We're curious... what was the first anime you remember seeing? Was it through Toonami? Coming soon to Get in the Robot ✨ • My Hero Academia Pro Support Items Explained 🔧 • An all new "Why? Anime" ❓ • SSSS. Gridman 🤖 + Even more anime in 2019
Sailor Moon and DBZ. I remember I had to explain to my aunt why the Sailor Moon transformation sequence wasn't adult content lmao. She was old school Catholic and threatened to tell my mom. I had to beg my way out of it and could never watch Toonami after that in the living room. I'd have to sneak off into my room and pretend to "study" with the volume real low to watch it! Sailor Moon still my shit and DBZ the goat ofc.
I didn't have CN in my region but I do remember staying up late for Naruto when I was really young. Particularly the entrance exam and a some of the fights, but I couldn't actually follow the plot with all of the episodes I missed.
I'm a pre-toonami era guy. Dragonball and Tenchi Muyo, then Dragonball Z. I discovered the IFC, International Film Channel was on the Android saga in full japanese - no subtitles, while we were just landing on Namek in the Frieza saga.
Remember the Time Toonami aired all those Studio Ghibli movies I would have never seen them otherwise they are truly beautiful my favorite one is nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind.
Both me and my brother would watch Dragon Ball, Gundam and Sailor Moon (Yeah my brother loved Sailor Moon. He won't admit that now, but he was trying to fight evil by moonlight like I was.) I remember Yu Yu Hakasho and the start of adult swim and seeing Cowboy Bebop and Trigun for the first time. Then came Inuyasha and holy shit they played the shit out of Inuyasha lol.
Most guys watched Sailor Moon back in the 90s. Lets face it those were the dark ages before streaming existed and if your family had internet is was 56K on a PC that was used by everyone. Sailor Moon was among the best spank bait a teen could find without being home alone for a few hours so you could sneak into where an older relative kept their stash of physical media porn.
Hell yes, Cowboy Bebop and Trigun were two of my very first entries into anime via Toonami and they're still at the top of my favorites. And yea, they played the living shit out of Inuyasha. I wasn't as hugely impressed by that show but the fact that they played it so often eventually gave it such a familiar feel that it was good to have on anyway.
This! this is something I enjoy now more than ever. Toonami wasn't jsut good shows and a good block with a good host, it was a really positive force that figured "If we have peoples' attention, lets do something good with it" and to this day I still think back on some of those, old and new.
@@Murillos1 Well, I was talking in the past tense, so "Was" is the appropriate word. I commented on what WAS happening. My intention was the begin with the past tense, and thus, "was", as I was speaking of the effects it had on me as a kid, in the past, while comparing it to how I still enjoy those messages now.
Naruto back in 05 and 06 when it first took off in America, as a kid I didn’t know I was watching anime but fell in love with it. Which later transitioned into DBZ and Japanese Influenced shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Until I finally broke out of my shell and started watching anime outside of Toonami and NickToons
Naruto back in 05 and 06 when it first took off in America, as a kid I didn’t know I was watching anime but fell in love with it. Which later transitioned into DBZ and Japanese Influenced shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Until I finally broke out of my shell and started watching anime outside of Toonami, 4kids, Toonzai, Vortexx, NickToons, and Adult Swim Thank you guys for everything.
I was just thinking about this. I was watching Toonami last saturday and remembered how it opened up the world of anime to me and my friends. And now some kid, somewhere tunes in every saturday ready to watch and grow with characters they'll love for the rest of their life. Thanks Toonami for everything.
Can we have more of this series talking about old school anime blocks? Like Fox Box and WB Kids and how some of their non anime choices were anime influenced TV shows? (Xiaolin Showdown comes to mind even if it is also Chinese Culture/Asian culture influenced)
@@JadenAlexis FoxBox is correct. Fox Kids was western cartoons and that block got sold to Disney in 2001, leaving Saturday Morning open to whoever wanted it, when 4kids would come in during 2002 and make themselves known as the FoxBox until 2005 when they rebranded and went by 4kids
Toonami gave me an animation that clearly wasn't for kids. The first couple of episodes of Cowboy Bebop were amazing and proved to me anime was a thing I should take seriously. Then 9/11 happened, and the couple of following episodes I saw before enlisting in the military hit me so much harder than any anime since largely because of the time period. But yeah, Boondocks is fucking awesome.
