Both Sword Art Online and One Piece dominated headlines this week, with all kinds of announcements and milestones reached for fans to get excited. And Toonami fans could enjoy a new season of Made in Abyss that recently joined the block giving everyone something to look forward to on Saturdays. Sure, things could be better, according to a new piece of information from Jason DeMarco. Still, we are thankful that Toonami continues to move forward to bring fans some excellent entertainment every Saturday night. Continue reading about all that happened this week in the latest edition of This Week From Toonami!
A new lineup promo debuted during Toonami’s latest broadcast now that the schedule is slightly different. While a tad shorter than usual, it is good to see that despite everything that’s going on at Adult Swim, they can give a little something for fans and inform first-timers what to expect. However, some were curious as to why the One Piece footage was from the Fishman Island arc since we are so far removed from it. Jason DeMarco took to Twitter to reply that the company has seen a ton of layoffs, with people who work on Toonami busier than before and that higher-ups are deeming other things important as opposed to a short lineup bump. This statement is an important reminder that, as fans, we always want the best regarding Toonami. But realize there are things going on behind the scenes that we aren’t privy to, and we should temper any angst for small instances like this (especially considering how it should be obvious Toonami would like to keep updating things for fans). Something to keep a perspective on in the future. And it’s excellent that DeMarco was able to shed some light because it is something that many fans have been curious about for some time.
Toonami also showcased a new game review on the block, which grabbed the attention of many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans. T.O.M. and S.A.R.A got to sit down and play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. It’s a fantastic arcade game that allows six people to play together at one time, and while it’s fun to see the iconic turtles back in action, the story mode is relatively short and can be completed quickly. Still, what you see from the review is what you’d expect from a game like this, and it should be a fun pickup for anyone who is a massive fan of the franchise. Toonami rated the new game a score of 8 out of ten, continuing the trend of the block by finding some fun games to play!
For this week, Sword Art Online and One Piece were battling it out on who could have more headlines. Oddly enough, both had their fair share of news items about each film, a couple of new games coming along, and Steve Aoki making a track! It is a fun time to be a fan of either, as both are the top two films in Japan. This week One Piece Film Red was able to reclaim the top spot over the latest Sword Art Online Progressive film, dropping to fourth. But this isn’t the last we hear about Sword Art Online and movies. During the Sword Art Online -Full Dive- event, it was announced that a brand-new original story film is in the works! Now there needs to be more information about this new project, but it should be something that fans are interested in considering how these films are generally content that isn’t told in the original work but might have been hinted at or touched upon quickly.
More about the Sword Art Online -Full Dive- event to celebrate ten years of Sword Art Online, the video game Sword Art Online: Last Recollection will debut in 2023. The action role-playing game will find a home for fans on Playstation consoles, Xbox consoles, and Steam next year. The game will tell its own story from the Under World arc (according to Anime News Network), and it will have the largest character roster and several story episodes. A trailer for the game was also released to help get fans pumped to play when it is available.
So now, with all the Sword Art Online news out of the way, would you like to learn what One Piece did to make headlines this week? Well, for starters, One Piece Film Red finally made its debut in the U.S. And for those wondering, it did well. Not only was it the highest-grossing film in the U.S. on its opening weekend (knocking down Black Adam), but it made a respectable $4.7 million on opening day! In the Anime News Network article, experts expect the One Piece movie to make over $10 million this weekend, giving the film a nice boost in sales globally. And it won’t stop considering that One Piece Film Red will have a Steve Aoki remix on the official soundtrack. A lot of cool things are happening with anime films, and we are all about it.
It is sad that Bleach’s newest anime season won’t debut on Toonami, especially with the history between the two. While there is hope the series will eventually find its way to the block, it is exciting for Bleach fans that it has made a triumphant return to the forefront of the minds of anime fans. However, those who were pumped about the English dub need to be ready to hear a new voice for Chad! Actor Jamieson Price has stepped down from the role citing that he would rather have better representation for the character’s voice from this point forward. So we welcome Alain Mesa as the new voice for Chad in the hit series. We thank Price for his work on a beloved character and welcome Mesa stepping into an iconic role and cannot wait to hear how Chad sounds if it airs on the block!
And ending on a sweet note for Black Clover fans, the property has now reached over 18 million copies of the manga in circulation! We could not be more pleased to hear how so many fans love reading Black Clover, and we look forward to more content being made, especially with a film right around the corner!
On the latest episode of the Toonami Faithful Podcast, host Andrew “Sketch” Hingson is joined by Darrell Maddox and Bryan “Laser Kid” Johnson as they get fans up to date on Made in Abyss. With season two airing on Toonami, fans are required to have seen the third film of the property to understand what is going on with Riko, Reg, and Nanachi. The group dives in to talk about what they enjoyed and spoil all the major plot points from the film in case you cannot access the movie. It’s worth the watch, and we hope that you have to enjoy the conversation even more on this latest podcast episode!
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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