Toonami's 25th Anniversary Special (Retrospective)

0:03 so you've read the title toonami is celebrating their 25th anniversary on television which is pretty monumental for a very small cartoon block that aired in the late 90s on cartoon network for a very niche audience and i guess you could say even taking a risk by even showing anime to westerners to that degree and they have survived 25 years so today is the 25th anniversary of toonami as a i guess you could say gift or memento or anniversary present i'm going to be re-uploading the original toonami video i did three years ago i was basically my retrospective on toonami and it will be aired right after i'm done talking about it i just wanted to preface the whole re-upload by like saying like how much of an impact

0:48 tsunami has had on me as an individual and i'm pretty sure i speak for a lot of 90s babies and early 2000s kids who were exposed to anime for the first time whether you're a weeaboo now or a person who you know has fond memories of tsunami but have grown out of the culture you can't disagree with me that there wasn't a profound impact with toonami in the early years of our lives um if you were watching tv at that time which let's face it most of us were um tsunami just being like one of the biggest parts of our childhood life uh it's my job to kind of bring back that nostalgia if you guys are familiar with my channel you know exactly what i do here all the time i'm always talking about nostalgia and i

1:33 feel like we cash in really well on that here it's always good to think about the past especially when um well good parts from the past especially when you're dealing with stuff in the current you know what i mean it's nice to reminisce on good times past that being said i'm just thrilled that tsunami was able to last this long and it's super cool to see a new generation following suit and how we did when we were kids of course nowadays it's a little bit easier to get into anime if you want to know what i'm talking about check out this video here i did on getting bullied for liking anime back then uh it's kind of a passion project well not really a project but like speaking from the heart i guess you could say and i even interviewed my girlfriend wolf she has a few cool um takes on it as well uh let's get bullied and stuff like that unfortunately when

2:19 we were younger before anime was as mainstream as it was but toonami acted as the vessel for us to get our fix if you will nowadays you have streaming services left and right and kids have it relatively easy you can just use mommy and daddy's credit card or even use the ad version of whatever they want on like funimation crunchyroll what have you or even go to like those explicit websites that don't require that illegally upload stuff to find all that back in the you know the early days we didn't really have any of that um it wasn't until like the mid to late 2000s where those sites started popping up um before it was uploading like an episode on youtube in parts so like it would be dragon ball z episode 121 part one of eight then you'd have to

3:06 watch all parts in separate videos it's a crazy time man uh but i digress 25 years toonami has played a part in our lives they took a took a time off and then they came back in a resurgence i believe it was 2014. i know i speak about all that in the in the video that i'm good that i'm going to be re-uploading um that was a long time ago and it feels uh surreal now to say 25 years myself i'm 29 i'm gonna be 30 in next january so i just turned 29 so it was in 1997 that tsunami aired and i started watching it i want to say 1999 1998 so i was two years late to the party but i've been rocking with tom ever since then uh and yeah i'm just gonna stop talking now i could reminisce about toonami all day

3:52 uh but i just want you guys to watch this video it was um a bigger project at the time so i'm sorry for any audio that you might hear that sounds weird or if i'm sounding like i'm fumbling over my words in the recording it was about three years ago before i learned to like really mix well and even now i'm still not the greatest person when it comes to mixing audio and stuff but i think i've gotten a little bit better so i you know excuse the quality and stuff like that it was a different time here on the terrells corpse it was three years ago so that being said i hope you guys enjoy um long live toonami long live tom and happy 25th anniversary [Music]

5:05 space a boy has the right to dream there are endless possibilities stretched out beforehand whatever happens from now on you stand firm and face your destiny without fear but with courage what awaits him down the path he will then have to choose no one's going to give you a map you've got to walk your own path the children leave their homes in search of this quest as they search they are always asking questions what's out there what's waiting for why was i made who made me and what did they make me for are you gonna go up into space with your old man or not maybe i'll never get over this

5:51 i've lived my life following my dreams and i don't have any regrets you're gonna just keep running away just keep running away [Music] i'm not running [Music] eight seven six five four three two one zero believe in yourself and create your own destiny don't fear failure

6:37 [Music] it's what started many of us on anime in the first place it was there after school and it gave us a break from the normal american cartoon lineup it revolutionized a genre of anime and gave inspiration to millions of kids around the world it taught us to never give up and to never run away in the years that it was broadcast it gave us an escape

