Toonami Exec Explains Major Schedule Change

Toonami has been through tons of changes over the years. It’s been shrunk, grown, canceled, revived, and most recently, Adult Swim‘s anime programming block has entered a completely new visual overhaul with the sixth model of its host TOM. Schedule shifts and adjustments are nothing new to fans of the block, but its most recent shift has certainly gotten some attention. After several months of the strongest and longest line-up for the block thus far, Toonami officially announced that it will be trimming it down to a three and a half hour block before the end of February.

Fans had been initially confused about this change considering that the Toonami block has been stronger than ever, but Jason DeMarco (co-creator of Toonami, producer, and Senior VP and Creative Director for on-air at Adult Swim) took to Twitter to explain that these changes in the schedule have come after long periods of deliberation.

As DeMarco explained, “Attention #Toonami fans! A note about the lineup shrinkage. In an effort to keep rumors and speculation under control, here’s a little context: a couple months back, our programming department came to us and asked how we felt about shaving some time off of the Toonami broadcast. Essentially, at 5-1/2 to 6 hours, Toonami was getting too expensive and unwieldy to handle. Too many shows rotating in and out, which are costing more and more these days. And frankly, as I’ve said before, our preferred length for the block is three hours.”

Elaborating further, DeMarco noted that this shorter schedule will be the norm for now but can potentially shift when the opportunity presents itself, “So: we are going to go back to the three hour Toonami for a while and see how that works! The block will still expand periodically as opportunities for new shows pop up, Toonami originals come in, etc.”

Finally, DeMarco assured fans that this shorter schedule does not mean Toonami itself is in any danger of cancellation. In fact, DeMarco also confirmed that Toonami still has six new original series in production that include the previously announced Junji Ito anime adaptation, Uzumaki, and an original anime production for the Blade Runner franchise.

Toonami’s schedule shift begins on February 22nd as My Hero Academia takes a break before officially beginning its shorter schedule on February 29th. The new schedule for the block beginning on Saturday, February 29th as detailed by Toonami breaks down as such (in EST):

• 11:30 PM – My Hero Academia Season 4
• 12:00 AM – Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld
• 12:30 AM – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
• 1:00 AM – Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
• 1:30 AM – Black Clover
• 2:00 AM – JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
• 2:30 AM – Naruto: Shippuden

What do you think of Toonami’s shorter schedule? Is it an issue or are you happy to get to bed earlier every Saturday night now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!