Toonami Reveals Major Schedule Shift Coming in February

Adult Swim’s Toonami block is undoubtedly at the strongest it has been over the last few years, and it’s seen major shows join and leave the block during this time. But the schedule will be seeing another shift come February.

Announced on their Facebook page, Toonami will be losing yet another hour of its runtime. Beginning Saturday, February 16, the block will now be airing from 11:00PM to 4AM EST.

The new schedule starting February 16 is as follows:

• 11:00PM – Dragon Ball Super
• 11:30PM – Boruto
• 12:00AM – My Hero Academia
• 12:30AM – Sword Art Online: Alicization
• 1:00AM – Megalobox
• 1:30AM – JoJo: Diamond is Unbreakable
• 2:00AM – Black Clover
• 2:30AM – Hunter x Hunter
• 3:00AM – Naruto: Shippuden
• 3:30AM – Attack on Titan

The Toonami block has seen dramatic shifts in recent months, losing two hours in total since December. The last shift saw the block lose an hour when it returned after the holiday on January 5, beginning at 11:00 PM rather than 10:00PM, and now the February shift sees the block ending an hour earlier at 4:00AM rather than 5:00AM. The schedule changes also have an effect on the content of the block as well.

Although February’s schedule sees the beginning of Sword Art Online‘s third season, it also sees the removal of Mob Psycho 100 (which will be ending its English dub run pretty soon anyway), Pop Team Epic, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. But before this major shift, Toonami will be airing a special one-hour premiere of Sword Art Online: Alicization on February 9.

Announced on their Facebook page earlier this week, “Toonami is proud to announce that Sword Art Online: Alicization will have a special, hour long premiere February 9th from 12:30a – 1:30a.” The third season of the series has been one of the most well-received in the series so far, and if you have yet to catch the new season of the series yourself, Sword Art Online: Alicization can currently be found streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu. The series is officially described as such:

“Where… am I…?” Before he knows it, Kirito has made a full-dive into an epic, fantasy-like virtual world. With only a murky recollection of what happened right before he logged in, he starts to wander around, searching for clues. He comes upon an enormous, pitch dark tree (the Gigas Cedar), where he encounters a boy. “My name is Eugeo. Nice to meet you, Kirito.” Although he is supposedly a resident of the virtual world – an NPC – the boy shows the same array of emotions as any human being.

As Kirito bonds with Eugeo, he continues to search for a way to log out of this world. Meanwhile, he remembers a certain memory deep down within him. He remembers racing through the mountains with Eugeo as a child… A memory that he should not have in the first place… And in this memory, he sees someone other than Eugeo, a young blond girl. Her name is Alice. And it is a name that must never be forgotten…”