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– A Look Back at Anime Expo 2025 –
With Anime Expo 2026 having wrapped up in Los Angeles, I thought I’d revisit my trip from the summer of 2025 with an eye on the value of attending Anime Expo as a Toonami fan. I was ecstatic to attend AX 2025 as this was my first time not only at the convention, but also my first time in California and on the west coast as a whole. I’ve been making more of an effort to travel in the past few years and even meet up with my fellow Toonami Squad colleagues. At Anime Expo, I met with Logan (@Schmullus1) and Daniel (@AnimeSavior), both of whom are based on the west coast. Before I flew out from Florida, I made an itinerary for the panels I wanted to attend and I mostly stuck to it.
– DAY 1 –
Day 1 began with waiting in a long line to just get the entrance. I’ve been to my fair share of cons so I know how massive and crowded they can be, but I was still not prepared for how stretched out this line would be. Despite horror stories of past AX Day 1 lines taking multiple hours to get in, I made it inside without too much hassle, and so the first thing I did was browse the exhibit halls. Exhibit halls at conventions I’ve attended in the past were never this grand, nor did they have many industry booths like AX, so I found myself visiting almost every booth that caught my eye. I was fascinated with the attractions they had and the amount of free handouts each booth gave away, with most of the items I came home with being booth giveaway freebies and only a few being actual purchases.
Moving on to panels, the first panel I attended was the Aniplex of America Industry Panel. At the time, Toonami had announced two weeks of marathons, which felt like a stall tactic for the block’s lineup. My assumption was that we would get some sort of show announcement at the con and I felt that the two likely suspects were Aniplex and Viz Media, since Aniplex has previously announced shows for Toonami during AX, and Viz was partnered with Adult Swim on Rooster Fighter. This brought me to the Aniplex 20th Anniversary Industry Panel in Petree Hall. Unfortunately, the panel ended up being mostly about remembering their past titles like Gurren Lagaan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Sword Art Online, all of which were part of Toonami at one time or another. Alas, Toonami was only mentioned once, which made my heart jump in hopes that we might get an announcement, but they merely mentioned it as a segue into talking about SAO. The hosts even presented it as “Remember Toonami?” which made me scoff. From a Toonami standpoint, this panel felt like a waste of time as it was mostly centered on remembering their past shows with only a small bit of new content.
That said, while the new content was small, it was of interest all the same. They featured previews and announcements like a trailer for the then-upcoming Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 film and the new entry in the “Rascal” franchise, Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus. The highlight for me was the announcement they would be releasing Yasuomi Umetsu’s (Kite, Mezzo Forte) Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl to US theaters alongside a new trailer. I think this would have better served them as the finale to the panel though, since right after, they revealed the Blu-ray set for Cyberpunk Edgerunners. While I love Edgerunners, I wouldn’t say a Blu-ray set that was already previously announced is your best choice for the finisher on your panel, although given other announcements later at the con, it perhaps explains why they chose to end with it.
In the end, I came out of Aniplex of America’s panel a bit disappointed since it really was more of an anniversary celebration than a typical industry announcements panel. While Aniplex could still be a source of surprise for a Toonami fan, in 2025, it certainly missed the mark there.
My second item on the agenda that day was meeting Erica Mendez and getting an autograph and a selfie with her, I hold Kill la Kill and her performance as Ryuko Matoi close to my heart since it was the second anime I ever watched and on the same night, I discovered Toonami, so without it, it’s very likely I wouldn’t be writing this right now. While I’ll have more to say about this part of the AX experience as part of Days 3 and 4, this is one of the strongest value points for a Toonami fan at AX. While the cost of the autographs is a factor, meeting the people who bring these characters to life is an undeniably exciting experience.
After the autograph session, I met up with Logan and Daniel and we attended with Cloverworks Industry panel, which screened the world premiere of Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus episode one as well as a sneak peek of The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity. While Cloverworks’ historic Toonami involvement would be limited to The Promised Neverland, this was still an enjoyable panel and a satisfying conclusion to Day 1 and a strong start to the convention.
