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My Expectations for Toonami’s Anime Expo Panel
Hello all, it has been a while since I last made a post, but I hope to keep moving forward with writing content. Anyways, about a week ago I tweeted out that on the Anime Expo website a Toonami panel was happening only to be further confirmed by Jason Demarco only a few minutes later. With Samurai Champloo nearing it’s end, a show replacement is up in the air and I want to share some predictions of what maybe announced. Now keep in mind I’m gonna keep my expectations real here. I’m gonna put in one extreme guess and a few others that may be considered, but all the others are more grounded in what’s possible. With that being said let’s get to the list:
One Punch Man
Let’s start off with the elephant in the room. Last year, One Punch Man was the most hyped show of the fall season and with Toonami’s lack of superhero content on the block, One Punch Man would seem the most likely to replace Samurai Champloo. Now as for where it will air that’s more of the tricky thing to consider. On one hand, I know Toonami will not be touching Gundam, so odds are Hunter X Hunter may be moving back to one for twelve weeks or One Punch Man may stay where Champloo currently is. The reason I say that is mainly because they’ve had dub premieres aired late before and even then 1 AM isn’t a horrible timeslot to have it premiere. Yes it would be nice to see a new show air at an earlier time, but once again one in the morning isn’t a horrible deal.
Blood Blockade Battlefront
On one hand, yes this maybe farfetched but on the other hand, it makes sense. Blood Blockade Battlefront is over a year old, a simuldub was made last year and the final episode is an hour long, but with that being said it makes sense for Toonami to air it. First off, the series is based around a manga created by Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow. Which of course the original Trigun series aired on Adult Swim back in the day, that and Toonami aired the movie Trigun: Badlands Rumbles. Second, the series is heavily western inspired. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York City renamed Hellsalems Lot, which has an influx of crime and weird activity. So a group of elite force called Libra are there mainly to protect the city. The series is heavily episodic, but also manages to do a great job of tying together major events that unfold with the plot. As for a timeslot, no doubt it’ll be 1 AM. It’s not a dub premiere and even though the show in my opinion is great, dub premieres should take priority over an older series even if BBB isn’t that old.
Ushio & Tora
Now this is a show I haven’t sunk much time into, in fact I’ve only seen the first couple episodes, but from what I’ve seen of it it’s decent. The series focuses around a middle school student named Ushio who is incredibly stubborn. After certain events unfold in the first episode, he runs into a demon named Tora who tries and convinces him to release him, but refuses until other demons are wreaking havoc out in the world. The two must work together to defeat the evil that lays out before them, hopefully making sure that Tora doesn’t betray Ushio in the process. The show is basically a monster of the week series, but it’s still decent 90’s shonen fun. If it does premiere on Toonami, I would expect a fall release. Not to say it couldn’t be Samurai Champloo’s replacement but if the next show they get is short then Ushio and Tora would air in October being a perfect “horror” anime to air during that time.
Those were series that were either shoe ins or at the very least an idea here are some out there things that may be announced:
Erased
The reason I put this show on here is mainly because I don’t see it being a big priority for Toonami to pick up. They could potentially, but I think they have other shows in mind first before they choose Erased. However, with that being said, why’d I choose this series? Well first, the series is still fairly recent and considering how the anime was the biggest thing in the winter season, airing it only months after it ended would be pretty damn impressive. I personally haven’t seen much past episode one, but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty decent and from what I’ve heard it has some mystery aspect to it and has some interesting twists to it.
Terror In Resonance
I guess one thing that could be considered for a Samurai Champloo replacement would be replacing a Shinichiro Watanabe show with another Shinichiro Watanabe show. While Terror In Resonance isn’t considered to be the best of Watanabe’s works like the beloved Bebop and Champloo, it’s still a Shinichiro Watanabe work. The writing, at least character wise, is still decent and while the plot at times feels rather rushed, it’s still paced well enough. I don’t think Toonami would pick it up, but they could just for the name alone.
Lupin The Third Part 4
This one I’m still not sure about a strong possibility is yes this could be a replacement for Champloo considering a dub’s currently being made, but I’m not sure if Toonami/TMS partnered up or if TMS decided to produce one just for streaming purposes. Either way, it’ll be interesting if Toonami does end up airing it since this will be the first time in years that a Lupin series would air on American TV. However, my thought is if they do have it I tend to think if they can’t simuldub Iron Blooded Orphan’s second season as the first season ends then odds are Lupin may replace it. Whatever the case may be, I’m not writing it off, but I’m not taking it as a guarantee.
Out There Predictions
Anything from DC
I think at this point, I know that there will not be any DC series airing on Toonami probably for a long time. So I don’t expect anything like this to be announced. Still it would be cool if Toonami did manage to get another DC show or at least something from them. It’s been two years since they picked up Beware The Batman from them and while it didn’t break numbers, it still did decently well for a show that originally aired at 3 AM then 2:30. I think it would be great to see more DC titles on the block, but considering that the price to get them, it’s probably out of there budget. Once again, it would be nice to see something from DC to return to the block.
That about does it, these are my predictions for the Toonami Anime Expo panel. Whatever’s announced, I hope it surprises me.
