deonte9109 said:
*Salutes*
I miss Toonami too. It did unfortunately get less and less interesting as time went on. Mainly due to their adding of various non-anime to the show lineup and putting in anime that wasn't too good. I'll explain my judgement by this timeline.
1997 to 1999: The Beginning Age - When Toonami began it's lineup. Showing mainly old-school cartoons and gradually showing anime such as Dragonball Z and Robotech. I didn't watch Toonami around this time.
2000 to 2003: The Golden Age - When Toonami, in my personal opinion, had it's best lineups and anime. It's also when I started watching it. It was around near the last few months of my 8th grade year of Middle school. Looking around for something to watch on TV, and I stumble across the battle between Super Sayian Goku vs Frieza on an exploding planet, causing me to instantly become glued to the channel, as the two warriors beat each other to a bloody pulp. After it went off, Gundam Wing came on, and showed people in flying robots shooting and killing each other in them. Again, I became glued to the channel, and asked myself what I have been watching the past few months?! Where has this been all my life?! It was around then I also noticed my friends talking about DBZ and Gundam Wing, and I knew this stuff must of been awesome if they too couldn't get enough of it.
I continued watching Toonami's programs, even after they took off Wing and DBZ finally went into the Android/Cell saga. Toonami put non-anime on, but I didn't mind, as they were favorites of mine from the old Fox Kids and WB days, in the Batman and Superman animated series shows. Including Batman Beyond. Outlaw Star, Big O, other Gundam shows, and Yu Yu Hakusho kept bringing the awesome. Some things didn't click, like Hamtaro and GI Joe. Star Wars also began showing a cartoon in 2003 on Toonami and it was good. And of course, I learned of Adult Swim's Saturday anime only lineup, and I stayed up late on that weekend just to watch the anime on it. Enjoying Cowboy Bebop and other shows, as I noticed that Spike's voice was the same as TOM!
2004 to 2005 - The Silver Age: And here's when the problems began. Showing non-anime and anime that didn't click. Dual Masters, the new Astro Boy, Rave Master, DICE, Zatch Bell, and Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo weren't good. Indeed, they were getting me still watching, thanks to Naruto when the network still had it on, but thanks to their showing of 4Kids raping One Piece, it hurt their anime lineup even more. Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titians were good, but they relied too much on cartoons that I had already watched on the WB. My interest in Toonami lessened and lessened.
2006 to 2008 - The Dying Age: Naruto was the only one worth at least knowing being good. Yugioh GX was ok, up until that weird 3rd season. People and myself did not care for MAR, Prince of Tennis, the Fantastic Four cartoon, Storm Hawks, or Bakugan. It just felt like Toonami wasn't Toonami anymore. Even TOM, who went from a small robot to a badass robot, suddenly devolved into a crappy new version of himself working along with other robots on a planet of some kind. I didn't enjoy Toonami much by this time. Only really watching it for Naruto. And then, suddenly, it happened. Toonami was cancled and it was like hearing an old friend had passed away. Sure, my friend had changed into something I didn't enjoy in the end, but it was still a friend I had fond memories of. The network showed Miguzi and crappy CN Real bullshit, but they could never obtain the glory that Toonami once was.
Perhaps one day, Cartoon Network will see the error of it's ways and realize their stupidity, stop all the CN Real stuff and other junk and bring good anime again, by reviving Toonami and TOM to their former glory. It was partly thanks to them, and Adult Swim, that Anime was able to shine brightly for the most part of the dawn of the new millienium. I will hope for the day something like that will happen to Cartoon Network. But for now, I'll watch Adult Swim and keep an eye out for good anime, while remembering the greatness that was once, and always known as, Toonami. Stay Gold.