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With the series finale of Uzumaki and the season finales of Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village arc and Rick and Morty: The Anime all airing this Saturday, October 19, 2024 (and following a Uzumaki marathon night during Halloween weekend on October 26), Toonami will see some new and returning shows to the lineup this upcoming November.
Alongside the announcement of the airing of the new Cartoon Network Studios original series Invincible Fight Girl, Toonami made some show announcements at New York Comic Con during the weekend of October 17-20 for their lineup come November. This includes the return of Blue Exorcist to the lineup for the first time in a decade along with the acquisition of Mashle: Magic and Muscles from Aniplex. Plus, Toonami also revealed some new information regarding their next original anime production, Lazarus.
Created by Juston Gordon-Montgomery (of DC Super Hero Girls fame) and animated by Cartoon Network Studios, Invincible Fight Girl stars Andy (voiced by Sydney Mikayla), who aspires to be the top Pro Wrestlers in a world of Pro Wrestling. This original cartoon series was originally announced as a daytime Cartoon Network series back in 2022. But much like My Adventures with Superman, the show has since found its way to Adult Swim/Toonami hours.
The first two episodes will air back-to-back during its premiere night on November 2, 2024 from midnight to 1:00 a.m. EDT with new episodes airing at midnight in successive weeks. As with all Toonami, Adult Swim, and Cartoon Network originals, new episodes will be available for streaming on Max the day following its broadcast.
In addition, since November 2nd will mark the end of Daylight Savings, the first two episodes will see an encore run during the extra “Daylight Savings” 2:00 a.m. EST hour. Furthermore, TBS will also showcase the premiere episode of Invincible Fight Girl on Monday, November 4th at 10:30 p.m, following a new episode of American Dad.
The show’s first episode saw a special premiere during San Diego Comic-Con in July for those who attended the “Night of Premieres” event on the Adult Swim Pirate Party on the Green.
Invincible Fight Girl won’t be the only addition to the better cartoon show this November. On Friday morning at the Aniplex panel at NYCC, it was revealed that two hit Shonen Jump franchises will come to Toonami as Demon Slayer goes on hiatus from the lineup. The first being the return of Blue Exorcist (or Ao no Exorcist in Japanese) for the first time since 2014, airing on November 2nd at 1:00 a.m. EST. And the other being the U.S. television premiere of Mashle: Magic and Muscles the following week, on November 9th at 12:30 a.m.
https://x.com/BlueExorcistUSA/status/1847307316959355046
MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES on X (formerly Twitter): “#ANNOUNCEMENT 📢In this world of magic, a boy who is singlemindedly working out.His name is Mash Burnedead, and he has a secret. He can’t use magic.”MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES” premieres on Adult Swim’s Toonami this November 9! 💪 pic.twitter.com/KqUfYwrJyN / X”
ANNOUNCEMENT 📢In this world of magic, a boy who is singlemindedly working out.His name is Mash Burnedead, and he has a secret. He can’t use magic.”MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES” premieres on Adult Swim’s Toonami this November 9! 💪 pic.twitter.com/KqUfYwrJyN
Based on the hit manga by Kazue Kato, Blue Exorcist is a familiar face for long time Toonami viewers; as its first season aired on Toonami from February 22 to August 9, 2014, running for 25 episodes. Since Blue Exorcist finished its Toonami run in August 2014, Blue Exorcist was subsequently renewed for three more seasons and counting, including the Kyoto Saga in 2017, the Shimane Illuminati Saga in January 2024, and the Beyond the Snow Saga which began airing in Japan this past month.
Despite this, Toonami hasn’t been able to bring back the show until now. Season 2 was under Hulu exclusivity during its 2017 premiere, and deteriorating relations with the Aniplex-Crunchyroll consortium since their parent company Sony initially severed their relationships with the block upon the Crunchyroll-Funimation merger back in 2021 complicated matters further.
The show’s synopsis is as follows (via Anime News Network):
Humans live in the world of Assiah, demons in Gehenna. The two dimensions are not meant to interfere with each other, but demons still possess creatures in Assiah in spite of this. The humans who can fight these demons are known as exorcists. Rin Okumura is a boy who bears the curse of being Satan’s illegitimate son. His foster father sacrificed himself to save him from demons. To avenge his foster father’s death as well as to prove himself, Rin decides to follow the path of an exorcist.
The return of Blue Exorcist is a welcoming sight for those who have been waiting for its return for over a decade now. But because it last aired over a decade ago, Toonami and Aniplex have opted to start the show all over from the beginning, airing season 1 again before (presumably) airing successive seasons. Furthermore, this also brings another conundrum: Following Episode 17 of Blue Exorcist (back during its original Japanese airing in 2011), the final 8 episodes of season 1 considerably diverged from the manga to make its own ending for the anime, as the manga had nowhere near enough content to adapt at the time. As the Kyoto Saga retcons the events of Episodes 18-25 and kicks off immediately following the events of Episode 17, it is unknown if Toonami will air episodes 18-25 of Blue Exorcist again, or will just skip to season 2 after airing Episode 17, when the time comes.
