Predict Toonami in 2025

[brianycpht]

5 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

I suppose we don’t. I know nothing at all about the series, but from the assumptions I gather from the cover art, I assumed the getting of Jiro was action oriented. 

In a not-too-distant future L.A. where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants, a bloody culinary war is raging.

[Jman]

6 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

I suppose we don’t. I know nothing at all about the series, but from the assumptions I gather from the cover art, I assumed the getting of Jiro was action oriented. 

The original novel is a culinary tale mixed with a crime drama while the prequel is a far more traditional yakuza story that just happens to have food as a central motif.

[Toonamiguy321]

6 hours ago, brianycpht said:

In a not-too-distant future L.A. where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants, a bloody culinary war is raging.

 

4 hours ago, Jman said:

The original novel is a culinary tale mixed with a crime drama while the prequel is a far more traditional yakuza story that just happens to have food as a central motif.

I dunno, that sounds little light on the action side of things. Sounds like it would be a better fit for normal AS. Though, it also sounds like Food Wars: Violence edition, and we had 5 seasons of that so we will probably end up with it. 

[Jman]

1 hour ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

 

I dunno, that sounds little light on the action side of things. Sounds like it would be a better fit for normal AS. Though, it also sounds like Food Wars: Violence edition, and we had 5 seasons of that so we will probably end up with it. 

Trust me when I say, at least the comic is not light on the action.  There’s plenty of food porn and waxing poetic about good food and etiquette, but a guy dies in the first ten pages, violently may I add.  From there there’s a lot of violence, gang warfare, and fight scenes.

Edited January 5 by Jman

[Sketch]

On 1/4/2025 at 11:06 PM, brianycpht said:

It’s bad enough when you have distributors starve the block of content, but I really font like it when its own network doesn’t give the block premieres when it REALLY needs premiere content. They should be doing everything they can to help it out 

They won’t do that at the cost of having nothing to premiere outside of Toonami if it comes down to it and the Max overlords demand new untested go up on Fridays rather than Sundays. IFG was an exception.

[Jman]

So what is Crunchyroll’s non-DeMarco exclusive anime going to look like?

 

Oh.

[Sketch]

Seems like sensible synergy to have CR produce an anime based on a Sony IP but whether or not it turns out decently… well… maybe better than Shenmue.

[Jman]

10 minutes ago, Sketch said:

Seems like sensible synergy to have CR produce an anime based on a Sony IP but whether or not it turns out decently… well… maybe better than Shenmue.

Shenmue was arguably the best Toonami original to date, more screwed over by licensing nonsense than its story.  I stand by that, I really liked it and wanted them to fix the dumpster fire that was Shenmue III.

[brianycpht]

22 minutes ago, Sketch said:

They won’t do that at the cost of having nothing to premiere outside of Toonami if it comes down to it and the Max overlords demand new untested go up on Fridays rather than Sundays. IFG was an exception.

So it’s safe to say the block is much lower on the list of priorities than years past 

[Mr. Idea Box]

51 minutes ago, Sketch said:

Seems like sensible synergy to have CR produce an anime based on a Sony IP but whether or not it turns out decently… well… maybe better than Shenmue.

My thoughts exactly. An anime based on a PlayStation game would be practically easy money. And yet, the console had its own dedicated episode on Secret Level, making it a bit muddled.

[Top Gun]

2 hours ago, Jman said:

Shenmue was arguably the best Toonami original to date, more screwed over by licensing nonsense than its story.  I stand by that, I really liked it and wanted them to fix the dumpster fire that was Shenmue III.

Yeah, I'd never played the games but I genuinely enjoyed the series. It felt "game-like" in the best way, more than any other game adaptation I've ever seen.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Jman said:

Shenmue was arguably the best Toonami original to date, more screwed over by licensing nonsense than its story.  I stand by that, I really liked it and wanted them to fix the dumpster fire that was Shenmue III.

Its story is what held it back though because its story is really dull and incomplete. Shenmue got popular due to its gameplay, the GTA sandbox before GTA was a thing. Adaption wise, the anime stayed pretty true to the material, and it’s not its fault the material is boring. 
 

 

2 hours ago, brianycpht said:

So it’s safe to say the block is much lower on the list of priorities than years past 

If they don’t want their stuff to premier on Toonami, at least give it the money to license stuff. And if that’s also too much to ask, put the block out of its misery.