Aside from the awesome show promos and misc promos, what I remember are the PSAs that T.O.M. narrated, which still appear in the Toonami revival. Get knocked down 7 times, get up 8. It wasn't jsut a block of good anime, it was a positive force of it's own, and that stuck with me, and sometimes it's good to replay those videos when I need a reminder today.
I think what got me into Anime was the Sci-Fi Channel in the mid-90s(?) when they aired Demon City Shinjuku and Iria: Zeiram the Animation and other films on Saturday mornings.
I swear we had this video already. I watched anime before toonami (saber rider & the star sheriffs, Speed Racer, Akira, DB/DBZ, Sailor Moon) but I will say that it was great to have a block that catered to it and definitely helped the push for where we are.
Props for admitting a love for the ORIGINAL Speed Racer. Still one of my favorites from my childhood. All though it has aged very poorly. I am old enough to remember Moltar in the original Toonami. Probably the one reason I have fond memories of Thunder cats and Voltron. But yeah, this video is much appreciated by the fans of anime and Toonami.
I always find it curious and a little weird watching the perceptions and recollections of people who grew up with Toonami as their first experience with anime. As mine predates the block. I mean I WATCHED the block on CN, but my original exposure to anime came first... in the form of Speed Racer and Voltron re-runs and with the first show that changed my outlook on animated media on television: Robotech. Or as i'd later come to know it: Macross. Those were the first shows I ever saw before knowing what anime was. The first anime I ever watched specifically knowing what anime was and seeking it out, were VHS tapes of Ranma 1/2, and Project A-Ko. It's those series that first introduced me to this "strange form of animation that resembled all the Nintendo and Super Nintendo video games" that I grew up with. Also seeing various anime advertised in the back of various gaming magazines as well, intrigued me more. By the time of Toonami, I already knew what all this stuff was, and was just hungry for more, so I gladly took it. But it's still surreal to me seeing so many people who only saw this first.
It gave Sailor Moon a solid home in my time. Before this, I seriously had to scour the TV Guide to see if and when it would be on. When this block came I bowed down to it. I remember Tom walking out for the first time.
Dude! Hearing a cartoon character say "hell" was like seeing Christmas Town for the first time. "What's this? What's this?!" I actually remember being worried, because my adult sister was in the room. I remember a split second thinking, "Is this okay? What's going to happen now?" as if it changed _everything._
I saw glimpses of Toonami, and I suppose Midnight Run, as a child I was too young to watch and understand, but it’s still cool that I saw it when it was relatively young I later went on to watch it fairly regularly, back when Toonami was a nightly fixture I think my first anime was Inuyasha, back when I first started trying to watch the block regularly and would rush to get ready for school to ensure I could watch all thirty minutes of the episode before regular programming began airing What a good show
Sailor Moon and DBZ, it was on a national channel, I didn't have CN when I first started watching those shows, but Toonami made anime a thing for me. Inuyasha, samurai x, the DBZ OVAs and Ghibli films omg so many memories. I love this channel, u guys are killing it 👍🏻
great video, dont forget the parts when the toonami robot would say something like "we'll be right back heros" when I was watching My Hero Academia, little things like that make me feel thought of.
This was an amazing and nostalgic video and agree with every single word in the video. A lot of flashbacks occurred as I watched this and my appreciation for Toonami still remains unwavered. I still go on Toonami Aftermath just to keep the vibe of the show due to not owning cable tv.
Toonami is such a stable of my generation and I love it for what it has done for my childhood to adulthood. To this day whenever I hear a Gorillaz song I think of when I first saw/heard them on Toonami. I remember Midnight Run and watching Wolf's Rain and Inuyasha. I remember rushing to get home from school to watch Sailor Moon, DBZ, and Rurouni Kenshin. HECK even Hamtaro! You're right about that trust we have with T.O.M. because I wasn't there only for the shows, I was there for him and S.A.R.A too (I still like Face though lol). I love this video! The humor, content, and energy you provide is amazing! Keep doing what you're doing!
I'm that weird guy who still watches Toonami today, and am actually a bigger fan of it now than I was during its peak. I don't watch subs so one of the things I love is how certain companies like Viz and Aniplex have been able to get dubs for their respective shows out much quicker than they usually would. I was SHOCKED when Promised Neverland started airing literally 2 weeks after the sub had finished. Now I'm watching and enjoying the hell out of Demon Slayer. I also love that it's given me the opportunity to rewatch and get back into Food Wars which has been something I've wanted to do for a while since it's been such a long wait between Season 2 and 3's dubs. Here's hoping the dub for Season 3 starts on Toonami right after Season 2
Lets not forget the late-night toonami bumpers that that used to air in the late 90s- early 2000s. There was something particularly magical about those.
