Toonami Roundup: "Hunter x Hunter" Joins Toonami April 16th; "Parasyte -the maxim" Re-Runs Replace "Kill La Kill" Re-Runs

 

No April Foolin' here folks, this is the real deal. Toonami has come out with a couple announcements tonight, so let's get started.

As announced on tonight's (April 1st, 2016) Toonami Pre-Flight streaming broadcast and confirmed by distributor Viz Media (via their official Twitter account), Hunter x Hunter will be joining Toonami April 16th at 1AM ET/PT, replacing Parasyte - the maxim -.

This will be Viz Media's second currently-running show on Toonami, joining fellow Shonen Jump anime Naruto: Shippuden. The show will also be Toonami's fourth long-running show currently running on the block, joining Dragon Ball Z Kai, One Piece, and the aforementioned Naruto: Shippuden. 

Viz Media has also confirmed via their official Twitter page that dubbing studio Bang Zoom Entertainment will be handling the dub for the show.

In other news, Toonami also announced during tonight's (again, April 1st, 2016) Toonami Pre-Flight streaming broadcast that Parasyte -the maxim- will be getting a second run on April 16th at 3AM ET/PT, replacing Kill La Kill's re-run slot. This is the first time since Attack on Titan's aborted second run that a show has been given a second run directly after finishing its first run on Toonami.

UPDATE: Toonami To Co-Produce Two New Seasons of "FLCL"

The unthinkable has just happened, right out of the blue. As announced by Toonami's Official Tumblr Page and by Turner's official press release, Toonami will be co-producing two new seasons of the cult-classic anime FLCL (an abbreviation for "Fooly Cooly") with the legendary Japanese animation studio Production IG, who co-produced (and eventually purchased) the original series with Gainax (another Japanese animation studio). The new seasons, comprised of six episodes each for a total of twelve new episodes, will premiere on Toonami sometime between late 2017 to early 2018.

It is currently unknown who will be producing the English language version of the series. Toonami/Adult Swim could possibly dub the new seasons in-house at William Street, or Toonami could contract Funimation, who has the license to the original series, to produce the dub. It's also possible that Toonami could contract another dubbing studio (such as Bang Zoom Entertainment) to produce the dub. Unfortunately, the original licensors of the anime/producers of the dub (Synch-Point/Broccoli) shut down at the end of 2008, so a dub from them is not possible.

It is also currently unknown if the original FLCL series will air on Toonami again to promote the new seasons, but considering the premiere time frame for the new seasons, a television broadcast probably won't happen until sometime before the new seasons debut on the network. However, it is possible that the series could be featured again on Adult Swim's website or on the Toonami Marathon Stream at some point between now and the debut of the new seasons on Toonami. Of course, this is assuming that Toonami still has the broadcast rights to air the original series from Funimation (considering the series is not on Adult Swim's website as of this writing, it's unknown whether or not these rights still lie with Toonami or not). However, with the new seasons on the way, Toonami will likely re-purchase these rights if their rights have indeed lapsed.

UPDATE 3/24/16: Jason DeMarco posted some additional information about the new seasons on his Twitter account. Essentially, the plan is to have all of the original voice cast return for the show (and although not specified, it can be inferred that DeMarco is referring to the English voice cast) as well as bring back other people who were involved in the original series. Currently, Kazuya Tsurumaki (the director of the original series) will return to the show as a supervisor (as well as shaping the story line) and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (co-founder of Gainax) will return as well. According to DeMarco, most of the original voice cast has already signed onto the new seasons (no confirmation on who has signed on yet, however) and they are working on getting the band who performed the music for the original show (The Pillows) back for the new seasons as well.

UPDATE 2 3/24/16: Jason DeMarco has also mentioned on his Ask.FM account that the budget for show acquisitions is completely separate from FLCL's budget. This essentially means that the production of FLCL will not affect the acquisitions of shows for the Toonami block from now until production on FLCL finishes.