[Jman]

With Sony investing more money in the animoos, Netflix investing more, and even Disney investing more, I can see why Warner would be hedging their bets.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ces-sony-group-deepens-investments-anime-1236102709/

Even as Cartoon Network is in fewer and fewer homes, I can see why they might view Toonami as a value add for the brand, but unfortunately, that means DeMarco and his shit taste are along for the ride.

They're not going to put the block out of its misery until Adult Swim and Cartoon Network itself mean more as branding on Max than they do as linear programming blocks.  Otherwise, they're going to be leaving Sony or Amazon MGM the inevitable Jujutsu Kaisen movie.

[Toonamiguy321]

9 hours ago, Jman said:

They're not going to put the block out of its misery until Adult Swim and Cartoon Network itself mean more as branding on Max than they do as linear programming blocks.  Otherwise, they're going to be leaving Sony or Amazon MGM the inevitable Jujutsu Kaisen movie.

I guess that’s true, similar to how they don’t want to pull the plug on Checkered Past entirely as in the future, they may be able to put that branding back to use. I guess a compromise I would accept is heavily cutting Toonami’s timeslot so there is no false hope of it improving in the future, especially if internally they know they don’t intend to do much with it. If the block was cut to 1 hour next week, with Mashle and One Piece being the survivors, absolutely nothing at all changes for most viewers. But we can look towards the future with much less speculation and expectations. 
 

But, as I do expect a return to 3 premiers, I believe a 2 hour timeslot would be a better fit. That allows 2 rotating premiers, One Piece, and a flexible, but normally rerun slot. No extra fluff, no increased expectations. Just the bare minimum time for the bare minimum investment into the block they are willing to make. 

[Toonamiguy321]

And my reward for showing a tiny bit of optimism is being shit on. Having the entire Rewind schedule vomited onto Saturday is such a great way to start out 2025. I’m assuming this is a restart from episode 1, as R would have been worth noting and not putting in the very last slot. 
 

Now looking forward, it’s much harder huff hopium because the next free slots are over a month away. We are going to have to sit through that entire IFG rerun at 12:30. Well, I won’t, as I will watch Mashle and go to bed. 
 

2025 is not gonna be a good year for this block. 

[Jman]

And the cherry on the sundae?

…Mashle’s entire first season is now on Netflix.  

[Mr. Idea Box]

[facepalm] You've gotta be kidding me...

This is the exact way I did NOT want Toonami Rewind to end up. And what do they do? They place Dragon Ball at 2, Naruto at 2:30, and Sailor Moon at 3. Way to show where your bread's buttered, guys.

At this rate, I'm expecting them to boot the ninja and the sailor once their contracts run out. Luckily, that gives them until May. Unluckily, that also clogs up the back half of the lineup for months.

And with Invincible Fight Girl reruns at 12:30 until March? Plus Mashle on a more accessible platform? Good grief.

I'm not even sure if MHA can save this paltry lineup, and that's just sad.

[Sketch]

Can’t even have Dr. Stone on in a timely manner now? Good grief…

Sailor Moon is back but in the worst way possible, 3 rerun slots are filled till at least May, we’re still 2 out of 7 on network premieres and there’s no openings in the block until at least February 22nd.

I don’t even feel like bothering to watch Mashle live much less One Piece so I’m most likely not watching the block live till March. My work schedule has me waking up so early that I am kind of glad to have little reason to stay up but I’m still thoroughly annoyed at the anemic state of the block.

It was probably a coincidence that DeMarco deleted his Bluesky today but it sure was convenient for him to dodge any questions about this.

On the other hand more than a negligible amount of people think Sailor Moon just now returning to TV and that says all that needs to be said about Rewind’s efforts. But on the other other hand people saw reports that Rewind was ending and thought that meant Toonami was cancelled (because they weren’t aware of the Saturday block of course). A total lack of awareness either way.

[OwlChemist81]

Ugh, while I am glad Sailor Moon gets to air in 2025, like this is totally lame.

When this happens, it WOULD be interesting if the Toonami Rewind packaging gets used for the last 3 shows, but I doubt it will.

It is kinda interesting that Toonami's strongest times on [as] were during the Obama and first trump administrations, the latter from 2017-19 quite possibly the zenith. It was inconsistent at best during the Biden administration, and now looks like it's starting the second trump administration even weaker.

