. It also greatly irks me that they treat Looney Tunes as nothing but kids stuff like it some how has no value to anyone but kids when in reality it has much more value with people who are not kids. It doesn't get 3 hours in prime time on MeTV Toons for nothing. You can kind of understand removing a lot of kid friendly stuff from Max but Looney Tunes? I cannot believe only kids were watching those shorts. And mind you they still have the Max produced Looney Tunes Cartoons. Make it make sense!

How is this opening both not very hype and not very chill? It's this weird middle ground that comes off awkward to me. Fine song and okay visuals but the mix just isn't working for me and it's got nothing on the OPs of Bebop, Champloo and Dandy. That said, everything I have heard from people who saw the first 5 eps as screeners have had no complaints about the show and giving out 5 eps is a vote of confidence in of itself. I'm keeping my eyes and expectations fresh for the Toonami broadcasts but that is at least somewhat reassuring.

With cable dying it does make some sense to move it back to FOX national broadcasts and it will also be on Hulu like all those series. AS will keep the reruns and I suppose it was never in the cards that AS would get first dibs after TBS moved on but it would have been something if they did. That is the last of the scripted TBS programming I think? That in of itself is distressing to think about.

Feels like there must be some reason why they choose to keep One Piece doubled up instead of dropping the 3AM slot and shifting things up but alas it's not because they were keeping a spot warm for a 2nd premiere the same week as Lazarus. Maybe they'll have something a week or two after but at this point hoping for something before May 10th seems like a fools game. Considering Lazarus was paid for more than a year ago there is no evidence they have spent a single dime on programming for Toonami this year besides renewing One Piece and we're almost a quarter through 2025.

Not Lycoris Recoil. Made in Abyss season 1 was originally exclusive to Anime Strike in the US despite being licensed by Sentai and available on HiDive in other regions at the same time.

More than Disney+ internationally and HiDive as well but behind Hulu, Netflix and CR no surprise.

Not according to this. http://press.amazonmgmstudios.com/us/en/press-release/prime-video-announces-global-premiere-of-highly-an

Honestly… Why should they try to pay as much as streamers when they won’t benefit all that much from throwing that much money at acquisitions? No anime they can possibly get will do as well as Family Guy. But it seems like they’re stuck in this limbo of not wanting to spend a lot of money but refusing to seek out affordable anime.

Back in 2016 and 2019 respectively, Toonami did get the dub premiere of both seasons. Not only that, the dubs were exclusive to Toonami for a while but now it’s only on Hulu. Prior contracts might give Toonami an edge in negotiations but they could easily pass on the dub premiere and let someone else snatch it up. In which case it only makes sense for Viz to put it on Hulu first if Toonami doesn’t take their dibs. Toonami will more likely get it in the middle of 2026.

There was a bidding war and honestly I don’t think Toonami will bid much for an acquisition ever again. One-Punch Man season 3 is finally airing on October and chances are even if Viz gets it, it will be exclusive to Hulu but might be on Netflix and CR then eventually Toonami. Chances of a Toonami premiere are slim to none. It’s quite interesting that Amazon is suddenly picking up anime directly again after Anime Strike died off. Now they’re even streaming dubs though Bandai Namco Filmworks probably pushed for the simuldub of GCuX and possibly funded the dub.

Rest in the stars you absolute legend. His final appearance was kind of a perfect send off.

In this case he was suggesting the Dreamworks Voltron show that was Netflix exclusive for years. Now that Netflix has cast it off, they could get it from NBC Universal Comcast and that would be neat.

Here’s the Toonami Fan Community Summit on YouTube

This is so wild. If ever get Space Jam’d I’m calling Luffy and the crew I would love that. Unfortunately in the current era it would probably just be a mobile game.

About the only way I see them filling both 12:30 and 1am with a network premiere on May 10th is a double length Demon Slayer episode starting the Hashira Training arc. That would sync up to finish the same week as the Lazarus dub. That arc has 3 longer eps. What to do about the 5 weeks where eps 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 only fill one slot? I kid you not I expect them to run Oh My God, YES as filler. It’s got a sci-fi setting and has some anime inspired designs. With 10 quarter hour eps it fits snuggly into that space without starting another acquisition. Then everything 12-1:30 is done the same week as the Lazarus dub which makes it even easier to take 2 weeks off for Lazarus marathons on July 5th and July 12th. Then maybe it’s time for Primal season 3. One would hope by then they will have bought some dang shows!

With double OP airing 1:30-2:30 starting next Saturday it’s all the easier to stick Lazarus subs at 1:30 or 2am whenever they feel like it.