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It is indeed very weird. Such a needlessly tangled web of rights.

Supposedly only two of the specials will be pulled from Max next month. We can only speculate if that was always the plan or if they decided not to go through with pulling off the whole series.

It's complicated. Food Wars seasons 1 and 2 were an instance when Crunchyroll and Sentai both picked up the simulcast streaming rights (so it wasn't exclusive) and Sentai got the home video and (I think) the merchandising license once that was available and dubbed it. Seasons 3 onward are a different story where Crunchyroll snatched up the master license and then for the dub and home video release it was sublicensed to Sentai. My friend theorized Crunchyroll (when both companies were owned by AT&T) worked with Toonami to secure Food Wars but it's equally likely that Toonami went directly Sentai for the first two seasons. But with season 3 onward they absolutely were dealing with Crunchyroll because they were the ones who had the TV rights and Sentai just dubbed it for them and released it on home video. CR having control the license is one reason why the dub for season 4 was on HBO Max but still isn't on HiDive. Actually because of some rights losses Food Wars seasons 1 and 2 are no longer on CR (season 2 doesn't seem to be on HiDive either) and Food Wars season 3, 4 and 5 are exclusive to Crunchyroll. Bizarrely only the dub of season 4 is on CR and not the dubs for seasons 3 and 4.

They don't usually announce renewals and frankly even starting Dressrosa is no indication that they'll air much or most of it. There's that rumor (not sure where it originated) they got 150 episodes back in 2022. Dressrosa starts at 630 so they'd get to 667 if it was 150 episodes starting at 517. Though it might be 668 or 669 depending on if the Toriko cross-over episodes are included (590 which aired and 542 which didn't) either way we'll get at least 37 episodes of Dressrosa. At the click of once a week that's gonna last 3/4ths of a year while Shippuden will last 48 more weeks. Acquisitions have become a real mystery at this point. We have a handful of speculative points: 1) Crunchyroll is not selling more shows to Toonami because... a) They price them out of Toonami range regardless of how big of the show is b) They only price Toonami out of big series and Toonami just doesn't look at others that are affordable c) They want to keep their dubs exclusive to their platform d) They will sell to the highest bidder and if its not Toonami then tough shit The fact that Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, Mob-Psycho 100 and Demon Slayer dubs are on Hulu and the fact that MHA, Dr. Stone and Food Wars continued on Toonami means they will come to the table under certain circumstances. Those circumstances either being existing agreements and/or some push from the Japanese side that don't want shows to be limited to one platform. We know they're interested in Jujutsu Kaisen, Gundam: The Witch from Mercury and some other Crunchyroll licenses. They haven't been able to secure them yet but they are probably still trying for at least some of them. Is that causing tunnel vision where Toonami doesn't look beyond their check list? That may or may not be the case. 2) Toonami can get some shows from Sentai and Viz Media but they aren't doing so because... a) Toonami see's nothing they want from them b) Toonami might like some of them but don't like the price vs the perceived value, sequels and related series are easier sells c) They will sell to the highest bidder and if its not Toonami then tough shit There's no telling what at all Toonami is interested in from either Sentai or Viz or if the price is almost never right these days unless its a sequel or spin-off and Made in Abyss season 1 was a total fluke made in desperation to fill a slot. Why didn't they get Urusei Yatsura? Are they still trying to get it? Are they looking at anything else besides Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War? There's really no telling at this point. 3) Toonami will without question conserve their acquisition budget whenever they can because... a) They're saving with the expectation that a big fish will become available b) Their acquisition budget is likely drastically cut back from what it was between 2015 and 2019 c) They see they can coast on basically nothing so they don't look to fill openings sooner Thinking about how Toonami would have even functioned this year if they were not allowed to encore Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and My Adventures with Superman... What would they have even done? Did having the option push them to rely on those shows or were they the block's saving grace because Toonami really didn't have the budget for a headliner this Summer? 4) Toonami is moving away from acquisitions almost entirely as they focus on producing original series a) They won't completely abandon acquisitions because its still hard to fill even two hours with "new" content without them but they will be less and less reliant on them b) They'll continue to focus on sequels and spin-offs for acquired shows and any new big fish they can actually get Obviously they don't need as many acquisitions when they are making several of their own shows but we've seen how anemic the lineup can be when they're waiting for the next original. It seems to be their game plan moving forward and they're hoping not to have as much downtime between originals. Is the acquisition focused era of Toonami all but over? It very well could be. Shout out to Brianycpht for this discussion point. 5) What's WBD's deal with Toonami anyway? a) How much financial support is Zas' company willing to throw Toonami's way? b) Does the company only see Toonami as an anime platform and will only make anime for it? c) What current and upcoming WBD content is Toonami allowed to air? Since Discovery merged with WarnerMedia we have seen a greater emphasis on advertising Toonami and even advertising on other networks and a WB animated series is airing on Toonami regularly for the first time since Beware the Batman was burned off in 2014 but the block's schedule looks abysmal and they have only acquired two shows (both sequel seasons) in the first half of the year. Is the vast DC library of films and animated series finally in Toonami's reach or will only the occasional series or film squeak through? We don't seem any closer to having Young Justice on the block or a regular run of Harley Quinn anywhere on Adult Swim but maybe Creature Commandos isn't out of the question? If WBD has enough faith in Toonami to demand advertising, sign off on several block specific IDs and throw money at original productions then why isn't the acquisition budget healthier? Feels like a trial by fire where they have to prove they're worth keeping around without spending much money. Following up on the previous point, WBD probably see's Toonami's future as a platform for original anime and not much else. Maybe anime on HBO Max wasn't the boon they hoped it would be but other adult targeted animation shows more promise as streaming exclusives? That's believable enough but it's annoying to see Toonami's scope continue to be limited by the company that owns it. I suppose its better than the company seeing absolutely no value in the brand but how much better is that when Toonami continues to look anemic and offers very little to its current viewership? A healthy future is hard pressed to come from an unhealthy present.

