“Bokutachi waaaaaa ikiru hodo ni~“
Did anyone else have Inuyasha songs living rent-free in their heads this week? The sequel to one of Rumiko Takahashi’s most famous works, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, made its debut on Toonami, sending industry professionals and fans alike on a pleasant trip down memory lane. However, the excitement doesn’t stop there. We have an update on Demon Slayer: Mugen Train‘s digital release! Plus, Crunchyroll sent Dr. Stone‘s Senku into space?! Read on to learn more about all things Toonami from the past week and more.
Toonami showcased a new lineup promo to correspond with Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon joining the block. It’s a well-cut video that many fans had to have loved to watch. If you are curious about what Toonami will look like in the foreseeable future, check out the video below, and get ready to enjoy all the Toonami goodness!
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train can finally be seen online for those who couldn’t catch it in theaters. Its new home is on FUNimation’s streaming service, FUNimationNow, with it also available to purchase online via several digital media platforms. If you are a fan of the franchise, seeing this film is a must since season two will move past this story arc! If you want to know what happens next for Tanjiro, Nezuko, and friends before Season Two, make sure you take the time to see this film (that means you too, CJ).
For fans of Dr. Stone, many are aware of Senku’s link to space, as well as his interest in going. So with a little help help from Crunchyroll, he decided to do just that. Albeit a small toy, the mini Senku got to take a trip into outer space. The four-minute video can be seen in the tweet below, and it was such a fun project to watch before their eyes. These little things can help fans stay excited as Toonami fans watch season two continue.
While Sword Art Online is a polarizing anime, one aspect that is nearly universally agreed upon is that Yuki Kajiura’s music composition for the anime is top-tier. And if you are in the mood to hear the iconic soundtrack, you’re in luck with a new event called Sword Art Online Film Orchestra Concert 2021 with Tokyo New City Orchestra. The concert will happen on July 3 and will be streamed globally! It will stream on “Stagecrowd” in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions, but it will not have any English subtitles. And if you purchase a ticket (which you can till July 24), you’ll have access to the concert from July 17 to July 24 at the price of $31. The show will retell the story of Sword Art Online from the first season up to the Alicization arc through music but will also include visuals, vocals, and narration of the event!
Are you in the market for some new anime-inspired drip? FUNimation debuted a premium leather jacket inspired by the Akira character Kaneda. At the price of $450, the life-like jacket from the iconic film could be yours! The jacket will be available to purchase in North American on July 13, and only 3000 will be made!
While Boruto: Naruto Next Generations hasn’t been on the block for some time, those who keep tabs on the anime should be excited about entering a new story arc! The anime will enter the “Kawaki-hen Ōtsutsuki Kakusei” story, and fans were treated with a new key visual to get excited!
And early Sunday at MAPPA Stage, Studio MAPPA revealed a new visual for the second part of Attack on Titan’s final season! As of now it is slated to debut in Japan in winter 2022, which has many fans ready to see what will happen next (for those who haven’t read the manga).
The third training match in My Hero Academia pushes Tenya Iida and Shouto Todoroki beyond their limits as they utilize new, more potent techniques to defeat the team from Class 1-B. Tenya used Recipro Turbo to race across the battlefield and stop Sen’s attack on Mashirao. Shouto unleashes a Wall of Fire on Tetsutetsu, but the steely student only digs his heels in further and refuses to give in to the extreme heat. As both students begin to lose stamina, Juzo intervenes and turns the ground into sludge. He feels himself starting to fade as well, and he uses his Quirk once more to soften a large tank for Tetsutetsu to head-butt, causing the tank to collapse on top of Tenya and Shouto. All four boys lose consciousness, leaving Pony and Mezo to finish the match. Pony uses her horns to lift her unconscious teammates, Tenya, and Todoroki out of Mezo’s reach. She waits out the timer, which ends the match in a draw. Chrome reunites with his friends in the Kingdom of Science in Dr. Stone. Senku decides that it’s time to put Gen’s Lillian Weinberg impression to the test against Ukyo’s super-sensitive hearing. Ukyo isn’t fooled by the impression at all, but he lets only Senku and Gen know via cell phone that he can see through their fib. In the end, Ukyo decides to join forces with Senku. Meanwhile, when Tsukasa demands an explanation for how Chrome escaped, his soldier lies about Yo Uei’s involvement, including his untimely “demise.” Tsukasa visits Senku’s gravesite to pay respects to Yo but quickly discovers the cell phone buried in the ground.
Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon kicks off its Toonami premiere with a big, heaping serving of 90s nostalgia. Fans were treated to seeing Kagome and Inuyasha up to their usual bickering, Sango and Miroku’s young family, Shippo’s fox magic pranks, and even Sesshoumaru’s icy glare return to Toonami for the first time in nearly seven years. Most notably, this episode was Kirby Morrow’s final performance as Miroku before his passing in November 2020. Six months after the events of Inuyasha: The Final Act, Miroku, and Inuyasha are called to exterminate a demon by local villagers, who turns out to be a demon named Root Head that the priestess Kikyo had sealed many years ago before her death. Inuyasha, Kagome, and their friends work together to cut the monster down to size and eliminate it. Many years later, Sesshoumaru’s daughter Towa is held captive by a shogun who presents items from the modern era until her sister Setsuna and cousin Moroha burst in and rescue her. Final exams are still in full swing in Food Wars! The Third Plate. Soma has just finished presenting his final dish to the judges, and now it’s Akira Hayama’s turn to deliver what he prepared. One of the judges, Soue Nakiri, explains a skill unique to the Nakiri family called “the Bursting,” in which good food will cause the consumer’s clothes to explode. He also reveals a higher level of the Bursting called “the Gifting,” which causes the consumer’s clothing to explode and the clothes of others around them via energy waves emitted by a member of the Nakiri family that is experiencing the Bursting at a high level. The judges are swayed not only by Soma’s food activating the Bursting but also by the intense levels of his personality emanating from his dish. Unfortunately, Soue brutally tells Akira that his cooking lacks that same feeling, throwing him off guard and casting doubt upon why he cooks in the first place. Meanwhile, Soma’s friends were unsuccessful in their matches against members of Central, and they were expelled from Totsuki Culinary Academy.
The Magic Knights from the Clover Kingdom continue their training with the Heart Kingdom’s five Spirit Guardians in Black Clover. Captain Yami practices the Mana Zone technique with Mereoleona of the Crimson Lions to learn to fly without a broom. He not only proves to be a challenging opponent for Mereoleona, but he also handles her fiery personality with wit and charm. The battle pushes both Knights beyond their limits, resulting in new skills and perhaps newfound respect for each other as warriors. The Spirit Guardians report the Magic Knights’ progress to Queen Lolopechika, who is pleased with how quickly everyone is growing stronger. Meanwhile, we get our first look into the Spade Kingdom, where life is bleak for the subjects who live there. The soldiers force people into a garrison while a rebel group known as the Resistance watches from a distance. Suddenly, the soldiers discover the rebels and attack. One of the Resistance, named Ralph, manages to escape and flees to the strong mana zone after his comrades sacrifice their mana for him. The soldiers report back to the Spade King Dante Zogratis, who seems more concerned with his plans for the kingdom than the rebel’s escape. Naruto: Shippuden continues the tale of how the Akatsuki came to be, after Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato from the group in an attempt to bring peace between the shinobi nations. Young Kakashi reports the groups’ recent actions to Jiraiya, who was once their teacher years ago at a camp for orphaned children. However, the peace-bringing mission of the Akatsuki is short-lived when the trio attempts to negotiate with ninja from the Hidden Stone after they had attacked the Hidden Rain village. The Hidden Stone shinobi refuse and attack instead, beating both Konan and Yahiko. Nagato unwittingly activates his rinnegan in a fit of despair over his comrades, summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and killing the attacking ninja. Yahiko and Konan quickly snap Nagato out of his fit, and they flee the scene. However, the ninja killed by Nagato was Hidden Leaf Anbu operatives in disguise. Danzo frames the Akatsuki as the perpetrators when he reports the attack to the Hidden Rain leader Hanzo of the Salamander.