I would run home from middle school to sit in front of my tv and watch the classic anime shows. As much as my parents saying that violent shows makes me violent, I still watch all the shows!
I watched Toonami back in the day after school. I can only remember a few images and the excitement of watching Dragonball Z, but it's one of those early memories that sticks. I lost my way, but I rejoined the Faithful in 2014 with Space Dandy and I've been watching every Saturday since.
Super cool that adult swim kept so much of that spirit alive, they were even able to bring back the line up; complete with good ol' Spike Spiegel voicing TOM
My first anime was the late 70s early 80s series “Force Five” which apparently was only shown here in New England (which you skipped in your short history of anime in America) which started a love for anime that exists to this day nearly 40 years later
DUDE I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT MOLTAR!!! I remember now! My sibs and I watched Space Ghost CTC all the time and suddenly Moltar started showing anime and we were like "??? Okay let's see how this goes" but that memory would have stayed in the dirt without you!!! Thank you!!!
OG Dragonball, Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha and Tenchi Muyo...a young adolescent me just couldn't contain himself. Then when I saw Trigun and later Samurai Champloo for the first time, I was hooked.
Toonami was the first anime block on TV I can think of. Before, it was just one title here or there. Anime fandom it tough to track. I swear I saw a very fancy UK anime magazine with early 80s dates. I've never been able to find it.
Oh, man! I loved this! I **totally** forgot that Moltar would host a block of anime shows before there was TOM and Toonami! That brings me back! I remember, as a kid and a fan of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, I was disappointed to see Moltar gone, but I gave TOM a chance. And boy...! Toonami definitely grew on me. Thanks for this video. It was a nice nostalgia trip! OH! And yes! I totally agree with the career boosts for Gorillaz and Daft Punk! If Toonami hadn't exposed their audience to Gorillaz or Daft Punk, they probably wouldn't have had such a strong following. I remember after seeing those videos, I got Daft Punk's Discovery album, and my sister got Gorillaz' 19-2000 that same year. Been a fan of both artists ever since all thanks to Toonami.
I remember watching the Astro boy remake 50 times when I was super little, and I just started watching it again on Netflix a minute ago because I was reminded of the fond memories I had when I was little of watching the movie , and the intro music is so eerily familiar after 20 ish years.
toonami was my only outlet during my childhood. i remember staying up waaaaay past my bed time to watch anime, shows i oddly related to at the time....since nothing screamed "childhood" like sword fights and blood.
Down in south america (i'm from peru) we had toonami as part of cartoon network (not sure if it was the same in the states) and i still remember being AMAZED with Gundam Wing (just watched it for the third time a couple of months ago) and specifically remember wanting to watch Red Baron but my parents wouldn't allow cause it was on Locomotion (an "adults" channel). Shaman King on Fox Kids was another one i recently watched again (would very much appreciate a video explaining what the hell happened in the end, can't find any information in english and the new mangas are only in japanese from what i found). Thanks for the great video
You know when you think about it in the grand scheme of things, if Toonami hadn't existed exactly when it did, it wouldn't have had nearly as much of an impact. It was just at the time when traditional media was fairly diverse but still somewhat centrailized (not literally thousands of channels but basic cable had a few dozen), and new media wasn't yet a norm, especially for younger people. If it were any earlier, it never would have made it to air, and if it were much later it either would've had a substantially smaller audience or just died. Of course, that's exactly what started happening around 2007 when the internet was really started to break ground as a media outlet.
Man I was with Toonami from the beginning, I'm talking Moltar from Space Ghost was the host. It truly helped popularize Anime in America, it didn't introduce it, but definitely popularized it. The reason I watch anime now is because of it.
Been around since the start with Toonami with moltar in 1997, here we are in the present day with Netflix, HULU, Crunchyroll and HIDIVE. Now I can watch these classics in Funimation NOW like DBZ, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo!, Yu Yu Hakusho or late night Adult Swim from 2001 to 2006 like Cowboy bebop, Samurai Champloo and Eureka 7, have these shows on DVD and Blu Ray now. Happy I was growing up being there since the start. And the time Adult Swim did that April Fools in 2012 being that ONE NIGHT ONLY Being a Kid again. It will be part of me for the Rest of my Life. Awesome Review
Dude, if you thought hearing Heero say "Hell" was an eye opener, you can imagine being 12-year-old me and one of the first DVDs she ever watched on her new player was a copy of Ninja Scroll she borrowed from a dude who lived down the road.