We sorta let this conversation occur across multiple threads but it would be nice to hash it out in one place. Here's what we know but anything is subject to change: FLCL Grunge premieres September 9th Uzumaki is supposedly airing this year and probably premiering in Japanese with English subtitles like Rick & Morty: The Anime Ninja Kamui and Lazarus are aiming for next year, FLCL Shoegaze's release window is TBA so probably not this year FLCL Classic ends on August 19th Dr. Stone: New World Part 1 ends on August 26th, Part 2 won't start on Crunchyroll until October One Piece's current filler arc ends on August 26th the very next episode would begin the 100+ episode Dressrosa arc My Adventures with Superman "season" ends on September 2nd if it's 10 episodes and that's Labor Day Weekend, "season 2" is in development with no release window confirmed The only acquisitions they added this year besides potentially more Naruto: Shippuden and more One Piece were Food Wars: The Fifth Plate and Dr. Stone: New World and My Hero Academia Season 6 was picked up toward the end of last year Season 7 of My Hero Academia is in development but no release window has been confirmed Anything beyond that is pretty much just speculation and there's plenty to speculate about

They're shooting for next year but ya know... stuff happens.

Probably means nothing but it could be a hint that DeMarco’s ambitions to secure Eizouken weren’t for naught.

Semantics, it was a short anyway but I brought it up because it was a weird Japanese thing that one time aired at the start of the block.

I was also thinking this felt like something made for TCM. Maybe it will actually air there. I don’t think they’ll air the dub immediately after the sub because I get the impression the dub isn’t going to be ready by then. It would have been a novel move to say bookend the block with the dub and sub of Uzumaki but obviously air the dub earlier. But if they’re actually going to run Uzumaki in Japanese in the first hour of Toonami then I’m all the more certain they’ll be leading the block with RickAniMorty encores once Uzumaki ends. The only reason I thought they might just quietly throw that in the back was because I didn’t think they would ever start Toonami with a subtitled show (yeah yeah Sandwhale yadda yadda) but if they’ll do it for Uzumaki then they’ll do it for RickAniMorty.

My biggest gripe is I want to be able to look thoroughly at the art and animation and having to read subtitles takes away from the visual experience. I watch a lot of anime subtitled but it’s usually not my preference.

