Dragonball Super English Dub to Premiere on Toonami

Dragon Ball fans everywhere just received the biggest gift of the holiday season. Toei Animation Inc., Funimation©Entertainment and Adult Swim are pleased to announce their partnership to bring “Dragon Ball Super” to TV audiences starting next January. “Dragon Ball Super” is the first new storyline in more than 18 years from original creator Akira Toriyama and the Dragon Ball franchise, which was first introduced to the U.S. more than 20 years ago. Adult Swim will begin airing the U.S. English dub of “Dragon Ball Super” Season 1 during the Toonami block starting on January 7, 2017 at 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET. Season 1, which totals 26 episodes, encompasses the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ story arcs. New episodes of “Dragon Ball Super” will air each Saturday.

”Dragon Ball Super” is more than the latest adventure in the Dragon Ball saga – It’s a collaboration between the series original creator, Akira Toriyama and a passionate team of men and women who are both longtime partners and talented newcomers. “Dragon Ball Super” comes with everything viewers can hope for after waiting 18 long years for a new series – impressible dangers to overcome, the reuniting of beloved characters, and new additions to the mythos that will rock Dragon Ball’s very foundation,” said Masayuki Endo, President and CEO of Toei Animation Inc. “We are very excited to return “Dragon Ball Super” to its U.S. broadcast home on Adult Swim.”

“Toonami and the Dragon Ball franchise have a long and storied history together in the U.S.,” said Jason DeMarco, senior vice president of on-air for Adult Swim. “We are thrilled to be premiering “Dragon Ball Super” to our audience and keeping Dragon Ball on Toonami!”

Funimation will be producing the U.S. English dub of “Dragon Ball Super” that will air on Toonami The “Dragon Ball Super” cast features veteran voice actors from previous Dragon Ball series including Seán Schemmel (Goku), Christopher R. Sabat (Vegeta), Jason Douglas (Beerus), Ian Sinclair (Whis) and Sonny Strait (Krillin) – all of whom starred in last year’s hit movie “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’,” which became the 9th highest grossing anime film of all time in U.S.A..

“We’re extremely pleased to join with Toei Animation in this broadcast partnership with Adult Swim to bring “Dragon Ball Super” to a whole new generation of TV audiences,” said Gen Fukunaga, CEO and founder of Funimation. “I have no doubt that ‘Dragon Ball Super’ will eclipse the television success of the original Dragon Ball series that first aired here more than 20 years ago when anime was still new to the U.S. Those kids that grew up watching Dragon Ball now have kids of their own.”

As part of the English dub production and in advance of the broadcast television premiere, a new DragonBallSuperOfficial.com website has been launched that serves as a hub for all things Dragon Ball. The site will feature exclusive content, videos, graphics and character bios as well as the latest news on the franchise.

 Series Synopsis

With Majin Buu defeated, Goku has taken a completely new role as…a radish farmer?! With Earth at peace, our heroes have settled into normal lives. But they can’t get too comfortable. Far away, the powerful God of Destruction, Beerus, awakens to a prophecy revealing his demise at the hands of an even more formidable being. When his search for the Saiyan God brings him to Earth, can Goku and his friends take on their strongest foe yet?

Blue Exorcist TV Series to Premiere on Toonami Feb. 22nd

The popular animated TV Series Blue Exorcist will be making its U.S. network television debut on Adult Swim’s TOONAMI™ on February 22nd. Aniplex of America originally made the announcement of the premiere on their Live Show this past November. Specific premiere time on Feb. 22nd will be announced on a later date. The Blue Exorcist TV Series is based on Kazue Kato’s hit manga published in Jump Square (by SHUEISHA) and it saw a multi-stream simulcast on websites such as Hulu, Crunchyroll (subtitled version), and as well as on Neon Alley (English dub version). In response to its worldwide popularity, the series was also adapted into a film and theatrically released across North America this past August. Produced by the highly-acclaimed studio A-1 Pictures, (Sword Art Online, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Oreimo 2) the Blue Exorcist TV Series has gained popularity among its fans for its unique storyline and characters. Aniplex of America has released the Blue Exorcist TV Series on home video earlier this year featuring both the original Japanese and English dub which features many popular voice actors such as Bryce Papenbrook (as Rin Okumura), Johnny Yong Bosch (as Yukio Okumura), and Christine Marie Cabanos (as Shiemi Moriyama).

Space Dandy to Premiere Jan 4th on Toonami

Space Dandy, a dazzling new anime from the entire creative team behind Cowboy Bebop, will have its world premiere on Toonami on Saturday, January 4th, 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, followed by a premiere episode ofBleach at midnight, and then the Toonami premiere of Naruto Shippuden. Space Dandy is a dandy in space! This dreamy adventurer with a to-die-for pompadour travels across the galaxy in search of aliens no one has ever laid eyes on. Each new species he discovers earns him a hefty reward, but this dandy has to be quick on his feet because it’s first come – first served! Accompanied by his sidekicks, a rundown robot named QT and Meow the cat-looking space alien, Dandy bravely explores unknown worlds inhabited by a variety of aliens. Join the best dressed alien hunter in all of space and time as he embarks on an adventure that ends at the edge of the universe!

