Some interesting reports came up this week as Latin America says goodbye for now to Toonami. However, an optimistic article about the Toonami in U.S. longevity has put some fans’ minds at ease despite seeming a bit odd for it to come out of the blue. However, films are the name of the game in the anime world these days. The past week saw three significant properties dealing with success and issues continuing to keep anime at the forefront of entertainment. Curious about all the news we have in store from this week? Remember to read everything in this latest installment of This Week From Toonami!
Reports from TVLaint have come in that the Toonami block powered by Crunchyroll in Latin America will no longer be around. The Toonami packaging and shows will be gone from the station, but those in the area who like anime will be able to check out Bakugan when that arrives on the network. It’s sad to see another Toonami spin-off find its way out of the broadcast scene, and we are saddened to hear of this departure, especially when you hear about the series this Toonami was able to air to its fans. Hopefully, more anime will find a home in Latin America, and fans will be able to enjoy what they love so much.
But what about the Toonami in the U.S., which has seen its fair share of issues? According to the publication GameRant, they’ve reached out to a representative at Warner Bros. Discovery and reported that there are no plans to take down the block. It grabbed so much attention that even Jason DeMarco tweeted about it. However, we want to preface that we aren’t sure about the validity of this report considering the number of changes that Adult Swim has had due to the mergers. While we are sure if things were so bad that Toonami would be pulled, DeMarco would give fans a heads up about that, and we do feel that block isn’t in danger of going anywhere due to the number of original projects heading their way. We are glad that more reports like this are cropping up as opposed to the opposite. And we like that the words from higher-ups at the company were optimistic about keeping Toonami around for the future. So this should ease concerns to those getting sucked into the doom speak that had flooded Toonami’s way since 2012 (when it came back).
There has been a plethora of film news regarding three huge franchises that have found their home on Toonami. Kicking things off with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the film has surpassed the Broly film, becoming the fifth highest-grossing anime film in the U.S. It will be interesting to see how much money this new movie will make, considering the hit previous anime films have been and continue to be. Could it overtake spots held by Pokemon and Demon Slayer? Only time will tell, as it reached over $32 million in ticket sales outside of Japan as of this writing. Anime News Network even broke down what money was spent in regions around the globe which is fascinating to see how it all breaks down. This latest film has been getting rave reviews and has been a massive hit at the box office is a deserved accomplishment, especially with it being number one for a time.
And another film is making huge waves at the box office. One Piece Film Red has been on a tear since it debuted in Japan. It stayed the number film in the country for its third straight week, continuing a trend of how popular it is in Japan. And if you’re curious about the numbers, it reached 9.2 billion yen in just 16 days according to Anime News Network on Monday and has since surpassed the 10 billion yen mark making it the quickest to achieve that result in 2022. These numbers are astonishing and solidify just how popular One Piece is for anime fans. The length of the series and some of the rabid fan base can make things a bit intimidating for newer fans to watch. But the fact that this film continues to dominate should show just how incredible the overall property is. We cannot wait to see how it will due when it becomes available in the U.S.
On a sadder note, the latest Sword Art Online film, Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night, has been delayed due to COVID-19 after an announcement came from the official website. The screening that was slated to happen on Aug. 24 (earlier this week) was also canceled due to the delay. The Sep. 10 date will not feature the latest in the Progressive films, and no new date has been announced. We hope everyone working on this project can get back to creating what we love as soon as possible when safe to do so.
While you’re enjoying the encore run of Made in Abyss on Toonami, you can swing over to HIDIVE to check out the second season’s English dub that will be released on Aug. 31. A cast list was announced as well, with many if not all of the returning cast reprising their roles! We hope that this newest season can have a spot on Toonami in the future, but we wanted to make sure fans of the series who can’t wait to be able to check it out when it’s available on Sentai Filmwork’s streaming service!
We are excited about the newest JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure game, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R. Recently Bandai Namco released a new trailer highlighting the many Golden Wind characters who made the cut on the initial roster release! In it, fans can see Trish, Prosciutto, Pesci, and Ghiaccio shows their stuff as we get closer to its debut. We have to say how much we enjoy these trailers and how clean the game looks, and we will hopefully be able to snag a copy when we can!
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CJ 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