Toonami

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For Toonami, the television channel in the United Kingdom, see Toonami (UK).

Toonami (a portmanteau of the words cartoon and tsunami suggesting a "tidal wave" of animated cartoons) is a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly shows American and Japanese cartoons, originating in the United States in 1997.

The Toonami brand name was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the name of an action-oriented animation channel replacing a former Cartoon Network owned channel CNX, which had been a Toonami/live-action hybrid network.

1 United States
2 Latin America
3 Music and games on Toonami
- 3.1 Toonami: Deep Space Bass
4 Online video services
5 Toonami series and movies
6 External links

United States

Toonami is Cartoon Network's primary Saturday evening action animation block, It is similar to the Adult Swim's Action Cartoons, airing Saturdays at 7-11 p.m. ET/PT. The block, which made its world premiere on Monday, March 17, 1997, initially replaced Power Zone, Cartoon Network's most recent incarnation of the Super Adventure block which had been a staple on the network since October 1, 1992. Toonami was originally a weekday afternoon cartoon block hosted by Space Ghost villain-turned-producer Moltar at the Ghost Planet Industries building from 1997 to July 9, 1999.

On Saturday, July 10, 1999, Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami with a new environment, the Ghost Planet Spaceship Absolution, and a new host named TOM. The night also introduced the Toonami Midnight Run late night block which was originally a five-hour Saturday night block (technically Sunday) at midnight EST until March 2000, when it moved to weeknights in an hour-long format until January 2002.

Hosts

Toonami has always been helmed by a computer-animated host since day one. From March 17, 1997 until July 10, 1999, the block was hosted by Space Ghost Coast to Coast's animated director Moltar, who sent an observer robot named Clyde 49 from Ghost Planet to the Earth to study the planet.

On July 10, 1999, Toonami had a new host in the form of TOM (Toonami Operations Module), a wise-cracking, sardonic sentient robot who controlled the block's signal aboard the Ghost Planet Spaceship Absolution. In September 2000, TOM was joined by SARA, an AI program, and a cache of custodial robots dubbed Clydes, named after the original Clyde 49. After the events of The Intruder, TOM was reincarnated in a bigger body and a deeper voice. A third generation of Clydes, dubbed DOKs, was briefly seen during Lockdown in 2001.

On March 17, 2003, TOM and the Absolution both received upgraded appearances, which were detailed in the End Game online comic at Toonami.com. That summer, the fourth generation of Clydes that featured LED-like emoticon faces were briefly seen on the block.

On April 17, 2004, SARA was reintroduced as a fully-dimensional humanoid hologram and the fifth generation of Clydes, dubbed Clyde 53s, which were insectlike like Clyde 49 and subserviant like the Clyde 50s.

On March 17, 2007 (Toonami's tenth anniversary), a new look was introduced to the block. TOM's fourth incarnation, which featured a humanoid face opposed to a visor look the character had always been associated with and a body that was shorter than his previous incarnation, was introduced as were a trio of new sidekicks, a robot with painted flames named Flash, a green control robot named Two (T for short), and a small robot whose name hasn't been revealed but has a body similar to a Clyde 50. The block's headquarters is a jungle planet. The origins of the new Toonami hasn't been revealed as of March 2007.

Total Immersion Events

Starting in September 2000, Toonami presented special interactive events known as Total Immersion Events or TIEs. These TIEs took place both on-air during Toonami and online at the official site, Toonami.com. The very first TIE (and most popular one according to the fans of the block) was The Intruder, which introduced TOM's companion, an AI matrix known as SARA, who played an integral part in the rebirth of TOM, who was upgraded from a short Bomberman-esque character (voiced by Sonny Strait) to a taller, stronger, darker, deeper-voiced incarnation temporarily dubbed as TOM 2.0 (voiced by Steven Blum), though it was the same TOM who still hosted the block.

The following two TIEs, Lockdown and Trapped in Hyperspace, continued the adventures of TOM and SARA, but really didn't offer much storywise.