Reiner transforms into the Armored Titan to rescue Porco from Eren’s assault in Attack On Titan. Eren, Mikasa, and other Scouts retreat to the airships as their attack on Liberio come to an end. Gabi tries to chase the airships, enraged by the destruction and the deaths of her fellow Warrior candidates. Falco explains to her that the attack was a response to what Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt had done on Paradis years before. However, Gabi doubles down on her resolution to prove to the world that there are good Eldians. She kills Lobov and then grabs onto his ODM gear. Falco begs her not to go, only to be launched with her up to the air ship. Gabi attacks the Scouts as soon as she boards the vessel, shooting and killing Sasha. The Scouts capture the two stowaways and take them to Eren, while the others mourn the loss of their friend. When it first aired, staff writer Umeko reviewed this episode, so be sure to give it a read for more in-depth reflections. Dragon Ball Super ends the night with a bang when the remaining competitors from Universe Three combine into the giant combat robot Anilaza to take down Universe Seven. The Androids, Goku, and Vegeta quickly realize that their individual attacks aren’t enough to counteract the robot’s advances. Still, even when they attack all at once, Anilaza can block them and take them down one by one. Anilaza almost eliminates Goku from the Tournament by throwing him off the stage, but Frieza sends the Saiyan flying back with a swift kick. Anilaza continues to attack Universe Seven and blasts Android 17 off the stage. However, Android 18 sacrifices herself to save her brother, pushing him back onto the scene as she falls from the edge. Android 17 refuses to let his sister’s sacrifice be in vain, and he looks for Anilaza’s weakness. He spots a glowing gem on the robot’s forehead and smashes it with his fist. His teammates also attack Anilaza and blast it off the stage. The Zenos erase Universe Three since all their fighters have been eliminated, leaving Universe 11 and Universe Seven to duke it out for the prize of the Super Dragon Balls.
For this week’s episode of The Toonami Faithful Podcast, the staff needed a little more time to figure out what they would do for future installments. So at the request of Social Media Director Celia Rose, she thought it would be fun to do a Top Waifus of Toonami-centric episode (no, seriously, this was her idea). With CJ Maffris hosting, Varun “VLordGTZ” Gupta and Bryan “LaserKid” Johnson joined as the four discussed some of their favorite waifus on the block. There were many “bonkings,” and the crew got to know each other more; it ended up being a ridiculous and fun podcast to record! It’s one you won’t want to miss!
Now that The Promised Neverland’s second season has ended on Toonami, staff writer VLordGTZ had the chance to dive into the significant differences between the manga and the anime. And sadly, the changes made in the anime original story did not reach the same level of enjoyment for VLord as the manga did. He continues to make sense of some of the rushed story plots and his critiques at how CloverWorks decided to do the final episode. It is undoubtedly a hot topic and one that VLord handled nicely. Give the article a read if you are curious about what changed from the manga to the anime adaptation!
Many staff members at Toonami Faithful enjoy working on podcast projects (ask VLordGTZ about that). But not to be outdone, staff member Sakaki debuted the first two episodes of his Dragon Ball-centric podcast titled Another Day, Another Adventure Podcast. He is joined by @sniperking323 as they both talk about their journey through all of the Dragon Ball anime! If you are a fan of the original series, this is a podcast you’ll have to keep track of for the future.
Director of social media Celia Rose joins Chad from the Macross Mecha Manual and EXO from Macross Fan Central for a new show on Youtube called Pop Deculture! The trio discusses and debates current events and hot topics in pop culture with a strong Macross bend. This week, they cover composer Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, etc.) joining Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop production, trustworthy vendors for importing toys from Japan, and if keeping a divide between Macross and Robotech fandoms is still relevant nearly 40 years later. Check out one of the episodes released this week below!
Toonami Faithful published a new behind-the-scenes interview from the Toonami documentary, What Toonami Means To Me. This month features Deneen Melody as she discusses what the block means to her, why hearing her voice on the block was a crowning achievement, and how culturally important anime on television is still! It’s an interview you won’t want to miss over on Toonami Faithful’s Patreon page.
Did you enjoy this week’s Toonami? Let us know by commenting below or directly on our social media. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can listen to the Toonami Faithful Podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, etc. for interviews, discussions, and breaking news updates. Listen at the link below or on your podcast platform of choice:
C.J Maffris is the Editor-in-Chief at Toonamifaithful.com. He also produced and directed the Toonami documentary, What Toonami Means To Me. Feel free to follow CJ on Twitter @SeaJayMaffris
Celia Rose is the Director of Social Media for ToonamiFaithful.com. Feel free to follow Celia Rose on Twitter @planetstwinkle.