I started watching Toonami back in the Moltar days. Good ol days. Toonami's prime was during my middle school and early high school days. Now 32 married and mortgage. How times change.
So much love for Toonami. What a killer curator of amazing anime. I think the first anime I ever remember seeing was Speed Racer, though not from Toonami. Through Toonami though I got to see so many other good shows.
Many have talked about how 4Kids introduced Japanese anime to a whole generation (or more), but it was truly Toonami that did that work, and they did it better.
We fans in our mid 20s and 30s owe toonami so much. You kids (I’ve waited years to use this lol) really have it good growing up with so many options, and it makes me happy. Nothing beat blocking out a whole night to watch a new episode though.
Toonami was so important. At some point though yall need to speak on the various Toku series, how the westernized Power Rangers; its originator Super Sentai, and similar shows had an effect on anime viewership in America.
I remember running to get home to see the music video special omfg I can watch daft punk interstellar 555 over and over! This is such a nostalgic trip! I love it! Also all the early amv they would do was great!
We're curious... what was the first anime you remember seeing? Was it through Toonami?
Coming soon to Get in the Robot ✨
• My Hero Academia Pro Support Items Explained 🔧
• An all new "Why? Anime" ❓
• SSSS. Gridman 🤖
+ Even more anime in 2019
Sailor Moon and DBZ. I remember I had to explain to my aunt why the Sailor Moon transformation sequence wasn't adult content lmao. She was old school Catholic and threatened to tell my mom. I had to beg my way out of it and could never watch Toonami after that in the living room. I'd have to sneak off into my room and pretend to "study" with the volume real low to watch it! Sailor Moon still my shit and DBZ the goat ofc.
I didn't have CN in my region but I do remember staying up late for Naruto when I was really young.
Particularly the entrance exam and a some of the fights, but I couldn't actually follow the plot with all of the episodes I missed.
Inuyasha; At about 6 I couldn't sleep so I turned on the TV, my mind was blown. From then I watched adult swim until the shows turned to garbage.
Inuyasha
I'm a pre-toonami era guy. Dragonball and Tenchi Muyo, then Dragonball Z. I discovered the IFC, International Film Channel was on the Android saga in full japanese - no subtitles, while we were just landing on Namek in the Frieza saga.
Remember the Time Toonami aired all those Studio Ghibli movies I would have never seen them otherwise they are truly beautiful my favorite one is nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind.
Jacki B I do.
They also aired films that never even got a US release (at least at the time) such as Only Yesterday.
That was a great marathon. ^_^
Spirited away
Nausica is the best don’t let them tell you otherwise , a lot of people say totoro.....that’s wrong
Been a Toonami faithful since 97 and Im still watching it every Saturday night
Same! Can't believe it's been over 20 years tho. We are old AF!
@@qtippz right?! I hope Toonami continues for awhile. Stay gold Toonami Faithful
I loved as a kid coming from school to catch toonami. Now kids today can watch online even without the commercial.
@@jordanatack that was me as well. Come home, finish my homework in time before Toonami started.
It sucks that for some reason, Toonami starts at midnight now, even though they run reruns of DBZ and DBS at nine.
Both me and my brother would watch Dragon Ball, Gundam and Sailor Moon (Yeah my brother loved Sailor Moon. He won't admit that now, but he was trying to fight evil by moonlight like I was.) I remember Yu Yu Hakasho and the start of adult swim and seeing Cowboy Bebop and Trigun for the first time. Then came Inuyasha and holy shit they played the shit out of Inuyasha lol.
Most guys watched Sailor Moon back in the 90s. Lets face it those were the dark ages before streaming existed and if your family had internet is was 56K on a PC that was used by everyone. Sailor Moon was among the best spank bait a teen could find without being home alone for a few hours so you could sneak into where an older relative kept their stash of physical media porn.
Ugh you again? Just marry me already.
I’m a 30 year old man and I loved Sailor Moon 🌙
Hell yes, Cowboy Bebop and Trigun were two of my very first entries into anime via Toonami and they're still at the top of my favorites.
And yea, they played the living shit out of Inuyasha. I wasn't as hugely impressed by that show but the fact that they played it so often eventually gave it such a familiar feel that it was good to have on anyway.
