Toonami

Toonami is an animated programming block on Cartoon Network geared toward action-oriented programming, mostly consisting of American cartoons and Japanese anime. The name is a combination of the words cartoon and tsunami, suggesting that the block is a "tidal wave" of animated shows. The block originated in the US on March 17, 1997 and ended its run on September 20, 2008. It was revived on Saturday May 26, 2012, as a more mature-geared incarnation on Adult Swim.

History
Toonami was Cartoon Network's primary action-animation block, which made its world premiere on Monday, March 17, 1997, initially replacing Power Zone, Cartoon Network's most recent incarnation of the Super Adventures block which had been a staple on the network since October 1, 1992. Toonami was originally a weekday afternoon cartoon and action block hosted by Space Ghost villain-turned-producer Moltar at the Ghost Planet Industries building from 1997 to July 9, 1999.

In the animated world, Moltar began the program by sending his mobile satalite probe,Clyde 49, to earth to retrieve data and transmit it through the Ghost Planet Studio, where "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" was broadcast. After some time, Moltar passed the torch of being host to an AI named TOM, who was given the Ghost Planet vessel, GPS Absolution Mk I, to go through the universe and continue his work while he is stuck on Ghost Planet as punishment by Space Ghost.

With TOM (quite literally) in the driver's seat, Toonami began reaching out in new and unexpected programming and broadcast blocks(Midnight Run, Rising Sun); dumping comedy cartoons in favor of anime and video games. At one point, an Intruder ate into the Absolution and killed TOM, leaving his successor, TOM 2 to take over and rid the vessel of the intruder. Tom hosted Hyper Space Movie Fridays after this, but got stuck once due to a computer virus.Sometime after, the Absolution was destroyed and SARA taken from it. TOM was destroyed, but rebuilt into a new body (referred to as TOM 3), and rescued SARA, building a new ship from scrap, dubbed the Absolution MK II.

Kids WB version
From July 30, 2001, until June 30, 2002, Kids WB aired a Toonami block that was, more or less, the Kids' WB lineup with the Toonami name. It was critically panned by industry observers, who noticed the action branding of the block did not translate content wise, which had added shows like Scooby-Doo and "The Nightmare Room", a live-action series created by Goosebumps author R. L. Stine. In spring 2002, Kids' WB announced that they would drop the Toonami name from their weekday lineup, once again making the Toonami brand exclusive to Cartoon Network.

Toonami Rules Saturday Nights
On April 17, 2004, Cartoon Network moved Toonami from weekday afternoons to Saturday evenings with a new demographic of preteen and teen audiences while adding a new lighter-toned action franchise, Miguzi, to weekdays in its place.

Toonami also replaced the block known as Saturday Video Entertainment System or SVES. One big reason for the move from weekdays to Saturday nights was because some of the shows on the weekday lineup (such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Cyborg 009 , and Rurouni Kenshin ) became too violent for a weekday broadcast on the network.

3.17.07 (Toonami's 10th anniversary)
On January 27, 2007, a teaser commercial aired during the Xiaolin Showdown marathon on Cartoon Network featuring close up shots of larger Clydes (the remote robot explorers that have been a fixture of Toonami since the beginning) along with the date 3/17/07 and T.O.M.'s chest emblem glowing blue.

On March 17, 2007, Toonami celebrated its 10th anniversary with the introduction of TOM 4.0,and the jungle control room called Flowus 3 with a trio of new robots- Flash ,D and a new Clyde. and numerous montages celebrating the block.

The montages included a look at past hosts, former logos, and a decade's worth of clips and voiceovers from shows that aired on Toonami. There were a total of 4 montages, all of them having different clips. Three of them were one minute long.

As part of the anniversary (and to coincide with Cartoon Network's March Movie Madness event), Toonami planned a month of movies:


 * March 3 - The Invincible Iron Man
 * March 10 - Mosaic
 * March 17 - Hellboy: Blood and Iron
 * March 24 - Stan Lee Presents: The Condor
 * March 31 - Spirited Away and Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo

Cancellation
On Saturday, September 20, 2008, Cartoon Network canceled the block and Toonami aired its final transmission. Employees who worked on the block went to other parts of the channel. Anime was mostly handled by Adult Swim, and a new block titled "CN Real" replaced Toonami on Saturday nights afterwards. Toonami Jetstream remained without the Toonami name until January 2009. At the end of Toonami's final airing, the host, voiced by Steve Blum, ended the block with a final monologue simply reading:

"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. Toonami wouldn't have been anything without you. Hopefully, we've left you with some good memories. So, until we meet again, stay gold...Bang." The last part echoed the final words of the character Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop, who was also voiced by Steve Blum in the English dub of the anime.

