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Toonami

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For Toonami, the television channel in the United Kingdom, see Toonami (UK).
The US Toonami logo

Toonami (a portmanteau of cartoon and the Japanese word tsunami suggesting a "tidal wave" of animated cartoons) is a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly shows American and Japanese cartoons, originating in the United States in 1997.

The Toonami brand name was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the name of an action-oriented animation channel replacing a former Cartoon Network owned channel CNX, which had been a Toonami/live-action hybrid network.

Contents

[edit] United States

Toonami is Cartoon Network's primary Saturday evening action animation block, It is similar to the Adult Swim's Action Cartoons, airing Saturdays at 7-11 p.m. ET/PT. The block, which made its world premiere on Monday, March 17, 1997, initially replaced Power Zone, Cartoon Network's most recent incarnation of the Super Adventure block which had been a staple on the network since October 1, 1992. Toonami was originally a weekday afternoon cartoon block hosted by Space Ghost villain-turned-producer Moltar at the Ghost Planet Industries building from 1997 to July 9, 1999. On Saturday, July 10, 1999, Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami with a new environment, the spacecraft Absolution, and a new host, TOM (an acronym for Toonami Operations Module), both of which have evolved and continues to be a staple for the block. The introduction of SARA, the Absolution's artificial intelligence unit, in 2000 added additional popularity to the show. Toonami had initially aired older North American properties like Thundercats, Batman, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, and ReBoot, older anime franchises like Voltron and Robotech, homeless franchises like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, and eventually moved to introducing Gundam, Tenchi Muyo!, Rurouni Kenshin, and countless other anime properties to the US, along with being the World Premiere of American shows such as Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Megas XLR. Possibly the crowning achievement of Toonami was the co-production of IGPX, a series animated in Japan with Toonami in mind. While it has left the block, it's left an impact.

Toonami is given a lot of credit for increasing the popularity of anime in the United States. The block of programming continually pushed the boundaries of airing mature content, the most notable example being the decision to run Gundam Wing in its unedited form during their 12 a.m. "Midnight Run" block, possibly leading credence to the concept of Adult Swim Action. Also, as of recent years, Toonami has even gone back and aired newly uncut dubbed episodes of Dragonball Z from FUNimation, after having aired edited episodes from Saban for years.

Starting in September 2000, Toonami presented special interactive events known as Total Immersion Events or TIEs. These TIEs took place both on-air during Toonami and online at the official site, Toonami.com. The very first TIE (and most popular one according to the fans of the block) was The Intruder, which introduced TOM's companion, an AI matrix known as SARA, who played an integral part in the rebirth of TOM, who was upgraded from a short Bomberman-esque character (voiced by Sonny Strait) to a taller, stronger, darker, deeper-voiced incarnation temporarily dubbed as TOM 2.0 (voiced by Steve Blum), though it was the same TOM who still hosted the block. The following two TIEs, Lockdown and Trapped in Hyperspace, continued the adventures of TOM and SARA, but really didn't offer much story wise. The most recent TIE in September 2003 was a diversion from the TOM and SARA adventures and introduced a new, 2D universe. Immortal Grand Prix (IGPX), created by Toonami producers Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by anime studio Production I.G., aired in five short installments and served as a pilot for the first Toonami original series, which premiered in November 2005 (a brief note: although Megas XLR was the first original American-made franchise to actually debut on the block, it was initially a Cartoon Network original that was planned to air on Friday nights, and Justice League Unlimited, which makes Toonami its premiere home in the US, was originally Justice League, which wasn't a Toonami exclusive until the spring of 2004). The Intruder and Lockdown were aired in the UK, but with very little success.

From July 2001 to June 2002, Kids WB aired a Toonami block that was, more or less, the Kids' WB lineup with the Toonami name. It was critically panned by industry observers who noticed the action branding of the block didn't translate content wise, which had added shows like Scooby-Doo and a live-action series created by Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, The Nightmare Room. In spring 2002, Kids' WB announced that they would drop the Toonami name from their weekday lineup, once again making the Toonami brand exclusive to Cartoon Network.

On April 17, 2004, Cartoon Network moved Toonami from weekday afternoons to Saturday evenings with a new demographic of preteen and teen audiences (even though preteens and teens were already watching the block much to the network's dismay) while adding a new lighter-toned action franchise, Miguzi, (produced by Williams Street, the folks behind Toonami, its name is loosely derived from the Japanese word for swimsuit, an in-joke to longtime viewers of Toonami) to weekdays in its place. Toonami also replaced the block known as Saturday Video Entertainment System or SVES, though a majority of the show aired in this block were moved to Toonami. One big reason for the move from weekdays to Saturday nights only, was because the some of the shows on the weekday line up (such as Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin) became too violent for a weekday broadcast on the network. The current Toonami line-up still showcases anime like Naruto, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Zatch Bell, Pokemon Chronicles, and One Piece.