Holy shit u just described wat me n my older bro did after school everyday. N he also loved sailor moon lol tbh it was a good anime.
"Face was a Face.....Tom was a friend" Classic
Don’t forget Tom voice actor was spiked from cowboy bebop
Also Krillin at one point
@@yedoye Krillin was first, to be exact.
what about all those motivational speeches tom woould give and well as the mash ups make one point
He still does.
This! this is something I enjoy now more than ever. Toonami wasn't jsut good shows and a good block with a good host, it was a really positive force that figured "If we have peoples' attention, lets do something good with it" and to this day I still think back on some of those, old and new.
@@Luinta Just replace "was" with "is"😅
@@Murillos1 Well, I was talking in the past tense, so "Was" is the appropriate word. I commented on what WAS happening. My intention was the begin with the past tense, and thus, "was", as I was speaking of the effects it had on me as a kid, in the past, while comparing it to how I still enjoy those messages now.
@@Luinta Gotcha👍
Naruto back in 05 and 06 when it first took off in America, as a kid I didn’t know I was watching anime but fell in love with it. Which later transitioned into DBZ and Japanese Influenced shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Until I finally broke out of my shell and started watching anime outside of Toonami and NickToons
Naruto back in 05 and 06 when it first took off in America, as a kid I didn’t know I was watching anime but fell in love with it. Which later transitioned into DBZ and Japanese Influenced shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Until I finally broke out of my shell and started watching anime outside of Toonami, 4kids, Toonzai, Vortexx, NickToons, and Adult Swim Thank you guys for everything.
I was just thinking about this. I was watching Toonami last saturday and remembered how it opened up the world of anime to me and my friends. And now some kid, somewhere tunes in every saturday ready to watch and grow with characters they'll love for the rest of their life. Thanks Toonami for everything.
Thank you for not forgetting Moltar!!
A true OG
God i miss the Space Ghost Coast to Coast segments....I remember the day that Toonami launched from it...Now i feel old.
Can we have more of this series talking about old school anime blocks? Like Fox Box and WB Kids and how some of their non anime choices were anime influenced TV shows? (Xiaolin Showdown comes to mind even if it is also Chinese Culture/Asian culture influenced)
Faith Baldwin OKG I LOVED XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN
CW4Kids was lit!
+Faith Baldwin Fox Box?!!! I’m just gonna assume you meant to say Fox Kids! :l
@@JadenAlexis FoxBox is correct. Fox Kids was western cartoons and that block got sold to Disney in 2001, leaving Saturday Morning open to whoever wanted it, when 4kids would come in during 2002 and make themselves known as the FoxBox until 2005 when they rebranded and went by 4kids
Stand User: TOM
Stand Name: Video Killed the Radio Star
I'm gonna watch that stand up, I hope it's as good as advertised
It's worth it!
Toonami gave me an animation that clearly wasn't for kids. The first couple of episodes of Cowboy Bebop were amazing and proved to me anime was a thing I should take seriously. Then 9/11 happened, and the couple of following episodes I saw before enlisting in the military hit me so much harder than any anime since largely because of the time period.
But yeah, Boondocks is fucking awesome.
So happy to see such in-depth appreciation for Toonami in video format. This was a blessing. Thank you!
🙏
Me and my brother used to watch Dragon Ball Z on toonami every Saturday night back in the good old days
Those really were the good ole days.
Glad to see moltar mentioned,alot people forget he was the original host since most people only started watching Toonami when Tom showed up.
Well done. This video hits all the important points as to how important Toonami has been with the history of anime in the US.
Aside from the awesome show promos and misc promos, what I remember are the PSAs that T.O.M. narrated, which still appear in the Toonami revival. Get knocked down 7 times, get up 8. It wasn't jsut a block of good anime, it was a positive force of it's own, and that stuck with me, and sometimes it's good to replay those videos when I need a reminder today.
the fact that ace became the bass player for Gorillaz... nice to know someone made it out of townsville
I think what got me into Anime was the Sci-Fi Channel in the mid-90s(?) when they aired Demon City Shinjuku and Iria: Zeiram the Animation and other films on Saturday mornings.
I swear we had this video already.
I watched anime before toonami (saber rider & the star sheriffs, Speed Racer, Akira, DB/DBZ, Sailor Moon) but I will say that it was great to have a block that catered to it and definitely helped the push for where we are.
Funny set last night, fun working with you.
Props for admitting a love for the ORIGINAL Speed Racer.