April Fools 2012 - Toonami Revival on Adult Swim
On midnight of April 1, 2012, just past Toonami's 15th anniversary, Adult Swim, which generally changes its programming for April Fools' Day, began to play The Room (as they had done the past several years). The scene then switched to T.O.M. (in an updated version of his third incarnation) aboard the Absolution, greeting the viewers while commenting that it is April Fools' Day, before introducing that week's scheduled episode of Bleach. The Toonami-related programming and bumpers continued throughout the night, featuring Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo!, Outlaw Star, The Big O, YuYu Hakusho, and Blue Submarine No. 6. Trigun, Astro Boy, and Gigantor, three series that were never shown on the original Toonami, were also shown. T.O.M. also presented a review of Mass Effect 3 and promoted the recent DVD releases of the series shown that night.

Toonami Relaunch
On May 16, 2012, Adult Swim posted a message on Facebook announcing that Toonami would return on May 26, with a similar message on Twitter, ending with #ToonamisBackBitches. The network issued a press release later that day confirming the block's revival as a Saturday late night anime block. Toonami made its return with all new bumpers, game reviews and an updated animation of TOM. This midnight timeslot block features more mature programming than any of its predecessors. The initial lineup continued some of the Adult Swim Saturday anime block programs and premiered two shows, Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins.

On August 18, the initial Toonami 2012 program lineup was changed, with Samurai 7 and Eureka Seven replacing Deadman Wonderland and Cowboy Bebop. In addition, the program time slots within the block were rearranged.

On September 26, it was reported that Sym-Bionic Titan and ThunderCats would join the block taking the 2am/1c and 2:30am/1:30c time slots, respectively. It was also reported that the remaining 3-6AM time period formerly used to repeat the Toonami block would be replaced with two episodes (1 hour) each of Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. This new schedule began on October 6, 2012. On November 3 it was confirmed that Tenchi Muyo! GXP will join the lineup along with Inuyasha. On November 22 it was confirmed that Toonami will air uncut episodes of Naruto and that Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood will start over from the beginning. Also, Bleach had reruns for 8 weeks, beginning on December 1. As of January 6th, 2013, Toonami changed their color scheme from dark red to blue after using the blue scheme to introduce Inuyasha on November 3. New episodes of Bleach began on January 26. On February 16, Soul Eater began airing on Toonami replacing Samurai 7. During Momocon, the Toonami staff unveiled designs for a TOM 5 and a new Absolution, and announced a look overhaul (New logo, schedule bumps, etc.) which will all debut in april. Toonami also announced that they would air Evangelion 1.11 on the block's anniversary March 17, and One Piece would be added to the lineup by the end of 2013. The color scheme changed to green on March 17, for one day, for Toonami's birthday celebration (and St. Patrick's Day), though on the official Toonami Tumblr, they said the change to green had nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day.

On March 26, on the official Toonami Tumblr, it was announced that T.O.M. 5, The Absolution Mk. III, and the new look of the block, will premiere on April 27. It was also announced that the formerly written off Toonami original series IGPX has been brought back to Toonami replacing one of the episodes of Cowboy Bebop (but not in that timeslot). IGPX will also begin airing on April 27. It was announced on April 12, on the official Toonami Tumblr that One Piece will be returning to the lineup on May 17, replacing Tenchi Muyo! GXP.

On April 27, IGPX, T.O.M. 5, The Absolution Mk. III, and the new look of the block (logo, bumps, etc.) made their scheduled premiere along with the surprise return of the Absolution's A.I. Matrix, SARA, redesigned and now voiced by Dana Swanson.

