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With Mashle reaching the season 2 finale come January 31st and Blue Exorcist wrapping up the Beyond the Snow saga on the same week, Toonami has made an announcement on what is next on the docket come February 2026. On Friday, January 23, Toonami released the schedule for the February 7th edition of Toonami, revealing that Tokyo Revengers and Blue Lock would be joining the lineup at 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. EST respectively.
Blue Lock is a sports anime centered on Yoichi Isagi joining “Blue Lock”, a soccer training regimen program designed to find and train a world-class striker that can help the Japanese Men’s National Football team, the Samurai Blue, potentially win the World Cup. And given that North America is hosting this summer’s FIFA World Cup, Toonami airing a soccer-based anime could be seen as quite appropriate.
Based on the manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura and serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 2018 with over 37 volumes and 332 chapters and counting; Blue Lock has sold over 50 million copies worldwide.
The first season is 24 episodes in length, airing in Japan and streaming on Crunchyroll from October 9, 2022 to March 26, 2023. Season 2, the “Blue Lock vs. U-20 Japan” arc, is 14 episodes in length, airing from October 5 to December 28, 2024. A third season covering the “Neo Egoist League” story arc, is presently in production.
The show’s synopsis is as follows (via Anime News Network):
After failing to win the World Cup, there’s unrest in the Japanese Soccer community. Many of the older patrons of the sport aren’t too disturbed by the lack of trophies, but newcomer Anri Teiri is furious – and she’s determined to fix what she sees as the problem with Japanese players. To that end she hires maverick trainer Jinpachi Ego, who devises a strange yet rigorous plan: he takes the three hundred best young soccer players in the country, sends them to a state-of-the-art training facility, and whittles them down until he has the absolute best striker in the nation. Yoichi Isagi is one of the boys chosen for the camp. He may be number 299 out of 300, but nothing – and no one – is going to stand in his way of coming out on top.
During the January 23-24 edition of Toonami, a new promotional trailer was released, which you can see below:
Tokyo Revengers on the other hand is a time-traveling romance and gang drama starring Takemichi Hanagaki as he tries to keep his (ex-)girlfriend Hinata Tachibana from getting killed in a dispute with the Tokyo Manji Gang. Written and illustrated by Ken Wakui with over 31 volumes and 278 chapters and counting, the original manga has over 80 million copies in circulation as of June 2024.
The show’s synopsis is as follows (via Anime News Network):
Watching the news, Takemichi Hanagaki learns that his girlfriend from way back in middle school, Hinata Tachibana, has died. The only girlfriend he ever had was just killed by a villainous group known as the Tokyo Manji Gang. He lives in a crappy apartment with thin walls, and his six-years-younger boss treats him like an idiot. At the height of his rock-bottom life, he suddenly time-leaps twelve years back to his middle school days. To save Hinata, and change the life he spent running away, hopeless part-timer Takemichi must aim for the top of Kanto’s most sinister delinquent gang.
Animated by Liden Films, Season 1 is 24 episodes in length, airing in Japan from April 11 to September 19, 2021. The show received two additional seasons, each 13 episodes in length. Season 2, the Christmas Showdown, ran from January 8 to April 2, 2023, while Season 3, the Tenjiku arc, ran from October 4 to December 27, 2023. A fourth season, the War of the Three Titans arc is in the works.
While season 1 is licensed under Crunchyroll, season 2-3 is licensed under Hulu/Disney. Toonami has aired shows with seasons under different U.S. distributors before (Food Wars! being one example), but Disney has been known for being only second to Netflix in regards to being resistant to television syndication of their owned and licensed franchises to rival conglomerates (aka. Netflix Jail and Hulu/Disney Jail respectively). This may have played a role in Toonami being unable to air the series until now, and could potentially delay or stop the airing of future seasons. On the other hand, given that both Bleach and Family Guy among others have made their way back to Cartoon Network’s late-night airwaves in recent years, they have shown signs in lightening up on that front in recent times. To say nothing about distributors on the Japanese side wanting to see their shows on Toonami for additional exposure. As I mentioned in my op-ed “The 2020’s Anime and Streaming Service Bubble Burst,” the whole exclusivity paywall and “walled garden” Netflix has popularized, is looking to be quite expensive in the long run for media conglomerates compared to television syndication outside one’s streaming services. So as for seeing episode 25 and beyond of Tokyo Revengers on Toonami, and potentially other Disney shows for that matter, we’ll just have to wait and see on that front.