"Dimension W" Joins Toonami February 27th

Out with the killers, in with the collectors. As announced by Funimation Entertainment themselves, Dimension W will be making its English World Premiere on Toonami February 27th at 12:30 AM ET/PT, replacing Akame ga Kill. Not only is this Funimation's first show in which it is involved in a show's production (via a production committee), but this is also Funimation's first Broadcast Dub to not debut on Funimation's own streaming service.

The show will also be Toonami's first show it has run nearly simultaneous with Japan (Space Dandy episodes were broadcast mere hours before debuting in Japan, whereas this show will be broadcasted with a 7 episode buffer between Japan and the United States).

The new schedule starting February 27th can be found below (all times ET/PT):

12:00 AM -  Dragon Ball Z Kai
12:30 AM - Dimension W
1:00 AM - Parasyte - the maxim - 
1:30 AM - Samurai Champloo
2:00 AM - Naruto: Shippuden
2:30 AM - One Piece
3:00 AM - Kill La Kill (re-run)

Toonami Marathon Stream Recap: January 2016

Hello again, Toonami fandom! As you may remember from this article posted at the beginning of the month, I will be recapping what has been on the Toonami Marathon Stream on Adult Swim.com every month via a new blog post. So without further ado, let's begin our January 2016 recap!

WEEKLY MARATHONS (WEEKDAYS) 

Dragon Ball Z Kai was the first show on the Toonami Marathon Stream in 2016. It ran during the week of January 4th - January 8th. It majorly featured episodes from the Namek saga of the series, many of which were (and still are not) available for any-time streaming on Adult Swim.com. Selected episodes ran on the stream with their eye-catches (short bumpers signaling going to and returning from a commercial break) and next episode previews intact (these segments were normally cut out of Toonami's TV broadcasts).

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (and 2ND GIG) played on the stream during the week of January 11th - January 15th. This is the second time the series has been on the stream, and this being its first showing in the current year (2016).

Cowboy Bebop played on the stream during the week of January 18th - January 22nd. This is the show's first showing on the stream in 2016 and the show's third showing on the stream overall.

Michiko and Hatchin played on the stream during the week of January 25th - January 29th. This is the show's second time being featured on the stream, with this being the first time it was shown on the stream in 2016.

TOONAMI BLOCK RE-BROADCASTS (WEEKENDS)

• January 2nd, 2016 - re-broadcast on January 3rd, 2016 and January 9th, 2016
• January 9th, 2016 - re-broadcast on January 10th, 2016 and January 16th, 2016
• January 16th, 2016 -  re-broadcast on January 17th, 2016 and January 23rd, 2016
• January 23rd, 2016 - re-broadcast on January 24th, 2016 and January 30th, 2016
• January 30th, 2016 -  re-broadcast on January 31st, 2016 and February 6th, 2016

STATISTICS

• This is the first time that Dragon Ball Z Kai played on the Toonami Marathon Stream in its own dedicated marathon, excluding showings as part of re-broadcasts of the Toonami television block.
• Dragon Ball Z Kai's marathon debut marks the second time that a currently running Toonami program was given its own marathon on the Toonami Marathon Stream. 
• Michiko and Hatchin is the first Funimation show that Toonami has retained streaming rights to even after the show's initial broadcast on Toonami. This means that any show currently playing on Toonami could potentially continue to stream on Adult Swim's website and thus be candidates for Toonami's Weekly Marathons on their streaming channel.