– DAY 2 –
Day 2 of AX 2025 kicked off with the Gachiakuta world premiere panel where the first two episodes were screened. Unfortunately, this panel was the start of a running theme that I and my Squad colleagues noticed. Any panel that we attended that hosted by Crunchyroll featured these two event presenters who I can only describe as a “Hype Squad” who would arrive a few minutes before the panels began. Their goal was to get the crowd excited, but the way they went about it was among the most annoying, ear-grating things I have ever seen. It was obvious that these people, who I’m sure are perfectly pleasant people in their everyday lives, had ZERO idea what they were hyping up. It honestly felt like, well…
Once the Hype Squad was out of the way, the panel began introducing the staff of Gachiakuta alongside the artist and the mangaka herself. They gave a very fun Q&A session before the premiere episodes screened and were easily responsible for me sticking with the show when it aired. I would have loved to see it on Toonami, but unfortunately, as it is under Crunchyroll, that chance is extremely slim.
Immediately following that, I stayed inside the panel room for the next panel which was “Paru Itagaki x Science Saru TV Anime Sanda Panel & World Premiere” (what a mouthful). Before I talk about the panel, let’s talk about staying in the panel room for those who might be unfamiliar with convention panels. Most conventions will handle the end of a panel in one of two ways: clearing and non-clearing. For extremely popular panels with prime room space, in order to make it more fair to attendees who line up to wait, rooms will be cleared of all attendees after the preceding panel ends. So if you want to attend back-to-back panels in the same location, it may be impossible because you will be at the end of the line for the next panel. On the other hand, non-clearing means that you can stay in the panel room and wait for the next panel. This usually doesn’t involve a long wait as panels are often scheduled close together, but it does mean spending several hours in the room. The advantage you can have with non-clearing panels is if there is space to walk in to the panel before one you want to attend, you can secure a seat and wait for your panel. I’ve been told that Anime Expo has increased their non-clearing rooms much more in recent years, so it’s worth paying close attention to what does and doesn’t clear when deciding what to attend.
With that explanation out of the way, of all the panels I went to for the convention, this ranks among one of my absolute favorites. We would be graced by Paru Itagaki herself (mangaka for Beastars) alongside the director and producer for the anime adaptation of her 2021 manga “Sanda.” At the panel, we got to witness a screening of the first episode a whole four months before its premiere in October. I have not read or watched Beastars, nor have I read any of Itagaki’s works before, but I know she’s highly regarded in the manga industry and I was curious about Sanda after hearing the synopsis:
“In a near-future Japan, Christmas has faded into myth, and the birth rate has dropped so dramatically that children are now the most precious commodity. Society has artificially extended adolescence to preserve their youth, and traditional holidays, like Christmas, are a mere legend of the past.
Sanda Kazushige, a middle-school student unexpectedly becomes entangled in a strange and dangerous mystery. When his classmate, Fuyumura Shiori, accuses him of carrying a curse that could help find her missing friend, Ono Ichie, Sanda’s life takes a dramatic turn. Together, they embark on an incredible adventure to unravel the truth behind Ichie’s disappearance and uncover the hidden magic of Christmas itself.”
The panel started by introducing the hosts alongside Itagaki herself. As a mangaka who chooses to keep her identity private, she wore an amazing rooster mask during the panel. After the introductions, they immediately dove into playing the first episode and I was amazed by how silly it was while also being completely heartfelt and genuine, to say nothing of just amazing the visuals were. Handled by Science Saru, the same studio behind Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and Dan Da Dan, they brought their A-game once again here. After the episode finished, they asked what the audience thought and they asked what Itagaki herself thought. As it turns out, the panel screening was the first time she saw the episode and was amazed at how they brought her work to life. It felt very special getting to be one of the first people to see it alongside the creator. They then showed some scenes in progress alongside some director commentary and they would end the panel with Itagaki doing a live drawing session plus Q&A. It’s not every day you get to see a manga creator drawing in real-time in the same room as you. Like with Gatchiakuta before this, Sanda was one that definitely went on my watch list.
The next item on the Day 2 agenda was the Production I.G x WIT Studio Industry Panel. After a grueling wait in the hot sun outside the Peacock Theater, Logan and I made our way in. The panel was hosted by President of Production I.G. USA, Maki Terashima-Furuta, who longtime Toonami fans will remember for the FLCL sequels, Housing Complex C, and most recently Uzumaki. Alongside Maki, it was also hosted by President of Production I.G. and WIT Studio, George Wada. The panel highlighted some of their bigger existing and upcoming titles like Kaiju No.8, Haikyuu, Yaiba: Samurai Legend, Violet Evergarden, and Ascendence of a Bookworm, but those titles only made up about 30 percent of the panel.
