20) Beware the Batman
Several months after returning to the airwaves on Adult Swim, Toonami started bolstering their line-up with a few shows that had been quietly phased out by Cartoon Network. Among those were the Genndy Tartakovsky’s Sym-Bionic Titan and the 2011 reboot of ThunderCats. They livened things up a bit and gave those series a second chance to find an audience. In the years to follow, both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Samurai Jack would follow suit but all four of those series were only reruns that bolstered the block’s variety. There was still something that had been long desired and sorely lacking on Adult Swim’s Toonami that was a key element of Toonami’s golden years: the heroes of the DC universe.
Toonami surprised the masses when they picked up Cartoon Network’s latest Batman series seemingly out of nowhere. It was bitter sweet in a lot of ways because it was not among the DC series most people clamored for and it was only airing on Toonami because Cartoon Network had buried the series and still had the rights. Those who did tune in were treated to a unique take on the Dark Knight which did not use the traditional allies or enemies. No dynamic duo to be found here. This time around, Katana, Oracle and a younger physically capable Alfred aid a Batman who is still a bit of a rookie. Toonami premiered fifteen of the series’ twenty six episodes. Beware the Batman left even more abruptly than it arrived and may be forgotten in the long term but who is to say that Cartoon Network allowing Toonami to premiere most of the series did not lead to discussions about producing new original action series for the block?
19) Teen Titans
When Toonami moved to Saturday night and became Cartoon Network’s premiere action block it inherited Teen Titans in a big way. Initially there was some blow-back from those who felt the series was too childish but over time it grew on the viewers as the tone of the series took some drastic turns. The series was capable of balancing its comedic side with a dramatic one and over time it became a fan favorite. While the Dragon Ball franchise was temporarily winding down, Teen Titans was the star player of Toonami’s Saturday night line-up and it maintained a consistent presence on the block long after it ended. The now beloved Teen Titans was one of many marque shows in Toonami’s long history, not the most significant but hardly the least.
18) ThunderCats
Every block has a beginning and Toonami’s was the one-two punch of ThunderCats and Voltron. These two series were the first acquisitions added to Cartoon Network specifically for Toonami and set the tone for the block right out of the gate. They set Toonami on it’s path to being the best place for action adventures from the East and the West. ThunderCats in particular, was arguably the marque series for Toonami at its inception and maintained the momentum until Toonami truly found its footing. With over 100 episodes to air it outlived both Voltron and Robotech and returned a few times after its initial run on the block. Many years later, the 2011 ThunderCats reboot served Toonami well and held impressive ratings for a rerun. It is regrettable that those remarkable results did not yield another season but the importance of ThunderCats presence on bother iterations of the block should not be understated.
17) ReBoot
When Toonami first started out, it was comprised of reruns from syndication and a few shows from the Turner vault. ReBoot was another show picked up from syndication that was given new life on Toonami. Up to that point, no American cartoon had had any significant amount of episodes premiere on Toonami. ReBoot became the first American series to premiere a new season (in the US) on the block, paving the way for more American cartoons to make their US premieres on Toonami in the years to come. On its’ own merits the series put Mainframe animation on the map and though it has not aged very gracefully it was cutting edge animation at the time. At the very least it maintained a strong presence for American action on Toonami for several years.
16) Yu Yu Hakusho
Adult Swim inherited several hold-overs from Toonami but it was completely unprecedented for Toonami to take a show from Adult Swim until Yu Yu Hakusho made the jump. FUNimation’s first hopeful successor to Dragon Ball arrived on Toonami in March of 2003 shortly before the block added Rurouni Kenshin. The two series ushered in another era for the block as Dragon Ball Z was finally coming to an end. To viewers he had grown tired of Dragon Ball, they offered more mature concepts along with their over-the-top battles. That may have been a double-edged sword though. Earlier in the summer, Kenshin was quietly removed for the line-up in favor of Cyborg 009 which also did not last long. Both series were relegated to late night airings (not on Adult Swim). Yu Yu Hakusho hung on a while longer after a brief removal but by fall of 2003 the block had taken on a more kid friendly line-up devoid any of those series.
Yu Yu Hakusho got back on the line-up in early 2004 but it seemed like Toonami would need a big change to avoid aiming younger again and that is exactly what happened. Toonami was moved to Saturday nights and Yu Yu Hakusho found a cozy spot late in the line-up among the top billed premieres. Eventually the series had to take a rerun hiatus and that spelled the end of its two year run on Toonami. The sudden disappearance made no sense to the casual observer. It was not until a fan reached out to the network via snail mail that Yu Yu Hakusho returned to finish its run on Saturday’s mornings at the crack of dawn. It is not the only Toonami show that Cartoon Network eventually buried but it was perhaps the most prominent one that was not an original series. Through the case of Yu Yu Hakusho, Toonami fans learned the harsh reality that sometimes even a hit series can quickly fall from grace.