Predict Toonami in 2025

[Jman]

3 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Wha!?

 

Oof.  It’s clear Toonami is a very very low priority.  

[OwlChemist81]

4 minutes ago, Jman said:

Oof.  It’s clear Toonami is a very very low priority.  

Toonami has been a pretty low priority for me for a while now. In fact, I may not even watch on March 8th. Rare early Sunday and I need the rest.

[Blatch]

30 minutes ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Wha!?

Oh dear. Jesus.

Not to sound alarmist, but not going into Mashle S2 feels like "we're sunsetting the block" territory. Here's hoping this is just a budgetary issue, because who knows what they have left at this point.

[brianycpht]

2 minutes ago, Blatch said:

Oh dear. Jesus.

Not to sound alarmist, but not going into Mashle S2 feels like "we're sunsetting the block" territory. Here's hoping this is just a budgetary issue, because who knows what they have left at this point.

What if they don’t even have season 2 of Blue Exorcist?

[PokeNirvash]

This easily the closest I've ever gotten to getting whiplash from a schedule update. But hey, I'm willing to roll with it, if this boneheaded decision was made purely as a way of pouring one out for the pillows after their recent disbandment.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, OwlChemist81 said:

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?

Every time we think it can’t get worse, it gets worse. One premier block. They are legitimately going to stall the schedule all the way till April.

Interesting that they pulled IFG early, it must have been doing VERY bad to do that. Double BE is going to greatly increase expectations for S2, so if they don’t even manage that it’s going to be very hard to convince people the block is not on its way out. 
 

At this point, I think we really need to consider that Crunchyroll has sealed their doors tight and we won’t get anything further from them. MHA, Dr Stone, Fire Force, etc are all done on Toonami. 

They would be better served saving the money going into those topicals, this is not a block worth bringing attention to. 

This will be the first time in nearly 13 years that I have skipped a “normal” night of Toonami. There is nothing here for me. 

1 hour ago, Blatch said:

Oh dear. Jesus.

Not to sound alarmist, but not going into Mashle S2 feels like "we're sunsetting the block" territory. Here's hoping this is just a budgetary issue, because who knows what they have left at this point.

Budget resets in January, so if it’s a budget problem, it’s not going to get fixed. If there has ever been a time to sound alarmist, it’s now. The only reason we know that we won’t fall to 0 premiers is because One Piece has a zillion episodes. 
 

1 hour ago, PokeNirvash said:

This easily the closest I've ever gotten to getting whiplash from a schedule update. But hey, I'm willing to roll with it, if this boneheaded decision was made purely as a way of pouring one out for the pillows after their recent disbandment.

Grunge is like pulling down their pants, spreading their asscheeks, and pouring out  an ass full of diarrhea all over the pillows memorial stone. 

[PokeNirvash]

2 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Grunge is like pulling down their pants, spreading their asscheeks, and pouring out  an ass full of diarrhea all over the pillows memorial stone. 

Yes, but it also contains (as far as we know) the very last song the band ever composed, so y'know... makes sense.

Also, it's the pillows monument. Get it right, moron.

[Mr. Idea Box]

FLCL reruns and double Blue Exorcist? At the same time? Next month's gonna be rough sailing for Toonami fans, that's for sure.

At least this cycle of Invincible Fight Girl is reruns, albeit poorly thought out reruns. That way, those that want to see the last three episodes can just binge on Max. Or more likely in the coming years, Netflix and Hulu.

Even if it's to mourn The Pillows breaking up, it still feels rough that they're spending at least three weeks with One Piece as their only premiere. And those episodes are a DECADE old.

In a word, ouch.

[Top Gun]

This...could be better. Only saving grace is that I don't have to tune out for a half-hour in the middle of what I want to watch like I do now. 

[Sketch]

I busted out laughing in the bathroom during my break at work today when I saw this.

They truly have outdone themselves with this one.

IFG gets pulled at ep 6 showing they could have arbitrarily done that at any time and they're doing it on ep 6 which is a two part story with ep 7. They do not give a shit. I think this show is gonna get written off at the end of physical year. Which I think is the end of February that checks out. Better buy it on digital before the end of the month.

Double Blue Exorcist as expected but... a month early. Yikes.

