Adult Swim has decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the iconic Toonami block by ordering two new seasons of a beloved anime and announcing a brand-new project.
Variety reported that two new seasons of FLCL — Fooly Cooly — will be produced titled FLCL: Grunge and FLCL: Shoegaze. Creative director of Toonami and senior vice president of action and anime for WarnerMedia Jason DeMarco also announced that a new anime series titled Housing Complex C would also be coming soon.
“What better time to announce two new seasons of FLCL and Housing Complex C than on our 25th anniversary,” DeMarco told Variety. "Adult Swim’s ongoing commitment to support Toonami with new original series is something anime fans can celebrate every day.”
Housing Complex C will be directed by Yuji Nara and is being animated by Akatsuki. The story will center around a girl named Kimi who lives in the seaside town of Kurosaki in a low-cost housing complex. Horrific events seem to follow everywhere Kimi goes, and it looks like an ancient evil may be haunting the residents of her little housing complex.
FLCL: Grunge is being directed by Hitoshi Takekiyo and animated by MontBlanc Pictures while FLCL: Shoegaze is being directed by Yutaka Uemura and animated by Production I.G x NUT. Both seasons are currently in production.
The main characters of Toonami will also be featured as part of the 25th-anniversary celebrations. T.O.M. aka the Toonami Operations Module and his AI matrix companion S.A.R.A will also be featured in their own animated specials. They will be shown in the 4-part anime short Cosmo Samurai Part 2 alongside a brand new 2-part special titled The Return. The hosts of Toonami have shared many nostalgic shows over the years to fans, so it's exciting seeing them get to have their own stories told. The new pieces of storytelling with the hosts will begin on March 19th and conclude on March 26th. Classic Toonami interstitials will also be aired as part of the celebration.
Toonami originally premiered back in 1997 and originally had a lineup including Thundercats, Cartoon Roulette, Voltron, and The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. Throughout the years they would become known for bringing a good deal of popular anime to viewers in the west including major hits like Dragon Ball Z, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo!, Hamtaro, and many others. The programming block was originally concluded back in 2004 before an unannounced April Fool's day prank in 2012 sparked the revival of the block on Adult Swim which has continued to this day.
Source: Variety