Adored By The Network / Toonami

The production crew behind Toonami have stated that, with an exception or two, they like every single show they air. That being said, anyone who pays attention to their schedule changes will know that they aren't above playing favorites.

Cartoon Network Era (1997-2008)

• Sailor Moon was the block's first favorite, netting high enough ratings to warrant being dubbed further than what DiC Entertainment and Optimum Productions had initially produced. That being said, it wasn't nearly adored on the same level as the block's later acquisitions. It certainly didn't air as many marathons, with the only one being the Lunar Eclipse, a 17-episode marathon that premiered the last 17 episodes of Sailor Moon R as "The Lost Episodes" in mid-1999.
• Dragon Ball Z, the second anime adaptation of the Dragon Ball franchise, is quite possibly the ultimate example of this. When the show's infamous Ocean dub switched over from broadcast syndication to Toonami's lineup, it brought in ratings the likes of which the block hadn't seen. When the Ocean dub reached its end, Funimation switched over to producing the dub in-house, and the show remained a favorite all the way to the end. There was a reason the show was given the title of The greatest action cartoon ever made.
  • They'd even use any excuse they could to run marathons of the show and movies, with notable examples being DBZ20XL (a week long event where 4 episodes were shown each day, concluding with a movie marathon on the final day), DBZ President's Day Movie Marathon (a movie marathon on President's Day), and Dragon Ball Chronicles (a three-week event meant to celebrate Toonami's move to airing on Saturday nights, where Dragon Ball Z, as well as its predecessor and its sequel series, took over the block).
  • Even after the show ended, Toonami brought the show back, this time airing the first 67 episodes re-dubbed by Funimation and completely uncut.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing was another favorite of Toonami, albeit not to the same level as Dragon Ball Z. Often cited by the block as the "best Gundam series ever if you're asking for opinions", it's notable for being one of two shows (along with Dragon Ball Z) to air both censored and uncensored (the latter being during the Midnight Run, when Toonami would air shows with less censorship than usual).
• During the block's later years on Cartoon Network, Naruto was the new favorite. Much like with Dragon Ball Z, Toonami used any excuse they could to air marathons (most notable was the Naruto Hundo, when, for three straight days, Toonami ran a marathon of the first 99 episode of the series to commemorate reaching 100 episodes), and the show in general came to dominate the lineup, airing two episodes a night when the block was reduced to only airing two hours a night.

Adult Swim Era (2012-Present)

