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Space Dandy to Air on Toonami Before it Airs in Japan

The official Tumblr account for Adult Swim's Toonami block announced on Friday that the Space Dandy television anime series will premiere on the block in January before the show premieres in Japan. The official website for the series has not yet announced a Japanese premiere date. On Toonami, the show will premiere at 11:30 p.m., kicking off an expanded 6.5-hour Toonami block.

Toonami also revealed that in December it will take a break from its original schedule and host three consecutive weeks of movies at the start of the block. Toonami will announce more details about the movies at a later date.

Funimation had announced on Friday that it has acquired the home entertainment, digital, theatrical, and merchandise rights to the series. Funimation also confirmed that it will simulcast the subtitled version of the show on its website.

The show will also air on Animax Asia in Asia (except Korea). The series will air in Japan on Tokyo MX TV, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, and BS Fuji.

Space Dandy is the upcoming science-fiction comedy series from director Shinichiro Watanabe (Macross Plus, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Kids on the Slope) and studio BONES. The Japanese version will star Junichi Suwabe as Dandy, Uki Satake as QT, and Hiroyuki Yoshino as Meow. Other cast members include Unshou Ishizuka as Dr. Geru, Kosuke Hatakeyama as Bee, Banjō Ginga as Commodore Perry, Yurin as Honey, and Houko Kuwashima as Scarlett. Masaaki Yajima will narrate the series.

The story revolves around Dandy, an alien-hunter. His job is to seek out new aliens never seen before, and receives a reward whenever he finds a new species. His mission is to find those new species faster than anyone else as he travels the galaxy. Together with the bucket-of-bolts robot QT and the dimwit alien Meow he picked up along the way, he comes into contact with new planets and their inhabitants.

Staff members include:

• General Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
• Director: Shingo Natsume
• Scriptwriters: Dai Satō, Keiko Nobumoto, and Kimiko Ueno
• Character Design: Yoshiyuki Itō
• Spaceship Design: Thomas Romain
• Theme Song: Yasuyuki Okamura
• Animation Production: BONES

Yasuyuki Okamura (City Hunter 2) is performing the theme song "Viva Namida" and another song, "Healthy Merci."

Thanks to xScar and GYRAX for the news tips.