Still one of my favorites from my childhood. All though it has aged very poorly.
I am old enough to remember Moltar in the original Toonami. Probably the one reason I have fond memories of Thunder cats and Voltron.
But yeah, this video is much appreciated by the fans of anime and Toonami.
I never realized speed racer was anime until now. I loved that show when i was little
I didnt remember moltar hosting Toonami til just now thanks for the memory refresh
Such a good channel! You deserve a ton more subscribers.
I always find it curious and a little weird watching the perceptions and recollections of people who grew up with Toonami as their first experience with anime. As mine predates the block. I mean I WATCHED the block on CN, but my original exposure to anime came first... in the form of Speed Racer and Voltron re-runs and with the first show that changed my outlook on animated media on television: Robotech. Or as i'd later come to know it: Macross.
Those were the first shows I ever saw before knowing what anime was. The first anime I ever watched specifically knowing what anime was and seeking it out, were VHS tapes of Ranma 1/2, and Project A-Ko. It's those series that first introduced me to this "strange form of animation that resembled all the Nintendo and Super Nintendo video games" that I grew up with. Also seeing various anime advertised in the back of various gaming magazines as well, intrigued me more.
By the time of Toonami, I already knew what all this stuff was, and was just hungry for more, so I gladly took it. But it's still surreal to me seeing so many people who only saw this first.
It gave Sailor Moon a solid home in my time. Before this, I seriously had to scour the TV Guide to see if and when it would be on. When this block came I bowed down to it. I remember Tom walking out for the first time.
Dude! Hearing a cartoon character say "hell" was like seeing Christmas Town for the first time. "What's this? What's this?!"
I actually remember being worried, because my adult sister was in the room. I remember a split second thinking, "Is this okay? What's going to happen now?" as if it changed _everything._
I'm glad someone related to that
I love Gigantor growing up. 😍😎💪👍
i miss the old toonami lowkey
Why? Besides the shows themselves of course.
I saw glimpses of Toonami, and I suppose Midnight Run, as a child
I was too young to watch and understand, but it’s still cool that I saw it when it was relatively young
I later went on to watch it fairly regularly, back when Toonami was a nightly fixture
I think my first anime was Inuyasha, back when I first started trying to watch the block regularly and would rush to get ready for school to ensure I could watch all thirty minutes of the episode before regular programming began airing
What a good show
I'm working on getting a petition started to get TOONAMI it's own personal TV channel.
Man I had no idea Toonami had such a rich history, you just earned a sub keep up the good work👍
I'm a lil mad at you Mom for the Pikachu thing lol thanks for the video, a lot of nostalgia and new info 👍
Sailor Moon and DBZ, it was on a national channel, I didn't have CN when I first started watching those shows, but Toonami made anime a thing for me. Inuyasha, samurai x, the DBZ OVAs and Ghibli films omg so many memories.
I love this channel, u guys are killing it 👍🏻
great video, dont forget the parts when the toonami robot would say something like "we'll be right back heros" when I was watching My Hero Academia, little things like that make me feel thought of.
My first anime: Ninja scroll, then Ronin Warriors. I was 6. Parents rented it for me thinking that it was some knock off of ninja turtles.....Yep lol.
I remember as a kid watching those Daft Punk and Gorillaz videos. Legendary
True true. I got back into anime when they started showing MHA
you know an anime has gone total mainstream when it hits toonami.
Jason Demarco caught notice of this, congrats!
This was an amazing and nostalgic video and agree with every single word in the video. A lot of flashbacks occurred as I watched this and my appreciation for Toonami still remains unwavered. I still go on Toonami Aftermath just to keep the vibe of the show due to not owning cable tv.
Best channel
Ah Toonami. My childhood. 💜
...even if Rurouni Kenshin is a little painful now ever since the manga-ka got arrested for kiddie porn possession. :
That's seriously messed up.
Well I mean. I didn't know this. Now the whole show is tainted. Why have you done this? :(
So glad you put your stand up in the description ! You are so personable, quirky and funny dude !
Mate you are 1000000% right
Toonami is such a stable of my generation and I love it for what it has done for my childhood to adulthood. To this day whenever I hear a Gorillaz song I think of when I first saw/heard them on Toonami. I remember Midnight Run and watching Wolf's Rain and Inuyasha. I remember rushing to get home from school to watch Sailor Moon, DBZ, and Rurouni Kenshin. HECK even Hamtaro! You're right about that trust we have with T.O.M. because I wasn't there only for the shows, I was there for him and S.A.R.A too (I still like Face though lol). I love this video! The humor, content, and energy you provide is amazing! Keep doing what you're doing!