The most recent TIE in September 2003 was a diversion from the TOM and SARA adventures and introduced a new, 2D universe. Immortal Grand Prix (IGPX), created by Toonami producers Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by anime studio Production I.G., aired in five short installments and served as a pilot for the second Toonami original series, which premiered in November 2005 (a brief note: although Megas XLR was the first original American-made franchise to actually debut on the block, it was initially a Cartoon Network original that was planned to air on Friday nights; other Cartoon Network action properties, namely Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, and Justice League, aired on Toonami but weren't exclusive to the block until their final seasons).

The Intruder and Lockdown aired in the UK, but didn't achieve the same amount of success as its American airings.

Kids' WB's Toonami

From July 2001 to June 2002, Kids WB aired a Toonami block that was, more or less, the Kids' WB lineup with the Toonami name. It was critically panned by industry observers who noticed the action branding of the block didn't translate content wise, which had added shows like Scooby-Doo and a live-action series created by Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, The Nightmare Room. In spring 2002, Kids' WB announced that they would drop the Toonami name from their weekday lineup, once again making the Toonami brand exclusive to Cartoon Network.

Toonami Rules Saturday Nights

On April 17, 2004, Cartoon Network moved Toonami from weekday afternoons to Saturday evenings with a new demographic of preteen and teen audiences (even though preteens and teens were already watching the block much to the network's dismay) while adding a new lighter-toned action franchise, Miguzi, (produced by Williams Street, the folks behind Toonami, its name is loosely derived from the Japanese word for swimsuit, an in-joke to longtime viewers of Toonami) to weekdays in its place.

Toonami also replaced the block known as Saturday Video Entertainment System or SVES. One big reason for the move from weekdays to Saturday nights only was because the some of the shows on the weekday lineup (such as Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin) became too violent for a weekday broadcast on the network (although reruns of the TV-PG-rated Naruto currently air on weekday afternoons at 5:30 PM E/P). The new Toonami line-up showcased anime like Naruto, One Piece, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Zatch Bell, and Pokémon Chronicles, as well as premiered North American productions like Teen Titans, Megas XLR, Justice League Unlimited, and IGPX, Toonami's first original production co-produced by Production I.G. and Bandai Entertainment.

The Toonami lineup currently consists of reruns of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh GX and new episodes of Naruto, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, One Piece, MÄR and The Prince of Tennis, the latter two of which premiered on Toonami Jetstream and they have a TV-PG rating as well. Fans of Jetstream's Hikaru no Go hoped that Cartoon Network will bring it to Toonami, but the television broadcasting rights are currently held by ImaginAsian TV along with it being the most under watched of the 3 .

A Month of Miyazaki

On Saturday, March 18, 2006, in honor of the block's ninth anniversary, Toonami began airing A Month of Miyazaki, a four-week celebration of the works of acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. Like sibling station TCM's similar marathon in January 2006, Toonami aired a different movie every week between Toonami anniversaries (the marathon began on the weekend of the ninth anniversary of the block and end the week before the second anniversary of the block's move to Saturday nights). The films scheduled for A Month of Miyazaki (which all aired uncut and unedited as per Miyazaki's policy not to have his films altered). However, there were large complaints due to the large number of commercial interruptions during the films, with commercial breaks cutting in about every 20 minutes. The movies were as follows:

3.17.07 (Toonami's 10th Anniversary)

On January 27, 2007, a teaser commercial aired during the Xiaolin Showdown marathon on Cartoon Network featuring close up shots of larger Clydes (the remote robot explorers that have been a fixture of Toonami since the beginning) along with the date 3/17/07 and TOM's chest emblem glowing blue. A week later, an extended version of the promo aired on the Toonami lineup.

On March 17, 2007, Toonami celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new packaging and numerous montages celebrating the block. TOM was revamped into a shorter robot who was a commander of a jungle control room with a trio of new robots.

The montages included a look at past hosts, former logos, and a decade's worth of scenes and voiceovers from shows that aired on the block, including The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z.