And they bring in the most loathed FLCL sequel right after the Pillows disband? I'm with Guy on this one, that's like taking a dump on the legacy even if it includes the last song they ever recorded. I don't think there's even a full length version of that song and that annoys me greatly. Theorectically that could just be the first FLCL they revisit, they could end up rerunning the other, maybe in chronological order of sorts, the timeline is stupid.

And we're down to ONE premiere and it's in the exact middle of the block. INCREDIBLE. You have to suffer through the worst reruns to get to One Piece and the good reruns. What a shit show.

They would have gotten more views from sticking Sailor Moon reruns at Midnight, there's little doubt in my mind. But the layup would have been DBZ Kai.

Nobody is going to watch this shit and if anyone does they should be booed for doing so willingly.

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Yes, but it also contains (as far as we know) the very last song the band ever composed, so y'know... makes sense.

Also, it's the pillows monument. Get it right, moron.

Stone, monument, whatever, it’s got chunky diarrhea dripping all over it. And it’s the kind with a really potent smell, so no one wants to approach it to clean it off either. 
 

39 minutes ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

FLCL reruns and double Blue Exorcist? At the same time? Next month's gonna be rough sailing for Toonami fans, that's for sure.

At least this cycle of Invincible Fight Girl is reruns, albeit poorly thought out reruns. That way, those that want to see the last three episodes can just binge on Max. Or more likely in the coming years, Netflix and Hulu.

Even if it's to mourn The Pillows breaking up, it still feels rough that they're spending at least three weeks with One Piece as their only premiere. And those episodes are a DECADE old.

In a word, ouch.

It’s gonna be 6 weeks. There is no way they start something new 3 weeks before needing an open slot for Lazarus. Shoegaze will follow it up and carry us to April. 
 

11 minutes ago, Sketch said:

They would have gotten more views from sticking Sailor Moon reruns at Midnight, there's little doubt in my mind. But the layup would have been DBZ Kai.

I’m still standing by those 3 shows expiring before summer which is why they don’t want people getting too attached to them. If they put SM up front, not only will people bitch when they move it for other stuff, people will super bitch if it leaves arbitrarily or finishes but does not go into S2. 
 

The conspiracy enthusiast in me wants to say these moves are intentional, to encourage the audience to want a block reduction, so they can seamlessly do a a major scale down in the summer. If those Rewind shows expire, they don’t have replacements, so a trim down is unavoidable. 
 

15 minutes ago, Sketch said:

I busted out laughing in the bathroom during my break at work today when I saw this.

Careful with that, that’s how office rumors start. The hunt for the Laughing Fapper is not something you want to get tangled up in. 

[Sketch]

I do not doubt those shows expire come June and they will shorten the block when they leave unless they wanna drag GITS out or actually finish IGPX in HD.

It is insanity that they couldn't even manage 2 premieres a month into the year and it bodes very badly for the future.

[Toonamiguy321]

So I just did a little math. Grunge + Shoegaze carries us to March 29th. Conveniently, double Blue Exorcist also lasts exactly 6 weeks. There is clearly some intent going into these moves. We just have to hope the logical end point is where we wind up. 
 

As with most AS premiers these days, Lazarus could do a two episode premier on April 5th, then Blue Exorcist S2 starts the following week. The other slot would either go to the Lazarus sub, or just get cut. 
 

Another thing to consider, DBZ Kai will reach episode 47 on March 1. That’s where they tweaked the schedule to have Rewind end. Was that for style points since it’s the episode Goku goes Super Saiyan, or did they do that because they only have up to 47? If it does expire, I assume that slot will be filled in by Naruto so it can actually air the land of waves everyone bitched about. 
 

Regardless of that though, we are looking at a Toonami schedule where the first new show of the year hits in April, and it’s an original. The first 3 months of the year completely wasted. And if they are willing to do this now, there is no reason we shouldn’t expect the same tactics for any other originals scheduled for this year. 

[brianycpht]

3 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

So I just did a little math. Grunge + Shoegaze carries us to March 29th. Conveniently, double Blue Exorcist also lasts exactly 6 weeks. There is clearly some intent going into these moves. We just have to hope the logical end point is where we wind up. 
 

As with most AS premiers these days, Lazarus could do a two episode premier on April 5th, then Blue Exorcist S2 starts the following week. The other slot would either go to the Lazarus sub, or just get cut. 
 

