Did you hear that there’s a new show coming to Toonami soon? You haven’t?? Read on to find out when it will start airing, plus a new trailer for Bladerunner: Black Lotus, our staff’s projects, and a new Dragon Ball Super movie! You will find all that and more in this installment of This Week From Toonami.
It’s time to get ready! We finally have a date and time for the debut of Fena: Pirate Princess! On Aug. 14, Toonami fans will get a double-episode premiere of the much-anticipated series starting at midnight. Fans were also treated to a new trailer, key art, and an English cast list to get everyone excited about what’s to come in the future. The most interesting fact that many realized is that the trailer for Fena: Pirate Princess mentioned season one. Could there be more Fena: Pirate Princess in the future? You’ll have to watch to find out. It’s an exciting time and gives fans a bit of stability with all the lineup changes coming in the next two weeks.
Big news came out from San Deigo ComicCon@Home virtual event. Jason DeMarco, co-director Kenji Kamiyama, co-director Shinji Aramaki, executive producer Joseph Chou, voice director Wes Gleason, and Jessica Henwick (voice of main character Elle) hosted a panel for upcoming Toonami original Bladerunner: Black Lotus. Toonami fans were treated to a first look at the Black Lotus, which until now little information about the project has been available. The show has proven to be divisive before it even airs on TV, with fans voicing either excitement or distaste for the 3DCG teaser trailer. Still, it’s great to know the series is coming along, and fans should expect it to air on Toonami this fall. Staff writer Varun “VLordGTZ” Gupta kept tabs on this panel and has all the highlights on what you might have missed!
- Black Lotus has been in the works for 5 years.
- Chou came up with the idea for a Blade Runner anime after working on The Animatrix (2003), but he had difficulty producing it until Alcon Entertainment obtained the rights to the Blade Runner franchise.
- After working on the Blade Runner 2022: Black Out anime short, Chou approached Jason about the idea of a full anime series.
- Blade Runner was heavily influential on Aramaki and Kamiyama.
- Henwick’s father was a huge Blade Runner nerd, so she became a fan of the film at an early age.
- Black Lotus takes place in 2032, between the events of Black Out and Blade Runner 2049.
- Niander Wallace (the antagonist of 2049) plays a major role in Black Lotus, and his father will also be involved
- Kamiyama says that in contrast to the films’ broader scope, Black Lotus places more emphasis on the struggles of individuals.
- COVID-19 placed strain on the production. Most of the work on the series has been remote.
- Gleason says that Black Lotus focuses on the humanity and identity of its characters and it shows Blade Runner’s world from the perspective of the Replicants.
- Black Lotus’ dialogue was recorded prior to the animation being finished.
- The decision to produce Black Lotus in CG was because it can more easily capture the feel of the films, particularly the lighting and intricate environments.
- Chou notes that Black Out was possible to do in traditional 2D animation because of the talented animators they were able to get, but gathering such a talent pool for a full TV series was not realistic.
- They show a new key art piece for Black Lotus.
- Black Lotus’ opening song is done by Alessia Cara
More details on the new Dragon Ball Super film were announced at the panel hosted by Masako Nozawa (Japanese voice of Goku), Akio Iyoku (executive producer from Shueisha and Akira Toriyama’s editor), and Norihiro Hayashida (producer from Toei Animation) for ComiCon@Home. Titled Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (no, that’s not a typo), fans were treated to a short clip of Goku preparing for his next battle. So far, the movie is slated to premiere in 2022. Here are the highlights from that panel, courtesy of VLordGTZ!
- Akira Toriyama is writing the story and script for the the new film and is deeply involved with the character designs. Iyoku notes that this is the most invested that Toriyama has been in a Dragon Ball film.
- Toriyama started writing the script while Dragon Ball Super: Broly was still in production.
- They revealed updated character designs for Piccolo, Pan, and Krillin, and the design for a new unamed character.
- They show an image board of Piccolo’s house, and mentioned that the inside of the house will be in the movie.
- A clip of Goku in a new animation style is shown at the end of the panel. Hayashida and Iyoku note that this isn’t an actual scene from the movie, but it represents what Goku’s “movement and feeling” will look like.
