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Impressive work. I'd love to see someone try this with One Piece because the episodes are hella padded by around Enies Lobby.

It's been mused that some day Toonami might be run by Crunchyroll. There's really no telling whether that would be better or worse than what we have now but I'm weary of that happening. CR has a small anime block in Brazil that has aired the likes of ReZero, Black Clover and I think KonoSuba among others. If the block had to rely mostly on CR's licenses and obviously only on the ones that got dubbed... that's not the best catalog honestly. Get ready for Highschool Prodigies Isekai, Bookworm Isekai, Cute Girls Isekai and their crowning achievement Slavery is Fine Isekai aka Rising of the Shield Hero (I don't hate that show or any of those shows BTW). Sure there's ReZero, KonoSuba, Mob Psycho season 2 and gems like Somali and the Forest Spirit but their dub catalog is full of some really mediocre stuff. Toonami is better off occasionally borrowing from that catalog instead of relying on it. CR probably wouldn't want to cannibalize their streaming numbers either and that's probably a big reason why we haven't seen more of their shows on Toonami yet. Even if they were running Toonami they'd probably still put the streaming service first and I wouldn't expect them not to because it has always been their bread and butter. If you think Toonami feels like simuldub leftovers now hoooo boy it could definitely be worse. If it gets to that point, HBO Max would probably premiere those other four Toonami original series before the block would air them. That said, if it's just one or two rotating slots, Toonami should totally play whatever gems they can get from CR. I just strongly doubt they can have them for free.

There's probably some teleconferencing, but say they're giving input on designs, logos, marketing materials, scripts, etc. they can do plenty of that work at their own office in Atlanta via email. I happen to like IGPX and FLCL Alternative. Both were competently written and pretty entertaining. FLCL Progressive, much less so but it had some moments. Jason and Gill didn't write those scripts. The only scripts they occasionally write are for promos and Toonami T.I.E.s when they don't use a professional writer for T.I.E.s. Blade Runner scripts are being handled in the US by professional writers. You may think the singles program is a waste and you're probably not the only one who does but its become a big part of Adult Swim's identity in the industry and like the article says Jason is kind of a big deal in the music industry and Adult Swim with him. The man brought together Run the Jewels, he should be thanked forever for that much. It's not a sob story and it never was one. Rather it's something that says they actually care a lot about Toonami and are willing to do that work on top of the work they already were doing at Adult Swim for no additional pay. Jason is likely paid plenty well as manager at Adult Swim but the daily operations for Toonami is like extra credit for him and Gill. Steve and Dana get paid for their voice work. CGI animators get paid for their work. Script writers hired for these originals get paid for their work. I would think the video editors are paid for at least the promos for Toonami but the extra things like game reviews and the occasional original music video are probably also extra credit. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them are paid salary as opposed to hourly. I really doubt anyone is banking over-time to work on Toonami stuff. Toonami makes money by attracting unique advertisers with programming that's not as expensive as FOX reruns. When it's about 3 hours it is largely self-sufficient and doesn't need a ton of money to operate outside of licensing shows and the occasional CGI refresh. Part of the reason why it's self-sufficient is because some of the labor is done at no additional cost and without siphoning too much time away from promoting the rest of Adult Swim's programming. You say someone could probably do a better job and there's probably someone who exists that can do it better but you don't really understand the logistics of the job. You seem to think it's just picking shows out of a huge pile of available ones whenever there's an opening and the rest is basically auto-pilot. You don't seem to realize that not just anyone can negotiate with Japanese companies and US licensors to get shows. Jason has more than 20 years under his belt of working with these companies and building a relationship with them. In the streaming age those sorts of relationships are how he has managed to get shows that would have otherwise been streaming exclusives. That unfortunately doesn't mean he can get just anything he wants because Toonami can get outbid but brings shows to the table. Someone who has been working at Crunchyroll or FUNimation for a while could probably handle those negotiations and potentially get better shows, but not just anyone working in the industry would be capable of doing that. I'd have to figure back in 2005 as long as CN had enough money to please the licensor they could have gotten basically any kids anime they wanted but things have changed dramatically since then and it's mainly those long standing relationships that keep Toonami in the game now. That and the Japanese companies that prefer to have their shows air on TV even if it's late at night. Considering Toonami has aired something around 40 anime that didn't previously air on Adult Swim since the block came back in 2012, it's reasonable to think they've considered at least 100 or more additional shows over that time frame and we have no idea how many were no-go at the time and if they still are. Even Crunchyroll can't get everything they want anymore. Hell, FUNimation got quite a lot more simulcasts this season than CR did. I do think they should have an intern whose primary duties should include researching shows for Toonami if for no other reason than to have a younger persons input. That's probably an affordable solution. But the company probably looks at the fact that there are already three people who regularly contemplate which shows should air on Toonami and consider that plenty. I mean in the ASA days it was basically just Manning and sometimes Mike Lazzo. Still, I'd like to see someone else take some of the burden off of those three since they're occupied with lots of other things. It's an objective lie that nobody wanted more FLCL aside from Adult Swim but it's subjective whether or not they gave FLCL fans something they wanted. A lot more people wanted an ending to Samurai Jack though. Sequels and reboots are a tired thing that Hollywood does but it's not always without merit. It remains to be seen what the other 4 projects are but I'd like to think at least 2 or 3 aren't sequels, reboots or spin-offs. Then again, who is really gonna complain is Adult Swim co-funds a final season for Bleach or an adaptation of the Trigun Maximum manga? Like I said, not all sequels aren't without merit.