Another thing to consider, DBZ Kai will reach episode 47 on March 1. That’s where they tweaked the schedule to have Rewind end. Was that for style points since it’s the episode Goku goes Super Saiyan, or did they do that because they only have up to 47? If it does expire, I assume that slot will be filled in by Naruto so it can actually air the land of waves everyone bitched about. 
 

Regardless of that though, we are looking at a Toonami schedule where the first new show of the year hits in April, and it’s an original. The first 3 months of the year completely wasted. And if they are willing to do this now, there is no reason we shouldn’t expect the same tactics for any other originals scheduled for this year. 

Besides Rooster Fighter, what else is there?  I don’t recall any others announced
 

Superman isn’t confirmed and neither is Primal so who knows if either of them will be here this year 

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, brianycpht said:

Besides Rooster Fighter, what else is there?  I don’t recall any others announced
 

Superman isn’t confirmed and neither is Primal so who knows if either of them will be here this year 

I’d assume at minimum Get Jiro, and I’m fairly confident Primal will make it this year. Maybe as a summer release. Whatever season Rick and Morty doesn’t air in. 

[KageRageX]

wow.

Toonami's dead.

New low, even for AS standards.

Welp, I'll be checking out now, if something actually good airs in the Spring, just tell me so I can pirate it.

Goodbye AS. You made your own grave, now you gotta lay in it.

[MasqueradeOverture]

It's fitting that the final AS action show is made by the guy who gave it it's first hit (Bebop).

Full circle. The end.

[Mr. Idea Box]

I know this doesn't have much to do with Toonami, but they actually are doing some different stuff with Checkered Past in the coming months.

• February 17th thru 21st: To celebrate the 30th anniversary of What A Cartoon!, The Cartoon Cartoon Show is coming to Checkered Past to air the 2000 and 2001 CCF Big Pick nominees. We're also getting an extra half-hour of What A Cartoon! on Friday.
• February 28th: Cartoon Planet is coming back to Checkered Past, this time on Fridays. Unlike the anniversary special event, this will remain on Friday afternoons/evenings/whateveryouwannacallthem in March at the least.
• March 4th: Ed, Edd, n Eddy replaces Dexter's Laboratory at 5 PM, somehow starting on a Tuesday.

The fact that they're actually doing different things with Checkered Past in 2025 gives me hope there's still some juice in the 5 o'clock tank. Something that is quite rare these days.

[Toonamiguy321]

As theorized, Toonami only has up to episode 47 of DBZ Kai. Which will now restart from episode 1 starting on 3/8.

So I think we can safely say that the Rewind shows will not go beyond their initial deals, and will instead just loop until they expire. 

[Sketch]

You gotta freak’n kidding me… they bought a 2 year license for just 47 eps of Kai as block filler last year and didn’t bother to get more that whole year?

At least swap Sailor Moon to 2am if you’re restarting Kai you absolute morons!!!

While it’s certain they only got a years worth of all 3 Rewind shows. Now I’m not so sure Naruto and Sailor Moon expire in June. They might also be 2 year licenses. Either way they’re just filling space.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 minutes ago, Sketch said:

You gotta freak’n kidding me… they bought a 2 year license for just 47 eps of Kai as block filler last year and didn’t bother to get more that whole year?

At least swap Sailor Moon to 2am if you’re restarting Kai you absolute morons!!!

While it’s certain they only got a years worth of all 3 Rewind shows. Now I’m not so sure Naruto and Sailor Moon expire in June. They might also be 2 year licenses. Either way they’re just filling space.

Maybe they will be 1 year deals since they are from Viz. Don’t have anything to support that theory, just a thought. They seem very dedicated to not moving Naruto or Sailor Moon any earlier, as if they want them in the easiest place to remove them. 
 

If Toonami actually gets to premier Lazarus, perhaps Kai is just temporary filler to be replaced by the Lazarus sub in April. Barely anyone is tuning in that late anyway so maybe they just figure most people won’t notice or care if it restarts for a bit. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

Okay, new theory: By September 2025, Toonami will regress back to a two-hour block, like in 2008, held up by:

1. An original series OR an in-house property OR a major license.
2. One anime pick-up, regardless of episode count.
3. The Dressrosa Arc of One Piece.
4. One cycle of reruns OR whatever else they can get their hands on.
5. In the increasingly unlikely event of TWO anime pick-ups, erase the grab bag option and air One Piece in the last slot.

