For those of you who are tragically unaware of this block, Toonami began as Cartoon Network's weekday action block. It was originally hosted by Moltar of Space Ghost fame and the block mostly consisted of reruns of 80s cartoons and The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. Things began to change once Cartoon Network decided to start airing anime. Ok, they did show animes like Voltron and Robotech but they were originally aired in the 80s. I'm talking about the stuff from my day. To say Toonami changed everything would be a massive understatement. The new anime content didn't just provide unique shows which challenged its young audiences, it helped quick of the anime boom of the late 90s/early 00s. This resulted in Toonami picked up a sizable Periphery Demograpic and anime has become one of the most popular form of geeky entertainment. Toonami was animation history making at its finest and I was there in its heyday.
Of course Toonami's been around for a long time a question remains. Which era of Toonami was the best? Personally, I find it pointless to name the best because its completely subjective. Instead, I'll talk about about my favorite and in my opinion the most influential era of the block. Two of Toonmai's heavy hitters started airing in 1998 but the Golden Age didn't truly begin until 1999. What I see as the Golden Age started with the introduction of TOM and the Ghost Planet Space Ship Absolution.
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| From left to right: TOM, TOM 2, TOM 3, The Abomination.
Man was TOM an awesome host. I had to adjust at first because I was used to Moltar but TOM grew on me quickly. He had a really cool design and was given a great voice by Sonny Strait. Its a shame he's been kind of forgotten since he was replaced by Steve Blum once TOM 2 came along. TOM didn't just announce the shows, he also liked to give motivational speeches to the kids. Moltar did too but TOM's were much more memorable.
Kids are bound to stop throwing temper tantrums if a nuclear powered robot tells them to.
While the host of the show was pretty awesome that isn't the reason Toonami was remembered Its was the shows. The original TOM era had the most memorable shows Toonami ever aired and many of them remain popular in geekdom today. I'll be introducing them in the order that they aired.
1.Sailor Moon
Ahh yes the most girly action show of late 90s/early 00s television.... and I liked it. No it wasn't because of the skirts, I was genuinely engaged with the story and characters. I never would have admitted it to you at the time but I was a Salior Moon fan when I was a kid. I wasn't alone though. Sailor Moon has picked up a sizable male fanbase thanks to Toonami. The block was mostly aimed at boys after all. Sailor Moon is a combination of Japan's Sentai and Magical Girl genres. Basically, its Power Rangers for girls. Now I was a big Power Rangers fan growing up and that's probably why I was subconsciously drawn to the Sailor Scouts. I watched the first season on occasion but I really started getting into it when season 2, or Sailor Moon R rolled along. I watched a good chunk of Sailor Moon S (season 3) which I also really enjoyed, especially when the girl who would become Sailor Saturn showed up. I never got to see her in action though which was a shame. You know character will be awesome when their nickname is the "Sovereign of Silence." Sailor Moon Super S on the other hand was just lame. I still watched it regularly and I have no reason why. Why would they replace the awesome anti-heroic Outer Scouts with freaking Pegasus. Sailor Stars was never dubbed in English so I never saw it. I guess the fans of the Japanese version were given some mercy. From what I've been told the English dub butchered the original script. Of course without the dub we wouldn't have Sailor Moon Abridged. So yeah I liked a girl's show shoot me. If the Bronies can have their fun why can't I.
2. Dragon Ball Z
If you asked someone what they thought of Toonami, this is the first show that would pop up in their minds. Every boy I new loved Dragon Ball Z. DBZ is a martial arts/fantasy series and it wasn't like anything else on TV at that point. It has all of the over the top action you could ask for. Combine that with memorable characters and storylines better than most kids cartoons and you have the perfect show for an eight year old. I first caught DBZ in the middle of its second story arc or the Frieza Saga as fans would call it. I got into the show pretty quickly and I was able to watch the first arc through reruns. I had to watch DBZ everyday when I was a kid. Whenever Toonami announced new episodes its was major event in my house. I remained a hardcore fan until the final story arc. The show was moved to the last time slot of the block and I couldn't watch that often due to things I had to do. I wasn't that disappointed because I think DBZ went slightly downhill during the Buu Saga. Unlike other anime aired by Toonami, Dragon Ball Z actually had two different dubs by Ocean and Funimation. They switched dubs at the halfway point of the Frieza saga. I remember both quite well and I think both dubs had pros and cons. I did miss the Ocean voices at first but I grew to love the Funimation ones. Of course the best DBZ dub is Dragon Ball Z Abridged. Dragon Ball Z brought a major narrative element not present in western cartoons at the time, character death. Sure I saw characters die in movies all the time but death in cartoons was revolutionary to me. Heck the main character died in the first few episodes and you get to see his adventures in the afterlife. The Dragon Balls were typically used to wish dead characters back. Dragon Ball Z played a huge role in my childhood entertainment its what got me hooked on Toonmai. So thank you DBZ for indirectly exposing me to other great shows.
Ok this post is late as it is so I'll be breaking up into parts. Stay tuned for part 2 where I write about my experience with the other three shows of Toonami's golden age.
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