Toonami Just Expanded Its Time Block

If you have been wanting more Toonami, then your wish has finally been granted. The late-night block is a beloved piece of anime programming, and Adult Swim has just extended its overall runtime to start at 11 p.m. EDT.

Starting July 29, Toonami will begin starting at 11 p.m. rather than its previous 11:30 p.m. time slot. You can check out the program’s full list of shows below:

• 11:00pm — Dragon Ball Super
  11:30pm – Dragon Ball Z Kai
  12:00am – JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
  12:30am – Tokyo Ghoul
  1:00am – Hunter x Hunter
  1:30am – Lupin the 3rd
  2:00am – Naruto Shippūden
  2:30am – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  3:00am – Attack on Titan Season 2

For Dragon Ball Super fans, you can catch up on the anime even sooner if you are not a night owl. Dragon Ball Super will air two episodes every Saturday on Adult Swim at 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. The latter episode will be the new episode slated to premiere on Toonami’s block at 11 p.m. later that night.

For fans of Toonami, the extension is a move in the right direction. Back in 2015, the late-night program lost a full hour. Jason DeMarco, Cartoon Network’s VP of strategic marketing, commented on the change when it happened. “Yes, we are being shortened due to ratings. We aren’t going anywhere, but we may shrink a bit…if things don’t pick up.”

With the recent addition of Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Z Kai, there is little reason to question why Toonami has seen a surge as of late. The late-night block has more content on it than in recent years, and its impending acquisition of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders will only boost its appeal moving forward.

If you are not familiar with Toonami, then you will become a believer after you sit down and watch the program. The block started back in 1997 and ran in the afternoon and evenings on Cartoon Network. Toonami’s original iteration was created to showcase anime as the medium began growing in the U.S. during the late-1990s. The program was instrumental in establishing anime’s popularity within the west, and Toonami’s first go ran until 2008. Adult Swim relaunched Toonami back in 2012 and has continued to rotate through various anime titles since.

[HT] ANN