[Jman]

Well, so much for Lazarus being ready.  

The start of the year is going to suck.  At this point, the Rewind stuff is time-filler given the ass end of Saturday/Sunday morning it's on, not to mention that everything on the block, even the Flop Girl, is available elsewhere via streaming.  

Still, like any cook on a budget, DeMarco can't let a single part of the animal be wasted.  

[MasqueradeOverture]

On 1/11/2025 at 5:19 AM, OwlChemist81 said:

Ugh, while I am glad Sailor Moon gets to air in 2025, like this is totally lame.

When this happens, it WOULD be interesting if the Toonami Rewind packaging gets used for the last 3 shows, but I doubt it will.

It is kinda interesting that Toonami's strongest times on [as] were during the Obama and first trump administrations, the latter from 2017-19 quite possibly the zenith. It was inconsistent at best during the Biden administration, and now looks like it's starting the second trump administration even weaker.

Zenith was 2015-ish.

Streaming quality for anime was still hot dookie / The cords had not been cut yet / Movies / Actual hot fucking pickups I'd tune in for, etc.

We live in a post-cable world. I haven't tuned into the block since the pandemic. Sometimes, dead is better.

[PokeNirvash]

For me, it was around 2022 when I stopped watching the block live or even recorded. (DVR issues can do that.) Watching the episodes through the [as] website (plus cable provider login) was just more convenient for me personally.

Also, the Return was a huge letdown.

[Sketch]

2014-2017 was peak to me but I still enjoyed watching regularly in 2018 and 2019. 2020 was bad of course but 2011 was boring and 2022 was more interesting by comparison even with a lot less dub premieres. 2023 was a snore and 2024 was honestly good besides original anime and early 2024 gave me hope they were adapting but clearly they aren’t. 2025 looks to be a worse 2023 at this rate and I’m feeling pretty over it.

[Blatch]

Definitely agree that the mid-2010s was the peak for modern Toonami, though it looks likes I started falling off a little quicker than the rest of you. At least I still record stuff and have an army of shows on the DVR ready to go... whenever. Too bad I haven't even finished Uzumaki yet, as if I even want to.

[MasqueradeOverture]

5 hours ago, Sketch said:

2025 looks to be a worse 2023 at this rate and I’m feeling pretty over it.

Release yourself. End the podcast. Be free.

[PokeNirvash]

2 hours ago, Blatch said:

Too bad I haven't even finished Uzumaki yet, as if I even want to.

Doooooooo iiiiiiiiiiiit.

[KageRageX]

On 1/10/2025 at 1:35 PM, Toonamiguy321 said:

And my reward for showing a tiny bit of optimism is being shit on. Having the entire Rewind schedule vomited onto Saturday is such a great way to start out 2025. I’m assuming this is a restart from episode 1, as R would have been worth noting and not putting in the very last slot. 
 

Now looking forward, it’s much harder huff hopium because the next free slots are over a month away. We are going to have to sit through that entire IFG rerun at 12:30. Well, I won’t, as I will watch Mashle and go to bed. 
 

2025 is not gonna be a good year for this block. 

GOD FUCKING DAMMNIT! FUCK ADULT SWIM AND FUCK CARTOON NETWORK AND FUCK DAVID ZASLAV, MICHAEL OUWLEEN AND JASON DEMARCO WITH A FUCKING CHAINSAW!!! THEY CAN'T EVER DO SHIT RIGHT!

[MasqueradeOverture]

1 hour ago, KageRageX said:

GOD FUCKING DAMMNIT! FUCK ADULT SWIM AND FUCK CARTOON NETWORK AND FUCK DAVID ZASLAV, MICHAEL OUWLEEN AND JASON DEMARCO WITH A FUCKING CHAINSAW!!! THEY CAN'T EVER DO SHIT RIGHT!

GODDAMMIT YO I'MMA BOMB WILLIAMS STREET

[Jman]

You know, even if Toonami as a block dies, I'm curious if the name has enough value to be used for branding on Max.  

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

You know, even if Toonami as a block dies, I'm curious if the name has enough value to be used for branding on Max.  

They could probably pull a little mileage out of renaming the anime section into Toonami. Doesn’t need animation or voice, just the name has value. 