Both of these things can be true and are not mutually exclusive: 1) Programming wanted to fill the 4AM slot so they took the 4AM slot and now wants 11PM and 3-4AM as well 2) Jason and company were willing to give up the 4AM slot and also willing to trim Toonami down to 3.5 hours and they discussed this with programming when they asked how they felt about giving up some slots Programming wanted those slots and Jason and company took the opportunity to trim Toonami down out of preference. Ultimately they couldn't say no to programming but in this case they didn't want to say no. Near as I can figure they were probably expecting to lose 4AM and then 11PM but maybe expected to keep 3-4AM for an hour at least until Neverland finished. That way it would have been a more gradual reduction instead of mostly happening all at once. But programming decided to take 3-4AM as well.

Uzumaki is basically the only original that could air this year. Blade Runner isn't happening this year, the guys directing it are busy with their CGI Ghost in the Shell anime right now. Unless they can actually air something this year that they haven't announced yet, it's Uzumaki (4 episodes) or nothing. They definitely have two openings this Spring before additional seasons of Fire Force, Dr. Stone, Attack on Titan and MHA are feasible. One might go to Mob season 2 but there's really no telling at this point. I expect that they'll be willing to add slots on the fly in order to start airing those new seasons whenever they are available. Theoretically that means they'll have a few potential openings unless they just wait for another opening before starting one of those sequel seasons. To air them in a timely manner (which is important) they won't always wait for those sparse openings.

They can do a lot of production work in Atlanta, it doesn't all have to be in person in Japan but they do take multiple trips to Japan every year. Far from every week or every month though. Make no mistake though, they're not just handing over money and leaving the rest to the Japanese producers. Blade Runner is getting written in the US and I'm sure they're overseeing those scripts. Jason is Senior Vice President of Adult Swim on-air. He basically oversees all the on-air promotion. If it airs on Adult Swim and it isn't a show, then he made it happen. Bumps, show promos, special advertisements made by Adult Swim are all overseen by Jason. He also coordinates musical talent to be used on Adult Swim and for their music distribution like the singles program. Those are the managerial duties that Jason is actually paid to do. But if you also think putting on even 3 hours of anime a week is so easy that a child could do it, you have no idea the weekly logistics that go into that even when there aren't frequent show rotations.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be proud of every expansion Toonami earns or is granted and also prefer a shorter block due to the exponential amount of additional promotion, packaging and curating work the expansions create.

To be fair, dealing with constantly having to find shows to fill 5 hours without just resorting to reruns is a lot more work than filling 3 hours. Shows can take months to secure so if they are changing one out just about every month they have to plan well in advance and even then often enough things can go wrong. We have no idea how difficult it actually is to get any suitable show much less particular ones that are in high demand. I really can't get behind calling them lazy given everything Jason and Gill juggle at Adult Swim along with weekly Toonami production and working on 6 original series.

Well yeah, in the 8pm hour. 😐

Yeah seriously. I want some Primal Toonami bumps. Jack is moving from 5:30am where it is about to finish season 4. The first week of this schedule is the last episode of season 4. It’s been years since season 5 has aired so I’m hoping they continue into season 5 rather that start back over from episode 1. Space Ghost C2C is starting from episode 1. I’m thrilled to have it back on. The Boondocks is also a welcome return to Saturday late night. Its a solid lineup but it’s a shame they didn’t at least finish TPN before dumping that rerun. Honestly if filling rerun space is too bothersome for Toonami because it creates unnecessary work then they could run some anime after 3am without the Toonami branding.

Here’s post Toonami starting on Feb 29th 3:00 - Primal 3:30 - Samurai Jack 4:00 - The Boondocks x2 5:00 - Aqua Something You Know Whatever x2 5:30 - Space Ghost Coast to Coast x2

LOL CN sure didn't. They basically never give a clue when something is shit canned until it happens. Some people from Williams Street went to a convention that weekend (Dragon Con or Anime Weekend Atlanta I forget which) and said that Toonami was going off the air and people should tune in for the last broadcast that Saturday. They we're allowed to say anything sooner but obviously knew far enough in advance to make the sign-off video.

The way Soma lays into Subaru was straight up savage.

