“In the last of the hundred tales, the hundredth is a message from me. Hey there, Senku. If you’re listening to this story, it means you’ve broken out of the stone…maybe thousands of years from now. I’m doing great, I mean I’m already dead by now, but…you know. Just as promised I got you some souvenirs, the friends that the hundred tales will connect you with. The post-apocalyptic world was pretty fun actually. But with your science and the help of your new friends, I know you’ll make the world as fun as it was before the collapse. Because you won’t lose this fight. You’ll rebuild from scratch if you have to and save all of humanity. Right, Senku? I know that you can do it.”

–          Byakuya Ishigami, Dr. Stone (Ep. 17)

The Toonami Trending Rundown for Jan. 4-5, 2020. It’s the first Toonami of the new “Roaring Twenties”. Among the significant moments of the night, Dr. Stone continued its flashback to the day of the petrification, as Byakuya and the crew fly back down to Earth to see if they can do something about the catastrophe they managed to avoid. While they weren’t able to, they would leave behind generations of descendants with the intent that they would help Senku solve the mystery once he broke out of his shell. And with Tsukasa beginning to form his army, Senku’s going to need their help more than ever. One-Punch Man meanwhile has a group of A-Class heroes teaming up to try and take down Garou in their hopes to get their own promotions to S-Class. While they failed to do so, one of them would release a distress signal that was answered by Genos. However, the League of Monsters also come to recruit Garou to their cause, which he refuses. As Genos takes down the monsters, Garou’s sensei Bang arrives, and no doubt, he is not pleased with his actions. And Demon Slayer saw Tanjiro taking down Yahaba, but becomes too exhausted from the fight to get back up and fight Susamaru. Fortunately, Nezuko quickly recovers from her injuries thanks to a serum Tamayo gave her. During the battle, Susamaru accidentally says Kibutsuji’s name, which activates a curse that kills her. While Yahaba and Susamaru are revealed not to be members of the Twelve Kizuki, Tamayo takes their blood nonetheless before she disintegrates in hopes that it could lead somewhere before the four escape indoors as the sun rose. Tanjiro and Nezuko give their thanks to Yushiro and Tamayo before they head on their way the next day, which they then run into Zenitsu begging, a woman to marry him.

It was a rough night for social media this week due to the buzz of the NFL Wild Card playoff round, especially as the block started as the Titans had just upset the Patriots. Nonetheless, #Toonami would trend in the United States alongside Food Wars, Demon Slayer, and Black Clover. The full list, including statistics and tweet counts from the Twitter app and Amr Rahmy’s Fan Screening analytics app, can be seen below.

This week, Toonami reviewed the video game Overland by Finji Studios. It received a nine out of 10 score.

  • Following the season finale of Dr. Stone in Japan, TMS Entertainment announced that the series had been renewed for a second season. Titled Stone Wars, the new season will cover the “Stone Wars” story arc in the manga. A premiere date hasn’t been announced.
  • During Jump Festa in Tokyo on the weekend of Dec. 21-22, Shueisha and Aniplex had announced that the highly anticipated second season of The Promised Neverland. It is scheduled to begin airing in Japanese shores and streaming subbed on Oct. 2020. The dub of the first season premiered on Toonami roughly three months after the Japanese release, so if we see a similar release period for this upcoming season, we should have Emma and company return around Jan. 2021. For those who want to re-watch the show, it is currently airing on Toonami at 3:30 a.m. Eastern.
  • Also announced at Jump Festa, Shueisha and J.C. Staff have revealed that the fifth season of Food Wars! (titled The Fifth Plate) is in the works, and will premiere in Japan on Apr. 2020. Meanwhile, on the dub side, Sentai Filmworks is producing a limited Blu-ray and DVD boxset of Food Wars! The Third Plate which will include all 24 episodes and various extras. This boxset is scheduled to be released on Feb. 25 for a $179.98 MSRP (or $116.99 at Sentai’s online store). We are still a bit away from Toonami airing those installments, as the finale of The First Plate is scheduled to air this upcoming Saturday.
  • Following the season finale of Fire Force in Japan, it was announced that Shinra and Company 08 have been renewed for a second season. The premiere date in Japan and simulcasting is scheduled for some time during the Summer of 2020.

And now for the big news of the week.

In an announcement fans have been waiting for since last July, Toonami and Aniplex have announced on Wednesday that the second half of SAO’s third season, titled War of Underworld will be showcasing its dub premiere beginning on Jan. 18 at 12:00 a.m. Eastern. SAO will be continuing its successful run on the better cartoon show after the first half of the Project Alicization story arc aired just last year.

Sword Art Online will be replacing One-Punch Man on the schedule as the latter will be completing its second season this upcoming Saturday.

War of Underworld will cover volumes 15-18 of the original light novels by Reki Kawahara. While Aniplex has announced that the second half of Sword Art Online Alicization will be 23 episodes long, there will be a 3-month off-season after the third cour (Ep. 36 or Ep. 12 of War of Underworld). The fourth cour will premiere in Japan and on streaming subbed in April. We have no official word yet on what Aniplex USA and Toonami’s plans are once we get to this point.

Tune in next week for the season finale of One-Punch Man, alongside the season finale of Food Wars, and the 100th episode of Black Clover, among other great shows. Until next week, stay gold as always.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

United States Trends:

  • #Toonami [#17]
  • #FoodWars [Trended with #Toonami]
  • #DemonSlayer [Trended with #Toonami]
  • #BlackClover [Trended with #Toonami]

Tweet Counts:

  • #Toonami [8,357 tweets]
  • #OnePunchMan [1,807 tweets]
  • #DrStone [4,651 tweets]
  • #FoodWars [1,960 tweets]
  • #BlackClover [1,602 tweets]

Fan Screening Counts:

  • #MyHeroAcademia [#9 with 2,426 tweets]
  • #OnePunchMan [#18 with 1,046 tweets]
  • #DrStone [#10 with 2,219 tweets]
  • #FireForce [#14 with 1,337 tweets]
  • #FoodWars [#17 with 1,163 tweets]
  • #DemonSlayer [#30 with 428 tweets]
  • #KimetsuNoYaiba [#23 with 757 tweets]
  • #JoJosBizarreAdventure [#26 with 609 tweets]

Notes and Other Statistics:

Dec. 21-22, 2019 Trends

United States Trends:

  • #Toonami [Trended with #Toonami]
  • #OnePunchMan [#25]

Tweet Counts:

  • #Toonami [1,524 tweets]
  • #OnePunchMan [3,419 tweets]

Dec. 28-29, 2019 Trends

United States Trends:

  • #Toonami [#16]
  • #DrStone [Trended with #Toonami]

Tweet Counts:

  • #Toonami [1,879 tweets]
  • #DrStone [3,824 tweets]

Special thanks to @myanimewaifu, @MikeMorse1017 and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.

Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.