I know that's entirely pessimistic of me to predict, but with DBZ Kai recycling only 47 episodes in two years, it doesn't inspire confidence in Naruto or Sailor Moon being long for this block.

[Jman]

At this point I’m more convinced Toonami as a block is winding down, and that they hope to gracefully sign off by year’s end, with the occasional action based original folded into Adult Swim proper.  Without a Mike Lazzo telling the original creators to bring the funny or fuck off back to the darkest corners of Kickstarter, there’s still plenty of original creators who will make action and drama shows.

[Sketch]

6 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Maybe they will be 1 year deals since they are from Viz. Don’t have anything to support that theory, just a thought. They seem very dedicated to not moving Naruto or Sailor Moon any earlier, as if they want them in the easiest place to remove them. 
 

If Toonami actually gets to premier Lazarus, perhaps Kai is just temporary filler to be replaced by the Lazarus sub in April. Barely anyone is tuning in that late anyway so maybe they just figure most people won’t notice or care if it restarts for a bit. 

Well I suppose they could pull Kai in April but they’ll only do that if there’s something to fill both 12:30 and 1am when BE season 1 ends and they need a second slot for Lazarus’ sub.

[KageRageX]

......

[no comment]

[Toonamiguy321]

15 hours ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

Okay, new theory: By September 2025, Toonami will regress back to a two-hour block, like in 2008, held up by:

1. An original series OR an in-house property OR a major license.
2. One anime pick-up, regardless of episode count.
3. The Dressrosa Arc of One Piece.
4. One cycle of reruns OR whatever else they can get their hands on.
5. In the increasingly unlikely event of TWO anime pick-ups, erase the grab bag option and air One Piece in the last slot.

I know that's entirely pessimistic of me to predict, but with DBZ Kai recycling only 47 episodes in two years, it doesn't inspire confidence in Naruto or Sailor Moon being long for this block.

It’s hardly pessimistic, it’s pretty realistic based on how things are currently going. And really, it’s a long overdue change if they are reducing their support of the block. 
 

8 hours ago, Jman said:

At this point I’m more convinced Toonami as a block is winding down, and that they hope to gracefully sign off by year’s end, with the occasional action based original folded into Adult Swim proper.  Without a Mike Lazzo telling the original creators to bring the funny or fuck off back to the darkest corners of Kickstarter, there’s still plenty of original creators who will make action and drama shows.

This is anything but graceful. The insistence of keeping the block at 7 slots gives people hopium that better times are coming. Slotting in the Rewind shows gives people hopium that they will continue on. Remember, the average Toonami viewer is an absolute idiot, they won’t put the pieces together based on Kai restarting that the other two won’t go beyond their current license either. So what’s going to happen is after months of this current trash schedule, there will be an abrupt cut when the Rewind shows run out, and then the community panic will set in, because the only thing the idiot audience will understand is time reduction. 
 

If they wanted a graceful end, they should have done what Mr Idea Box said the first week of the year. That at least would have greatly reduced expectations and given people time to come to terms with the inevitable end incoming. 
 

12 - Mashle

12:30 - Blue Exorcist

1 - One Piece

1:30 - whatever rerun

Absolutely nothing changes if this would have been the January schedule aside from people having reduced expectations. The BE double up could have gone to midnight rather than an FLCL abortion. 

DST is on March 8th, that would be a great time for them to try and squeeze a cut in. 
 

[PokeNirvash]

I'm now 100% convinced that the real reason Demarco quit social media altogether was so that he could easily avoid explaining any of this shit.

[Toonamiguy321]

6 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

I'm now 100% convinced that the real reason Demarco quit social media altogether was so that he could easily avoid explaining any of this shit.

I think this too. I love to blame him for everything, but I think we have actually reached a point where he has been shuffled up the corporate ladder into new tasks that don’t involve Toonami aside from that being where his dookie originals go. 
 

It’s not that he doesn’t know, he has likely already been handed down the orders that Toonami will be greatly reduced, if not entirely cancelled, in the near future. But it’s not like he can go on Twitter and say that, so rather than hang around and make excuses he just bailed. 
 

Personally I prefer it this way. He never gave straight answers anyway, better to just not say anything than once again misdirect the fans into having some hopes things will get better. 

