Toonami fans can say it once again for what feels like a long time. Only Toonami. The block announced that a never-before-seen episode of One Piece will have an English dub premiere which we last had (baring originals) quite some time ago. Plus, now that makes Toriko a pseudo-Toonami series with this crossover airing. Plus, VIZ Media offers anime fans a way to watch their titles without needing to pay! Learn about all the happenings you will want to know in this latest edition of This Week From Toonami!
Talk about a news item that takes the Toonami world by surprise. Or everyone who watches anime never thought this day would happen. Episode 590 of One Piece will premiere on Toonami in English! This unique crossover episode features One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Toriko. This episode was skipped both in simulcasts and not included in the home media releases of One Piece, meaning the first place to see this will be airing on Toonami. And the best part about this announcement is that many fans have regained that exciting feeling for a dub premiere (even if it’s just one episode). While some fans are still waiting on a couple of series to make their way to the block, adding this on top of some DC films is a fun way for Toonami to entertain fans. If you want to see the full details on why this announcement is wild, Sketch takes a deep dive into how momentous this is.
VIZ Media also surprised many anime fans as they announced on their blog that fans can watch the entirety of select series on their YouTube channel (subtitled). Those series include Toonami staples like Sailor Moon, Hunter x Hunter, and the first 220 episodes of Naruto. But other series like Death Note and Mr. Osomatsu are also included, as well as films from their library like Accel World: Infinite Burst and Tiger & Bunny the Movie: The Beginning. Anime News Network mentioned how VIZ Media removed their free embedded Hulu streams back in 2020, so this might be something the company was trying to get done to offer a way for fans to check out anime instead of it being behind a paywall.
Fans of Black Clover waiting for the feature film to premiere will have to wait a little longer. Instead of meeting the date of March 31, Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King will be pushed to debut on June 16 (on Netflix) due to the spread of COVID-19 among the crew. This delay will hopefully give everyone enough time to finish creating the film and ensure that everyone is safe from COVID-19. It will be exciting to see how well this movie performs and if there will be more adaptations for the illustrious Toonami alum in the future.
The Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village arc’s first episode continues to do well in Japan. The first episode received a theatrical screening and earned 2 billion yen in its first ten days, which is wild to think about since people aren’t fatigued from the title. Plus, this episode has been number one at the Japanese box office for two weeks, continuing the trend of Demon Slayer topping charts when at the theaters. Fans in the U.S. will be able to catch this episode in theaters starting March 3, and this weekend a red carpet event occurred in L.A. Our staff member VLord was able to see it and seemed excited about everything. Hopefully, more fans will feel the same when they can check it out.
And if you need even MORE Demon Slayer content, Crunchyroll announced that they will add the “Junior High and High School!! Kimetsu Academy Story” spinoff shorts in English for you to check out! It’ll likely be something our sister podcast, The Demon Slayer Podcast, will check out and review for you to know what you’re getting into if you’re curious about it. But it seems that everyone needs more Demon Slayer in their life to create a demand to add these shorts on the streaming service.
On the latest Toonami Faithful Podcast episode, Andrew “Sketch” Hingson hosts a fun discussion about Toonami’s latest schedule plans and favorite choices for the block to look into from licensor Sentai Filmworks. Joined by Paul Pescrillo, Varun “VLordGTZ” Gupta, and Bryan “LaserKid” Johnson, the gang expresses their thoughts about the DC films (Injustice and Justice League vs. The Fatal Five) and series they want to join the block since there are a few vacancies in the lineup. To round out the conversation, everyone takes a look at Warner Bros. Discovery’s FAST channels coming to Roku and Tubi TV and what it could mean for Toonami down the line. It’s a fun episode that we recommend you listening when you have the chance!
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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