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Asking us to believe even for a second that Kohaku isn't cute or at least attractive compared to everyone else in the show is just ridiculous. That makeup job was full on Joker though Senku did look that bad and Gen can work it but of course they had to pick Ginro for the lulz. Why even TRY with Soyuz before Ginro? Maybe he didn't want to be left out. Moz and Kohaku certainly have a dynamic. He's gonna regret letting her into the inner sanctum. Making them think the moving lab was a large beast was a good trick but it seems Ibara isn't entirely convinced.

Nah nah they will rerun Dr. Stone instead of double One Piece

I'm not going to ask him if One Piece will be back. We'll see soon enough if it is or not. And yeah from the sound of it the other thing probably fell through. Hopefully that doesn't mean they have no additional acquisitions to show before the end of the year.

Turns out CR is the only place that 629 isn’t the start of Dressrosa. FUNi has 629 start Dressrosa and more importantly the DVDs start Dressrosa with episode 629. One more thing I can confirm. The bumps use clips from 629 so if that is what Toei considers the start of Dressrosa then Toonami will at least be showing a chunk of the arc. To play devil fruit’s advocate… if 629 is actually the last episode Toonami got then there’s no reason they absolutely have to air it before they remove the show again.

629 is categorized as season 9 on CR and FUNi while Dressrosa is season 10 even though the OP changed on 629 as you say.

Time dang about This was my expectation for 9/9 And I think we’ll have a Batman Day movie on 9/16 maybe even a movie on 9/23 and they start Uzumaki on 9/30 Its certainly is sus that One Piece is off the block 3 weeks in a row after the filler arc airs but I believe there’s one more episode that’s not part of Dressrosa that’s unaccounted for.

My familiarity with Mallah and The Brain extends only to 2003 Teen Titans, Young Justice and TTG prior to this so I wasn’t expecting them to be lovers but that’s apparently been a thing for years. And they made team Gurren looking mutants because they were bored. Another clear homage to an anime.

They’ve had Alt and Prog this whole time and didn’t use either to fill a void in 2020 or 2022? Okay then. I was fully expecting a marathon on Labor Day weekend but not the weekend prior. Leave it to Toonami to nuke the rest of the night just because they had one slot to fill that night. I am interested in rewatching both Prog and Alt but I probably won’t watch these marathons live. It’s not a given Dr. Stone will rerun but a rerun of some or all 11 episodes is the easiest way to keep a spot warm for the 2nd half of the season which can probably start airing in December. They really ought to have a new acquisition in September but chances of there being two are slim to none. Unless they double up One Piece in September a rerun of Dr. Stone seems very likely. I just hope they don’t stick it at 1am just to avoid moving One Piece and Shippuden.

There was a non-zero chance of that happening but I mean... nah they were not going to do that. But they WOULD have done a Barbenheimer skit and we should all be thankful they couldn't.

Bishounen Slade has some pretty rad gear but having his suit be decked out in a bunch of Krytonian tech downplays his own skills with normal swords. So that mention of the tech getting integrated into the suit has me concerned he's gonna keep adding stuff but we'll see. I am also thinking Jimmy bumped into Grodd. Don't think so badly of your homies Jimmy, emergencies happen a lot in Metropolis and they're both aspiring reporters. Remember when we only had phones and home and work and were not expected to be contactable at a moments notice? Cell phones and texting is efficient for communication but they put so much pressure on immediate responses. Obviously something involving the crash happened to The General but we don't know what yet. He's got beef with Superman because of it though. They didn't even go an episode before Steve was revealed as the troll going after Flamebird and I was not expecting that. Having someone troll Jimmy almost immediately did feel accurate though. He totally called the interns out about never following Perry's orders. Gotta say his voice just sounds too young for his character model and it's probably the least fitting voice so far. Having Lois find out Clark is Superman by episode 5 in season 1 is certainly a choice. Feels weird for her to do that before she's even an ace reporter but then again the other continuities always her meet Superman the first time after she's an ace reporter. I don't mind it and I do think it's reasonable for her to be upset but she should also come to terms with why Clark didn't tell her sooner. I'm not sure what I would prefer between her getting over it oddly fast or her taking a long time to get over it but I hope the writers know what they are doing. All around things are escalating quickly which may or may not be good but it's entertaining so far.

While I'm not hopeful for more than maybe 1 acquisition for the rest of the year one series if they can get one new thing then maybe it's ZOM 100. Viz licensed it and it's getting dubbed. It is streaming on Hulu, CR and Netflix so it's not exclusive. It could definitely live'n up the line-up.

