What started out as an April Fool’s joke, has turned into a pleasant surprise for weekend viewers of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. On April Fool’s day, Cartoon Network replaced their regular animation block for that night and brought back their Toonami animated block for the evening. The viewer response was overwhelming and sufficient enough that on May 26, 2012, Cartoon Network brought back Toonami, this time for real as part of their Adult Swim block.
If you’re not familiar with it, Toonami is a program that originated in 1997 and in various forms lasted on Cartoon Network until 2008. During its run, Toonami was the home of Thundercats, Voltron, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi Muyo, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Batman Beyond and so many more.
Now, it has to be noted that the return of the Toonami programming block does not necessarily bring new anime to the home viewer. In fact, this version of Toonami will recycle most of the programs that were broadcasting the prior week, that is, the week before Toonami took over. Nevertheless, it is fun to see T.O.M. again as he shepherds the broadcasting of:
– Bleach
– Casshern Sins
– Cowboy Bebop
– Deadman Wonderland
– Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
– Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd GIG
I, for one, am glad that Toonami is back. But honestly, without a substantial change in programming, I’m not sure that I’m getting any more than I had the week before.