Toonami Marathon Stream 2015: An Archive

Hello, and welcome to a new feature here on Building You A Better Cartoon Show: The Toonami Blog. If you aren't already in the know, back in late August 2015, Toonami launched a stream of Toonami programming on their Adult Swim.com Toonami Stream (previously only used for special events and the weekly Toonami: Pre-Flight show). Originally, the stream was meant to rotate shows every two days. For archival purposes, here's the original schedule for the stream, courtesy of the official Adult Swim Message Boards:

• August 25th - August 26th: Attack on Titan
• August 26th - August 27th: Dragon Ball Z Kai
• August 27th - August 28th: Michiko and Hatchin
• August 28th - August 29th: Sword Art Online II
• August 29th - August 30th: Dragon Ball Z Kai
• August 30th - August 31st: Michiko and Hatchin

However, for unknown reasons, Attack on Titan ended up running the entire week, and thus the stream became a Marathon Stream, showcasing past Toonami series and eventually adding re-broadcasts of the Toonami television block to weekends (not to mention other Toonami livestream-exclusive programming, such as Toonami: Pre-Flight and other special events).

This very blog has been archiving what has been airing on the stream each and every week, with a lot of help from a friend of mine named Justin (for those into fellow Turner property Boomerang, go check out Justin's It's All Coming Back To You: The Boomerang Blog for all the latest news revolving around shows that aired on Boomerang past and present!).

However, our current archival method had one flaw. Eventually, the page would get too big and would become very un-user-friendly for our readers! Thus, after many attempts to create an organized way to archive the programs aired on the Toonami Stream each and every week, I finally came up with this solution. At the end of every month, I will post a new blog post featuring all the shows that have been played during the last month, as well as which Toonami television blocks re-aired on the stream during that month and when they aired.

However, since 2015 is already over, I just decided to compile one big post for all the shows and Toonami blocks that have aired in 2015. The format introduced here is similar to how the new feature's format will look like (the only difference will be some additional details and statistics here and there for the shows and Toonami blocks airing in a given month).

On behath of myself and The Toonami Blog, we hope you enjoy this nice little gift featuring an archive of all the Toonami shows and Toonami blocks aired on the Toonami stream this year. We also hope you all have a Happy New Year and we hope that 2016 will be a fantastic year not only for us and Toonami, but for all of our readers as well.

Stay gold!

Bang.

WEEKLY MARATHONS (WEEKDAYS)

Attack on Titan was the debut series for the new Toonami Marathon Stream. During 2015, it played during the following weeks:

• August 25th - August 31st
• October 26th - October 30th
• December 21st - December 25th

Kill La Kill was played on the stream during the following weeks:

• August 31st - September 7th
• November 2nd - November 6th
• December 28th - January 1st

Space Dandy was played on the stream during the following weeks:

• September 7th - September 13th
• November 9th - November 13th

Cowboy Bebop was played on the stream during the following weeks:

• September 14th - September 19th
• November 23rd - November 27th

Blue Exorcist was played on the stream during the following week:

• September 21st - September 25th

Sword Art Online II was played on the stream during the following weeks:

• September 28th - October 2nd
• November 16th - November 20th

Gurren Lagann was played on the stream during the following weeks: 

• October 5th - October 9th
• November 30th - December 4th

Samurai Jack was played on the stream during the following week:

• October 12th - October 16th

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (and 2nd GIG) was played on the stream during the following week:

• October 19th - October 23rd

One Piece was played on the stream during the following week:

• December 7th - December 11th

Michiko and Hatchin was played on the stream during the following week:

• December 14th - December 18th

TOONAMI BLOCK RE-BROADCASTS (WEEKENDS):

Beginning on September 12th, the Toonami Marathon Stream began to air re-broadcasts of the full Toonami block as it aired on television. Blocks would be re-broadcast twice on the stream: once on Sunday (the day after the initial television broadcast), and once the following Saturday). The following is a guide as to when each block was re-broadcast on the stream:

September 12th, 2015 - re-broadcast on September 13th, 2015 and September 19th, 2015

September 19th, 2015 - re-broadcast on September 20th, 2015 and September 26th, 2015

September 26th, 2015 - re-broadcast on September 27th, 2015 and October 3rd, 2015