[PokeNirvash]

7 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

GODDAMMIT YO I'MMA BOMB WILLIAMS STREET

t. Moose after they remove One Piece from the block again.

[Sketch]

11 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

Release yourself. End the podcast. Be free.

We’re 8 eps away from 500 and I think that’s the last milestone I’m willing to achieve after 13 years of hosting and editing the thing. I don’t think I can rely on anyone to take over as much as Paul and/or Kuro might like to keep it going. Paul barely watches the block because he’s too busy. There’s no new blood to pass the torch to. Who under 30 years old even watches Toonami?

Toonami Escape Podcast’s host Grexino just announced he’s done as well but the others seem intent on keeping it going in some capacity. They usually do weekly and discuss every premiere but the state of the block leaves them little to discuss so they’ll probably go biweekly after they do their 2024 awards show and a reranking of every show that has aired on AS Toonami.

Toonami Squads probably gonna keep doing occasional podcasts as they have been but basically none of them expect much from the block and don’t trust any originals to be worth watching.

The mediocre original anime have really scorched most of the remaining good will toward the block. And the fact that we’re down to 2 premieres for over a month at the start of a new year when they budget has reset is a very troubling sign that they’re never going to adapt or more likely WB/D is limiting their resources to the point that they can’t get much of anything. The frequent droughts have wore out the patience of even some of the most faithful and content viewers who still pay for some form of cable to watch this anemic block every week.

The current lineup is such a slap in the face to that dedication but WB/D clearly doesn’t care. There should never be a point where there’s less than 3 premieres even temporarily. I know that’s how ASA could be at points but that’s far from the standard Toonami has set for the past decade and pretty much nobody is going to tolerate less than 4 while most reasonably want 5 if One Piece is one of them.

But they seem pretty intent on coasting with reruns. They plugged every rerun slot with a 46+ ep season, have two of the best slots filled with reruns for 10+ weeks and even paid to re-up one of those reruns. We’re reaching beyond the “reruns suck but it’s part of television business” mantra at this point.

Things can and hopefully will turn around but if they wouldn’t even give us double One Piece instead of an additional rerun on Jan 25th then what reason is there to expect something new before Mashle season 1 ends? That’s still just 2 premieres including One Piece till IFG ends in the middle of March. Expansion isn’t out of the question if they suddenly get something but this lineup is built to not need additions. If people haven’t given up yet, 2 months of this lineup will probably do it.

[Jman]

4 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

t. Moose after they remove One Piece from the block again.

You’d figure between the Netflix show being a megahit, the anime viewership skyrocketing in the US (no thanks to Toonami unfortunately) and the freaking Thanksgiving Day parade balloon he’d be pretty happy with the franchise in the US.

[Sketch]

I’m sure Moose is quite happy with the state of One Piece.

[Jman]

As for Toonami, I think unless they want to keep the name around as a brand, the best thing they can do is try to wind down the block gracefully, especially if 2025 sees the beginning of efforts to wind down the Cartoon Network gracefully and divest it from Warner, debt and all.

I think Toonami and Adult Swim are fascinating time capsule of the highs and lows of animation as a medium and how it is distributed, but no one can deny the sun is setting on the ideas DeMarco championed through his block.  Late night appointment television, the idea of a “bespoke” action block containing things you could not find elsewhere, and DeMarco being the tastemaker.  Crunchyroll passed 15 million registered users last year.  Netflix stock is through the roof.  Designer clothing brands sell hoodies with manga panels from Berserk on them.  And I would be willing to guess that the average age of the Toonami viewer is skewing older and older, while any Toonami original that does break through the zeitgeist is breaking through thanks to Max viewership and/or piracy.  
 

And now we have the old guard faithful pondering their own ways to wind down since they clearly see the writing on the wall.  Crunchyroll-hime has scored the TKO win over TOM and he oughta be pondering hanging up his gloves.

You know, I remember DECADES ago (Christ I and this block are old) during the infamous Giant Robot Week debacle when ADV wrote a check Standards and Practices would NOT let them cash, that everything they were going to show would be uncensored.  Everything was heavily censored and the Toonami faithful IMMEDIATELY ran defense for the block, telling “haters” to shut up and that if they wanted uncensored content, they could put on Nickelodeon and watch uncut Wild Thornberry’s (Smashing!). Nowadays people immediately go to the streamer and/or the pirate site to not only avoid censorship, but to watch things on their time.  There wouldn’t be that loyalty to forgive them for such a debacle since they were the only game in town unless you wanted to pay hefty premiums for home video releases.  So maybe it’s time to wind down the block and find new life as branding for adult action cartoons.  

