The State of Toonami 2024 (Part 1 of 3)

It's San Diego Comic Con weekend, and a lot is happening all at once. 

Of course, even before SDCC even started, there was a lot of uncertainty about a lot of things involving Warner Bros Discovery as a whole. I'm not going to talk in-depth about the company as a whole in this three-part article, but, rather, a part of the Adult Swim block that I'm particularly interested in, the Toonami action block.

With all this noise about Toonami lacking major anime acquisitions, shows originally intended for Cartoon Network migrating to the block instead, the upcoming premieres of several highly-anticipated shows including one that seemingly felt like a lifetime in the making and another that nobody really asked for, and rumors of the Warner Bros Discovery domestic linear channels being bundled together with over $35 billion in debt and spun off from the rest of the company, one has to wonder what exactly is the current state of Toonami right at this moment.

The short answer? 

Considering the marketplace isn’t the same as it was a dozen years ago, it’s better than it has any business being, but there is a lot of room for improvement. 

The long answer? You want to hear it? It's going to take three different posts, so you might want to sit here for a while. 

In the year 2024, Toonami is at a crossroads in its second life. While the now bi-weekly block has outlasted its original Cartoon Network incarnation, it’s waist-deep in the zone of uncertainty. A lot of what’s happening isn’t entirely the fault of Cartoon Network, the channel that houses the Adult Swim umbrella that the block is under. But a hell of a lot is. 

Let’s break it down a bit.

For those keeping score, yes, the channel is officially Cartoon Network, not Adult Swim. Cartoon Network is divided for ratings and advertising purposes, which made a little sense in 2003 when they expanded the Adult Swim block to weeknights but not so much in 2024 when children’s networks are becoming obsolete thanks to shifting viewership markets and the rise of streaming media. 

More adults watch the Cartoon Network-branded shows on Cartoon Network than children, and yet, because they’re not the key demographic, the Cartoon Network side of the network has shrunk to 11 hours every day of the week compared to the 13 hours of Adult Swim which is primarily filled with Disney-owned shows in primetime on weekdays and late late-nights.  

The once-thriving anime marketplace is limited to about a handful of distributors who largely own and operate their own outlets. They’re not giving Cartoon Network/Adult Swim the latest and higher-profile anime titles the way they used to mostly because they don’t need to. 

The Crunchyroll brand, once owned by WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros Discovery, Cartoon Network’s owners), has infected and absorbed Sony’s FUNimation and Right Stuf, among other global anime distributors. Sony’s Aniplex may not be under the direction of sibling company Crunchyroll, but the sister units still collaborate on most titles. AMC Networks own Sentai Filmworks (the anime company that rose from the ashes of ADV Films) and the HIDIVE streaming platform. VIZ Media tends to work more with Crunchyroll as a global distributor but also streams their wares on other major platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+ as well as AVOD services and in-house FAST channels.  

And, again, you’re not seeing them easily handing their biggest properties to the Toonami block as they did at the original Cartoon Network incarnation did over 20 years ago. You’ll see more secondary runs of shows that previously aired on the services the distributors own, but you’ll rarely see network premieres. You won’t even find the Toonami acquisitions on the MAX premium streaming platform. 

Interestingly enough, a few are on the Adult Swim app. 

Even WBA’s Japan unit isn’t offering originals to the Toonami blocks or even on MAX in the US. While a few like Food Wars, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Mob Psycho 100 have aired on the block, they were distributed by third parties like Sentai, VIZ, and Crunchyroll. The most recent season of Jojo aired exclusively on Netflix.  Other WBA Japan-produced shows like Hi Score Girl, Prison School, Terra Formars, Strike the Blood, Record of Ragnarok, Argevollen, and Reign of the Seven Spellblades are also distributed by other companies, and some of those are exclusively on Netflix and will likely never air on Toonami or MAX, let alone domestic linear television, because of that arrangement. 

Then again, that’s just the nature of the business. 

It’s not pleasant, and it’s not inexpensive. Warner Bros Discovery is a business, and I think a lot of folks tend to forget about that. 

Granted, WBD is cheaper than sin, has screwed over tons of creators, canceled way more productions than they should have, and has a leader who is the face of the collapsing Hollywood industry and, more or less, one of the reasons the American animation industry is in a fragile, endangered state, but still, it’s business as unusual, I guess.

Still, as I mentioned, Toonami does air a small handful of shows from the major distributors, but they’re not as plentiful as they once were.

I'll talk about that next time.