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“You can call me Deku, but I’m not the same helpless defenseless kid anymore. Do you hear me, I’ve changed. From now on, Deku is the name of a hero!”
– Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, My Hero Academia (Ep. 06)
The Toonami Trending Rundown for June 16-17, 2018. Week 3 of FLCL Progressive is in the books and it was a big week for the Dragon Ball franchise on Toonami as we see the conclusion of Dragon Ball Super’s Future Trunks saga, while we witness the epilogue of the Buu Saga (which likely was retconned upon Super’s production) and Midomi and friends head to the beach, among other moments.
On Twitter, Toonami would trend alongside #FLCL, #JoJosBizarreAdventure and #HunterXHunter. Meanwhile on tumblr, #Toonami would trend alongside Boku no Hero Academia and #BNHA.
In less than 3 weeks, the anime community will be converging onto Downtown Los Angeles on the Fourth of July weekend for Anime Expo, and for the very first time, I will be heading up to LA to team up with CJ Maffris, Sketch1984, and others to help bring you ToonamiFaithful.com’s coverage. This week, Anime Expo has been releasing their full schedule of festivities, which you can see by clicking here. We’ll have a full list of events within the coming weeks, but some of the Toonami related events we’ll be keeping an eye on include:
- FUNimation and Toho will be showcasing the subtitled world premiere of the upcoming My Hero Academia Movie: The Two Heroes, to be showcased on Thursday at the Main Event (Hall B) from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm. A panel will follow the film lead by Justin Briner, Colleen Clinkenbeard and several of the Japanese voice actors including Daiki Yamashita (voice of Deku), Mirai Shida (voice of Melissa Shield), and Katsuhisa Namase (voice of David Shield).
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime director Naokatsu Tsuda will be headlining a panel along with Patrick Seitz (the voice of Dio), and Christopher Tergliafera (the voice of Avdol) on Friday at Main Event (Hall B) from 3-5pm. According to Anime News Network, some big news is being planned for the franchise to be announced in the summer, and with only 10 episodes of Stardust Crusaders left to air as of this writing, we’ll could likely be hearing news regarding the dub of Diamond is Unbreakable here as well as any possible information regarding Part 5 in the works. In addition, there will also be a JoJo’s theme attraction at AX, titled “JOJO’S BIZZARE ESCAPE: THE HOTEL”, a 6 player Escape Room game themed after the JoJo’s franchise.
- With Alternative Gun Gale Online presently airing in Japan and with Project Alicization coming up this October, Aniplex will be hosting a “Sword Art Online festival” panel on Friday to showcase the franchise, including potentially revealing further information to the two new additions. Bryce Papenbrook and Cherami Leigh will headline this panel along with Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, (the Japanese voice of Kirito), Ai Kayano, (the voice of Kirito’s newest harem member Alice), Tomori Kusunoki (the voice of Llenn/Karen), Alternative GGO creator Keiichi Sigsawa, and producers Shinichiro Kashiwada, Kazuki Adachi, and Kenta Suzuki. The panel will take place Friday at the Petree Hall (LP1) from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm.
- Maki Terashima-Furuta and Gill Austin will be hosting a FLCL Panel along with several of the new series’ voice actors. In addition to the panel and some giveaways, there will be a surprise showing of a new episode, whether this will be the Progressive finale or the dubbed premiere of Alternative is to be seen. The panel takes place Saturday at the Petree Hall (LP1) from 2-3 pm, and will be immediately followed by the Production IG panel in the same room.
- With season 3 of Attack on Titan slated to premiere in Japan on July 22, FUNimation will be hosting a World Premiere event of the first episode on Sunday, with Yuki Kaji and Bryce Papenbrook, the voice actors for Eren, headlining the panel. No word yet on what FUNimation’s plans are regarding simulcasting and a potential simuldub, or if Toonami will be airing season 3 as well, but we’ll likely hear the answers to those questions ahead, if not at this panel. The panel will take place at Main Event (Hall B) from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm.
And before we get to the big news this week, some of the other Toonami related news this week include:
- In other My Hero Academia news, Viz Media is presently working on releasing the My Hero Academia side-story: Vigilantes, with the first manga volume set for release stateside on July 3.
- Studio Trigger and Arc System Works have announced this week that they are developing a battle actionKill la Kill video game. Not much word has been released on this new game as of yet, though new information is to be expected to be released during Anime Expo next month.
- With the success of Samurai Jack and FLCL, Toonami has been hard at work creating more original productions for the block, and during Jason DeMarco’s recent interview with the Toonami Faithful Podcast, he mentioned that Toonami is presently at work creating two anime productions as well as an American action cartoon. On Friday we may have gotten some new information on the latter, as @CNSchedules noticed that Cartoon Network had filed a new TV show trademark: “Gennedy Tartakovsky’s Primal.”
Back in April when Jason DeMarco was hinting at upcoming shows, he mentioned that one of the next 3 acquisitions at the time would be considered confusing for many people. We’ll this week, with DBZ Kai’s run coming to a close, its replacement no doubt is a surprising one for many, though for long time Adult Swim viewers who are accustomed to the block’s surreal comedy, this acquisition may not come as a surprise.
Indeed, Toonami’s next acquisition is the hit anime comedy series Pop Team Epic, who will be premiering on June 30 at Midnight Eastern. Both My Hero Academia and FLCL will also move up by 30 minutes to air at 11 and 11:30pm ET respectively.
Based on the manga series by Bkub Okawa, Pop Team Epic aired in Japan from January 7 to March 25, 2018 and has become a big fan favorite among those who saw the series across the various streaming sites it has been available on as well as being a popular source for anime related memes. Many fans have likened it to one of Adult Swim’s classic animated comedies, and indeed there have been quite a few requests for Adult Swim to pick this one up.
With many of Toonami’s acquisitions especially in recent times being Shonen Jump works, fans have been wanting Toonami to showcase more variety in their acquisitions, and outside of airing a slice of life moe anime, I don’t think you can get an anime acquisition more out of left field than this, and no doubt this will be an interesting one to check out in two weeks’ time.
Tune in next week as DBZ Kai showcases its final episode, among other great moments. Until then, congratulations to the Washington Capitals for winning the Stanley Cup and finally breaking their 44 year curse, congratulations to the Golden State Warriors on repeating as NBA champions, and of course, let’s go Team US…oh, yeah, they’re not in the World Cup this year, never mind.
Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.
United States Trends:
- #Toonami [#5]
- #FLCL [#3]
- #JoJosBizarreAdventure [#5]
- #HunterXHunter [#5]
Tweet Counts:
- #Toonami [4,265 tweets]
- #DBZKai [1,502 tweets]
- #FLCL [2,124 tweets]
- #FLCLProgressive [1,384 tweets]
- #JoJosBizarreAdventure [1,994 tweets]
- #HunterXHunter [1,479 tweets]
Tumblr Trends:
- #Toonami
- #Boku No Hero Academia
- #BNHA
Notes and Other Statistics:
- #Toonami: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @blumspew and @FUNimation started the trend in the US.
- #FLCLProgressive: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @Clarknova1 started the trend in the US.
- #HunterXHunter: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @shonenjump started the trend in the US.
Special thanks to @coreymbarnes, @jmb70056, and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.
Is This The Utopia You Envisioned? Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.
Source: From @animesavior Via Tumblr.
Special thanks to @animesavior for allowing us to publish the Toonami Trending Rundown here.