The other 70 percent was spent on My Melody & Kuromi, a series based on the popular Sanrio characters and animated by new stop motion animation studio TORUKU, a new section of WIT Studio. While I will say the series does look impressive, and I won’t dismiss the amount of energy and passion it takes to do stop motion animation, I really had no interest in this and I was just waiting to get a move on. Unfortunately, despite I.G. and WIT’s shared Toonami history, there was nothing to be had here.
The last panel of the day returned to Peacock Theater and was easily the highlight, the world premiere of Studio Trigger’s New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. I had heard plenty of talk about Panty & Stocking and the shock from everyone when it was announced there would be a new season fifteen years after the original. I hadn’t seen the original series, but I was still very excited for this screening and so was everyone else as the line to get into the theater was so large and packed, it could easily have wrapped around the building. At times, the line had us packed like sardines to the point that I was afraid we wouldn’t get in, but thankfully we did and just in time for the panel to start. The panel kicked off with the hosts from Studio Trigger, introducing the series and reintroducing the returning characters. After the introductions, the first episode played and anyone who has seen the series as it released on Amazon knows it was well worth the fifteen year wait, even if I didn’t have to wait as long as the longtime fans of the first season. After the episode played, they revealed the new line of figures and exclusive prints given to attendees, but they ended the show with the world premiere trailer for Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2. Edgerunners 2 had already been announced earlier in the day, but the trailer wouldn’t be shown until this panel and it was a feast for the eyes. As we know, NP&S went to Amazon, while Edgerunners will be coming to Netflix later this year just as the first series did a few years ago, so once more, unfortunately, very little for a Toonami fan out of this panel, but this was certainly one that you wouldn’t go into expecting Toonami news from in any way.
– DAY 3 –
Looking back, Day 2 of Anime Expo 2025 was easily the best day of the event in my opinion, but that is not to scoff at the rest as Day 3 began with the My Hero Academia Special Event hosted by Toho Animation. With the final season starting a few months out from the AX panel, they hosted special guests Daiki Yamashita (Japanese VA for Deku) and Justin Briner (English VA for Deku) alongside an editor from Shonen Jump who worked alongside Kohei Horikoshi (the creator of My Hero Academia). They started the panel interviewing both Daiki and Justin about their thoughts going into the final season and then had them do a live performance of various famous scenes from across the series. After that, the editor came down to reveal some tidbits about the final season like new character visuals and some Q&A with Horikoshi, the most notable being he is more involved in the production of the anime since the manga had wrapped up and so Studio Bones was responding to his energy. He suggested adding extra scenes and more emotional layers to the performances so I was very curious to see how the anime expands upon the ending of the manga. At the end of the panel, they shared a special message by Horikoshi ending with “The final season will start in October, let’s give it our all and watch this!!!”, and then shared a new illustration of Deku drawn just for the panel. This would have been a huge moment for a panel that would have been Toonami related, but unfortunately, we may never see it on the block since Toonami STILL has not been able to air the last couple of seasons. It was bittersweet to see My Hero come to an end since it’s been a mainstay for almost ten years at this point but I was glad to see it go out on a high note. I just wish Toonami could finish airing the series.
Finally, we get to one that absolutely was a panel for Toonami fans as we finally got a look at something fans had been waiting for with “Viz Presents: Roosters, Samurai and Mayhem!”. Before AX 2025 began, it was announced we would be receiving an update on the next Toonami original series, Rooster Fighter, at the panel so we made sure to be there as early as possible to get front row seats. The panel begins with a reminder of the new merchandise available on the Shonen Jump Store and then a trailer for the second season of Ranma ½, the new adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi’s cult classic manga from 1987. I personally have not read it nor watched the original 1989 anime, but I have seen the first season of the 2024 remake by Studio Mappa and I’d certainly been enjoying it so I was very excited to continue it later in the year. RWBY was up next, with news that it would be streaming on Hulu later that day. Following the shutdown of Rooster Teeth in March 2024, the IP rights for many of its properties were being sold and Viz Media managed to rescue RWBY by acquiring the rights. After the streaming announcement, we got a short video of Kerry Shawcross, the co-creator and showrunner for RWBY announcing that they were in early writing and planning for volume 10, with more to be revealed in the near future. One Punch Man Season 3 followed RWBY as it had been recently announced that Viz had acquired the rights. It was very pleasing to see Saitama once again after an eight year hiatus following the cliffhanger ending of season 2, and while we still are waiting to see if we’ll perhaps gave it grace Toonami’s schedule, it hasn’t shown up yet, but hope persists.