October 3rd, 2015 - re-broadcast on October 4th, 2015 and October 10th, 2015

October 10th, 2015 - re-broadcast on October 11th, 2015 and October 17th, 2015

October 17th, 2015 - re-broadcast on October 18th, 2015 and October 24th, 2015

October 24th, 2015 - re-broadcast on October 25th, 2015 and October 31st, 2015

October 31st, 2015 - re-broadcast on November 1st, 2015 and November 7th, 2015

November 7th, 2015 - re-broadcast on November 8th, 2015 and November 14th, 2015

November 14th, 2015 - re-broadcast on November 15th, 2015 and November 21st, 2015

November 21st, 2015 - re-broadcast on November 22nd, 2015 and November 28th, 2015

November 28th, 2015 - re-broadcast on November 29th, 2015 and December 5th, 2015

December 5th, 2015 - re-broadcast on December 6th, 2015 and December 12th, 2015

December 12th, 2015 - re-broadcast on December 13th, 2015 and December 19th, 2015

December 19th, 2015 - re-broadcast on December 20th, 2015 and December 26th, 2015

December 26th, 2015 - re-broadcast on December 27th, 2015 and January 2nd, 2016

STATISTICS

•  Five shows were only broadcast once on the stream in 2015: Blue Exorcist, Samurai Jack, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (and 2nd GIG), One Piece, and Michiko and Hatchin
• Only two shows were played for an entire 7 day week: Attack on Titan (debut week) and Kill La Kill (debut week). This is due to the addition of Toonami Block Re-Broadcasts on the stream on weekends beginning the weekend of September 12th.
• In addition to the weekly marathons, four other marathons were also broadcast on the stream due to these marathons being broadcasted on the Toonami block on television: Akame ga Kill (October 31st block), Parasyte - the maxim- (November 28th block), Dragon Ball Z Kai (December 19th block), and One Piece (December 26th block).
• One Piece is the only show to receive a weekly weekday marathon and a weekend Toonami re-broadcast marathon on the stream.
• Most weekly weekday marathons on the stream feature shows that have ran on Toonami in the past, yet are not currently running on the block. The only exceptions are: Attack on Titan (during its initial week, the show was still re-running on the block), Kill La Kill (excluding its initial week, as the show was not placed back on the block until October 3rd), and One Piece. 

 

Toonami Roundup: Marathons Galore, Samurai Domination, Etc.

A lot has been happening around the Toonami-verse lately, so let's get started, shall we?

For starters, Toonami has been running a multitude of marathons as of late. On November 28th, 2015, Toonami ran a Parasyte -the maxim- marathon, showcasing Episodes 1-7 of the series from 12:00 AM ET - 3:30 AM ET. Then on December 19th, 2015, Toonami showcased a Dragon Ball Z Kai marathon from 12:00 AM ET/PT - 3:30 AM ET/PT, largely centered around the battle between Goku and Frieza (Episodes 44-50 to be exact). In addition to those two, Toonami ran yet another marathon on December 26th, 2015 (this past Saturday), showcasing the shonen anime One Piece. The marathon took place from 12:00 AM ET/PT - 3:30 AM ET/PT (just like the other two marathons) and showcased Episodes 320 - 326 of the anime. Schedules for all three of the marathons mentioned can be found below:

November 28th, 2015: Parasyte -the maxim- Marathon 
12:00 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 1
12:30 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 2
1:00 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 3
1:30 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 4
2:00 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 5
2:30 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 6
3:00 AM - Parasyte -the maxim- - Episode 7

December 19th, 2015: Dragon Ball Z Kai Marathon
12:00 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 44
12:30 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 45
1:00 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 46
1:30 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 47
2:00 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 48
2:30 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 49
3:00 AM - Dragon Ball Z Kai - Episode 50

December 26th, 2015: One Piece Marathon
12:00 AM - One Piece - Episode 320
12:30 AM - One Piece - Episode 321
1:00 AM - One Piece - Episode 322
1:30 AM - One Piece - Episode 323
2:00 AM - One Piece - Episode 324
2:30 AM - One Piece - Episode 325
3:00 AM - One Piece - Episode 326

(Warning: for those who haven't seen the final episode of The Intruder II (or any of Intruder II for that matter), spoilers ahead. You've been warned). The Dragon Ball Z Kai marathon on December 19th also ushered in a new look for Toonami, with a new logo (as seen in the picture above) and a new broadcasting center (TOM and SARA (who have both managed to survive the onslaught of the Intruder) are now broadcasting on a planet due to the Absolution (and in turn, The Intruder) being destroyed in Episode 6 of Intruder II) (note: spoilers end here). 