Mashle: Magic and Muscles on the other hand, is a brand new series for Toonami. Based on the manga written and illustrated by Hajime Kōmoto with 162 chapters in 18 volumes, it was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from January 27, 2020-July 3, 2023. Animated by A-1 Pictures, the same company that also animated Blue Exorcist, Sword Art Online, the Shelter music video by Porter Robinson and Madeon, and Lycoris Recoil, Mashle is 24 episodes in length split into two seasons of 12 episodes. Season 1 aired in Japan (and streaming on Crunchyroll) from April 8-July 1, 2023, with season 2 airing from January 6-March 30, 2024. A third season is presently in the works.
The show’s synopsis is as follows (via Anime News Network):
This is a world of magic where magic is used for everything. But deep in the forest exists a young man who spends his time training and bulking up. He can’t use magic, but he enjoys a peaceful life with his father. His muscular body will have to protect him from the magic users who are out to get him.
A good sign in regards to Toonami’s partnerships with Aniplex and Crunchyroll since it was at a rock bottom point in 2022. However, it’s still to be determined if and when Toonami can get a broadcasting deal for the likes of Demon Slayer’s fifth season (the Hashira Training Arc), My Hero Academia season 7, and Dragon Ball Daima at this time. Alongside Sony’s reluctance among other licensing issues, there’s also the issue of financial issues from Toonami parent company Warner Bros Discovery (especially under the ongoing David Zaslav era). Meaning that even if Japan gives the green light, Toonami might still need to defer some shows until a later date when they got the budget and/or the licensors offer a cheaper airing price. As always, we always recommend to keep watching and showing your support to the block and send your show requests to Toonami’s Facebook, Jason DeMarco on Bluesky (he has since deleted his Twitter) and letting the respective licensors know, whether it’s Aniplex, Crunchyroll, Sentai, Toei, among others.
Speaking of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Daima began airing in Japan this past October 11th, and in a rarity in the current “streaming wars” and “streaming bubble”, Hulu and Netflix are simulcasting the show, in addition to Crunchyroll. No word yet on what Toei’s plans are for the dub (and such plans were not revealed in the Dragon Ball panel on Thursday), but it was announced that Stephanie Nadolny, the voice of Son Goku and Son Gohan back in the day, will return to the show to voice Goku (in his youth form), to be joined by Aaron Dismuke as the voice of Glorio. The first three episodes of the dub will see a special screening in in theaters across the U.S. and Canada from November 10-12, 2024.
Finally, on Friday afternoon at NYCC, Adult Swim hosted a panel for Lazarus, the newest Toonami anime production directed by Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy fame. Watanabe was among the panelists alongside producers Gil Austin, Joseph Chou, and Takenari Maeda. Those who were lucky to be in the room got to be among the first in the world to see the show’s first episode.
Jefferies Herrera on X (formerly Twitter): “At the [adult swim]’s #Lazarus Panel @NY_Comic_Con with special guests, Gil Austin, Joseph Chou, Takenari Maeda and the legendary Shinichirō Watanabe. They showed the first episode and it was great. #NYCC #adultswim #ToonamiCC: @ToonamiNews @ToonamiSquad @swimpedia pic.twitter.com/4jfvkdEOLI / X”
At the [adult swim]’s #Lazarus Panel @NY_Comic_Con with special guests, Gil Austin, Joseph Chou, Takenari Maeda and the legendary Shinichirō Watanabe. They showed the first episode and it was great. #NYCC #adultswim #ToonamiCC: @ToonamiNews @ToonamiSquad @swimpedia pic.twitter.com/4jfvkdEOLI
Lazarus is scheduled to premiere on Toonami (and streaming on Max) sometime in 2025. Adult Swim did release a sneak preview of the show to the general public on their social media pages following the panel, which you can see below. This scene was also showcased to San Diego Comic-Con attendees back in July, but was not released to the public (outside of those who attended the Rick and Morty: The Anime panel) until now.
A little programming note for Saturday, October 19, as this week’s Rick and Morty, Uzumaki, and Demon Slayer season 3’s episodes are all finales, all three shows will go over their regular allotted time for at least a couple minutes. Meaning that Uzumaki will start at 12:33 a.m. EDT, Demon Slayer will start at 1:18 a.m, and One Piece will start at 2:21 a.m. The Rick and Morty short Samurai & Shogun Part 1 will air to even out the 2 a.m. hour, with My Hero Academia closing out the block at 3.
And if you want to binge watch Uzumaki for Halloween, Toonami will marathon all four episodes of Uzumaki subbed on October 26th from midnight-2:30 a.m, followed by the regular scheduled My Hero Academia reruns to close out the block. And on Halloween night on the 31st, Adult Swim will marathon all four episodes of Uzumaki dubbed.
Special thanks to @Jeffherrera11 for the NYCC news reports.
What were your favorite news and announcements from this year’s New York Comic-Con? Are you happy to see Blue Exorcist back on Toonami? Are you looking forward to Invincible Fighter Girl and/or Mashle? Sound off in the comments below or on our social media outlets.
