Toonami Announces Shorter Length For Future Blocks

Cartoon Network's Toonami, for many in North America, helped to introduce audiences to some of the biggest and best anime series around. Thought of as a launching point for Dragon Ball Z, series such as Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Tenchi Muyo all used this Turner Broadcasting programming block as launching pads to gain entirely new audiences. While the block of anime and cartoons was on hiatus for a number of years in the late 2000s, fan demand brought the block back to audiences on Cartoon Network in 2012. Now, unfortunately, it seems that the popular programming block is trimming its length for all future presentations.

While Adult Swim became far more popular than it's sister block in Toonami, the Cartoon Network anime service has long been thought of by fans with a sense of nostalgia. While Adult Swim gained in popularity thanks to the help of series such as Family Guy, Metalocalypse, and Home Movies, Toonami helped boost it thanks in part to airing uncut series such as Gundam Wing and Dragon Ball Z during the formerly late night only block. Now, the announcement has apparently come down that Adult Swim will be trimming its normal four hour run time down to three hours, spelling bad news for those who stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to watch some of their favorite anime!

Cartoon Network made the report that the programming block of Toonami will be widdled down to three hours for "a while" due to the current running time being far to "unwieldy and too expensive to handle", though fans need not worry too much as the block's biggest series such as My Hero Academia and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure will still be a part of the schedule.

Toonami wasn't just known for giving North American audiences Japanese anime, it was also a place for some of the more action oriented series that aired on Cartoon Network such as Samurai Jack, The Real Adventures Of Johnny Quest, Thundercats, and Sym-Bionic Titan to name a few. While Toonami at one point ran for nearly every day on Cartoon Network, usually in the afternoons, it has been relegated mostly to Saturday nights, where it still manages to introduce brand new generations to anime that they may not have otherwise encountered.

What do you think of the news that Toonami will be shortening its length? What have been your favorite show on Toonam to date? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and Cartoon Network!