That's where The Eminence in the Shadow comes in. The second season is airing right now and they're simuldubbing it. The first season ran 20 episodes between October of 2022 and February of 2023. Plenty of episodes and not even a full year old yet. If it's anything, I would say overall way more interesting stuff happens in Dressrosa than either Fishman Island or Punk Hazard those arcs are just significantly shorter and still have needlessly dragged out conclusions. But by comparison to that Zou is a breath of fresh air and Whole Cake is more fun than Dressrosa and also hinges tremendously on the relationships of the Straw Hats which is where some of the best moments in One Piece come from so I'd easily rank them higher than Dressrosa.

Why would they run both AoT movies on one night when they can make it an event two separate weeks and then probably re-air both together on a holiday weekend? They gotta try to get as much out of two specials as they can. Give One Piece some credit, even when it's literally a chapter per episode usually something of interest happens every chapter. Dressrosa doesn't start out slow as shit and a lot is going on but the fight with Doflamingo which is broken up via numerous flashbacks (all rather good stuff) drags on and on and on and on and on. Truly most isekai are just mid as it gets and relatively few are absolutely terrible.

Ideally they have their ducks in enough of a row that they actually premiere the Titan special on Labor Day weekend and launch a 2nd show with Grunge on the 9th. That's the least disruptive way they can run the Titan special before they swap in some fresh shows. Shit on Dressrosa's pacing all you want but its not a badly written story and has several great moments. Of all the seasons you're suggesting they get an isekai from... this one... really? Jobless Reincarnation season 2 and Vending Machine aside the isekai this season are so so so so uninspired. But of course Crunchyroll got all of them which is the usual problem. If they have to deal with Crunchyroll they are better off looking at stuff like DECA-DENCE, Akudama Drive, GARO, The Case Study of Vanitas, Ranking of Kings, LINK CLICK, BACK ARROW, 86, SABIKUI BISCO, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Psycho-Pass, Revenger, Golden Kamuy and many others. And some more recent isekai that aren't garbage but not well known like Skeleton Knight in Another World, Cautious Hero and Combatants will be Dispatched are fine picks as well. Sentai has some isekai worth considering though. The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Reincarnated as a Sword and The Eminence in the Shadow for 3.

I just got confirmed episode counts for Ninja Kamui (13) and RickAniMorty (10) I’m at least a little surprised DeMarco gave me straight answers to both queries.

Making originals makes sense financially and bidding against Hulu, Netflix and Amazon is foolhardy for the most part. But there’s so many shows out there that could make it feel like Toonami isn’t content with the bare minimum. And wouldn’t it make sense to pair these originals with something else? Akudama Drive would have been perfect to pair with Black Lotus. GARO Vanishing Line would pair nicely with Ninja Kamui (also the same director). Pair FLCL Grunge with Land of the Lustrous (also CG) or Akudama Drive. It’s gonna be total mood whiplash to go from Lazarus or Ninja Kamui much less Uzumaki to One Piece. Yeah I realize they might be concerned that a new acquisition of high quality could upstage their own shows but that’s a lousy way to think about it anyway. I’m expecting we’ll be down to 4 block premieres when Dr. Stone breaks but I’m hoping they have at least one acquisition joining in September. As for avoiding a double or triple premiere while two slots open up on September 9th there is one obvious solution. They finally air the Attack on Titan special. The next Saturday after that is Batman Day weekend as well and they might run a movie like prior years, maybe even the weekend after as well. That breakdown would be this: September 2nd - Superman then a marathon September 9th - Grunge plus Titan special September 16th - Grunge plus Batman Day Movie September 23th - Regular lineup resumes plus new acquisition at 12:30 and Dr. Stone reruns But if they ran another movie on the 23rd that takes them to September 30th which could lead the 12:30 slot to go to Uzumaki so it finishes before November. I only think they’ll overlap Grunge and Uzumaki if RickAniMorty replaces FLCL Grunge on October 21st, probably premiering Sunday October 15th or maybe Thursday the 19th or Wednesday the 18th since they are currently premiering Teenage Euthanasia on Wednesdays. The mid-week premieres are surely to appease Max. Another wild card being they might get to air Scavengers Reign on Toonami after it premieres on Max. If Toonami doesn’t air RickAniMorty it would only make sense to run it right before Toonami so it makes an hour of subbed anime with Uzumaki. I imagine that’s what we would all prefer but once Uzumaki ends Toonami is without a headliner in November and December baring a major acquisition or Scavengers. Not a bad time to start Bleach if that’s what they’re thinking. 13-26 episodes of Bleach tides them over till Shoegaze and Ninja Kamui are ready. But I’m rather hoping one of these openings go to Eizouken now that it is dubbed. That of course requires at least a bit of cooperation on Crunchyroll’s part and I doubt they’ll make it easy even though they themselves couldn’t be bothered to dub the show when it was sort of a hot commodity. Based Sentai to the rescue.

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.