[Toonamiguy321]

6 hours ago, Sketch said:

The current lineup is such a slap in the face to that dedication but WB/D clearly doesn’t care. There should never be a point where there’s less than 3 premieres even temporarily. I know that’s how ASA could be at points but that’s far from the standard Toonami has set for the past decade and pretty much nobody is going to tolerate less than 4 while most reasonably want 5 if One Piece is one of them.

Yea we will never make it back above 3 premiers. 3 will be a special treat that happens occasionally, while 2 will be the expected normal. Probably late 2025 we will have some stretches where it’s just 1, but we can’t ever go lower than that until they pull the plug on OP. 
 

March will likely be one of those short stretches that put us back to 3 for a few months, as the placement of IFG and Mashle indicate replacements incoming. But then those shows end towards the start of summer and we hit another lull. 
 

The way the schedule is set up now seems to just be to stall until the next original is ready. But they don’t want to send an original onto center stage with no other premiers, since the other premier is usually the carrot on the stick to watch Demarco’s latest dumpster fire. 
 

6 hours ago, Sketch said:

Things can and hopefully will turn around but if they wouldn’t even give us double One Piece instead of an additional rerun on Jan 25th then what reason is there to expect something new before Mashle season 1 ends?

I’d assume they are still operating on a 50 episode per year deal with OP, and doubling it up on week 1 of 2025 for 7-10 weeks is seen as too risky. They have enough problems as is without having to worry about OP running out of episodes in October. 
 

2 hours ago, Jman said:

As for Toonami, I think unless they want to keep the name around as a brand, the best thing they can do is try to wind down the block gracefully, especially if 2025 sees the beginning of efforts to wind down the Cartoon Network gracefully and divest it from Warner, debt and all.

I expect them to start the process when Naruto and SM expire. We will probably have a marathon or something right after it happens, and the “new” schedule will come back 1 hour shorter. Then as the year goes on, we will see them chip away at other slots. We will get more dignity than Rewind, where people saw it was dead a week before they announced it was dead, but it will also be a slow crawl to the grave like we saw in 2008. Everyone knows it’s coming based on the state of the schedule, it just a matter of when it’s made official. 
 

2 hours ago, Jman said:

You know, I remember DECADES ago (Christ I and this block are old) during the infamous Giant Robot Week debacle when ADV wrote a check Standards and Practices would NOT let them cash, that everything they were going to show would be uncensored.  Everything was heavily censored and the Toonami faithful IMMEDIATELY ran defense for the block, telling “haters” to shut up and that if they wanted uncensored content, they could put on Nickelodeon and watch uncut Wild Thornberry’s (Smashing!). Nowadays people immediately go to the streamer and/or the pirate site to not only avoid censorship, but to watch things on their time.  There wouldn’t be that loyalty to forgive them for such a debacle since they were the only game in town unless you wanted to pay hefty premiums for home video releases.  So maybe it’s time to wind down the block and find new life as branding for adult action cartoons.  

There is still a pretty large group of defenders out there who rush to the blocks defense every single schedule update no matter how trash it is. They are a loud minority, mostly because people who would criticize the block have simply dropped it and no longer engage with it at all. But if you don’t know better and read the comments on the Facebook posts or Reddit, you’d think the community was ecstatic to restart Naruto and Sailor Moon. 
 

If we get a new show announced next month, those same people will take a “told you so” stance about how people just had to be patient. They will ignore the block being down to 2-3 premiers, and just act like it’s an absolute win. 

[PokeNirvash]

6 hours ago, Jman said:

You’d figure between the Netflix show being a megahit, the anime viewership skyrocketing in the US (no thanks to Toonami unfortunately) and the freaking Thanksgiving Day parade balloon he’d be pretty happy with the franchise in the US.

4 hours ago, Sketch said:

I’m sure Moose is quite happy with the state of One Piece.

Hmm, true. True and likely. Still, it's fun to meme on the guy, especially after his meltdown earned him this forum's first high-profile permaban (that I'm aware of).

