Toonami spring schedule change predictions and speculation

[Toonamiguy321]

Well, it’s about that time, with spring on the horizon, Toonami also has some major schedule shifts incoming. Here’s the breakdown

Demon Slayer Entertainment District - March 23

Lycoris Recoil - April 13

Ninja Kamui (2 slots) - April 27

Naruto Shippuden - July 20* 

The first 3 should be accurate as there are no typical interruptions between now and then, but Naruto will likely shift up and down as marathons and stalling occur. But, we probably don’t need to worry about Naruto till the next rotation anyway. 

Expectations? Hopes? We will probably be hearing about Demon Slayer’s replacement in the coming week or so. Best case scenario for Demarco’s sanity would just be getting the next arc, as it can take over the lead slot briefly when Ninja Kamui ends. Smart money says MHA S7 will replace Ninja Kamui, but that will need a little bit more time in the dub oven from Kamui’s end date. 

Lycoris is the hard one to predict for. It would be great if Aniplex would just hold that slot forever to promote some of the single cour shows in their catalog, but I doubt we would be so lucky. 

[PokeNirvash]

Common sense says Demon Slayer will be replaced by more Demon Slayer, but considering Aniplex loves to announce their shit for the block far ahead of Demarco's comfort zone and we're two to three weeks away from it getting traded out for something new, I'm gonna guess it's something from one of the other licensors. Probably either VIZ or Sentai.

Edited March 8 by PokeNirvash

[Mr. Idea Box]

If we have 3 or 4 slots to fill, here's what I think could happen.

1. Scavengers Reign fills one of the slots. It's been four months since the season finale on Max.
2. IGPX gets its remastered second season to air....after DBZ Kai. To them, it's older and less of a priority than that show is, so it would likely fill that 3 AM slot for a couple more months.
3. Rick and Morty: The Anime temporarily gives Toonami a lineup bookended by subs.

Do I expect these to happen? No, but MHA and Superman likely aren't coming until May, meaning there's still a small gap to fill anyway.

1 hour ago, PokeNirvash said:

I'm gonna guess it's something from one of the other licensors. Probably either VIZ or Sentai.

I know it could be anything from their catalogs, but I'm hoping against hope that Urusei Yatsura remake comes to Toonami. Adding Lycoris Recoil just adds fuel to that fire.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

1. Rick and Morty: The Anime temporarily gives Toonami a lineup bookended by subs.

It’s already confirmed to be airing in the fall, as there is no R&M S8 this year. So we won’t be dealing with that at least. 
 

Kinda hope it’s not Scavengers. Forgot that was even a thing really. 
 

2 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Common sense says Demon Slayer will be replaced by more Demon Slayer, but considering Aniplex loves to announce their shit for the block far ahead of Demarco's comfort zone and we're two to three weeks away from it getting traded out for something new, I'm gonna guess it's something from one of the other licensors. Probably either VIZ or Sentai.

I was thinking the same, maybe Demarco was able to reel them in a little to not rob him of his thunder 3 months ahead of time. 

[OwlChemist81]

Looks like Toonami expands incoherently on the eve of my Birthday and DBZ Kai sticks around...

And then Demon Slayer leaves us, but just LOOK at what replaces it!!

Hopefully DS reruns beginning from either the start of Mugen Train or Entertainment District at 3:30, but if it does, that's a sign we ain't getting Swordsmith for a while.

[Jman]

Zom 100?

I guess the circle is complete.  EVERYONE gets Zom 100.  Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and finally Toonami.  The last time that happened (a non-exclusive contract leading to everyone getting it) was Pop Team Epic.

Edited March 8 by Jman

[OwlChemist81]

Well, now we eagerly wait and see what LycoReco and Ninja Kamui's replacements will be.

My guess is it's probably MHA at Midnight, but the 1 AM slot is a total toss-up. SAO: Gun Gale Alt would work thematically following LycoReco.

[Mr. Idea Box]

I wouldn't have expected Zom 100 on Toonami, but it is licensed by Viz.

[KageRageX]

Hopefully Mashle, Gundam Witch, Lupin Zero and/or Bleach: TYBW pops up.

