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This past weekend, Shueisha, the publisher of the highly read Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, held their annual Jump Festa, or Jump Fest. This convention gave us a sneak peek of new and continuing titles, some of which we may see on Toonami in the next few years. New seasons including Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, Dr. Stone: Age of Exploration, and My Hero Academia season 6 as well as the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and Black Clover movies, were among the most talked-about by both Japanese and foreign viewers alike. In addition, Shueisha commemorated the 20th anniversary of Naruto.
Some of the news of interest for Toonami viewers can be seen below.
Dragon Ball Super
Earlier in the week, Toei released a key visual for the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie. The image featured Gohan back in his “Cell Saga” outfit alongside Pan, Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and several new characters. The visual was complemented with a hint to fans that more information would be released at Jump Fest on Saturday.
On the Saturday of Jump Festa, Toei released a new trailer for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, and announced that the film will hit theaters in Japan on April 22, 2022. Details regarding a release stateside are still to be announced.
https://twitter.com/DB_super2015/status/1472118287257706501
As the promo and key visual suggests, Gohan will likely be playing a key role in the upcoming film, which has had a positive reaction with the show’s fans. While he has had his moments during the Tournament of Power, since the Buu Saga, Gohan has been pretty busy with his studies and raising a family with Videl and Pan to be in the spotlight, so it should be interesting to see what Gohan’s role is in this film, as well as in future arcs.
Also of note, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will be using CG animation, a shift away from the traditional 2D anime-style we’ve seen in previous Dragon Ball series and films, but a similar style to what we see in the Dragon Ball video games. Granted, if and when Super Hero does get retold in a prospective future season of the Dragon Ball Super anime, precedent suggests that it will most likely be reanimated from scratch similar to how the Battle of Gods and Resurrection F sagas were, rather than converted like Gundam Unicorn or Gundam: The Origin was.
Bleach
After a decade-long hiatus, Ichigo Kurosaki and the Soul Society are back. Back in March 2020, Shueisha and Studio Pierrot announced that they will finish the Bleach anime, which will cover the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, the only arc that has yet to be animated. During Jump Festa on Saturday, Studio Pierrot revealed new details on Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, including a new trailer and a premiere date for October 2022.
As with previous seasons, Viz Media has licensed this final season of Bleach for distribution in North America. They have released an English-subtitled trailer, which you can see below.
A new key visual was also released, featuring Ichigo with the tagline, “Ichigo Kurosaki, the final battle.”
Studio Pierrot will once again animate the new Bleach season, as they did during the show’s original run. Tomohisa Taguchi will be the season’s director, with Masashi Kudo returning as character designer, and Shiro Sagisu returning for the show’s musical soundtrack.
Naruto franchise
2022 will mark 20 years since the Naruto anime was first broadcast in Japan, and to commemorate the upcoming anniversary, Shueisha unveiled a new key visual and logo, showcasing Naruto’s long journey to becoming the Hokage.
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They also released a new key visual for the ongoing Boruto series, which you can see below. Unfortunately, while Naruto Shippuden continues to air on Toonami, due to low ratings and poor reception the block has no plans on resuming Boruto anytime soon.
https://twitter.com/NARUTOtoBORUTO/status/1472070368542134273
Dr. Stone
Following the conclusion of Dr. Stone Season 2, it was announced that the Dr. Stone anime will continue for a third season, which will cover the “Age of Exploration” arc in the manga. On Sunday, TMS Entertainment revealed a new trailer, announcing that Dr. Stone Season 3 will be premiering in 2023. While that might be a bit of a wait for some viewers, it was also announced that there will be a TV special announced for Summer 2022 titled Dr. STONE Special Episode – RYUSUI.
The special will serve as a “bridge” between the events of the Stone Wars arc in Season 2, to the events coming up in Season 3. The special is titled Ryusui because the next season will introduce a new character to the series, Ryusui Nanami, who will be voiced by Ryota Suzuki.
Crunchyroll released an English-subtitled trailer, which you can see below.
My Hero Academia
Toei and Studio Bones revealed a new trailer for the upcoming sixth season of My Hero Academia, which announced that the season premiere is scheduled for October 2022. The season will continue the “Paranormal Liberation War Arc” that began during Season 5.
During the stage event, the panelists read a letter from My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi, which noted that the manga will reach its conclusion within the next year.
Black Clover
Finally, a new key visual for the upcoming Black Clover movie was revealed featuring Yuno, complementing one with Asta released earlier this year. No additional details of the film have been revealed at this time.
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Future Franchises?
Jump Fest also showcased newer Shonen Jump franchises that will be making their anime debut in the next year, and there are a few that could be of interest for Toonami down the line. Of course, this assumes that the show’s producers, the licensors, and Toonami themselves agree that it should be on the block, not to mention demand from the fans.
One big favorite we could see is Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto. Animated by Studio Mappa, this highly anticipated anime series will make its debut sometime in 2022.
Synopsis (via IMDB): When his father died, Denji was stuck with a huge debt and no way to pay it back. Thanks to a Devil dog he saved named Pochita, he’s able to survive through odd jobs and killing Devils for the Yakuza. Pochita’s chainsaw powers come in handy against these powerful demons. When the Yakuza betrays him and he’s killed by the Zombie Devil, Pochita sacrifices himself to save his former master. Now Denji has been reborn as some kind of weird Devil-Human hybrid. He is now a Chainsaw Man!
Another possible franchise Toonami could see in its future could be Spy x Family by Tatsuya Endō. Animated by Wit Studio and CloverWorks, and licensed by Crunchyroll, Spy x Family will premiere in April 2022.
Synopsis (via Anime News Network): Agent Twilight, the greatest spy for the nation of Westalis, has to infiltrate an elite private school. In order to do so, he assumes the identity of psychiatrist Loid Forger, adopts an orphan girl, and marries a city hall employee. Unknown to him, his daughter Anya is a telepath and his wife Yor is an assassin. The three learn to become a family while working to complete Twilight’s missions and maintain world peace.
A third possible franchise, though this one has been out for a while, is Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami. The first season ran from October 3, 2020, to March 27, 2021, on MBS, TBS, and other JNN affiliates in Japan, and was simulcast stateside and later dubbed on Crunchyroll. With some fans considering it to be the spiritual successor of Bleach, the series is already one of Crunchyroll’s highest viewed series and even won several Anime of the Year titles. Presently, fans are looking forward to the upcoming movie, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. The film is scheduled to premiere on Japanese shores on December 24.
As always, if you want to see a Shonen Jump show join the lineup in the future, continue watching or DVRing the block every Saturday, and send your show requests to Toonami’s Facebook page or by directly messaging Jason DeMarco on Twitter (@Clarknova1). We also recommend letting the respective licensors know through their respective social media outlets.
What are your thoughts on the Jump Fest news? What Shonen Jump shows would you like to see on Toonami in the future? Let us know by commenting below or directly on our social media.