We then got an update on the (as of this post) just-launched Black Torch anime adaptation, which was still in the production stages in 2025, with a first look at the cast of the show alongside character designs for Jiro Azuma, Rago, Ichika Kishimojin and Reiji Kirihara as well as the actors who are playing the four main characters. Each gave a message about their excitement playing these characters. The anime announcement was enough to get me to pick up the manga to see what it was about. I found it to be a good story but nothing groundbreaking, like it was trying to take parts of Bleach and Naruto and mesh them together while still trying to be its own thing. Unfortunately, the manga ends abrubtly, with it clear that author Tsuyoshi Takahashi wanted to do more with it. With the manga ending in 2018, I can’t help but wonder what the point of giving it an anime in 2026 is. Perhaps to gauge interest in reviving the manga, or creating an anime-based continuation of the story? Time will tell. Could we also see Black Torch on Toonami? Hard to say for now. It is currently a Crunchyroll exclusive for streaming, but as a Viz title, it at least holds better chances than some shows to come to the block.
Moving on from Black Torch, we got a trailer for the second cour of Yaiba: Samurai Legend, the 2025 anime adaptation of Gosho Aoyama’s (Detective Conan) 1988 manga, as well as the announcement and cast reveal for the English dub of the series. Erica Mendez plays the titular character and Rebecca Wang voices Sayaka. They screened an exclusive behind the scenes preview on the making of the show and the opening, followed by a live Q&A with George Wada, President of WIT Studio. I’ve had a blast with Yaiba and would describe it like a Saturday morning cartoon: the story isn’t anything amazing, but the humor is solid and the action and animation is just breathtaking. WIT definitely brought their A-game on it. This is another title that the hope of a Toonami run persists for, especially since Viz clearly still has a great relationship with them.
Finally, onto the main event, the latest Toonami original series, Rooster Fighter. The panel premiered a new trailer for the Adult Swim/Viz adaptation of Shu Sakuratani’s manga and it was absolutely amazing. The absurdity on display just had the audience just laughing the entire time. Those who have watched the series, which recently wrapped up on Adult Swim, will understand. After the trailer, they revealed the Spring 2026 release date alongside a new visual “One cock to save the world”. We then got an exclusive sneak peek of the first half of episode one, presented subtitled, and at the time, after seeing it, this was without a doubt THE Toonami original series I had most looked forward to. I finally understood why Jason DeMarco wanted to make this story into an anime. My hopes at the time were that Rooster Fighter could soar above the previous originals and truly deliver a show that would have everyone talking, even outside the Toonami community. I even bought the first volume of the manga at the Viz Media booth and eagerly awaited the premiere on Toonami.
The next panel on the agenda was the premiere panel for Dr. Stone Science Future Part 2 and unfortunately, just like My Hero Academia it seems like Dr. Stone was also taken away from Toonami as they still have yet to air the first part of this season. We arrived at the panel and to our dismay, we were once again greeted by the “Hype Squad” who went into the audience to ask questions to random people and then proceed to do awful chants like ”WHEN I SAY DOCTOR, YOU SAY STONE! DOCTOR!!! stone! DOCTOR stone!“ TI should note that I’ve seen reports from AX 2026 that indicate Crunchyroll brought back this same kind of hype squad preshow and by all accounts, it’s just as cringe as last year. Thankfully, after that dumpster fire finished, the panel began and we were introduced to Yusuke Kobayahi and Kenji Nojima, the Japanese actors for Senku and Dr. Xeno. Following a fun Q&A session with them, a video message from Ryusui himself played, telling the audience to get excited for this next section, which led to the premiere of the first episode of Part 2. I’ve always loved Dr. Stone and was happy to see it continue on, especially given the final season just wrapped up recently, putting a cap on the series. It’s bittersweet that it likely won’t play on Toonami considering they had aired the previous seasons, but that seems to be the ongoing theme with Crunchyroll-controlled shows these days.
