Is Toonami really back? YES!
Toonami was a cartoon block that started in the late 90’s on Cartoon Network, and was used initially for action-oriented programming blocks mostly showing American cartoons (Samurai Jack, Batman, Justice League, etc)and Japanese anime (Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, and various Gundam shows). At the time it was widely received as one of the best ways for good anime to be introduced to a much wider audience, and lasted in the United States from March 17, 1997, and eventually ended on September 20, 2008.
While many believe that Toonami helped pave the way for Adult Swim to flourish today, Adult Swim now is the one who is bringing it back.
At first it started as a prank this past april fools day, On midnight of April 1, 2012 Adult Swim, changes its usual programming for April Fools’ Day , which normally consisting of minor edits by the staff and additions to the shows in funny ways (one year they edited fart noises into Ghost in the Shell whenever a character moved), began to play The Room (as they had done the past several years) then suddenly it seemed the station was experiencing a mock up hack, and the scene then switched to T.O.M. (former host of the Toonami block, in his third form) aboard the Absolution (the flag ship for the block), greeting the viewers and announcing that it is April Fools’ Day 2012, before introducing that week’s scheduled episode of Bleach. The programming continued throughout the night, featuring classic Toonami shows such as Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki, Outlaw Star, The Big O season 1, YuYu Hakusho, Blue Submarine No. 6, Trigun, Astro Boy, and Gigantor.
The next morning, Adult Swim posted on their Twitter page, simply stating;
“Want it back? Let us know. #BringBackToonami”.
Several days later on April 4, Adult Swim posted another tweet stating;
“#BringBackToonami We’ve heard you. Thank you for your passion and interest – stay tuned.”
And then later on April 8, Adult Swim aired 2 breaks during its nightly run about the Toonami tweets and answered with;
“[we’re listening]” and “[we’re looking into it]”.
Then today, Adult Swim posts;
“05.26.12 #ToonamisBackBitches”
And including a page on their site where you can re-tweet the message to your followers.
While nothing else has been released yet, many sites are speculating that the new Toonami block will replace one night of Adult Swim and give the fans a much missed night of good action cartoons and anime. I for one and excited and will be eagerly awaiting any more news.
