Ok so, stop me if you’ve heard this before: August 31,
2001. I was settling in to check out
Toonami on a Friday Night in my study, popcorn and soda at the ready. We got the typical intro: the Absolution
slowly flying by before we entered the interior and saw Tom making his way to
the bridge. Sitting in his favorite
chair, the Absolution Captain and Toonami DJ tapped the buttons on his arm rest
and the Midnight Run got underway…but not with Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th
MS Team. Instead, things kicked off
with one of Toonami’s masterfully made Music Videos. Ok, that was a bit weird but surely 08th
MS Team would start right afterwards. Well,
the normal Midnight Run was taking the night off on this hot summer night. I don’t know if I missed a bunch of adds or
if this truly came out of freaking nowhere.
Frankly I’m glad it was the latter because disappointment quickly became
intrigue and amazement as I settled in to check out the Toonami: Midnight
Run-Special Edition.
I’ve always been a fan of
AMV (Anime Music Videos).
Splicing together anything from musical
lyrics to entire scenes from movies along with Anime, it’s amazing to see what
people come up with.
I wouldn’t really
get into AMV’s until about college but I never knew I was watching a kind of
AMV already with Toonami.
Throughout
it’s early run, Toonami produced several short music videos combining footage
from all sorts of different shows, but mostly their Anime.
For The Special Edition, three of these AMVs
were given the evening spotlight.
The
first was
Walking Stick (Mad Rhetoric) which was a straight up action
highlight reel; followed by
Advanced Robotics, showcasing the rise of
Machines and Giant Robots all across Toonami with a very foreboding narration
from Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime Himself); and finally
Broken Promise
(Dreams), which a very inspirational narration from Beau Billingslea taken
from his narration in Outlaw Star.
Each
video utilized footage from all the biggest Anime Action hits Toonami had at
the time including
Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, The Big O, Outlaw Star
and
Blue Submarine No. 6 just to name a few.
They may have been short videos but if you
were looking to get into Toonami at all, these were just the perfect samplers
to share.
This particular night wasn’t just about these three videos. I’m sure you could’ve done an entire evening
of Toonami AMVs when there were enough of time.
But tonight was about more than just Anime Music Videos, it was about
Toonami getting a chance to show off the best in Music Video Animation in
general. Granted, they kicked off the
night with a very Anime inspired choice…because it was Anime inspired. The first four selections for the Midnight
Run Special Edition were from international techno duo sensation Daft Punk. To be more specific they were the first four
tracks from their megahit album, Discovery.
“One More Time,” “Aerodynamic,” “Digital Love”, and “Harder,
Better, Faster, Stronger” were all animated by Toei Animation (the
group behind Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z amongst many others) and
produced by Leiji Matsumoto of Space Battleship Yamato fame. The four videos told a continuous tale about
a popular Alien Band, abducted and brought to Earth and the Space Hero sent to
rescue them. Not only was the “Harder,
Better, Faster, Stronger,” video a World Premiere event, it also got me hella
excited to know what came afterwards. It
would be years later that I learned these four videos and the rest of Daft
Punks Discovery Album had been turned into an amazing Anime music
feature film: Interstella 5555-The Secret of the Five Star System. It’s a shame Toonami never aired this in its
entirety, to my knowledge anyway.
Between the clear love for the genre presented by Daft Punk in their
music and Matsumoto’s incredible animation, this could’ve been a big hit for
the block.
Once Daft Punk concluded their set, Toonami showed off
some animated music work from a little less Anime but nonetheless
fascinating.
Back in the early 2000’s, a
revolutionary band comprised of four very strange cartoon characters called
Gorillaz,
appeared on the scene.
Of course there
was an actual real life band providing the music and sound but they were
hardly, if ever, seen in person.
The
Gorillaz were an entirely new kind of band, their escapades being shown through
wildly imaginative music videos.
Three
of those videos appeared on the Midnight Run Special Edition.
All three came from the groups debut album:
“Tomorrow
Comes Today”, “19/2000” and
“Clint Eastwood”.
If Daft Punks music was the kind of stuff
that got you dancing in the clubs, the music of Gorillaz took a step back and
offered a very chill yet weird vibe (in a good way). You went from a casual
drive through a dark lit city in Tomorrow Comes Today to the group encountering
a sky scrapper sized moose (that band member Murdoc thinks he can blow up) in
19/2000, to Drummer Russel releasing his inner hip hop artist which awakens a
legion of Zombie Gorillas in Clint Eastwood.
Creative doesn’t even begin to sum it up properly.
The Gorillaz Music Videos are a visual and
auditory experience that must be seen and heard to be understood.
The last video to close out the evening is probably the
most unique video Toonami ever aired, even if it is a bit of a somber way to
end the evening.
The Music Video was a
combination of a popular animated short film called
“More” and the music
of artist
Kenna, specifically his hit single,
“Hellbent”.
The short told the story of a nameless worker
toiling day and night at a dead end job and secretly works on a device that can
help him live out familiar memories.
When the pressure becomes too much, the worker completes his invention
and sells it to the world, becoming one of the most prolific inventors of his
time.
However, it comes at the cost of
him losing that spark that gave him the happiness he sought through his
invention.
Like I said…kind of a somber
story to tell at the end of a successful series of Music Videos but it’s
nonetheless quite powerful and while Kenna’s music isn’t officially part of the
short film, it’s lyrics match the images perfectly.
As the night closed out, I knew I had seen Toonami make
history once again.
The Midnight Run
Special Edition aired one more time a few months later in November.
This time, I knew it was coming and recorded
it for several future evenings of continuous watching.
From the art of mixing AMVs to discovering
the music of Daft Punk, this was an event that I’m kind of glad Toonami did
only once.
One of my favorite movies of
all time is Disney’s 1941 Animated Opera,
Fantasia.
Combining some of the greatest orchestral
music ever conceived with way ahead of its time Disney Animation is one of the
greatest experiences you’ll ever have watching anything.
I bring it up because while it received a
sequel in 2000…
Fantasia 2000, the experience was never the same (it was
ok but not the legendary status of the OG.
I feel the same way about the Midnight Run Special Edition.
From vibrant Anime dance music to
introspective tunes, a collection of songs and images like this doesn’t come
around often and when you get it right, you get it right…and Toonami got it
right.
Next Friday, we reach the end of Toonami’s first era,
looking at it’s content from the Mid 2000s and the troubles that lead to its
initial decline and eventual cancellation…for now.
See you Next Friday for Part One of the Two
Part Series Finale of Toonami Flashback Friday right here at the Gundam Anime
Corner.
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