[OwlChemist81]

Who saw THIS coming!?

 

[MasqueradeOverture]

2 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Who saw THIS coming!?

 

Definitely braced for this more than Toriyama did hitting the floor

 

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Who saw THIS coming!?

 

I certainly didn’t expect them to keep it sensible and leave the main shows on the lineup. I did expect some kind of Kai marathon at some point though. Waiting till Memorial Day was just too long though. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

A DBZ Kai marathon, the 45-minute finale of Demon Slayer, and the premiere of Zom 100. All within the next few weeks. Looks like we're eating good this month.

[Mr. Idea Box]

If this counts as a double post, I'm sorry. But with the season finale of Demon Slayer coming tonight, should we predict what will replace Lycoris Recoil?

[Toonamiguy321]

4 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

If this counts as a double post, I'm sorry. But with the season finale of Demon Slayer coming tonight, should we predict what will replace Lycoris Recoil?

You can try. I’d be impressed if anyone calls it right because we have nothing to go on. No sequels, no obvious seasonal choices, it truly could be anything. Or this good run could be coming to its end and we just go back to double OP. We have a lot of western obligations as well, could pop up on as a teaser on April Fools for all we know. 
 

Id say since Aniplex hasn’t spilled the beans yet it probably isn’t coming from their catalog. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

1 hour ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

You can try. I’d be impressed if anyone calls it right because we have nothing to go on. No sequels, no obvious seasonal choices, it truly could be anything. Or this good run could be coming to its end and we just go back to double OP. We have a lot of western obligations as well, could pop up on as a teaser on April Fools for all we know. 
 

Id say since Aniplex hasn’t spilled the beans yet it probably isn’t coming from their catalog. 

If it's anything, I have three options to go off of:

Realistic Prediction: Scavengers Reign, due to DeMarco saying its cable premiere will be on Toonami, and it's likely a lesser priority than Superman.

Unrealistic Prediction / Realistic Hope: Lupin Zero, since it only has six episodes to its name. If it's this one, it could take the 1 AM slot all the way to June.

Unrealistic Hope: Urusei Yatsura (2022). I sincerely doubt this will happen, but between Sentai's previous Toonami history, Lycoris being picked up, and Inuyasha's sequel series being marketed well on Toonami, a user can dream.

But really, I'm just throwing stuff at a brick wall.

[Sketch]

If it’s an Aniplex show then the smartest play is MASHLE but if CR is willing to play then maybe they got the Sentai dub of Eizouken for their latest outside the box pick or DeMarco threw a bunch of money at Jujutsu Kaisen.

Scavengers more than suffices if they don’t have an acquisition lined up and Superman isn’t ready yet. There’s also IGPX season 2 that could slot in the back while the Jump shows slide up to 1-2:30.

They certainly could double up One Piece temporarily or DBZ Kai for that matter. Either could hold the slot till sometime in June when MHA probably will return.

[OwlChemist81]

Lycoris is down to 2 episodes, and one airs tomorrow, so you gotta think we'll be learning what will replace it soon!

[Mr. Idea Box]

45 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Lycoris is down to 2 episodes, and one airs tomorrow, so you gotta think we'll be learning what will replace it soon!

If we don't hear about the replacement by Monday, I'm afraid we'll have to double DBZ Kai or get the last episodes of IGPX remastered.

But what I'm wondering is whether or not we'd get something at 3 AM again. Granted, we'll likely not be that lucky, but we just spent three months with a half-hour expansion PLUS a DBZ Kai marathon that ended at 6 AM. I'd imagine someone up on the exec board at Toonami would find some filler for that odd timeslot.

[Toonamiguy321]

9 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Lycoris is down to 2 episodes, and one airs tomorrow, so you gotta think we'll be learning what will replace it soon!

If things were going smoothly, we should have heard by today. I assumed that them not taking the DBZ marathon as a chance to slow down Lycoris meant they had something locked in but maybe I was wrong. 
 

8 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

If we don't hear about the replacement by Monday, I'm afraid we'll have to double DBZ Kai or get the last episodes of IGPX remastered.