[brianycpht]

5 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

I think this too. I love to blame him for everything, but I think we have actually reached a point where he has been shuffled up the corporate ladder into new tasks that don’t involve Toonami aside from that being where his dookie originals go. 
 

It’s not that he doesn’t know, he has likely already been handed down the orders that Toonami will be greatly reduced, if not entirely cancelled, in the near future. But it’s not like he can go on Twitter and say that, so rather than hang around and make excuses he just bailed. 
 

Personally I prefer it this way. He never gave straight answers anyway, better to just not say anything than once again misdirect the fans into having some hopes things will get better. 

I appreciated some of his information but his public trashing of CR and Sony probably didn’t help things. 

[Blatch]

18 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

I'm now 100% convinced that the real reason Demarco quit social media altogether was so that he could easily avoid explaining any of this shit.

I think part of it was to get away from the negativity ahead of Trump 2.0 (which... one of my hottest takes is that this is probably what we all should be doing), but yeah.

[Toonamiguy321]

14 hours ago, brianycpht said:

I appreciated some of his information but his public trashing of CR and Sony probably didn’t help things. 

He occasionally had snippets of info, but that was declining in recent years. I’m glad there is no one to say “don’t worry guys there is stuff in the pipe >:)” for morons to treat as gospel and never notice he doesn’t follow through. The radio silence is useful because it’s forcing people to look at the reality. Toonami Faithful posted an article about how much the schedule sucks shit, that wouldn’t happen if Demarco was out here making vague promises. 
 

2 hours ago, Blatch said:

I think part of it was to get away from the negativity ahead of Trump 2.0 (which... one of my hottest takes is that this is probably what we all should be doing), but yeah.

Demarco has a terminal addiction to politics and Trump. The way he acted from 2020-2024 you would think Trump was the president then too. I fully believe he has a socket puppet account on both platforms purely to bitch about politics, but Trump winning made the perfect smokescreen for him to exit his public social media presence ahead of a major Toonami decline. If this schedule disaster happened last year and he bailed, it would have been a lot more obvious he was hiding from the Toonami mob. Sometimes things just line up though, and he took his chance to make an exit. 

[KageRageX]

Damn.

[Sketch]

While I have all but resolved to the likelihood that Grunge will begat Shoegaze and double Blue Exorcist will continue until morale improves (aka April). There’s a sliver of possibility we can get something on March 15th in time for Toonami’s anniversary on the 17th. It’s anyone’s guess if that will be Dr. Stone, Daima, Demon Slayer Hashira or something much less expected.

If the goal is to be well stocked by April they should really add something in March so it doesn’t all have to start in April. If they intend to rerun all the FLCLs they could boot Kai from 2am to do so.

Regarding Kai, while it certainly looks like they have a 2 year contract for 47 eps, maybe it’s not quite that long? It would be unusual but maybe it’s an 14 month contract or something. And while restarting it only to immediately remove it might seem pointless to us. Consider the optics of them reaching 47 then pulling it off the week after. A lot of viewers wouldn’t realize the reason it was pulled was because they don’t have more episodes. When they restart it, it’s much more obvious why they would remove it mid-run. That said, they will assuredly air Kai for as long as they have it under contract so more likely it will stick around.

[Toonamiguy321]

5 hours ago, Sketch said:

While I have all but resolved to the likelihood that Grunge will begat Shoegaze and double Blue Exorcist will continue until morale improves (aka April). There’s a sliver of possibility we can get something on March 15th in time for Toonami’s anniversary on the 17th. It’s anyone’s guess if that will be Dr. Stone, Daima, Demon Slayer Hashira or something much less expected.

Well, if they do have anything, I’d hope they get it announced on Friday and not make us wait any longer than we need to. Things are set up too cleanly for Shoegaze though, so my expectations are not high. 
 

5 hours ago, Sketch said:

Regarding Kai, while it certainly looks like they have a 2 year contract for 47 eps, maybe it’s not quite that long? It would be unusual but maybe it’s an 14 month contract or something. And while restarting it only to immediately remove it might seem pointless to us. Consider the optics of them reaching 47 then pulling it off the week after. A lot of viewers wouldn’t realize the reason it was pulled was because they don’t have more episodes. When they restart it, it’s much more obvious why they would remove it mid-run. That said, they will assuredly air Kai for as long as they have it under contract so more likely it will stick around.

I could see its deal being synchronized with the other two Rewind shows. They probably called in a favor to start it a little early. 
 

