Adult Swim Just Purged Five Anime Series From Its Website
Adult Swim is an icon of animation. The programming block turned cable TV channel is responsible for introducing American adult animation as we know it today — from "Sealab 2021" and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" to "Rick and Morty" — while helping introduce anime to American audiences in a bigger way than before, turning shows like "Dragon Ball Z," "Sailor Moon" and "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing" into cultural phenomena stateside.
In recent years, Adult Swim has taken things a step further by co-producing original anime shows with Japanese studios, co-producing shows like "FLCL Alternative" and the recent "Blade Runner: Black Lotus," the latter being a co-production between Adult Swim and Crunchyroll.
Except this was back when Crunchyroll was owned by WarnerMedia, which allowed for easy collaboration. Everything changed when Sony acquired Crunchyroll, which made any present or future collaboration a bit difficult. Add in Warner Bros. Discovery's recent trigger-happy approach to removing and canning animation projects, and it is sadly unsurprising to hear that several shows have been removed from the Adult Swim's website. These include "Blade Runner: Black Lotus," "Fena: Pirate Princess," "Shenmue: The Animation," "Lazor Wulf," and "Tigtone." The latter two are also being removed from HBO Max, while the former three are still available on Crunchyroll.
More animation getting the axe
Adult Swim's co-founder, Jason DeMarco, confirmed the news on Twitter. "Sorry guys. This happened. You can still watch all of the anime on Crunchyroll and it will still be available as digital downloads." Sadly, while the anime shows will live on, future seasons are a different matter. "It's looking like no S2 of 'Shenmue,' even though sadly- it did well enough that we were gearing up for S2. Maybe one day..."
"Shenmue: The Animation" was an anime show based on the popular Sega video game series "Shenmue," and follows a man who trains to become the ultimate martial artists in order to find the man responsible for his father's death and get revenge.
Before you start looking for your pitchforks, rest assured this doesn't change anything for upcoming shows, DeMarco confirmed. This means the previously announced "Housing Complex C" horror anime mini-series about a haunted low-cost housing complex is moving forward with its release date of October 1, 2022. Likewise, the return of "FLCL" with "Grunge" and "Shoegaze" is expected to move foward with its 2023 release date. As for the HBO Max shows, they are still available for digital purchase, so at least they are not disappearing entirely.