Fans can not wait to see more Demon Slayer. And if you live in the U.S., you’re in luck! The highly-anticipated second season of the franchise will stream on FUNimationNow, which comes a surprise since the first season aired on FUNimationNow, Crunchyroll, and Hulu in 2019. Hopefully, this also means a Toonami run is in the near future!
Fashion brand SuperGroupies recently opened orders for their latest collaboration with Cowboy Bebop. Included in the link so far are three types of watches, wallets, and bags. The swag looks incredibly slick and would be a great gift idea for anyone who enjoys the classic anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe. Items in the collection range from $120 to $240, and the pre-order period closes on Aug. 2.
The Nintendo Switch game Ninjala launched a collaboration with Demon Slayer this past Monday. Players can log in to receive a free sticker and obtain decoration labels by participating in battles. The event period will run until Aug. 30, which involves a tournament for players to test their skills (details of that tournament can be found here). The video below previews everything that will be available for fans to collect. If you are interested and play Ninjala, head over to their website to see all the details on this collaboration.
Now that the training exams are over in My Hero Academia, Midoriya and All Might team up with Bakugo to see if they can activate Black Whip in All for One again. However, no amount of sparring seems to help. Meanwhile, the UA faculty meet to review Shinso’s performance during the training matches, and they agree that he may transfer to the Hero course next year. Later, Class 1-A prepares a surprise celebration for Todoroki and Bakugo as they finally earn their provisional hero licenses. On the way back to the dorms with All Might, a rowdy group of hooligans attacks the city with a massive wall of water. Todoroki and Bakugo immediately leap into action while All Might directs citizens away from the fight. All Might expresses pride in the boys’ quick thinking and skill in stopping the criminals, and then they return to the dorms. The Stone Wars have finally ended in Dr. Stone, but the Kingdom of Science isn’t done yet. While the Kingdom’s members focus on restocking their supplies and rebuilding their tools, they also use the revival fluid to awaken people who are still petrified. Meanwhile, Senku concocts rudimentary medicine to treat Tsukasa’s wound from Hyoga’s attack and performs surgery to close the gash. However, he and Tsukasa both know that the surgery won’t keep the former warlord alive. Senku devises a plan to petrify Tsukasa and then use the revival fluid to wake him, healing his wound. He and his friends build a stone freezer, where Tsukasa lies frozen until Senku can figure out the secret to Petrification and enact his plan. The former rivals, now friends, bid each other a teary farewell as Tsukasa slowly freezes to death. Now, the Kingdom of Science must travel to the origin point of Petrification and discover just what happened thousands of years ago to turn everyone to stone.
Back in the Feudal Era, Setsuna and Towa set out to slay a demon stealing bones from human bodies in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon. Meanwhile, Moroha meets with Jyubei to discuss her debt, and he sends her to hunt down Tokotsu, one of the Four Perils who serve Kirinmaru. The girls cross paths and realize they are seeking the same demon, and also that Moroha fought Tokotsu in the past for her red rainbow pearl. They discover that the adversary stealing bones is Tokotsu’s son Jakotsumaru, who gathers as many bones as he can to revive his father. Moroha uses her rouge to become Beniyasha, in which she channels the memory and power of her grandfather, the Great Dog Demon of the Western Lands. However, the effect lasts for less than a minute, rendering Moroha unconscious. Together, Towa and Setsuna slay Tokotsu and his son. Setsuna lays Tokotsu’s soul to rest with a Buddhist prayer, which she claims to have learned from a monk many years ago. The final battle begins in Food Wars! The Third Plate as Soma and his friends join Central for the group food war that will determine the fate of the remaining students at Totsuki Culinary Academy and the Yukihira restaurant. The students draw lots to see who will be cooking what dishes during the food war. Soma draws soba, and his first opponent is a student who happens to be a master of traditional Japanese cuisine. While she carefully makes her soba noodles by hand with traditional methods, Soma decides to use a pasta maker with the end goal of creating a dish similar to instant yakisoba.