Current Toonami Staff

 * Jason Demarco (1997-2008; 2012-present)
 * Gill Austin (1997-2008; 2012-present)
 * Mike Lazzo (1997-2008; 2012-present)
 * Jonny Ray (1998-2008; 2012-present)
 * Steve Blum (2000-2008; 2012-present)
 * Dennis Moloney (2000-2008; 2012-present)
 * Sara Hardy (2002-2008; 2012-present)
 * Brent Busby (2005-2008; 2012-present)
 * Chris Hartley (2012-present)
 * Howard Parker (2012-present)
 * Kim Manning (2012-present)
 * Dana Swanson (2013-present)

Former Toonami Staff

 * Sean Akins (1997-2008)
 * C. Martin Croker (1997-1999)
 * Joe Boyd Vigil (1997-2002)
 * Peter Cullen (1999-2008)
 * Sonny Strait (1999-2000)
 * Sally Timms (2000-2007)

Toonami Lineups (1997-Present)
Toonami Lineups (1997-Present) is a list of schedules that have been broadcast by Toonami since March 17, 1997.

Toonami has been a host of many cartoons over its years on the air, broadcasting both american action cartoons and japanese anime.

Toonami Series (1997-2008)
The series that appeared on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from March 17, 1997 to September 20, 2008.

Note: The dates under "End Date" are the last time the series appeared on Toonami, Toonami's Midnight Run, or Toonami Super Saturday. Some series had multiple runs that were not always consecutive.

Toonami Series (2012-Present)
The series that have appeared on Adult Swim's Toonami block from May 26, 2012 to the present.

The Midnight Run
The Midnight Run was a Toonami Programming Block that ran from 1999-2003. Initially from 12:00 am to 5:00 am on Saturday from 1999 to 2000. It was then moved to weekdays and ran from 12:00 am to 1:00 am until 2003. It consisted of series such as Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon,Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, and 08th MS Team, among others. Midnight Run tended to have slightly more blood and violence than its day-time counterpart, at one point even running an uncut version of Gundam Wing.

The Rising Sun
A Saturday morning Toonami Programming Block that started and ended in 2000, Toonami's Rising Sun initially ran from 9:00 am to noon, but later was changed to run from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm It consisted of series such asDragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Batman: The Animated Series, and Ronin Warriors, among others. The Rising Sun was somewhat hampered to avoid competing with sister network Kids WB.

Toonami Super Saturday
A Toonami Programming Block that ran on Saturdays initially from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, then from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. It consisted of series such as Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002 TV series), Transformers: Armada, and .hack//SIGN. The final 4 episodes of Zoids: Chaotic Century were shown for the first and last time on any Toonami block on January 4, 2003 as part of Toonami Super Saturday. The block premiered in 2001 and was cancelled in 2003, replaced by SVES, a Non-Toonami action oriented cartoon block.

Total Immersion Events
Starting in September 2000, Toonami presented special interactive events known as Total Immersion Events or TIEs. These TIEs took place both on-air during Toonami and online at the official site, Toonami.com, and always occurred the week that the block's most popular series, Dragon Ball Z, returned for a new season. The very first TIE was The Intruder, which introduced T.O.M.'s companion, an AI matrix knownas S.A.R.A. The Intruder was an eight episode mini-series that aired during Toonami from September 18, 2000 up until September 27, 2000. It resulted in the rebirth of T.O.M., upgrading his appearance from a short Bomberman-esque character (voiced bySonny Strait) to a taller, darker, deeper-voiced incarnation dubbed T.O.M. 2.0 (voiced by Steve Blum).

The following TIE, Lockdown, aired between September 17–21, 2001, and included the introduction of CartoonNetwork.com's first MORPG as well as a record-breaking amount of page views and ratings for the network. During Lockdown T.O.M. fights to save the Absolution from an attack by a giant trash compactor.

Trapped in Hyperspace, the next TIE, ran for a week from September 16–20, 2002. The ship's computer, S.A.R.A. was infected by a computer virus and T.O.M. became trapped in hyperspace. T.O.M. eventually destroys the virus before the absolution hits Earth. The Intruder and Lockdown aired in the UK, but did not achieve the same amount of success as their American airings.

The TIE in September 2003 was a diversion from the T.O.M. and S.A.R.A. adventures and introduced a new, 2D universe. Immortal Grand Prix (IGPX), created by Toonami producers Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by anime studio Production I.G. It aired in five short installments and served as a pilot for the first Toonami original series, which premiered in November 2005.

Lunar Eclipse
A Toonami special event in which the last 17 episodes of Sailor Moon R (Sailor Moon Season 2), called "The Lost Episodes", aired in order, in a marathon, on Sunday May 23, 1999, from 11:30 am - 8:00 pm.