Sword Art Online Watch and Win Contest on Toonami

This month, Sword Art Online fans will be treated to something special. Aniplex of America has just announced they will be hosting a special Sword Art Online “Watch and Win” contest on Adult Swim’s Toonami™. Viewers will have the opportunity to win a wide variety of prizes including Sword Art Online Blu-ray sets and DVDs. Other prizes include Sword Art Online Weib Schwarz trial decks from Bushiroad. Three special grand prize winners will receive a brand new 3D Personal Viewer courtesy of Sony Electronics.

The New Sony 3D Personal Viewers will let fans submerge themselves into the world of Sword
Art Online as if they were Kirito and Asuna. With the Sony 3D Personal Viewers fans can
experience entertainment in a brand new way. This is a special opportunity to win some great
prizes while watching Sword Art Online.

To enter, viewers would need to tune in and watch Sword Art Online on Toonami™ Saturday
Nights at 2:00am EST/PST on October 20th
immediately after the show. Viewers will then enter the keyword on the entry form on the Sword
Art Online Contest Page (www.aniplexusa.com/contest). Be sure to watch Sword Art Online on
Toonami™ and don’t miss your chance to watch and win from Aniplex of America!

Adult Swim’s Toonami™ is not sponsoring this contest. For complete details about the Sword
Art Online Watch and Win Contest, please go to AniplexUSA.com/contest and 27th
and look for the keyword shown.

Prizes

Can Toonami Survive The Digital Era?

A couple of days ago I posted a question to our readers on our Facebook page. The question was "With Netflix, Crunchyroll and other ways to watch anime. How many of you actually stay up and watch Toonami?" I was surprise to see some people still stay up to watch or DVR the classic program. However with a time slot late at night 12 AM to 5 AM and only showing once a week, not to mention it's pack with a program card with shows that many otakus have seen over and over, can Toonami stay in the league with the digital age of streaming and Blu-Ray and DVD's.

The Challenges Of The New Toonami: As much as I love Toonami and I' am rooting for the new revival success. I have to be a realist and point out the huge challenges it faces now. When Toonami debut in 1997 there was nothing like it. It was rare to find anime on your T.V. during the daytime or even at all unless you had the VHS or DVD. There wasn't really Dragonball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Robotech showing on other channels. Toonami was bringing anime to a whole new audience that didn't know anything about it. Anime wasn't just underground anymore. Heck! Some of the otakus will tell you what got them into anime was Toonami. It was truly something different and change the way animation was looked at for those who never seen anime. The old Toonami had something the new Toonami doesn't have, it had an afternoon block. When I would come home from Junior High School I would change it to Toonami and watch the weekday anime block that they had. Eventually Toonami expanded to afternoon and late night, and soon just late night but it was still five days a week. Scheduling and Streaming is the first challenge the new Toonami faces.

1. Scheduling & Streaming: Right now Toonami only airs once a week and that is on Saturday 12 AM to 5 AM. If this was 1997 where streaming really didn't have a thought this would have work. It would have work because you will be anticipating every week for your next episode. There wasn't no other ways to see the show unless the studio's released them on VHS or DVD's, but even those were pricey especially if your just a kid. Your only option would have been Toonami. However in this day and age you can get the same content somewhere else and you won't have to wait a week. The anime"Soul Eater" has been on Netflix for as long as I can remember, if I wanted to watch the entire series I would just turn on my Netflix and do a marathon of it. I won't have to stay up late night on a Saturday for one episode, especially now that I can watch it all in one sitting if I chose too. Legal streaming is making it easier for otakus to get access to anime without television. It's becoming more convenient, you don't have to wait depending on what services you use. It's mainly on you when and how you're going to watch it. Large companies are starting to see that streaming is soon going to be the way we get our entertainment. A good example of this is CBS. If I miss my favorite show "How I Met Your Mother" on Monday, it doesn't bother me anymore I can just go to CBS.com and catch the streaming of the episode that aired. Yes it will be up for the limited of time, but I can still catch it. The key to Toonami surviving will be for Cartoon Network to find a way to capitalize on the streaming and learn how to utilize that market as well. Streaming is the future and it's time for companies to figure it out how to use it.

2. Exclusives & Premieres: In order to have Toonami roaring back into it's glory days again, it's going to need some new anime and some exclusives premieres. The lineup right now is showing the basic anime m.o. like Bleach, Naruto, Inyuasha. The addition of Soul Eater is a welcomed addition, however one thing our readers want is some exclusives. Give them shows that they can't find on Netflix, Crunchyroll or anywhere else. Give them a reason to stay up once a week and tune in. If Cartoon Network is serious about trying bring Toonami back in full force then it's going to need some exclusives that we can't get anywhere else.

How Can Toonami Survive The Digital Era: If Toonami is going to survive it will need ratings, but it's up to the network to actually get some things done. Toonami will need exclusives or a batch of new shows, new anime movies. It's going to need to go back to it's five day after school slot and late nights for shows that are a little more uncut. Most importantly it needs marketing not just from the people who grew up with the show and the voice actors on the actual shows. The network needs to start marketing Toonami like it did in the past. Toonami needs commercials, web ads, give the program a push that it needs and you will have Toonami back. 

Final Thoughts: I love Toonami, I grew up with Toonami and I want this program to succeed. However in order for it to survive it's going to be on the network to actually give the program a push, trust in it's core audience will tune in. In addition it will have to find a way to enter the streaming market and capitalize on that is well. Will Toonami survive the Digital Era? Only time will tell. You can teach an old dog new tricks.