I do agree they have to constantly make choices due to the idiot audience, and if they did pull it at 47, there would be constant questions about when it is coming back. Even if they expire mid run, people will ask for the Rewind shows to continue on. 

[Sketch]

Yeah I was thinking they might have got it extended so that it would last as long as Naruto and Sailor Moon or as you suggested they were able to start it early. I guess we'll see what happens in June.

They need to show something substantial in April besides just Lazarus if they want to keep their audience interested and if they fail to do that then the writing really is on the wall. While we certainly don't know for sure how difficult or costly it is to get shows from Sentai, Viz and Aniplex, it's hard not to think they have simply given up on everything because CR walked away from the table.

If WB/D gave a shit, Toonami could afford DanDaDan, the new Gundam series GKIDS is distributing and I dunno Witch Watch (also from MBS like DanDaDan) or they could be airing Scavengers Reign, Suicide Squad Isekai and Harley Quinn. But NOPE.

Lazarus could be the last anime co-production that airs on Toonami. Nothing says Rooster Fighter has to air on Toonami whenever it does drop. And I don't even hate the idea of an Adult Swim where action animation has to be ghettoed onto a Saturday night block.

To save what's left of Toonami's dignity it's better to go out with Lazarus than to become a perpetual rerun block with an occasional original series. But that said, I don't think we're quite at the end of the road just yet. If come April have nothing but Lazarus, One Piece and reruns which are all expected to expire by June then it would be completely believable that Toonami will close up shop on July 5th with a Lazarus marathon which was preceded by a Lazarus marathon the week prior just like Ninja Kamui had.

[Sketch]

Anyway... here's some boring predictions with no surprise pick ups for the rest of the entire year

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ha_HbLH7wwHn-mCX2VDheEKnc81AKvwTb2oh7qeRdmo/edit?usp=sharing

[brianycpht]

4 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Well, if they do have anything, I’d hope they get it announced on Friday and not make us wait any longer than we need to. Things are set up too cleanly for Shoegaze though, so my expectations are not high. 
 

I could see its deal being synchronized with the other two Rewind shows. They probably called in a favor to start it a little early. 
 

I do agree they have to constantly make choices due to the idiot audience, and if they did pull it at 47, there would be constant questions about when it is coming back. Even if they expire mid run, people will ask for the Rewind shows to continue on. 

I really hope they don’t blank out the schedule just to reveal Shoegaze next week 

[Sketch]

42 minutes ago, brianycpht said:

I really hope they don’t blank out the schedule just to reveal Shoegaze next week 

I wouldn't put it past them for a second.

[brianycpht]

42 minutes ago, Sketch said:

I wouldn't put it past them for a second.

Honestly this should’ve been a double lineup reveal just to rip the band aid off. Don’t play games, just give it to us straight 

[Mr. Idea Box]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

Anyway... here's some boring predictions with no surprise pick ups for the rest of the entire year

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ha_HbLH7wwHn-mCX2VDheEKnc81AKvwTb2oh7qeRdmo/edit?usp=sharing

Okay, let's see here.