[edit] Music and games on Toonami

Toonami had always been a haven for techno/electronica music throughout its history, using original compositions by an Atlanta-based composer Joe Boyd Vigil from 1997 to 2002, many of which were compiled in the CD Toonami: Deep Space Bass in 2001, which is now out of print. In 2003, DJ Clarknova took Toonami's beats (both old and new) and mixed them with sound bites from recent Toonami and Adult Swim shows. This resulted in an hour-long compilation of Toonami remixes, called the Toonami Black Hole Megamix, but for unknown reasons was never released. The full CD is hosted on Toonami Digital Arsenal.

From 2003 to today, Toonami has relied on original and library tracks from various artists from publisher Ninja Tune. On rare occasions, videos from musicians like Daft Punk, The White Stripes, and Gorillaz aired on the block.

Infrequently, Toonami will air reviews of video games. The review, delivered by TOM, is fairly short and airs during commercial breaks. Games are scored on a 1 - 10 system, 10 signifying an excellent game, 1 signifying a very poor game. (The score system was originally 1 - 5 until 2001.)

Only one game has received a "?" rating, "Dropship: United Peace Force" for the PlayStation 2. The synopsis on Toonami Digital Arsenal reads "A robot is [sic] loses his mind over a video game. Hilarity ensues."


[edit] Toonami: Deep Space Bass

  1. Ignition (2:54)
  2. Gundams Are on Earth (Gundam Wing) (2:44)
  3. Anvil Snare Remix (Sailor Moon) (2:39)
  4. Dragon (Dragonball Z) (2:18)
  5. Information Leak (Gundam Wing) (2:39)
  6. Arabic (Dragonball Z) (2:37)
  7. D&B Remix (Midnight Run) (3:00)
  8. Depthcharge (Blue Sub) (5:32)
  9. Tension (Tenchi Muyo) (3:25)
  10. Prayer (3:36)
  11. Crashgroove (2:48)
  12. Puff&Bass (Powerpuff Girls) (2:39)
  13. Darknight (2:32)
  14. Starwind (Outlaw Star) (3:00)
  15. Capslock (Ronin Warriors) (2:31)
  16. Broken Promise (3:39)
  17. Walking Stick (2:47)
  18. Spacetime (6:24)

[edit] Current Toonami schedule

Toonami's schedule looks like this:

  • 7:00 p.m: Pokemon:Battle Frontier
  • 7:30 p.m.: Yu-gi-oh!GX
  • 8:00 p.m: The Batman
  • 8:30 p.m: Naruto (Rerun of the earlier week's episode)
  • 9:00 p.m.: Naruto (World Premiere English-language episode)
  • 9:30 p.m.: Dragonball Z:Wrath of the dragon
  • 10:00.: Dragonball Z:Wrath of the dragon


Not including any specials and/or marathons, this schedule is current as of December 2, 2006 but can change without notice. It is recommended you use a television guide service to get the latest information concerning schedule changes. All times Eastern

[edit] Online video services

On March 26, 2001, Cartoon Network launched Toonami Reactor, their first online streaming video service. The three-month service featured streaming episodes from Dragon Ball Z and Star Blazers, the latter of which was an online-exclusive series. Editorial content was provided by the now-defunct Animerica Magazine, published by VIZ Media. After the three-month "trial run" was over, Cartoon Network took it offline and completely revamped it. On November 14, 2001 [1], Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami Reactor with all online-exclusive programs such as Star Blazers, Patlabor, The Harlock Saga, and Record of Lodoss War as well as videos from Daft Punk and Toonami-themed games. In the summer of 2002, Toonami Reactor was revamped again under the Adult Swim aegis and, with a joint venture with VIZ's Weekly Shonen Jump, programmed it as Adult Swim Pipeline.

On April 25, 2006, a little over five years since the launch of the now-defunct Toonami Reactor, Cartoon Network and VIZ Media announced plans [2] to launch Toonami Jetstream [3], a new ad-supported streaming video service featuring Toonami series like Naruto, Samurai Jack, Megas XLR and IGPX and the internet webcast premieres of Hikaru no Go, MÄR, The Prince of Tennis, MegaMan NT Warrior and Zoids: Genesis.

Toonami Jetstream launched on July 17, 2006, and currently shows Naruto, Samurai Jack, Hikaru no Go, MÄR, Prince of Tennis, Megas XLR, Pokémon, and Pokémon Chronicles. Viewers had a chance to catch a sneak peek of the site 3 days early.

[edit] A Month of Miyazaki

On Saturday, March 18, 2006, in honor of the block's ninth anniversary, Toonami began airing A Month of Miyazaki, a four-week celebration of the works of acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. Like sibling station TCM's similar marathon in January 2006, Toonami aired a different movie every week between Toonami anniversaries (the marathon began on the weekend of the ninth anniversary of the block and end the week before the second anniversary of the block's move to Saturday nights). The films scheduled for A Month of Miyazaki (which all aired uncut and unedited as per Miyazaki's policy not to have his films altered) were as follows:

[edit] Toonami series and movies

Present series

Upcoming series

[4]

Upcoming movies


Historic series

This list is incomplete

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

[5]

[edit] External links

[edit] Official website

[edit] Unofficial websites

es:Toonami it:Toonami ja:TOONAMI pl:Toonami pt:Toonami sv:Toonami The Power is Called 2007 Soul Calibur IV.

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