The schedule looks to be changing a bit. Fresh off of celebrating Batman Day, Toonami surprises fans with another change, with a favorite series getting a full hour. Plus, everyone seems crazy about One Piece as it continues to dominate the Japanese box office, video game area, and our podcast! You can’t have too much One Piece as it looks like the hottest thing on the planet. But are you curious about what was going on this week? Especially with a promo for the latest Toonami original set to air next month? Read everything you’ll want to know on the latest installment of This Week From Toonami!
Toonami announced a minor schedule change this week that should be occurring Sep. 24. Reruns for Blade Runner: Black Lotus will be no more as now Made in Abyss gets a full hour starting at 3 a.m. There are many things fans will speculate about this latest change, such as failing ratings, not being a popular show, etc. Some have even suggested this change is only for one week or as a way for Toonami to be able to acquire and air the second season of Made in Abyss. Honestly, anything is possible, and it is interesting to see what the block will do now that we are doubling up on a huge favorite among the Faithfuls.
Toonami fans saw a new promo for the original Housing Complex C to get everyone excited about what will be heading Adult Swim’s way. On Oct. 1 at midnight, viewers will be in for a horror show in a project that seems to be very ambitious. We cannot wait to see what is in store for this mini-series and find it fitting that it will be on for the entire month of October, giving Toonami that spooky feel we love during this time of the year.
We’ve reported on this before, where Jason Demarco takes to Twitter to ease the worry of Toonami fans, and this week was no different. He answered a question on the platform mentioning how the block has several acquisitions in the works and asking fans to stay tuned for when they can announce them. We’ve kept track of it and wanted to share it again to show everyone that the block is still doing what it can to keep viewers interested, and we are excited about what will come in the future.
HIDIVE has become the hub for Lupin the Third, and this week they announced more Lupin content for fans! On Sep. 25, the streaming company will debut the first two episodes of Lupin III: Part III (the anime series) and will continue to publish two episodes every week. The streaming company is very close to having everything Lupin on their service (with a few movies left to license), meaning that if you’re enjoying seeing the best gentlemen thief on Toonami, you’ll want to head over to HIDIVE to get more!
There was a ton of news about One Piece Film Red that Toonami fans will find very interesting. The biggest nugget is that we have an official date when the movie will make its way to the U.S. On Nov. 4, fans will be able to check out the acclaimed film, either subtitled or in English, as we will finally get to see why One Piece Film Red has been so popular! And considering Toonami’s relationship with Toei Animation, maybe (just maybe), there might be a movie night for the block with this film, but that’s purely a wish we hope can be fulfilled (and those odds are almost at zero percent). But what else was One Piece Film Red in the news for this week? It has stayed the number film in Japan for its sixth straight week, overtook the number eight spot of high-grossing anime film in Japan (previously held by Jujutsu Kaisen 0), became the fourteenth high-grossing film of all time in Japan, and has sold over 10 million tickets! It’s a lot to take in, but all we can say is that One Piece Film Red has been the most successful movie for the franchise and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.
And believe it or not, there’s more One Piece news, but this is focused on the new game One Piece Odyssey. Sadly fans will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on this title after Bandai Namco announced that instead of 2022, the new game will be released in January 2023. Platforms like Xbox and Playstation will be able to acquire One Piece Odyssey on Jan. 12, with those who prefer PC will have to wait for it to be on Steam on Jan. 13. So far, there isn’t any date for a release on the Nintendo Switch, so stay tuned to see if it will be available for that console later. Anime News Network also had a featured piece that talked about playing the game for 20 minutes in a demo, giving a feeling that they were playing something similar to Final Fantasy X. It’s a neat little piece for those interested in picking this game up to go along with the trailer released by Bandai Namco!
Have you enjoyed the new DLC characters from Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles? Well, three more will be added after SEGA announced that Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke from the Entertainment District Arc would be available to play. It feels a bit weird (for us on the outside) to see paid DLC of characters technically already in the game, but depending on how players think, this could be a welcomed sight or something they roll their eyes at for obvious reasons. Only time will tell in this latest addition!
With Anime New York Comic-Con getting closer, fans are excited about what they can do at the convention. One panel that caught our attention is that Genndy Tartakovsky and President of Adult Swim Michael Ouweleen will be together talking about what’s next for animation. Considering the massive hit Primal has been, many eyes and ears will be paying attention to what these two individuals will have to say. Hopefully, we will be able to keep you informed on anything significant that might come out of this panel, and we look forward to all the coverage from this convention.
On the newest episode of the Toonami Faithful Podcast Grant the Thief once again joins Andrew “Sketch” Hingson, Varun “VLordGTZ” Gupta, and Bryan “LaserKid” Johnson to talk about the second half of Fishman Island and the impromptu schedule change for Batman Day! In it, the group discusses if Luffy is allergic to lore, how hard you have to punch racism until it’s gone and if confessions from a shark are admissible in court. While viewed as one of the more controversial story arcs in One Piece, discussing each story arc is fun, especially since Toonami is airing two episodes every Saturday. Plus, as you can tell, the conversation is all over the place, sprinkled with serious and silly talking points that we are sure you’ll love to listen to when you have the chance.
This year, VLordGTZ traveled to cover the popular convention Otakon for Manga Mavericks! This week he published his interview that he and his sibling LumRanmaYasha were able to conduct with Hiromi Wakabayashi and Yoh Yoshinari from Studio Trigger! In it, we learn about their thoughts on working with American companies (for projects like Star Wars: Visions and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners), U.S. series they enjoy watching (with Genndy Tartakovsky being mentioned, and Gravity Falls), and the future of anime! It’s insightful to hear their answers, and we highly recommend you take some time to read this when you have the chance, especially if you’re enjoying Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
Sketch has always been a huge proponent of going to theaters to check out anime films. However, it’s rare for him to feel so strongly about a movie that he has to write about it. Enter Goodbye, Don Glees! a film that shows the bonding amongst friends who are all dealing with internal turmoil and how life changes relationships in ways that make us uncomfortable. Sometimes you’ll have to take risks, and you see a truly remarkable film that touches the emotions like no other. Sketch could not rave enough about this film and decided to write a full review on why you should check it out during its limited run.
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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