• Daima / Slayer:
  • March: Dragon Ball Daima premieres as a headliner for Toonami.
  • April: Lazarus and Blue Exorcist Kyoto Arc premiere on Toonami, while pushing Daima to 12:30.
  • June: Naruto and Sailor Moon are replaced by Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village. Two-week Lazarus marathon.
  • July: Season 3 of Primal and Blue Exorcist Shimane Illuminati replace both Lazarus and Kyoto, respectively. The 3 AM slot is dropped.
  • August: Mashle Season 2 premieres on Toonami in Daima's old slot. Reruns of Lazarus replace reruns of Swordsmith.
  • September: Rooster Fighter makes its television debut as the next block headliner.
  • October: Demon Slayer Hashira Training both replaces and pushes Mashle back at the same time. Uzumaki and Housing Complex C marathon on Halloween-adjacent night.
  • November: More of last month's usual schtick. Holiday marathons are Rooster Fighter in November and Hashira Training in December.
  • New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series.
• Stone / Blue:
  • March: Toonami stalls all the way to April with more FLCL reruns.
  • April: Lazarus is joined by Dr. Stone Science Future and Blue Exorcist Kyoto Arc.
  • June: Swordsmith Village replaces Naruto and Sailor Moon as this month caps off with Lazarus marathons.
  • July: Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, and Blue Exorcist Shimane Illuminati are the summer's new shows. 3 AM is dropped.
  • August: Reruns of Lazarus replace Swordsmith Village. Nothing else changes.
  • September: Rooster Fighter premieres on Toonami.
  • October: Dragon Ball Daima and the next cour of Dr. Stone Science Future premiere as the new third-party pickups. Uzumaki and Housing Complex C marathon at the end.
  • November: The only change at the end of this year is doubling up on DBZ Kai, which could ironically be a logical choice for their Christmas marathon at this rate.
  • New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series.
• Fools Gold:
  • March: FLCL stalls away.
  • April: Lazarus is joined by Blue Exorcist Kyoto and...a whole season's worth of old FLCL episodes.
  • June: Swordsmith replaces SM and Naruto. Lazarus marathons.
  • July: Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, and...MORE OLD FLCL. Plus, the 3 AM timeslot gets dropped.
  • August: Dragon Ball Daima premieres, bumping Mashle to 1 AM. Those who aren't in the know are joyous.
  • September: Rooster Fighter premieres on Toonami.
  • October: Demon Slayer Hashira premieres at 1 AM. Uzumaki closes the night at the end, rather than opening it.
  • November: Rooster Fighter Thanksgiving marathon. One of the most thematic holiday marathons Toonami would ever consider.
  • December: Two Piece returns to Toonami, as does Double DBZ Kai. Four shows total in three hours...
  • New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series.
• Rewind Rewind:
  • April: Lazarus is joined by Dr. Stone Science Future and Blue Exorcist Kyoto this season.
  • June: Surprising the pessimistic crowd, Naruto and Sailor Moon stick around for now. Oh, and a Lazarus marathon bridges into the next month.
  • July: Primal Season 3, Mashle Season 2, and Blue Exorcist Shimane are the Summer premieres.
  • September: Rooster Fighter premieres on the block.
  • October: Dragon Ball Daima and more Dr. Stone Science Future episodes premiere on the block, plus an Uzumaki/Housing Complex C marathon.
  • November: Rooster Fighter Thanksgiving marathon, and a confirmation that the lineup has become lazy with how little it's really changed past 1 AM.
  • New Shows: 6 existing properties, two original series.
• Maximum Rewind:
  • April: A schedule change. Lazarus at Midnight, even more FLCL repeats at 12:30, One Piece bumped up to 1 AM, and subtitled Lazarus at 1:30. The novelty will wear off by July.
  • July: After an extended Lazarus marathon, the new episodes consist of Primal Season 3 and Mashle Season 2. Yet more FLCL at 1 AM.
  • August: Reruns of Lazarus swap times with One Piece, meaning Toonami viewers can go to sleep earlier.
  • September: Rooster Fighter premieres on Toonami.
  • October: Dragon Ball Daima premieres on Toonami. Uzumaki/HCC marathon starting at 12:30.
  • December: Two Piece returns to Toonami, hopefully ending the Dressrosa Arc at last.
  • Year Round: The reruns and new episodes are further apart this year than ever before.
  • New Shows: 4 existing properties, two original series.
• Die with Lazarus:
  • March: Better off sleeping in this month. Just catch the bumpers on Youtube instead.
  • April: Lazarus is joined by more FLCL reruns and a more permanent Two Piece lineup.
  • June: Toonami ends its Adult Swim era with One Piece burning off their remaining contracted premieres and a two-week Lazarus marathon. Chances of an actual send-off for this second coming are slim to none.
  • July and Beyond: The scant few action shows on Adult Swim's radar premiere Thursdays on cable and Fridays on streaming services. My Adventures with Superman could see its third season written off outright.
  • New Shows: One existing property, one original series.

Frankly, either one of these could be how 2025 goes for Toonami at this rate. However, if I could pick a preferred future, I'd go with either Daima / Slayer, Maximum Rewind, or Dies with Lazarus. The fact that capping off Toonami with the premiere of Lazarus is one of the better outcomes is not a good sign.

[Toonamiguy321]

4 hours ago, Sketch said:

Anyway... here's some boring predictions with no surprise pick ups for the rest of the entire year

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ha_HbLH7wwHn-mCX2VDheEKnc81AKvwTb2oh7qeRdmo/edit?usp=sharing

Here’s a slight alternative to consider. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are going to move forward with Blue Exorcist. So that and Lazarus will be what carries us into the mid summer months. But as I look at the calendar here, September 20th lands on Saturday this year. Perhaps they limp things along till then, so the block can die on the exact day that it did in 2008. 
 