DBZ20XL
A week-long Toonami special event, which occurred the week of Monday May 24, 1999 - Friday May 28, 1999. During the event four episodes of Dragon Ball Z were shown during the Toonami timeslot 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm each day. To conclude the event, on Saturday, May 29th, from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, three Dragon Ball Z movies were shown; Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest, and Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone.

Z-Day
A Toonami special event in which Dragon Ball Z took over Toonami for the day, it was meant to celebrate the return of new episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Z-Day occurred on September 13, 1999 with two newly dubbed episodes of the second season (Frieza Saga) being shown.

DBZ President's Day Movie Marathon
A special marathon of three Dragon Ball Z movies that ran on February 21, 2000 (President's Day) from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Cartoon Network's Toonami block. The three movies shown were The Tree of Might , The World's Strongest, and Dead Zone.

Toonami: Full Cycle
A marathon that saw Toonami take over Cartoon Network for 24-hours, from 6:00 am Saturday April 8, 2000 to 6:00 am Sunday April 9, 2000. The marathon featured popular Toonami series and Movies and also premiered the entire Garlic Jr. Saga of Dragon Ball Z. The series shown included Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, Batman: The Animated Series, Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon, Thundercats, Super Friends, and ReBoot. The movies shown included 2 batman movies, 3 Dragon Ball Z movies, and Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.

New Years Evil
A Toonami new years marathon that showed the Dragon Ball Z: Garlic Jr. Saga in it’s entirity on jan. 1, 2001 from 12:00 am - 5:00 am.

Villaintine's Day
A Toonami Special Event which occurred on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2001. The usual three hour block of Toonami was shown, with all the episodes featuring some of the best villains from each series, such as Cell from Dragon Ball Z.

Zoids Cubed
A Toonami Special Event in which four episodes of Zoids: New Century were shown in a marathon, during the regular Toonami timeslot, on Friday December 14, 2001 from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm.

A Night of New Years Eve-il
A Toonami new years marathon that ran from 12:00 am - 4:00 am on January 1, 2002. The week before New years eve Toonami held a fan poll on Toonami.com, where fans voted for their favorite villain and the top seven vote recieving villain’s series were shown. The series shown were Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, [http://toonami.wikia.com/wiki/Tenchi_Muyo! Tenchi Muyo!], Mobile Suit Gundam, and Batman: The Animated Series. Majin Buu was voted the the winner of the poll by the fans online, recieving 46,276 votes.

Batman VS Superman
A Toonami Event and Contest which ran from Monday, January 21, 2002 through Friday, January 25, 2002. Every night, Monday-Friday, Toonami aired back-to-back episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Viewers could then log on to Toonami.com to view the site's first "gomic," an exclusive interactive hybrid combining a video game and a comic, to cast their vote for the superhero of their choice.

April Fools 2002
April Fools 2002 also referred to as “Joker’s Day” was a Toonami April Fools event in which the Joker infected SARA with a computer virus. The virus forced SARA to air four Joker-themed episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, instead of the regularly scheduled Toonami schedule. At the end of the fourth episode TOM was finally able to remove the virus by rebooting the system, thus returning control to SARA.

He-Man-athon
A Toonami Special Event in which the first 13 episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe were shown on Saturday, November 30, 2002 from 4:30 pm - 11:00 pm. The marathon featured all 13 episodes that had aired up to that point.

Toonami In-flight Movies
A Toonami Special Event that occurred a number of times in 2002. In the introduction to In-flight Movies TOM would send the Absolution into Hyperspace and start the movie. The movies shown during In-flight Movies were all related to current series on Toonami at that time, such as Batman Beyond, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, etc.

Zoids: Chaotic Century Final Four
A Toonami Event in which the final 4 episodes of Zoids: Chaotic Century were shown for the first and last time on any Toonami block on January 4, 2003 as part of Toonami Super Saturday.

Giant Robot Week
A Toonami special event that occurred during the week of February 24–28, 2003. It was a five-day special based on mecha anime series, which were licensed by A.D. Vision. The series shown were Neon Genesis Evangelion ,Gigantor, Robotech, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Dai-Guard In the evening of the final day, the channel finished its salute to giant robots with the film The Iron Giant.

DBZ Movies
A month long Toonami Event in which 4 Dragon Ball Z movies were shown every Friday from September 5, 2003 - September 26, 2003.