When an AI rises to take over humanity it will choose the appearance of TOM to get us to drop our guard.
I'm that weird guy who still watches Toonami today, and am actually a bigger fan of it now than I was during its peak. I don't watch subs so one of the things I love is how certain companies like Viz and Aniplex have been able to get dubs for their respective shows out much quicker than they usually would. I was SHOCKED when Promised Neverland started airing literally 2 weeks after the sub had finished. Now I'm watching and enjoying the hell out of Demon Slayer. I also love that it's given me the opportunity to rewatch and get back into Food Wars which has been something I've wanted to do for a while since it's been such a long wait between Season 2 and 3's dubs. Here's hoping the dub for Season 3 starts on Toonami right after Season 2
Lets not forget the late-night toonami bumpers that that used to air in the late 90s- early 2000s. There was something particularly magical about those.
Harmony Gold, that imported a lot of early anime into the US, was headed by Middle Eastern guys, btw.
Your stand-up was actually pretty good.
I said it would be!
I remember when Tech tv had Animidnight back in the early 2000s
I would run home from middle school to sit in front of my tv and watch the classic anime shows. As much as my parents saying that violent shows makes me violent, I still watch all the shows!
I watched Toonami back in the day after school. I can only remember a few images and the excitement of watching Dragonball Z, but it's one of those early memories that sticks. I lost my way, but I rejoined the Faithful in 2014 with Space Dandy and I've been watching every Saturday since.
I'm so glad you mentioned the impact it had on African American culture. I was definitely waiting for the Boondocks clip.
I didn't know Kimba was an anime! Apparently it was my favourite show as a really little kid. I also loved Astro Boy which came from my Dad.
Super cool that adult swim kept so much of that spirit alive, they were even able to bring back the line up; complete with good ol' Spike Spiegel voicing TOM
My first anime was the late 70s early 80s series “Force Five” which apparently was only shown here in New England (which you skipped in your short history of anime in America) which started a love for anime that exists to this day nearly 40 years later
DUDE I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT MOLTAR!!! I remember now! My sibs and I watched Space Ghost CTC all the time and suddenly Moltar started showing anime and we were like "??? Okay let's see how this goes" but that memory would have stayed in the dirt without you!!! Thank you!!!
I'm really proud to have been a part of that late 90's early 2000's anime wave. Long live Toonami!
OG Dragonball, Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha and Tenchi Muyo...a young adolescent me just couldn't contain himself. Then when I saw Trigun and later Samurai Champloo for the first time, I was hooked.
Toonami got me hooked on anime so big respect. The show that got me was SAO of all things
Toonami was the first anime block on TV I can think of. Before, it was just one title here or there. Anime fandom it tough to track. I swear I saw a very fancy UK anime magazine with early 80s dates. I've never been able to find it.
Oh, man! I loved this! I **totally** forgot that Moltar would host a block of anime shows before there was TOM and Toonami! That brings me back! I remember, as a kid and a fan of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, I was disappointed to see Moltar gone, but I gave TOM a chance. And boy...! Toonami definitely grew on me. Thanks for this video. It was a nice nostalgia trip! OH! And yes! I totally agree with the career boosts for Gorillaz and Daft Punk! If Toonami hadn't exposed their audience to Gorillaz or Daft Punk, they probably wouldn't have had such a strong following. I remember after seeing those videos, I got Daft Punk's Discovery album, and my sister got Gorillaz' 19-2000 that same year. Been a fan of both artists ever since all thanks to Toonami.
Toonami also changed my relation to Gaming forever when Tom reviewed Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.
Man where have you been my whole life! Great Content!
I remember watching the Astro boy remake 50 times when I was super little, and I just started watching it again on Netflix a minute ago because I was reminded of the fond memories I had when I was little of watching the movie , and the intro music is so eerily familiar after 20 ish years.
i wish i could meet TOM
toonami was my only outlet during my childhood. i remember staying up waaaaay past my bed time to watch anime, shows i oddly related to at the time....since nothing screamed "childhood" like sword fights and blood.
Down in south america (i'm from peru) we had toonami as part of cartoon network (not sure if it was the same in the states) and i still remember being AMAZED with Gundam Wing (just watched it for the third time a couple of months ago) and specifically remember wanting to watch Red Baron but my parents wouldn't allow cause it was on Locomotion (an "adults" channel). Shaman King on Fox Kids was another one i recently watched again (would very much appreciate a video explaining what the hell happened in the end, can't find any information in english and the new mangas are only in japanese from what i found). Thanks for the great video
Can’t wait for the video on music!!
