Toonami Exec Lists the Anime They're Surprised Hit the Air
Toonami has long been one of the premiere places for North American anime fans to be introduced to classic series over the years. With the co-founder of the programming block, Jason DeMarco, taking the opportunity to chat with fans using his official Twitter account, the creator broke down some of the biggest series that he is surprised were able to be a part of one of Cartoon Network's most legendary platforms. Needless to say, the list definitely has a reputation for blood, gore, and nudity.
Toonami has had a wild history when it comes to airing on Cartoon Network, first being aired in the afternoons and acting as a platform for major anime franchises such as Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Gundam, and more being introduced to North American fans. As it stands, the roster for Toonami is currently made up of the likes of Primal, Lupin The Third, One Piece, Naruto Shippuden, and Attack on Titan to name a few, with DeMarco stating in the past that some of the most popular series in the world of anime might have become so big, that they've effectively been "priced out" when it comes to hitting Toonami. Needless to say, the programming block is still keeping its time slots filled with some of its biggest and brightest.
In the question and answer session, the Toonami Co-Founder shared a list of anime franchises that he was shocked were added to Toonami's library, either because of their vast amounts of violence and gore, or simply because the heroes and villains had a tendency to not wear much in the way of clothes:
Hellsing, Parasyte The Maxim, Food Wars!, Kill La Kill
— SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) June 26, 2022
When Toonami originally debuted during its afternoon time slots, it had to stick to a number of series that definitely didn't dive as deeply into violence and mature content, but that eventually changed when an uncut version of Mobile Suit: Gundam Wing was aired around midnight. With the programming block becoming a part of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, it can now air some wild content as a part of its library and will continue to do so in the future.
Toonami might be having some issues when it comes to airing big names such as Demon Slayer, but it has been diving further into original content with the likes of Shenmue The Animation, Housing Complex C, FLCL, and Junji Ito's Uzumaki.
