A Major Anime Classic Is Returning to Toonami After Two Decades

A major classic anime series is officially returning to Adult Swim’s Toonami block after being away for nearly 25 years! Toonami has been going through a lot of changes over the last few years as Adult Swim themselves have been going through schedule shifts within Cartoon Network. Adult Swim’s time slot has been extended through each evening, and this resulted in the fun Toonami Rewind experiment that had some cool retro shows from the past returning to the air for the first time in quite a long time. But unfortunately, this experiment had come to an end by the start of this new year.

But while Toonami Rewind has been shuttered, the shows seen their exclusively aren’t lost forever as Adult Swim has announced on Toonami’s official Facebook page that Sailor Moon will be joining the official Toonami schedule beginning on Saturday, January 25th at 3:00AM EST. While this series was a part of Toonami Rewind, this is the first time that Sailor Moon will be seen on the official Toonami line up since it last aired with the block back in 2001. So it’s been nearly 25 years since fans got to see it officially with Toonami.

Sailor Moon Joins Toonami Schedule

Adult Swim’s new Toonami schedule beginning on Saturday, January 25th breaks down as such (in EST):

• 12:00AM – Mashle: Magic and Muscles
• 12:30AM – Invincible Fight Girl
• 1:00AM – Blue Exorcist
• 1:30AM – One Piece
• 2:00AM – Dragon Ball Z Kai
• 2:30AM – Naruto
• 3:00AM – Sailor Moon

Dragon Ball Z Kai, Naruto, and Sailor Moon were the new additions seen during the Toonami Rewind block last year, and this special block had focused solely on these nostalgic hits from Toonami’s early 2000s days. This fell in line with the Checkered Past block, which showcase some of the biggest Cartoon Network classic hits from the 2000s as well. But with Adult Swim’s schedule changing further, Toonami Rewind unfortunately shut down.

Not all hope is lost, however, as Sailor Moon is now joining the official Toonami schedule at last. If this is the same version of the series that aired with Toonami Rewind, then this is the uncut version of the series officially released in English by Viz Media. So even if fans missed out on the episodes during Toonami Rewind, there’s still a good chance to jump into this newer version of the series that many fans of the classic run might not be as familiar with.

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What’s New for Toonami in 2025?

This is just the first change we’ll be seeing for Toonami over the course of the new year. Adult Swim has some big anime releases coming to the block some time later this year such as Lazarus, the new original project from Cowboy Bebop and Carole & Tuesday creator Shinichiro Watanabe. There has yet to be a concrete release date for this new series as of the time of this publication, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most curious new anime projects we’re going to see this year overall.

Along with Watanabe, Lazarus will feature John Wick director Chad Stahelski designing action sequences, and Sola Entertainment producing. Which means it’s likely going to look just as cool in motion as each of the previews and promotional materials had done thus far. But as always, there could be any number of new projects and anime licenses that have yet to be announced that we will get to see as the year continues. So it’s going to be a pivotal year for the anime block for sure as fans wait to see what’s next.