7:23 an escape to space with nothing but our newfound love this is toonami toonami initially ran as an afternoon and evening block on cartoon network it was aimed at teenagers from 12 to 15 and it ran from 1997 until 2008. in its original run the block was known for showcasing action anime that became widely popular with american audiences it was also recognized for its distinctive space-themed backdrop anime music videos drum and bass flavored soundtrack and a host named tom short for toonami operations module it was cartoon network's primary action animation block the block veneered on

8:10 march 17th of 1997 it initially replaced power zone cartoon network's most recent incarnation of the super adventures block which had been a staple on the network since october 1st of 92. tsunami was originally a weekday afternoon cartoon and action block hosted by space ghost villain multar at the ghost planet industries building from 97 until 99 this is around the time i remember starting to watch i remember seeing this like really big ghost looking robot thing and he had like this really weird voice and every time i would come home from school i was like maybe like six or seven i would see this on tv and it would kind of scare me but not really so i would keep watching it everything in the 90s just had this

8:57 weird haze to it if you look back on it now it's just this kind of creepy almost but at the same time it's very nostalgic once the cartoons and anime started playing i really didn't mind what was going on with moltar however everything changed on saturday of july 10th 1999 cartoon network relaunched toonami with a new environment the ghost planned a spaceship absolution and a new host named tom which introduced viewers to him with his speech and i quote so it's a brand new tsunami but the mission objectives remain the same my name is tom i'm the new moltar welcome aboard the ghost planet spaceship absolution cartoon network's first and only interstellar broadcast and exploration vehicle i'll give you the tour later

9:43 from this day forward she's completely responsible for all tsunami transmissions i'm taking you guys into the new millennium no big changes now same show same attitude new place to do it new guy to do it with i'm not going to waste any more time let's get back into it later also introduced that day was the midnight run a late night block it was originally a five hour saturday night block technically into sunday morning until march of 2000 when it moved to weeknights in an hour-long format the block consisted of some of the greatest animes such as dragon ball z sailor moon voltron robotech mobile suit gundam and outlaw star the midnight run tended to have a bit more blood and violence than its daytime

10:28 counterpart at one point even running an uncut version of gundam wing now if you guys are anything like me and had the same kind of childhood this is the stuff you grew up on the real gritty stuff you know not to say that the new anime today isn't gritty or good in its own right but there's always going to be something special about what you grew up with obviously due to nostalgic bias nonetheless this stuff was gritty great and presented something that we weren't used to this wasn't your spongebob episode or your courage the cowardly dog or eddie and eddie johnny bravo powerpuff girls it wasn't anything like that it was something completely different something that we weren't used to seeing all that blood and violence just kind of made you get hype i kinda know that was the premise of the

11:15 90s just to be hype just to show you guys to never give up i get it it was really edgy it was before being edgy wasn't like memed to [ __ ] and frowned upon at one point i guess you could say it was kind of cool to be edgy that's essentially what toonami was even though i don't like to admit it the warriors have assembled the lines have been drawn the stakes are incalculable the rewards are unbelievable this could be your last chance for freedom and [Music]

12:01 cartoon network is building you a better cartoon show the finest action cartoons all assembled in one place [Music] we won't be intimidated by criminal tougher than the best stronger than the rest weekdays 5 to 7 pm midnight to 1am only on cartoon network except no substitutes [Music] but it wasn't always just gritty anime infrequently toonami had aired reviews of video games

12:47 these reviews delivered by tom and sometimes his ai sarah they were relatively short and they aired during commercial breaks the review scores games on a 1-10 system 10 signifying an excellent game and one signifying a very poor game i personally remember seeing a few of these games for ps2 i don't remember them by name but i did remember that like whatever tom said was pretty much the way to go i felt like he kind of knew everything about video games simply because he was like this outer space robot who had infinite access to earth and all this crazy stuff well at least that's what i thought in my young mind obviously now i know it was just somebody behind the scenes who played the game and was giving it a review but they dressed it up really nicely especially for a young teenager like myself who saw that and even kids could definitely say wow

13:34 maybe i should go pick this game up it was something really cool that they thought of doing and it appealed even harder to the audience that they were aiming for we all know how good playstation 2 sold so could you just imagine mixing the playstation 2 formula with the toonami formula recipe for success tsunami continued throughout the years from 1997 all the way until 2008. through countless revisions sponsored promotions video game reviews total immersion events and tie-in comics including online video services such as tsunami reactor tsunami jet stream and even toonami pre-flight all of these things came to an end