But what I'm wondering is whether or not we'd get something at 3 AM again. Granted, we'll likely not be that lucky, but we just spent three months with a half-hour expansion PLUS a DBZ Kai marathon that ended at 6 AM. I'd imagine someone up on the exec board at Toonami would find some filler for that odd timeslot.

I don’t believe 3am is meant to be a permanent thing. It was there to test drive subs and will likely be quietly removed when it no longer serves that purpose. Now, if they want to run Uzumaki subs, they might toss IGPX in that slot just to keep the 3am slot till fall. Then after Uzumaki, sweep it away in the DST confusion as they did a few years ago. 

[MasqueradeOverture]

YO UZUMAKI ISN'T REAL

[PokeNirvash]

Truly the greatest piece of anime vaporware since Despera.

[Jman]

DeMarco breaks into the deepest depths of Warner Bros Japan, comes out with this - 

More likely, IGPX resumes its run.

[Toonamiguy321]

13 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

YO UZUMAKI ISN'T REAL

This year for sure. They can’t lie to us 4 years in a row, right? 

[Mr. Idea Box]

40 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

This year for sure. They can’t lie to us 4 years in a row, right? 

If it's not here in 2024, I'm just going to assume it was Z*****ed.

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

If it's not here in 2024, I'm just going to assume it was Z*****ed.

It’s still strange to me that in September, Demarco was 100% confident it would air in 2023. And then it didn’t come and there never was a follow up. I wonder if Demarco was trying to manifest it, or if he has been getting misinfo from the studio and it was way further off than they were telling him. 

[MCPissPants]

Anime equivalent of Thief and the Cobbler?

[Mr. Idea Box]

Well, the next schedule update seems to be late, which means a few outcomes:

1. One of the Shonen holdovers is getting doubled up. Most likely DBZ Kai if true.
2. IGPX finally airs its last remastered episodes.
3. Whatever they were gearing up to replace Lycoris has hit a snag in the negotiations.
4. Someone on Toonami got high two weeks early.

Either way, someone will find a reason to complain about it.

[Sketch]

I'm somewhat hopeful Lycoris will be replaced by Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken or another Sentai dub but if they don't say what's happening then it's probably doubling up One Piece or DBZ Kai temporarily or resuming IGPX. They might quietly start airing Scavengers Reign but I would hope they'd give that more than about a week of promotion.

I don't doubt for a second that their original replacement for Lycoris could have hit a snag but making sure it aired the week of the DBZ Kai marathon might not have had anything to do with future plans. It might have just been the choice not to disrupt anything but One Piece, Shippuden and the current Kai run.

And lets also consider that Lycoris will end when Ninja Kamui has two episodes left. They COULD do an hour finale the following week.

 

[Toonamiguy321]

6 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

Well, the next schedule update seems to be late, which means a few outcomes:

1. One of the Shonen holdovers is getting doubled up. Most likely DBZ Kai if true.
2. IGPX finally airs its last remastered episodes.
3. Whatever they were gearing up to replace Lycoris has hit a snag in the negotiations.
4. Someone on Toonami got high two weeks early.

Either way, someone will find a reason to complain about it.

If they double anything, it will be One Piece. People can still (rightfully) complain we didn’t get a new show, but nobody can say we lost a premier. 
 

My hope is them yet to announce anything means they are at least trying to get something. Reruns or double ups don’t call for an announcement delay. 
 

28 minutes ago, Sketch said:

And lets also consider that Lycoris will end when Ninja Kamui has two episodes left. They COULD do an hour finale the following week.

 

Not a bad theory, especially if the episodes are structured in a way that the final two are better appreciated back to back. That would also explain delaying the reveal since they want this weeks episode promoted for most of the week on its own. 
 

But, doing so means much more work for the following week, and more room for disappointment if that major schedule shift sucks. 

[Toonamiguy321]

Thursday night and no news of any kind. Certainly not reassuring, that’s for sure.

[Jman]

7 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Thursday night and no news of any kind. Certainly not reassuring, that’s for sure.

At this point I'm kind of hoping they just dub something out of nowhere, even if Chained Soldier is definitely too spicy for Toonami.  Akihabara Maid War?  Something.

