For now, Toonami won't air Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, or similar series because "the rights to those shows are owned by our competition or are out of our price range." That's a real shame, because I bet a good group of people were looking forward to catching some episodes of Dragon Ball Z late at night. Admittedly, it would take forever to get anywhere, but if Toonami could get the rights to Dragon Ball Z Kai, I'm sure it would make fans happy.

That doesn't mean Toonami won't be looking to get some shonen anime on the block. DeMarco clarified the press release's claim that there would be "original anime programming" developed, saying that they weren't originals like Toonami's IGPX miniseries but simply new acquisitions. One Piece, Fairy Tail, and InuYasha: The Final Act were among the shonen anime DeMarco mentioned as potential series. He also name-dropped Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and a rerun of Gundam Wing as possible shows. All anime will retain their original openings, as is customary on Adult Swim, but they'll still get one of Toonami's "pre-intros" that stood in for the original openings back in the day.

As for the Toonami block itself, DeMarco confirmed that Steven Blum would naturally voice an "updated hi-res version" of T.O.M. 3.0, the beefed-up version that was brought back for April Fool's Day. He'll be piloting an almost-identical version of the Absolution from that era as well. However, Sara, the on-board A.I., won't be returning for now because she costs to much to make, though she could return in the future. Similarly, Peter Cullen, the voice of Toonami's promos, also won't be back, due to his busy work schedule.

The new Toonami is off to a good start. They've got three new shows and three high-quality reruns. Besides seeing more new acquisitions, what I think I'd like Toonami to work on most is picking up one or two classic series to air, not just taking some of Adult Swim's reruns. Obviously Dragon Ball Z is a problem for now, but if you're interested in Gundam Wing, get that on there uncut. Maybe Big O, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, or Yu Yu Hakusho would be cool? And if the block does well, consider devoting some of Adult Swim's past-midnight schedule to reruns or long-running series during the week. It'll be just like the old days, but with more swearing, more blood, and less of my mom yelling at me to come to dinner.

[Via Adult Swim]