(Re)Building You A Better Cartoon Show

 A question was recently asked from one of my oldest and dearest buds over on my BlueSky account:

i know you answer this every year or so, but what's your dream Toonami lineup, given an infinite acquisition budget

Definitely something I haven't been thinking about in a long time, especially after, well, I kind of lost faith in the block. 

Also, I know how unrealistic all of this could be. 

But here's the thing.

If you apply real-world logic to a concept like this, you will be baffled. If anybody has any qualms with what I thought of or if anything I put here causes a visceral reaction like "This doesn't make sense" or "Why didn't you do X instead of Z?" or "Why did you do this like this instead of like this," make your own suggestions on your own space.

Cool? Savvy? We green? 

Excellent. I'll continue. It's been a while since I've done something like this.

Been through some things lately.

Here's how I'd take on the Toonami brand:

• Weeknights 5 PM to 7 PM E/P (Mondays through Thursdays) and 5 to 8 PM E/P (Fridays)would be the daily block. Mostly action reruns but enough to get people to watch.
• Saturdays from 12 to 3 AM E/P would be the main weekly block. This is where the newer shows debut every week. 
• An encore of the Saturday block from 3 to 6 AM. 

Simple, right? 

As to what the general direction of Toonami should be if I had controls of the block as well as a strong programming budget, where's what I think it should be.

• There must be at least four DC Studios original series on the block throughout the year. No fewer than two DC originals. The fact that DC programming has become, more or less, an afterthought rather than a general part of the block's domestic direction just feels off considering DC is THE action-adventure brand of Warner Bros., and if Toonami is the showcase of action cartoons, having DC productions on Toonami should be a no-brainer. Along with the traditional superhero adventures, Toonami could be home to adaptations of DC properties outside of the DC Multiverse. If I was running Toonami with a big budget, I'd order adaptations of stuff like 100 Bullets, The Invisibles, Blood Syndicate, Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child, and so much more. Get Jiro is proof DC is willing to go beyond what we know as DC, and I'd be down for more. 
• Examine WB-owned IP that could easily be adapted in-house as Toonami animated series/projects and commit to them being produced.
• Work out distribution agreements with production studios directly. This includes studios in Japan, the UK, France, South Korea, Nigeria, Latin America, and Canada. Going to the studios directly gives you more access without dealing with a middleman like Crunchyroll, which tend to have their own agendas and motives that sees Cartoon Network/Adult Swim as a competitor, not a media partner. Speaking of Crunchyroll...
• Build a strong relationship with a major anime distributor that isn't Crunchyroll/Aniplex/Sony. While Crunchyroll is currently the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to anime distribution, there are others like VIZ and Sentai with vast content libraries of their own. A relationship with Crunchyroll/Aniplex/Sony is essential but building relationships outside of that (as well as creating expanded distribution for those shows outside of their own walled gardens) is a must. 
• Establish Toonami Studios for original in-house animated productions and finance original series, shorts, and specials. Yes, I entirely want Warner Bros Animation to establish Toonami as a production brand. IGPX was the first and only show to utilize the Toonami brand, and aside from co-producing several originals, most notably Crunchyroll co-pros, Ninja Kamui, the FLCL ripoffs spinoffs, and Lazarus, the brands has never been utilized beyond the block.
• Create a Toonami-branded hub on HBO Max for originals as well as licensing secondary streaming rights to third-party shows that aired on the block with their owners. 
• Make a multiyear commitment to have 75% of the Toonami block and streaming hub on HBO Max original programming by 2032. Television, contrary to what people think, is not dying. It's evolving through streaming and FAST. And making a multiyear programming commitment would not only strengthen the linear block but also create future commercial revenue for streaming and FAST brands, both in-house and third-party outlets. Essentially, it's library-and-brand-building. I feel that Toonami should be mentioned with such reverence as the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim brands, and this would be a huge part of that.
• Create a shorts incubator program. This would be similar to the original concept of What A Cartoon/Cartoon Cartoons and Adult Swim Shorts. While some would be made under the Toonami Studios banner, third-party producers would be welcome to create innovative mature titles that are action and adventure based across many different genres like fantasy, sci-fi, martial arts, horror, superheroes, mystery, and more. This would be an ideal way to introduce new visions and new creative diverse voices to audiences. 

Now that I set up my demands, here's what I do if handed the keys to the block with a good

I'd keep a basic and mostly older programming and ready for weekday consumption that's a nice foundation to build a better cartoon show from for the next 30 years.

Monday - Fridays:

5 PM: Young Justice

5:30 PM: Sailor Moon Crystal

6 PM: One Piece

6:30 PM: Fairy Tail

It's a basic, barebones lineup that feels familiar yet fresh.

I think a sense of familiarity would work for a late afternoon/early evening slot. TV-PG and some TV-14 programming could air in the daily slot. Nothing with harsh language or excessive bloody violence would air here. If a show needs a lot of bleeped-out language or digital alterations, it's probably not a good fit for the daily slot. 

This isn't 2000, you know. 

And it's on Adult Swim, not a kids' channel. Besides, if Adult Swim had problems with that, maybe they shouldn't have taken over timeslots typically viewed by children. 

Just saying.