I'm guessing Dr. Stone season 2 wont air in Japan until October but it might be a July show like Fire Force again. I'm decided to put Food Wars on a break between season 2 and season 3 to squeeze another show in. Other than Mob and other sequels I left the openings blank and I decided not to include Boruto because if it was coming back it probably would have been when Fire Force ended if not when Dr. Stone does. I think they will get back to 3.5 by the end of the year if only to ensure they can air MHA, Titan, Dr. Stone and Fire Force all at once. That said, MHA hasn't had another season announced yet and probably wont until the end of the current season (just like last time). https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W0UiMUdPq_Nw9uEMwzOX9LAj6pisnWoXzJf-uXZ5b60

To be fair, in 2008 he barely worked on Toonami outside of promos and had no say in what was airing. Also, cutting down to 2 hours a week only 1 show in premieres and dropping every anime except Naruto was a pretty good indication that Toonami was as good as dead. We were just waiting for CN to finally pull the plug.

He makes an interesting analogy.

They got Food Wars more than half a year ago. They definitely were not considering scaling down at the time. The same week they added Gundam The Origin so both HxH and TPN would be replaced. Then soon after they brought in gen:LOCK, Fire Force and Dr. Stone and pushed Lupin to 3:30am to fit them. Then continued packing the lineup to the point they chose to drop Boruto just to be able to air JoJo at 2:30am. There’s no question that Food Wars was added to replace HxH as a long runner with the expectation that programming would want them maintain around 8 premieres. Given Jason’s preference for a smaller block, programming decides how long Toonami should be. They decided to extend to 6 hours with no encores and then 6.5 hours, they decided to retract to 3.5, they decided to move up to 11:30 and then back to midnight, they decided to add 11:30 and then 11 and add more time on the back here and there, they decided to start the block at 10:30 and then 10:00 and then 9:00 before moving back to 11:00 and now cutting down to 3.5 hours again. They change shit on a whim and try all manner of things including the occasional anime in the 8pm hour. Given the time slot dilemma, I kind of hope they take a break between seasons 2 and 3 of Food Wars this year. They might do that even if it means holding off on airing recently dubbed episodes. It’s anyone’s guess how that will pan out, now that Sentai has finally dubbed the 3rd season.

I definitely would prefer 4 hours in the scenario that they have 2-3 long running series. The wiggle room is nice. I’d like to dedicate one slot to shows from the past 5 years that got passed over. But if they used the time effectively, 3 hours is plenty.

That’s fair but unless shows don’t get more seasons that’s an inevitable situation for every noteworthy new anime. I’d say they should solve the space dilemma by ditching Shippuden and maybe Black Clover but that’s just my opinion.

Not in JoJo and Demon Slayer’s case but that’s true of 4 of their “premieres”

While that’s true, it’s also just as likely they will be able to get Fire Force season 2 this year and practically guaranteed they will get AoT season 4 this Fall. I don’t know about Dr. Stone but it’s plausible for Fall. Neverland will wait until early 2021 given Aniplex’s track record.

I would not recommend relying on Toonami as your primary source of anime in the streaming era. Only a handful of the dubs on it are entirely exclusive to the block. Streaming services are granted far more resources than Toonami is. Toonami is a small part of a big corporation and anime production is not WarnerMedia’s bread and butter like it is for FUNimation, HiDive and Crunchyroll. You’re basically pleading with Adult Swim to drip feed you 4+ hours of dubbed anime every week. If 3 hours doesn’t satisfy you enough, then I recommend you subscribe to FUNi or HiDive to see the latest dubbed anime. In the US we have thousands of anime streaming legally and many are free with ads. As for the topic, I’m sure they mean a smaller block is likely to last longer. Whether a small block that lasts years is more preferable to a larger block that burns out sooner is somewhat debatable. Personally, I think it’s better for Toonami to stick around longer because it’s the last bastion of action and drama animation on US television. I consider that more important than it being a small source of anime.

While I usually am willing to believe Jason, if programming had asked them about culling Toonami a couple of months ago... then why did they bother keeping 3:30AM just to rerun The Promised Neverland? Hell, they could have dumped the Titan rerun after the holiday break if they were intending to retract slots starting in 2019. Intentionally keeping rerun slots for about two months doesn't really jell with that reasoning.

I seriously doubt those shows are just free or even relatively cheap. But I do wish WarnerMedia would throw Toonami a bone.

Now I am getting concerned. It’s still 7 premieres for now but when MHA’s season ends I would not be surprised if they lose 11:30 as well. Definitely shades of 2015 but it’s a less dramatic retraction this time. This is a strong sign that Toonami’s acquisition budget has taken a hit and they’re at the point where reruns aren’t doing well enough to justify having any, so they have trimmed the fat entirely. It’s simply more economical to rerun comedy after Toonami. I expect extra FOX reruns to show up after Toonami. So much for trying to be less reliant on those. If you’re legitimately concerned with Toonami’s well being the best thing any of us can do is watch it live, watch it on demand, live tweet it and tell others it exists. Toonami is far from cancelled but they clearly have reached the point where the ratings are becoming a concern again. And I AM annoyed this means they won’t be airing Mob yet and you can’t tell me not to be.