Would they care enough to do that? I doubt it. But as long as the block is an hour long, technically it isn’t dead, so it’s a doable thing without spending too much money. It’s a tiny bit more dignified than just abruptly signing off after another of Demarco’s failures airs. 
 

It’s better optics for Lazarus too. Even if it’s great, if Toonami is cancelled the week after, it will always be remembered as the show that killed the block. 

[Sketch]

8 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Here’s a slight alternative to consider. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are going to move forward with Blue Exorcist. So that and Lazarus will be what carries us into the mid summer months. But as I look at the calendar here, September 20th lands on Saturday this year. Perhaps they limp things along till then, so the block can die on the exact day that it did in 2008. 
 

Would they care enough to do that? I doubt it. But as long as the block is an hour long, technically it isn’t dead, so it’s a doable thing without spending too much money. It’s a tiny bit more dignified than just abruptly signing off after another of Demarco’s failures airs. 
 

It’s better optics for Lazarus too. Even if it’s great, if Toonami is cancelled the week after, it will always be remembered as the show that killed the block. 

They can air Primal season 3 (if only an encore) then they could easily hold out till mid-September.

You do have a point about the optics of ending with Lazarus. They did say they hope to do multiple seasons of Lazarus and letting it “kill Toonami” sure won’t help that prospect.

[Jman]

If Lazarus kills Toonami Watanabe gets pegged as a one hit wonder for the rest of his life.

[Blatch]

22 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

It’s better optics for Lazarus too. Even if it’s great, if Toonami is cancelled the week after, it will always be remembered as the show that killed the block. 

So clearly, the solution is to kill Toonami before Lazarus premieres.

[Top Gun]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

If Lazarus kills Toonami Watanabe gets pegged as a one hit wonder for the rest of his life.

Macross Plus, Samurai Champloo, Kids on the Slope, and Carole & Tuesday say hi? Even Terror in Resonance got more positive response than negative from what I saw.

[Toonamiguy321]

4 hours ago, Blatch said:

So clearly, the solution is to kill Toonami before Lazarus premieres.

Well, as far as I remember, I don’t believe that it’s been explicitly stated that Lazarus is airing on Toonami, just that it’s airing in April. Everything else has just been educated conclusions we came up with. 

[Sketch]

All recent press reports that have a blurb about Adult Swim do usually mention Toonami and associate Lazarus with it.

As an example: (sorry about the formatting)

About Adult Swim                               Adult Swim is the leader in adult animation and #1 destination for young adults for over fifteen years, offering critically acclaimed, award-winning series such as “Rick and Morty,” "Common Side Effects," "Robot Chicken," “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal,” “The Eric Andre Show,” “SMILING FRIENDS,” “My Adventures with Superman,” and the upcoming series “Women Wearing Shoulder Pads." Fan favorite anime block, Toonami, airs on Saturday nights and has expanded beyond acquisitions, producing original series including “Ninja Kamui,” “FLCL” and the upcoming series “Lazarus.” Adult Swim airs nightly from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET/PT) on its linear channel and reaches fans via Max. Connect with Adult Swim onFacebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Subscribe to Adult Swim on YouTube.

About Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, Max, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, Max, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Film Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Nicole Yavasile Adult Swim [email protected]

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[Top Gun]

No matter what winds up happening with the linear cable block, I think there's still a lot of nostalgia value in the Toonami brand itself, and lord knows corporate types are all about milking the shit out of nostalgia brands.

[Toonamiguy321]

We are now in the common death throes for a block where they just start putting any ol thing on the schedule to fill time. No one should be able to look at this and feel like the block has a future. 
 

I like CSE, I think it’s one of the best things to come from AS in a long time, but it has no business being on Toonami. If this show is “action” enough for a Toonami run, that means Rick and Morty is too. 
 

Odds of Blue Exorcist S2 also dropped significantly. 

[Jman]

Common Side Effects?

All the goddamn shows and that’s the one you get?

Ok, this seems to spell out that shows made primarily for Max are off-limits, because there’s no reason CSE should be airing instead of Creature Commandos.