Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block is the strongest it has ever been lately as the biggest series around often join the lineup not long after they have become a part of the anime fan conversation. It’s harder than ever to stand out among so many heavy hitters, so if Toonami faithful want to see their series in a good time slot they have to support the series by watching. Which is why fans were particularly surprised with the shifts to the schedule for July.
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With the additions of Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Toonami will be shifting its schedule from its current 10:30 PM EST start to 11:00 PM EST. That first thirty minutes has been attached to the end of the block instead, and Toonami will be airing until 4:00 AM EST once more.
The new schedule Toonami lineup (as announced on its official Facebook page) officially begins July 6th and plays out as follows (in EST):
- 11:00 PM – Dragon Ball Super
- 11:30 PM – Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2
- 12:00 AM – Sword Art Online: Alicization
- 12:30 AM – Lupin the Third Part 5
- 1:00 AM – Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
- 1:30 AM – Black Clover
- 2:00 AM – Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
- 2:30 AM – Naruto: Shippuden
- 3:00 AM – Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
- 3:30 AM – My Hero Academia
The biggest shift in schedule is for My Hero Academia, which goes from leading the block at 10:30 PM EST to ending it at 3:30 AM. While being first or last is a pretty big deal for a Toonami series, it’s gotten an especially notable response from fans. As this is a particularly popular series, there are a lot of questions in the air as to why it was moved in such an extreme way.
But there’s precedent for this as series like Hunter x Hunter and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations once enjoyed the same popularity before being moved into later timeslots. It could be a result of the fact that the series simply wasn’t getting the support it needed with either of its early timeslots, and as the third season winds down, it’s probably not going to get it either. But it could be for any unexplained reason, really.
My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015. My Hero Academia is gearing up for an even bigger end of 2019 with a new film in theaters later this year too.