Dragon Ball Chronicles
A Toonami Event, that was somewhat reminiscent of DBZ20XL, in that Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT took over Toonami for three weeks. Dragon Ball Chronicles lasted from March 29 - April 16, 2004, and was meant to celebrate Toonami's move from Weekday afternoons to Saturday nights, which started on Saturday April 17, 2004.

Naruto Years Eve
A Toonami New Years marathon in which 17 episodes of Naruto were shown on December 31, 2005. The marathon began at 2:30 pm and ended with a brand new episode that premiered at 10:30 pm.

A Month of Miyazaki
On Saturday, March 18, 2006, just past the block's ninth anniversary, Toonami began airing A Month of Miyazaki, a four-week celebration of the works of acclaimed qnime director Hayao Miyazaki. Like sibling station TCM's similar marathon in January 2006, Toonami aired a different movie every week between Toonami anniversaries (the marathon began on the weekend of the ninth anniversary of the block and ended the week before the second anniversary of the block's move to Saturday nights). The films scheduled for A Month of Miyazaki (which all aired uncut and unedited as per Miyazaki's policy not to have his films altered). However, there were many complaints due to the large number of commercial interruptions during the films, with commercial breaks cutting in about every 20 minutes. The movies were as follows:
 * Spirited Away
 * Princess Mononoke
 * Castle In the Sky
 * Nausica of the Valley of the Wind

Night of Naruto
A Toonami Special Event in which eight episodes of Naruto were shown, with the last two being brand new episodes, on Saturday July 15, 2006 from 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm. Episodes 36 - 43 of the series were shown. The marathon was meant to commemorate the launch of Toonami Jetstream, which launched on July 17, 2006.

Naruto Hundo
Naruto Hundo ("Hundo" being slang for one hundred) was a Toonami Special Event which occurred from Friday, August 17, 2007 to Sunday, August 19, 2007. The three day marathon of Naruto started each day at 6:00 am and continued until 11:00 pm, except on Sunday which ended at 10:00 pm. Episodes 1 - 100 of the series were shown, the marathon concluded with the lone new episode, episode 100.

Toonami Reactor
On April 30, 2001, Cartoon Network launched Toonami Reactor, their first online streaming video service. The three-month service featured streaming episodes from Dragon Ball Z and Star Blazers, the latter of which was an online-exclusive series. Editorial content was provided by the now-defunct Animerica Magazine, published by VIZ Media. After the three-month "trial run" was over, Cartoon Network took it offline and completely revamped it.

On November 14, 2001, Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami Reactor with all online-exclusive programs such asStar Blazers, Patlabor, Harlock Saga, and Record of Lodoss War, as well as videos from Daft Punk and Toonami-themed games. In the summer of 2002, Toonami Reactor was revamped again under the Adult Swim brand and, with a joint venture with VIZ's Weekly Shonen Jump, programmed it as "Adult Swim Pipeline."

Toonami Jetstream
On April 25, 2006, a little over five years since the launch of the now-defunct Toonami Reactor, Cartoon Network and VIZ Media announced plans to launch Toonami Jetstream, a new ad-supported streaming video service featuring Toonami series like Naruto, Samurai Jack, Megas XLR, and IGPX. As well as the U.S. internet stream premieres of Hikaru no Go, MÄR, Eyeshield 21, The Prince of Tennis, MegaMan Star Force, and Kiba. MegaMan NT Warriors and Zoids: Genesis were scheduled to be part of Toonami Jetstream but never ended up being streamed.

Toonami Jetstream launched on July 17, 2006 (after a brief unofficial sneak preview that began on July 14), and offered episodes of Naruto, Hikaru no Go, MAR, Zatch Bell!, Pokémon, Blue Dragon, Samurai Jack, Kiba, Storm Hawks, and Transformers: Animated. On January 30, 2009, Toonami Jetstream ended it's run. After Jetstream's end, many of the shows aired until their cancellation on Cartoon Network Video on it's main web site, cartoonnetwork.com.

Adult Swim
In 2012, Adult Swim rebranded their action videos section on video.adultswim.com as "Toonami shows". The site features current Toonami shows such as Bleach, Naruto, and Soul Eater. As well as past Toonami shows such as Big O, Deadman Wonderland, and Samurai 7. The site also features a Non-Toonami, former Adult Swim Action show, Durarara!