[MasqueradeOverture]

11 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Thursday night and no news of any kind. Certainly not reassuring, that’s for sure.

They can always redo the schedule before tomorrow.

Allow it to heal.

Spoiler

You know where I'm getting at.

[OwlChemist81]

Double One Piece returns 4/20. Yep.

 

[Toonamiguy321]

Sigh, I guess our little dream run we had going had to come to an end at some point. Not even an empty promise that this will be temporary. Why did we have to wait this long for such a big disappointment? 
 

Maybe if they didn’t waste money on fucking Kai they could have afforded an actual premier. Using our brains? Couldn’t be Demarco. 

[Jman]

1 hour ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Double One Piece returns 4/20. Yep.

 

Gotta work with what you have.  My guess is big changes will hit when Kamui ends.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Jman said:

Gotta work with what you have.  My guess is big changes will hit when Kamui ends.

Not likely. They are gonna want to keep midnight flexible for MHA S7. So we are probably gonna have something to stall at midnight for all of May. My guess is the tail end of MHA S6

[Greener223224]

Oh so this is where schedule changes get posted?

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Greener223224 said:

Oh so this is where schedule changes get posted?

Not necessarily, it’s just kinda where the topic was centralized. If there would have been a new show it probably would have gotten its own thread. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

Looks like I was right. One of the Shonen staples was doubled, and people are upset about it.

However, since it's One Piece that is doubled, I could see why the complaints are being made. Not only are we given five shows for seven timeslots, but unless proven otherwise, this cuts into OP's 50-episode maximum renewal. Meaning we might be getting a few more marathons this year.

But hey, maybe something good can happen next month. I doubt it would, but it's possible.

[Toonamiguy321]

58 minutes ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

Looks like I was right. One of the Shonen staples was doubled, and people are upset about it.

However, since it's One Piece that is doubled, I could see why the complaints are being made. Not only are we given five shows for seven timeslots, but unless proven otherwise, this cuts into OP's 50-episode maximum renewal. Meaning we might be getting a few more marathons this year.

But hey, maybe something good can happen next month. I doubt it would, but it's possible.

The 50 episode per year thing has always just been an educated theory. OP has already taken a few nights off this year, so they could probably do this for like 2 months before it becomes an issue if the 50 episode theory is true. Memorial Day and the 4th of July will probably be marathon nights, stupid as that is. There is also the chance that if that theory was true last year, they saw a need to buy themselves a little extra padding for 2024 when they did this years renewal. 
 

Anyway, we should have another schedule update by next Friday to tell us what’s replacing Ninja Kamui, unless they want to hold it to the very last second for no reason again.

[Sketch]

3 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

The 50 episode per year thing has always just been an educated theory. OP has already taken a few nights off this year, so they could probably do this for like 2 months before it becomes an issue if the 50 episode theory is true. Memorial Day and the 4th of July will probably be marathon nights, stupid as that is. There is also the chance that if that theory was true last year, they saw a need to buy themselves a little extra padding for 2024 when they did this years renewal. 
 

Anyway, we should have another schedule update by next Friday to tell us what’s replacing Ninja Kamui, unless they want to hold it to the very last second for no reason again.

I’m thinking Superman replaces Ninja Kamui and double OP keeps a spot warm for MHA in June.

Memorial weekend they could honor the dead by avenging them with a Ninja Kamui marathon but I wouldn’t put it past them to do another Kai marathon. It’s almost too perfect to do an MHA season 7 marathon featuring the American hero Star & Stripe.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Sketch said:

I’m thinking Superman replaces Ninja Kamui and double OP keeps a spot warm for MHA in June.

Memorial weekend they could honor the dead by avenging them with a Ninja Kamui marathon but I wouldn’t put it past them to do another Kai marathon. It’s almost too perfect to do an MHA season 7 marathon featuring the American hero Star & Stripe.

Superman as in S2? With no news on it at all so far, it’s hard for me to believe it would start in 3 weeks. Or did you mean a rerun of S1, to be replaced by S2 around August? Because that seems more reasonable. I hate the idea, but I could see it. 