Fan response to the new presentation of Toonami was mixed to largely negative. While some praised the fluid animation of the new block, even comparing it to PIXAR-level animation, much of the criticism came from the redesign itself. Fans weren't impressed with the new characters and settings, the lack of continuity and the failure to explain the changes, and TOM's redesign, which was an old and broken down-looking blue robot whose face resembles Thomas the Tank Engine.

As part of the anniversary (and to coincide with Cartoon Network's March Movie Madness event), Toonami planned another month of movies^[1]:

March 03 - The Invincible Iron Man

March 10 - Mosaic

March 17 - Hellboy: Blood and Iron

March 24 - Stan Lee Presents: The Condor

March 31 - Spirited Away and Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo

Latin America

In December 2002, Toonami premiered on Cartoon Network Latin America, replacing a similarly-themed block, Talisman. Toonami aired shows that were already on the lineup such as Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, and Pokémon as well as served as the home of Inuyasha. Over the years, Toonami added shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and Saint Seiya (both uncensored) as well as the revamped versions of Cyborg 009 and Astro Boy. However, the block had to move to the late-night slots on CN Latin America due to protests of violent scenes on the block. Mexico moved Toonami to midnight in October 2003 while the rest of Latin America moved the block in November 2004.

In 2005, Toonami had short-lived weekend schedules, which were later replaced by the premiere of Adult Swim in Latin America.

In March 2006, Toonami revamped their lineup to include more adult-oriented series, taking advantage of the schedule and the refusal of anime on Adult Swim, as well as to compete against the anime channel Animax for new anime series. In June 2006, Toonami premiered anime movies in two monthly variations: Dragon Ball Theatricals (which had 17 different Dragon Ball movies), and Toonami Movies (general animated action movies).

In January 2007, Cartoon Network encased Toonami with four extra hours of anime series with two hours before and after the block. Shows currently on the extended block include Pokemon, Naruto, Zatch Bell!, Captain Tsubasa, Dragon Ball Z, Saint Seiya Hades Jūnikyū-hen , Yu Yu Hakusho, Ranma ½, Inuyasha, Saint Seiya Hades Jūnikyū-hen , and two episodes of Pokemon. This extended block airs from 10 PM to 4 AM.

Music and games on Toonami

Toonami had always been a haven for techno/electronica music throughout its history, using original compositions by an Atlanta-based composer Joe Boyd Vigil from 1997 to 2002, many of which were compiled in the CD Toonami: Deep Space Bass in 2001, which is now out of print. In 2003, DJ Clarknova took Toonami's beats (both old and new) and mixed them with sound bites from recent Toonami and Adult Swim shows. This resulted in an hour-long compilation of Toonami remixes, called the Toonami Black Hole Megamix, but for unknown reasons was never published. However, the Megamix recently was hosted by Toonami Digital Arsenal, a popular unofficial Toonami multimedia site.

From 2003 to today, Toonami has relied on original and library tracks from various artists from publisher Ninja Tune. On rare occasions, videos from musicians like Daft Punk, The White Stripes, and Gorillaz aired on the block.

Infrequently, Toonami will air reviews of video games. The review, delivered by TOM, is fairly short and airs during commercial breaks. Games are scored on a 1 - 10 system, 10 signifying an excellent game, 1 signifying a very poor game. (The score system was originally 1 - 5 until 2001.)

Only one game has received a "?" rating, "Dropship: United Peace Force" for the PlayStation 2. TOM explained that he had no idea what to rate the game because he couldn't get past the sixth level. This was accompanied by repeated footage of TOM losing on that level. The synopsis on Toonami Digital Arsenal reads "A robot is [sic] loses his mind over a video game. Hilarity ensues."