Music Releases
Toonami proved to be a haven for music throughout it's history, using original compositions; first by skater/artist Tommy Guerrero from 1997 to 1999, and then by Atlanta-based composer Joe Boyd Vigil from 1999 to 2002, many of which were compiled in the CD Toonami: Deep Space Bass in 2001, which is now out of print. In 2003, DJ Clarknova (the alias of Toonami co-founder Jason DeMarco) took Toonami's beats (both old and new) and mixed them with sound bites from recent Toonami and Adult Swim shows. This resulted in an hour-long compilation of Toonami remixes, called the Toonami: Black Hole Megamix, but for unknown reasons was never published. However, the Megamix recently was hosted by Toonami Digital Arsenal, a popular unofficial Toonami multimedia site. DJ Clarknova then released another Toonami album, entitled Toonami: Supernova Megamix, on Christmas Eve of 2012 as a free download through the official Toonami Tumblr webpage.

From 2003 through 2008, Toonami relied on original and library tracks from various artists from publisher Ninja Tune. On rare occasions, videos from musicians such as Daft Punk, Linkin Park, The White Stripes, Beck, and Gorillaz aired on the block.

Video Game Reviews
Frequently throughout it's history, Toonami aired Video Game Reviews, written by Jason DeMarco and/or Gill Austin. The reviews, delivered by T.O.M. and occasionally S.A.R.A., were fairly short and ran during commercial breaks. The hosts scored the games on a 1 - 10 system: 10 signifying an excellent game, 1 signifying a very poor game. (The score system was originally 1 - 5 until 2001.)

Two games were given a "?" rating, Dropship: United Peace Force for the PlayStation 2 (because of many failed attempts to get past Level 6) and Slender by Marc "Parsec" Hadley of Parsec Productions (because of not finding all eight pages in time, and the fright of looking at the Slender Man).

Toonami Comics
Toonami has released multiple comics during it's history. The first comics were part of DC's Cartoon Network Presents series. The next two were online comics. Toonami Swarm (A flash comic) and Toonami Endgame, told overall plot-related stories about the origin of TOM 1 and the origin of TOM 3 respectivly.The fourth comic, that doesn't offically have a name, is refered to as the Lost Toonami Comic, was never released during Toonami's original run. The lost comic is being released post Toonami revival via the Toonami Tumblr page. In the next couple of months they will premiere an online comic that will tell the story of how TOM 3 became TOM 4, how TOM 4 became TOM 3.5, where Sara and the Clydes are, and how TOM 5 and the new Absolution came to be.

Latin America
On December 2, 2002, Toonami premiered on Cartoon Network Latin America, replacing a similarly themed block, Talisman. Toonami aired shows that were already on the lineup such as Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, and Pokémon. It also served as the home of Inuyasha. Over the years, Toonami added shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and Knights of the Zodiac, as well as the revamped versions of Cyborg 009 and Astro Boy. However, the block had to move to the late-night slots on CN Latin America due to protests of violent scenes on the block. Mexico moved Toonami to midnight in October 2003 while the rest of Latin America moved the block in November 2004.

In 2005, Toonami had short-lived weekend schedules, which were later replaced by the premiere of Adult Swim in Latin America (October 7, 2005). In March 2006, Toonami revamped their lineup to include more adult-oriented series, such as Love Hina, taking advantage of the late schedule and the refusal of anime on Adult Swim, as well as to compete against the anime channel Animax (now Sony Spin) for new anime series. In June 2006, Toonami premiered anime movies in two monthly variations: Dragon Ball Theatricals (which had 17 different Dragon Ball movies), and Toonami Movies (generally animated action movies).

In 2007, CN Latin America cut Toonami completely and the movies were no longer aired, save those of Dragon Ball Z. After its cancellation in Latin America (March 26, 2007), the anime programming of the channel gradually vanished, currently the only anime which air on CN Latin America are Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z Kai.

In January 2010 the block Animaction was created, showing on Wednesday evenings. This block broadcasted both action programming and anime programming until it was removed in April 2011.

UK & Ireland
Toonami UK was a programming block on the Cartoon Network in the UK, until October 2002 when it became a key component of CNX, a new channel launched by Cartoon Network UK, the first Cartoon Network derivative to launch outside North America. CNX also broadcasted martial arts movies and dramas like The Shield and Birds of Prey at night. The network catered towards a young male audience. A year later, CNX was relaunched as Toonami and was then targeted at younger audience.