[Top Gun]

So here's the thing for me. I seem to be an extreme rarity now in that I actively prefer appointment-viewing linear TV over a big streaming smorgasbord. I discovered a long time ago that I absolutely suck at getting around to watching things unless I have some sort of externally-imposed schedule, whether it's a TV broadcast or a watching group with friends. I don't pay for any streaming services, nor do I have any plans to do so until I'm absolutely forced to (probably by sports). I have watched literally every anime series that's aired on [as] for the past 20 years, so for me sitting in front of the TV on Saturdays is something I do without having to think about it. If/when that vanishes, it'd be the end of something very significant in my life, and I want to hold that off as long as I can. When it finally goes for good, I could see myself sitting down on a Saturday night to create my own little block (with blackjack! and hookers!) out of my huge backlog of shows.

All of that being said, at this point the decisions the block makes don't faze me much on an emotional level. If the schedule sucks like it does right now, I'll think "well that's lame" and just tune in for what I want to see. Even when we're in a downturn there's usually at least one thing I'm excited about watching. Like I probably never would have chosen to watch Mashle on my own, but I'm loving the hell out of it, so that alone is enough to make me show up every week. Even the reruns can be fun...like I had almost no memory of Blue Exorcist despite watching the whole thing when it first aired, and honestly I think I short-changed it a bit.

And I know shitting on Demarco is the new national pastime, but besides the (mostly forgettable) co-productions, I thought he mentioned a few years ago that he's not even the one in charge of show acquisitions for the block anymore. Or maybe I'm thinking of something else he doesn't do now.

[MasqueradeOverture]

7 minutes ago, Top Gun said:

Or maybe I'm thinking of something else he doesn't do now.

I sincerely miss the Adult Swim Singles program.

Discovered so much fire shit through that

[PokeNirvash]

9 hours ago, Top Gun said:

When it finally goes for good, I could see myself sitting down on a Saturday night to create my own little block (with blackjack! and hookers!) out of my huge backlog of shows.

My man. I used to do this a lot with the non-Toonami shows I watched back in the day, and even to this day, I still watch my various seasonals and out-of-seasonals with old ACTN-era bumps as bookending for each commercial break.

Yes, even with the trashy ecchi. Especially with the trashy ecchi.

[KageRageX]

Damn.

Honestly, I could see the block make it this year, but 2027? They'll be signing off by then...

And by then, hopefully I'll have enough knowledge to start my own NeoToonami-esque stream. 

[Jman]

If they’re going that route I could see Toonami’s name enduring as a FAST channel on digital TV and a continuous branding for the action cartoons.  “Toonami Presents.”

[OwlChemist81]

Been a couple of weeks, and questions have once again emerged about the schedule, especially now that Lazarus has been announced for April.

So, here's the safe bet:

2/22/25-3/15/25 same schedule as now, with Mashle continuing into Season 2.

3/22/25-3/29/25:

12 AM Mashle

12:30 Blue Exorcist

1-2 AM One Piece ×2

2-3:30 DBZ Kai/Naruto/Sailor Moon

4/6/25 and beyond

12 AM Lazarus (Dubbed)

12:30 Mashle

1 AM Blue Exorcist

1:30 One Piece

2-3:30 DBZ Kai/Naruto/Sailor Moon 

3:30 Lazarus (Subtitled)

WILD CARDS!!

Dr. Stone: Future World COULD replace Mashle S1 2/22 or IFG 3/22 and Lazarus expand Toonami to 11:30 on 4/6. Longshot, but they ARE experimenting with 11:30 with Common Side Effects on Sundays.

Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Spring or Summer 2025?

[Mr. Idea Box]

53 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Been a couple of weeks, and questions have once again emerged about the schedule, especially now that Lazarus has been announced for April.

I don't blame them. But at the same time, I'm glad they didn't outright copy the Ninja Kamui release cycle.

53 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

So, here's the safe bet:

2/22/25-3/15/25 same schedule as now, with Mashle continuing into Season 2.

3/22/25-3/29/25:

12 AM Mashle

12:30 Blue Exorcist

1-2 AM One Piece ×2

2-3:30 DBZ Kai/Naruto/Sailor Moon

This schedule makes sense.