The last panel of the day was easily the worst one I attended, although it has the most to talk about: the Crunchyroll Industry Panel. I want to preface this by saying the announcements in the panel were great, with some heavy surprises, but the panel itself was just not a great experience. Before I even entered the room, the staff was handing everyone light sticks which already signaled what to expect. Yet again, I’ve heard the light stick thing happened this year as well, so it’s clear this is a direction Crunchyroll has decided to go with their panels. Just as with previous panels hosted by Crunchyroll, we once again start with the Hype Squad’s god awful attempts at trying to entertain the audience like it’s a high school pep rally. It also really felt like corporate propaganda when the Hype Squad starts shouting things like “WHERE’RE MY CRUNCHYROLL FANS AT?!?! LEMME SEE THOSE HANDS, CMON!!!” and the worst one being “STARTING WITH THIS SIDE, REPEAT AFTER ME: CRUNCH-CHY-ROLL!!!!” with the audience chanting back. It honestly felt like brainwashing or maybe plants in the audience paid to be obnoxious and love everything they do, who knows. The funniest thing about this panel was from where I was sitting, I had a clear view of the reserved section which I assume was for the Japanese companies their staff and the looks on their faces when the panel wanted to be cool and hip were priceless
During the panel they would do giveaways where either Tim Lyu or the Hype Squad would run into the audience to pick people out for giveaways. To win, you had to “stand out” aka scream your lungs off. As you can imagine, this industry panel felt more like a Nickelodeon game show with cool announcements thrown in there on occasion. One glance at the Japanese guests who were invited and you can tell they were asking “What the hell is this?”.
When the panel wrapped up, it finally hit me that Crunchyroll has clearly become so out of touch with its own audience that it’s not even funny anymore. This went from a company ran by people who understood the industry to a company ran by C-suite dumbasses who don’t even know the first thing about anime, yet they reached the top of the industry by eating all the competition. Seeing it with my own eyes at the nation’s largest anime event, it really has become infuriating seeing the current day Crunchyroll. I hope one day some humility kicks them in the proverbial balls, because they need it.
But enough about how bad the panel in general was. To actually talk about the announcements they had, there’s a fairly long list for this, beginning with a trailer for the fourth season of Re:Zero, giving a general release window of 2026. After the trailer, they invited the Japanese voice for Subaru, Yusuke Kobayashi, onto the stage and held a short Q&A session with him. I know there are Re:Zero fans out there, including our own members Steve and Andre so I’m sure plenty of people were excited to continue Subaru’s journey.
After Re:Zero, they revealed a trailer for Sentenced To Be a Hero, followed by Solo Leveling: Karma, an action RPG set in the world of Solo Leveling coming to PC and mobile devices. We then heard the news that the latest concert performance from Hiroyuki Sawano would be streaming on Crunchyroll and that there would be a performance in LA in November.
Suffering through another Hype Squad giveaway, the next announcement was for another Webtoon adaptation, Let’s Play by Leeanne M. Krecic, also known as Mongie. Produced at OLM, the series premiered in October 2025. They followed this up with season 2 of Classroom of the Elite streaming on Crunchyroll along with the puzzle game for mobile phones, originally exclusive to Japan, would coming overseas to the CR Game Vault. They also took a moment to celebrate having over 50 games available on the service.
Next, they spoke about physical releases and mentioned three “new” titles, which were actually already released under the Funimation banner before and were instead being repackaged with a new logo. Given the ongoing destruction of RightStuf after the Crunchyroll merger and severe reduction in physical releases from CR’s own catalog, in hindsight, this particular bullet point rings extremely hollow a year later.
The hosts then moved on to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Ouran High School Host Club with a special visual and new merchandise that was on the way, followed by yet another giveaway. Moving to film trailers, we saw yet another showing of the trailer for Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1 and a trailer for the Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid film, A Lonely Dragon Want to be Loved. We then saw a quick sizzle reel of the Summer 2025 streaming lineup.