Turns out the Rick & Morty anime won’t be the only subtitled show on Adult Swim soon The current plan is to premiere Uzumaki subtitled So let me get this straight… you spent 4+ years on these four episodes and when the show airs it will be monochrome and subtitled. And you expect your shounen action loving and/or pot smoking audience to watch it? Good luck with that.

You have no idea how relieved I am that it’s 2D. When Sola was announced to be involved, I got very concerned they were gonna go with CG models.

It wasn’t a trailer it was a clip from an episode but it’s not a good sign that DeMarco said no time frame at the panel. For now I’m expecting it to replace FLCL Grunge mid-October because nothing says it has to finish in October. Of course Superman will be done after Labor Day weekend so they could stall 4 weeks then start it in October and overlap originals two weeks. Or since Ninja Kamui is supposedly starting this year then that might replace Grunge and overlap with Uzumaki. Sub that with Rick Anime for a more realistic scenario I guess.

Well here DeMarco says it’s coming later this year

So these are production staff that aren’t writers or animators and that’s why they aren’t already part of the animation guild. I hope they succeed in joining the union.

Solid trailer. Feels very much like a trailer intended to please existing fans by including several major characters and events. For newcomers it’s downright spoilery to show Arlong Park stuff but at least they don’t blatantly spell out that storyline beyond “you messed with Luffy’s friend, so you gonna get whooped” Overall I found it charming. They did a great job with the news bird.

How many of those posts are trashing it though? Anyway I just remembered something they could announce at that panel, the Titan special. If they announce any acquisitions there, that will be one of them.

Unicorn doesn’t need reruns on Toonami. Dr Stone for all we know will move later and rerun as they wait for part 2 without any expansion to the block. Back to the main point of the thread… WBD just can’t go a day without screwing over shows and creators but it’s especially stupid to pull the series months before the movie will stream on Max.

The excuse remains to be a lack of money for acquisitions. The reason for the lack of money is a bit different but not all that much. WarnerMedia was a shit show (pandemic or otherwise) in 2020 and WBD is possibly an even bigger shit show now.

I have little to no expectation that anything other than originals will be discussed at that panel. I’m hoping to see previews of Ninja Kamui, Uzumaki, the FLCLs and obviously this new show. I won’t entirely rule out an acquisition if they actually got Bleach or something biggish coming this Fall but I’m not counting on it. As much as I’d like to see them spring another Gridman type announcement on us at this panel I won’t get my hopes up for such a thing.

They announced it via press release this morning. Would have been a big surprise at the panel but oh well. Getting the John Wick director and Watanabe for one project is pretty rad. That’s a killer combo for the action direction and hopefully MAPPA brings their A game but who is writing the scripts? The scripts have been the downfall of every Toonami original thus far. One thing that rather ticks me off though is they announced Watanabe will be at the panel only after the reservation spots were already claimed. If it was a total surprise that’s slightly less of a dick move but now people know they won’t get a chance to see Watanabe unless they luck out waiting in line. Oh and the panel isn’t being live streamed officially either.

Thankfully not official but I was getting concerned for a moment

It’s Big O. Consider the optics. Adult Swim managed to co-produce a second season of (at least at the time) a well regarded and respected series and unlike with FLCL a decent amount of the fans did want more and were thrilled to get it. It’s even on Sunday night because AS wants as many eyeballs on it as it can get. That level of importance and anticipation and on the premiere run they messed up and aired the wrong episode. That definitely got more notice than any of those other instances. The SAO glitch is arguably the most intriguing flub up and Harley is the one time they didn’t make it up to us but neither got the level of response The Big O incident did. And on top of that it was in the era when AS trolled anime fans regularly so instead of just apologizing and rescheduling the episode they made even more of a spectacle out of it. Nothing like that has occurred in the Toonami era of AS.

I truly hope when they lose Bob’s Burgers they put Futurama back in prime time.

She has every right to try to protect her voice even from “harmless” fan projects using AI to have Futaba sing about dick pics and pictures of the Harry Potter kids fucking each other in this instance.