• Bleach, one of the holdovers from [adult swim]'s anime lineup, remained firmly at the 12:00 AM spot throughout its time on Toonami, only being removed on certain occasions such as whenever there's a movie airing that night or the Attack on Titan marathon. The English dub has been running on Adult Swim for 8 years, unheard of for barely any other anime on American television, though it did have some hiatuses here and there. There were even a few months where Adult Swim even ran two Bleach premieres per week! Even after it reached its final episode, it was still sticking around in reruns during the later half of the block.
• Cowboy Bebop was already infamous for being Adored by the Network due to all those years of the show being constantly rerun on [adult swim]. Since [adult swim] and Toonami were both created by the same crew, you can bet your ass that Cowboy Bebop remained adored when it stuck around during latter's revival as a holdover. Even after it reached its final episode on Toonami and took a brief period off the air to make room for Eureka Seven, it came back in encore episodes when the block expanded from three hours to six hours, and was given at least three more runs before finally being taken off to make room for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Even when it wasn't airing, its general presence never seemed to leave the block due to the production crew promising its return, which they made good on when it finally came back (residing in the 4:00 AM timeslot, airing right after fellow-Shinichiro Watanabe show Space☆Dandy), and the crew has said that they'll change from airing the old broadcast tapes from 2001 over to new HD tapes courtesy of Funimation.
  • Unfortunately, when the show DID come back in HD format, it was for only 5 episodes until it got pulled...along with the entire back half of the block.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is another example of an adored [adult swim] holdover. From the block's revival back in 2012 to the end of 2014, it (along with the long-running Bleach) held the honor of being the only Toonami show to have remained continuously airing ever since the block's revival (though it's being removed come January 2015, leaving that distinction to Bleach), though that can also be attributed to the show's length of 64 episodes. Interestingly, both Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Cowboy Bebop were both named by the crew as their all time favorite shows during a Q&A.
• Inuyasha is another notable example, if only because it managed to boot Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex off the lineup, and for some time was the only show that aired with encore episodes. It only stopped airing when Toonami finally lost the rights to air the show, and assuming one considers them the same show, it didn't come back until late 2014 in the form of InuYasha: The Final Act.
• Toonami decided to bring Naruto back, rerunning completely uncut and at 12:30 AM, right after fellow Viz show Bleach. Not so bad, at least at first. It was then announced that the show would be taken off in favor of premiering its sequel series, Naruto Shippuden. However, instead of being taken off, OG Naruto would instead be moved down to 3:00 AM, screwing over two other shows in the process (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was airing at 3:00 AM at the time, would be moved all the way down to 5:00 AM, taking off an episode of InuYasha as well). The show would then fluctuate between 2:30 AM, 3:00 AM, and 3:30 AM before finally being taken off to make room for Hellsing Ultimate.
• Space☆Dandy, produced by famed Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe, made its world premiere with a simulcast dub at 11:30 PM, kicking off an extended Toonami block. As the show premiered, it was also given "Next Episode" promos, something that no other show had until Attack on Titan came along. Even after it entered Season 1 reruns to allow the second season to finish production, it was still airing at 11:30 PM, and even after Attack on Titan came and moved the show down, Space Dandy continued airing at the early timeslot of 12:30 AM. Possibly justified, since this show was a world premiere, and Toonami was breaking potentially new ground for more simul-dubs. Of course, Space Dandy still remains airing at 3:00 AM, which could also be justified since Toonami would lose three shows in succession (said shows being Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Beware the Batman, and Sym-Bionic Titan) and needed programming that it could fill the schedule with.
• Though a much more minor example compared to all of the above, Kick-Heart received plenty of attention ever since it was aired the same night as Evangelion 2.22. Not only was it aired a second time alongside King Star King and Korgoth of Barbaria as Fall Daylight Savings Time filler despite the rather mixed reception it received the first time around, but Toonami also aired an advertisement for the Blu-Ray release purchasable from Anime Jungle.
• Dragon Ball Z Kai, like its Cartoon Network predecessor, has now escalated to this point. The show has a rerun^note Encore episodes from the last week on Adult Swim proper at 8:00 PM on Saturdays, becoming the first show of the new Toonami block to accomplish such a feat. On top of that, it leads off the regular block at Midnight on the same night, getting better promotion than even Kill la Kill, and when asked about it, the Toonami crew seemed to imply that it will keep that slot for quite a long time. This is pretty surprising considering it is based on a show made years ago and the original Kai series already finishing its run on other channels (albeit edited). When it reached the end of the Cell Saga, the show enjoyed a marathon, then had a brief snooze from new episodes until transitioning into Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters. Even after it finished it's run in 2018, it would continue to air on [as] outside of Toonami on Saturdays at 8:00, where it remained until Dragon Ball Super (mentioned below) took its slot.
