Toonami Flashback Friday Episode 11-“Toonami’s Back Bitches”

Four years is a long time to go without anything.  While Anime had found a permanent home on Saturday Nights thanks to the Adult Swim Anime Block, it just wasn’t the same without Tom and Sara onboard the Absolution running our Anime favs and newcomers.  For many, Toonami ended when it really shouldn’tve have and that cry echoed in the vastness for four long years.  And then, as the Avengers’ mission statement begins, “There came a day, a day unlike any other”.  And that day…was an April Fools Day.  That’s the day where jokes are celebrated worldwide.  Thankfully, what Adult Swim had in mind was no joke, it was a miracle.

 
Being known not just for Anime but also its raunchy cartoon humor, Adult Swim engaged in some April Fools fun over the years.  On the day, they’d air some kind of practical joke, such as in 2007 when they showed the entire Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie before it hit theaters…or rather they showed the first couple of minutes then panned the movie into a tiny corner of the TV Screen while Adult Swim ran normally.  One of their more common pranks was to do a full night screening of the “so bad it’s good” legend, “The Room.”  And on April 1, 2012, it looked like that tradition would continue…until just after the opening titles, the screen faded to black…and we arrived back on the Absolution bridge, Tom chilling in his Captain’s Chair as always and announcing, “Oh hi Adult Swim.  We got the results of the test back.  We definitely have April Fools.”  The ship powered up, the music kicked in, Sara announced everything was set and Tom proudly proclaimed, “I love this job.”  It was a moment no one thought was gonna happen but it did…Toonami…WAS BACK!!!! 

It was a moment fans had longed for and Adult Swim was not about to let those pleas go unattended.  Not only was Toonami resurrected for a one night only return, it came back with a host of old friends.  It was like being back in the early 2000’s once again.  All of the hits, the legends, the shows that made us Toonami fans in the first place: Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, YuYu Hakusho, Blue Submarine No.6, The Big O and a couple others, lead in by Adult Swim’s biggest Anime hit since Cowboy Bebop, Bleach.  From 12am to 530am, it was the old Midnight Run magic reborn.  And the fans went nuts.  Not long after, Adult Swim must’ve seen the viewing numbers because they went right to Twitter and told the community, "Want it back? Let us know. #BringBackToonami”.  It was a tweet that was retweeted and shared quickly.  By April 4, a few days later, Adult Swim more or less confirmed that they heard everyone loud and clear…and things were being set in motion.  The four year long wait seemed to be coming to an end. 

A little over a month passed with little information being shared here and there.  And then, on May 26, 2012, Tom and Sara were back in full force.  Toonami was fully revived.  I’ll admit, I was kind of hoping for more of the OG series but I can see why they went the direction they did.  Toonami essentially got folded into Adult Swim and became the defacto face of it’s Saturday Night Anime Block.  To this end, the first schedule consisted of classic, current and new Anime from Adult Swim’s library: Bleach, Deadman Wonderland, Casshern Sins, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2^nd Gig and Cowboy Bebop.  No matter what was being show, it was two three hour programming blocks with that old Toonami magic: the music, updated CG looks for Tom and Sara, the eyecatches and promos.  It felt like the original Midnight Run.  It didn’t take long for Toonami to regain traction either.  By the Fall of 2012, the resurrected block had expanded from 12am-3am to 12am-6am.  The cry had been heard and it was loud and clear, “Toonami’s Back Bitches”. 

And back it was in more than full force.  The new Toonami was just running familiar Adult Swim Anime content, it had become free of the shackles holding back many of its titles in the past.  Many titles were able to air largely unedited for the older, more mature audience it had been established well accustomed to the “Intense violence, sexual situations, course language and suggestive dialogue” that Adult Swim had become known for.  Tokyo Ghoul, Black Lagoon and Hellsing Ultimate became some of the goriest titles Toonami had ever aired and thanks to it’s new home, it was even able to air a long unaired episode of Outlaw Star, “The Hot Springs of Planet Tenrai,” which had so much nudity it was difficult to censor in the past, so it was just left off of most rotations.  The new Toonami became home for the biggest names in Anime in the 2010’s including Sword Art Online, Kill la Kill, Food Wars, and long time Adult Swim Classics like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, were rediscovered by fans old and new.  And while Gundam continued to not reach the meteoric heights of Gundam Wing in the States, Toonami still continued to air newer series, keeping that familiar part of its identity alive, with Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: RE:0096 and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin-Advent of the Red Comet, all getting their own runs on the block.  In effect Toonami combined the best of its former world with Adult Swim’s older Anime contemporary practices to become the ultimate destination for late night and Premiere Anime in the US. 

It's been almost ten years since Toonami returned to the airwaves and some would say it’s better than ever.  It hold the strongest arsenal of new and popular Anime in the community today including Dragon Ball Super, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Fire Force, Attack on Titan, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.  The block has even continued to experiment with sequel Anime made due to American demand including two sequels to FLCL: FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative.  In late 2021, Adult Swim and Anime streaming service Crunchyroll partnered together to produce the first ever Blade Runner TV Anime series, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, which aired on both Crunchyroll in Japanese as well as in English on Toonami.  While I’m not watching nearly as much as I’ve used to, a part of me still keeps an eye on Toonami, curious about what big titles will cross its path and what new batch of fans is going to gobble it all up.  I mean, how long until Jujutsu Kaisen or Rising of the Shield Hero eventually step through the Absolutions airwaves? 

Since 1997, Toonami has lived in many different forms.  From birth to 2008, it was the central hub of my Anime fandom, where I found the first shows I would come to love and make a point every afternoon and weekend to catch up on.  When it was brought back in 2012, Toonami showed it was ready to grow up along side us and become more than an afternoon getaway.  In a way, Toonami became that old friend you hadn’t seen in forever and once they were back, you were surprised by how much theyd changed but loved it all the same.  From after school hijinks to mature late night escapades, Tom and Sara have been Shepherds of the Anime community.  Even in the era of streaming, Toonami still continues to be the big place to be for major Anime Premieres and a look back on some classic legends that still hold up today.  What more is there to say, I still love it.  And who knows, maybe in ten more years I’ll have a 30^th Anniversary Blog Entry to make.  Til then, as Tom is so fond of staying, I hope we all “Stay Golden.”