Outside of the marathons and updated look, Toonami also announced two new shows that will be coming to the block. The first of the two would be Samurai Champloo, which debuts this Saturday (January 2nd) at 1:30 AM ET/PT, replacing Michiko and Hatchin. The second would be a largely fan-requested brand new season of the classic Cartoon Network original series, Samurai Jack! The new season is planned to debut sometime in 2016 (date and time are currently unknown). The new series is in production at Cartoon Network Studios (where the original series was made) and is being produced by Adult Swim, according to Jason DeMarco on his ask.fm page.

In addition to all of this, Dragon Ball Z Kai re-runs will return to Adult Swim this Saturday (January 2nd) after an over 2 month hiatus. The show will return in its original timeslot at 8 PM ET/PT and will continue to air re-runs there every Saturday night for the foreseeable future.

All news found in this article is courtesy of the official Toonami Tumblr page unless otherwise noted.

A Small Update

Happy Holidays, everyone! On be hath of myself and The Toonami Blog, I hope all my readers are having a nice, safe, and enjoyable holiday season.

Let me just start out this post by apologizing for the lack of updates to the blog as of late. I know a lot has been going on in the Toonami-verse lately, and I unfortunately haven't been able to keep up with updates here as of late (don't panic though! The blog will still continue!). I won't go into much detail about why I haven't been able to keep up with updating the blog, but I will say that I've been under a lot of stress lately (and hopefully the Holidays will help me to recuperate from it). Again, I sincerely apologize to my loyal readers for not being able to keep you guys informed about the latest Toonami news.

To make up for this, however, I'd like to present a small Christmas gift to all of you that I started a while ago (and still working on at of this writing). As some of you may know, I got my start at a site called Nick and More, where, for the most part, I covered Toonami news for them. Around March 2015, Bryan (the owner of the site) announced the closure of the site (which is how this blog came to be). Thankfully, the site's content was kept intact in an archived state for a good while. However, Bryan has recently pulled off Nick and More's contents due to an forthcoming expiration in both hosting and the domain of the website. While I respect Bryan's decision to pull off the content rather than pay for an archived site, it is sad that most of the content on the site will not be able to be seen again for the most part...

...until now. Thanks to some backups I made in March 2015 in Word documents, I can re-present (or perhaps present for the first time) my Nick and More article archive, featuring articles that were written by me for the site between 2013-2015. The archive will soon be available on this very blog in its entirety (there are currently a few articles from my Nick and More days up, with more being published soon!) for your reading enjoyment (excluding one article that doesn't fit the context of the blog). I am very excited to share these articles again to all of my loyal readers out there and I hope that this will at least partially make up for my absence here as of late.

If that's not enough for you, I also plan to have a Toonami Roundup article up within the next few days. This will cover the Parasyte -the maxim- and Dragon Ball Z Kai marathons that occurred on November 28th, 2015 and December 19th, 2015, respectively, as well as the upcoming One Piece marathon this Saturday (December 26th, 2015) and news about the acquisition of Samurai Champloo and the brand-new episodes of Samurai Jack coming to Toonami next year. In addition to that, the Toonami Marathon Stream pages will be updated soon (for those who can't wait, this week's show is Attack on Titan).

No matter what you celebrate, I hope you all have a happy and festive holiday season and I hope you'll stick with our Toonami articles into the foreseeable future!

Stay gold, everyone!

Bang.