14:19 in 2008 where the final episode of toonami would air it was a very sad day a very sad day for all of us who enjoyed watching those anime shows back in the 90s early 2000s we went on this space exploration journey with tom it was almost like he was showing us all of these different animes that we've never even heard of this different type of cartoon that we weren't used to and for it to finally come to an end for everything to come full circle for him to finally make it back to his home planet it was bittersweet i remember watching the final episode it was very sad just as we grew up tom grew up too he went through multiple different revisions changing his appearance

15:04 and it was like we grew up side by side we watched each other change and at the very end of toonami's final airing tom version 4 ended the block with a brief monologue back with the beautiful song cascade by taiko and i'm going to play the clip for you now well this is the end beautiful friends after more than 11 years this is toonami's final broadcast it's been a lot of fun and we'd like to thank each and every one of you who made this journey with us tsunami wouldn't have been anything without you hopefully we've left you with some good memories so until we meet again

15:51 stay cool gosh every time i see that and hear that music and just watch it i get emotional like i know it's just a cartoon and everything but it's just it resonates so home you know it's so close to home it's like we really did go on like this journey together and it was crazy but as bittersweet as that ending was toonami would come back we weren't finished with our space exploration just yet on april 1st 2012 adult swim aired the

16:37 toonami block for their annual april fool's day prank after airing that week's scheduled episode of bleach the toonami-related programming continued throughout the night featuring shows such as dragon ball z mobile suit gundam tenshi muyo outlaw star and yuyuhaka show the following day adult swim posted a message to their twitter page simply stating want it back let us know bring back toonami and on april 4th adult swim followed up with this tweet with one stating bring back toonami we've heard you thank you for your passion and interest stay tuned a few days later adult swim aired two bumpers about the toonami tweets and answered with we're listening and we're looking into it

17:22 i remember this going around facebook and twitter at the time this was a few years back i was incredibly excited to see this come back it was something so deeply resonated within my personal being i was incredibly excited to see it come back and we finally got toonami once again on may 16th adult swim posted a message on a video on facebook announcing that toonami would return on may 26th the network issued a press release later that day confirming the block's revival as a saturday late night action block toonami made its return on may 26th with an initial lineup consisting of current adult swim action programs along with the premieres of dead man wonderland and catherine sins

18:08 [Applause] tsunami is bigger better and hotter than ever a new chapter begins i'm about to turn out all your life go time dragon ball super powers up at 10 30. then dbz kai drops its attack at 11. my hero academia punches in at 11 progressive premieres at midnight worst case scenario you could die jojo battles dio at 12 30. look at me when i kill you hunter hunter fights back at one yes black clover works magic at 1 30. i'll give you pay shipping does fox wilder feel it in your soul space dandy works

18:54 in a 230. no one shakes a booty like yours truly cowboy bebop jams at three and lupin steals the show at 3 30. let us toast them toonami next saturday night from 10 30 to 4. you have a good day this is what we wanted toonami and adult swim hurt us and they were back they're currently still broadcasting too and on september 29th toonami will expand to seven full hours from nine pm to four am with boruto as the marquee edition it feels good to go back on this ride it feels good to be with tom again on the spaceship absolution and it really makes me happy that kids nowadays can experience what we did back in the day the late night block the

19:40 midnight run it's awesome and it's glad to see that toonami is not going anywhere hopefully maybe kids will have the same sense of wonder we did when we watched it growing up the same sense of exploration the never give up attitude pursue your dreams toonami was something and is still something that is tremendous in the hearts of millennials i guess you could say i had a lot of fun making this review and it was cool to visit this all back again and see the facts i watch tsunami regularly so yeah but i hope you guys have enjoyed this small video well i guess i was not really small but yeah you know what i mean anyways

20:25 as a quick side note if there's anyone here who would like to learn how to edit videos just like this on a phone let me know in the comment section down below this entire video was edited and narrated on a samsung galaxy s8 nothing else if you guys have interest in learning how to edit comment down below hit that subscribe button and hit the like button to let me know you do well if you just want to kick around anyways and chill here at the tarot's corpse that's cool too once again thank you so much for watching this video i hope you enjoyed it and i'll catch you guys on the next episode until then stay gold bang

21:10 [Music] you