And you're probably wondering why I don't have Dragon Ball Z or Naruto airing in daily slots.

Because it's time to really move beyond those shows. Dragon Ball Z Kai has been played to death, and Crunchyroll's not willing to give Adult Swim the episodes after Frieza, and there's really no need to start Naruto over again, unless they're airing Shippuden from the start.  

Again, this is not the mid-2000s.

One Piece has never had a full run on Toonami, and unlike DBZ and Naruto, they're still in production. The original cycle should air on weeknights, and the more recent episodes should air on Saturdays, as they are now. 

But I'll get to Saturdays in a bit.

I feel that if I had the reins of the block, I'd keep this strategy. The 5 PM hour would have at least one Western production with a lengthy run and a series with a nice sizeable amount of episodes that could easily be shifted out after a cycle ends to keep the block fresh.

I'd have the 6 PM hour front-loaded with shows with high episode counts, which is why I have One Piece at the top of the hour and Fairy Tail, a series I've recently been watching and realizing this should have easily been on Toonami a long time ago, at the bottom of the hour and leading into primetime.

Fairy Tail is a strong series that not a lot of audiences are familiar with. It meshes action and comedy, it pairs quite well with One Piece, and it easily eases into the lighter comedic stuff in primetime slots. Plus, it has a high episode count, which is necessary for weeknight consumption, as I mentioned earlier.

Fridays would have an additional third hour starting at 7 PM for lighter premieres and originals that fit the Toonami spirit. Think shows like My Adventures with Superman, Sym-Bionic Titan, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, or Invincible Fight Girl as well as newer shows in that vein like My Adventures with Green Lantern, DC Super Powers, Starfire, or SuperMutant Magic Academy or a lighter anime action acquisition. These shows would bridge the block to the main primetime slot as well as create a bit of a variety from the monotony of the usual FOX repeats that clutter the 7 PM slot. 

 Because burying shows that could reach a slightly younger audience in a post-midnight slot on a Sunday morning and not repeating it on the network in an earlier slot is bad business.

And you use the daily block to hype up the main Saturday night block. 

Speaking of the Saturday block, that's where the money would be invested in. You know the standards I set up earlier? I would implement the biggest of them here. I'd open the block with One Piece. I'd close the block with Batman: The Animated Series. The meat of the block would be more experimental, a little more outside of the box, but definitely bringing the action the block should personify. 

12 AM E/P: One Piece – The biggest anime series on the planet should have the top spot on the weekly block. And Toonami would have a small yet significant financial stake in the series and serve as a global co-producer of the series. The most recent cycles air on Saturday nights.

12:30 AM E/P: Far Sector – A co-production with DC Studios, Warner Bros Animation, and Blue Spirit (the producers of Blue-Eyed Samurai), this animated hour-long limited series would be a direct 12-part adaptation of the critically-acclaimed sci-fi mystery series from acclaimed writer N.K. Jemisin and artist Jamal Campbell that turns the Green Lantern mythos on its head. Yes, I know that there are other Green Lantern projects out there, but Far Sector is a mature TV-MA-level story worth adapting in animation as an hour-long project. If handled by the right people, this could be a masterpiece. Completely uncut next day on HBO Max. 

1:30 AM E/P:  Tales of Absolution – In the tradition of Liquid Television, Love, Death & Robots and Star Wars: Visions comes a weekly anthology series of original action animated shorts from top talents and studios from around the world. Some are based on iconic properties. Some are adaptations of popular comics, manga, webtoons, and Bandes dessinées. Some are truly original stories that defies the limits of imagination. Next day on HBO Max.

2 AM E/P: Berserk (1997)– Considered one of the best anime series of all time, the original 1997 classic based on legendary mangaka Kentaro Miura’s masterpiece brings action, adventure, and all the brutality to a brand-new audience digitally remastered. Completely uncut next day on HBO Max.

2:30 AM E/P: Batman: The Animated Series – One of the greatest animated series of all-time winds down the night bringing original crime noir-inspired adventures of the Dark Knight digitally remastered for the first time on Adult Swim. Currently streaming on HBO Max.

And at 3 AM E/P, you run it back. No need to add more to the block. Contrary to what the old promos used to say, you do need sleep. You're not as young as you used to be, my fellow Toonami faithfuls.

But if you want to see a better cartoon show, this is the way to do it. It's not just an evolution of Toonami, it's a revolution. A modernization of a formula that hasn't felt fresh in over a decade. A block that's moving forward, not going backwards with a brand that is largely off limits. 

Yes, Dragon Ball Z was the biggest show on the block almost 30 years ago, but if the show's distributor doesn't want to give it to you, you move on. 

And that's what I think those who only see Toonami as "the anime block" instead of "the action-adventure brand" of Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. As I said before, JUST relying on Japanese productions, especially when the market is mostly monopolized by one company, is very limited. I just want to see Toonami try something different.

And this is something different. 

Pity they'll never do this because the company that owns it (being entirely vague because the future is not promised, and at the time of this writing [September 2026], we don't know who'll own the Toonami brand in the future, if it even still exists) still sees animation as "icky" and beneath them. 

I just want to see the better cartoon show actually be, well, the better cartoon show.