Toonami: Deep Space Bass

Ignition (2:54)
Gundams Are on Earth (Gundam Wing) (2:44)
Anvil Snare Remix (Sailor Moon) (2:39)
Dragon (Dragonball Z) (2:18)
Information Leak (Gundam Wing) (2:39)
Arabic (Dragonball Z) (2:37)
D&B Remix (Midnight Run) (3:00)
Depthcharge (Blue Sub) (5:32)
Tension (Tenchi Muyo) (3:25)
Prayer (3:36)
Crashgroove (2:48)
Puff&Bass (Powerpuff Girls) (2:39)
Darknight (2:32)
Starwind (Outlaw Star) (3:00)
Capslock (Ronin Warriors) (2:31)
Broken Promise (3:39)
Walking Stick (2:47)
Spacetime (6:24)

Online video services

On March 26, 2001, Cartoon Network launched Toonami Reactor, their first online streaming video service. The three-month service featured streaming episodes from Dragon Ball Z and Star Blazers, the latter of which was an online-exclusive series. Editorial content was provided by the now-defunct Animerica Magazine, published by VIZ Media. After the three-month "trial run" was over, Cartoon Network took it offline and completely revamped it.

On November 14, 2001 ^[2], Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami Reactor with all online-exclusive programs such as Star Blazers, Patlabor, The Harlock Saga, and Record of Lodoss War as well as videos from Daft Punk and Toonami-themed games. In the summer of 2002, Toonami Reactor was revamped again under the Adult Swim aegis and, with a joint venture with VIZ's Weekly Shonen Jump, programmed it as Adult Swim Pipeline.

On April 25, 2006, a little over five years since the launch of the now-defunct Toonami Reactor, Cartoon Network and VIZ Media announced plans ^[3] to launch Toonami Jetstream [1], a new ad-supported streaming video service featuring Toonami series like Naruto, Samurai Jack, Megas XLR and IGPX and the internet webcast premieres of Hikaru no Go, MÄR, The Prince of Tennis, MegaMan NT Warrior and Zoids: Genesis, the latter two of which haven't premiered as of March 2007.

Toonami Jetstream launched on July 17, 2006 (after a brief unofficial sneak preview that began on July 14), and currently shows Naruto, Samurai Jack, Hikaru no Go, MÄR, Prince of Tennis, Zatch Bell!, Pokémon, and Pokémon Chronicles.

Toonami series and movies

Present series

Naruto (TV & Jetstream)
One Piece
The Prince of Tennis (TV & Jetstream)
Samurai Jack (Jetstream)
Hikaru no Go (Jetstream)
MÄR (TV & Jetstream)
Pokémon (Jetstream)
Pokémon Chronicles (Jetstream)
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Zatch Bell! (Jetstream)
Dragon Ball Z (returns April 7) [2]

Series on hiatus/possibly cancelled

Upcoming series

IGPX (Jetstream)
Megaman NT Warrior (Jetstream)
Zoids Genesis (Jetstream)

Upcoming movies

[3]

1997

Thundercats
Super Adventures/Roulette (comprised of Space Ghost, Birdman, and other Hanna-Barbera action shorts)
Voltron
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

1998

Robotech
Transformers: Beast Wars (one week only)
Sailor Moon
Dragon Ball Z
Superfriends

1999

2000

2001

2002

Hamtaro
Zoids: Chaotic Century
G Gundam
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Transformers: Armada
G.I. Joe
Samurai Jack

2003

.hack//SIGN
Martian Successor Nadesico (Giant Robot Week)
Gigantor (Giant Robot Week)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Giant Robot Week)
Dai-Guard (Giant Robot Week)
Rurouni Kenshin
Yu Yu Hakusho
Justice League
Cyborg 009
SD Gundam
IGPX (micro-series)
Dragon Ball GT
Star Wars: Clone Wars

2004

2005

2006

External links

Official website

Toonami - Official website for US Toonami block
Toonami Jetstream - Website for Toonami Jetstream

Unofficial websites

Absolution NeXt - A database of Toonami US programming past and present.
Toonami Infolink - US Toonami news and forums.
Toonami Digital Arsenal - Downloads of US Toonami promos, intros, interstitials, and music.
The X Bridge's TICA Base - The US Toonami history and opinions section of one of the internet's oldest Toonami fansites.
Toonami Power - Mainly focusing on the early years of the block up to late 2000

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Categories: Cartoon Network programming blocks | Children's television series