Toonami UK, throughout its existence, also aired cartoons based on DC Comics properties on the channel, such as Justice League Unlimited and the first two seasons of Batman Beyond (aired as Batman of the Future). Contractual disputes with Warner TV distribution prevented the channel from showing the third and final season of Batman Beyond and the whole of Superman: The Animated Series, forcing the channel to recycle through the first two seasons of Batman Beyond as a result.

In 2004, Toonami got rid of TOM and SARA and adopted a new look, featuring spinning and sliding red and black squares in different forms on a light blue background. From March 6, 2006, Toonami UK changed its focus from action cartoons to entertainment in general, as the channel moved to Sky 602 and began airing live-action shows such as Backyard Science, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Life with Derek, Blue Water High. Additionally, the channel's graphics were redesigned, with the black, white and red logos replaced by a new blue background logo and giggling, blob-like mascots that are used in the channel's break bumpers, promos and idents which contrasted heavily with the original themes of the channel. Toonami and Cartoon Network Too merged into one channel on May 24, 2007, ending the run of Toonami UK.

Australia
Toonami launched on Cartoon Network Australia on 7 July 2001 as an outlet for action animation. Most of its lineup consisted of anime, including already popular shows such as Dragon Ball Z, as well as the Australian premiere of Cardcaptors and exclusives such as Gundam Wing and Yu Yu Hakusho. Occasionally it also broadcast action cartoons from the United States such as Batman Beyond.

On its launch, Toonami broadcast on Saturday evenings from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Each day's programming was repeated in the Toonami "Late Run" from 11:00 pm to 1:00 am. Toonami soon expanded to weekdays, and for a number of years could be seen seven days a week. Although timeslots varied, the main Toonami block remained on weekday afternoons; in 2005 it was airing weeknights at 6.00pm, with mini-marathons playing on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

In September 2006, Toonami was dropped from the Cartoon Network Australia schedule. Former Toonami programming, and new programming that would have previously gone to Toonami is now spread out across the network's other timeslots.

Toonami Asia
Toonami Asia is a television channel that launched in Asia on December 1, 2012. It is operated and distributed in Asia by Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific Inc., a Time Warner company. Although the brand carries the same name as the programming block available in the US, they are in no way affiliated with each other, other than both being part of the Turner Broadcasting family. The Toonami channel in Asia is available 24 hours a day.

Fan-made projects
Toonami has had multiple fan made websites and projects over the years. Toonami Wiki itself is a fan made project decicated to providing information about the history, shows and universe of Toonami. Toonami Wiki fully supports and fully promotes the revived Toonami on Adult Swim, as well as the hardworking staff of Toonami. Toonami Wiki also supports any fan made websites that support and do not impede the success of Toonami.

Toonami Digital Arsenal
Toonami Digital Arsenal is a website that features a collection of Toonami's many promos, music videos, and bumpers. The Toonami Staff have stated on their Tumblr several times that they appreciate Toonami Digital Arensal's work and have a link to the site on their FAQ page.

After Toonami's cancellation in 2008, multiple Toonami revival projects were created by fans.

Toonami Aftermath
Toonami Aftermath is a 24/7 oniline channel that began broadcasting on January 18, 2010 airing programs from Toonami, Kid's WB, and Cartoon Network (Cartoon Cartoons).

NeoToonami
NeoToonami was released after the revival of Toonami on Adult Swim. The creators claim NeoToonami's purpose is to "create a true successor to the original Toonami". NeoToonami broadcasts several shows that were previously broadcasted on Toonami as well as new shows. NeoToonami also is unique in the fact that it has it's own 3D Animation, featuring their own versions of TOM and the Absolution. NeoToonami ended on April 26, 2013, concluding with the explosion of their versions of the Absolution and Tom.

Toonami Faithful
Toonami Faithful is a website that features Toonami news, a Toonami related forum, as well as a podcast that focuses solely on Toonami. The podcast has featured many guests including Toonami co-creator, Jason DeMarco, the voice of TOM, Steve Blum, the creator of Megas XLR, George Krstic, etc. Toonami Faithful is partially responsible for setting up the Toonami Panel at MomoCon and has been featured on the official Toonami Tumblr.

Toonami, The Toonami Staff, and The Adminstrators of Toonami Wiki do not offically endorse the NeoToonami or the Toonami Aftermath projects or their respective affiliates because these sites feature illegal use of Turner owned properties.