After being informed of his true heritage in the previous episode of Black Clover, Yuno isn’t completely convinced that Ralph is telling the truth. So, Ralph casts a flame magic spell that allows Yuno to see memories from his birth. Long ago, the Spade Kingdom was beginning to thrive, and Yuno’s birth to King Ciel and his queen was celebrated across the land. However, trouble began to brew when the Zogratis siblings, who served King Ciel, returned from a mission where they had defied the king’s orders and killed the rebels they were meant to stop. The siblings later organized a coup, invaded the palace, and killed the king and queen. Ralph and his father escaped with baby Yuno, and they brought him to Hage Church. Ralph’s father also tasked his son with informing Yuno of his lineage when the time was right. Meanwhile, Zenon and his disciples attack the Golden Dawn headquarters, intent on killing everyone there. The Golden Dawn knights are quickly overwhelmed by the disciples’ use of the devil’s power. Yuno arrives too late, seeing most of his comrades dead or severely injured. He flies into a rage and demands to know why his fellow knights were attacked so brutally. Young Kakashi continues to be plagued by nightmares after losing both his teammates and his teacher in Naruto: Shippuden. Unable to sleep, Kakashi breaks into the Hokage residence to learn more about Kinoe’s wood-style abilities. The Third Hokage Hiruzen catches him, but instead of reporting his trespassing, he teaches Kakashi about Hashirama Senju’s research on the wood style kekkei-genkai. At the same time, Danzo sets a plan to have Hiruzen assassinated, but Kakashi saves him by warning him about it. Meanwhile, Guy, Asuma, Kurenai, and their friends ruminate on the changes to Konoha after Minato’s death, but they are hopeful that Hiruzen will lead the village well.
Tensions run high in Attack On Titan as the people of Paradis begin to split into factions, either supporting the military or the Jaegerists. Hange and Commander Pixys agree that Eren must not contact Zeke or Historia at all costs. Meanwhile, the Jaegerists free Eren from prison and make locating Zeke their first mission. Staff writer Umeko Long reviewed this episode in full during its premiere run on Toonami, which you can read here. While Goku and Gohan continue to battle Jiren, Top and Android 17 trade blows in Dragon Ball Super. Android 17 attacks with multiple small blasts, hoping to hold off Top until time runs out. However, Top realizes that he only has six minutes to help his team win, so he fires a large ki beam at Android 17. Frieza, bored by his opponent, intervenes to attack Top with his finishing move. However, before Frieza can knock him out of the ring, Top unleashes his true strength and transforms into a God of Destruction. He attacks Frieza with a beam of khai energy, forcing Frieza to revert to his final form. Top throws Frieza out of bounds, but Android 17 saves him by throwing a rock and knocking him back toward the arena.
On the latest episode of the Toonami Faithful Podcast, Andrew “Sketch” Hingson is joined by Darrell Maddox, Colt Buhr, and Junior. The group discusses the upcoming Toonami schedule shenanigans, DC’s Harley Quinn animated series joining for a night, and the non-canonical Toonami mini-series: Cosmo Samurai. It’s the first episode Darrell has been in on for quite some time, and many fans were happy to hear his voice once again!
At the end of every month, Toonami Faithful has been releasing a behind-the-scenes interview with guests who were featured in the documentary What Toonami Means To Me. For July, the interview with Kiba Walker was published. Check what he had to say, considering he feels the term “Toonami-generation” perfectly describes his journey to becoming a voice actor.
Director of social media Celia Rose joins Chad from the Macross Mecha Manual and EXO from Macross Fan Central to discuss sexism in Macross fandom and anime fandom as a whole on Pop Deculture!. The group talks about if there are solutions to make fan spaces friendlier not just for women but also for other marginalized groups. This episode is a heavy one but worth a listen. Watch it now on YouTube!
Staff writers VLordGTZ, Sakaki, and Marion “microwaevy” Pèna published a brand new episode of their podcast Saturday Night Shoggy. The discussion for this episode revolves around the series Dai Dark by Q Hayashida, and the gang is joined by the letterer Phil Christe. They talk about Seven Seas Entertainment’s release of the series and his experience lettering so far. The topic of lettering is always hotly contested with manga fans, so getting to hear the insights from a professional makes this interview a must-listen for fans.
That wasn’t the only podcast VLordGTZ was featured on this week! He was also joined by Bryan “LaserKid” Johnson and Allison (@meowth900) to talk about the series Deca-Dence. This series is a favorite of LaserKid’s, and he would love to see it get a chance to shine on Toonami. Listen in to find out why he is a big believer in the property!
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.