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No, this is not an April Fools joke. During today's episode (around the 2:35 mark) of Toonami Pre-Flight, a "behind-the-scenes" livestream that airs before the block officially starts on Saturdays at midnight, hosts Jason DeMarco (co-creator of Toonami) and Gill Austin (creative director of Adult Swim Sponsor Promotions) confirmed that after "Parasyte -the maxim-" airs its final episode, the 2011 anime series "HunterxHunter" will take its place on the block, effectively premiering for the first time overseas as well as in English. This shit better be good.

Yeah, there was a Facebook announcement on this already, and I even commented on it, but screw it, this is straight from the people who basically own Adult Swim so it takes precedence and dammit, I'M the one who loves Toonami on this site, I wanna be the first to talk about crap like this. Although to be fair, this is more about Toonami in general than FLCL but please, read on. The Turner Broadcasting System, the conglomerate that owns Adult Swim, has published an official press release on their website with the already confirmed news that Toonami will be co-producing two more seasons, a total of 12 episodes, for "Fooly Cooly", also known as "FLCL", an short OVA anime series original premiered and aired between the year 2000 and 2001, before eventually airing many times on the Toonami block in the year 2003 and becoming a staple show for the brand's name as well as a popular and memorable anime for its viewers. It is confirmed that the original creator of the series Kazuya Tsurumaki will be on board as supervisor alongside director Katsuyuki Motohiro, known for his work on the anime Pyscho-Pass, as well as character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and writer Hideto Iwai. Included is also a short synopsis of the plot of the two seasons as well as when they will begin airing: This is the second animated series that has been confirmed for a revival on the Toonami block, the first being the western cartoon Samurai Jack. Even before its revival, the Toonami brand has shown enough staying power and influence to produce other new content for their acquired shows, such as The Big O. So does this mean that more properties that share a close connection with Toonami are eligible for this kind of treatment? It's certainly possible. And with the combined efforts of not only revitalizing old classics but also providing access to newer properties, the Toonami block is picking up steam with each new acquisition.

From the Toonami Facebook page: IM SO HYPED!

This happened last week and I'm just now getting to it. I gotta stop being lazy with my Toonami recordings. This promo aired last Sunday during Toonami's broadcast. "Dimension W", a newly airing anime in Japan during the current anime season, has been licensed by FUNimation for streaming and is now apparently being dubbed and will air on Toonami at 12:30 A.M. starting February 27th, replacing Akame ga Kill! after it's final episode airs the previous week. Now personally, I've been following the show since it's inception and honestly, it's kinda meh. BUT, this isn't about my personal taste, it's about what this means for Toonami. Like I mentioned, Dimension W was licensed for streaming by FUNimation, who is providing official simulcasts for the show currently. There is no broadcast dub available on FUNimation's site, and as of right now, Toonami will be the place to be to see the show in english. Toonami has gone to great lengths to do these type of anime premieres on their block. They aired the first episode of Space Dandy in english before it's initial premiere in Japan, and they've also premiered the dubs for Parasyte -the maxim- and the aforementioned Akame ga Kill! before either of them even hit DVD. With the success of this move, the success of the recent Intruder II event, whatever other dubs Toonami wishes to air, and the still looming return of Samurai Jack on the horizon, Toonami is taking a great step forward, and with more success breeds more opportunities for Toonami to expand their brand and become more popular in the eyes of modern anime fans.

"We won't be intimidated by criminal threats!" Since there's no real thread on here just to talk about Toonami for the sake of Toonami in general... well, here we are. For those of you who aren't in the know, I'll give you a brief summary of Toonami, because believe me, the history is long and vast: Toonami started off as a animated programming block on Cartoon Network, showcasing a multitude of action cartoons like Johnny Quest, ThunderCats, and Voltron. Eventually, it morphed into what its more commonly known as today: a block of "east meets west animation": American action cartoons, like it showed in the past and with new editions like Superfriends and Beast Wars; Transformers, but also showcasing English dubbed, action-oriented anime as well. Toonami has helped piqued interest in many current fans of anime, action or just in general, here in the West. Some of the classic anime Toonami showcased include DragonBall Z, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, G Gundam, Yu Yu Hakusho, Ruroni Kenshin, and many, many more. The block ran consecutively from 1997-2008, showcasing an entire channel's worth of cartoons and anime, various format, theme, and bumper design changes with the fictional robot host TOM, and some movies, special airings, contests, events, online video services such as Toonami Reactor and Toonami Jetstream, and general quality entertainment thrown into the mix during. Sadly, the block was cancelled in 2008, with Jetstream, its latest streaming service ending a year later, and wouldn't see light on television for four years... that is, until one night, on April Fools 2012, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's regular nightly block that plays adult theme cartoons and television shows, pulled a stunt where they re-aired various programs from Toonami, along with the bumpers, visuals, and TOM from its third incarnation, one of its more well known themes. This sparked the interest of all Toonami fans to bring back the block for real. Fortunately, this was exactly what Adult Swim had in mind. One month later, after gaining massive support from fans through Twitter, Adult Swim re-launched Toonami once more on May 26. Since then, it has been airing consecutively just like it did in its first eleven year run, without skipping a beat, and it seems to be gaining its original stride from all those years ago, slowly but surely, airing shows both old and new. I am one of those anime fans that Toonami help built. My favorite anime of all time, I first watched on Toonami. Heck, I used to be one of those people who didn't even understand anime at all, and yet, my interest was piqued, and eventually, that interest would help me grow into the anime fan I am today. Some of my own personal favorites from Toonami include DragonBall Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Ruroni Kenshin, Naruto, Zatch Bell, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Hamtaro of all things. Toonami also gave me my first taste of a anime film, that being Spirited Away. I admit, I didn't actually watch too many action cartoons on Toonami at all. In retrospect, it wasn't that the block did have any I was interested in, its just that I was already watching some of them on the regular Cartoon Network. lol So now that I've spilled all my guts, I can finally give you guys a chance to say something. lol (That "brief summary wasn't brief at all...) What are your Toonami memories? What shows did you watch? How are you enjoying Toonami's current run? And if you want to make up your own "dream schedule" as well, that's cool too. I'd make one myself but quite frankly, I think I've said enough in this post and I'm more curious to see what you guys come up with first. lol