53 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

4/6/25 and beyond

12 AM Lazarus (Dubbed)

12:30 Mashle

1 AM Blue Exorcist

1:30 One Piece

2-3:30 DBZ Kai/Naruto/Sailor Moon 

3:30 Lazarus (Subtitled)

My only problem with this is in regards to Naruto and Sailor Moon. I have a hunch those two might leave in June, leaving two vacant slots at 2:30 and 3.

And if DBZ Kai also ends its run in the middle of the year, that means we have THREE slots open for the summer. Even still, I doubt they'd be that shortsighted.

53 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

WILD CARDS!!

Dr. Stone: Future World COULD replace Mashle S1 2/22 or IFG 3/22 and Lazarus expand Toonami to 11:30 on 4/6. Longshot, but they ARE experimenting with 11:30 with Common Side Effects on Sundays.

Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Spring or Summer 2025?

Toonami expanding before Midnight for an original series? I'd be shocked if that happened.

As for Dr. Stone and Demon Slayer, I'd place my money on the former before the latter.

[Toonamiguy321]

23 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Dr. Stone: Future World COULD replace Mashle S1 2/22 or IFG 3/22 and Lazarus expand Toonami to 11:30 on 4/6. Longshot, but they ARE experimenting with 11:30 with Common Side Effects on Sundays.

The safety picks seem about right. Only one I disagree with is expansion for Lazarus reruns. Either they cut a Rewind show, or they spread the show onto other days as we saw with Uzumaki. 
 

 

23 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Dr. Stone: Future World COULD replace Mashle S1 2/22 or IFG 3/22 and Lazarus expand Toonami to 11:30 on 4/6. Longshot, but they ARE experimenting with 11:30 with Common Side Effects on Sundays.

Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Spring or Summer 2025?

It baffles me why people continue to suggest forward expansion will ever happen again. If R&M couldn’t do it, nothing will. What Sunday is doing isn’t relevant, Toonami is in a pretty dire state right now and Lazarus at midnight is one of the only confirmed fixes coming. 
 

I do think the chance of Dr Stone has grown a bit as the 2/22 schedule is hidden. Seems pointless if Mashle is just continuing on. If that’s the case, I believe this season will have 4 separate cours, so there will be gaps where Mashle can come back. 
 

22 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

My only problem with this is in regards to Naruto and Sailor Moon. I have a hunch those two might leave in June, leaving two vacant slots at 2:30 and 3.

And if DBZ Kai also ends its run in the middle of the year, that means we have THREE slots open for the summer. Even still, I doubt they'd be that shortsighted.

If the Rewind shows do end up expiring, I don’t think there will be open slot issues, as they will just cut what isn’t needed. Or they just fill them up with owned reruns. Those aren’t slots they would pay money to fill in, so theorizing how they fill/remove them isn’t as difficult. 

[KageRageX]

Damn....

Could see Dr. Stone coming later this month, and maybe either MHA, DS or Lycoris Recoil S2 if they play their cards right in March.

[Top Gun]

53 minutes ago, KageRageX said:

Damn....

Could see Dr. Stone coming later this month, and maybe either MHA, DS or Lycoris Recoil S2 if they play their cards right in March.

There is no season 2 of Lycoris. There was something like a one-off shorts project announced, but it's not a full season. 

[Top Gun]

Or wait...there might be something else that exists besides this shorts project? No one seems totally sure. Either way there's no more right now. 

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, Top Gun said:

Or wait...there might be something else that exists besides this shorts project? No one seems totally sure. Either way there's no more right now. 

There was supposedly going to be an S2 last year. Nothing ever came and nothing was ever said about it. So maybe there was some miscommunication about the shorts. 
 

Anyway, we are closing in on the two week window for Mashle. If they have their shit together, we should have a schedule drop tomorrow. If not, well I hope everyone is ready for stalling till April. 

[OwlChemist81]

Wha!?

If you predicted Blue Exorcist was doubling up, pat yourself on the back. But it's a whole month earlier than we thought it might be!

That's it, folks, officially down to ONE premiere, the buried treasure that is One Piece.

The ONLY good news is we'll blow through both FLCL 2023 (assuming Shoegaze is next) and Blue Exorcist Season 1 in March, so that opens the door, maybe, for Season 2: Kyoto Arc alongside Lazarus in April.

Also an open question as to whether, now that Mashle is taking a season break, Blue Exorcist topicals will return?