One thing I always enjoy doing at the end of each year is looking back on some of the more memorable Toonami moments for the year. This is by no means an in depth retrospective going over every key detail for the year but instead just the things that stuck out the most for me.
Uzumaki
The most exciting thing about Toonami for me is whenever there is news of a new series being made for the block. Like last year with news of Blade Runner Black Lotus being produced, this year there was an announcement of an anime adaptation of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki. This adaptation will be four episodes and will be entirely in black and white. Some of the revealed staff members on the show are fairly noteworthy. The director will be Hiroshi Nagahama, who is known for directing Mushishi and The Flowers of Evil. The soundtrack will be done by Colin Stetson, who has done the score for Hereditary and Red Dead Redemption 2. From the look of the show and people working on it, I can’t wait to see Uzumaki on the block.
The End of Mainstays
One thing that has always been consistent for the block is having a number of longer running shows. This year marked the end for two of them. Hunter x Hunter finished its run of over three years on the block, beginning in April 2016 and ending in June 2019. Dragon Ball Super also ended its run on the block that lasted for a little under three years, going from January 2017 to October 2019. After the final episode of Super aired there was news that it would rerun on the block. After a bit of speculation as to where the reruns would begin, it ended up just being the final 4 episodes. After those episodes finished, Super has not been seen on Toonami again. While these long runners may have ended, they did entertain viewers for multiple years and I am sure people have a lot of fun memories watching them.
Broadcast Errors
2019 has been a year to feature a few notable on-air problems. Perhaps the most memorable issue occurred during episode 6 of Sword Art Online Alicization. Roughly halfway through the broadcast, the show just stopped. Following the pause, there was a long run of commercials. Once the commercials finished airing, Megalobox started airing 15 minutes early. Following the first commercial, Megalobox would restart from the beginning. After that, the rest of the night’s programming aired without any issues. As a result of this issue, episode 6 was rerun following week and episodes 7 and 8 were played back to back the week after that. Attack on Titan also had a fairly notable issue for one episode. Episode 56 ended normally just like every other episode. The major issue is that episode 56 featured an after credit scene with a young Grisha Yeager. This scene in important due to helping to set up the events for the following episode. Thankfully the scene was put on online and also aired before the beginning of episode 57. Lastly, Dragon Ball Super had an issue that impacted numerous episodes. Due to concerns of epilepsy occurring during intense fights that feature the animation flashing, these fights had their frame rate lowered. The issue is that Adult Swim was not aware that the frame rate was already lowered when they got the episodes and lowered it again. Having the frame rate lowered twice caused some fights to resemble PowerPoint presentations. This would persist for a number of weeks until the issue was corrected. It is worth pointing out that even though these various issues happened, an effort was made to try to correct each one.
The Forge
After a two year break from the last Total Immersion Event Countdown, we got a new TIE in The Forge. This six part TIE begins with the Vindication warping to a space station known as the forge. TOM arms himself and begins confronting the inhabitants of the base, but is shocked to when he sees a robot that is a yellow version of himself. While distracted, TOM is knocked out from behind by an alien that TOM would later affectionately call Booger. TOM wakes up in a cell and is informed by SARA that the Clydes are dead. With assistance from SARA, TOM escapes from his cell and befriends one of the labor TOMs. After being reprogrammed, the labor TOM begs for TOM to free the other labor TOMs. TOM fights his way to the labor TOMs and convinces them to escape. TOM and the labor TOMs get close to boarding the Vindication but an ambush forces them to retreat. TOM puts up one last stand to buy time for the labor TOMs to reach the Vindication and escape. The labor TOMs successfully escape, but TOM is destroyed by Booger. Thankfully TOM backed himself up and SARA brings him back in a new body. Back and better than ever, TOM confronts Booger and with assistance from SARA, manages to beat him. The TIE ends with the labor TOMs in space in the Vindication along with Georgia, Booger being launched out into space, and The Forge becoming the new home for TOM and SARA. A new home comes with a new design for the block and this time, Toonami has an 80’s inspired look with neon blue and purple.
New Shows
One constant for Toonami is people speculating, predicting, and wishing for new shows to come to the block. While it is impossible to have every show people want to come, there were still a number of new shows to appear on the block in 2019. Here is a quick rundown of the new shows to come to the block this year. Promised Neverland followed the adventures of kids with smushed faces on their quest to not become the answer to the question of what is for dinner. Food Wars followed Soma on his culinary quest to make watching anime with your family as awkward as possible. Fire Force showed the adventures of fire fighters and the battle to not have one of their members constantly get naked. Rooster Teeth made their first appearance on the block with gen:LOCK, a series that followed Michael B. Jordan and his magic robot. Dr. Stone followed the adventures of a shiny monkey on their quest to make drugs with the power of science. Lastly, Demon Slayer showed Ufotable’s quest to make fights against demons look as stylish as possible.
Returning Shows
Another constant for the block is older shows returning when new seasons are produced. 2019 was no exception as there were a variety of sequels that aired this year. Attack on Titan season 3 part 2 finally answered the multiyear long mystery of what is in the basement. Sword Art Online Alicization had Kirito returning to the virtual world on his quest to kill another God in a video game. Lupin the Third Part 5 had Lupin utilizing technology to steal bitcoin along with his normal heists. One Punch Man season 2 featured the return of Saitama and friends as they battle Garou, newer monsters, and a new animation studio. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind followed DIO’s son Giovanni Giorno on his quest to become a gangster and fight more musical references. Lastly, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red Comet followed a young Char Aznable in an origin story that I have been told is a bad place to start watching Gundam.
With 2020 just around the corner, there is plenty to look forward to. There are sequels to shows that have already aired on the block that could come like Sword Art Online War of Underworld, Mob Psycho 100 II, Promised Neverland season 2, and Attack on Titan season 4. There are also new shows like Uzumaki and Blade Runner Black Lotus to look forward to, as well as the chance of any new shows getting announced. Overall 2019 was a fun year for the block and I am excited to see what 2020 brings.
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