Next up, they welcomed a special guest, President of Studio Bones Masahiko Minami, for a special reveal: Square Enix, Aniplex, and Studio Bones would once again will team up with Hiromu Arakawa, known for Fullmetal Alchemist for an anime adaptation of her latest work, Daemons of the Shadow Realm with Masahiro Ando as director, Noboru Takagi overseeing the scripts, Nobuhiro Arai as character designer, and Kenichiro Surhiro as composer. I love Fullmetal Alchemist, especially the Brotherhood anime, and while I haven’t read Arakawa’s other works, I know she is highly regarded as one of the best in the industry so I was anticipating the series, which is currently 13 episodes in as of this post.
The next announcement was an anime adaptation of You and I are Polar Opposites, a romance series published in Shonen Jump+ by Kocha Agasawa. The first cour aired earlier this Spring and the next cour premieres this month. Right after was the announcement of the acquisition of Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider alongside an exclusive sneak peek. Personally, I have never been the biggest tokusatsu fan nor Kamen Rider (ask our resident expert Logan for that), but the clip they showed off had me smiling the entire way through.
The final two announcements are the biggest reveals by far, the penultimate being the trailer for season 3 of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, “Rudy is back, in 2026”. I wouldn’t have initially seen this show had it not been for our Squad member Steve as he made me watch the show over a lost bet and I was absolutely amazed by the first season. The story it tells is I can relate to at times, especially Rudy, as he wants a do-over from his previous life and the steps he takes to be a better person moves me. Season 2 had me screaming for multiple reasons both good and bad (erectile dysfunction notwithstanding), so while I’m shaky about how the series continues from here, I’m very much looking forward to continue Rudy’s journey and I’ll be there day one for season 3, which is set to premiere in just two days from this post.
The final announcement of the panel was easily the biggest one, the return of Black Clover. This had the audience erupting with excitement and it’s easy to understand why when Black Clover’s anime adaptation took a long hiatus back in 2021 and it was unclear if we would ever see it return, especially since they ended the show on a big cliffhanger and initially promised the 2023 film to be a continuation before it became its own story. I’m excited to see the show return and continue the story, but once again, it’s such a shame that it most likely won’t air on Toonami since Crunchyroll wants to act like they don’t exist. With that, the Crunchyroll industry panel came to a close. Great announcements, terrible show, and another showcase to how far they have fallen.
The final item on my day’s agenda was meeting Michelle Ruff, who Toonami fans know as the English voice of characters like Rukia in Bleach, Sinon in Sword Art Online, and Fujiko in Lupin The 3rd. I got to take a photo with her and have her record a small PSA reminding Toonami fans to tune in every Saturday at 1am for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, which we posted last year.
Overall, I would say Day 3 was mostly good with the only blunders coming from Crunchyroll, not only with their panel, but their involvement with the convention as a whole. Unfortunately, very little that overlaps with Toonami outright, but not a complete bust. If Crunchyroll ever decides to play ball with Adult Swim again, this could have been a day loaded with Toonami announcements. Perhaps someday.
– DAY 4 –
The final day of Anime Expo wasn’t too long compared to the rest as like most cons, they close everything down early. The first item on my agenda was the Jujutsu Kaisen Special Event hosted by Toho Animation. It will come as no surprise anyone who knows me that I am a massive fan of JJK and have been clamoring for it on Toonami since 2021, something my Toonami Squad colleagues refuse to let me forget. The panel begins with introducing Junya Enoki, Japanese voice for Yuji Itadori, and Megumi Ogata, Japanese voice for Yuta Okkotsu. They kicked things off by showing a trailer for the Hidden Inventory/Premature Death compilation film and then showed a special message from the Japanese actors for Satoru Gojo, Sugaru Geto, and Shoko Ieiri. We then got to see a special screening of the new Juju Stroll segment made just for the then-upcoming film and was written by Gege Akutami himself. These “Juju Strolls” are post-credits gag scenes in Season 1 that unfortunately were removed in season 2, so I was very happy to see a new one made just for this film. They then moved on to discussing season 3 and stated that they had just started recording for it and even showed a behind the scenes video showcasing the two actors performing a scene together for season 3 with some animatics thrown in there. I found this segment amazing but it made me question whether the original October 2025 date they had given would be sticking given where things were in production. As we would learn later, it did not stick, although season 3 premiered only a few months later in January 2026, so the wait wasn’t too bad. Aside from that segment, the only other thing the panel featured were some general Q&As and a giveaway. Not a lot of new content, but on the bright side, I walked away with a poster for the compilation film which I planned to frame. Yet again, not something I expect we’ll see on Toonami anytime soon, given they’ve yet to air any of the series so far. My colleagues will once again say “JJK will never air on Toonami”, but my hopes remain despite how I die inside a little more every time they say it.