Tokyo Revengers does have some controversy regarding its symbolism. The Tokyo Manji Gang’s logo and uniforms consist of the left-facing swastika (the Manji) as a reference to its full name, being a symbol for power and good fortune in Buddhism and other East Asian religions. With the word “Manji” itself being used as slang for an array of meanings in modern Japanese culture. However, given that the swastika (and its variants) has been appropriated by hate groups as a symbol of antisemitism and white supremacy ever since World War II and the Holocaust, the Manji is largely covered up during most international releases of the anime. This decision to censor the Manji was carried out by the show’s Japanese producers and licensors, rather than from Sony or Disney themselves. And barring something unprecedented, this will most likely be the version showcased to Toonami viewers as well. Some viewers have criticized the censorship on both technical and freedom of speech grounds, not to mention that viewers have found some of the coverups quite jarring animation-wise. Nonetheless, it is something that should be noted for potential viewers of the show, especially for those who also want to check out the manga or other aspects of the franchise, which aren’t as subjected to such coverups.
Among those voicing their approval of Blue Lock’s Toonami announcement include members of the English cast and crew, including Matt Shipman (voice of Rin Itoshi), Kamen Casey (voice of Reo Mikage), voice director Jonathan Rigg, and Derick Snow (voice of Jinpachi Ego).
Matt Shipman on X (formerly Twitter): “👀⚽️ https://t.co/gO2kooqUrn / X”
👀⚽️ https://t.co/gO2kooqUrn
Kamen Casey on X (formerly Twitter): “I’m on TOONAMI!? Wow full circle. BLUE LOCK. Toonami. Feb 7th. 2026. This is for all of my people 25+. Toonami was the intro for so many. I love that this was chosen for more accessibility. DB opened my eyes to a new world, and I hope BLUELOCK does the same for people now. 💜⚽ pic.twitter.com/s59fGImdoa / X”
I’m on TOONAMI!? Wow full circle. BLUE LOCK. Toonami. Feb 7th. 2026. This is for all of my people 25+. Toonami was the intro for so many. I love that this was chosen for more accessibility. DB opened my eyes to a new world, and I hope BLUELOCK does the same for people now.
Jonathan Rigg on X (formerly Twitter): “pic.twitter.com/me2d3sKYcz / X”
pic.twitter.com/me2d3sKYcz
Derick Snow on X (formerly Twitter): “Lock IN: Blue Lock is hitting #Toonami! There’s something magical seeing one of my favorite shows I’ve gotten to work on hitting the teletubes. Catch it February.#EGOIST #BlueLock #Ego #voiceactor https://t.co/TqLGbbckdc / X”
Lock IN: Blue Lock is hitting #Toonami! There’s something magical seeing one of my favorite shows I’ve gotten to work on hitting the teletubes. Catch it February.#EGOIST #BlueLock #Ego #voiceactor https://t.co/TqLGbbckdc
AJ Beckles, the voice of Tokyo Revengers protagonist Takemichi Hanagaki, also posted his approval to the news.
AJ Beckles on X (formerly Twitter): “https://t.co/qEiYE9XMGs pic.twitter.com/ADL2yroRT6 / X”
https://t.co/qEiYE9XMGs pic.twitter.com/ADL2yroRT6
Of course, this likely won’t be the end of either Blue Exorcist or Mashle on Toonami. During Jump Festa last month, Aniplex revealed that a third season of Mashle is in the works, which will cover the Tri-Magic-Athalon Divine Visionary Final Exam Arc in the manga. The series will air in Japan in 2027.
Blue Exorcist will have one more arc left, The Blue Night Saga, before Toonami viewers are “caught up” with what has been released so far anime-wise. It is still to be determined when Toonami and Aniplex will air that arc at this time. Do note that both the Beyond the Snow and Blue Night sagas are collectively parts of season 4, as the Blue Night saga did start in Japan (and simulcasting on Crunchyroll) a week after the Beyond the Snow saga wrapped up. While splitting seasons is common in television, it’s unknown why Toonami and Aniplex did so with this scenario.
What are your thoughts on this week’s Toonami news? Are you looking forward to Blue Lock and Tokyo Revengers? Let us know by commenting below or directly on our social media.
