Toonami Flashback Friday Episode 5-Going All In

By the Summer of 2000, Toonami had multiple Anime hits in their rotation.  Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Gundam Wing had taken America by storm and offered a little bit of something for everyone on Toonami.  The action block had become THE place to be Monday-Friday and by the Summer of 2000, the block had been given an extra hour due to its popularity.  While other non Anime series found their way into the fun like Reboot and Cartoon Networks own The Powerpuff Girls, Anime was now more at the front of Toonami’s arsenal than ever before.  Today on Toonami Flashback Friday, I’ll be looking briefly at 5 of those offerings.  I’ve reviewed most of them here on the blog already, one is in the process and the other…well who knows what the future holds.  Onto the collection.

 
Debuting alongside Sailor Moon and DBZ first was Ronin Warriors.  Many might not remember but this series actually had a run one summer in the 90s, which is where I first learned about it and was super psyched to see Toonami running promos for it.  Called Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers in Japan, Ronin Warriors centered on five young men, each with their own powerful Samurai armor, fighting to save the world from the towering threat of the supernatural Dynasty.  You could call Ryo, Cye, Kento, Sage and Rowen the cousins of Usagi, Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako from Sailor Moon…cause they both have five person super teams (or at least Sailor Moon started with five).  Either way, the Ronin Warriors were usually paired up with the Sailor Senshi on the schedule, one leading into the other.  Surprisingly, I learned that while Ronin Warriors was violent, it was one of the few Anime brought over from Japan that needed the least amount of censoring…that’s pretty amazing for a show that centers on teens killing demon soldiers but hey, I guess it was on the level of say Power Rangers…if they did more stabbing…ok maybe not the best example, moving on. 

Two shows that did need a TON of censoring for their Toonami broadcasts were Outlaw Star and Tenchi Muyo.  These two shows were the next step up from Gundam Wing in the “More Mature Anime Department,” and both brought something different to the table.  With Tenchi, it was living out the fantasy of saving the universe while being the center of attention for six beautiful alien women.  With Outlaw Star, the fantasy was being a total bad ass in a guns and sword wielding spaceship, battling rival Bounty Hunters and Space Pirates while searching for the greatest treasure in the universe.  For the longest time, I only knew the Toonami Versions of both of these shows (4 actually since Toonami got its hands on all three (at the time), major Tenchi Anime (minus the movies): The first two seasons of the Tenchi Muyo OVA and the Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo TV Series.  All of the blood, swearing, excessive violence and nudity.  Amazingly, Tenchi was able to air all of its episodes despite that fact that the OVA especially has a hefty amount of beautiful naked women.  Outlaw Star however, that was a different story.  Towards the end of the series one episode was omitted from pretty much every single broadcast run because there was no way the censors could cover more than 50% of the nudity featured in “Hot Springs Planet Tenrai”.  It wouldn’t be until a much more open and acceptable Toonami was around in 2017 that the famous “lost episode” would see an official US broadcast.  That’s kind of crazy cause even though they had to edit previews to hide the episodes existence, we all knew an episode had been skipped over for some reason.  Still, in spite of the edits, these were both awesome shows that had that those yearning for something more like Gundam Wing could get behind. 
 

Later on, Toonami got a little, how shall we say “experimental” with its Anime choosing.  First up was Blue Submarine No.6, an OVA that was aired as a special week long miniseries.  Blue Sub 6 featured some, at the time, brand new CG elements that were still new to the Anime scene.  This brought some fast paced, exciting, at sometimes even brutal action sequences between the last of Humanity and the Sea Monsters who sought to claim the planet for themselves in the wake of a global crisis.  Much like Outlaw Star and Tenchi, Blue 6 had to be cut down considerably to get approval for Toonami broadcast including editing out a not ok forced sex sequence between two of the Monsters.  The series would also later be edited together into Blue Submarine No.6: The Toonami Edition, a compilation film that could be aired as a special movie event on Toonami.  On the other side of the spectrum was an Anime that asked a simple question: What if Bruce Wayne piloted a Giant Robot instead of being Batman?  The answer…was The Big O.  This Anime, about a city of lost memories and a smooth and cool negotiator who also defended said city with his giant robot, The Big O, fit right in on Toonami, especially when Batman: The Animated Series was also on the block.  The film noir setting, the more steampunk inspired mecha and lead character Roger Smith dressing just as confidently as Mr. Wayne himself, you could switch from Batman to Big O and not miss a beat.  While The Big O originally ended on a cliffhanger in Japan due to low ratings, the Mecha Anime was a hit on Toonami and later on, Toonami’s edgier adult cousin, Adult Swim, would air an additional 13 episode Second Season, co produced by Cartoon Network, to complete the saga…that got more of a mixed reaction but that’s a tale for another time. 

By the time all of these shows and special were airing together in a 3 hour block over the summers of 2000 and 2001, Toonami truly became THE place to be for your Anime fix.  Epic battles, sexy women, bad ass gunslingers, Giant Robots, comedy, mystery, you wanted it, it was there for you.  But well into this historic run, Toonami knew…the afternoons weren’t gonna be enough.  It was time to expand and next time, we talk about that expansion into the late hours of Saturday Night…and even bringing back the tradition of waking up super early on Saturday Mornings for some good old Toonami fun.  Join us Next Friday as we look at the launch of Toonami: The Midnight Run & The Rising Sun right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.