Toonami Announces Major Upcoming Schedule Shift

Toonami has had a fantastic 2018 as the programming block has made major strides with the strength of its line-up on Adult Swim, but it will be getting a major schedule shift heading into 2019.

Starting January 5, Toonami will begin at 11:00 PM EST, and there will be a total loss of an hour from the block as it shifts to a later time.

According to Toonami's Facebook page, the new Toonami line-up as of January 5 is as follows (in EST):

• 11:00 PM - Dragon Ball Super
• 11:30 PM - Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
• 12:00 AM - My Hero Academia
• 12:30 AM - Mob Psycho 100
• 1:00 AM - Megalobox
• 1:30 AM - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
• 2:00 AM - Black Clover
• 2:30 AM - Hunter x Hunter
• 3:00 AM - Naruto: Shippuden
• 3:30 AM - Attack on Titan
• 4:00 AM - Pop Team Epic
• 4:30 AM - Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Earlier this year, Toonami surprised anime fans when it revealed that it would begin at 9:00 PM EST, adding an hour to the overall time of the block. But it seems like that experiment is over (as the Facebook message mentions) and the block will instead begin officially at 11:00 PM EST with Dragon Ball Super once more.

Not only this, both Dragon Ball Z Kai and Samurai Jack will be removed from the schedule starting January 5. But at least it will be airing a bit later into the night with the last series, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (which is returning to the block) ending around 5:00 AM EST. There are some other series shifts, such as Pop Team Epic returning and Naruto: Shippuden being moved back to its later time slot.

Though the biggest addition to the block for the December/January line-up remains in tact with Megalobox. Megalobox is an original anime project produced by TMS Entertainment in celebration of Ashita no Joe's 50th Anniversary. The series is directed by Yo Moriyama, Katsuhiko Manabe and Kensaku Kojima wrote the scripts, and hip-hop artist Mabanua composed the music for the series. Ashita no Joe was originally created by Ikki Kajiwara (under the pen name Asao Takamori) with illustrations by Tetsuya Chiba for Weekly Shonen Magazine in 1968.

You can currently find Megalobox streaming on Crunchyroll with English subtitles, and the English dub of the series stars Kaiji Tang as Joe, Jason Marnocha as Coach Nanbu, Erica Mendez as Sachio, Lex Lang as Yuri, and Erika Harlacher as Yukiko.

Megalobox is officially described as such:

"A desolate land stretches out from the city of poverty. A motorcycle speeds recklessly, blowing clouds of sand and dust. The rider is the protagonist of this story – he has neither a name nor a past. All he has is his ring name, "Junk Dog" and a technique for rigging MEGALOBOX matches with his pal Gansaku Nanbu, which they use to support their hand-to-mouth lives. JD is bored, resigned, and unfulfilled. Yuri has been the reigning champion of MEGALOBOX for the past few years. He has the skills and presence of a true champion. This is a story of JD and his rival, Yuri."