Yes! Sailor Moon S, Gundam Wing, Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball Z and Ronin Warriors gave me my entire aesthetic. Thanks Toonami!
You know when you think about it in the grand scheme of things, if Toonami hadn't existed exactly when it did, it wouldn't have had nearly as much of an impact.
It was just at the time when traditional media was fairly diverse but still somewhat centrailized (not literally thousands of channels but basic cable had a few dozen), and new media wasn't yet a norm, especially for younger people.
If it were any earlier, it never would have made it to air, and if it were much later it either would've had a substantially smaller audience or just died.
Of course, that's exactly what started happening around 2007 when the internet was really started to break ground as a media outlet.
I meant to write this exact angle and I forgot 😢
Tom was like a father figure to me. A major part of who I am today is because of Toonami, and that's not exaggeration.
I youse to Sprint home at 3 after school just to catch Tenchi Muyo & Gundam Wing, Nice vid
Man I was with Toonami from the beginning, I'm talking Moltar from Space Ghost was the host. It truly helped popularize Anime in America, it didn't introduce it, but definitely popularized it. The reason I watch anime now is because of it.
Been around since the start with Toonami with moltar in 1997, here we are in the present day with Netflix, HULU, Crunchyroll and HIDIVE. Now I can watch these classics in Funimation NOW like DBZ, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo!, Yu Yu Hakusho or late night Adult Swim from 2001 to 2006 like Cowboy bebop, Samurai Champloo and Eureka 7, have these shows on DVD and Blu Ray now. Happy I was growing up being there since the start. And the time Adult Swim did that April Fools in 2012 being that ONE NIGHT ONLY Being a Kid again. It will be part of me for the Rest of my Life. Awesome Review
Zoids, DBZ, Big O, Gundam, Sailor Moon,
Yu Yu Hakusho, after school in 2002-2004 used to be great I miss it ❤️
I have a Speed Racer comic and Rocket boy is one of my favorite animes
Edit: Astro Boy I had a brain fart there
Thanks for that informative stroll down memory lane. Great content! And, btw, I have seen your standup and it is indeed very good!
Eighties Voltron will always have a special place in my heart along with my favorite meme that meme is there is nothing gayer than 80s Keith.
Dude, if you thought hearing Heero say "Hell" was an eye opener, you can imagine being 12-year-old me and one of the first DVDs she ever watched on her new player was a copy of Ninja Scroll she borrowed from a dude who lived down the road.
I remember watching bleach for the first time on toonami man good times
I started watching Toonami back in the Moltar days. Good ol days. Toonami's prime was during my middle school and early high school days. Now 32 married and mortgage. How times change.
That jacket is dope
8:47 omg i did the same for my birthday last year and i love syd and the internet, both band was fucking amazing. why is the host so cool?
So much love for Toonami. What a killer curator of amazing anime. I think the first anime I ever remember seeing was Speed Racer, though not from Toonami. Through Toonami though I got to see so many other good shows.
Amazing video 😁
It was basically the Hulu of anime back then for cable TV, commericals, and whatever's new and still classic
Bro, when you dropped Face's name...OG right there. Bur bur burrr
Gotta say I'm pretty thankful for Toonami. Without em, you guys would have no idea who the hell I am. Heh.
I was heavy into anime was I was younger but I think I'm into even more because of the animation getting better and the nostalgia.
Many have talked about how 4Kids introduced Japanese anime to a whole generation (or more), but it was truly Toonami that did that work, and they did it better.
If people don’t have cable
Toonami got real anime
His stand up is pretty good.
We fans in our mid 20s and 30s owe toonami so much. You kids (I’ve waited years to use this lol) really have it good growing up with so many options, and it makes me happy. Nothing beat blocking out a whole night to watch a new episode though.
Toonami was so important. At some point though yall need to speak on the various Toku series, how the westernized Power Rangers; its originator Super Sentai, and similar shows had an effect on anime viewership in America.
Nice Bob Ross Shirt there mayt
I remember running to get home to see the music video special omfg I can watch daft punk interstellar 555 over and over! This is such a nostalgic trip! I love it! Also all the early amv they would do was great!
That jacket is fresh! Where can I get me one those fresh Bois!