Toonami’s Debut Lineup is Revealed (No Dragon Ball Z)

[AnimeFan8719]

We knew that Toonami was coming back on May 26th, but we didn’t know what shows would be a part of the lineup- until now. The debut scheduling block has been revealed.

12:00 a.m. – Bleach
12:30 a.m. – Deadman Wonderland
1:00 a.m. – Casshern Sins
1:30 a.m. – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
2:00 a.m. – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
2:30 a.m. – Cowboy Bebop

I have to admit, it’s a little disappointing, but there’s a reason for that. Jason DeMarco filled fans in:

Something you should know about THIS Toonami: We have very, very little $$. This experiment will need ratings success to receive more funding for new shows, more [mascot character] Tom animation, etc. I’m thankful for the $$ we’ve gotten, but it isn’t a lot.

There are definitely plans to make changes to the block as soon as it’s possible. DeMarco says that they’ve been looking at acquiring shows like Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Fairy Tail, Inuyasha: The Final Act, and Gundam Wing. DeMarco also mentioned that One Piece was a personal favorite of his, and that he’d love to see it back on Cartoon Network. Watching unedited One Piece on Toonami would be the stuff of dreams.

Best of all, Steven Blum will be back to voice Tom. He’ll be a hi-res version of Tom 3.0, and will be aboard a slightly updated version of Absolution. For the time being, we won’t be seeing Sara, and Peter Cullen won’t be able to voice promos. However, if Toonami’s return is a success, there’s no telling what will happen.

Even if the lineup isn’t as exciting as it could be, it’ll be great to have Tom back on my TV. Hopefully, Toonami Faithful will tune in in droves, and more shows will be added to the lineup soon. Right now, it’s just good to have Toonami back.

(via Anime News Network)

Is there a reason why DBZ want be on Toonami this weekend?? That sucks!!!

[dprez]

Wow.

Looks like they took the easy route...Bleach, Cowboy Bebop, FMA: Brotherhood and Ghost in the Shell are already on late night on cartoon network. Uncut One Piece is what I want. ( Even the english version would be great, as it would attract more people to the manga and the original anime. )

Looks like I will have to tune in if I want the block to get any better.

And btw, I actually think it's a good thing that the DBZ FUNi dub won't be a part of this line-up...we've all had enough of that...

[dbboxkaifan]

If there isn't any Dragon Ball related with this topic or "Toonami" it'll likely be locked, till new updates are brought up.

Honestly, I don't know what's the big fuss about people wanting DBZ to air on a channel, seriously, watching it on BD/DVD is far better than a channel and seeing the logo of the channel.

[Chuquita]

I might give the "new" shows a shot.

No longer interested in Bleach, I've never been overly-into GitS to watch regularly, and I enjoy Cowboy Bebop.

I'm ok with Saturday Midnight Run Toonami not having DBZ; even though it would be nice to see the Buu arc again, I have my DBoxes for that.

I'd like to see OP on Toonami, but I feel like it's less possible than it seems due to its U.S. TV history.

Nice to have Steven Blum back as Tom.

Toonami's just a nice nostalgic memory for me now, but I'll probably still watch the new block once in a while.

[dprez]

It's a wonderful thing that Dragon Ball is still on basic American television though. CW4kids/Toonzai, 10:00 a.m. central time.

If One Piece ends up as a part of this line-up, I would be so stoked. Even with the english cast, it would be so damn awesome. Those americans who have never heard of it will get a chance to admire it's greatness.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Midnight to 3 A.M. Congrats broskis you just lost a viewer. You don't put your precious experiment into a stupid time slot, make it a Friday or Saturday night once a week block. Sheesh. And I totally would have checked out Casshern Sins, too, despite the flack I've read about it.

This is about what I expected; remember, this is a network that philosophically (As far as we know) purged itself of non-franchise anime five years back (Going to treat Adult Swim as it's own entity here, but then Bleach and FMA aren't exactly obscure to the audience concerned) and then that's ignoring that Toonami was largely irrelevant in it's last year or so at the least.

They need to be cautious about this; is there enough interest for 3-hour blocks of non-franchise anime on television anymore? We don't know, no comparable test model (So no Funi Channel or the like) for it really stepped up after Toonami ended.

Getting Uncut Kai on the air would not be bad idea, though, if only because the Toonami nostalgia and Toonami's unique psychology hold on Dragon Ball in the US would draw viewers in enough for the internet masses to realize an uncut version exists.

[penguintruth]

Thank Kami-sama there's no DBZ on Toonami. It would just be the old, terrible English dub, unless they get Kai, which I doubt they would. I don't need a new generation of kids talking about how "cool" Bruce Faulconer's music is.

I happen to like Casshern Sins. It's even got a pretty solid English dub. I'm definitely going to watch that.

[Gonstead]

They can't air Kai or any Dragon Ball related show anyway due to the fact that Nicktoons is the primary license holder for airing them on a cable network.

DeMarco also mentioned that One Piece was a personal favorite of his, and that he’d love to see it back on Cartoon Network. Watching unedited One Piece on Toonami would be the stuff of dreams.

However, One Piece actually has a very good chance of making an appearance on this new Toonami, since nobody owns a TV license for it and the fact that Funimation will definitely want it to come back to TV to get more exposure, which would equal more money and more incentive for Toei to keep on allowing Funimatio to dub One Piece, this time not solely based on DVD sale.

[VegettoEX]

Indeed -- this has no real relevance to Dragon Ball.