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Since Toonami made its return in 2012, fans have also been clamoring for the return of Toonami classics like Sailor Moon, Gundam, and Yu Yu Hakusho; and perhaps the return of a daytime version of the lineup, as Toonami was from 1997-2004. Back last August 28, 2023, Cartoon Network expanded Adult Swim to begin airing at 5 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. With the 5-7 p.m. weekday hours being used for the “Checkered Past” programming block, featuring classic Cartoon Network favorites from the 90’s and 2000’s.
This morning, Toonami announced that beginning May 31st, Checkered Past on Fridays will become Toonami Rewind, as the block will expand to Friday evenings from 5-7 p.m; which will be dedicated to airing classic Toonami programming.
Sailor Moon will return to Toonami for the first time in 23 years to headline the inaugural Friday afternoon lineup, with the VIZ Media re-dub produced in 2014 starring Stephanie Sheh as Usagi. It will be joined with an hour of DBZ Kai and OG Naruto. The full lineup can be seen below:
- 05:00PM – Sailor Moon (VIZ English Dub version)
- 05:30PM – Dragon Ball Z Kai
- 06:00PM – Dragon Ball Z Kai
- 06:30PM – Naruto
As with any potential Toonami show, if you do wish to see a classic show air on Toonami rewind, feel free to let Toonami know on their Facebook page as well as letting Jason DeMarco know on his Bluesky @clarknova.bsky.social. It also doesn’t hurt to let your favorite show’s respective licensor(s) know (whether it’s Crunchyroll, Toei, Viz Media, and the like) on their social media outlets as well.
FORTH ÉORLINGAS DEMARCO (@clarknova.bsky.social)
Hey Toonami fans- feel free to hit me here with any suggestions as to what you might want to see in TOONAMI REWIND!
According to Toonami creator Jason DeMarco (before he deleted his Twitter account), Toonami Rewind “will be using classic older Toonami music and some older packaging (mostly things that were recreated in HD for our anniversary broadcast years ago), the vibe will be “classic” Toonami!” As the promo suggests, the graphics package of the TOM 3.0 era from 2004-2007 and the TOM 3.5 era from 2012-2014 will be among those used. However, viewers will still see the present-day TOM 6 and Absolution Mk. XIV as seen on Saturdays since 2022 due to budget constraints, though Jason has said he is open into bringing back a throwback TOM and SARA in the future.
Of course, Toonami will continue airing every Saturday night, and will be commemorating its 14th year back on the air with the season 2 premiere of My Adventures with Superman next Saturday May 25 at midnight. As the premiere will be an hour long, Zom 100 won’t be resuming its run until June 1 at 12:30 a.m. Presently, Toonami is airing marathon nights of Ninja Kamui to commemorate the successful completion of its first season. Episodes 1-7 aired last Saturday, May 11. Episodes 7-13 will be airing this Saturday, May 18. And for those who want to (re)watch the show from the beginning, Ninja Kamui will be rerun in the lineup every Saturday at 2:30 a.m. starting on June 1st.
Checkered Past will continue to air every Monday-Thursday afternoon as a transition from Daytime Cartoon Network to Adult Swim hours.
Edit 5/19 @ 7:00 a.m. PDT: Since the posting of this article, Jason DeMarco has deleted his Twitter account and has moved over to Bluesky. Edited portions of the article to reflect this change.
What are your thoughts on the announcement of Toonami Rewind? Are you looking forward to checking out some Toonami classics? Let us know in the comments below or on our social media outlets.
