Toonami has announced plans to debut a new show every week "for the next month or so," beginning with the second season of Assassination Classroom.
The announcement was made on the programming block's official Facebook page. "We’re going to be premiering a new show each week for the next month or so," the post casually mentions. The post also apologized for not being to release more information earlier, saying "We’re really sorry that we haven’t been able to announce anything before now, but we’ve been waiting on lots of deals to lock into place." Toonami isn't ready to announce what other shows will be joining its lineup, but it officially added Season 2 of the popular Assassination Classroom anime to its late-night weekend schedule, with the first episode premiering on Jan. 9.
Assassination Classroom is a sci-fi comedy about a group of junior high school students who are tasked by the Japanese government to assassinate their teacher. Unfortunately for them, their teacher happens to be a cosmic being who possesses numerous super powers, such as the ability to move at mach speeds and heal himself. Their teacher has also already destroyed most of the moon and is now promising to also destroy the Earth. This creature, named "Koro-sensei" by his students, also happens to be the best teacher they've ever had, as in addition to dodging the constant attempts on his life, he also helps each student improve academically and learn important life lessons.
The series debuted in 2012 with a manga by writer and artist Yusei Matsui. The anime airing on Toonami is actually the second animated adaptation of Matsui's bizarre comedy; the first anime was a one-off original video animation (OVA) release by Baccano animation studio Brain's Base. The second and more well-known adaptation was a TV series produced by Lerche, the animation studio behind the Danganronpa anime and the mecha parody Rumble Garanndoll. The second season of the anime, which recently made its American broadcast premiere on Toonami, originally aired in Japan in 2016. Both the original manga and Lerche's anime series have received widespread critical acclaim.
The Toonami programming block originally premiered on Cartoon Network in 1997, and is widely credited with helping to promote and popularize anime, beginning with Robotech, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, with mainstream audiences in the United States. The block was relaunched in 2012 as subset of the late-night Adult Swim lineup. Its current lineup includes classic shows such as Naruto: Shippuden and Cowboy Bebop, as well as more modern hits, such as the Inuyasha sequel series Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon and SSSS.Gridman. Toonami also broadcasts several original shows that were produced as a collaboration between Adult Swim and anime streamer Crunchyroll, such as Fena: Pirate Princess, Blade Runner: Black Lotus and the upcoming Sega video game adaptation, Shenmue.
Source: Facebook