My second item on the Day 4 agenda was meeting with the last voice actor I had purchased a signature with, Zeno Robinson. Zeno has been swiftly rising to become one of my favorite actors and I adore his performance as Hawks in My Hero Academia and Gamma 2 in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, but his standout performance to me will always be Akira Tendo from Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. I got to tell him how the show came out at the perfect time for me as I was mentally in a similar state to Akira in the first episode, and that both the anime and manga became something that resonated with me. I had him sign my favorite volume of the manga, volume 15, and told him I hope one day for a second season. I mentioned as part of Day 1 that I would have more to say about the autographs and this is one area where even if the actors aren’t there to promote a show that’s on Toonami, there’s a ton of value in these sessions to meet the people who bring the characters in our favorite Toonami shows to life. While the cost can be a limiting factor, especially on top of the costs for hotels, food, and the AX badge, getting the chance to meet the actors is well worth it if it’s in your budget, especially since you can lock it in and know you’ll be able to attend these sessions, unlike the panels where the line can be capped and so getting in isn’t guaranteed.
The final panel for the day and for the event as a whole was the GKIDS Industry Panel. It primarily highlighted the projects they were bringing to theaters like Shin Godzilla in 4DX, 100 Meters, their annual Studio Ghibli Fest, Jujutsu Kaisen Hidden Inventory/Premature Death, Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, All You Need is Kill, Chao, Another World, and Angel’s Egg with a brand new 4K remaster. They then proceeded to show a new project they’re helping develop, called Sunny, based on the manga by Taiyo Matsumoto and is being animated with stop-motion at Dwarf Studios, the same studio responsible for Pokemon Concierge. Finally, they talked about their home video releases like Dan Da Dan Season 1, The Colors Within, The Mamoru Hosoda Collection, Grave of the Fireflies, and Arcane: League of Legends season 1, with a special behind the scenes video revealing that they will also be releasing a physical of season 2 in the future. Aside from a giveaway at the end, that was really about it for the panel. Some announcements were nice but nothing that had me on the edge of my seat. While we didn’t have high hopes going in for any Toonami surprises here, as you might expect, they didn’t make any announcements to that end. What was really unfortunate was less than a week later, on July 11th, it was announced that Dan Da Dan Season 1 was coming to Toonami. Why that couldn’t have been an announcement at their industry panel, I don’t know, but it was definitely a missed opportunity.
With the GKIDS panel complete, so too was my time at Anime Expo 2025. Overall, I had an amazing experience at the con, although if I had any regrets it’s that I didn’t carve out any dedicated time to browse the exhibit halls or Artist’s Alley in depth as I was too preoccupied with checking out panels, along with the time stuck waiting in line for said panels. If I go again, better time management to make sure I have a chance to spend more time in those areas will be a priority. Otherwise, I had an amazing time in California as a whole, especially since I don’t travel outside my home state of Florida all that often and I have been trying to change that over the past few years.
So to answer the question I posted in the title: Is Anime Expo worth it for a Toonami fan? I would say yes, and part of that is because I feel like in 2026, the typical Toonami fan isn’t JUST a Toonami fan but someone who probably also watches other anime as well. There’s plenty to do between panels, premieres, shopping, checking out all the incredible cosplay, and even taking some time to explore the local area including places like the nearby Little Tokyo district a short ride away on the LA Metro. If you’re only going for Toonami-related aspects, you might find yourself a little underwhelmed, but as long as you are willing to expand your horizons beyond that, you’ll almost certainly have an incredible time. It’s certainly not cheap, especially if you are traveling in from outside the LA area and have to get accommodations on top of the nearly $200 4-day badge, but the experience is well worth it despite the cost.
That about wraps it up so hopefully I can bring more articles like this to our Toonami Squad readers. This is my first article in the eight years I’ve been part of the team so thank you taking the time for such a long read!
