The Toonami programming block debuted in March, 1997 airing for a couple of hours in the afternoon to catch the after school viewers. It featured classic action cartoons such as Thunderbirds, Voltron, Batman the Animated Series, and a new series: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. As Toonami's popularity grew, so did its shows and hours. It started to air in the late evenings as well as the afternoon. Then action anime like Dragonball Z, Robotech and Sailor Moon were added.
Soon Toonami became a solid action anime block. This concept helped develop Adult Swim, a programming block that featured anime for an older viewership than found in the afternoons. Toonami still remained popular with the teen and pre-teen crowds. The popularity increased as Toonami brought in popular anime such as Naruto and Zatch Bell.
Anime Phasing Out of Cartoon Network
However, over time, Cartoon Network slowly started to phase anime out of its viewing lineup in Adult Swim. As talented and creative North American cartoons developed, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim picked them up. What used to be Cowboy Bebop, Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Trigun became Venture Brothers, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Robot Chicken, and Moral Orel with a dab of Bleach and Shin Chan. Toonami lost its afternoon spot to air Chowder, Camp Lazlo, and Johnny Test and aired strictly in the late evenings. But then what was once a block consisting of four to six shows shrunk to two to four.
Downward Decline of Toonami
In addition, CN started to get complaints that it was a "loud" network. The complaints began to avalanche. To appease the masses, Toonami was moved to Saturday nights, so that the network would have just one "loud" segment a week.
Then when Naruto moved into its extensive filler episodes, the popularity of the show and ultimately Toonami dropped just as Naruto had over in Japan.
Instead of revamping Toonami into just action cartoons and anime instead of action anime, a decision was made somewhere down the line to close Toonami altogether. Cartoon Network was seeing a rise in ratings for its newer shows such as The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Total Drama Island, Chowder, and Ben 10: Alien Force. Also, since Adult Swim was doing so well with the ratings, and the same crew working on Adult Swim also produced Toonami, CN decided to let them focus on Adult Swim and let go of Toonami.
And so, with no real big announcement, Toonami said goodbye to Cartoon Network on September 20, 2008 after the last Toonami show signed off. Tom, Toonami's MC, bid the final farewell and then blasted off into the great beyond with a final "Bang."
Jetstream Online Will Keep the Toonami Shows
With the end of Toonami does not end all of Cartoon Network's action shows or even anime. All of Cartoon Network's action programming can be found on Toonami Jetstream online. Toonami fans can find all of their favorite Toonami shows such as Naruto, Blue Dragon, and Hikaru no Go available for viewing on the Jetstream website. (One wonders how popular this will be since there is already YouTube, but time will tell.) In addition, CN still airs other action shows such as Transformers the Animated Series, Pokemon, and Bakugan Battle Brawlers.
Goodbye, Toonami. You will be missed by action cartoon and anime fans, particularly the nostalgic ones that have been with you since 1997.
Click here to view Toonami's send off.
Keri Honea - Keri Honea is all over the place. She's involved with video games, animation, strategy guides, and fantasy books, and not just on Suite ...
