'Space Dandy' Returning To Toonami Soon

Now that 2018 has officially begun, it's time for a big schedule shake-up at Adult Swim's Toonami block. After following the holiday marathons of Cowboy Bebop and Dragon Ball Super, Toonami is ushering in the new year with a returning favorite.

Space Dandy, which originally premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami block four years ago before airing in Japan, is officially coming back to Toonami later this January.

Announced on their Facebook page and starting January 27, Space Dandy will air on the block at 2:30AMEST. Replacing Lupin the 3rd Part 4, the series will air in between Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop and making the block a little more space friendly.

Adult Swim's Toonami schedule is as follows:

• 10:30p – Dragon Ball Super
• 11:00p – Dragon Ball Z Kai
• 11:30p – Black Clover
• 12:00a – JoJo: Stardust Crusaders
• 12:30a – Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
• 1:00a – Hunter x Hunter
• 1:30am – Naruto: Shippuden
• 2:00am – Outlaw Star
• 2:30am – Space Dandy
• 3:00am – Cowboy Bebop
• 3:30am – Ghost in The Shell 2nd GIG

While there are some fans who would have preferred a newer English dub series to premiere in Lupin the 3rd's spot, and some fans want Toonami to bring back its formerly huge Shonen hits like Bleach and One Piece, Space Dandy fits perfectly where it is put in the schedule.

The latter half of Toonami is now going to be more science fiction oriented, so it will seem like a great palette cleanser when compared to the shonen series that come hours before. With both a tone and animation style that is completely different from the series before or after, it will help to have a show that is decidedly less serious and offers a fair bit of fun for those who stick around so late into the programming block.

For those unfamiliar with Space Dandy, the series was produced by Bones in 2014. The story follows Dandy, who is a "dandy" alien hunter in his space adventures as he discovers unknown alien species with his robot assistant QT and cat alien friend Meow. The series was licensed for an English language release by Funimation and even premiered in the United States before its official Japanese broadcast. A manga adaptation ran in Square Enix's Young Gangan and was licensed for an English release by Yen Press.