Toonami
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Toonami is an action-oriented animated programming block that formerly aired on Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2008 and Kids' WB from 2001-2002, and currently airs on Adult Swim since 2012.
Why It's Toonami
- The idea of putting an action block on Cartoon Network (and later Adult Swim) was pretty interesting.
- It also paved the way for Cartoon Network experimenting with their own action series, of which many have their place on this wiki.
- Memorable characters such as Moltar (a former super villain from Space Ghost), TOM and SARA.
- The animation and backgrounds look beautiful and realistic in 3D.
- It aired a mix of both Western cartoons (Samurai Jack, Megas XLR...) and Japanese anime (Dragon Ball Z, Naruto...).
- It was also the first true mainstream break for anime worldwide, with shows like the aforementioned Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and even shoujo shows like Sailor Moon becoming massive worldwide hits thanks to many TV stations seeing the potential of anime through this very block.
- Besides it, the block has also aired on Cartoon Network for most cartoons and anime shows like Dragon Ball, ThunderCats, ReBoot, The Powerpuff Girls, Super Friends, Beast Wars: Transformers, Batman Beyond, Zoids: Chaotic Century, Rurouni Kenshin, Voltron, Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, G-Force: Guardians of Space, Mobile Suit Gundam, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Robotech, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Yu Yu Hakusho and Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier.
- Steven Blum did an awesome job voicing TOM and his further incarnations of the characters, and Sonny Strait only did a decent job voicing the first incarnation of TOM. C. Martin Croker, on the other hand, did a great job voicing Moltar, especially he made a special appearance on the block on September 24, 2016, as a tribute to his voice actor, who died unexpectedly, earlier in the week, where TOM 5.0 received a garbled message from Moltar which SARA translated.
- Beside those three, they also have other voice actors, like Peter Cullen (who voices Optimus Prime from Transformers franchise) as an announcer or referred to as the "Big Guy" and Sally Timms, Samantha Robson, and Dana Swanson, who all three voices SARA.
- Intriguing in visual presentation in the form of T.I.E.S (Total Immersion Events) like The Intruder that tell a story of their own relating to TOM, SARA and the rest of the hosts.
- The block later moved from the weekday afternoons to Saturday nights, when it launched Miguzi, a lightly tone block in 2004, and the reason why, because it will be too violent for the weekday afternoons. Thankfully, it continued to air some new series like Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, Megas XLR, Zatch Bell!, Jackie Chan Adventures, Naruto, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Rave Master, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, One Piece, IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix, Duel Masters, The Batman, The Prince of Tennis, MÄR, Astro Boy, Blue Dragon, and Ben 10: Alien Force.
- Even before Toonami moved to Saturday nights, Saturday Video Entertainment System was a block of action animation (both anime and Western), and the block aired on Saturday nights from March 2003 to April 2004. It featured bumpers reminiscent of older arcade games with a Samus Aran-like character named Celeste in a space fighter craft.
- Aside from shows, Toonami also aired movies, OVAs and specials for both weekdays and Saturday evenings, as well as on Adult Swim, such as Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, Batman: Mask of the Phantom, Sailor Moon R: The Movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku, Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks. The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Bionicle: Mask of Light, Batman (1989), Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Spider-Man (2002), Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Akira, and Trigun: Banlands Rumble.
- Four years after originally being canceled in 2008 by Cartoon Network due to mismanagement and budget cuts, it was thankfully brought back in 2012 in a more adult-oriented incarnation, among most of the fans of the adult-oriented action cartoons, thanks to Adult Swim. The very fact the relaunch of the block originally aired as an April Fools Joke in place of the (by then regular) airing of the cult "so-bad-it's-good" movie The Room only showed Cartoon Network does care about their several Toonami fans, as well as the Adult Swim fans, when they want to. Needless to say, the comeback was met with rave reviews.
- The success was so great, as Adult Swim's most iconic action programming block, in fact, that Cartoon Network rebranded their Saturday night anime block (in itself a cult classic airing many critically acclaimed adult anime) Toonami, actually bringing back the much-beloved Midnight Run (which aired anime uncut, a first for any mainstream channel) back, which continues to this very day.
- Speaking of which, the block aired some of the shows that aired on the 2012 revival on Adult Swim that are target teens/mature audiences (including those that used to air on Adult Swim ACTN and Toonami's original run) such as anime shows like Bleach, Samurai 7, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, FLCL, Dragon Ball Z Kai (uncut), Dragon Ball Super, Black Clover, One-Punch Man, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Space Dandy, Dr. Stone, Naruto: Shippuden (uncut), Cowboy Bebop, Boruto: Naruto the Next Generation, Inuyasha, Inuyasha: The Final Act, Michiko & Hatchin, Attack on Titan, Mob Psycho 100, One Piece (uncut), Demon Slayer, Tokyo Ghoul, Kill la Kill, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Samurai Champloo, Blue Exorcist, as well some cartoons like Samurai Jack (the final season), Beware The Batman, Sym-Bionic Titan, ThunderCats (2011), Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Primal.
- Before the block was revived, Adult Swim Action was both a programming block and the name given to action animation, generally, anime, aired from 2002 to 2012. Programs consisted entirely of Japanese anime series, including Yu Yu Hakusho, Cowboy Bebop, Pilot Candidate, Gundam 0083, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo!, Inuyasha, The Big O, Death Note and more.
- Tom often gives viewers some very meaningful life lessons in music videos containing clips of shows that currently air on the block.
Bad Qualities
- TOM 4.0 was universally hated by fans.
- The fact the block was running mostly Naruto filler also didn't help things, given some of the more popular franchises of yore like Dragon Ball, Rurouni Kenshin, Sailor Moon and Yu Yu Hakusho ended. Due to this, many older fans weren't eager to watch a 2-hour block comprised of an hour of cartoon reruns and an hour of Naruto filler hell.
- The Southeastern Asia version only aired superhero shows instead of having anime as well, a major selling point of the block. (This might be the reason why Toonami in Southeast Asia closed down in 2018)
- Toonami on Kids WB was poorly received due to airing shows that weren't even action-oriented like Scooby-Doo, Detention and Generation O!, its lack of slow-paced techno music that the block was known for on Cartoon Network, and the fact that Tom (usually voiced by Steve Blum) never once said a word.
- Had the occasional misstep in regard to programming, like Hamtaro, which was not suitable for an action block, and the notoriously terrible Wulin Warriors dub.
- Due to the Crunchyroll merger with Funimation, that led to Toonami getting less content since it was sold to Sony from the AT&T merger, which prevented it to get so much of Funimation's library but is able to continue air most of the shows that aired on the block with some exceptions like Demon Slayer.
Trivia
- Before Toonami block first aired, Cartoon Network launched their first action block called Super Adventures from 1992 to 1994, Afternoon Adventures from 1994 to 1996, and Power Zone in 1996.
- Before the revival block in 2012, Toonami aired for the final time on Cartoon Network: Naruto (1-hour), Ben 10: Alien Force and Samurai Jack.
Videos
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