• Dragon Ball Super also gets this treatment rather unsurprisingly. It started airing on Toonami while DBZ Kai was still premiering on the block. Not only that, but the show also was given a full hour before Toonami at 8:00 P.M., during which a new episode would premiere, followed by an encore on Toonami in the opening half-hour. The series would later do something that that no Toonami show had accomplished until now, it was given weeknight reruns on [as], the first time this feat had been accomplished by any anime on [as] in nearly a decade! Then, the show made a return to the block (In the lead slot, no less) following the season 4 conclusion My Hero Academia (listed below). This happened right after a special marathon that even extended the runtime of the block. It even had 3 slots on [adult swim]'s Saturday schedule (two slots in the first hour at 8:00 P.M. (replacing DBZ Kai), and another slot during Toonami) at one point after the series had already finished it's run! If this somehow does not count as Adored by the Network, we don't know what does!
• My Hero Academia is also given a lot of love from Toonami. It headed the block for a while when the aforementioned Super finished it's initial run, even when the dub was on delay. It was also the only premiere that aired before the reruns did once May 2020 hit and Demon Slayer wrapped up. Finally, it became the second anime to reach [as]'s weeknight schedule since 2008 in April 2020. At 5:30.
• Paranoia Agent received a lot of promotion on the block during its run, despite the series being a decade and a half old by the time it premiered on the block and already airing on Adult Swim over a decade prior without much more attention than any other show at the time. In comparison, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, aired a full hour and a half later (until the dub got delayed and was pulled from the block) and gets minuscule promotion despite being a premiere dub.
• Subverted in the case of Attack on Titan. It was given the 11:30 PM slot, moving Space Dandy down to 12:30 AM in the process, but it was justified since Space Dandy was in reruns at the time (though this doesn't excuse the fact that Attack on Titan kept the 11:30 PM timeslot when Space Dandy went back into premieres). Even when the show stayed at 11:30 PM while going into reruns, the crew said it was because the higher ups, seeing the ratings potential, essentially told them to keep the show in that timeslot (unfortunately for everyone involved, Attack on Titan reruns at 11:30 PM would end up being more damaging than beneficial to the block in the long run).
• DeMarco and crew cited Parasyte's impressive ratings, saying they've been slightly better than their concurrent Sentai acquisition Akame Ga Kill, to the extent that they chose to rerun Parastye at 3 AM once the Kill La Kill rerun was over. During its encore airing, the block ran the final three episodes all at once and extended Toonami for one night only to 4:30 AM so that they could offload the show in a rapid burst and pick up JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and replayed the same advertisements for Phantom Blood and lead-in, lead-out bumpers two more times- though this did have the unsettling effect of Déjà Vu.
  • Fittingly, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure got a similar treatment and had its last two episodes of Battle Tendency aired in a row- although in its case, there were unique bumpers aired for the double feature showcasing scenes from the finale. This is because the long-anticipated second season of Attack on Titan finally dropped and Toonami got to premiere the English dub.
• Gemusetto: Death Beats Season 2 premiered at the same time as Sword Art Online Alicization: War of the Underworld Part 2 and Fire Force Season 2, but despite airing at 2am, it got many, MANY more promo ads than the other two shows did. Not only did it get ad time a week before the two anime did, but it also was advertised several times a week before the premiere before SAO got to air its promo once. Fire Force had it worst, as it didn't get a single promo during the block until AFTER it premiered.
• Starting May 3, 2021, Naruto Shippuden is now part of the weekday schedule. Granted, it's at 5:00 AM, but it's still an accomplishment.
• Blade Runner: Black Lotus is fast becoming the new favorite of the network. Not only did it open with a 1 hour premiere and is opening Toonami at midnight, they reran the first 3 episodes in a mini-marathon on Black Friday, right after Blade Runner 2049, and again on December 4th, right after the airing of the 5th episode, and yet AGAIN on December 10th! PLUS it got the coveted Christmas Day marathon! That's 4 marathons, and the show has only 7 episodes aired so far!! It's also the only show to get an 'On The Next Episode' promo every week, despite the fact that so far we've seen the debut of Assassination Classroom season 2, the return of One Piece and Made in Abyss which is a BRAND NEW anime.
• Primal (2019) has fast become the new darling of Toonami. Not only did reruns of Season 1 open the block near the beginning of the year, season 2 debuted with a one hour premiere, despite the fact that it had already premiered on the previous Thursday night, it got the coveted 'On the next episode' trailer despite the fact that hardly anyone speaks in it, it was subject to a number of marathons since its debut, and it was just announced that it got the coveted Christmas Day marathon! As of this writing, the show is now on it's 6th rerun of season 2. Plus it was moved to the top of the lineup once My Hero Academia finished it's 6th season, and when Unicorn: Warriors Eternal debuts at midnight, Primal season 2 will resume right after it at 12:30! The Season Only Has 10 Episodes!
• Speaking of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal that has now taken the mantle as the new diamond of Toonami. Not only, like Primal (2019), do the new episodes debut on Thursday with the rerun of the new episode starting Toonami off at midnight, but on Memorial Day the show will be on it's third marathon! And like Blade Runner: Black Lotus the Memorial Day marathon will begin with the airing of the 5th episode (which debuts that Thursday) followed by all 4 eps and finishing with rerunning the 5th...again! The show only has 5 episodes so far!! It is also the only one to get an 'On The Next Episode' promo, despite the fact that new episodes of Food Wars! are also being shown on the block! In fact when Dr. STONE returns after almost a year with new episodes, it will debut at 12:30, with Unicorn staying at midnight!

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