[OwlChemist81]

14 hours ago, Sketch said:

I’m thinking Superman replaces Ninja Kamui and double OP keeps a spot warm for MHA in June.

Memorial weekend they could honor the dead by avenging them with a Ninja Kamui marathon but I wouldn’t put it past them to do another Kai marathon. It’s almost too perfect to do an MHA season 7 marathon featuring the American hero Star & Stripe.

Star & Stripe just got a little teaser at the end of Season 6. If anything her episodes at the beginning of Season 7 would be great 6th of July material!

[Sketch]

19 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Superman as in S2? With no news on it at all so far, it’s hard for me to believe it would start in 3 weeks. Or did you mean a rerun of S1, to be replaced by S2 around August? Because that seems more reasonable. I hate the idea, but I could see it. 

There’s murmurs of season 2 starting soon but no official announcement yet.

Here’s an additional adjustment, Ninja Kamui is 13 episodes not 12. Ep 13 is on the AS Canada schedule. So the timing actually will work out that Superman season 2 could start the Thursday after Royal Crackers ends and Toonami can swap the encores in to replace NK. If they’re going that route.

Likewise if they do that Thursday / Saturday crap with Scavengers Reign out of the blue.

Edited April 14 by Sketch

[Jman]

On 4/12/2024 at 10:18 AM, MasqueradeOverture said:

They can always redo the schedule before tomorrow.

Allow it to heal.

  Reveal hidden contents

You know where I'm getting at.

They’ll dub it eventually.  And we’ll all need to head for the hills.

I still say Chained Soldier would be better, but it would need to be censored for Toonami.

[Jman]

14 minutes ago, Sketch said:

There’s murmurs of season 2 starting soon but no official announcement yet.

Here’s an additional adjustment, Ninja Kamui is 13 episodes not 12. Ep 13 is on the AS Canada schedule. So the timing actually will work out that Superman season 2 could start the Thursday after Royal Crackers ends and Toonami can swap the encores in to replace NK. If they’re going that route.

Likewise if they do that Thursday / Saturday crap with Scavengers Reign out of the blue.

Last I heard the main voice actor said the VA work for S2 was done.  It’s just a matter of the animation from Mir being ready.

I still think Gunn is going to take the show out back once S2 is over.  I’m still hoping someone at Warner lets Creature Commandos air on Toonami.

[PokeNirvash]

18 hours ago, Sketch said:

There’s murmurs of season 2 starting soon but no official announcement yet.

Here’s an additional adjustment, Ninja Kamui is 13 episodes not 12. Ep 13 is on the AS Canada schedule. So the timing actually will work out that Superman season 2 could start the Thursday after Royal Crackers ends and Toonami can swap the encores in to replace NK. If they’re going that route.

Likewise if they do that Thursday / Saturday crap with Scavengers Reign out of the blue.

Yeahhhhhhh unless Demarco was lying through his teeth about there being 12 episodes a couple months ago, I'm just gonna assume this is a placeholder they haven't gotten around to correcting yet.

[Toonamiguy321]

25 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

Yeahhhhhhh unless Demarco was lying through his teeth about there being 12 episodes a couple months ago, I'm just gonna assume this is a placeholder they haven't gotten around to correcting yet.

There was that other interview with the staff where they said it was 13 episodes. It’s the biggest mystery in the whole show. 
 

Looking ahead, I really don’t see where an extra episode fits. Next week Higan fights his rival and that probably tees up a fight with the big boss. Then the next week finishes that fight and cleans up the last plot threads. 
 

Unless my theory about his kid being alive pans out, then maybe there is another episode to squeeze out.

[Toonamiguy321]

So it seems, Ninja Kamui is 13 episodes. Demarco is trying to save face by acting like they are making these episodes weeks before they go live and just suddenly decided they needed one more, and not that he was completely misinformed about a project he is apparently an executive director for. 
 

Anyway, that moves the end date to May 4th, so they have a bit more time to make any announcements. Good news for MHA since they won’t have to stall nearly as much. If we are lucky, the second One Piece is the stall show and we actually get something new replacing Ninja Kamui.